 His first post was St. Petersburg in 1877-78; he was then sent to the Congress of Berlin in June and July 1878.There he assisted Henri de Blowitz, the famous Paris correspondent of "The Times", and carried the text of the treaty from Berlin to Brussels sewn into the lining of his greatcoat.From 1878-1884 he was in Constantinople; while there, he investigated the Balkan peoples and their problems and ended up going on a special mission to Egypt.