The one fatal blunder in the Treaty of Paris was that it provided no
effectual guarantee for better government on the part of the Porte . . .
Turkey has been let alone for twenty years, and the result is the disastrous
collapse which provoked the war. Our Government would therefore be
acting reasonably if it recognised that for the future this laissez-faire
policy with respect to Turkey must be abandoned. It will not be enough
to establish an independent Bulgaria north of the Balkans and a semi-
independent Bulgaria south of them, to maintain Turkish communications
with the west of the peninsula and to obviate the entire predominance of
Russia in Armenia. If nothing else is done, the difficulty will inevitably
recur in another twenty years or perhaps in another five or ten. Nothing
can solve the Eastern question permanently except some such arrange-
ment as will ensure good government within the Turkish dominions and
at the same time . . . confine the advance of Russia within certain definite
limits.

The Times, 27 June 1878

A weak and decaying Empire must of necessity sooner or later fall under
the influence, if not under the military control, of a strong and adjacent
Power. No diplomacy and no treaties can avert the operation of a law of
nature of this kind.

The Times, 10 August 1878

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