EASTERN QUESTION. 



deemed tho convening of an oecumenical oonn- 



i-essary in order to find a proper solution 



.I'I!K- i|iu-stioii at issue, it is willing to yield to 



irnest supplication of his holiness and of 



m>.| of Metropolitans on that point. But, 



a- (iraml Vizier in conclusion, " in order 



lie Sublime Porto may be enabled to come 



locision, it is necessary that a programme 



of tho deliberations of the proposed CEcumeni- 



cal Council and the limits of its action be made 



known ; therefore, your holiness is respectfully 



solicited to submit such a programme to tho 



jij>l>roval of the Sublime Porte." 



To this the Patriarch replied : 



"We hod the honor of receiving tho rescript 

 (Teksero) whioh your highness has condescended to 

 forward to us, as a reply to our letter and the Mazbata 

 <>t' tho Synod of Metropolitans. "We perceive that we 

 shall be authorized to convene the (Ecumenical Coun- 

 cil, to which will appertain the final solution of the 

 Bulgarian question by canonical decision. Your 

 highness expresses the desire to know beforehand 

 the objects and tho limits of the deliberations of the 

 council, and invites us to submit a programme of the 

 Borne. We have the honor of informing you that the 

 (Ecumenical Council, for whose convocation we re- 

 quested the authorization of the Imperial Government, 

 will have to investigate and to adjust the controversy 

 which has arisen between the patriarchate and the 

 Bulgarians. Your highness is aware that said con- 

 troversy resulted partly from the circumstance that 

 the Bulgarians did not consider satisfactory the con- 

 cessions which we granted them in regard to the ad- 

 ministration of tho Church, partly from the fact that 

 tho Bulgarians demand something which is in direct 

 opposition to the spirit of our faith and to tho com- 

 mands of the holy canons, although they pretend that 

 their proposals arc not at all in contradiction to tho 

 holy laws. Thus the labors of tho council, which wiil 

 not touch on uny secular question, will bo strictly 

 limited to deliberations on the Bulgarian question; 

 the demands by the Bulgarians, as well as the con- 

 cessions made by the patriarchate, will be minutely 

 and impartially scrutinized, upon which the council 

 will come to a decision in accordance with the spirit 

 of the canons, from which there can be no appeal. 



Done and given at our patriarchal residence on 

 November 16, 1870. GBEGOSY. 



EASTERN QUESTION. The Eastern ques- 

 tion, or tho question as to the future fate of the 

 peninsula of the Balkan and of the Turkish 

 Empire, has during the last fifty years been one 

 of the most serious and difficult complications 

 of European politics. In November, 1870, it 

 threatened Europe with another Eastern war, 

 and although the real outbreak of hostilities 

 was adjourned, as an International Conference 

 of the great powers was called for the purpose 

 of finding a peaceable solution of the pending 

 difficulties, the danger of another Eastern war 

 is by no means ended. It is, on the contrary, 

 almost certain, that far-going changes in the 

 present territorial condition of the Ottoman 

 Empire will sooner or later be effected, and that, 

 until the territory now constituting Turkey 

 shall be reconstructed on a lasting basis, tho 

 Eastern question will not cease to agitate Eu- 

 rope and to threaten its peace. 



The Turks entered Europe as conquerors, 

 long after each country had obtained fixed 

 landmarks and settled governments. They 

 VOL. x. 17 A 



appeared, therefore, to the rest of Europe as 

 intruders, and the more so, because all Europe 

 (with tho exception of a small province of 

 Spain, then occupied by the Moors) was Chris- 

 tian, and the Turks established a Mohammedan 

 dynasty. The expulsion of these intruders 

 was, therefore, regarded as a family affair for 

 the whole of Christian Europe. Tho Turkish 

 power attained its zenith under Solyman II., 

 who even subdued Lower Hungary and Tran- 

 sylvania, made Moldavia and Wallachia tribu- 

 tary, and greatly enlarged his dominions in 

 Asia and Africa. The Sultan was acknowl- 

 edged as the head of all Mohammedans, and 

 became, therefore, all the more objectionable 

 to his own Christian subjects and to the Chris- 

 tian governments of Europe. With the death 

 of Solyman (1566) the Turkish power began to 

 decline, and its wars in Europe began to assume 

 less of an aggressive than of a defensive char- 

 acter. But the greatest change in the position 

 of Turkey with regard to the remainder of En- 

 rope dates from the reign of Peter tho Great. 

 It was thenceforth tho traditional policy of the 

 rulers of Russia to extend their empire on the 

 one side to the Baltic, and on the other to the 

 Mediterranean. Russia and Turkey became 

 irreconcilable enemies. In 1774 Turkey was 

 compelled to conclude the fatal Treaty of Kai- 

 nardshi, which gives to Russia the right of 

 free navigation on the Turkish seas, inclusive 

 of the Dardanelles, as well as Taganrog, 

 Kertsch, Kinburn, and Asov, advanced the 

 frontier of Russia to the Bug, declared the in- 

 dependence of the Crimea, gave to Russia a 

 protectorate over the Danubian principalities, 

 and a right of guardianship over the Greek 

 churches in Turkey. Only four years later the 

 Empress Catharine occupied tho Crimea, the 

 island of Taman, and other portions of Turkey, 

 and thus became mistress of the Black Sea. A 

 new war between Russia and Turkey, under Se- 

 lim III., ended January 9, 1772, in the Treaty 

 of Jassy, by which Turkey lost Pczakov, and 

 both banks of the Bug and the Dnieper. 

 During the negotiations for concluding the 

 Peace of Tilsit, in 1807, Alexander I. proposed 

 to Napoleon a partition of Turkey. They ar- 

 rived at an agreement concerning all points 

 except the possession of Constantinople, which 

 Alexander claimed, and Napoleon would not 

 yield. " Once mistress of Constantinople," 

 said Napoleon, at St. Helena, to Dr. O'Meara, 

 "Russia would control the whole commerce of 

 the Mediterranean ; if it becomes a great naval 

 power, and God knows what may come from 

 it, it wants a war, marches a large army against 

 India, and India is lost for England. Of 8ll 

 the powers, Russia is most to be dreaded. To 

 oppose a bar to these barbarians, I medi- 

 tated the restoration of Poland." In 1812 

 Turkey'had to conclude the Peace of Bucha- 

 rest, by which Russia received Bessarabia. 

 From the Congress of Vienna, Turkey was ex- 

 cluded because Russia insisted that, in accord- 

 ance with former treaties, she could not allow 



