Chapter XXXV, of Cassells Illustrated History of England, Volume 8 page 2

The French on guard in Sebastopol, on the 28th of February, saw a boat, bearing a flag of truce, push off from the north side. A second boat from the south rowed out to meet the enemy, and there, in the great harbour of Sebastopol, within sight of the river forts and of the topmasts of the sunken ships, a Russian officer told a French officer that the Governments sitting in Paris, London, and St. Petersburg had just agreed to a suspension of hostilities. The news of this important incident had reached first the Russian commander in the Crimea, and he had immediately passed it on to the allies. In the course of the day the French and English generals were officially informed of the fact by their Governments. The next day the chiefs of the staffs of the three armies - General Martimprey, General Windham, and Colonel Petikti - met General Timovief at the Bridge of Traktir on the Tchernaya, and there these officers debated the limits which it would be desirable to fix as military frontiers. While this was in progress, the officers of the allied armies rode over the river and up the hills as far as the Russian videttes would allow them. Although hostilities were suspended from that day until the 31st of March, the military boundaries were not decided on until the 14th of March, nor finally settled until the 16th. The line of demarcation ran up the Tchernaya as far as the bridge of Traktir, thence it struck north-eastward along the summits of the mountain range to the north of Tchorgoun, and between the sources of the Belbek and Tchernaya. Before Kertch, the line ran from Cape Bournou to the Bay of Kazantip, in the Sea of Azoff. At Eupatoria, the allies claimed and obtained a wide sweep, including the salt lakes; and at Kinburn their outposts extended five or six miles to the south of the fortress from the sea to the estuary of the Dnieper. Thus, just as the weather was becoming suitable for field operations, the diplomatists managed to chain up the armies, and having got the representatives of the belligerents round a table at Paris, they contrived to bring all parties to an agreement, and bring about a peace. How that was accomplished we have now to learn.