64 RUSSIA, TURKEY, AND BULGARIA. 



worse than before the Allies of the Sultan had made such 

 generous and costly sacrifices for his cause, and that up to this 

 moment no bona fide eflFort has been made by the Porte to 

 secure the faithful execution of the late Hatti — Sheriff." 

 In a despatch from Lord John Russell to Sir Henry Bulwer, 

 August 25th, i860, his Lordship declares : — 



" You must not be surprised that such feelings should be excited, 

 and such reflections made ; nor would it be of any use to con- 

 ceal from the Porte that either the whole system of Ottoman 

 Government must be replaced by one founded on integrity and 

 justice, or the Sultan must prepare himself for the abandonment 

 of his cause by his best and most persevering Allies." 

 In a despatch of the Earl of Derby to the Marquis of Salisbury, 

 the Plenipotentiary of England at the Conference at Constantinople, 

 November ist, 1876, his Lordship declares : — 



"The whole history of the Ottoman Empire, since it was admitted 



into the European concert under the engagements of the Treaty 



of Paris, has proved that the Porte is unable to guarantee the 



execution of reforms in the Provinces by Turkish officials, who 



accept them with reluctance, and neglect them with impunity." 



In the summer of 1875 the insurrection broke out in Bosnia. 



Prior to the outbreak the Bosnians had been doing what they 



could to obtain a redress of their wrongs, but in vain, for in 



the autumn of 1873 a memorial was presented to the Austrian 



Government by a number of the inhabitants of Bosnia, praying, 



among other things, "That an impartial Commission, composed 



partly of Christian subjects of the Sultan, should be sent from 



Constantinople, for the purpose of inquiry into the state of Christians 



in Bosnia; and that this Commission should carry on its labours 



with the support of the signatory Powers to the Treaty of Paris." 



Earl Granville was Foreign Secretary at the above date, and he 

 wrote to Sir H. Elliot, asking for further information. In the spring 

 of 1874 Mr. Disraeli's Government came into power, and the matter 

 thus passed into other hands ; but one thing is certain, the needed 

 reforms were not carried out, and in the summer of 1875 the 

 population of Bosnia, and also of Herzegovina, broke out into 

 insurrection. 



The late Lord Russell gave his solution of the Eastern Question 

 at that time with remarkable clearness in a letter to Lord Granville, 

 in which he pointed out the necessity to give some form of inde- 

 pendent Government to the disaffected Provinces of the Turkish 



