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xviiî INTRODUCTION. 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 " willbe 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

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