“The objections of detail taken by the English Cabinet to the Berlin Memorandum were at once met by Prince Bismarck by the declaration that these points were entirely ‘open to discussion, that they might be modified according to circumstances, and that he, for one, would willingly entertain any improvement which Her Majesty’s Government might have to propose.’... France implored Her Majesty’s Government to reconsider its decision, and declared that persistence in it would, at such a momentous crisis, be nothing short of a ‘public calamity.’ She ‘could not conceal the apprehensions for the future to which this refusal have given rise.’ Italy did the same. The position was, that England objected to everything proposed by others, and had nothing to propose herself. Continued trust in the Turks was her only suggestion” (The Duke of Argyll’s “The Eastern Question,” vol. i. pp. 202, 203). Footnote 81: “At the first meeting of the Congress (June 13, 1878) Lord Beaconsfield made his concerted objection to the advanced position of the Russian troops at the gates of Constantinople. Count Schouvaloff replied that this advanced position had been taken up by the Russian army in consequence of the entry of the English fleet into the Bosphorus. Prince Bismarck, the President of the Congress, expressed himself satisfied with the Russian reply” (The Duke of Argyll’s “The Eastern Question,” vol. ii. p. 144). Footnote 82: “Truth about Russia,” p. 282. Footnote 83: Lord Beaconsfield’s speech, April 8, 1878. Footnote 84: “The topics regulated by the three Treaties of Paris, London, and Berlin are:— “(i.) The admission of the Porte to the concert of Europe (P. Art. 7). “(ii.) The agreement as to resort to mediation (P. 8). “(iii.) Religious equality in Turkey (P. 9; B. 62). “(iv.) The navigation of the Straits (P. 10; L. 2). “(v.) The navigation of the Black Sea (P. 12; L. 3). “(vi.) The navigation of the Danube (P. 13–19; L. 4–7; B. 52–57; L. 1883). “(vii.) Roumania (B. 43–51). “(viii.) Servia (B. 34, 40–42). “(ix.) Montenegro (B. 26–31, 33). “(x.) Bulgaria (B. 1–12). “(xi.) Eastern Roumelia (B. 13–21). “(xii.) Bosnia and Herzegovina (B. 25). “(xiii.) Other European provinces (B. 23). “(xiv.) The Armenian provinces (B. 61). “(xv.) Cessions to Greece (B. 24; Cons. of 1881). “(xvi.) The Russian boundaries (B. 45, 58–60). “(xvii.) The Persian boundary (B. 60).” (Holland’s “European Concert in the Eastern Question”). Footnote 85: In the House of Lords, July 18, 1878. Footnote 86: See Holland’s “European Concert in the Eastern Question.” Footnote 87: At the ninth meeting of the Congress “the Greek delegates asked the Congress to sanction the annexation to the Hellenic Kingdom of the island of Crete, and the province of Thessaly and Epirus” (The Duke of Argyll’s “The Eastern Question,” vol. ii. p. 167). Footnote 88: