the gulf, they were fired on from the Turkish forts. After these
amenities, the Commission finally met at Prevesa, only to have its
report shelved by the Porte (January-March 1879). Next, in answer to a
French demand for European intervention, the Turks opposed various
devices taken from the inexhaustible stock of oriental subterfuges. So
the time wore on until, in the spring of 1880, the fall of the
Beaconsfield Ministry brought about a new political situation.

The new Prime Minister, Mr. Gladstone, was known as the statesman who
had given the Ionian Isles to Greece, and who advocated the expulsion
of the Turks, "bag and baggage," from Europe. At once the despatches
from Downing Street took on a different complexion, and the substitution
of Mr. Goschen for Sir Henry Layard at Constantinople enabled the Porte
to hear the voice of the British people, undimmed by official checks. A
Conference of the Powers met at Berlin to discuss the carrying out of
their recommendations on the Greek Question, and of the terms of the
late treaty respecting Montenegro.

On this latter affair the Powers finally found it needful to make a
joint naval demonstration against the troops of the Albanian League who
sought to prevent the handing over of the seaport of Dulcigno to
Montenegro, as prescribed by the Treaty of Berlin. But, as happened
during the Concert of the Powers in the spring of 1876, a single
discordant note sufficed to impair the effect of the collective voice.
Then it was England which refused to employ any coercive measures; now
it was Austria and Germany, and finally (after the resignation of the
Waddington Ministry) France. When the Sultan heard of this discord in
the European Concert, his Moslem scruples resumed their wonted sway, and
the Albanians persisted in defying Europe.

The warships of the Powers might have continued to threaten the Albanian
coast with unshotted cannon to this day, had not the Gladstone Cabinet
proposed drastic means for bringing the Sultan to reason. The plan was
that the united fleet should steam straightway to Smyrna and land
marines for the sequestration of the customs' dues of that important
trading centre. Here again the Powers were not of one mind. The three
dissentients again hung back; but they so far concealed their refusal,
or reluctance, as to leave on Abdul Hamid's mind the impression that a
united Christendom was about to seize Smyrna[180]. This was enough. He
could now (October 10,