The protocol or official statement of the proceedings of the
formal Conference has at last been published. It does not add much to our knowledge, the most interesting fact being that Safvet Pasha distinctly affirmed that the "Bulgarian movement was suppressed" "without oceans of blood being shed, as people have wished it to be believed," an audacious statement, which the Plenipotentiaries declined to discuss. They, instead, presented through the French Envoy Extraordinary their proposals for the pacification of the insurgent provinces, and the removal of all dangers ; and just as they were handed in, a salute of 100 guns announced the proclamation of the Constitu- tion. The European Plenipotentiaries thereupon observed that peace would be necessary to try the new Constitution, and that they had assembled to secure peace, while the Turkish represen- tatives retorted that the Constitution must be considered a new element of a nature to assure peace. The Constitution was in fact promulgated in order to defeat Europe.
