Page:Russian Realities and Problems - ed. James Duff (1917).djvu/20

 very long time, and, even at the most important moment of that development and economical expansion, permitted the Germans to divert her attention from the Near East to the Far East, just as you permitted Germany to take Heligoland from you when she was on the eve of building her huge fleet. We were both taken unawares. In 1878, while prosecuting her traditional policy in the Balkans, Russia liberated Bulgaria, in harmony with Gladstone and in opposition to Beaconsfield. But what did she gain for herself while doing this? We are now informed, owing to revelations from the family archives of the Austrian statesman, Count Julius Andrassy, that, before going to war, Russia, in the first place, by the secret treaty of Reichstadt, of the 26th of June, 1876, and by secret conventions of the 6th of March, 1877, handed Bosnia and Herzegovina over to Austria-Hungary, to be annexed whenever she liked without recourse to arms. In the second place, Russia formally renounced all claims to Constantinople and control over the Dardanelles, and all claims, to an exclusive protectorate over the Christian nationalities in the Balkans. Thirdly, and finally, after her victories over the Turks, victories which cost her hundreds of thousands of lives, Russia submitted to Austria her preliminary draft for the armistice in the beginning of January, 1878. She conformed her claims to the "Observations" formulated by the Emperor Francis Joseph, and she reduced her demands on Turkey to which Turkey had consented in the preliminary treaty of San Stefano. I do not mean to say that all this was done without hesitation and protest, but such was the leading policy of the then