made to the
Powers in 1856 had been kept. But in 1876 no one could any longer
feign ignorance. An insignificant outbreak in Bulgaria took place. In
answer to a telegram sent to Constantinople a body of improvised
militia, called Bashi-Bazuks, was sent to manage the affair after its
own fashion. The burning of seventy villages; the massacre of fifteen
thousand--some say forty thousand--people, chiefly women and children,
with attendant details too revolting to narrate; the subsequent
exposure of Bulgarian maidens for sale at Philippopolis--all this at
last secured attention. Pamphlets, newspaper articles, speeches, gave
voice to the horror of the English people. Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe, Gladstone, John Bright, Carlyle, Freeman, made powerful
arraignments of the government which was the supporter and made England
the accomplice of Turkey in this crime.

However much we may suspect the sincerity of Russia's solicitude
regarding her co-religionists in the East, it must be admitted that the
preservation of her Faith has always been treated--long before the
existence of the Eastern Question--as the most vital in her policy. In
every alliance, every negotiation, every treaty, it was the one thing
that never was compromised; and Greek Christianity certainly holds a
closer and more mystic relation to the government of Russia than the
Catholic or Protestant faiths do to those of other lands.

Russia girded herself to do what the best sentiment in England had in
vain demanded. She declared war against Turkey in support of the
oppressed provinces of Servia, Herzegovina, and Montenegro. In the
month of April, 1877, the Russian army crossed the frontier. Then came
the capture of Nikopolis, the repulse at Plevna, the battle of Shipka
Pass, another and successful battle of Plevna, the storming of Kars,
and then, the Balkans passed,--an advance upon Constantinople. On the
29th of January the last shot was fired. The Ottoman Empire had been
shaken into submission, and was absolutely at the mercy of the Tsar,
who dictated the following terms: The erection of Bulgaria into an
autonomous tributary principality, with a native Christian government;
the independence of Montenegro, Roumania, and Servia; a partial
autonomy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, besides a strip of territory upon
the Danube and a large war indemnity for Russia. Such were the terms
of the Treaty of San Stefano, signed in March, 1878. To the
undiplomatic mi