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+the april uprising in bulgaria and its brutal suppression by the turks has caused outrage in the
+chancelleries of europe there is a risk that russia will take this as the excuse it seeks to engage
+the ottomans and if they act and take constantinople then our trading routes to india will be under
+threatat home gladstones pamphlet bulgarian horrors and the question of the east has stirred a
+public appetite for action which could lead to support for intervention and make things difficult
+for the prime minister he is faced with mortons fork if he supports action then it will be difficult
+to condemn russian interference if he counsels inaction then he risk appearing weak and callous at
+home and abroad it may appear unfortunate that our political leaders are unable to agree on policy
+strategy or tactics and it is true that this could lead to confusion about our aims but on
+reflection i think that the public disagreement between gladstone and disraeli presents an
+opportunity their dispute conducted in parliament and the press demonstrates to the world the two
+faces of the empire at the same time morally engaged and yet prudent this may allow us to proceed
+with discretion to try to influence the actors and to direct the play away from the glare of the
+footlights it may be possible to engage the league of the three emperors to our causebismarck is
+particularly keen to maintain a balance of power in the region and to avoid further war and he will
+not need to be convinced that an unbridled russia is not to his advantage so i think we can rely on
+him to rein in russias expansionary visionon the other hand the league itself may present a longer
+term threat to the empire given the breadth of its influence in northern europe and we must tread
+carefullythe emperors envoys will be meeting in reichstadt soon to determine the response to the
+crisis and i need a plan to influence the outcome as always our strategy must be to sow confusion
+and on this i plan to ask for advice from baron playfair he has recently concluded his commission of
+enquiry into the civil service and if anyone knows how to control an agenda it must be our own civil
+servants
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projects / cipher-tools.git / blobdiff