Bessarabian question reflected in the reports of the French ambassador in Petersburg Charles Auguste de Morny (1856-1857)

Abstract: After the Crimean War the Bessarabian question had an important place in the foreign policy of the Great Powers. During the preliminaries of peace in 1855 it was decided that Russia should cede Southern Bessarabia to the Principality of Moldavia. Russia, of course, did not accept this point and at the Congress of Paris proposed a territorial exchange - the condition unacceptable to British diplomats. Thus it was created a commission to study the problem of border delimitation in Bessarabia.

In August 1856, Charles Auguste de Morny, half-brother of Emperor Napoleon III, was appointed Ambassador to St. Petersburg. Count de Morny was significantly involved in the solution of the Bessarabian question. According to documents from the archives of foreign policy in Paris, the diplomat was obsessed with the idea that Southern Bessarabia must remain part of the Russian Empire and tried to convince the Emperor Napoleon III and Count Walewski that France should support the Russian point of view. De Morny had a rival, Count Persigny, the French Ambassador in London, who believed that this area should be part of the Principality of Moldavia. After long negotiations the Bessarabian question was resolved not in favor of Russia.