preliminary Conference at which Turkey would be represented. The
result was a declaration expressing formal disapproval of the violation
of the Treaty of Berlin, and a hope that all parties concerned would
keep the peace. This mild protest very inadequately reflected the
character of the discussions which had been going on between the several
Courts. Russia, it is known, wished to fasten the blame for the
revolution on Prince Alexander; but all public censure was vetoed
by England.

Probably her action was as effective in still weightier matters. A
formal Conference of the ambassadors of the Powers met at Constantinople
on November 5; and there again Sir William White, acting on instructions
from Lord Salisbury, defended the Bulgarian cause, and sought to bring
about a friendly understanding between the Porte and "a people occupying
so important a position in the Sultan's dominions." Lord Salisbury also
warned the Turkish ambassador in London that if Turkey sought to expel
Prince Alexander from Eastern Roumelia, she would "be making herself the
instrument of those who desired the fall of the Ottoman Empire[201]."

[Footnote 201: Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 1 (1886), pp. 214-215. See,
too, _ibid_. pp. 197 _et seq_. for Lord Salisbury's instructions to Sir
William White for the Conference. In view of them it is needless to
waste space in refuting the arguments of the Russophil A.G. Drandar,
_op. cit._ p. 147, that England sought to make war between the
Balkan States.]

This reference to the insidious means used by Russia for bringing the
Turks to a state of tutelage, as a preliminary to partition, was an
effective reminder of the humiliations which they had undergone at the
hands of Russia by the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi (1833). France also
showed no disposition to join the Russian and Austrian demand that the
Sultan should at once re-establish the _status quo_; and by degrees the
more intelligent Turks came to see that a strong Bulgaria, independent
of Russian control, might be an additional safeguard against the
Colossus of the North. Russia's insistence on the exact fulfilment of
the Treaty of Berlin helped to open their eyes, and lent force to Sir
William White's arguments as to the need of strengthening that treaty by
"introducing into it a timely improvement[202]."

[Footnote 202: _Ibid_. pp. 273-274, 288, for Russia's policy; p. 284 for
Sir W. White's argument.]

Owing to the opposition offered by Great Britain