EASTERN QUESTION, THE. 



225 



for the execution of the unperformed parts of 

 the Treaty of Berlin, which Lord Granville's 

 circular on assuming office had indicated as 

 the immediate object to be aimed at by the 

 friends of international peace. Two main 

 questions were to be settled. The Porte had 

 not given effect to any of the numerous com- 

 promises suggested for solving the Montenegrin 

 frontier difficulty, on the pretense that the op- 

 position of the Albanians made it impossible 

 to execute the transfer of territory acknowl- 

 edged in principle to be a part of the settle- 

 ment imposed by the treaty ; and had all along 

 refused to accept as binding the recommenda- 

 tion of the protocol adopted at Berlin, that a 

 large part of Thessaly and Epirus should be 

 ceded to Greece. Both questions were taken 

 in hand by the powers shortly after the change 

 of ministry in England. On June 12th the 

 representatives of the great powers at Con- 

 stantinople handed to the Porte the following 

 identical note, which bears date of June llth : 



M. LE MINISTRE: The delay which has occurred 

 in the execution of certain of the provisions of the 

 Treaty of Berlin has led to an interchange of views 

 between the signatory powers. The result of this 

 step has been the recognition on their part that it is 

 an object of European interest that an end should be 

 put to this delay, and the conclusion that the union 

 of their efforts would be the surest means of securing 

 the objects aimed at by the act of the 13th of July, 

 1878. 



Convinced of this twofold necessity, and in com- 

 plete agreement with the Cabinets of Berlin, Vienna, 

 Paris, Rome, and St. Petersburg, her Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment have instructed me to acquaint 'your Excel- 

 lency with the point of view from which they look at 

 the various questions raised by the non-execution of 

 certain clauses of the Treaty oi' Berlin. 

 VOL. xx. 15 A 



As regards the rectification of the Turco-Greek 

 boundary, the Porte has for some time had before it a 

 proposal made by the Marquis of Salisbury, which 

 had received the assent of the other powers*, that an 

 international commission should proceed to the frontier 

 provinces to determine this rectification. 



Although the Government of the Sultan have 

 pointed out the difficulty which might be encountered 

 by such a commission in the execution of the arrange- 

 ment to which they were asked to agree, they have not 

 yet given a definite reply. The mediating powers have 

 consequently found themselves under the necessity 

 of treating this silence as a refusal, and they have been 

 obliged, as the next step, to consider the means by 

 which the solution of the Greco-Turkish frontier ques- 

 tion a solution which the powers had in vain tried 

 to arrive at in concert with the Sublime Porte, and 

 which the interests both of Turkey and of Greece re- 

 quiremight now be secured as speedily as possible. 



They have accordingly decided that their repre- 

 sentatives at the court of his Imperial Majesty the 

 German Emperor should meet in conference at Berlin 

 on the 16th inst., in order to decide by a majority of 

 votes, and with the assistance of officers possessed of 

 the necessary technical knowledge, the line of frontier 

 it will be best to adopt. 



They have likewise agreed that, when a decision 

 shall have been come to by the conference, a commis- 

 sion may proceed to the frontier to settle the questions 

 of detail arising out of the general plan. 



The state of things created in another quarter by 

 the question of the Montenegrin frontier requires, in 

 the opinion of the powers, more pressing attention 

 and an immediate solution. 



The Turkish authorities have failed to carry out 

 the engagement entered into between the Porte and 

 Montenegro, and adhered to by the representatives of 

 the powers in the protocol of the 18th of April, 1880. 

 They have compromised the agreement accepted by 

 his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, by allowing the 

 Albanians to occupy certain frontier positions assigned 

 to the Montenegrins, and a collision may at any time 

 occur between the Montenegrins and the Albanian 

 forces opposed to them. 



The powers, therefore, consider themselves abso- 



