XIIIMASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS

The history of Mohammedanism is a continuous warfare against Christianity, and the latter alone has firmly and heroically stood against Islam in Western Asia. But through what tortures, martyrdoms, and massacres did the followers of Christ pass from the beginning of Mohammedâ€™s religion to the present time? The answer to this question would fill volumes.

Hitherto the Turks have shown relentless barbarity, unabated intolerance and unprovoked massacres of the Christians. A very conservative estimate will not allow less than two hundred thousand Christians massacred during the last century by the fanatic followers of the self-made prophet of Arabia.

In 1821-7, during the Greek revolution, thousands of Greeks were put to death who had no other crime than being of the same religion and nationality. â€œSultan Mohammed was in the habit of replying to every success of the Greek insurgents by ordering massacres, violations and enslavement in regions without defense, where there were none but women, children and inoffensive merchants.... The Turkish admiral was beaten at Samos; for that reasonthirty days were spent in Cyprus in cutting off heads.... The Sultan wished to take new reprisal to terrify therayas(Christian subjects) and cause the nations of Europe to reflect.â€ In the island of Chios, though the inhabitants were not in rebellion, but most docile and inoffensive, yet â€œabove forty thousand of both sexes had either fallen victims to the sword, or were selected for sale in the bazaars.â€ Some fled to the more inaccessible parts of the island. They were assured of their safety by the Turks, guaranteed by the European consuls. But no sooner did they descend from the heights than the Turks put them to death. â€œThe number of those, who became victims of this perfidious act, were estimated at seven thousand.â€[120]

â€œThe women and children escaped death, their beauty and youth saving them from massacre. They were, however, to be delivered over at once to the outrageous assaults or to be reserved for the shameful fate of the harem. They were led off in long troops; they were put on the market and sold in the bazaars of Smyrna, Constantinople and Brousa.â€[121]Large numbers also suffered death or the worst form of slavery, by the hands of the â€œunspeakable Turks,â€ who were neither Greeks nor belonged to the same church, and their only crime also was that they, too, were Christians.

During the war between Russia and Turkey, the Kurds, finding the country in a disturbed condition,plundered many a village and massacred not a few Armenians. But the Turks seem to vie with the Kurds in cruelty. An Englishman, writing of the war between Russia and Turkey, says:

â€œThe Turks with their usual ferocity, commenced a system of carnage at Akhalzik in 1829; every Christian inhabitant was slain.â€

In 1843, in the southern mountains of Armenia and Kurdistan, ten thousand Nestorian and Armenian Christians were massacred by the faithful Moslems of Mohammedâ€™s type, and as many women and children were taken captives and sold for slaves. The great explorer, A. H. Layard, three years after this fearful carnage, describes it in the following language:

â€œWhen the salughter of the people of Ashita (9000) became known in the valley of Liza, the inhabitants of the villages (1000) took refuge on a lofty platform of rock, where they hoped either to escape notice or to defend themselves against any number of assailants. Bedr Khan Bey (the officer of the sultan, who had charge of the massacre) surrounded the place and watched until hunger and thirst, in hot sultry weather, had done their work. After three days a regular capitulation was signed and sworn on the Koran; their arms were delivered up; the Kurds were admitted on the platform. Then did the slaughter begin. To save the trouble of killing them, they were pitched into the Zab (river) below. Out of about one thousand only one escaped from the massacre. The face of the rock below is still covered with scattered bones of the dead, bleachedskulls, long locks of womenâ€™s hair, and torn portions of garments they had worn.â€[122]

In regard to the massacre of the eleven thousand Christians in Syria in 1860, a very trustworthy writer states:

â€œThe officials of the Porte at Constantinople formed a conspiracy for the blotting out of the Christian name in those parts, they appointed their own creatures to the governments of Damascus, Beirut, Sidon, and furnished them with soldiers, who were posted as garrison in the chief towns inhabited by Christians, under pretense of defending them against the Druses. When all was ready the savage Druses of Hauron were summoned, and they and their brethren of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon immediately set themselves to burning the villages and killing the people without any provocation. They put to death every male, even the infants at the breast, and enslaved as many of the women and girls as they chose. The Turkish garrison at first simply looked on; then they urged the Christians to take refuge in the castles on condition of delivering up whatever weapons they might possess. They swore by the Koran that no harm should be done them. But no sooner were they thus entrapped than the Druses were called in and every one of these helpless victims was shot down or his throat cut in cold blood. The streets of Deirel-Kamr, Hosbayan, and Zahlah flowed with human gore, in which men waded ankle deep. The worst scenes occurred in Damascus, the center of Moslem fanaticism. Here the pasha himself directed the operations, and after the butchery of the Christians and the plunder of their property, their quarter of the city was set on fire and burned down.â€[123]

It was due to the same bloodthirstiness of the Turks, inculcated by the infernal teaching of the Koran, and the examples of the former Mohammedan rulers, that the horrible massacres of the Bulgarians took place in 1876. Hon. Eugene Schuyler, then American consul-General, in his preliminary report to the Hon. Horace Maynard, the American minister, at Constantinople, wrote:

â€œPhilippopolis, August 10, 1876.Sir: In reference to the atrocities and massacres committed by the Turks in Bulgaria, I have the honor to inform you that I have visited the towns of Adrianople, Philippopolis, and Tatar, Bazardjik, and villages in the surrounding districts. From what I have personally seen, and from the inquiries I have made, and the information I have received, I have ascertained the following facts:â€œThe insurgent villages made little or no resistance. In many instances they surrendered their arms upon the first demand. Nearly all the villages which were attacked by theBashi-bazouks(irregulars) were burned and pillaged, as were also all those which had been abandoned by the terrified inhabitants. The inhabitants of some villages were massacred after exhibitions of the most ferocious cruelty, and the violation not only of women and girls, but even of persons of the other sex. Those crimes were committed by the regular troops as well as by the bashi-bazouks. The number of villages which were burned in whole or in part in the districts of Philippopolis, Roptchus, and Tatar-Bazardjik is at least sixty-five.â€œParticular attention was given by the troops to the churches and schools, which in some cases were destroyed with petroleum and gunpowder.â€œIt is difficult to estimate the number of Bulgarians who were killed during the few days that the disturbances lasted; but I am inclined to put fifteen thousand as the lowest for the districts I have named.â€œ... This village after a promise of safety without firing a shot surrendered to the bashi-bazouks, under command of Ahmed Aga, a chief of rural police. Despite his promise, the arms once surrendered, Ahmed Aga ordered the destruction of the village and the indiscriminate slaughter of the inhabitants, about a hundred young girls being reserved to satisfy the lust of the conqueror before they too should be killed. Not a house is now standing in this lovely valley. Of the eight thousand inhabitants not two thousand are known to survive.â€œAhmed Aga, who commanded the massacre, has since been decorated and promoted, to the rank ofyus bashi(centurion).â€œI am, sir, yours very truly,â€œEugene Schuyler.â€œThe Hon. Horace Maynard, etc.â€[124]

â€œPhilippopolis, August 10, 1876.

Sir: In reference to the atrocities and massacres committed by the Turks in Bulgaria, I have the honor to inform you that I have visited the towns of Adrianople, Philippopolis, and Tatar, Bazardjik, and villages in the surrounding districts. From what I have personally seen, and from the inquiries I have made, and the information I have received, I have ascertained the following facts:

â€œThe insurgent villages made little or no resistance. In many instances they surrendered their arms upon the first demand. Nearly all the villages which were attacked by theBashi-bazouks(irregulars) were burned and pillaged, as were also all those which had been abandoned by the terrified inhabitants. The inhabitants of some villages were massacred after exhibitions of the most ferocious cruelty, and the violation not only of women and girls, but even of persons of the other sex. Those crimes were committed by the regular troops as well as by the bashi-bazouks. The number of villages which were burned in whole or in part in the districts of Philippopolis, Roptchus, and Tatar-Bazardjik is at least sixty-five.

â€œParticular attention was given by the troops to the churches and schools, which in some cases were destroyed with petroleum and gunpowder.

â€œIt is difficult to estimate the number of Bulgarians who were killed during the few days that the disturbances lasted; but I am inclined to put fifteen thousand as the lowest for the districts I have named.

â€œ... This village after a promise of safety without firing a shot surrendered to the bashi-bazouks, under command of Ahmed Aga, a chief of rural police. Despite his promise, the arms once surrendered, Ahmed Aga ordered the destruction of the village and the indiscriminate slaughter of the inhabitants, about a hundred young girls being reserved to satisfy the lust of the conqueror before they too should be killed. Not a house is now standing in this lovely valley. Of the eight thousand inhabitants not two thousand are known to survive.

â€œAhmed Aga, who commanded the massacre, has since been decorated and promoted, to the rank ofyus bashi(centurion).

â€œI am, sir, yours very truly,â€œEugene Schuyler.

â€œThe Hon. Horace Maynard, etc.â€[124]

It was in the following year, 1877, that Armenia witnessed new horrors. The correspondent of the LondonTimeswrote of the massacre of the Armenians at Bayazid:

â€œThe scene that ensued [the massacre] was one of unparalleled horror. The town contained one hundred and sixty-five Christian families, and all the men, women and children were ruthlessly put to the sword. A Turkish officer, who visited the town a few days subsequently, states that there was not a single inhabitant left.... In every house he entered small groups ofdead were lying shockingly mutilated, and in the most revolting, indecent positions. Captain McCalmont, who visited the place shortly after the Russian relief, states that it is entirely deserted and a mere heap of ruins; also that soldiers were employed for six days in burying the dead, the number of whom it was impossible to estimate.â€[125]â€œThe American missionaries have been forced, for fear of their lives, to take refuge in a boat on the Lake (of Van).... Their Christian charges have been subjected to the grossest treatmentâ€”crops cut and carried away, cattle killed, villages burnt, men murdered, and worst of all, women and even children violated. Churches afford no refuge for these wretched mortals. Ten who fled for safety into the church at Utch-Kilissa were there foully murdered.... Hundreds of Christian villages in Armenia, having been gutted and fired by these miscreants, are completely abandoned, and their inhabitants have fled for refuge into the Russian camps. Hordes of fanatics, led by Moolahs (learned), have joined the Turkish army. Their fury is daily fed by the exhortations and addresses of the priests, who have denounced the war as a menace to the Ottoman (Mohammedan) religion, and they are led to commit every conceivable excess against the defenseless Christians, whom they accuse of furnishing information to the enemy. Facts prove the reverse, for as yet not a single Armenian spy has been discovered by the authorities, while several Kurds and Circassians, preferring money to-faith, have paid for their treachery with their lives; in short every spy hanged during this war has been a Mohammedan....â€œOutrages on Mohammedans, being against the Koran, are visited with great severity; outrages against Christians, who are considered beyond the pale of thelaw, are left unnoticed. The massacre at Bayazid, the desecration of Russian graves, mutilation of corpses, violation of a flag of truce, and the recent cruelties towards the Christians at Van, all furnish excuses, and valid excuses, too, for a continuance of the war. We cannot hope that a great power like Russia will sit quietly down under the reverses her arms have sustained during the past month, and will permit the Christians, on whose behalf she has ostensibly made war, to be treated in Armenia as they were last year in Bulgaria. She must compel the Porte, by force of arms, to respect the rights of all her Christian subjects, and afford to them equal protection and privilege as to Mohammedans. At present this is far from being the case, Mussulman officials literally treating them worse than the dogs which act as scavengers in their streets. I mean this as no mere figure of speech, but as an actual fact, borne out not only by what I myself have witnessed, but also by reports of occurrences which have come under the notice of many of the American missionaries in Armenia, who daily receive complaints from their Christian congregations of the cruelties and acts of oppression they endure at the hands of the Kurds, whom the Ottoman government have now let loose in Anatolia.â€[126]

â€œThe American missionaries have been forced, for fear of their lives, to take refuge in a boat on the Lake (of Van).... Their Christian charges have been subjected to the grossest treatmentâ€”crops cut and carried away, cattle killed, villages burnt, men murdered, and worst of all, women and even children violated. Churches afford no refuge for these wretched mortals. Ten who fled for safety into the church at Utch-Kilissa were there foully murdered.... Hundreds of Christian villages in Armenia, having been gutted and fired by these miscreants, are completely abandoned, and their inhabitants have fled for refuge into the Russian camps. Hordes of fanatics, led by Moolahs (learned), have joined the Turkish army. Their fury is daily fed by the exhortations and addresses of the priests, who have denounced the war as a menace to the Ottoman (Mohammedan) religion, and they are led to commit every conceivable excess against the defenseless Christians, whom they accuse of furnishing information to the enemy. Facts prove the reverse, for as yet not a single Armenian spy has been discovered by the authorities, while several Kurds and Circassians, preferring money to-faith, have paid for their treachery with their lives; in short every spy hanged during this war has been a Mohammedan....

â€œOutrages on Mohammedans, being against the Koran, are visited with great severity; outrages against Christians, who are considered beyond the pale of thelaw, are left unnoticed. The massacre at Bayazid, the desecration of Russian graves, mutilation of corpses, violation of a flag of truce, and the recent cruelties towards the Christians at Van, all furnish excuses, and valid excuses, too, for a continuance of the war. We cannot hope that a great power like Russia will sit quietly down under the reverses her arms have sustained during the past month, and will permit the Christians, on whose behalf she has ostensibly made war, to be treated in Armenia as they were last year in Bulgaria. She must compel the Porte, by force of arms, to respect the rights of all her Christian subjects, and afford to them equal protection and privilege as to Mohammedans. At present this is far from being the case, Mussulman officials literally treating them worse than the dogs which act as scavengers in their streets. I mean this as no mere figure of speech, but as an actual fact, borne out not only by what I myself have witnessed, but also by reports of occurrences which have come under the notice of many of the American missionaries in Armenia, who daily receive complaints from their Christian congregations of the cruelties and acts of oppression they endure at the hands of the Kurds, whom the Ottoman government have now let loose in Anatolia.â€[126]

I have quoted a long passage fromMr.Normanâ€™s book to show the miserable condition of the Armenians who were treated worse than the street-dogs by the Mohammedans, the officers and the rest, and that these outrages were well known in England, yet in the following year, â€œEngland at the Berlin Congress, andEngland aloneâ€”for none of the other powers took any interest in the matterâ€”destroyed the security which Russia had extorted from the Turkishgovernment at San Stefano, and substituted for the sterling guarantee of Russia, the worthless paper money of Ottoman promises.â€[127]

Mr.Norman himself wrote: â€œNaturally, since I have been here (in Armenia) I have had many, very many, opportunities of conversing with Turkish officers and men on the so-called Eastern question; and the consequence is that, arriving in the country a strong philo-Turk, deeply impressed with the necessity of preserving the â€˜integrity of the Empireâ€™ in order to uphold â€˜British interests,â€™ I now fain would cry withMr.Freeman, â€˜Perish British interests, perish our dominion in India, rather than that we should strike a blow on behalf of the wrong against the right.â€™â€[128]England, however, did strike a fatal â€œblow on behalf of the wrong against the right,â€ in the negotiations of 1878, when Lord Beaconsfield â€œsubstituted the Treaty of Berlin for the Treaty of San Stefano, and dictated the provisions of the Anglo-Turkish convention.â€

Sultan Abdul Hamid not only henceforth had a new lease of life for his empire, but by the British illegal protectorate over his Asiatic provinces, he had also her protection against Russia. And while thus protected, he determined to settle his internal affairs, not by doing what he promised, to the European powers collectively and to England separately, to do, namely, to protect his Christian subjects against robberies, oppressions, outrages and murders,but by systematic and gradual extermination of the Armenians in order to rid himself of the Armenian question. Vamberyâ€™s description of the character of Sultan Abdul Hamid II may give us some idea how this crafty man would act: â€œI never met with a man the salient features of whose character were so contradictory, so uneven, and disproportionate, as with Sultan Abdul Hamid. Benevolence and wickedness, generosity and meanness, cowardice and valor, shrewdness and ignorance, moderation and excess, and many other qualities have alternately found expression in his acts and words.â€[129]Sultan Abdul Hamid could do like his master of whom Paul wrote to the Corinthians, and said: â€œNo marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.â€ (II Cor. 11:14). He was too shrewd to openly inaugurate the work of extermination of the Christians and the persecution of Christianity, but he did it, first underhandedly, until some Armenians, driven to desperation, resorted to self-defense. Of course in the case of a Christianâ€™s self-defense his resentment of the outrages against the oppressor is considered an act of rebellion, and the acts of robbery, outrage, and murder perpetrated by the Mohammedan upon the defenseless Christians are considered meritorious virtues.St.Paul said, â€œNo marvelâ€; Sultan Abdul Hamid is transformed into an angel of light, what else can we expect? There were, undoubtedly, many Armenians who did revolt against such perversions of truth. Who can always sit still and look like astatue while the wrong-doer is robbing, outraging and murdering his loved ones, and not revolt against such acts, and not give a blow against the wrong-doer, even if we know that he may be cut to pieces for his doing so? This was the kind of rebellion that some Armenians were accused of.

The Turkish governmentâ€™s accusation of the Armenians with the device of a revolution was simply made up of the tissues of falsehood, and woven by the iniquity of the head of the government, to shroud the just and righteous cause of the Armenian question; to bury it in an ignominious grave of a rebellion that failed. But there was no rebellion, there could be no rebellion. It was, however, convenient for the British government and some other, equally guilty, governments of Europe, to justify their criminal indifference, or self interests, to pretend that it was and that the Armenians were not persecuted for their religion. The Mohammedan government would not sayâ€”for she had no regard for the truthâ€”that she was torturing and slaughtering the Armenians because they were Christians. It is perfectly natural for a corrupt and depraved heart to falsify and declare to those, who ask the reason of her murdering the Christians, to say that she is suppressing a revolution. But for any so-called Christian nation and government, like that of England, accepting Hamidâ€™s excuse and explanation, and declaring that to the world was plainly protecting and defending the criminal at the bar of justice and humanity.

The Turkish government knew, so did the Europeangovernments, that an Armenian revolution was an impossibility, and such an excuse was an absurdity. The Armenians, who hardly number two millions, scattered among the eighteen millions of the Mohammedans, the latter having a standing army of several hundred thousand soldiers at their command, would indeed have been fools, and the Turks equal fools to be afraid of such a rebellion, and, therefore, had taken such severe measures to suppress it. Such a thing was not only an absurdity but it was also the most wicked thing both on the part of the Turks and on the part of the friends of the Moslems, who pretended to believe it.

About 1892 Sultan Abdul Hamid called the Kurdish chiefs to Constantinople and supplied them with military titles, uniforms, and modern weapons of war, and sent them back to organize their tribes into â€œHamidiehâ€ cavalry regiments, which numbered about twenty-two thousand and five hundred men. The Sultan thus â€œobtained a power eager in time of peaceto crush the Armenian growth and spirit.â€ The Armenians â€œbesought the protection of the co-signatory powers to the Berlin guarantees against the ruthless oppression of the lawless and ruffianly Kurds,and with the tacit consent, if not the approbation of the powers, the Porte now appoints their worst enemies as their guardians.â€

A few fragmentary instances may show what theseâ€”the governmentâ€™sâ€”licensed robbers and murderers have done. The following is part of a letter writtenby an American missionary in the summer of 1892 from Southern Armenia:

â€œWe journeyed east of north over the hills, and dropped down into another valley, in the bosom of which nestled the Armenian village of Khundik, of about twenty houses. It was a charming spot, but the oppression of surrounding Kurdish begs (chiefs) was depleting the population. Their church has been reduced to a heap, and they were not allowed to restore it.â€

Dr.â€”â€”, a medical missionary, writing of his tour under date of October 20, 1892, stated:

â€œIt was somewhat risky going among the Arabkir villages. Robberies were of almost daily occurrence, and the villagers were in a state of constant alarm at night on account of the raids of the Kurds.... The village of Horesik is in a district of perhaps thirty Armenian villages; but it is one of the most oppressed districts in the empire. A long time ago some Turkish feudal chiefs came from abroad, and gradually gained possession of the whole district. They now claim to own all the land, and even the houses which the people occupy, and which the occupants built, and the gardens and vineyards which they planted.â€

It was not the Kurds, and some Turkish feudal chiefs alone, but the officers of the government who carry the sword for the punishment of the evil-doer were also among the worst kind of tormentors and evil-doers themselves.

â€œOctober, 1892: At all the villages on the lake (Van) soldiers were stationed to keep boats from landing, on account of cholera.... Then the quartering of the soldiers in the villages. You can imagine what thatmeans for the poor Armenians, you can sympathize with them in the idea that the cure is worse than the disease; that they would much rather take the risk of having the cholera than have the soldiers about. And it is not only the soldiers and underpaid gendarmes that oppress the villagers, extorting the best and making no return. An officer, the captain of one thousand, with seven horsemen, had just been at a village we visited. They and their horses were fed with the best and went off without paying anything.â€

On the night of the 5th of January, 1893, in several important cities of Asia Minor placards were posted attacking the Turkish government. Who did this was a mystery. A prominent editor of a leading periodical in this country, who was well informed of the condition of affairs in Turkey, said, â€œthe general belief of all classes is that the more fanaticalsoftas(students in the mosques) are the real offenders.â€ That may have been the case. But later events and instances positively show that the governmentâ€™s emissaries had done it in order to furnish an excuse for the officers of the government to accuse the Armenians of sedition, and blindfold the European powers who were overanxious to abandon the cause of justice and humanity for any pretext.

Two of these placards were affixed to the gate of the mission premises at Marsovan, but were soon seen and pulled down by persons belonging to the college. Husrev Pasha was appointed to investigate the matter. This official himself had threatened in violent terms both the college and its teachers, â€œCharging the institution with being a source of sedition, and affirmingthat the placards were issued from the college.â€ Those very officials themselves had â€œdeclared that the place where the college stood should be as a plowed field.â€

On the 29th of January, Professor Thoumanian and later Professor Kayayan, two Armenian teachers of the college, were arrested and imprisoned. There was no evidence of their having issued these placards. On the night of February 1st, the girlsâ€™ school was set on fire. The Turkish authorities who declared that they were going to burn the building, after so doing, began to charge the crime upon the college authorities â€œeither for the purpose of exciting the Armenians to revolt, or to cover up the fact that arms and ammunition were concealed in the building. These most absurd charges were sent to Constantinople, and the corrupt officials, who have themselves been implicated in the burning were charged with the duty of investigating the affair. Meantimenumberless arrestswere made, not only in Marsovan but in all parts of the province. United States Consul,Mr.Jewett, who was stationed at Sivas, went to Marsovan. But his dispatches to our minister at Constantinople, and the ministerâ€™s dispatches to him, were interfered with, and it was with the greatest difficulty that he secured any communication with his superior officer.â€

The Turkish government could, and had created riots at will, and thus have an excuse to fall upon the defenseless Christians to torture and butcher them: London, February 14, 1893â€”â€œA despatchfrom Vienna says that one hundred and twenty-five Armenians were killed and three hundred and forty were wounded during the recent riot at Yosgat, Turkey.â€ Constantinople, July 14, 1893â€”â€œThe British Embassy has received news that three hundred police and Bashi-Bazouks were sent out from CÃ¦sarea in February to arrest so-called refugees in Everek. They looted every Armenian house in the town, and abused the women.â€

Here is another despatch from Constantinople under date March 15, 1893:

â€œMoslem mobs have possession of CÃ¦sarea. They have established a reign of terror over the Armenian churches, have robbed hundreds and have killed many. During services in three Armenian churches the other day the mob burst in the doors, stripping the women of their jewelry and beat and cut the men. After the Armenians fled the Moslems sacked the churches. They afterwards went through the streets attacking all the Armenians they met, bursting into private houses, and sacking shops. All places of business are closed and trade is utterly stagnant. Violence and theft are said to continue day and night. Furthermore, Christian caravans are being robbed and the merchants murdered. The prisons are crowded with Armenian prisoners. Most of the conspicuous Armenians of CÃ¦sarea and Marsovan have been imprisoned.â€

The following British Consular reports were despatched from London, April 10, 1893:

â€œAdvices from Constantinople show that the British consuls at Smyrna, Trebizond, and other places in Anatolia, have sent in official reports of Turkish outrages onnative Christians. These reports include the names ofeighteen hundredArmenians who are imprisoned on various charges in the several consular jurisdictions. Among other matters the serious charge is preferred that it is a common occurrence for the Turks to kidnap Christian girls and dispose of them to the owners of harems. If the relatives and friends of the girls attempt to regain them, they are met with the statement that the girls have embraced Mohammedanism, and this, as a rule, ends the matter so far as the Armenians are concerned; the Christians are ridiculed and subjected to gross outrages, and if they object to their treatment they find themselves arrested on trumped up charges, and are always found â€˜guilty.â€™â€

TheRev.Dr.F. E. Clark, the President of the U. S. C. E., while in Turkey on his tour around the world, wrote:

â€œI could not use the words society or organization, endeavor, union, etc., without the risk of getting my interpreter, my audience, and myself into an unspeakable Turkish dungeon. In one village a poor broken-hearted woman came to tell us that her husband, who was a Protestant preacher, had utterly disappeared. Three weary months of anxious, heart-sick watching had passed away, and she had had no message. What his alleged offense was she had no idea. Whether he is dead or alive, in prison or in exile, she could not tell; and perhaps the mystery of his disappearance will never be solved.â€ After giving several instances of this kind,Dr.Clark adds: â€œThese are only isolated instances of hundreds that might be cited.â€[130]

In the above pages a very few instances were given, which could be multiplied by the hundred, if thetime and space would permit, but there is no need. For neither did the Turks nor their friends deny them. Moreover, some of the instances of cruelty and outrage are too painful to be put in print.

The attention of the reader may now be directed to the condition of the so-called â€œagitators,â€ who have been arrested and imprisoned in various cities. According to the British consular â€œreports included the names of eighteen hundred Armenians.â€ Some of these prisoners, after having been well fleeced, were likely set free while at their respective cities, others possibly left still in prisons, and a great number of them were probably done away with in various ways;[131]for we were informed by the following despatch that only fifty-six were tried at Angora: Constantinople, June 18, 1893â€”â€œThe trial of Armeniansaccused of being concerned in rioting at CÃ¦sarea and Marsovan last spring has just been concluded at Angora. Seventeen of the prisoners, including Professors Thoumanian and Kayayan, were condemned to death; six, including the Protestant pastor at Goemerek, were sentenced to fifteen yearsâ€™ imprisonment; eighteenâ€”one was a woman, thirty-three years oldâ€”were sentenced to imprisonment for terms ranging from seven to ten years, and fifteen were acquitted.â€ Three others tortured to death in prison.

Professors Thoumanian and Kayayan were pardoned by the sultan on the condition that â€œthey should leave the Turkish territories and never return.â€

The following despatch is reproduced to show what impression the Foreign office of Her Majestyâ€™s government had received with regard to the trials of those unfortunate Armenians, and their execution:

London, August 2, 1893â€”â€œThe question of Turkish outrages upon the Armenian Christians was brought up in the House of Commons to-day. Several members asked for information as to the charges made that the Turkish officials had tortured the prisoners who were some time ago arrested for complicity in the seditious rioting in CÃ¦sarea and Marsovan in their efforts to get the accused to implicate themselves and others. In response to the questions Sir Edward Grey, Parliamentary Secretary of the Foreign office, said that what little information the Foreign Office had on the subject wasvery painful. Fifty-six persons had been (tried) arrested and of this number seventeen had been condemnedto death, and many of the others sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Subsequently the Sultan of Turkey commuted the death sentence of all but five of the prisoners. These five men have been executed within the past two or three days. From the evidence that had been given at the trials, all of which had been carefully investigated by the British representative in Turkey, and a report thereon forwarded to the Foreign Office, it was clear that two of the men executed, and probably more, were innocent of the charges made against them. The British representative in Constantinople had used his influence to convince the Ottoman authorities thatthe trials were unfair, but his efforts to have the wrong righted were in vain.â€

These political â€œagitatorsâ€ and â€œseditious rioters,â€ terms applied to the Armenians by the Turkish government and its officials, only were mere inventions. As it has been said the oppression, cruel persecutions, and outrages drove the Armenians to desperation, and when they did anything in self-defense, or even if they attempted to consult what they should do against the assaults, they were set upon and treated still worse. The disturbance at Yozgat, for instance, was stated in the following manner: An Armenian spy in the employ of the Turkish government was murdered by an Armenian revolutionist from Russia. Instead of the murderer being found and arrested, all the men of the village where the murder had taken place were arrested and taken to Yozgat. The four police officers who remained in the village committed every outrage upon the defenseless women, who went in a body to Yozgat andmarched through the market calling upon the Armenians of the city to avenge their wrongs. â€œSome one rang the bell of the church, and a large number of Armenians closed their shops and collected at the church forconsultation. Military commander of the town heard this and hastened to the church, where he tried to calm the people and persuaded them to disperse, assuring them the guilty officer should be punished. He was meeting with some success when the troops sent by the governor arrived.â€ The troops had come there for business. A riot was created, and a â€œhundred and twenty-five Armenians were killed and three hundred and forty wounded,â€ as the result of this riot.

A commission was sent from Constantinople to investigate, and a reign of terror in the town was the result. Under cover of searching the houses of all the Armenians, they were plundered and outraged without mercy, and a great number thrown into prison, and tortured to force them to give evidence against one another.

I believe the Sultan, who had fashioned himself into an angel of light had chosen this method to feel his way and see whether the guardians of his Christian subjects could see through the tissue of his falsehood and call him to halt, or they would be willing for their own conveniences to accept his construction of suppressing a â€œsedition.â€

The Representative Committee of the society of Friends in Great Britain addressed a memorial to the Earl of Kimberley, the Secretary of State forForeign Affairs. (See â€œMinutesâ€ of 1894, held in London.)

â€œThe Representative committee of the society of Friends in Great Britain have had their attention recently directed to the suffering and persecuted condition of the Armenian Christian subjects of the Porte, and have been at some pains to investigate the facts of the case. They are compelled to conclude that persecution of a cruel character has been and is being carried on by Turkish officials, which is a disgrace to any government, and to the age in which we live.â€œThey desire to point out that Article I, of the Cyprus convention of June, 1878, and Articles LXI and LXII of the Treaty of Berlin, July, 1878, give this country a position of responsibility and authority upon this subject which it ought not to ignore.â€œThe committee believes that, though these engagements were made nearly fourteen years ago, it is not alleged that their performance has been even entered upon. On the contrary, great numbers of the Christian Armenians have been from time to time arbitrarily arrested, and are now in prison on charges strongly suspected of being false, whilst many of the proceedings in the courts of law are clearly a mere travesty of justice.â€

â€œThey desire to point out that Article I, of the Cyprus convention of June, 1878, and Articles LXI and LXII of the Treaty of Berlin, July, 1878, give this country a position of responsibility and authority upon this subject which it ought not to ignore.

â€œThe committee believes that, though these engagements were made nearly fourteen years ago, it is not alleged that their performance has been even entered upon. On the contrary, great numbers of the Christian Armenians have been from time to time arbitrarily arrested, and are now in prison on charges strongly suspected of being false, whilst many of the proceedings in the courts of law are clearly a mere travesty of justice.â€

The following is the part of the answer to the above memorial:

â€œSir: I am directed by the Earl of Kimberley to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th instant (April, 1894), and the memorial. In reply I am to state that the information in the possession of Her Majestyâ€™s government does not confirm the widely-spread belief that the arrest and imprisonment of theArmenians in Asiatic Turkey are attributable to their religious faith.â€

The great â€œassassinâ€ well might have congratulated himself that whether Her Majestyâ€™s government believed it or not, at least, declared to the world that the Armenians were not persecuted on account of their faith.

An American wrote from Bitlis in the summer of 1893:â€”

â€œThe Armenians are still found in goodly numbers, aggregating nearly one-third of some eighteen thousand inhabitants in the city (Moosh), constituting more than half in the region, if we include the 155 villages of this large plain. But so lamentably have they been subdued by thelong oppressionandmisrule, that none of their old-time spirit remains.â€œWe might point to a village of more than 300 houses and 2,000 inhabitants, who live in constant terror from a little Kurdish village of desperadoes not one-tenth as large!â€

â€œWe might point to a village of more than 300 houses and 2,000 inhabitants, who live in constant terror from a little Kurdish village of desperadoes not one-tenth as large!â€

It is no wonder that these poor and oppressed Armenians â€œlive in constant terror.â€ The Turkish government, the author of all injustice and cruelty in Armenia, had decreed even the mere possession of arms a serious crime in the case of Christians, while the Kurds, the worst enemies of law and order were well equipped with all sorts of modern weapons, and were enlisted into His Majesty the Sultanâ€™s army. They were, therefore, authorized to rob, steal, and kill the Armenians.

FOOTNOTES:[120]Comstock, â€œGreek Revolution,â€ p. 222.[121]Greene, â€œThe Armenian Crisis in Turkey,â€ p. 98.[122]Layard, â€œNineveh,â€ Vol. I, pp. 165-6.[123]Van Lennep, â€œThe Bible Lands,â€ pp. 745-6.[124]Greene, â€œThe Armenian Crisis in Turkey,â€ pp. 101-2.[125]Norman, â€œArmenia and the Campaign of 1877,â€ p. 273.[126]Norman, â€œArmenia and the Campaign of 1877,â€ pp. 234-5.[127]The Westminster Gazette, Dec. 12, 1894, reprinted in theArmenia, London, Jan., 1895.[128]Norman, â€œArmenia and the Campaign of 1877,â€ pp. 158-9.[129]The 19th Century, July, 1909.[130]The Independent, June 15, 1893, New York.[131]The following explains itself: The private advices from Constantinople give the Press information of a tragic discovery. The harbor of that city has no wharves. Vessels, after discharging their cargoes at the custom-house, anchor in the harbor and receive their cargoes. On September 30, 1893, a Russian merchantman anchored off Seraglio Point, and, having received her cargo, would raise her anchor to sail for home. The anchor seemed to be caught in something heavy. After long efforts it was raised. It brought up with it fifteen large haircloth sacks, such as are used by Turkish merchants in packing goods for shipment.â€œAt first the Russian captain thought he had disclosed a smuggling scheme. Upon investigation he discovered that the sacks were filled with human bodies, each sack containing from fifteen to twenty. Further investigation disclosed that they were the bodies of Armenian political prisoners.â€œForeign ambassadors to Turkey had recently complained that the prisons were overcrowded with Armenian prisoners, and the government decided to remove the cause of complaint. Accordingly about three hundred prisoners were taken on board of a Turkish man-of-war, ostensibly for transportation to Africa. In the night, however, the fellows were murdered, their bodies placed in sacks, which were tied one to the other, and thrown into the harbor. This is in keeping with the Grand Vizierâ€™s declaration a short time ago, that hewould settle the Armenian question by annihilating the Armenians as a race. A discovery similar to this was made in the harbor of Salonica a year ago.â€

[120]Comstock, â€œGreek Revolution,â€ p. 222.

[121]Greene, â€œThe Armenian Crisis in Turkey,â€ p. 98.

[122]Layard, â€œNineveh,â€ Vol. I, pp. 165-6.

[123]Van Lennep, â€œThe Bible Lands,â€ pp. 745-6.

[124]Greene, â€œThe Armenian Crisis in Turkey,â€ pp. 101-2.

[125]Norman, â€œArmenia and the Campaign of 1877,â€ p. 273.

[126]Norman, â€œArmenia and the Campaign of 1877,â€ pp. 234-5.

[127]The Westminster Gazette, Dec. 12, 1894, reprinted in theArmenia, London, Jan., 1895.

[128]Norman, â€œArmenia and the Campaign of 1877,â€ pp. 158-9.

[129]The 19th Century, July, 1909.

[130]The Independent, June 15, 1893, New York.

[131]The following explains itself: The private advices from Constantinople give the Press information of a tragic discovery. The harbor of that city has no wharves. Vessels, after discharging their cargoes at the custom-house, anchor in the harbor and receive their cargoes. On September 30, 1893, a Russian merchantman anchored off Seraglio Point, and, having received her cargo, would raise her anchor to sail for home. The anchor seemed to be caught in something heavy. After long efforts it was raised. It brought up with it fifteen large haircloth sacks, such as are used by Turkish merchants in packing goods for shipment.â€œAt first the Russian captain thought he had disclosed a smuggling scheme. Upon investigation he discovered that the sacks were filled with human bodies, each sack containing from fifteen to twenty. Further investigation disclosed that they were the bodies of Armenian political prisoners.â€œForeign ambassadors to Turkey had recently complained that the prisons were overcrowded with Armenian prisoners, and the government decided to remove the cause of complaint. Accordingly about three hundred prisoners were taken on board of a Turkish man-of-war, ostensibly for transportation to Africa. In the night, however, the fellows were murdered, their bodies placed in sacks, which were tied one to the other, and thrown into the harbor. This is in keeping with the Grand Vizierâ€™s declaration a short time ago, that hewould settle the Armenian question by annihilating the Armenians as a race. A discovery similar to this was made in the harbor of Salonica a year ago.â€

â€œAt first the Russian captain thought he had disclosed a smuggling scheme. Upon investigation he discovered that the sacks were filled with human bodies, each sack containing from fifteen to twenty. Further investigation disclosed that they were the bodies of Armenian political prisoners.

â€œForeign ambassadors to Turkey had recently complained that the prisons were overcrowded with Armenian prisoners, and the government decided to remove the cause of complaint. Accordingly about three hundred prisoners were taken on board of a Turkish man-of-war, ostensibly for transportation to Africa. In the night, however, the fellows were murdered, their bodies placed in sacks, which were tied one to the other, and thrown into the harbor. This is in keeping with the Grand Vizierâ€™s declaration a short time ago, that hewould settle the Armenian question by annihilating the Armenians as a race. A discovery similar to this was made in the harbor of Salonica a year ago.â€

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