This delicate condition of affairs regarding Turkey is known as the
"Eastern Question." And it is considered so important because, more than
any other, it threatens the "balance of power."
Whether Russia, or England, or Germany would be richer after an upset in
Turkey, no one can tell. But it is pretty certain that new maps would have
to take the place of your old ones, with the familiar outlines of some of
the European States much altered.
So the Christian Powers have been for a century trying not to hear the
cries of anguish and terror coming from the Ottoman Empire, because
European diplomacy has decided that the only safe course is to let the
"unspeakable Turk" stay where he is; and the Sultan, secure in his foul,
crime-stained old Empire, which is tottering and crumbling under his feet,
laughs softly, and rubs his hands in pleasant satisfaction, and the
butchery goes on.
But recently the cries from Armenia became so piercing, so heartrending,
and so prolonged, that the Christian people in Europe would stand it no
longer. They demanded that, come what would, the Powers _must_ put a stop
to the wholesale slaughter of Armenian Christians.
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