Lord John Russell visited him in November 1866. In July 1867 he was appointed ambassador at Constantinople and sworn a privy councillor. At his new post he was almost at once engaged in the discussion over the troubles in Crete in 1868-9, and the consequent rupture of diplomatic
relations between Turkey and Greece. In the winter of 1869 he was British representative at the opening of the Suez Canal, and was made G.C.B.
On 6 June 1870 a great fire broke out in Pera, in which the British embassy house was almost completely destroyed. Lady Elliot and her children narrowly escaped with their lives, and all the ambassador's private property was destroyed, though he and the staff succeeded in saving the government archives and much of the furniture of the state rooms. With the Russian ambassador at Constantinople, General Ignatieff, Elliot was often in conflict, and was held by the aggressive party in England to be no match for Russian ambition, but in the view of Lord Granville, the foreign secretary, Elliot by his 'quiet firmness ' well held his own against all Russian intrigue in the sultan's court (FitzMaurice, Lord Granville, ii. 412-3).
In 1875 an insurrection in Herzegovina which rapidly spread to Bosnia commenced the series of events issuing successively in the outbreak of war between Russia and Turkey in April 1877, the treaty of San Stefano, and the congress of Berlin in 1878. In 1876 Servia and Montenegro declared war against Turkey, and an insurrectionary movement commenced in Bulgaria. The Turkish authorities, being insufficiently provided with regular troops, proceeded to enrol irregulars and ' Bashi-Bazuks,' who resorted at once to savage massacres, which became notorious under the term of ' the Bulgarian atrocities.' The British embassy at Constantinople and the consular officers in the vicinity were at the time much criticised for their delay in reporting these events, which first became known through the public press. There was, in fact, no British consular officer very close to the spot, but it was not till January 1876 that the fact became known that a despatch from the British consul at Adria- nople to the consul-general at Constanti- nople, which mentioned the receipt of re- ports of appalling massacres, had not been communicated to either the ambassador or the foreign office by the consul-general, who was at the time suffering from a mortal illness. As soon as it appeared that there was solid foundation for the rumours, both the consul at Adrianople and secretary of the British embassy were sent to investigate the facts, and on receipt their reports the ambassador was instruct to protest in the strongest manner agaii the barbarities perpetrated, and to demai the arrest and punishment of those respon- sible. In reply to attacks which were made on him, as not having been sufficiently alive to the danger of such occurrences, Elliot was able to show that he had con- stantly and urgently warned both the Porte and his own government of the con- sequences which were certain to attend the employment of irregular forces. Ne tiations for the conclusion of peace betwe Turkey, Servia, and Montenegro wei carried on by the ambassador und< instructions from the British government in September 1876, and as these prove unsuccessful, he was instructed on 5 as a last resource to demand the conclusk of an armistice for at least a month, at the end of which a conference was to be called at Constantinople to consider the whole question. Failing compliance with this request, he was instructed to withdraw from Constantinople. The reply of the Porte was as usual unsatisfactory, but a Russian ultimatum delivered in October procured an armistice of two months, and on the proposal of Great Britain a con- ference met at Constantinople in December, to which the marquis of Salisbury, then secretary of state for India, was sent as first British plenipotentiary, Elliot beii associated with him. In the meanwl the supreme authority in the Turkisl empire had twice changed hands. On 29 May 1876 the Sultan Abdul Aziz w deposed in pursuance of a fetvah obtaii from the Sheikh-ul-Islam, and shoi afterwards he committed suicide or wi assassinated. He was succeeded by nephew Murad, who was in his turn remove as incompetent on 31 Aug., and replaced ty his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II. The deliberations of the conference resulted in the presentation to the Turkish govei in January 1877 of proposals for the pacification of the disturbed provinces, including supervision of these measures by international commission supported by force of 6000 Belgian and Swiss gendarme After ten years' experience of Turkish ways Elliot entertained little hope that the scheme would be accepted by the Porte, or that if accepted it would be found practicable in execution. He had moreover considerable faith in the sincerity and capacity of the new grand vizier, Midhat
