during the autumn of 1877, as president of the chamber, he went to london, paris and berlin on a confidential mission, establishing cordial personal relationships with british prime minister william ewart gladstone and foreign minister lord granville and other english statesmen, and with otto von bismarck, by then chancellor of the german empire. in 1877 during the great eastern crisis crispi was offered albania as possible compensation by bismarck and the british earl of derby if austria-hungary annexed bosnia, however he refused and preferred the italian alpine regions under austro-hungarian rule.