In 1870 Western Europe was startled by Prince Gortchakoff’s declaration that the Black Sea clauses of the Treaty of Paris, 1856, were null and void. “He declared it would no longer be submitted to by his Imperial master.”[73] England naturally felt very indignant, but was practically helpless, as she was unable to get any ally from among the Western Powers, and she felt unable to cope singly with Russia. The Government were perplexed, and the Premier, Mr. W. E. Gladstone, sent Lord Odo Russell to the German Chancellor to ask his advice on the subject, and to inform him that “the question was of such a nature that England, with or without allies, would have to go to war with Russia.” Prince Bismarck, who was afraid of a Franco-Russian alliance, and wished to conciliate the Russian Emperor, recommended that a conference should be held in St. Petersburg. The English Government objected to this, so a Conference was held in London where the following provisions were agreed to:— “Article I. Articles XI., XIII., and XIV., of the Treaty of Paris, 1856, are abrogated. “Article II. The principle of the closing of the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus is maintained, with power to his Imperial Majesty the Sultan to open the said Straits in time of peace to the vessels of war of friendly and allied Powers, in case the Sublime Porte should judge it necessary in order to secure the execution of the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris. “Article III. The Black Sea remains, as heretofore, open to the mercantile marine of all nations. “Article IV. The Commission managing the navigation of the Danube “is maintained in its present composition” for a further period of twelve years. “Article VIII. The high contracting parties renew and confirm all the stipulations of 1856, which are not annulled or modified by the present treaty.” This treaty resulted in what Russia wished, viz., the opening of the Black Sea to Russian war ships—a right which she had held previous to the Crimean War. Mr. Disraeli (afterwards Lord Beaconsfield) vigorously attacked the Gladstonian policy by saying that “the neutral character of the Black Sea is the essence of the Treaty of Paris, and that that, in fact, was the question for which we had struggled and made great sacrifice and endured these sufferings which never can be forgotten,” and the “point upon which the negotiations for peace (at Vienna, 1855) was broken off was the neutral character of the Black Sea.”[74]