ps before Constantinople were dying like flies in autumn.
The outrages committed by them and the Bulgarians on the Moslems of
Roumelia had, as we have seen, led to a revolt in the district of Mount
Rhodope; and there was talk in some quarters of making a desperate
effort to cut off the invaders from the Danube[169]. The discontent of
the Roumanians might have been worked upon so as still further to
endanger the Russian communications. Probably the knowledge of these
plans and of the warlike preparations of Great Britain induced the
Russian Government to moderate its tone. On April 9 it expressed a wish
that Lord Salisbury would formulate a definite policy.

[Footnote 169: For these outrages, see Parl. Papers, Turkey (1878), Nos.
42 and 45, with numerous enclosures. The larger plans of the Rhodope
insurgents and their abettors at Constantinople are not fully known. An
Englishman, Sinclair, and some other free-lances were concerned in the
affair. The Rhodope district long retained a kind of independence, see
_Les Evenements politiques en Bulgarie_, by A.G. Drandar, Appendix.]

The new Foreign Minister speedily availed himself of this offer; and the
cause of peace was greatly furthered by secret negotiations which he
carried on with Count Shuvaloff. The Russian ambassador in London had
throughout bent his great abilities to a pacific solution of the
dispute, and, on finding out the real nature of the British objections
to the San Stefano Treaty, he proceeded to St. Petersburg to persuade
the Emperor to accept certain changes. In this he succeeded, and on his
return to London was able to come to an agreement with Lord Salisbury
(May 30), the chief terms of which clearly foreshadowed those finally
adopted at Berlin.

In effect they were as follows: The Beaconsfield Cabinet strongly
objected to the proposed wide extension of Bulgaria at the expense of
other nationalities, and suggested that the districts south of the
Balkans, which were peopled almost wholly by Bulgarians, should not be
wholly withdrawn from Turkish control, but "should receive a large
measure of administrative self-government . . . with a Christian
governor." To these proposals the Russian Government gave a conditional
assent. Lord Salisbury further claimed that the Sultan should have the
right "to canton troops on the frontiers of southern Bulgaria"; and that
the militia of that province should be commanded by officers appointed
by the Sultan with the con