28 JUNE 1890, Page 2

Reports are current, not uncommon at this season, of the

reopening of the Eastern Question. The Bulgarian Note mentioned last week, demanding of the Sultan recognition for Prince Ferdinand, has been followed by a Note from the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople requiring payment of the arrears of indemnity, and ending with a threat that the Government, if the debt were not discharged, would take measures of its own. A squadron is even said to be getting ready in the Black Sea for a descent upon some Turkish port. The Servian Government is also excited, expecting some revo- lutionary movement from the presence of King Milan in Bel- grade; and the Macedonian Bulgars are complaining about their Exarchs, Archimandrites, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, in a way which sometimes portends insurrection. There is not much in it all, we fancy, beyond a possibility that M. Stambouloff, irritated by the unsettled condition of the Prin- cipality, may proclaim Prince Ferdinand King of an inde- pendent Bulgaria. The great armies will not move without their Sovereigns' orders, and the Sovereigns will not decide on anything until their meetings are over. They will try to discover a modus vivendi, and as there are plenty of weak States to plunder, they may discover one.