EASTERN QUESTION. 



255 



the other Christian provinces resting under the do- 

 minion of the Porte. 



9. In so fur as the war indemnity is concerned, his 

 Majesty the Emperor has never had the intention of 

 converting it into territorial annexations, and he does 

 not refuse to give assurances in this respect. It is 

 understood that the war indemnity will not deprive 

 the English Government of its rights as creditor, 

 and it will in this respect remain in the same state 

 that it stood before the war. Without contesting 

 the final decision which Russia will take with respect 

 to the amount of the indemnity, England reserves 

 to herself to point out to the Congress the serious 

 objections which she sees to it. 



10. As to the valley of Alashkert and the town of 

 Bayazid, that valley being the great transit route for 

 Persia, and having an immense value in the eyes of 

 the Turks, his Majesty the Emperor consents to re- 

 store it to them ; but he has demanded and obtained 

 in exchange the cession to Persia of the little terri- 

 tory of Kootoor, which the Commissioners of the two 

 mediatory courts have found just to restore to the 

 Shah. 



11. The Government of her Britannic Majesty 

 would have to express its profound regret in the 

 event of Russia insisting definitively upon the retro- 

 cession of Bessarabia. As, however, it is sufficiently 

 established that the other signatories to the treaty 

 of Paris are not ready to sustain by arms the delimi- 

 tation of Roumania stipulated in that treaty, England 

 does not find herself sufficiently interested in this 

 question to be authorized to incur alone the respon- 

 sibility of opposing herself to the change proposed, 

 and thus she binds herself not to dispute the decision 

 in this sense. In consenting not to contest the de- 

 sire of the Emperor of Russia to occupy the port of 

 Batoum and to guard his conquests in Armenia, the 

 Government of her Majesty do not hide from them- 

 selves that grave dangers, menacing the tranquillity 

 of the populations of Turkey in Asia, may result in 

 the future by this extension of the Russian frontier. 

 But her Majesty's Government are of opinion that 

 the duty of protecting the Ottoman Empire from 

 this dangerj which henceforth will rest largely (d>une 

 mesure spectale} upon England, can be effected with- 

 out exposing Europe to the calamities of a fresh war. 

 At the s ime time the Government of the Queen take 

 cognizance of the assurance given by his Imperial 

 Majesty that in the future the Russian frontier will 

 be no more extended on the side of Turkey in Asia. 

 Her Majesty's Government, being consequently of 

 opinion that the modifications of the treaty of San 

 Stefano approved in this memorandum suffice to 

 mitigate the objections that they find in the treaty 

 in its actual form, engage themselves not to dispute 

 the articles of the preliminary treaty of San Stefano 

 which are not modified by the ten preceding points 

 if, after the articles have been duty discussed in Con- 

 gress, Russia persists in maintaining them. 



It may be that during the discussions in Congress 

 the two Governments may find it preferable to intro- 

 duce of a common accord fresh modifications which 

 it would be impossible to foresee ; but, if the under- 

 standing respecting these new modifications be not 

 established between the Russian and English pleni- 

 potentiaries, the present memorandum is destined 

 to serve as a mutual engagement in Congress for the 

 plenipotentiaries of Russia and Great Britain. 



The second memorandum formed an annex 

 to the first, and was signed by both plenipo- 

 tentiaries on the same date. It was as fol- 

 lows : 



Besides the stipulations of the preceding memo- 

 randum, the British Government reserve to thejn- 

 selves to point out to the Congress the following 

 points : 



(a.) The English Government reserve to them- 

 selves to demand of the Congress the participation 



of Europe in the administrative organization of the 

 two Bulgarian provinces. 



(b.) The English Government will discuss in Con- 

 gress the duration and the nature of the Russian 

 occupation of Bulgaria and of the passage through 

 Roumania. 



(<?.) The name to be given to the southern prov- 

 ince. 



(d.) Without touching on the territorial question,, 

 the British Government reserve to themselves to dis-' 

 cuss the question of the navigation of the Danube, 

 in which matter England has rights by treaty. 



(e.^ The English Government reserve to themselves 

 to discuss in Congress all questions relative to the 

 Straits. But the Russian Ambassador at London 

 takes cognizance of the verbal communication which 

 he has made to the Principal Secretary of State 

 that is to say, the Imperial Cabinet stands by 

 the declaration of Lord Derby of the 6th of May, 

 1877, and notably : " The existing arrangements 

 made under European sanction which regulate the 

 navigation of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles 

 appear to them (the British Government) wise and 

 salutary, and there would be, in their judgment, 

 serious objections to their alteration in any material 

 particular." And the Russian plenipotentiary will 

 insist at the Congress on the status quo. 



(f.) The English Government will address to his 

 Majesty the Sultan a request to promise Europe to 

 protect equally on Mount Athos the monks of other 

 nationalities. 



This agreement having been arrived at by 

 the two Powers on whom the assembling of 

 the Congress virtually depended, all obstacles 

 to the Congress were removed, and in the first 

 days of June the German Government, which 

 apparently had been kept advised of all the 

 steps taken, addressed an invitation to all the 

 Powers to meet in Congress at Berlin on June 

 13th. The terms of the invitation, as sent to 

 the Austro-Hungarian Government, were as fol- 

 lows : 



Pursuing the initiative taken by the Austro-Hun- 

 garian Cabinet, the Imperial German Government 

 has the honor to propose to the signatory Powers of 

 the treaties of 1856 and 1871 to assemble in Con- 

 gress at Berlin in order to discuss the stipulations 

 of the preliminary treaty concluded between Russia 

 and Turkey at San Stefano. While addressing this 

 invitation to the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hun- 

 garian Government, the Government of his Majesty 

 supposes that the Imperial and Royal Government, 

 in accepting the invitation, consents to allow free 

 discussion of the contents of the ti-eaty of San Ste 

 fano in their totality, and that it is ready to take 

 part in it. In case of acceptance by all the Powers 

 invited, the Government of his Majesty proposes to 

 fix the meeting of the Congress for the 13th of June. 



In accordance with this invitation, the rep- 

 resentatives of the various Powers assembled 

 in Berlin on June 13th, excepting the special 

 Turkish plenipotentiaries, who, having been 

 detained by a storm in the Black Sea, did not 

 reach Berlin in time. The plenipotentiaries 

 representing the various Powers were as fol- 

 lows : Germany Prince Bismarck, Under-Sec- 

 retary of State Von Billow, and Prince Hohen- 

 lohe - Schillingsf iirst, Ambassador in Paris ; 

 Great Britain Lord Beaconsfield, Lord Salis- 

 bury, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 

 and Lord Odo Russell, Ambassador in Berlin ; 

 Russia Prince Gortchakoff, Count Shuvaloff, 

 and Baron d'Oubril, Ambassador in Berlin; 



