The objects of Robert Liston's second embassy to Constantinople were to build up good relations between Turkey and Russia, and to frustrate any prospect of an alliance between Turkey and France. By the Treaty of Vienna, Britain acquired the protectorship of the seven Ionian Islands, and it was understood that she should hand back Parga to Turkey; negotiations on this point strained relations severely, and it took all his skill to preserve peace. These topics, Russia, France, and the Parga affair, form the main themes of Liston's letters from Constantinople, but he also comments on Turkish politics and personalities.