The Principality of Bulgaria was a self-governing entity created as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. The preliminary treaty of San Stefano between the Russian Empire and the Porte (the Ottoman government), on March 3, had originally proposed a significantly larger Bulgarian territory: its lands encompassed nearly all ethnic Bulgarians in the Balkans, and they stretched to include coastline on both the Black Sea, and the Aegean Sea on the Mediterranean. The United Kingdom feared the establishment of a large Russian client state in the Balkans which might have tipped influential balance on matters concerning the Mediterranean. As such, the other great powers were not willing to accede and the result was a significantly smaller suzerain principality. The Treaty of Berlin also provided for Eastern Rumelia, as an autonomous province within the Ottoman Empire alongside Bulgaria. By 1885 however, it had become part of the Bulgarian Principality.