27 MARCH 1886, Page 1

What is called the " Eastern Crisis " goes on

in a most tedious yet disturbing way. By the latest accounts, the Prince of Bulgaria persists in his refusal to accept the five years' appoint- ment as Governor-General of Eastern Roumelia, and the Sultan has given way. He has not, it is true, made the Prince Governor- General for life, as the Times says, but he has expressed his readiness to appoint him without limit as to time. It remains to be seen whether the Prince will consider this a revocable commission, and reject it, or whether he will treat it as a com- mission in perpetuity, descending to the next Prince of Bulgaria. He is evidently determined, if necessary, to face Russia, for he has arrested all Russian agents in Roumelia, who have been busily spreading disaffection. The affair, however, is not yet settled, and the bitterness in St. Petersburg is as great as ever, the Czar perceiving clearly that his chance of a free road to Con- stantinople, which he thought secured by the last war, is now farther off than ever. To attack Constantinople by land, he must now crush or conciliate Roumania, crush united Bulgaria, and then fight the Turks. If we had only let the Treaty of San Stefano alone, Constantinople would now be safe. Nobody could touch it except the Prince, who would. be the very beet reversionary of the Sultan.