Page:The European Concert in the Eastern Question.djvu/299

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THE TREATY OF BERLIN.
283

In the districts where Bulgarians are intermixed with Turkish, Roumanian, Greek, or other populations, the rights and interests of these populations shall be taken into consideration as regards the elections and the drawing up of the Organic Law.

Art. V. The following points shall form the basis of the public law of Bulgaria:-—

The difference of religious creeds and confessions shall not be alleged against any person as a ground for exclusion or incapacity in matters relating to the enjoyment of civil and political rights, admission to public employments, functions, and honours, or the exercise of the various professions and industries in any locality whatsoever.

The freedom and outward exercise of all forms of worship are assured to all persons belonging to Bulgaria, as well as to foreigners, and no hindrance shall be offered either to the hierarchical organization of the different communions, or to their relations with their spiritual chiefs.

Provisional administration. Art. VI. The provisional administration of Bulgaria shall be under the direction of an Imperial Russian Commissary until the completion of the Organic Law[1]. An Imperial Turkish Commissary, as well as the Consuls delegated ad hoc by the other Powers[2], signatory of the present Treaty, shall he called to assist him so as to control the working of this provisional régime. In case of disagreement amongst the Consular Delegates, the vote of the majority shall he accepted, and in case of a divergence between the majority and the Imperial Russian Commissary or the Imperial Turkish Commissary, the Representatives of the Signatory Bowers at Constantinople, assembled in Conference, shall give their decision.

Art. VII. The provisional régime shall not be prolonged beyond a period of nine months from the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty[3].


    (Parl. Papers, 1879, Turkey, No. 8). It was suspended by a proclamation of l0th May, 1881, ratified on 13th July by a new Assembly, which conferred on the Prince extraordinary powers for seven years, but was reestablished on 19th September, 1883.

  1. By a convention signed on 28th July, 1883, between Bulgaria and Russia, the Principality undertakes to pay the expenses of the occupation, N. R. G. 2me Série, ix, 673.
  2. The British Consul was thus delegated on 30th September, 1878.
  3. The ratifications were exchanged on 3rd August, 1878. The proclamations