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THE TREATY OF BERLIN.

279

Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia;

And His Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans, Alexander Carathéodory Pasha, His Minister of Public Works; Mehemed Ali Pasha, Mushir of His Armies; and Sadoullah Bey, His Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia;

Who, in accordance with the proposal of the Court of Austria-Hungary, and on the invitation of the Court of Germany, have met at Berlin furnished with full powers, which have been found in good and due form.

An understanding having been happily established between them, they have agreed to the following stipulations:-—

Bulgaria, 1−12^[1].

Autonomy. Art. I. Bulgaria is constituted an autonomous and tributary Principality under the suzerainty of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan^[2]; it will have a Christian Government and a national militia.

Delimitation. Art. II. The Principality of Bulgaria will include the following territories:-—

The frontier follows on the north the right bank of the Danube from the former frontier of Servia up to a point to be determined by a European Commission^[3] to the east of Silis-

↑ Cf. supra, p. 238.
↑ The ambiguous status of the Principality has given rise to some difficulties. The Porte having instituted a 'bureau for the privileged provinces,' viz. the Levant, Samos, Crete, Eastern Roumelia and Bulgaria, and having directed the agent of Bulgaria at Constantinople to correspond with it, the Principality insisted on being allowed to correspond with the Foreign Office, and, after a temporary suspension of communications, established its claim to do so in September, 1882. The Porte also complained that the Prince, in opening a session of the Sobranje, had used the expressions: 'Sovereign,' 'throne,' and 'independence.'
↑ This Commission, on which Great Britain was represented by Col. Home and afterwards by General Hamley, met on 21st October, 1878, and completed its task on 24th September, 1879. Parl. Papers, 1879, Turkey, No. 2, 1880; N. R. G. v, 507−701. The Act as to the Roumanian frontier, from Silistria to Mangalia, was signed on 17th December, 1878, the Act as to the frontier towards Eastern Roumelia, from the Black Sea to Cadir Tepe, on 14th August, 1879, and Acts as to the Danubian, Macedonian, and Servian frontiers, together with lists of islands assigned to Roumania and Turkey respectively, on 20th September, 1879.

[1] Cf. supra, p. 238.

[2] The ambiguous status of the Principality has given rise to some difficulties. The Porte having instituted a 'bureau for the privileged provinces,' viz. the Levant, Samos, Crete, Eastern Roumelia and Bulgaria, and having directed the agent of Bulgaria at Constantinople to correspond with it, the Principality insisted on being allowed to correspond with the Foreign Office, and, after a temporary suspension of communications, established its claim to do so in September, 1882. The Porte also complained that the Prince, in opening a session of the Sobranje, had used the expressions: 'Sovereign,' 'throne,' and 'independence.'

[3] This Commission, on which Great Britain was represented by Col. Home and afterwards by General Hamley, met on 21st October, 1878, and completed its task on 24th September, 1879. Parl. Papers, 1879, Turkey, No. 2, 1880; N. R. G. v, 507−701. The Act as to the Roumanian frontier, from Silistria to Mangalia, was signed on 17th December, 1878, the Act as to the frontier towards Eastern Roumelia, from the Black Sea to Cadir Tepe, on 14th August, 1879, and Acts as to the Danubian, Macedonian, and Servian frontiers, together with lists of islands assigned to Roumania and Turkey respectively, on 20th September, 1879.

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