He would be a rash man who should claim to have mastered the Eastern Question -- a question which it is not easy even to define, and of which the future of Turkey is only a part. To throw light on some phases of the latter problem is the writer's object, and this by way of information rather than argument. This book, with all its harrowing details and records of murders and pillage, was prepared to prove the awful character of the first great massacre of Armenians which had taken place in Sassoun some months before, but of which no authenticated evidence had up till that time been made public. It was believed that, if the people of Great Britain could be convinced of the condition of Armenia, for which they were largely responsible, such a public opinion would be aroused as would at once lead to vigorous and determined action by that government. The expectation that England would do her duty has proved to be groundless, but the Turk has lived up to his reputation. Irritated by England's threats, but emboldened by her cowardly and vacillating course, the Sultan, while pretending to reform Armenia, inaugurated there a reign of terror of which Sassoun was a mere local incident. - Preface.