Note 81 — PART II. THE EASTERN QUESTION.

“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).