EASTERN QUESTION. 599 EASTHAMPTON. EASTERN QUESTION. The complicated proUIein ni inUTiiat ioual politics «»roviiig out of the relations of Turkey and the Balkan na- tionalities to the srcat Powers of Europe and to eacli other. The problem has occupied the atten- tion of Europe, in more or less degree, since the second half of the eighteenth century, when the rapid curtailment of the Ottonuui power through the Russian advance southward seemed to threaten the estalilishment of Russian supremacy in the southeast of Europe at the expense of Austria. In the beginning the decline of Tur- key chiefly concerned only these two powers. Subsequently, however, the interests of Great Britain l«>canic more closel>' bound up with the fortunes of the Turkish Empire as the imi)ortance of the British possessions in India increased, and with it the necessity of pre- seiring a safe and short line of communication between Eugland and the Far Orient. France, too. was involved in the web of diplomacy, first and naturally, as one of the great powers, sec- ondly because of its ancient connection with the Porte, and. thirdly, because of the developments resulting from the ambitious schemes of Jle- hemet Ali of Egypt. Germany, until the very last years of the nineteenth century, disclaimed all in- terest in the Eastern Question, but at that time German capital had not yet entered extensively into railroad and other business enterprises in Syria, which at present have resulted in estab- lishing close relations with the Ottoman Govern- ment. The Eastern Question entered upon its modern phase in the Crimean War (q.v. ), and as- sumed definite form at the Cimgress of Paris in 18.56, whose work was slightly modified by the London Protocol of 1871. The opening of a new highway to the East by the Suez Canal and the English occupation of Egvpt have helped to com- plicate the Eastern Question. A new phase of it developed when Russia decided to break the old arrangements and began a war with Turkey in 1877. The new status created by this war. the full results of which Russia was not allowed to reap, was embodied in the treaty arrangements of the Congress of Berlin. This arrangement still holds so far as the signatory powers are concerned, but considerable changes have taken place through the annexation of Eastern Rumelia to Bulgaria in 1885, the shifting of the boundary line between Greece and Turkey as a result of the war of 1897, and the establishment of auton- omy in Crete. Though affairs in Eastern Asia have tended to divert attention from the Eastern Question proper, the problem is still a vital one and fraught with gieat importance to the future de- velopment of international relations. Russia has her eye .still fastened upon Constantinople: Great Britain must still defend hrr position in Egvpt: above all. Austria-Hungary must, in very self-preservation, seek to retain her influ- ence among the Slav peoples of the Balkans. The balance of adjustment in that peninsula at present is delicate, with Austrian influence pre- dominant in Servia. with Russian influence pow- erful in Bulgaria, and Greece still anxious to restore, in some measure at least, the ancient Byzantine or Greek Empire. Consult: Holland. fittiilins in 1 iilirii<ilii)ii(il I.ntr (Oxford. 1808) : id.. The European Concert and the Eoxlern Ques- tion (Oxford. 188.>) : de Monicault, La (jncxtion d'orient (Paris, 1SH8). See Bulgaria; Greece; Montenegro: Risiania; Rissia; Risso-Turk- isu War ; SKitviA : T( rkev ; Berlin, Congress of. EASTERN RITE, Ciurches or the. The name given to various bodies of Armenian, Cop- tic. Greek, and Syrian Christians, most of whoui were formerly Xestorians or Eutychians. but who have acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope and returned into connuunion with Western Christendom. They have been allowed to retain some of their traditional usages, such as the use of the vernacular in public worship, communion in both kinds, and the permission of (a single) mar- riage to the clergj- below the rank of bishop. They are under the special care of a section of the I'rop- aganda created by Pius IX. in 1802. called Super Scgotiis Orientallum. Among these branches of Roman Catholics there are about eighty bishops. of whom five are patriarchs, and fifteen archbishops. EASTERN RUMELIA. See Rumelia, Easi- EK-N. EASTERN SHORE. A name given to the counties of Accoinac and Xorlhampton in Vir- ginia, and to all of Maryland lying east of Chesapeake Bay, and sometimes including Dela- ware also. It is a fertile region, famous for peaches and garden vegetables, and equally famous for oysters. The country, though low and level, is generally healthful, and the climate is mild and equable. It is Intersected by rail- roads, only a single line, however, running the length of the Virginia peninsula. There is con- venient steamboat navigation. I'ntil invaded by railroads, and divided up into small ownerships, the southern was the Tilue-blood' section of Vir- ginia, the leading inhabitants being noted for their aristocratic tendencies and hospitality, EASTER TERM. One of the four regular terms of the courts of common law in England. It was formerly dependent upon the movable feast of Easter, and was hence called a movable term. It commenced on the Wednesday fortnight after Easter Sunday, and lasted till "the follow- ing Monday three weeks. It was at a later period converted by act of Parliament into a fixed term, beginning on the 15th of April and ending on the 8tli to the 13th of May in every year. If any of the days between the Thursday before and the Wednesday after Easter fall within term, no sittings in banc (q.v.) are held on those days, and the term is prolonged a corresponding number of days. See Term, of Court, EAST GREENWICH, grin'ij, A town and the county-seat of Kent County, R, I,. 14 miles south of Providence: on (ireenwicb Bay, a branch of Xarragansett Bay, and on the Xew York, Xew Haven and Hartford Railroad (.Map: Rhode Is- land. C :}). There is a good harbor: also a public library: and the town has a cotton hlcacherv. and manufactures of cotton and varn. Population in ISim. .3127: in 1000. 2775. EAST HAM. See Ham. East and West. EASTHAM'PTON. .^ town, including three villages, in Hampshire County, Mass.. situated in the valley of the Connecticut, four and one- quarter miles southwest of Xorthampton: on the New York. Xew Haven and Hartford, and the Boston and Maine railroads (Map: Massachu- setts, B 3). The manufactures include rubber and elastic goods, buttons, shoe-web. cotton
