The transaction is now acknowledged by every thinking man to have been a master-stroke of policy, justified on all grounds, financial and Imperial.

In those days it met with sharp censure from Disraeli's opponents.

In a sense this was natural; for it seemed to be part of a scheme for securing British influence in the Levant and riding roughshod over the susceptibilities of the French (the constructors of the canal) and the plans of Russia.
Everything pointed to the beginning of a period of spirited foreign policy which would lead to war with Russia.
[Footnote 94: For details of this affair, see Chapter XV.

of this work.] Meanwhile the three Empires delayed the presentation of their scheme of reforms for Turkey, and, as it would seem, out of deference to British representations.

The troubles in Herzegovina therefore went on unchecked through the winter, the insurgents refusing to pay any heed to the Sultan's promises, even though these were extended by the _irade_ of December 12, offering religious liberty and the institution of electoral bodies throughout the whole of European Turkey.