772 



TURKEY 



This declaration was made on September 17, 1840, 

 in the protocol for the pacification of the Levant, 

 and again August 3, 1860, in regard to the pacifica- 

 tion of Syria. 



3. The basis of pacification proposed to the Porte 

 on the 21st of September, viz. : (a) The status quo, 

 speaking roughly, both as regards Servia and Mon- 

 tenegro, (b) That the Porte should simultaneously 

 undertake, in a protocol to be signed at Constanti- 

 nople, with the representatives of the mediating 

 powers, to grant to Bosnia and Herzegovina a sys- 

 tem of local or administrative autonomy ; by which 

 is to be understood a system of local institutions 

 which shall give the population some control over 

 their own local affairs, and guarantees against the 

 exercise of arbitrary authority. There is to be no 

 question of the creation of a tributary state. Guar- 

 antees of a similar kind to be also provided against 

 maladministration in Bulgaria. The reforms al- 

 ready agreed to by the Porte in the note addressed 

 to the representatives of the powers on the 13th of 

 February last, to be included in the administrative 

 arrangements for Bosnia and the Herzegovina, and, 

 so far as they may be applicable, for Bulgaria. 

 Her Majesty's Government desire that your Excel- 

 lency should propose to the Government to which 

 you are accredited a conference on these bases ; and 

 you may state that, if this proposal meets with 

 general acceptance, her Majesty's Government will 

 lose no time in appointing a special embassador to 

 proceed to Constantinople to take part in the con- 

 ference. If the other powers thought it advisable, 

 her Majesty's Government would not object to their 

 plenipotentiaries joining in preliminary discussions 

 witli the plenipotentiaries of the other five guaran- 

 teeing ppworsj before the opening of the conference. 

 These discussions to be on the same bases as those 

 proposed for the conference. 



The answers of the great powers to this 

 note were all favorable, Russia being the first 

 to accept the conference, by a note of Novem- 

 ber 7th from Prince Gortchakoff to Count 

 Schuvaloff, the Russian ernbassador in London. 

 Turkey alone held out for some time, but was 

 finally induced by England to consent to it. 

 The desire of Earl Derby that the powers 

 should send special envoys to the conference, 

 besides their regular embassadors, was not 

 complied with by all. Germany, Russia, and 

 Italy, considered their embassadors as suffi- 

 cient. Austria, however, represented by Count 

 Zichy, sent, in addition, Baron Calice ; France, 

 represented by Count Bourgoing, sent Count 

 Chaudordy ; Turkey recalled Edhem Pasha, 

 its embassador in Berlin, to assist Savfet 

 Pasha ; and England sent the Marquis of Salis- 

 bury to assist Sir Henry Elliot. Lord Salis- 

 bury, who set out from London on November 

 20th, stopped on his way at Paris, Berlin, Vi- 

 enna, and Rome, and arrived at Constantinople 

 on December 5th. At all of these capitals he 

 had conferences with the leading statesmen. 

 Immediately after his arrival in Constantinople 

 Lord Salisbury entered into communication 

 with the Porte and with the embassadors of the 

 other powers, but into particularly intimate re- 

 lations with General Ignatieff, the Russian em- 

 bassador. On December llth the representa- 

 tives of the six great powers of Europe met in 

 a salon of the palace of the Russian embassy 

 for a preliminary consultation, and on the fol- 

 lowing day the preliminary conference was 



formally opened with the exclusion of the 

 Turkish representatives. The preliminary con- 

 ference came to an end on December 21st ; and 

 General Ignatieff, in informing the Porte of 

 the fact, invited it to send its representatives 

 to the definite conference, which was to begin 

 its sessions on December 23d. The result of 

 the preliminary conference had been that the 

 powers had agreed to restore the status quo 

 in Servia and Montenegro ; but, to prevent 

 needless quarrels in future, Lesser Zvornik 

 was to be annexed to Servia. Montenegro 

 was also to receive an addition to its territory 

 by the corners of Herzegovina protruding into 

 Montenegro at Trebigne and Nicsic, and a strip 

 of land connecting it with the coast, with a 

 port. A detailed plan had also been proposed 

 to secure the political autonomy of Bulgaria, 

 which was, however, so disadvantageous to 

 the Porte, that the latter considered itself 

 forced to reject the proposition. A weak 

 point of the conference appeared, even before 

 the preliminary conference had met. This 

 was, that it intended to consider the condi- 

 tion of the Slavic Christians only, while the 

 other Christians and the Jews were not taken 

 into consideration at all. This fact aroused 

 great commotion among the Greek subjects of 

 Turkey. They were particularly opposed to 

 the creation of the two vilayets of Bulgaria, 

 as proposed by the conference, the western 

 vilayet encroaching upon territory which ori- 

 ginally belonged to the Hellenic tribe. In 

 Roumania, Prince Charles, in opening the 

 Chambers in November, made a decidedly 

 peaceful speech, advocating strict neutrality, 

 and the addresses of both Houses were ani- 

 mated by the same spirit. But they immedi- 

 ately granted the demand of the Government 

 for a credit of four millions to keep the army 

 on a war-footing up to the end of the year, and 

 without opposition adopted laws which pro- 

 vided for exigencies in case of war. On the 

 Danube the Government erected fortifications 

 to guard against a sudden attack of the Turks, 

 while troops were concentrated at the most 

 important crossing-places. The Roumanian 

 statesmen now demanded that Ronmania 

 should be declared an independent neutral 

 state, under the guarantee of the great powers, 

 like Belgium and Switzerland. As long as 

 this was not done, it would always be forced, 

 in case of a conflict, to ally itself with a power 

 which could protect it. Demeter Bratiano, 

 the brother of the President of the Ministry, 

 was sent to the conference as the Roumanian 

 representative, with instructions to present 

 these views. In Servia, the Ristitch ministry 

 on several occasions handed in their resigna- 

 tions, but had been induced to retain their 

 offices. When the conference assembled, Prince 

 Milan addressed himself to General Ignatieff, 

 requesting him to propose the representation 

 of Servia in the conference. This request 

 remained unanswered. The Jews, who were 

 rather better situated in Turkey than the 



