Danube was thrown open
to the commerce of the world. In order more fully to secure free navigation
of the river, the Czar's frontier in Bessarabia was somewhat changed by
the cession of certain territory to Moldavia under the suzerainty of the
Porte. Both Wallachia and Moldavia continued under the protection of
Turkey, and were permitted to enjoy their former privileges. The _status
quo_ of Servia was assured. It was further stipulated that, following the
ancient rule of the Sultans, no foreign war vessels were to pass through
the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus while Turkey was at peace. To insure the
integrity of the Ottoman Empire, England, France and Austria signed a
treaty, on April 15, guaranteeing the independence of the Sultan's
dominions and declaring that any violation of this would call for war.

[Sidenote: The Paris convention]

Besides drawing up the treaty of peace, the Congress of Paris settled
various moot points in international law. The plenipotentiaries all agreed
to the doctrines: "First, privateering is and remains abolished. Second,
the neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of
war. Third, neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not
liable to capture under an enemy's flag. Fourth, blockades in order to be
binding must be effective; that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient
really to prevent access to the enemy's coast." The United States of
America did not subscribe to this convention.

[Sidenote: Results of Crimean war]

Russia came out of the conflict defeated but respected. She had received a
check in the Black Sea and her frontier line had been readjusted. Still her
political losses were trivial. The war most deeply affected Austria. She
had played a false game and had lost. The sceptre of European leadership
slipped from her. The situation afforded to Bismarck and Cavour the
opportunity each was anxiously awaiting.

[Sidenote: Italy benefited]

Cavour had won his first point. At the Conference of Paris he took his
place as a representative of Sardinia by right of an alliance with the
other great Powers. Then it was seen that every Italian soldier who had
fallen on the Tchernaya, or who had wasted away in the fever-stricken
camps, had died indeed for the honor of Italy among the nations of the
world. At the close of the Conference Cavour made a plain statement
concerning the misgovernment of southern and central Italy and the evils of