Those territories; and in
order to enable England to make necessary provision for
executing her engagement, His Imperial Majesty the
Sultan further consents to assign the island of Cyprus
to be occupied and administered by England.
ARTICLE II.
"The present Convention shall be ratified, and the
ratifications thereof shall be exchanged, within the
space of one month, or sooner if possible.
"In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries
have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seal
of their arms.
"Done at Constantinople, the fourth day of June, in the
year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
"A.H. LAYARD.
"SAFVET."
It was eventually agreed between the contracting Powers:-
"That England will pay to the Porte whatever is the
present excess of revenue over expenditure in the
island; this excess to be calculated and determined by
the average of the last five years."
and:--
"That if Russia restores to Turkey Kars and the other
conquests made by her in Armenia during the last war,
the island of Cyprus will be evacuated by England, and
the Convention of the fourth June, 1878, will be at an
end."
I knew nothing of Cyprus, but I felt sure that the Turks had the best of
the bargain, as they would receive the usual surplus revenue from our
hands, and be saved the trouble and onus of the collection; they would
also be certain of a fixed annual sum, without any of those risks of
droughts, famine, and locusts, to which the island is exposed, and which
seriously affect the income.
Although there would only be a wildly remote chance of Russia ever
relinquishing her Asiatic prey, the bare mention of the words "will be
evacuated by England" was a possible contingency and risk, that would
effectually exclude all British capital from investment in the island. I
could not discover any possible good that could accrue to England by the
terms of the Convention. If Cyprus had been presented as a "bonus" by
the Porte to counterbalance the risk we should incur in a defensive
alliance for the protection of Asia Minor, I could have seen an addition
to our Colonial Empire of a valuable island, that would not only have
been of strategical value, but such that in a few years, money and
British settlers would have entirely changed its present aspect, and
have created for it a new era of prosperity.
If England had purchased Cyprus, I could have understood the plain,
straightforward, business-like transaction, which would have at once
established confidence, both among the inhabitants, who would have
become British subjects; and through the outer world, that would have
acknowledged the commencement of a great future.
But, if we were actually bound in defensive alliance with Turkey in case
of a war with Russia, why should we occupy Cyprus upon such one-sided
and anomalous conditions, that would frustrate all hopes of commercial
development, for the sake of obtaining a strategical position that would
have been opened to our occupation AS AN ALLY at any moment?
