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extreme aversion, and the Grand Vizier has sent to me to express his earnest desire that Her Majesty's Government would make known to him the measures which it is intended to propose to the Porte for the administration of the insurgent Provinces.

He says that if he knew what the Powers proposed to ask, it might very likely be possible for the Porte to grant all, and perhaps more than was demanded, and thus render unnecessary the Conference which it looked forward to with so much dread.

I replied that it had been decided that there must be a Conference, with the general bases of which he was already acquainted.

These should satisfy him that the Porte might agree to the proposal without danger, and I hoped no further time would be lost in signifying its acceptance, I have, &c.,

The Earl of Derby.

HENRY ELLIOT.

No. 1061.-Sir H. Elliot to the Earl of Derby.-(Rec. November 27.)
MY LORD,
Constantinople, November 17, 1876.

I WENT to the Porte two days ago, where I met the Grand Vizier, Midhat Pasha, and Safvet Pasha, upon whom I strongly urged the necessity of at once accepting the proposed Conference.

I need not repeat the arguments I used, but I left them satisfied that they would give way, and signify their acceptance.

The question was submitted the next day to the Council of Ministers, which was in favour of the acceptation, but said that it must be submitted to the Sultan.

His Majesty consequently presided over a Council, at which the opinion was again favourable, but coupled with a decision that it must be referred to a Grand Council, which, to-day being Friday, cannot be held till to-morrow.

I am, however, assured that there is no doubt of the decision being the same as that arrived at by the Ministerial Council.

I this morning sent to Savfet Pasha the substance of your Lordship's telegram of yesterday, and he has promised that by to-morrow afternoon the final decision shall be taken.

The Earl of Derby.

I have, &c.,

HENRY ELLIOT.

No. 1069.-The Earl of Derby to Lord A. Loftus. MY LORD, Foreign Office, November 28, 1876. HER Majesty's Government approve the official note addressed by your Excellency to Prince Gortchakow, a copy of which is inclosed in your despatch of the 17th instant, embodying the proposals for a Conference contained in my despatch of the 4th instant. I am, &c.,

Lord A. Loftus.

DERBY.

No. 1070.-The Earl of Derby to Lord A. Loftus.

MY LORD, Foreign Office, November 28, 1876. HER Majesty's Government approve the Memorandum in which your Excellency communicated to Prince Gortchakow their proposals and basis for a Conference, and of which a copy is inclosed in your despatch of the 5th instant.

Lord A. Loftus.

SIR,

I am, &c.,

No. 1072.-The Earl of Derby to Sir H. Elliot.

DERBY.

Foreign Office, November 29, 1876. YOUR Excellency's despatch of the 8th instant has been received and laid before the Queen; and I have to state to you that Her Majesty's Government approve the language which you held to Safvet Pasha, in answer to the objections brought forward by that Minister to the meeting of a Conference.

Sir H. Elliot.

I am, &c.,

DERBY.

No. 1083.-Sir H. Elliot to the Earl of Derby.-(Rec. December 4.) MY LORD, Constantinople, November 23, 1876. THE first question likely to arise upon the arrival of the Marquis of Salisbury will relate to the character to be given to the preliminary meetings of the foreign Representatives.

I have informed your Lordsbip by telegraph of the fear entertained by Safvet Pasha that resolutions might be adopted at those meetings to be merely submitted afterwards to the Conference for its ratification.

This is, unquestionably, the aim of the Russian Ambassador, who would thus practically attain the original wish of his Government for a Conference of the Christian Powers to decide upon arrangements to be imposed upon the Porte.

General Ignatiew, at a meeting of his colleagues this afternoon, spoke of the necessity of making an arrangement for recording formally what passed at those preliminary meetings, with a view to the avoidance of future misunderstandings.

I said that, till the arrival of the instructions which Lord Salisbury would bring, I should have no information enabling me to judge whether Her Majesty's Government intended the meetings in question to be of the formal nature he seemed to anticipate.

The anxiety of the Russian Government to make it appear that whatever is done for the Christians is done by the Powers, and not by the Porte, is as marked as ever. The object is to weaken the authority of the Sultan, and to teach the populations that they have only the foreign Governments to look to for protection, which cannot be the wish of the Governments which sincerely desire the

maintenance of this Empire at the same time as the removal of the grievances which lead to discontent and insurrection.

The one broad principle upon which we can all agree is the equality of all the Sultan's subjects of whatever race or religion.

This exists in theory, but in theory alone, already, and our object must be to remove the disqualifications under which the Christians still labour.

The acceptance of Christian evidence in all causes in which Christians are interested; the participation of Christian Judges in mixed cases; the immediate admission of Christians into the police force, and their gradual incorporation into the army; and the employment of a fair proportion of Christians in all offices of the Central, and still more of the Provincial Administrations,-are the principal measures required.

The Porte should make known to the Powers the manner in which it proposes to carry these measures out, and it will be for the Conference to examine how far the proposals seem calculated to attain the object.

The grievances to be removed exist in all parts of European Turkey, and the remedies must be applied to all alike, unless the seeds of future insurrections are to be sown in other provinces, which are entitled to equal consideration, but which, not being Slav, are regarded with indifference by Russia.

I have, &c.,

The Earl of Derby.

HENRY ELLIOT.

[The first preliminary meeting of the Plenipotentiaries was held at Constantinople on the 11th December, 1876.]

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Mr. Mathew to the Earl of Sept. 4 Oct. 2 Reports action taken on

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Page

343

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Nov. 8 Nov. 30 Transport in French and

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Lord Lyons to the Earl of Dec. 24 Dec. 27 Slave Trade under French
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flag on East Coast
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GERMANY.

Lord Odo Russell to the Earl | Dec. 6 | Dec. 12 | German vessels not alof Derby

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363

364

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