BERLIN, CONGRESS AND TREATY OF. The events that led up to the assembling of the Congress of Berlin, the out come of which was the treaty of July 13, 1878, are described elsewhere (see EUROPE, History; TURKEY, History; RUSSO TURKISH WAR). Here it must suffice to say that the object of the Congress was to revise the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878) by which the Russo-Turkish War had been ended and which seemed to make Russia permanently arbiter of the fate of the Balkan peninsula.
The Congress met, under the presidency of Prince Bismarck, at Berlin on June 13. The principal plenipotentiaries of the other Powers represented were Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury for Great Britain, Count Andrassy for Austria-Hungary, Prince Gorchakov for Russia, and Alexander Catheodory Pasha for Turkey. The basis of the conferences had, of course, been set tled beforehand, and the final act of the congress was signed on July 13.
The Treaty of Berlin consists in all of 65 articles, of which it will be sufficient to note those which have had a special bearing on subsequent international developments. So far as they affect the territorial boundaries fixed by the treaties of Paris and San Stefano it will be sufficient to refer to the sketch map in the article EUROPE : History. By Art. I. Bulgaria was "constituted an autonomous and tributary principality under the suzerainty of H.I.M. the Sultan"; it was to have "a Christian government and a national militia." Art. II. fixed the boundaries of the new state. Arts. III. to XII. provide for the election of a prince for Bul garia, the machinery for settling the new constitution, the adjust ment of the relations of the new Bulgarian Government to the Ottoman empire and its subjects (including the question of trib ute). By Art. XIII. a province was formed south of the Balkans which was to take the name of "Eastern Rumelia," and was to remain "under the direct military and political control of H.I.M. the Sultan, under conditions of administrative autonomy." It was to have a Christian governor-general. It is to be noted that the sultan retained the right of fortifying and occupying the Balkan passes (Art. XV.) and all his rights and obligations over the railways (Art. XXI.).
Art. XXV., which the events of 1908 brought into special prom inence, runs as follows: "The provinces of Bosnia and Herze govina shall be occupied and administered by Austria-Hungary. The government of Austria-Hungary, not desiring to undertake the administration of the sanjak of Novi-Bazar, . . . the Ottoman administration will continue to exercise its functions here. Nevertheless . . . Austria-Hungary reserves the right of keeping garrisons and having military and commercial roads in the whole of this part of the ancient vilayet of Bosnia." By Art. XXVI. the independence of Montenegro was defini tively recognized and by Art. XVIII. she received certain acces sions of territory, including a strip of coast on the Adriatic, but under conditions which tended to place her under the tutelage of Austria-Hungary. By Art. XXXIV. the independence of Serbia was recognized, subject to conditions (as to religious liberty, etc.) set forth in Art. XXXV. Art. XXXVI. defined the new bound aries. By Art. XLIII. the independence of Rumania was recog nized. Subsequent articles define the conditions and the bound aries. Arts. LII. to LVII. deal with the question of the free navi gation of the Danube. The Danube commission, on which Ru mania was to be represented, was maintained in its functions (Art. LIII.) and provision made for the further prolongation of its powers (Art. LIV.).
Art. LVIII. ceded to Russia the territories of Ardahan, Kars and Batoum, in Asiatic Turkey. By Art. LIX. "H.M. the emperor of Russia declares that it is his intention to constitute Batoum a free port, essentially commercial." By Art. LXI. "the Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, without further delay, the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds." It was to keep the powers informed periodically of "the steps taken to this effect." Art. LXII. made provision for securing religious liberty in the Ottoman dominions.
Finally, Art. LXIII. declares that "the Treaty of Paris of March 30, 1856, as well as the Treaty of London of March 13, 1871, are maintained in all such of their provisions as are not abrogated or modified by the preceding stipulations." For the full text of the treaty in the English translation see E. Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, vol. iv. p. 2759 (No. 53o) ; for the French original see State Papers, vol. lxix. p. 749. (W. A. P.)