Gorchakoff Circular on the Eastern Question
—The circular of Prince Gorchakoff on the Eastern Question indicates the irrepressible approach of a war between the Mohammedan Government of Turkey and its Christian subjects, who, in European Turkey, constitute a considerable majority of the total population. By declining the advice tendered by the great Christian Powers, Turkey has, in the opinion of the Russian Government, forfeited all claims to sympathy. The whole and outspoken sympathy of Russia will be with the Christian provinces, whose rights, as Prince Gorchakoff emphatically asserts, have been utterly disregarded by the Porte. When such sentiments prevail, war cannot be far remote. The significance of the circular is not weakened by the official announcement in the speech of the French Emperor, that all the Powers were agreed upon maintaining the integrity of the Turkish territory. Under the pressure of new considerations and circumstances, these agreements are as easily terminated as concluded.