ABSTRACT
The two forces which had increasingly dominated European politics during the nineteenth century—Democracy and Nationalism—reached a climax in 1870: the fall of the Second Empire cleared the way for the establishment of a democratic Republic in France. France and Italy assented to the terms of the Berlin Memorandum; Great Britain, deeming its terms to be unduly peremptory, and resenting the independent action taken by the Eastern autocrats, declined to be a party to the Memorandum. The Tsar retorted that if the British ships sailed up the Straits a Russian army would occupy Constantinople for the purpose of protecting the lives of Christians of all races. The British Government, determined to utilize even that short breathing space to preserve the peace of Europe, proposed a conference, which met at Constantinople in December 1876. The day of Liberalism was passing; the supremacy of the 'Manchester School' with its root doctrine of laissez-faire was almost at an end.
