Certainly that problem is extraordinarily complex in its details.

For a century and a half it has distracted the statesmen and philanthropists of Europe; for it concerns not only the ownership of lands of great intrinsic and strategic importance, but also the welfare of many peoples.

It is a question, therefore, which no intelligent man ought to overlook.
For the benefit of the tiresome person who insists on having a definition of every term, the Eastern Question may be briefly described as the problem of finding a _modus vivendi_ between the Turks and their Christian subjects and the neighbouring States.

This may serve as a general working statement.

No one who is acquainted with the rules of Logic will accept it as a definition.