The Treaty of Paris
knew and respected each other and were well matched. Lord Clarendon very much the 'David Niven' type of Englishman - impeccable mannered with a casual sounding easy charm which hid inner toughness and determination to achieve his ends. Count Orlov was more of a Khruschev with added eloquence - blunt and straightforward, he was out to dispel any impression that the Russians were present as the losing side and gave as good as he got in lusty debate. Away from the table he was prepared to turn on the charm with the French, in particular the Emperor, as he attempted to weaken French/British solidarity, especially on the more extreme British positions. He'd been tipped off that they were planning to demand independance for the Caucasus tribes under the 5th Point. He let the French and the Austrians know that he was not prepared to even discuss the issue - if this was to scupper the Congress, so be it. Buol was well aware that he would be blamed if these talks went the same way as the last, and wrong footed the British by bringing the subject up in a preliminary meeting, before Clarendon and Cowley had got their act together on precisely defining what they wished to achieve for the tribesmen. When it became clear that no support would be forthcoming from the French on the issue, the British had no alternative but to back down and the subject was taken off the agenda.
Very little was going through 'on the nod'. Clarendon's early perceptive assessment was that Orlov would fight his corner on any proposals outside the broad brush principles of the four points, and that Clarendon's chances of getting the British proposals included in the final treaty would depend on whether or not the French decided to support them. After Buol's initiative had put paid to the Caucasus proposal, the Austrians became increasingly less influential and were to suffer several reverses, including a robust attack from Cavour charging them with upsetting the political balance in Italy. Buol protested that this was outside the terms of reference of the Congress; he could not use the same argument against Orlov's bid to hang on to Bessarabia as a rider to the Danube Free Navigation provisions - Point Two.
Most of the provisions proposed for the Danube were uncontroversial. The agreed plan was for a Commission to be established with equal membership from the
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