The Eastern Question: A Study in Diplomacy

The continued residence of the Ottoman Turks in Europe is due to two causes: the jealousy of the Christian powers, and the lack of unity among the subject Christian peoples of the Balkans. With the latter cause, this thesis is concerned only in so far as it is necessary to an understanding of the former. The first chapter, therefore, treats of the races of the Balkans, their attitude towards each other and their relations with foreign states. Though my subject is the diplomatic side of the Turkish question, the thesis is by no means a history of Turkey, nor even a diplomatic history of Turkey. It practically begins with the treaty of Kainardji, of 1774; for though the maintenance of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire was considered essential to the balance of power in Europe before then, the positions held by the various European states on the Turkish question, and especially by England and Russia, really date from that treaty.

At the time of original publication 1901. Stephen Pierce Hayden Duggan, Ph.D., was Instructor in Philosophy at the College of the City of New York.