THE ARRIVAL  OF  RUSSIA	19
tion on the Black Sea for Russian ships was emphatically
refused. The Turkish Government asserted that no foreign
vessel should ever sail "the virgin waters of the Black Sea,"
and, in the face of the intruder, recalled that this rule had
been religiously observed in the past. The negotiations
failed; the Turks still maintained that Russian ships should
not sail out of the Sea of Azof, and that Russian goods
destined for Constantinople should cross the Black Sea in
Turkish bottoms.^1 Peter's diplomatic failure was followed
by his military defeat in a renewal of the war and ten years
later (1710) he was forced to surrender his former conquest
on the Black Sea, by the Treaty of Pruth, 1711.^2
A further barrier against the on-coming Russian was
erected by Turkey, seconded by France, in the Treaty
of Belgrade, 1739. This provided for the destruction of
the Russian forts of Azof and forbade Russia to maintain
or construct a fleet or other ships in the Sea of Azof or in
the Black Sea,^3 and it repeated the rule that all Russian com-
merce on the Black Sea should be in Turkish ships.^4 This
attempt at Russian disarmament, significant in the light of
later history, was naturally resented by Russia in proportion
as its economic and military development carried it to the
shores of the Black Sea.
It was left for Catherine II finally to conquer the Black
Sea coastlands for Russia. Although her ambition to divide
^•Mischef, op. cit., Chapter I. Goriainow, Le Bosphore et les
Dardanelles, p. 2. The same principle was applied to Austria, by the
Treaty of Passarowitz, 1718. See above.
^2	Articles i and 2. Dumont, Corps diplomatique du droit des gens,
Vol. 8, Pt. I, p. 275.
^3	Article 3, Noradounghian, op. cit.) Vol. I, p. 258, at 260.
^4	Article 9, ibid., p. 262.  France objected to free navigation on the
Black Sea, fearing a rival in the Mediterranean, and stimulated Turkish
opposition. Cf. Beer, Orientalische Politik Oesterreicbs, p. 17.