The question whether the possession of the Dardanelles shall be shifted to other owners is entirely different.  It constitutes, however, a conjectural eventuality which the present situation does not contemplate, I believe, and on which I shall, therefore, express no opinion.  My only concern at present is to give an approximate definition, as best I can, of those weighty interests which may lead to another war after the Russian-Turkish war has been actually concluded.  For this reason I deem it important to affirm that the stipulations of peace concerning the Dardanelles mean less for the men-of-war than for the merchant marine.  The preeminent German interest in the Orient demands that the waterways, the straits as well as the Danube from the Black Sea upward, shall continue as free and open to us as they have been until now.  I rather infer that we shall surely obtain this, for as a matter of fact it has never even been questioned.  An official communication on this point which I have received from St. Petersburg simply refers to the existing stipulations of the treaty of Paris.  Nothing is jeopardized; our position can be no worse and no better than it has been.

The interest which we have in a better government of a Christian nation and in the safeguards against those acts of violence which have occurred at times, under Turkish rule, is taken care of by the agreements mentioned above.  And this is the second interest which Germany has in this whole affair.  It is less direct, but is dictated by humanity.

The rest of the preliminary stipulations consists—­I will not say of phrases, for it is an official paper—­but it has no bearing on our present discussion.

With these explanations I have answered to the best of my ability the first part of the interpellation concerning the present state of affairs in the Orient, and I fear, gentlemen, that I have said nothing new to any one of you.

The other parts of the question refer to the position which Germany has taken or intends to take in view of the now existing conditions and innovations.

As to the position which we have already taken I cannot now give you any information, for officially we have been in possession of the papers to which I have referred only a very short while, I may say literally only since this very morning.  What we knew beforehand was in general agreement with these papers, but not of a nature to make official steps possible.  It consisted of private communications for which we were indebted to the courtesy of other governments.

Official steps, therefore, have not yet been taken, and would be premature in view of the conference, which I hope is at hand.  All this information will then be available and we shall be in a position to exchange opinions concerning these matters.  Any alterations, therefore, of the stipulations of 1856 will have to be sanctioned.  If they should not be, the result would not necessarily be another