252 



EASTERN QUESTION". 



EASTERtf QUESTION". The negotiations 

 between Russia and Turkey (see TUEKEY) for 

 armistice and peace created considerable ex- 

 citement and alarm throughout Europe, nota- 

 bly in England and Austria. The delay which 

 took place in the negotiations after they were 

 begun became a source of suspicion, especially 

 as the Russians continued to advance their lines 

 upon Constantinople and the shores of the Sea 

 of Marmora. Similar declarations were made 

 in the middle of January by the British and 

 Austrian Governments, both at St. Petersburg 

 and Constantinople, that they would not recog- 

 nize conditions of peace in contravention of 

 the terms of the treaty of Paris in which Eu- 

 rope did not participate. The Russians an- 

 swered that all points in the treaty which were 

 of European concern would be submitted to a 

 review by the Powers ; while the Turks seemed 

 to have no longer any will of their own, but 

 to have thrown themselves entirely into the 

 arms of the Russians. 



In the mean while a joint conference of all 

 the Powers had come to be regarded as highly 

 desirable, particularly in England and Austria ; 

 and it was understood that Count Andrassy, 

 the Austrian Chancellor, had taken steps in 

 this direction. On February 3d a formal in- 

 vitation to the conference was sent by Count 

 Andrassy to all the signatories of the treaty of 

 Paris, which was immediately accepted by all. 

 Vienna was proposed as the place of the con- 



ference, although Russia preferred one of the 

 smaller capitals, and in the end refused to ap- 

 prove Vienna as the seat of the conference. 

 No time was fixed for the meeting, and the 

 question as to whether and how far the other 

 belligerents Roumania, Servia, and Montene- 

 gro were to be represented and take part in 

 the discussions, was reserved for decision by 

 the conference itself. As to the place of meet- 

 ing, it was subsequently decided to select Ba- 

 den-Baden, but finally this was changed to 

 Berlin. 



A question arose during the negotiations 

 whether the meeting should be a conference 

 of the representative members of the cabinets 

 of the different Powers, or a congress of pleni- 

 potentiaries specially appointed for the purpose. 

 While England favored a conference, the plan 

 for a congress emanated from Russia, An ob- 

 jection was made by France, which, although it 

 had accepted the invitation to the conference, 

 feared that in such a conference of the Powers 

 other questions besides the Eastern might be 

 discussed, and that all recent territorial changes 

 might be sanctioned, and against this possibil- 

 ity it protested. Serious complications threat- 

 ened to occur in March between Austria and 

 England on the one hand and Russia on the 

 other, arising from the demand made by Eng- 

 land, and supported by Austria, that Russia 

 should submit the entire treaty of San Stefano 

 (see TCEKEY) to the Congress. This demand 



