last.  Our present contention is that we can show that, by the changes and modifications which have been made in the Treaty of San Stefano by the Congress of Berlin and by the Convention of Constantinople, the menace to European independence has been removed, and the threatened injury to the British Empire has been averted.  Your Lordships will recollect that by the Treaty of San Stefano about one-half of Turkey in Europe was formed into a State called Bulgaria—­a State consisting of upwards of 50,000 geographical square miles, and containing a population of 4,000,000, with harbours on either sea—­both on the shores of the Euxine and of the Archipelago.  That disposition of territory severed Constantinople and the limited district which was still spared to the possessors of that city—­severed it from the Provinces of Macedonia and Thrace by Bulgaria descending to the very shores of the Aegean; and, altogether, a State was formed, which, both from its natural resources and its peculiarly favourable geographical position, must necessarily have exercised a predominant influence over the political and commercial interests of that part of the world.  The remaining portion of Turkey in Europe was reduced also to a considerable degree by affording what was called compensation to previous rebellious tributary Principalities, which have now become independent States—­so that the general result of the Treaty of San Stefano was, that while it spared the authority of the Sultan so far as his capital and its immediate vicinity, it reduced him to a state of subjection to the Great Power which had defeated his Armies, and which was present at the gates of his capital.  Accordingly, though it might be said that he still seemed to be invested with one of the highest functions of public duty—­the protection and custody of the Straits—­it was apparent that his authority in that respect could be exercised by him only in deference to the superior Power which had vanquished him, and to whom the proposed arrangements would have kept him in subjection.  My Lords, in these matters the Congress of Berlin have made great changes.  They have restored to the Sultan two-thirds of the territory which was to have formed the great Bulgarian State.  They have restored to him upwards of 30,000 geographical square miles, and 2,500,000 of population—­that territory being the richest in the Balkans, where most of the land is rich, and the population one of the wealthiest, most ingenious, and most loyal of his subjects.  The frontiers of his State have been pushed forward from the mere environs of Salonica and Adrianople to the lines of the Balkans and Trajan’s Pass; the new Principality, which was to exercise such an influence, and produce a revolution in the disposition of the territory and policy of that part of the globe is now merely a State in the Valley of the Danube, and both in its extent and its population is reduced to one-third of what was contemplated by the Treaty of San Stefano.  My Lords, it has been said that