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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59270 ***
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+                         ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE
+
+                                   OR
+
+                          The Story of Armenia
+
+
+                             BY AN ARMENIAN
+
+         A description of the land of Armenia: its ancient and
+        modern history; its physical features; its people, their
+        religious beliefs, customs, etc., from the oldest dates,
+        as recorded in Armenian Histories and Church Records. A
+        presentation of the true causes of the recent atrocities
+                and a detailed account of the massacres.
+
+                                   By
+                         Rev. George H. Filian
+
+          A native pastor, banished by the Turkish Government
+                   from the City of Marsovan, Armenia
+
+
+                            HARTFORD, CONN.
+                      AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
+                                  1896
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               DEDICATION
+
+
+              IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE MARTYRS OF ARMENIA WHO
+                 SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES FOR CHRIST THIS
+                   VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+    I.                                                      PAGE.
+
+    The Land of Armenia,                                      21
+
+    II.
+
+    The People of Armenia,                                    39
+
+    III.
+
+    The Armenian Dynasties,                                   45
+
+    IV.
+
+    Rulers of The Ottoman Empire,                            132
+
+    V.
+
+    The Great Powers and The Armenian Question,              175
+
+    VI.
+
+    The Causes of the Atrocities,                            217
+
+    VII.
+
+    The Turkish Atrocities in Armenia,                       239
+
+    VIII.
+
+    The Armenians of To-Day,                                 334
+
+    IX.
+
+    The Future of Armenia and the Battle of Armageddon,      350
+
+    X.
+
+    Poems on the Armenian Question,                          362
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                             FACE PAGE
+    Portrait of Armenian Catholicos,                 1
+    Portrait of Author,                             12
+    City of Antioch,                                17
+    Map of Armenia,                                 21
+    Mount Ararat,                                   23
+    Kurdish Bandits,                                35
+    Oriental Threshing Floor,                       35
+    Armenian Flags--Coats of Arms,                  45
+    Lake and City of Van,                           49
+    Oldest Church Edifice in the World,            101
+    Portrait of Armenian Patriarch,                108
+    Recent Portrait of Sultan of Turkey,           139
+    Early Portrait of Sultan of Turkey,            143
+    A Bread Seller,                                166
+    A Zeibeck,                                     166
+    A Softa,                                       166
+    Group of Circassians,                          217
+    Group of Georgians,                            217
+    Kurdish Home,                                  239
+    Kurd Chiefs,                                   239
+    Kurd Woman,                                    239
+    Massacre at Sassoun,                           247
+    Massacre at Erzeroum,                          247
+    Massacre at Stamboul,                          257
+    City of Harpoot,                               264
+    Armenian Peasant Girl,                         272
+    Mousa Beg, Kurd Chief,                         272
+    Rev. Prof. Thourmain,                          272
+    City of Marsovan,                              280
+    A Water Peddler,                               280
+    City of Trebizond,                             300
+    Group of Armenian Children,                    319
+    Group of Young Armenian Women,                 319
+    Anatolia College,                              335
+    Armenian Family,                               335
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The problem of Armenia and the Turkish atrocities there, is in the very
+forefront of the world's burning questions at the present time. In
+every civilized land it is ranked alongside their own pressing local
+issues; everywhere there is not only sympathy and indignation, but a
+feeling of real responsibility. We are a group of Christian nations,
+and the first Christian nation is being exterminated. Within a few
+months the unspeakable Turks and barbarous Kurds destroyed more than
+a thousand villages and towns, murdered a hundred thousand Armenian
+Christians,--men, women, and innocent children,--and left 500,000
+others without homes, clothing, or food, thousands of women shamefully
+defiled, and thousands of men put to horrible tortures. Dying in
+the streets, in the fields, on the mountains; dying of hunger, of
+cold, of storm, and of diseases bred of all these; dying of broken
+hearts and despair, even more, of shame and mental torture. Yet all
+these Armenians who thus suffered and were driven forth to starve
+and die like deserted animals, were absolutely peaceable,--indeed,
+they were totally unarmed and could not have been otherwise if they
+wished,--perfectly respectable, most of them comfortably off, and
+some of them rich. One who was last week a banker is to-day a beggar;
+yesterday a merchant, to-day a tramp. Why? For the main reason that he
+is a Christian, and the Sultan has resolved to have no more Christians
+in his dominion; the doom of Islamism is hanging over their heads. "If
+you accept Islam," they are told, "well and good; if you do not,
+you shall be killed--or worse--as your fellows have been."
+
+These are all facts, proved to superfluity, though the Sultan denies
+them and instructs his ministers everywhere to deny them. How often
+has the Turkish minister in Washington, Mavroyeni Beg, officially
+(?) declared the Armenian atrocities to be fiction, giving the
+papers lying statements (which come from the Sublime Porte), and
+asserted that the Armenians were the aggressors! It is precisely
+as though one should account for a devastated sheepfold, with the
+wolves raging about in it, by alleging that the lambs had wantonly
+assailed and slain the wolves first. Some pretended to believe this
+rubbish; but most people, to their credit, are only the more angered
+and disgusted by it. The Turkish proverbs, occasionally good, are
+generally evil,--a significant index to the race; one of the commonest
+is this: "Yalan yigitin kullesi dir" (A lie is the fortress of the
+brave). Kill, plunder, ravish, and then deny it; not simply deny it,
+but charge those very things to your enemy, and make them an excuse
+for all you do to him or his. Such are the principles of the Sultan,
+the false successor of the false prophet of Arabia. At the very time
+when noble American and European Christians are sending help to the
+survivors of his massacres, to the half-million homeless, naked,
+starving, heart-broken beggars he has made from prosperous citizens,
+he coolly denies that anything has happened but the putting down of
+a few local riots. He writes to Queen Victoria sympathizing with her
+expressions of humane sentiment, but declaring that the reports were
+invented by evil-disposed persons; that on the exact contrary, it was
+the Turks who were first attacked while praying in the mosques. He
+assures the Queen that his measures have succeeded in restoring order.
+
+And this same Sultan a few months ago, before the greatest of the
+recent massacres, wrote to Lord Salisbury as follows:--"Take the words
+of my honor, I will make reforms in Armenia. I will keep before me
+every article of the desired reforms, and will order the governors
+of the provinces to carry them into effect." He at once began to put
+this pledge of his "honor" into effect, by sending orders from Yildiz
+Kiosk to the provincial governors in Armenia to root out or convert
+the accursed infidels. Since that promise of his "honor" months
+have passed away; and during the time at least eighty thousand more
+Armenian Christians have been killed, and even death has been the most
+merciful "reform" he has bestowed on the land. The word in his mouth
+means beggaring, burning, ravaging, violating, mutilating, torturing,
+and assassinating. When all the leading Armenians are slain and their
+helpless families forced to become Mohammedans, after the women have
+been dishonored,--in a word, when all the Armenian Christians are
+exterminated, then Armenia will have been reformed. A special chapter
+is devoted to the person and doings of this eminent reformer.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND BIRTHPLACE.
+
+
+I was born January 20, 1853, in a suburb of Antioch; twelfth child and
+youngest son of a family of nine boys and four girls, and therefore
+considered the Joseph of the family, and as a small boy went to a
+missionary school with my elder brothers. My father was a banker and
+merchant. His partner in the former business was Mr. Edward Barker,
+English consul at Aleppo; in the latter a Greek, Jabra Antaki, their
+traffic being in raw silk, for which and for silk-worms Antioch is
+a great center. Millions of dollars passed through his hands, and he
+was considered one of the wealthiest men in the city. A common saying
+was, "If you can drain the Mediterranean dry, you can drain Filian's
+money dry." This saying roused the cupidity of the local governor;
+he imprisoned my father, and proposed to torture and kill him, and
+confiscate his property. Americans would relish living under this
+sort of government. His partner, the consul, saved him, however,
+and won his undying gratitude; and when Mr. Barker died, my father
+gave his son a part of his own orchard for a burial ground. The
+son erected a beautiful $25,000 monument there, which still stands,
+the ground being owned by my brother, Moses Filian.
+
+When I was fourteen or fifteen, my father lost all his money through
+the failure of others, became hopelessly bankrupt, and was too old
+to regain his position, and sank into a poor and broken-hearted old
+man: his Mediterranean was not inexhaustible. He often patted me and
+said, "My dear boy, I am sorry--I helped your brothers and gave them
+good educations, and I meant to do the same by you; but I cannot,
+for I am too poor. You will have to make your own way." He was a
+devoted friend of education, himself highly educated, master of three
+languages,--Armenian, Arabic, and Turkish,--and of strong reasoning
+powers, logical, imaginative, profound, and far-sighted. Moreover, he
+was a zealous Christian, greatly respected and liked. In person he was
+tall, and very stout, with large, bright eyes, and full, rosy cheeks;
+built like my great-grandfather, from whose elephantine figure the
+family took its surname. Filian means "Son of an elephant," and his
+descendants--about 150 in all, one of the largest single families in
+the Orient--have been mostly large-framed men and women.
+
+At about fifteen I had to go to work. One of my brothers being
+a weaver, I learned that trade from him, and kept at it for three
+years, weaving both cotton and silk, and not only supporting myself,
+but helping support my father. Then I took up shoemaking, which
+paid better, but neither my father nor myself was satisfied to have
+me remain a common workman. He wanted me to become a banker and
+merchant, as he had been, and his old friends, who respected him,
+would have given me a chance to start; but I had always been devout
+from a little boy, and felt that I had a call to be a minister. While
+making shoes, I prayed the Lord to open the way. I often thought,
+"Suppose I become the richest shoemaker or even the richest banker in
+Antioch, what then? Shall I ever be happy? No. Then Lord, what is my
+call?" I believed I heard the answering voice of God in my soul saying,
+"I have created thee to become a minister of the gospel." So I went
+to a missionary of the American Board in Antioch, and consulted him;
+by his encouragement I went to the Theological Seminary at Marash, in
+Armenia Minor, and studied there three years in the preparatory course.
+
+Before taking my theological lessons I was sent by the missionaries
+to Caesarea (Kayserieh) to teach in a town near by. On reaching the
+city the pastor of the Protestant Church invited me to preach to his
+congregation the following Sunday morning. I did so; the missionaries
+heard me, changed their minds, said I was better fitted for a preacher
+than a teacher, and sent me to preach at a village named Chomakli,
+near Mt. Argaeus. The Lord seemed to fill me with eloquence, and
+crowds flocked to hear me. Then the missionaries called me to a larger
+field, Talas, their central town; the same fortune attended me there,
+and steadily followed me in the other places to which I went. I will
+not make a long story of it. Enough to say that I always felt utterly
+helpless before preaching, empty of matter and words; I went to my room
+and cried to my Heavenly Father, and always overflowed with things
+to say when the time came. There was no limit to my imagination;
+illustrations thronged upon me by hundreds; I felt inspired from
+Heaven. I never wrote a sermon before preaching it, but wrote it down
+literally as soon as I had finished.--I wrote every Monday.--And they
+are all ready to be published in both Armenian and Turkish.
+
+I was a successful preacher, but I had no theological education (though
+I studied my Bible hard), and felt that I needed one. I decided to go
+to America for it, but the missionaries opposed the plan bitterly. One
+of the ladies told me plainly it was a sin; that I had no right to
+give up a successful and useful ministry to go there. I replied that
+giving up the ministry would be a sin, but not going away to prepare
+for higher usefulness, and coming back to carry it out. Then she said
+I had no money to go, and did not understand English. I answered that
+I had faith that God would create the means. She laughingly bade me
+give her best regards to her friends when I came. She meant it for
+a joke, but I carried it out in earnest.
+
+How I finally came to this country would take too long to tell. I will
+only say that I crossed the ocean by faith. When I reached New York in
+July, 1879, I had only 15 cents in my pocket. I worked hard day and
+night in a rag felt factory in the Bowery, and slept on the rags on
+the floor, covering myself with a piece of flannel. But the Lord opened
+the way. I went to Oberlin, Ohio, and studied there, supporting myself
+by sawing wood for the professors of the Theological Seminary. In six
+months I could talk English well enough to lecture, and after that time
+I supported myself by lecturing. Finally I was sent to Nebraska as
+a home missionary during the summer vacation. On my return I entered
+the Chicago Theological Seminary, and graduated there in 1882, after
+which I lectured rather widely through the country. Then I went
+home, and for a time was pastor of the Constantinople Evangelical
+Armenian Church. Later I had a call from Marsovan, accepted it,
+and had so large a congregation there that a church with a capacity
+of 2,000 was needed. I returned to this country, raised the money,
+left it in a Chicago bank (where it still lies in trust), and went
+back to build the church. That very success aroused the jealousy of
+some wicked men, and they falsely charged me with being the leader of
+the revolutionary societies in Turkey. On this charge I was banished,
+and now I am here again,--free and happy with my family, but full of
+sorrow for my dear people daily martyred by the Turks.
+
+
+
+
+ANTIOCH.
+
+The city of Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians,
+(Acts xi. 26.) was built by Seleucus Nicator, 300 B.C., and enlarged
+by Antiochus Epiphanes. All the civilized world was then under Roman
+rule; Rome, Antioch, and Jerusalem were the leading cities. Jerusalem
+being a Jewish city, and Rome being a Roman heathen city, there was
+no room in either to preach the gospel freely; nor indeed in any
+other--the disciples were persecuted and martyred everywhere. There
+was just one exception--the city of Antioch; that was as free as
+any American city is to-day. This arose from the fact that when
+in the Asiatic campaign of Pompey the Great, he came about 65
+B.C. to Antioch, he was received by the people with great honors;
+and was so charmed with the city, and his treatment, that he made
+it an absolutely free city for all, for every nation and for every
+religion, and the Roman emperors continued its privileges. When
+Stephen was martyred in Jerusalem the disciples were scattered; some
+of them reached Antioch, 300 miles north, and began to preach freely,
+making many converts. Barnabas was in Jerusalem, but hearing of his
+brethren's success, he also went to Antioch and began to preach; as
+he was a great orator, full of enthusiasm and faith, thousands were
+converted. But he was not satisfied. Crossing the Bay of Iskenderoon,
+about eighty miles off, he went to Tarsus, where Paul, now a convert,
+was living, and induced Paul to return with him to Antioch that they
+might preach the gospel together.
+
+Only scholars have any idea of the greatness and beauty of Antioch at
+this time; it was second only to Rome, and was the second largest city
+in the world, with nearly a million people; so rich and luxurious as
+to be called the Golden City; so lovely and architecturally imposing
+as to be called the Queen City. The finest street ran east and west
+for several miles; it was of great width, paved from end to end with
+vari-colored marble blocks, and with marble pillars on both sides along
+its whole extent, on which were magnificent marble palaces of the
+Roman officers. In that same grand avenue were theaters, singers of
+both sexes, fortune-tellers, great heathen orators and philosophers,
+and throngs of people passing along. Paul and Barnabas stood on the
+marble pavement month after month for a year, full of the Holy Ghost,
+and proclaimed the everlasting gospel. Crowds gathered to hear them;
+even the officers and their wives, stretching their heads from the
+windows of their palaces, listened to them; they gained disciples
+from every rank for Christ and His religion, and the converts there
+first received the name of Christians.
+
+This was my birthplace and my relatives still live there. Since the
+time of Christ and his disciples, Antioch has been ten times destroyed
+by earthquakes. In the fourth century the whole city was destroyed,
+and 250,000 people were buried under the ruins. That beautiful street
+and its magnificent palaces are now buried two or three yards below
+the surface of the ground. In 1872, when I was there, an earthquake
+destroyed the whole city, and almost in a moment several thousand
+people perished. Several of my own relatives and many of my friends
+were killed. The city has now only 25,000 people, most of them
+Mohammedan Turks. There are many Fellahin, and perhaps 2,000 Greeks,
+and 500 Armenians, but in the suburbs the Armenians are more numerous,
+and are the intellectual heads of the whole.
+
+Antioch is still a beautiful and stately city, and a great center for
+licorice, raw silk, wheat, and soap. The finest soap is manufactured
+there. About thirty factories make it, from pure olive oil and daphne
+oil, the latter giving it a sweet fragrance. The daphne groves
+are very numerous. The city has excellent orchards and vineyards,
+orange trees, olive trees, fig trees, yeniduinya trees, palm trees,
+pomegranate trees. All sorts of fruits, in every season of the year,
+are fresh on the branches. But for occasional earthquakes, it would
+be a queen city yet; none could surpass its beauty or fruitfulness.
+
+
+GEORGE H. FILIAN.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Translation of a letter (see opposite page) written in 1842 by the
+District Catholicos at city of Sis to Kevork Filian (father of the
+author) in Antioch:
+
+                             +------------+
+                             |  Red Seal  |
+                             |     of     |
+                             | Catholicos.|
+                             +------------|       +--------------+
+                                                  |  Symbol in   |
++--------------+                                  |    colors    |
+|  Symbol in   |                                  | representing |
+|    colors    |                                  |   an Altar.  |
+| representing |                                  +--------------+
+|   the name   |  Michael Catholicos, The servant of Jesus Christ
+| Jesus Christ.|  by the grace of our Lord, the supreme father of
++--------------+  all Armenians who live in Great Seleucia. I the
+                  servant of St. Gregory's right hand and most Holy
+throne of the Holy Mother Church. Greetings of love and blessings
+upon my spiritual son Kevork Filian esteemed and honored and to all
+who belong to his family, perpetual happiness through Jesus Christ.
+
+Honorable Gentleman. You will be informed through my letter of
+spiritual greetings and blessings that truly and earnestly, more than
+a father, I am willing to bestow upon you my blessings and praises,
+and in order to show my respect practically, I feel it my duty to
+thank you for your hospitality, when I came to your blessed home,
+as a spiritual father, where I was entertained and received proper
+honors. The Lord bless your valuable soul and keep you prosperous and
+happy through the mediation of Jesus and St. Gregory. The Lord give
+you and to all those who belong to you, power and ability in doing
+good. For a long time I have desired to send to you this letter of
+blessing; but I have not been able. Now I am glad to send to you one
+of my spiritual sons Rev. Sarkis Vartabed (a preacher). When he comes
+he will see your good deeds and enjoy your hospitality. May 4. 1842.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S EXPLANATION.
+
+
+The author feels that it is due to both his Armenian readers and
+himself to explain why, in some points, he has deviated alike from
+the Armenian historians and his own conviction. It is because on
+these points, the Armenian records are in irreconcilable conflict
+with those of Rome or Persia, or both, and in a book mainly for
+Anglo-Saxon readers it is not possible to defy the general consensus
+of western scholarship, which, in my judgment, has not given proper
+weight to Armenian sources. I will specify only two or three items;
+if my Armenian friends notice other contradictions of their accepted
+history they will be safe in setting them down to the same cause.
+
+It is a commonplace of Armenian history that St. Gregory, the
+Illuminator, the Christianizer of Armenia, was the son of Anag, the
+murderer of King Chosroes (see page 72) born about the time of the
+murder, and made himself the companion of Chosroes' son, Tiridates,
+partly in order to atone for his father's crime. I am very reluctant
+to omit this fact; but the birth of Gregory and the death of Ardashir
+will not fit according to western dates, though they are coherent
+from Armenian.
+
+I have also given twenty years' rule and a good character to King
+Artavasdes, who reigned three and was a coward.
+
+Most unwillingly of all, I have changed a very full and eulogistic
+account of Moses Khorenatzi, the great national historian of Armenia,
+for a meager and depreciating one. That he lived in the fifth century
+and wrote as an eye and ear witness, instead of being a not wholly
+veracious compiler of two centuries later, and that his history is
+sound and consistent, is my firm belief. That his work is better
+known than all other Armenian works together, and is the one native
+book that has become a standard western classic, shows the powerful
+genius of the man.
+
+
+GEORGE H. FILIAN.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE LAND OF ARMENIA.
+
+
+PHYSICAL FEATURES.
+
+Where is Armenia? It seems a simple question, yet during my lecturing
+in the United States I have met far more people who did not know than
+who did. That is natural enough, for until the late horrors, it seemed
+little more than a name of old history, of no present importance; but
+there is a further reason. The present Sultan forbids the use of the
+name altogether, and insists on the district being termed Kurdistan,
+or called by the names of its vilayets, Diarbekr, Van, Erzroom,
+etc. Many maps do not have the name Armenia at all. A few years ago,
+when the missionaries of the American Board were organizing the college
+at Harpoot, now so bloodily famous, they named it Armenia College;
+but the Sultan forbade it on the ground that there was no longer an
+Armenia, and the use of the name would encourage the Armenians [1] to
+revolt. The missionaries were forced to change the name to Euphrates
+College. If any Turkish subject uses the word, he is fined and
+imprisoned; if it is used in any book, the book is confiscated, and the
+author banished or killed. The study of Armenian history is forbidden
+to the Armenians; they must be kept in ignorance about their own land,
+so that many of them do not know where Armenia was or what Armenia
+is. A letter directed to any person or place in Armenia will never
+reach its destination; for the Turkish postal authorities recognize
+no such address. There is still another cause for the widespread
+ignorance concerning Armenia. It has been partitioned between three
+different powers, Turkey, Russia, and Persia. The northern part, from
+Batoum on the Black Sea to Baku on the Caspian,--the river Araxes being
+the boundary to near Mt. Ararat,--belongs to Russia; the southeastern
+course of the Araxes from near Mt. Ararat, to Persia; the largest and
+most fertile part, the western, from Mt. Ararat to the Black Sea and
+the Kizil-Irmak to Turkey. But at the time of its greatest extent and
+power, when its people were great and its kings were great, long before
+Alexander's conquest,--Armenia covered about 500,000 square miles,
+and stretched from the Black Sea and the Caucasus on the north to
+Persia, and Syria on the south, from the Caspian and a much smaller
+Persia on the east, to Cilicia and far beyond the Halys (Kizil-Irmak)
+on the west, but including also old Media and a part of Mesopotamia.
+
+It is one of the most picturesque of countries; travelers call it
+the Switzerland of Asia. Its general character is that of a plateau
+some 4,000 feet above the sea, a natural garden watered by noble
+streams and studded with beautiful lakes; but the mountain ranges
+are 7,000 to 8,000 on the average, while that historic land-mark,
+the superb snow-capped Mt. Ararat, is about 18,000,--towering toward
+Heaven nearly in the center of Armenia, piercing and ruling over the
+clouds and the storms.
+
+Armenia is the mother land, the cradle of humanity, and all other
+lands are her daughters; but she is fairer than any other. Even her
+mountain tops of perpetual snow are a crown of glory; the sun kisses
+her brow with the smile of morning; and she supplies the beautiful
+rivers, Euphrates, Tigris, Pison, Araxes, and many others from the
+jewels of her crown. These rivers penetrate to every corner of the
+land; traverse many hundreds of miles to give life to the fields,
+the vineyards, and the orchards, to turn the mills, and finally close
+their course in the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and the Gulf of Persia,
+carrying the bounty and good-will messages of the mother land to her
+children in remote parts, to Persia, India, and Russia. From the same
+inexhaustible reservoir she feeds her noble lakes; Sevan (Gokche),
+Urumiah, Van and the rest. Lake Sevan is the only sweet-water lake;
+the others are salt. The most important is Lake Van, probably the
+most elevated of any large-sized lake in the world; it is 5,400 feet
+above sea level, and its area is 1,400 square miles. A few words from
+the author's respected teacher, Professor Philip Schaff, will not
+be amiss. Schaff's Bible Dictionary, page 68, "Physical Features of
+Armenia," says: "It is chiefly an elevated plateau about 7,000 feet
+above the level of the sea, the highest peak being Mt. Ararat. The
+lower portions of the plateau are broken by valleys and glens,
+including the fertile valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris. It is
+watered by four large streams, the Araxes, the Kur, the Euphrates,
+and the Tigris; also by numerous lakes, one of the largest, the salt
+Lake Van, being over 5,400 feet above the sea."
+
+
+
+
+NATURAL RESOURCES.
+
+The mineral wealth of Armenia is very great; but like the other
+potential riches of the Turkish Empire, it profits nobody, not
+even the greedy despot whose word is death. Gold, silver, copper,
+iron, and minor metals, besides marble and other beautiful stones,
+are present in abundance. About three miles from Marsovan, where
+I preached, is a mountain called Tarshan Dagh (rabbit mountain),
+rich in gold; another called Goomish Dagh, about eight miles west,
+is laden with silver; and they are likely to remain so, for no one
+will rifle them of their treasures while Turkey endures. The Sultan,
+it is true, sends an officer from Constantinople under large salary,
+to take out the precious metals, but that person does very little
+work. He lives like a lord, lets things go as they will, bribes the
+palace officials, and all the gold and silver extracted does not
+pay his wages. The Sultan will not permit Christians to work mines,
+and if they did, he would rob them of the proceeds. Everywhere the
+condition is the same. Though Armenia is the oldest inhabited country,
+she is, in utilization, the newest; much newer than the United States,
+for indeed she does not exist yet. She is a virgin land, her mines
+not open, her soil not half tilled. The Turks and the Kurds are lazy
+and stagnant; they will do nothing, and they will not permit the
+industrious Armenian Christians to do anything of importance.
+
+The country has all the old fertility which made Asia Minor under
+the Byzantine Empire the garden of the world, till the Turks half
+turned it into a desert, as they do every spot accursed by their
+presence. The grain, the fruit, the vegetables are hardly, if at all,
+to be equaled. The watermelons raised on the banks of the Euphrates
+and the Tigris are the largest and sweetest of their kind; two
+melons are sometimes a camel's load. It is impossible for a family
+to use the whole of such a melon, which has to be cut up and sold in
+pieces. The grapes, either fresh or in the shape of wine or raisins,
+are of the first rank. Many varieties when cured and dried as raisins
+exceed in size the plumpest grapes of other lands. Nearly everything
+is raised or grows wild in Armenia which is to be had in the Northern
+or Southern States of America, though of course each country has some
+things peculiar to itself. The products of the North are paralleled by
+those of the rugged picturesque highlands of North Turkish and Russian
+Armenia, with their cold, snowy winters, short, hot summers, and mild
+intervening seasons; those of the South find their counterparts from
+the rich upland valleys, or the lowland plains needing irrigation,
+of Kurdistan and Persian Armenia (Azerbijan), with its semi-tropical
+climate, and alternations of wet and dry seasons. The grain crops
+are wheat, Indian corn, barley, and oats. Cotton is one of the main
+products; a great deal of tobacco and rice are raised; and sugar is
+made in the Persian part. In the fields and gardens you can find not
+only the wonderful melons I have just spoken of, but pumpkins and
+squashes, lettuce and egg-plant, and indeed most of the vegetables
+that come to an American table. As to fruits, all that you know we
+know also, only of finer flavors. Asia Minor is the original home
+of the quince, the apricot, and the nectarine, and I believe of the
+peach too; while our apples, pears, and plums are incomparable. The
+Muscat apples of Amassia are exceptional even there. After eating them,
+one hardly wonders that Adam and Eve could not resist the temptation
+of doing the same, at the cost of innocence and Eden. The pears of
+Malatia keep them company; and the quince grows sometimes as large
+as a man's head. Another fruit equally important is the mulberry
+for silk-worms. The olive and fig are cultivated and also grow wild,
+and filberts and walnuts can be gathered anywhere in the woods, as
+well as orchards; of course not the American "hickory nuts," but the
+"English walnuts" of the groceries.
+
+In spite of the dreadful roads, and the lack of protection for
+travelers, the Armenians manage to send a good deal of grown
+or manufactured stuff to the ports on the Black and Caspian
+seas,--Trebizond, Batoum, Poti, Baku,--silk and cotton, and fabrics
+made from them; hides and leather, including lambskins; wine, dried
+fruits, raisins, tobacco, drugs, and dyestuffs, wax, and other things.
+
+Methods of cultivation are probably much like what they were in
+Abraham's time; there are no very modern machines or even tools. The
+plough is not quite the mere scratching-stick of the savages, to
+be sure; but it is only a crooked piece of wood with a bit of iron
+fastened to the end that touches the ground, drawn by oxen and held
+by the farmer. The fields of grain are reaped by the sickle as of
+old; it takes as long to cut down one acre so as fifty by a common
+mowing machine. The sheaves are carried to a gal or threshing floor
+near the house, an open platform, not sheltered from the weather; and
+there the grain is separated from the straw by a process so curious
+that I doubt if any American, save a missionary to Armenia, has ever
+heard of it. It is not treading it out under the feet of the cattle,
+as pictured in the Bible, nor beating it out with a flail; both these
+methods kept the straw whole. A threshing board is made by fastening
+hundreds of sharp flints into a wooden frame; the grain is placed
+between this and the threshing floor, the oxen attached to the board,
+and the farmer sitting on it drives them round and round in a circle
+until the straw is cut fine, and the grain well rubbed and shaken
+loose. Then, on the first windy day, he takes the old hand fan or
+winnow, and separates the grain from the straw, keeping the latter to
+feed the animals in winter; for the long grass of American plateaus,
+and the barns of hay from them, are seldom seen in Armenia.
+
+The wheat crops are extraordinary; not only great in yield, but the
+grains often double the size of ordinary American wheat, as compared
+with specimens from the large and representative fields of Minnesota
+and Nebraska.
+
+
+
+
+TAXATION.
+
+But when this wheat is threshed out, the farmer cannot shovel it up
+and grind, or sell, or put it into bins; no indeed! He cannot take
+up a quart of it without permission from the government; for the
+government claims one-eighth of it as a tax,--it was always a "tithe"
+or tenth from the oldest historic times down to the present Sultan,
+but he raised the percentage to an eighth,--and it must stay on that
+exposed threshing floor, in rain or winds, or any sort of weather,
+till the tax-gatherer comes and measures it, which may be a week,
+or two weeks, or a month, and will be forever unless he is bribed
+to come. Nor is even this double tax all; the tax-gatherer is a tax
+farmer,--that is, he pays a lump sum to the government for the taxes of
+a district, and all he can get above that is so much profit to him; so
+if the grain on a threshing floor actually measures ten bushels, say,
+he will write it fifteen. After the farmer has paid first the tax on
+the land to the government direct, then the double, or rather treble,
+tax to the gatherer on the crops, more than half the income he can get
+from the land has gone to the government. I do not know an Armenian
+farmer who is not in debt; they work hard, but the products of their
+labor go to the government and the Kurds, and any one who complains
+is considered a revolutionist, and imprisoned or killed. The simple
+unvarnished truth is that an Armenian Christian has no rights of life
+or property whatever; and all he keeps of either (not very much) is
+what the regularly appointed officials or the self-appointed Kurdish
+fleecers choose to leave him.
+
+This, however, is anticipating. I have only begun on the catalogue
+of taxes which strip most Armenians, and are intended to strip them,
+of everything but the means of sustaining life and perpetuating their
+race. When a boy is born, a poll-tax is laid on him,--two dollars
+on the average,--which must be paid every year as long as he lives,
+whether he remains in Armenia or leaves it. Of course, during boyhood
+the parents have to pay this tax on every male child; if a woman
+is widowed, she has to go on paying these capitation taxes just
+the same. They are assumed to be taxes in lieu of military service;
+the Sultan takes no soldiers from the Armenians,--does not dare,--and
+this poll-tax is used to raise and pay that very Turkish army which in
+return butchers the Armenians, just as the old tribute of Christian
+children was used to butcher their parents. (That the Armenians are
+unwarlike and would not make good soldiers is ridiculously untrue;
+many of the best soldiers and best officers, even commanders-in-chief,
+in the Russian service are Armenians.) When the boy has attained
+manhood he pays his own tax,--he must have a paper of citizenship,
+which must be renewed every year, and for which he must pay; but
+he is not allowed to leave the country without providing absolute
+security, either in property or bondsmen, for paying that tax through
+life, wherever he may be. Of course this is utterly impossible in
+most cases,--men of property do not often migrate, and men without
+property do not easily get people to be responsible for lifelong
+obligation to let them emigrate; which is one chief reason why so few
+Armenians, except banished ones, or runaways, are seen in foreign
+countries. Furthermore, as I have said, he must pay for a passport
+every time he stirs from home. Land, houses, cattle, crops, are all
+separately taxed. Suppose an Armenian owns a vineyard. First, the
+land is taxed; there is a separate tax for irrigation, a third for
+the grapes, a fourth if you make wine from them. In all, a vineyard
+pays five taxes, and the government gets more than the owner.
+
+Why don't they emigrate? ask my American friends. I have given one
+explanation. Pharaoh would not permit the Hebrews to go away, nor
+will the Sultan permit the Armenians. Another reason is that even if
+one has property, it is very hard to sell it. Turks have no money
+and Armenians no confidence. And to run away to a foreign country,
+whose language you do not know, wholly without money, is so desperate
+a remedy that most of them shrink from it.
+
+
+
+
+THE CLIMATE.
+
+Armenia, in my belief, is the healthiest country in the world; I do
+not say one of the healthiest, but the very healthiest. The climate
+is excellent all the year round, and, though the winters are severe,
+and much of the country is covered with snow, yet on account of the
+elevation--being several thousand feet above sea level, and in latitude
+36° to 42°, or say from North Carolina to Massachusetts--the air is
+dry, pure, and agreeable, a preventative of disease, and conducive
+to longevity. The dread disease, consumption, does not exist there,
+while dyspeptics, if any are to be found, must have been imported. The
+perfect type of physical vigor is to be seen there. Generally the
+Armenians are tall, powerful, and ruddy cheeked, full of endurance
+and energy. Shrewd and enterprising they are, as reputed; but pure
+and honest too. They are longer lived than any other people. I have
+known Armenians of 115 and even 125 years of age; one old lady of my
+acquaintance at 115 was full of life and fun; I have seen her dance at
+wedding festivities like a girl of 15. An old gentleman of 125 was my
+neighbor; he worked on his farm as if he were not over 25. He could
+run and jump and was as gay as a boy, and greatly enjoyed children's
+society. If the people of Armenia could have the same government,
+the same encouragements, the same freedom from horrible fears, as the
+people of the United States, they would live many, many years longer
+than they do, till it might be necessary to kill the old folks in
+order to get rid of them. The most of the American missionaries in
+Armenia would be sure to echo these words. A returned missionary gave
+a striking testimony to this effect. He was addressing the students
+of the Chicago Theological Seminary, and spoke as follows:--"Before
+I became a missionary I had very poor health; most of my family died
+of hereditary consumption, and I was attacked by it. My physicians
+strongly protested against my becoming a missionary, saying that
+if I went to a foreign land I would grow worse, and probably die
+there. I paid no attention to this; I presumed they were right, but
+I was determined to go anyway, and if I must die, to die in my chosen
+work. When I offered myself to the American Board, I was allotted to
+Armenia, and thither I went; my disease disappeared and now I am as
+healthy as any missionary in the world. You see how stout and vigorous
+I look, and I do not expect to die soon. But I feel sure that if I
+had stayed in America to save my life, I should have lost it before
+this time." He is still living in Armenia, and I hope will live to
+be over a hundred, as many of the natives do.
+
+The reader will smile at all this as the patriotic boastfulness of an
+Armenian, and say perhaps that he can make as fabulous declarations
+for his own land, wherever he may be; but such claims cannot be
+substantiated by records and personal observations as these for Armenia
+can. Take the Bible; some of the Patriarchs lived to be 700, 800,
+one even to 969, if indeed he ever died a natural death; some were
+taken up to heaven without knowing death; and all these long lives,
+as will be shown, were lived in Armenia. God's judgment was good. He
+did not create man in America, Europe, or India, or anywhere but in
+Armenia. He came down there from Heaven, planted the Garden of Eden
+there, and from the dust of that land created the first man. When the
+race had become sinful and only Noah's family were preserved, the ark
+was not brought to rest on the Rockies, the Alps, or the Himalayas,
+but on Ararat in Armenia.
+
+Where was the Garden of Eden? In my belief, around Lake Van, the
+highest lake, the largest lake, and the most picturesque lake in
+the Bible lands; its surrounding country, mountains, plains, flower
+gardens, and orchards, make it a most charming spot, and quite worthy
+to have been the seat of Paradise on earth. As the wickedest cities,
+Sodom and Gomorrah, were on the lowest, ugliest, and nastiest lake,
+the Dead Sea, it is natural that Paradise should be on the highest
+and loveliest one. A certain very learned Gospel minister, who desired
+to change my views respecting the Garden of Eden, declared that when
+the North Pole was discovered the Garden of Eden would be. Some think
+it was in India, and there are about as many opinions as there are
+countries on the earth. The Bible, however, seems to be pretty clear
+about it and settles the question to the Armenian mind; we feel,
+therefore, that we cannot be far from the Scriptural descriptions.
+
+
+
+
+TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION.
+
+Both are as hard in Armenia as they can be, short of impossibility. In
+the Russian section the roads are as good as in any part of Russia,
+and there are railroads; but in Persian and Turkish Armenia there are
+none of the latter, and the roads are very poor bridle-paths. A few
+years ago the government levied an extra tax to build "Shosse Yolou"
+or macadamized roads for carriages; but most of the money was spent
+as usual, in a good time for the Turkish officials; the roads built
+were wretched, and riding over them in the springless carriages of
+the country is weariness and torture. Most of the traveling is done
+on horseback or muleback, while the transportation of goods is almost
+entirely by camels and donkeys.
+
+An hour's journey in America in distance is a two days' journey
+in Armenia, and it must be accomplished on horseback, muleback, or
+foot; or perhaps in a wagon without springs. Almost all the horse and
+mule keepers are Turks, Kurds or Circassians, all Mohammedans and of
+the lowest types,--which does not increase either the comfort or the
+security of a journey. The tenders and drivers of animals are never of
+a very high order of men in any country; in Armenia they are specially
+vulgar, dirty, and sometimes dangerous brutes. If you wish to travel
+with your family, you must arrange with the horse-keeper several days
+or even weeks beforehand; if he is ready when the time comes, he calls
+at your house and tells you. If animals are used and the family large,
+baskets will be needed to put the children in; they are put on the
+animals like panniers, one on each side with the mother between. This
+is attended with more or less danger from accidents of various kinds,
+liable to occur on the unkept paths, which, rough in some places and
+horribly muddy in others, are used for roads. As in the case of the
+writer, who, when an infant, nearly lost his life before he could be
+pulled out of the mud into which he had fallen from his mother's arms,
+she being thrown from the stumbling horse she was riding.
+
+A more modern way of travel is in springless carriages; which on the
+rough roads means racking your body horribly, bones, nerves, and all,
+into outright and often severe suffering, a pain and fatigue which the
+traveler feels for a long time. At evening all travelers must go to a
+caravanserai or khan; often they are all huddled into a single room,
+men, women, and children, and the room is invariably filthy, and full
+of every kind of vermin. Such getting about is constant torment.
+
+There is no safety in traveling; Kurdish, Circassian, or Georgian
+brigands may meet you on the roads anywhere, and plunder, torture,
+or perhaps kill you. A few years ago, when traveling in Armenia with
+a company of about forty persons of both sexes, we came to a forested
+pass between two mountains. Suddenly three men leaped out in front
+of us; they were Georgian brigands (Mohammedans), armed from top
+to toe. They stopped the caravan, picked out the rich persons and
+the Christians, and robbed them of all their valuables. They did not
+search the writer, probably supposing that as a minister he was too
+poor to be worth troubling. The women were dreadfully frightened, for
+the robbers declared that if they did not give up their earrings their
+ears would be cut off, and if they did not give up their bracelets
+their hands would be cut off. It can easily be imagined that they made
+haste to relinquish all their valuables. Such robberies take place
+every day in Armenia, for there is no protection or redress whatever;
+it is a matter of indifference at best, and probably of satisfaction,
+to the Sultan and his governors.
+
+The brigands are not the only robbers. Bear in mind that before any one
+in Armenia can travel at all, the government officials plunder him. He
+must get a passport first; I do not mean when he goes to foreign
+countries, for an Armenian is forbidden to go there at all,--all who
+are in other lands reached there by bribing the police and running
+away,--but when he goes to another place or town in Armenia itself,
+even if it is not over fifteen or twenty miles off. This passport will
+cost him from two to five dollars in bribes to the officials to let
+him have it. When he reaches his destination, the officials of the
+latter place must examine his passport, and they force him to pay for
+the examination, else they will not let him enter the town. So the
+Armenians are robbed at every step whether they travel or stay at home.
+
+Transportation of goods is even harder. Nearly all goods are carried
+on camels or donkeys which never go more than ten miles a day, and
+of course much less in bad spots; it takes months and even a year to
+get goods if they have to come very far, or may never be received. If
+an Armenian merchant orders goods from Constantinople, say 500 miles
+away, it takes five or six months at best from the time of sending the
+order to the time of receiving the goods, even if he ever gets them,
+no matter what condition they are in.
+
+The difficulties of transportation prevent the export, to any extent,
+of Armenian products to foreign countries, and even between neighboring
+cities exchange of supplies is well-nigh impossible. As all through
+the East, there is often famine in one part of Armenia, while there
+is plenty in other parts; one city may be hungry while another is
+feasting; one willing to pay any price but unable to buy, another
+eager to sell but with no one to sell to; because there is no way
+to transport the grain or produce. Yet good highways are not built
+because the officials embezzle the funds, railroads are not built
+because it would hinder the Sultan from crushing the people.
+
+It may be asked, Are there no railroads in Turkey? and will not the
+Sultan permit them, and are there not Armenians in the places along
+their route? Yes, there are a few short lines; one from Constantinople
+to Adrianople, one from Constantinople to Angora, one from Smyrna to
+Aiden, one from Mersina to Adana, one from Joppa to Jerusalem. I think
+there is also one lately built from Beirout to Damascus. The length
+of the whole system is not over 1,000 miles, one of them is in Europe,
+part of them are tourist lines, along routes that streams of Europeans
+would traverse anyway. Some of them were built before the time of
+the present Sultan; some of them are near the seashore, where there
+are some Armenian emigrants; but none of these roads are in Armenia.
+
+Plenty of money has always been available from European and even
+Armenian sources to build railroads; syndicates and private capitalists
+have tried again and again to get permission to build them; but the
+Sultan will not grant it, for it runs counter to his fixed policy
+of isolating the Armenians, to make their oppression or destruction
+easier. Railroads would mean not only prosperity and strength for
+the people, but easy gathering and sending out of news to the world,
+easy bringing of help from the world, lighting up the dark places,
+and exposing the horrors of the hell now existing. When they are built,
+commerce will follow; Europeans will flock in, and a new era dawn. Who
+are the commercial class? The Armenian Christians or Europeans; not a
+Turk or a Kurd among them. Commerce means, then, the increase of the
+Christian population; wealth, greatness, security for the Armenians;
+finally freedom from the Ottoman power. Therefore that power forbids
+any improvement of the backward conditions.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE PEOPLE OF ARMENIA.
+
+
+THEIR LINEAGE.
+
+Who are the Armenians? The average American knows very little about
+them, while few even of the educated classes have much knowledge of the
+race or its history. Many people regard them as barbarians, partially
+Christianized. Some think them of Chinese type; most often they are
+considered as Turks because the chief portion of Armenia is part of the
+Turkish Empire; every Armenian feels justly indignant at the latter
+classification. The old story applies of the Irishman who refused to
+consider himself an American though born in America, on the ground that
+"being born in a stable did not make one a horse"; we know that the
+Scotch and English in Ireland do not consider themselves Irish; we
+know it would be worse than absurd to call the English children born
+in India Hindoos. When the missionaries of the American Board first
+went to Turkey, the people there supposed from the name American,
+that they must be Indians, and crowded to see them out of curiosity,
+but they were much surprised and probably somewhat disappointed when
+they found them very like themselves. In the same way, being born in
+Turkish Armenia does not make one a Turk. The Turks are one race, the
+Armenians a totally different one, and different in the very foundation
+type. The Turks are Turanian, the Armenians Aryan. The Turks belong
+to the Turko-Tataric stock; they are kinsmen of the Tartars.
+
+The primal origin of the Armenians will be found in Genesis,
+Chapter 10,--from Togarmah, the son of Gomer, the son of Japheth;
+the Armenians are sometimes called the Sons of Togarmah. Togarmah
+had a son named Haig (the Armenian records tell us), and Armenians
+call themselves Haigian or Haigazian from him; and the land of
+Armenia is called Hayasdan or the land of Haig. He was a powerful
+warrior and the founder of the Armenian Kingdom, which began 2350
+B.C., and ended with Levon VI., 1375 A.D.; thus lasting 3725 years,
+though with intervals of extinction. Their own kings did not always
+reign in Armenia; sometimes other nations ruled over it; by way of
+compensation, sometimes the Armenians ruled over other nations. The
+people never call themselves Armenians, or their country Armenia;
+they use the name simply for the sake of foreigners. But where did the
+name come from? Of course as with many very old ones, the origin is
+somewhat a matter of guesswork. Some derive it from the great King,
+Aram, the seventh from Haig; some from Armerag or Armen, the eldest
+son of Haig,--the more probable supposition of the two; still others
+connect it with the Hebrew Aram (Aramea), the district of Mesopotamia
+and North Syria, and derive both from a word meaning "man," most old
+names of nations having meant that originally. Whatever its origin,
+it is certain that the Armenians are a very ancient nation,--as
+ancient as the Assyrians or Persians.
+
+The people belong to the stock formerly known as Japhetic, later as
+Caucasian (from the Caucasus Mountains on the north of Armenia), then
+as Indo-European, now as Aryan; the most advanced type of mankind,
+and the most physically beautiful. And what are the people of the
+United States? Hamitic or Negroid? Of course not. Semitic (Arab,
+Jew)? Certainly not. They are Japhetic or Aryan too--exactly the same
+as the Armenians. Indeed, the type of face is the same, and the type
+of character. The Armenians are often called the Anglo-Saxons of the
+East; they are the same blood, features, religion, and civilization
+as those of the West, and are true brothers and sisters, though the
+opportunities of the latter have been greater; however, the ancestors
+of the former were Christians in Asia before those of the latter were
+in Europe, and they kept the mother land faithfully while the others
+ran away.
+
+
+
+
+THEIR LANGUAGE.
+
+The tongue spoken by the Armenians is one of the great family now
+known as the Aryan languages; certainly one of the oldest of them
+if there is any difference in the ages of the different branches,
+though that really means nothing. It has no relation whatever to the
+Semitic tongues like Chaldee or Phoenician, nor the Tataric tongues of
+Scythia, though those were in the earlier ages its nearest neighbors,
+while it is blood brother to languages so widely separated as Irish
+on the west and Hindoo on the east, to Gothic and Greek, Lithuanian
+and Latin. Linguists think the whole Aryan family much younger than
+the Semitic or the Turko-Tataric or the Mongoloid, but this would
+not be granted by the Armenians without much more solid proof than
+has yet been brought forward. They claim first that Noah and his sons
+lived in Armenia, which has been shown must be true; second, that they
+spoke the Armenian language, which therefore was the very oldest. Some
+of the arguments in favor of this are as follows:--In Armenia, near
+Mt. Ararat, are places with Armenian names, which have preserved the
+same names from the time of Noah till now. North of Ararat is a city
+named Erivan, which in Armenian means "appearance"; after Noah's ark
+rested on the mountain, the first place he saw was Erivan. Another city
+southeast of Ararat is called Nakhichevan, which in Armenian means
+"the first station"; it was the first stopping-place of Noah when
+he came out of the ark. The first chief or King of the Armenians,
+Haig, built a village and called it Hark, which means "fathers," as
+he was the father of the Armenians; and when Haig fought with Belus
+and killed him, the place was called Kereznank, meaning "grave" or
+"graves." There are many such places in Armenia, where the names have
+always been the same and are certainly Armenian now, indicating that
+the language has always been the same; here are a few: Arakaz, Armavir,
+Shirag, Ararat. The latter took its name from Ara, the Armenian king
+who was the son of Aram, that great King who ruled in Armenia for
+fifty years; the name means "lofty" or "holy." These instances show
+the antiquity of the language; but even if they were not sufficient, it
+would not affect the antiquity of the race. Many very old races speak
+languages much less old. The mass of people in Tuscany are Etruscans,
+a race which some people hold to be much older than the whole Aryan
+family; but they speak Italian, a very modern tongue. A large part
+of the Basques, believed by many scientists to be the oldest race in
+Europe, older even than the Tuscans, speak Spanish, much more modern
+even than Italian. So that it does not follow that the Armenian race,
+aside from the language, may not be the oldest in the world.
+
+The old Armenian classic language is very difficult, from the number
+of particles and participles in it; but modern Armenian is one of the
+easiest of languages to learn, very regular in inflection and the
+spelling entirely phonetic. There are no exceptions or anomalies;
+for instance, to pluralize a noun, you invariably add the particle
+ner or er. Thus, doon means "house;" the plural is dooner. Manch is
+"boy"; plural mancher; mannugh is "child," mannughner "children." The
+irregularities of English in these forms are too well-known to need
+illustration. The Armenian tongue is not only very regular, but very
+sweet, as well to the ears of foreigners as of natives. The testimony
+of "Sunset" Cox of Ohio is worth citing on this point. He was United
+States minister to Turkey some years ago, and as such presided at
+the Commencement Exercises of Robert College in Constantinople, that
+being the rule of the college. In his address on this occasion, he
+said he did not like Bulgarian (which is a Turkish tongue), because
+it had no sweetness;--indeed, there is none in any of the Turkish
+languages, which are strong and emphatic, but harsh. But he said he
+liked Armenian; it was the "sweetest language he ever heard." He went
+on to say that Adam talked Armenian in the Garden of Eden, proposed
+to Eve in that language, and succeeded in winning her heart; in any
+other language he might not have done it. "It is the loveliest of
+tongues to make love to a woman in, and sure of success if the lady
+knows Armenian." I think he was right; but I think too, that next
+to Armenian, if not equal to it, is English. It sounds as sweetly
+to my ears as Armenian. I am an Armenian and my wife is an Armenian;
+but I proposed to her in English and was successful; not a sure test,
+perhaps, for any language is beautiful when words of love are uttered
+in it to ears that are willing to hear; and true love may be successful
+without any words at all.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES.
+
+
+According to the histories written by native historians from the old
+Armenian records.
+
+1. THE HAIGAZIAN DYNASTY.
+
+This dynasty began 2350 years before Christ, and ended in the time
+of Alexander the Great, 328 B.C. No other recorded dynasty has so
+long an unbroken succession.
+
+2. THE ARSHAGOONIAN DYNASTY.
+
+This dynasty began 150 years B.C. and ended 428 A.D.
+
+3. THE PAKRADOONIAN DYNASTY.
+
+This dynasty began 885 A.D. and ended 1045 A.D.
+
+4. THE RUPENIAN DYNASTY.
+
+This dynasty began 1080 A.D. and ended 1375 A.D.
+
+I shall try to show the condition of the Armenians under the rule of
+these different dynasties.
+
+
+
+
+1. THE HAIGAZIAN DYNASTY.
+
+As already mentioned, Haig was the founder of the Armenian kingdom. He
+can scarcely be called a king, because in his time there was not a
+great Armenian nation; it was rather a tribe, and Haig was chief or
+governor. His position was like that of Abraham; what would now be
+called a sheikh; and like Abraham, he was a worshiper of the true God.
+
+Haig went from the highlands of Armenia to the plains of Shinar to
+help build the Tower of Babel. During the progress of the work, Belus,
+a warlike giant, descended from Ham, assumed to direct the enterprise;
+Haig would not submit to this, and so returned to his own country. When
+the undertaking failed, all the tribes became scattered. To wreak
+vengeance on Haig, Belus resolved to go to Armenia, kill him in fight,
+and reign over his land. When he reached Armenia with his men on
+his errand, Haig went with a force to meet him; a great battle took
+place and Haig was victorious, killing Belus and saving his country
+from being overwhelmed by the Hamites. His spirit was inherited
+by his posterity, though recent irresistible force and refusal of
+permission to bear arms may seem to make them submissive. They have
+battled stoutly against awful odds and with insufficient means for
+liberty and for freedom of thought and conscience; and millions have
+lost their lives for those principles; if they could now have arms
+and help, they would fight and die again for them.
+
+After the repulse of this Hamitic invasion, the Armenians increased
+so rapidly that Haig became a real king and took that title, thus
+actually founding the Armenian Kingship. They were free, lived long
+lives, and married only one wife each,--all favorable conditions for
+growth of population,--it need not be pointed out how slavery and
+polygamy check national growth. And they kept their faith in the one
+true God, as their ancestor Noah did.
+
+Haig's son Armen succeeded his father, and greatly enlarged the
+kingdom. He subdued a large district northeast of Mt. Ararat and
+built cities and towns there. It is most likely the name Armenia comes
+from him. Some recent foreign writers have the impudence to say that
+there was no such king, but that his name was made up to account for
+that of Armenia; but the same records which tell us of Haig, tell us
+of his son. After Armen we find his son Armaiss, who built the city
+of Armavir.
+
+I will not enumerate all the names of the dynasty; it would only be a
+tedious catalogue without profit. I will only mention the most noted
+ones, and those most interesting from their relations with the Jews
+or the heathen nations.
+
+One of the notable kings is Aram, the seventh in succession, and the
+greatest of Armenian conquerors. He raised and drilled an army of
+50,000 men, whose efficiency and his own military skill and energy
+are proved by his invading and conquering Media. He then invaded
+Assyria and conquered a part of that country. Next he marched
+westward and subjugated some of the eastern portion of Asia Minor
+inhabited by the Greeks,--the later Cappadocia, along the Halys or
+Kizil-Irmak. Aram named this district the Hayasdan, translated by
+the Romans as "Armenia Minor"; which, oddly enough, in later times
+became Greater Armenia or Armenia Proper. Aram set over this province a
+governor named Mishag, with instructions to compel the Greeks to speak
+Armenian. Mishag built a city which exists in Cappadocia (Karamania)
+to-day, frightfully familiar from recent events. He called it by his
+own name; the Greeks mispronounced it as Mazag; the Roman emperors
+afterwards named it Caesarea, which the Turks corrupted into Kayseri,
+and several thousand Armenians were massacred there some months ago,
+which will be described further on. The richest and most enterprising
+Armenians in the Turkish Empire are from Kayseri, and it is a leading
+missionary station of the American Board. The writer preached there
+and in that vicinity for four years.
+
+The enormous growth of the Armenian Kingdom under Aram, and its
+conquest of part of Assyria, excited the alarm of the Assyrian king,
+Ninos. Not feeling strong enough to engage in open warfare with him,
+he thought to compass his destruction by winning his friendship and
+then putting him out of the way, and, as a first step, sent him a
+costly jeweled crown. The intrigue failed, however, and Aram lived
+to a great age, reigning fifty years.
+
+Aram was succeeded by his son Ara, called "Ara the Beautiful." The
+fame of his beauty went abroad through the world; the Assyrian queen
+Semiramis was so enchanted by the sight of his person that she fell
+madly in love and proposed marriage to him, but he refused her. This
+military Amazon was not to be balked so. She resolved to marry him
+by force, and came with a great army to Armenia to capture the prize;
+but he was killed in the war, and she took possession of the country,
+with which she was so charmed that she decided to remain; she removed
+the capital of the enlarged Assyrian Kingdom to the lovely shores of
+Lake Van, erecting a palace there for herself, and building on the
+eastern side a city named "Shamiramaguerd" (built by Semiramis). Many
+years later, a king of the Haigazian Dynasty whose name was Van rebuilt
+it and called it after himself. This was the present city of Van,
+another great center of the American Board and of Turkish horrors.
+
+The next great interesting event was in 710 B.C. when Sennacherib of
+Assyria was assassinated by his two sons, Adramelich and Sharezer, who
+escaped into Armenia. The king of Armenia at this time was Sgayorti,
+which means "son of a giant." He received the sons of Sennacherib
+with great kindness; they married Armenian women, and remained in
+the country till their death. Their descendants were great Armenian
+princes, bearing the titles Prince Arziroonian and Prince Kinoonian.
+
+Armenia comes to view again in connection with Biblical history in the
+capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, 600 B.C., and the deportation
+of the Judean people; the Armenian king, Hurachia, was one of his
+allies in the siege, and on returning to Armenia carried with him a
+Hebrew prince named Shampad. This was a very intelligent man, and made
+himself greatly loved and esteemed by the Armenians; a sort of Daniel
+or Joseph. He, too, married an Armenian noblewoman, and his descendants
+became the very foremost of the noble families and ecclesiastical
+functionaries of the country, crowning the kings on occasion. They
+were called Pakradoonian Princes, and at last one of them founded the
+third dynasty of Armenian kings, the Pakradoonian. Though the nation
+is Aryan, there is noble Hebrew (Semitic) blood mixed with it.
+
+Perhaps the most interesting part of the Haigazian Dynasty comes
+just before the end; the time of Dikran or Tigranes I. In him both
+wisdom and valor were combined to an eminent degree. As soon as he
+succeeded his father, Yerevant, he instituted great reforms to improve
+the state of the country. He not only enlarged it by conquest, but he
+greatly improved public education and morals, removed obstructions to
+international commerce, introduced navigation on the lakes and rivers,
+encouraged cultivation; trade flourished, every acre of ground was
+tilled, the country was alive with energy and hope. This vigor and
+prosperity aroused the envy of Ashdahag, King of Media; he resolved
+to kill Dikran, and to throw him off his guard married his sister,
+Princess Dikranoohi. A plot to murder Dikran was then set on foot;
+the princess learned of it, warned her brother, whom she loved,
+and ran away. Dikran collected an army, made a rapid march to Media,
+surprised and slew Ashdahag, and brought back a vast amount of spoils
+in captives and goods. He built a fine city on the banks of the Tigris,
+and called it Dikranagerd, the city of Dikran; it was afterwards the
+residence of the sister who had saved his life. It is now called by
+the Turks Diarbekr, and was the scene of a frightful massacre a few
+months since. The most important political achievement of his life was
+assisting Cyrus in the capture of Babylon 538 B.C.; the two monarchs
+were very friendly, and Dikran's Armenian army was a chief factor in
+the conquest. In Jeremiah's prophecy of the capture, about a century
+before it occurred, he mentions the Armenian Kingdom as one of the
+actors: "The Kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz." (Jer. li. 27.)
+
+After Dikran's death his son Vahakn succeeded him; he was considered
+a god by the people, and worshiped as such through a monument after
+his death. Thus far the people had mostly worshiped the one true God,
+but from this time they relapsed into heathenism for a while on account
+of the influences pressing on them from outside. The last king of the
+Haigazian Dynasty was Vahe. When Alexander the Great invaded Persia,
+Vahe went to Darius' help with 40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry;
+but Alexander conquered first Darius and then Vahe (328 B.C.),
+and annexed both Persia and Armenia. Thus came to an end the first
+Armenian dynasty, after an existence of 1922 years.
+
+
+
+
+ARSHAGOONIAN OR ARSACID DYNASTY.
+
+This dynasty began not far from 150 B.C.,--close to the time when
+Carthage was utterly destroyed, and Greece was finally subjugated;
+it ended 428 A.D., about half a century before the extinction of the
+Western Roman Empire, and about the time Genseric and his Vandals
+conquered Africa. It is by far the most famous of the Armenian royal
+houses; for it embraces the very heart of the classic times with
+which all educated people are familiar, it brings us perpetually in
+contact with the most brilliant and best-known of classic names, it
+is sprinkled itself with names towering up familiar and powerful, even
+among the Greek and Roman magnates; and, in spite of political ups and
+downs, it covers a time of immense expansion for the Armenian people,
+of a firmly rooted growth in numbers, wealth, and consciousness of
+national unity, which has enabled the nation to survive and keep its
+united being through many centuries of dismemberment, impoverishment,
+massacre, and attempts at outright extermination again and again. More
+than all, it covers the time of Jesus Christ, and the conversion
+of Armenia to his religion, first of all the nations of the earth,
+as by its history and traditions it ought to have been.
+
+During the time between the disappearance of the line of Haig and
+the rise of the line of Arshag, Armenia was not by any means wholly
+without kings of its own; but it was mostly a dependency.
+
+Alexander the Great, after his conquest, put a native governor named
+Mihran over it; but on Alexander's death, five years later (323 B.C.),
+his generals partitioned the Macedonian Empire among themselves, and
+Armenia fell to Neoptolemus. His government was at once so oppressive,
+and so contemptuous of native feeling (he and his court were Greeks,
+and despised all Asiatics), that the people rose and drove him
+out in 317, under the lead of one Arduat (Ardvates), who remained
+their king for thirty-three years; but he left no successor, and
+Armenia was conquered by and became part of the great Syrian Empire
+founded by Seleucus. It remained so in the main for about three
+quarters of a century, though the eastern part (Kurdistan), fell
+under the Parthian kings. Armenia was never a very quiet province,
+however, and its revolts against the Syrian satraps kept it much
+of the time in a half-anarchic state. About 210 B.C. Antiochus the
+Great quelled one of these uprisings, and divided the country into
+Greater and Lesser Armenia (whose boundaries I have described),
+putting a separate deputy over each. But after his crushing defeat
+by the Romans at Magnesia in 189 B.C., and having to buy peace by
+giving up everything beyond the Halys, each governor proclaimed
+his province an independent kingdom. Zadriades (Zadreh), in Lesser
+Armenia founded a family which kept their hold for almost exactly a
+century, when Tigranes II once more united the two Armenias. Artaxias
+(Ardashes), in Greater Armenia was powerful as long as he lived, and
+sheltered Hannibal at his court when the Romans had set a price on
+the head of their great foe; but about the middle of the century his
+family was dispossessed by Mithridates of Parthia, who conquered the
+country. The family name of this Parthian house was Arshag, rendered
+by the Greeks Arsakes, spelled by the Romans Arsaces. Mithridates made
+Greater Armenia a kingdom for his brother Wagh-arshag (Val-arsaces),
+whose family remained in succession to the throne, though sometimes
+eclipsed for long periods from actual occupation of it, for six hundred
+years. The new king had the great hereditary ability both in war and
+statesmanship which characterized the whole Arsacid line, and the
+Mithridates in particular, and its great knowledge of men. He knew
+an able man when he saw him, and liked to raise him up; he promoted
+industry and built cities; he reformed the system of laws and their
+administration as well.
+
+The new line did not escape the usual fate of Eastern dynasties,
+of having disputes over the succession, in which their neighbors
+interfered. In 94 B.C., Dikran or Tigranes II (great-grandson of
+Wagh-Arshag), owed his possession of the throne of Greater Armenia
+to his third cousin, Mithridates II (the Great), of Parthia, who
+exacted seventy Armenian valleys as the price; probably part of
+Kurdistan. Tigranes, however, paid no more blood-money to anybody
+when once on the throne. On the contrary, he began at once to overrun
+and annex the neighboring states. He first conquered Lesser Armenia,
+and made it one with its sister again; then part of Syria, so long
+the mistress of his own state; then, in a series of wars with the
+weak successors of Mithridates, he half destroyed the Parthian
+Empire itself, not only recovering the seventy valleys he had paid
+for his throne, but conquering Media, and annexing Mesopotamia and
+Adiabene. After these conquests he called himself "King of Kings"
+(that is, emperor, king with other kings under him), which title
+the Parthian kings had claimed theretofore. He would probably have
+ended by mastering and restoring the unity of the old Seleucid
+Kingdom in its widest extent, the whole heart of Western Asia, had
+he not in an evil hour been induced by that reckless old fighter,
+his father-in-law, Mithridates of Pontus, to join him in war against
+the Romans. Tigranes' own son had quarreled with him, and taken
+refuge with the King of Parthia, whose daughter he married; and now
+offered to guide his father-in-law into Armenia if he would invade
+it as the ally of the Romans. This was done, and Tigranes the elder
+had to fly to the mountains; but the Parthian king grew tired of the
+siege of rock castles, and went home, leaving his son-in-law to carry
+on operations with part of the army. The great Armenian king at once
+broke loose and annihilated the forces of his son, who fled to Pompey,
+just invading Armenia with the Roman army. Even the great Tigranes was
+no match for Rome, and had to surrender. Pompey was not harsh with him,
+but left him Armenia (except Sophene and Gordyene, which were made
+into a kingdom for his son), and his Parthian conquests; even going so
+far as to send a Roman division to wrest these from the Parthian king,
+who had re-conquered them on Tigranes' defeat, and restore them to the
+latter. On the departure of Pompey the Parthian once more reclaimed
+them, but a compromise was finally made. Phraates of Parthia, however,
+resumed once more the title of "King of Kings." Tigranes remained the
+ally of the Romans till his death in 55 B.C.; a reign of thirty-nine
+years, on the whole of great glory and usefulness.
+
+He was succeeded by his son, Artavasdes (Ardvash) II, who inherited
+that most dreadful of legacies, a place between the hammer and the
+anvil. For the next quarter of a century the Romans, and the steadily
+growing and consolidating power of the Parthian Empire were alternately
+irresistible in Eastern Anatolia; it was impossible to avoid taking
+sides, for neutrality meant invasion by one party or the other;
+and whichever side he took he was sure to be punished for as soon
+as the other came uppermost. If Artavasdes had been as dexterous as
+Alexius Comnenus himself, he could hardly have escaped ruin; that
+he kept his throne for over twenty years is proof that he was not
+unworthy of his father. First came the invasion of Parthia by Crassus;
+Artavasdes, faithful to his father's Roman allegiance; asked him to
+make the invasion by way of Armenia, and offered to help him. Crassus
+refused, but the Parthian king, Orodes, invaded Armenia; however,
+he made peace, and betrothed his eldest son, Pacorus, to Artavasdes'
+daughter, just before news was brought him of the annihilation of
+Crassus' army, guaranteed by Crassus' severed head and hand. The
+civil wars at Rome for years to come broke the Roman power, and the
+Parthians (with the good-will of the inhabitants, who detested the
+Roman proconsuls), swept westward, compelled submission or alliance
+from all the countries to the Taurus, and even annexed all Syria for
+a time, just as seven centuries later the Syrians, from hate of the
+Byzantine governors, gave up their cities to the Saracens. But the
+Roman power once more rallied; the Parthians were driven out of Syria,
+and Pacorus was killed; the aged Orodes, under whom the Parthian
+Empire proper reached its pinnacle, died, leaving the throne to one
+of those jealous murderous despots so familiar in Eastern history,
+who made a general slaughter of his brothers, and even murdered
+his son, to remove any possible leader of a revolt, and Artavasdes
+once more returned to the Roman alliance. In the year 36 A.D., Mark
+Antony undertook the task Crassus had so terribly failed in seventeen
+years before, of striking at the heart of Parthia; but this time the
+invasion was by way of Armenia. It was almost as frightful a disaster
+as the former; a third of the army of 100,000 men was destroyed by
+the enemy, 8,000 died of cold and storm in the Armenian mountains,
+the wounded died in enormous numbers; but that Artavasdes let the
+army winter in his country it would have perished as completely as
+Crassus' did. In spite of this, the Romans, wanting a scapegoat,
+laid the whole blame on Artavasdes, without a shadow of reason that
+can be shown. It was the last time for a century and a half that the
+Romans attacked Parthia. In default of that plunder, they resolved
+to have Armenia, and a couple of years later, in the year 33 A.D.,
+they seized Artavasdes by treachery, and occupied the country. The
+Parthians at once took up the cause of his son, Artaxes, and made war
+on the Romans to seat him on the throne; and when the Roman troops
+were withdrawn to help Antony's cause, which was lost in the battle
+of Actium, the Parthians overran Armenia, and killed all the Romans
+in the country, and made their candidate king as Artaxes II. This was
+in 30 B.C., and in the same year his father, Artavasdes, who had been
+carried to Alexandria by Antony, was beheaded by Cleopatra. But the
+very next year the worthless tyrant Phraates of Parthia was driven
+from the throne by a rebellion, and Artaxes made peace with Rome.
+
+The history of Artavasdes' reign is in essence the history of the next
+four centuries, save that the results were incomparably worse. We have
+been dealing with a time at least of steady, single-handed government,
+of able rulers either inside or outside, of some sort of ability to
+keep the civil structure of the country from breaking to pieces; but
+even that disappears over long periods in the early centuries of the
+Roman Empire. One great secret of Armenia's misery during these ages
+of woe--indeed, to a large extent during all the ages since--lies in
+the fact that she is a borderland; a buffer between great states, and
+indeed between great natural divisions of climate and society. She is
+the boundary between semi-tropic Central Asia and temperate Eastern
+Europe, touching the land of the fig and the silk-worm on the one
+side, and that of the apple and the mountain goat on the other;
+between Scythian steppes and Syrian deserts. In these earlier ages
+she was fought for between east, west, and south,--Parthia, Rome,
+and a Syro-Egyptian power of some sort; in these days divided between
+east, west, and north,--Persia the successor of Parthia, Turkey the
+successor of Rome, while the southern power is ages dead, and a great
+northern power, Russia, has grown up in the steppes. Had Armenia been
+smaller, or more level, she would have perished without a struggle,
+perhaps rather would never have existed; but her territory is so large
+and so defensible that her history could have been predicted,--final
+dismemberment between great states surrounding her, yet not without
+ages of desperate struggle. She was not large enough to be permanently
+the seat of empire; she was far too large for either rival to let pass
+wholly into the hands of the other--so she was pulled to pieces. But
+she wanted to control her own destiny, and made a long and heroic
+fight before being dismembered.
+
+To write the history of the next few centuries would tire out all my
+readers, and would not do any good; it was a long duel between Rome
+and Persia for the ownership of Armenia, in which the prosperity
+and happiness of their unhappy foot-ball nearly perished. Almost
+the whole foreign policy of Parthia was to control, or to have a
+paramount influence in Armenia; almost the whole foreign policy of
+Rome in the East was to do the same thing. For nearly a century
+following Artavasdes' deposition, though the Romans professed to
+govern the country and the Parthians sometimes held it, and both sides
+repeatedly put kings on its throne, it was actually in a state of pure
+anarchy. Every great family, seeing it must depend on its own strength
+for preservation, extended its rule over as wide a district as would
+submit; nearly two hundred houses acted with perfect independence
+of each other, and of the nominal government, and some of them
+established principalities of considerable size. After this, though
+the country was for century after century just the same shuttlecock
+between the rival states, the feudal anarchy was somewhat reduced, the
+turbulent nobility better held in check, but it was impossible that
+there should be really firm and orderly government when a king could
+not be secure of his throne for a year on one side or the other, and
+dared not render his powerful subjects disaffected by making them obey
+the laws. We may be sure that the government was really an oligarchy
+under the forms of a monarchy, and even the title "King of Armenia"
+during this period must not be taken to mean too much. There were
+sometimes separate kings of Upper and Lower Armenia, one under Roman,
+and one under Parthian influence; the independent princes often made
+head against both, and outlying principalities, like those of Osrhoene
+and Gordyene probably got hold of more or less Armenian territory in
+the melee. No king of Armenia after Tigranes ever held sway over all of
+old Armenia for any length of time, if at all. But any king who got an
+acknowledged position at all was invariably an Arshagoonian; the people
+considered that line the only rightful kings. Artavasdes III, whom the
+Romans seated in power just before the birth of Christ; Tigranes IV,
+who expelled him by Parthian aid the year of Christ's birth; Vonones,
+a deposed Parthian king, who got himself chosen king as the Roman
+favorite in 16 A.D., but was persuaded by Tiberius to retire; Arsaces,
+son of the king of Parthia, assassinated by the king of Iberia whose
+brother was the Roman candidate, about the time of the crucifixion;
+Ervand, who made himself master of the land after a fashion, in 58;
+Dertad (Tiridates), set up by the Parthians in 52, and acknowledged by
+the Romans in 66; Exedarus (Eshdir?) son of the Parthian king, given
+the throne with Roman consent about 100, pulled down by his uncle in
+114, resulting in the conquest of the country by Trajan; Sohaemus,
+set up by the Romans about 150, dethroned by the Parthians in 162 in
+favor of another Arsacid, restored by the Romans in 164; and the other
+fleeting monarchs of this long nightmare were all of the same line of
+Arshag, which in Armenia survived for over two centuries its brother
+line in Parthia, the last of whom, Ardvan (Artabanus), was slain in
+battle in 224 by Ardashir (Artaxerxes), first of the Sassanian house,
+and founder of the Persian Empire. But I must go back a little.
+
+The most important event in the history of any nation is its conversion
+to Christianity, and therefore we wish to know when the Armenians first
+came to believe in Christ, and how it came about. Of course it did not
+come all at once; but it came very early, and the story of the first
+converts is very curious. According to the Armenian church history,
+and also the great Christian father Eusebius, it came through King
+Abgar or Apkar (Abgarus), the fifteenth king of the little kingdom of
+Osrhoene, in northern Mesopotamia, whose capital was the flourishing
+city of Edessa, now Oorfa; it lay next the southern border of Armenia.
+
+The church history gives the following account:
+
+"The origin of Christianity in Armenia dates from the time of its
+king Abgar, who reigned at the beginning of the Christian era; he
+had his seat of government in the city of Edessa, and was tributary
+to the Romans.
+
+"Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Judea, was hostile to king Abgar,
+but was unable to injure him except by exciting the Romans against
+him. He therefore accused him falsely, to the Emperor Tiberius,
+of rebellious projects. King Abgar, on being made acquainted with
+this accusation, hastened to send messengers to the Roman general
+Marinus, then governor of Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, for
+the purpose of vindicating himself. During their stay in Palestine
+these messengers--among whom was Anane, Abgar's confidant--hearing
+of the wonders that were wrought by our Saviour, determined to visit
+Jerusalem, in order to gratify their curiosity.
+
+"When, therefore, their mission was concluded, they proceeded thither
+and were filled with wonder at witnessing the miracles performed by
+Jesus our Lord.
+
+"On returning to Armenia they related all the particulars to their
+master. Abgar, after having listened to their narrative, became
+satisfied that Jesus was the son of God, and immediately wrote to
+him as follows:
+
+"'Abgar, son of Arsham, to Jesus, the great healer, who has appeared
+in the country of Judea at the city of Jerusalem--greeting Lord,--I
+have heard that thou dost not heal by medicines but only through the
+Word; that thou makest the blind to see, the lame to walk; that thou
+cleansest the lepers and makest the deaf to hear; that thou castest
+out devils, raiseth the dead, and healest through the word only. No
+sooner had the great miracles that thou performest been related to me,
+than I reflected, and now believe that thou art God and the son of God,
+descended from heaven to perform these acts of beneficence. For this
+reason I have written thee this letter, to pray thee to come to me,
+that I may adore thee and be healed of my sickness by thee, according
+to my faith in thy power. Moreover, I have heard that the Jews murmur
+against thee, and seek to slay thee. I pray thee, therefore, come
+to me; I have a good little city, which is enough for both of us,
+and there we can peaceably live together.'"
+
+The messengers sent with the letter were instructed to offer sacrifices
+for the King at the temple in Jerusalem; and one of them was a painter,
+who was to make a portrait of the Saviour, that if he would not come,
+the king might at least have his features. Jesus received the letter
+joyfully,--as it was the day of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem,
+the messengers did not venture to approach him, and it was taken to
+him by the apostles Philip and Andrew,--and dictated the following
+answer to the apostle Thomas:
+
+"Blessed be he who believes in me without having seen me; for thus
+it is written of me: Those who see me shall not believe in me; and
+those who do not see me, they shall believe and be saved. Inasmuch
+as you have written to me to go to you, know that it is necessary I
+should fulfill here all for which I have been sent. And when I shall
+have done so, I shall ascend to Him who sent me; and then I will send
+you one of my disciples, who shall remove your pain, and shall give
+life to you and those around you."
+
+The painter could not execute his order on account of the multitude;
+the Saviour at last noticed him, and causing him to approach, passed a
+handkerchief over his face and miraculously imprinted on it a perfect
+likeness of his countenance, and then gave it to him, and bade him
+take it to his master as a reward for his faith. The king received
+the letter and portrait with great joy, and put them in safe custody,
+and awaited the fulfillment of our Lord's promise.
+
+After the Ascension, Thomas, the disciple, sent Thaddeus, one of the
+seventy, to Abgar, as our Lord had directed. Thaddeus went to Tobias, a
+prince of the Pakradoonian tribe, and consequently a Jew by blood, who
+received the apostle into his house, and became a believer. Thaddeus
+then began to perform many miracles upon sick people, and his fame
+being spread throughout the city, reached King Abgar, who sent for
+Prince Tobias and desired him to bring the apostle to him. This was
+done, and Thaddeus healed the king in his sickness, and instructed
+him in the faith. He did likewise to all the people of the city,
+and baptized them, together with the king and his court. All the
+temples dedicated to idols were shut up, and a large church was
+built. Thaddeus then created a bishop to rule the new congregation,
+selecting a silk-mercer, the king's cap-maker, for that office, and
+giving him the name of Adde. It is related that upon the principal gate
+of Edessa was the statue of a Greek idol, which all who entered the
+city were obliged to reverence. King Abgar ordered this to be taken
+away, and placed in its stead the sacred portrait of our Lord, with
+this inscription: "Christ God, he who hopes in thee is not deceived
+in his hope;" at the same time ordering all those who entered the
+city to give it divine honor. This conversion of King Abgar and of
+the Edessians took place in the thirtieth year of the Vulgar Era,
+or in the thirty-third year after the birth of Christ.
+
+Shortly after, Thaddeus, desiring to spread the light of the Gospel in
+other parts of the country, went to Inner Armenia to visit Sanadrug,
+who then resided in the province of Shavarshan or Ardaz. Sanadrug
+soon became a Christian and was baptized, together with his daughter
+Santukht, and a great number of the chiefs and common people. Here
+Thaddeus also consecrated a bishop, named Zachariah, and then proceeded
+to Upper Armenia; but finding the people there unwilling to listen
+to his preaching, he left them and went to the country of the Aghuans.
+
+Abgar, in his zeal for the faith he had just embraced, wrote to
+the Emperor Tiberius in favor of Christ, informing him how the Jews
+unjustly crucified him, exhorting him at the same time to believe
+and command others to adore the Saviour. Many letters passed between
+the two monarchs on the subject of his divine mission. He also wrote
+to Ardashes, king of Persia, and to his son Nerseh, the young king
+of Assyria, exhorting them to become believers in Christ. However,
+before he received replies to these, he died, in the third year of
+his conversion to Christianity.
+
+His death seemed at first to have undone all his work. His son Anane
+apostatized and tried to make his people do the same; he reopened the
+heathen temples, resumed the public worship of the idols, and ordered
+the sacred handkerchief removed from the city gate. Adde the bishop
+walled up the latter. The king ordered the bishop to make a diadem
+for him as he had for his father; the bishop refused to make one for
+a head that would not bow to Christ, and the king had the bishop's
+feet cut off while he was preaching, causing his death,--the first
+Christian martyr on record. By a just retribution, the savage king
+met his own death by a marble pillar in his palace falling on him
+and breaking his legs.
+
+Meantime Abgar's nephew, Sanadrug, had set up his standard in
+Shavarshan or Ardaz, proclaiming himself king of Armenia,--one of the
+countless chieftains who took advantage of Armenian anarchy to carve
+out principalities for themselves. On the death of Anane he marched
+to Edessa, claiming it as his own inheritance. The people admitted
+him on his oath not to harm them; but once inside he massacred all
+the males of the house of Abgar. He spared his aunt, Queen Helena,
+Abgar's widow, who became widely famed as a Christian philanthropist,
+and was buried with great pomp before one of the gates of Jerusalem,
+where a splendid mausoleum was erected over her remains. He himself
+had apostatized, and ordered all his people to do likewise; but most
+of them refused to obey, and Thaddeus, hearing of it at Caesarea,
+in Cappadocia, started for Edessa to reconvert him. On his way he
+fell in with a Roman embassy to Sanadrug, composed of five patricians
+headed by one Chrysos; he converted and baptized them all, conferred
+priest's orders on Chrysos, and they gave up all their property and
+became preachers of Christ. They were known as followers of Chrysos,
+and all eventually obtained the crown of martyrdom.
+
+On the news of these conversions, Sanadrug invited Thaddeus to
+Shavarshan; on his arrival he put him to death, and with him his own
+daughter, Santukht, who would not give up her faith in Christ. At her
+death various miracles were wrought, which caused many conversions to
+Christianity; among them a notable chief, who was baptized with all his
+family, was renamed Samuel, and was put to death by the king's order.
+
+A princess named Zarmantukht also became a convert, with all her
+household, two hundred people in all; the whole of them suffered
+martyrdom in consequence.
+
+Dr. Philip Schaff says: "It is now impossible to decide how much
+truth there may be in the somewhat mythical stories of correspondence
+between Christ and Abgarus, and the missionary activity and martyrdom
+of Thaddeus, Bartholomew, Simon of Cana, and Judas Lebbeus. But it is
+certain that Christianity was introduced very early in Armenia." I,
+however, consider what I have told to be true.
+
+After this time, Christianity spread in Armenia as it did in other
+parts of the Greek Empire; rapidly in the cities, where intelligence
+was quick, and new ideas were welcomed; slowly in the country
+districts, where people did not readily change. Its first result
+everywhere was not so much to make people believe in it as to make
+them disbelieve in Paganism; for every person who actually came to
+believe in Christ, there were fifty who ceased to believe in Jupiter,
+or Bel, or Thoth, Venus or Astarte. There would be a flourishing
+Christian church in a great city when most of the people did not
+have any faith in any religion. But everybody who had a family came
+gradually to think very well of a religion that gave them the power
+to teach children righteousness, and enforce it by the command of
+God; and the respectable classes became more and more Christian. But
+the fact that till two or three centuries after Christ there was no
+general attempt on the part of the pagan governments to put down the
+Christians by persecution, shows that not till then did they become
+so numerous as to frighten the governments for fear they would before
+long have a majority; persecution means fear. The governments let the
+Christians pretty much alone, except for little fits of anger now and
+then, till they were afraid the growth of the sect would overthrow
+themselves or bring on civil war. The Christians had become well
+established in Armenia within a century or so after the death of
+Christ; but it was over a century and a half before they seemed an
+imminent menace to the ruling class. Then a furious persecution began,
+about the same time as that of Diocletian in the Roman Empire, and
+indeed, part of the same movement. Diocletian had set the persecuting
+King Tiridates on his throne, and Tiridates had passed his life from
+boyhood almost to old age in the Roman service, and had the same ideas
+as the pagan Roman upper classes. Yet in the providence of God this
+same Tiridates made Christianity supreme in Armenia, fifteen years
+before Constantine made it supreme in the Roman Empire, thus making
+Armenia the first Christian nation.
+
+
+
+
+GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR AND KING DERTAD.
+
+In the continual struggle between Rome and Parthia for the control
+of Armenia, the Parthian kings had one great advantage; they were
+Arsacids, and could put their sons or brothers on the Armenian throne
+with the good-will of the people, thus strengthening their dynastic
+position without much cost in military force. Often, too, the Armenian
+kingship was obtained by Parthian princes, who fled after a family
+quarrel, or after deposition or other misfortune. One of these Armenian
+kings was Chosroes, who reigned in the time of Ardashir, the first king
+of Persia, before spoken of. It is not certain just who he was; some
+say a brother of Ardvan, the last king of Parthia; some say the son
+of Ardvan, who fled after his father's death. Anyway, he was a mortal
+enemy of Ardashir, and was at first supported by the Romans. Ardashir
+invaded Armenia, but was beaten later. Chosroes quarreled with the
+Romans, who withdrew their support, and assailed him, but he defeated
+them; and when Ardashir again invaded the country, Chosroes again
+drove him back. The old days of Tigranes seemed to have returned, and
+Armenia to be on the road again to unity and independence; and Chosroes
+was called the Great. Ardashir was furious at being baffled, and is
+said to have offered his daughter's hand and a share in the kingdom
+to any one of his leading nobles who would assassinate Chosroes. An
+Arsacid named Anag accepted the offer, though he had a wife already,
+and went with his family to Armenia, pretending to be in flight from
+Persian troops. Chosroes gave him a military escort into the province
+of Ardaz, where he lived for a time in the very place St. Thaddeus'
+bones were deposited. Later on, Anag removed to Vagharshabad (the
+present city of Etchmiazin, where the Armenian Catholicos resides),
+Chosroes' royal city. Here Anag seizing his opportunity, stabbed
+Chosroes to the heart. In his flight he was drowned in trying to
+cross the Aras, and his family were massacred by the soldiery.
+
+Ardashir had gotten rid of his unconquerable enemy, and without having
+to pay the stipulated price. He at once entered Armenia and put to
+death every member of Chosroes' family save a boy and a girl, Tiridates
+and Chosrovitukht, who were somehow smuggled away, and the old game
+of Perso-Roman foot-ball over Armenia went on as before. Tiridates
+entered the Roman army, when grown up, and became distinguished there,
+evidently inheriting his father's military ability; and remained in
+the Roman service certainly to the age of over 45, and perhaps till
+over 50. That the Romans waited all this time before using him as
+a candidate for the Armenian throne seems strange; but the reason
+probably is that the early years of his manhood fell in a time when
+Rome was weak and Persia strong. The great Shahpur, Ardashir's son,
+reigned in Persia till about 272; the imbecile Gallienus of Rome
+reigned from 260 till 268, and was succeeded by a crowd of emperors
+able indeed, but too short-lived to carry out any steady policy,
+or drive the Persians out of their strong places. The first emperor
+who found himself in a position to restore the Roman power in the
+East was Diocletian, who came to the Roman throne in 284, and it is
+significant that he made Tiridates king of Armenia only two years
+later. As Diocletian was a soldier of fortune, probably he had known
+and respected Tiridates long before. Anyway, in 286 Rome once more
+had her turn in Armenian affairs, and with one short interval, kept
+absolute control of the country for over half a century.
+
+Now there had been born in Armenia about 257 a child who had early
+been taken to Caesarea by Christian relatives, baptized, named
+Gregory, and reared in the Christian faith. On reaching maturity
+he married a Christian girl by whom he had two sons; but after
+three years they separated by mutual consent. The wife entered a
+convent. Gregory, hearing of Tiridates' renown in the Roman army,
+went and obtained service near the prince's person, to be able to have
+influence with him if he ever regained his kingdom. They became fast
+friends. When Tiridates was proclaimed king, he went first to Erija,
+in the province of Egueghatz, where was a temple of Anahid (Diana),
+whom the Armenians worshiped as guardian goddess of the country;
+and making offerings to her of garlands and crowns, asked Gregory to
+join him in his idolatry. Gregory refused to worship anything but the
+one God. Tiridates ordered him imprisoned for a while, thinking the
+loathsome dungeon of that time would change his resolution; finding
+him still firm, he had him tortured in a dozen frightful ways, and
+at last taken to the fortress of Ardashad and thrown into a deep pit,
+where criminals were left to starve. There Gregory remained fourteen
+years, supported all that time by the charity of a pious Christian
+woman. After about ten years of reign, Tiridates was driven from
+his throne by Persians, and once more became a wanderer; but two
+years later he was reinstated by the Romans, and finished his life
+on the throne. In gratitude for this second restoration, he had daily
+offerings made to the heathen gods all over his kingdom; and on being
+told that the Christians refused to comply, ordered all recusants to
+be tortured, and their property confiscated.
+
+About this time Diocletian determined to find and marry the handsomest
+woman in his empire, and sent officers all over in search of noted
+beauties. One party, hearing that a nun named Ripsime was very
+beautiful, entered her convent by force, had a portrait made of her,
+and carried it to the emperor. Diocletian was enchanted with it, and
+ordered preparations made for the nuptials; but the abbess, Kayane,
+to save the nun from sin, and the community from danger, broke up the
+convent, and the inmates with several priests--seventy in all--went
+to the East, and scattered themselves in different localities. Ripsime
+and Kayane, with thirty-five companions, reached Ardashad in Armenia,
+and took refuge in a building among the vineyards, where wine vats
+were stored. Diocletian had search made for his flown bird, and,
+hearing that her company had gone to Armenia, commanded Tiridates
+to send her back to him unless he wished to keep her for his own
+wife. Tiridates had her hunted out, and the officers bringing a report
+of her extraordinary beauty, so great that people flocked to admire
+her, he ordered her brought to him, intending to marry her. Kayane
+exhorted her not to deny Christ for the sake of earthly honors,
+and she refused to go. She was carried by force, however, and the
+king undertook to gain a husband's rights at once; but the virgin,
+strengthened by divine power, resisted him successfully. Tiridates then
+had the Abbess Kayane brought to him to overcome the girl's scruples;
+but instead, she once more exhorted Ripsime to keep herself pure
+in spite of all offered grandeur. The king once more endeavored to
+deflower the maiden, and was once more beaten; and Ripsime, opening
+the doors and passing out through the astonished guards, walked out
+of the city, to her companions in the vineyard, went to a high place,
+and knelt down in prayer. The incensed Tiridates sent a body of guards
+to put her to death by the most dreadful tortures, which was done,
+and her body cut into small pieces. Her companions gathered to bury
+her remains, and were at once butchered by the soldiery, as well as a
+sick one, who had stayed behind in the wine press. The bodies of the
+thirty-four martyrs were thrown into the fields as food for the beasts
+of prey. The next day Tiridates had Kayane and two other companions
+put to death. These events occurred on the 5th and 6th of October, 301.
+
+Shortly after, God visited the king and many of his household with a
+dreadful disease for his persecution of the saints. They ran around
+like mad people or demoniacs. While they were in this state, the
+king's virgin sister Chosrovitukht had a divine revelation that she
+should go to Ardashad and release Gregory from the pit, and he would
+heal them all. As he had been thrown there fourteen years ago, and
+was believed to be long dead, no attention was paid to it; but the
+next day it was repeated five times with threats, and a chief named
+Oda was sent, who brought him back alive, to their great amazement
+and joy. They prostrated themselves before him and asked forgiveness,
+but he told them to worship only their Creator. Then he demanded to
+be shown the bodies of the holy martyrs lately just slain for belief
+in Christ; they were found after nine days and nights untouched,
+and he gathered them up and put them into the wine press, where
+he also established himself. First he ordered the king and all the
+people to fast five days, and commended them to the mercy of God; and
+after that for sixty consecutive days he preached the word of God,
+instructing them in all the mysteries of the Christian religion. On
+the sixty-sixth day they again besought him to heal them, but first
+he made them build three chapels for the relics of the martyrs, each
+in a separate coffin, wall in the place where he had seen a vision of
+the Son of God coming down from heaven, and erect a crucifix before
+which the people should prostrate themselves. Finally, seeing that
+they all believed in the true God, St. Gregory bade them kneel down
+and pray to Him for healing; he himself prayed for them at the same
+time, and a miraculous cure was at once effected on all the sufferers.
+
+This done, Gregory and Tiridates set about exterminating idolatry;
+they smashed the idols and demolished the temples, the new converts
+joyfully assisting them. The work of conversion went on rapidly,
+under the wonderful preaching of the Saint, and the zeal of the king;
+all the people converted were baptized by immersion. In eight years
+the majority of the Armenian nation, many millions in number, had
+become Christians. That religion was made the State creed of Armenia
+in 310, while the Council of Nice, which did the same work for Rome,
+was not held till 325.
+
+Gregory deserves every credit for this magnificent work; but I
+cannot help wishing he had been less zealous in destroying the
+pagan literature, which is a very great loss to the world. However,
+Christianity is worth it, if we could not have it at a less price.
+
+Schools, as well as churches and benevolent institutions, were
+organized in great numbers under Christian auspices during the next
+two or three centuries, and a brilliant band of scholars and preachers
+went out from them, the equals of any in their age, and perhaps in
+any age. I will give sketches of some of the principal figures, but
+first let me briefly tell the history of Armenia during that period.
+
+The rivalry between Rome and Persia grew fiercer than ever with the
+introduction of Christianity, for now religious hate was added to
+political ambition; and on the side of Persia the Armenian difficulties
+were doubled, for a considerable part of the Armenians were still
+Zoroastrians, and sympathized with the Persians against their own
+government, while many of the Persians had become Christian, and
+opposed their pagan rulers. Thus the Persians felt that they had
+a civil war on their hands as well as foreign wars, and persecuted
+their Christians horribly. On the other hand, they had the help of the
+pagan part of the Armenians in invading or controlling that state;
+still again, the Armenian Christians now favored the Romans much
+more strongly than they had before, because Rome was now Christian;
+while on top of all were the great barons, almost independent of
+the nominal kings, and who favored neither party but wanted their
+feudal independence. Yet the Roman control of the kingship, for
+what it was worth, lasted without a break for over half a century
+after the victory of Christianity, and over three-quarters of a
+century from the accession of Tiridates; which was due largely to
+the great ability of the Roman emperors Diocletian and Constantine,
+and the excellent administration and military organization they left,
+which saved the eastern provinces from Persia for over a quarter
+of a century after Constantine's death. Shahpur II, of Persia, won
+many victories, but he could not hold even the places he captured,
+and he gained no territory till the death of "Julian the Apostate"
+in his Persian campaign of 363. His weak and frightened successor
+Jovian surrendered a great section of the Eastern Roman territory,
+and still more disgracefully agreed that the Romans should not help
+their ally Arshag (Arsaces), king of Armenia, against Shahpur. Armenia
+was at once invaded, but she felt her national existence at stake, and
+fought with desperation. Though Shahpur had the help of two apostate
+Armenian princes, Merujan and Vahan, and other native traitors, who
+ravaged the country and fought their king because he was a Christian,
+Arshag held out four years, aided by his heroic though unprincipled
+wife Parantzem, and his able chief commander Vashag. Vagharshabad,
+Ardashad, Ervandshad, and many other cities were taken and destroyed;
+finally Arshag and Vashag were captured. Arshag's eyes were put out,
+and he was thrown into a Persian dungeon in Ecbatana; Vashag was
+flayed alive, and his skin stuffed and set near the king. Queen
+Parantzem still refused to surrender, and with 11,000 soldiers and
+6,000 fugitive women held the fortress of Ardis fourteen months,
+till nearly all of them were dead from hunger or disease; then she
+opened the gates herself. Instead of honoring her, Shahpur, who was a
+worthy predecessor of the Turks, had her violated on a public platform
+by his soldiers, and then impaled (368). Meantime, her and Ashag's
+son, Bab (Papa), had escaped to Constantinople and asked the help of
+the co-Emperor Valens. That emperor hated to break the treaty, and
+involve Rome in a new eastern war; but he could not suffer Persia to be
+strengthened by the possession of all Armenia, and the Roman statesmen
+had determined to end the long struggle over Armenia by dividing it
+between Persia and themselves. Bab was secretly helped by the Romans;
+he kept up a guerrilla warfare in the mountains, and a large part of
+the Armenian people were prepared to welcome him back to his rightful
+throne. The Romans tried to keep within the letter of their treaty
+by not letting him assume the title of king. The Persians considered
+his support by Greek troops a breach of the treaty, none the less,
+and Valens alternately aided and disavowed him. The matter was not
+mended by the worthless character of Bab himself, who murdered his
+best friends on the least suspicion, and had the incredible baseness
+to hold a secret correspondence with Shahpur, the worse than murderer
+of his parents. Finally the Romans, convinced that he must be under
+their watch if they were to have any security of him, tolled him down
+to Cilicia, and prevented him from returning by guards of soldiers. He
+made his escape, and professed his allegiance to the Romans as before;
+but Valens resolved to be rid of him, and had him murdered by Count
+Trajan, the Roman commander in the East.
+
+Meantime a powerful Roman army under Count Trajan, and the chief
+Persian host, had actually camped opposite each other on the borders of
+Armenia (371); but neither side wanted a general war just then,--Rome
+must have her hands free for the Goths, and Persia hers for the
+Mongols. Finally, in 379, Shahpur died, and there was an instant
+and entire change in Persian policy toward Rome, and even toward
+Christianity for a while. His brother and successor, Ardashir, was an
+old man, and reigned but four years; his successor, Shahpur III, at
+once sent embassies to Rome, and made a treaty of peace (384). Finally,
+on the succession of Bahram IV (Kirman Shah), in 390, that monarch
+arranged a treaty of partition with Theodosius, the Roman emperor,
+by which Armenia ceased to exist. The western portion became a Roman
+province; the then reigning sovereign, Arshag IV, was made governor to
+keep the people contented. The eastern, and much the larger section,
+was annexed to Persia, under the name of Persarmenia; and to please
+the people, an Arsacid, Chosroes IV, was made governor, and the
+dynasty was continued in its rule over the Armenians till after the
+great Perso-Roman war of 421-2, and the persecution of Christians by
+Persia, which was the pretext of it. The persecution and the war led
+to a movement for Armenian independence; after it was over, Bahram V
+of Persia (Gor, the Wild Ass, "the mighty hunter") put a new vassal,
+Ardashes IV, into the governorship; but the great Armenian barons
+would not give up the struggle, and this last of the Arshagoonian
+dynasty was removed in 428 and Persian governors substituted.
+
+Thus ended the rule of the line of Arshag. It was a mighty race, and
+swarms with brilliant names; but in Persia it was justly displaced
+by one of better public policy, and in Armenia the position of the
+country was fatal to it.
+
+
+
+
+THE INTERREGNUM.
+
+PROMINENT MEN; LITERATURE; THE CHURCH AND THE CLERGY.
+
+From the time of the partition to the succession of the Pakradoonian
+dynasty there was not in name an Armenian kingdom; but it must not
+be supposed that there was not an Armenian nation. No matter how its
+neighbor nations changed, that country was always called Armenia,
+and the people held to their Armenian ways and feelings. The national
+feeling was as strong as before, and above all the feeling of church
+unity was very intense. No one will ever understand Armenian history,
+or indeed any Oriental history at all, who does not realize that
+religious questions come first, and political questions second. The
+Armenian church was, it is true, a Christian church; but it was the
+Armenian Christian church, not the Greek church, and the Syrian and
+African churches had their separate creeds and preferences, and the
+Greek church, which was the official church of the Greek Empire, was
+always trying to root out their "heresies" and make them Greek. That
+was one reason why the Mohammedans conquered those countries so
+easily. The Africans would rather be ruled by the Mohammedans than
+by the Greek church, the Syrians were angry because the Greek church
+wanted to take away their own church and give them the Greek. But the
+Armenians would not take either the Greek or the Mohammedan or the
+Zoroastrian; they wanted their own. So they were persecuted terribly
+by the Greek Christians and the Persian fire-worshipers alike. Just
+as before the partition, each country invaded the other's part of
+Armenia whenever they got into war; and whichever won, the Armenians
+were the losers. When the Greeks won, they tortured the Armenians;
+when the Persians won, they tortured the Armenians; later, when the
+Mohammedans won, they also tortured the Armenians. The mediaeval
+history of Armenia is that of a battle-ground between contending
+races--Greeks, Persians, Scythians, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, Ottoman Turks,
+Mongols, and so on. Millions of its people were slain; millions died
+of famine and disease; millions of its women were forced to embrace
+Mohammedanism and become the wives and mothers of Mohammedans,--half
+the blood of those who are called Turks at this day is Armenian;
+millions of its boys were forced into the Turkish service, so that
+many of the best-known names in Turkish history, and in the Turkey
+of to-day, are Armenian names. Yet through all these calamities and
+decimations Armenia has kept its national life and national religion.
+
+From 390 to 640 the history of both sections of Armenia is little
+more than an account of religious persecutions and their results;
+the persecutors on the one side were Christians, and on the other
+side Zoroastrians, but the results to the Armenians were much the
+same. The Persian atrocities, however, were on the larger scale,
+and the outcome was a chronic state of revolt, which will be alluded
+to in the sketch of Vartan the defender. But the rise of the Saracen
+power changed Armenia's greatest foe from the Persian to the Arab,
+from the fire-worshipers to the Mohammedans. Persia was invaded by
+the forces of the caliph Omar in 634, and about 640-2 the decisive
+battle of Nehavend annihilated the last great Persian army, though
+scattered places held out much longer. The Armenian highlands at once
+resumed their independence, and their chiefs, with those of the western
+section belonging to the Byzantine Empire, fought for their own hand
+in lack of a true national chief whom all could look up to, but allied
+themselves mainly with the Greek power against the barbarians; and
+for two entire centuries, and more, Armenia was a furious and bloody
+battle-ground between Greeks and Saracens, while internally in a state
+of feudal anarchy. Then a prince of the family of Pakrad or Bagrat
+(well-known to students of the last century's history in the form
+of Bagration), of Jewish descent, as has already been mentioned,
+which had obtained power over the central and northern parts of
+Armenia, was recognized by the caliph as an independent monarch; and
+thus founded the Pakradoonian dynasty, which lasted till Armenia's
+independence was once more extinguished by the Byzantine Empire,--a
+crime almost immediately punished by the overwhelming of Asia Minor
+by the Seljuk Turks.
+
+
+
+
+PROMINENT MEN OF THE PERIOD.
+
+NIERSES THE GREAT.
+
+This was the great creator of Armenian scholarship. He was a descendant
+of St. Gregory; studied in the Greek schools of Caesarea during
+boyhood; later in those of Constantinople, where he became famous for
+learning, married a Greek princess of a distinguished house, and on
+his return to Armenia was made pontiff. (All the clergy were married
+then, as the Greek priests are now.) He founded over 2,000 schools,
+and benevolent institutions, as well as great numbers of churches,
+was a powerful and persuasive preacher, and a considerable writer,
+part of the Church history being his. From these schools went forth
+a very brilliant band of scholars, preachers and orators, the equals
+of any in the world.
+
+It was during his pontificate that the affairs of Arshag and Bab took
+place, and he was intimately connected with them till his death at
+the hands of the latter. Previous to the desertion of Armenia by the
+Romans in 363, they had quarreled with Arshag, and sent an army to
+punish him; but on Nierses' intercession with Valens it was recalled,
+and the Saint obtained high favor with the emperor. Arshag's conduct,
+however, grew too bad for endurance; he had his father and a relative
+named Kuenel (or Gnel) killed, and married Kuenel's wife, Parantzem
+(who afterwards met such a horrible fate), though his own wife,
+Olympias, was still alive. Nierses, finding admonition of no avail,
+quitted Vagharshabad and went into a convent. But Arshag, getting into
+fresh difficulties with the emperor and his own rebellious vassals,
+besought the saint to assist him once more, and once more Nierses
+complied. He first pacified the turbulent nobility; then interceded
+with the Roman commander to such effect that the general withdrew his
+army and went to Constantinople to justify himself to the emperor,
+taking a letter to him from Arshag, and hostages for the latter's
+loyalty, and also inducing Nierses to accompany him. But Valens was
+enraged at the withdrawal, would neither read the letter nor see the
+saint, and ordered the hostages killed and Nierses banished. The former
+sentence was revoked on the general's intercession, but Nierses was
+shipped for his place of exile; on the way a storm wrecked the vessel
+on a desert island, but he and the crew were saved. It was winter,
+and they could find no food but the roots of trees, but in a short
+time the sea miraculously cast abundance of fish on shore, and for
+eight months they never suffered for sustenance. At the end of that
+time the saint was set free.
+
+After the restoration of Bab to the land, though not the acknowledged
+throne of his fathers, Nierses convened an assembly of Armenian princes
+and ecclesiastical heads, with the king, and swore them all to mutual
+concord and good behavior, to unite the land against the Persians;
+but Bab, like so many Eastern potentates and indeed his father, cared
+for nothing but to indulge his own passions, and would have sold his
+country to Shahpur if he could have got his price. Nierses in vain
+tried to turn him from his evil ways; Bab merely hated him for it,
+and finally had him poisoned, in the village of Khakh in the province
+of Eghueghiatz. Nierses had been pontiff eight years, but they were
+crowded with labors of immense variety and usefulness. He left one son
+(Isaac), who eventually became pontiff also.
+
+
+
+
+SAHAG AND MESROB.
+
+Isaac was educated at Constantinople like his father, and had at first
+no thought of being a great churchman, but only of leading the life of
+a noble. He was always, however, of a very pure and lofty character,
+a marked contrast to the proud and dissolute nobility around him;
+and after the early death of his wife, devoted himself to religious
+seclusion, into which he was followed by sixty disciples. In 389,
+a few years after his father's death, he was called out to fill the
+pontificate, once more vacant. This was the year before the partition
+of Armenia; but even after that, though the country was divided,
+the church was not. The Armenian Church was still one, with a single
+head; but the appointment of that head was of such immense political
+importance that, as the king had before claimed the deciding voice
+in it, so now each power insisted on being satisfied,--no easy
+matter. Some of the nobles who opposed Chosroes of Persarmenia
+now complained to the king of Persia that the appointment of the
+new pontiff had been made without his consent, in order to foment
+a rebellion, and make Armenia independent again; and the king
+deposed Isaac. Shortly after, however, a new king reinstated him;
+and a new vassal king being put in Chosroes' place, and the country
+more quiet, St. Isaac began to repair the churches, which had fallen
+into decay,--rebuilding that of St. Ripsime, destroyed by Shahpur,
+in the course of which he discovered St. Gregory's urn sealed with
+his cross-engraven signet.
+
+About this time St. Mesrob began to be famous for sanctity. He was
+a scholar well versed in Greek, Syrian, and Persian, as well as
+his native tongue; had been secretary to St. Nierses, and after his
+death remained at court under the patronage of a prince named Aravan,
+where he became chancellor. Finally he became wearied of earthly glory
+and court corruptions, and entered a convent, whither many disciples
+were attracted by his learning and sanctity. Hearing of St. Isaac's
+beneficent deeds, however, he left the convent and attached himself
+to him; and under his authority preached and taught in all parts of
+the province. We are told that by the aid of the chief of Koghten he
+extirpated a diabolic heathen sect in that province. But his fame
+is chiefly as having begun with Isaac the Golden Age of Armenian
+literature; I shall speak of this a little later.
+
+
+
+
+BAROUYR OR BROYERIOS.
+
+We must not judge the ability and reputation of men in their own
+ages solely by the familiarity of their names to us; those that have
+come down to us are a mere handful, and not by any means always the
+greatest of their time. Much depends on chance--the preservation
+of certain works, and the loss of others, or certain men happening
+to do something dramatic. Great orators are especially likely to be
+forgotten; they leave no written works of their own, and not being in
+political life, the common histories do not mention them. The name of
+Barouyr is wholly unknown to this age; but we have the testimony of
+a contemporary writer, Eunapius of Sardis,--not a countryman of his,
+and therefore free from all suspicion of patriotic brag, and most
+unlikely to make out an Armenian greater than he was,--that he was the
+most wonderful orator of his time, famous all over the Roman world,
+and greatly admired even by the emperors. He was one of those men to
+whom all languages seem alike to come by nature, and his oratory was
+as easy and as perfect in one as in the other; in Latin or Greek as
+in his national Armenian. The only comparison I can give in modern
+times is Louis Kossuth. That Barouyr has not the fame of Cicero or
+Demosthenes, Kossuth or Gladstone, is probably because under the
+circumstances of the time he could not engage in political life;
+military service or high birth were about the only avenues to that. I
+will quote in substance what Eunapius says of this brilliant orator,
+whom he probably knew all about, as our boys know Gladstone,--for he
+was born in 347, and Barouyr was certainly alive in the time of the
+Emperor Julian, who came to the throne in 361:--
+
+Barouyr lived to be ninety, and was beautiful even in old age, having
+the vigor of youth in his looks. He was eight feet high. When a boy he
+left Armenia and went to Antioch, the first seat of the Christians,
+and entered the school of oratory under the celebrated Albianos,
+where he shortly became the foremost pupil. Thence he went to Athens
+and studied under Julian, the greatest of the teachers of oratory
+there,--supporting himself by working meantime, as he was very poor;
+in no long time he was recognized as the leading orator of Athens,
+and taught the art to the Athenians. The other teachers were so angry
+that they bribed the governor to banish him; but on the governor's
+removal some time after, he was permitted to return. The new governor
+instituted an oratorical competition; whoever could deliver the best
+extempore oration on a subject to be given out on the spot, should
+receive great honors. Barouyr took part on condition that the auditors
+should take careful notes, and should not cheer; but they were so
+fascinated that they broke both conditions, listening in rapture and
+applauding repeatedly. The governor offered him his chair, and honored
+him as the greatest orator in Athens. Later, the Emperor Constans was
+so struck with his wisdom and oratorical power that he called him first
+to Gaul and then to Rome, where he delivered his greatest orations,
+and the Romans erected a bronze monument in his honor, inscribed
+"Regina Rerum Romae, Regi Eloquentiae" (Rome Queen of Affairs, to the
+King of Eloquence). From Rome he returned to Athens, and taught there
+many years with great repute, up to the time of the Emperor Julian,
+who honored him, and spoke as follows of him: "Barouyr was a flowing
+river of oratory, and in power and persuasiveness of speech was
+like Pericles." And I must add that with all this he was a thorough
+Christian man,--not a priest, but a great Christian layman and teacher.
+
+
+
+
+VARTAN, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.
+
+Vartan Mamigonian is the most esteemed and beloved name in Armenian
+history. Tiridates founded the Christian kingdom; but when the religion
+was in danger of extermination throughout Persian Armenia at the hands
+of the fire-worshipers, Vartan saved it, and died for it, a faithful
+servant of God and his Saviour. It was said of him that he was an
+honest, modest, wise, brave, true, pure, childlike, and Christ-like
+Christian commander, a great soldier of the Cross. He was a lamb in
+nature, but when he came to defend his religion he was a lion. As a
+little boy he was so full of grace that the Pontiff Sahag adopted him
+as his son; and through this companionship of the aged ecclesiastic
+and the religious boy, the latter developed into a great spiritual
+light. In 421 he went to Constantinople with St. Mesrob, and was much
+loved and esteemed by the emperor (Theodosius II) and the court; then
+to Persia, where the king honored him and gave him the title of prince.
+
+In 439 Yazdegerd II of Persia succeeded his father, Bahram V, the
+destroyer of the Arsacid dynasty, and began a furious persecution
+of both Jews and Christians, which lasted a dozen years, and ended
+in a complete victory for religious freedom. The king, like James I
+of England, fancied himself a great theologian, and could always be
+victorious in a debate by killing his opponent. One specimen will
+suffice. He called a convocation of Armenian priests and noblemen,
+and commanded them to embrace fire-worship on pain of death. "Your
+Christ cannot save you," said he, "for He is crucified and dead." "Oh
+my gracious king," replied a young nobleman, "why did you not read
+further about Christ? He was indeed crucified, but rose again,
+ascended to Heaven, and is living now and our Saviour." The king in
+a rage had his head struck off.
+
+Finally in 450 the people of Persian Armenia rose in revolt, and
+determined to fight for their religion. Vartan took command of them,
+and showed himself the ablest commander of his time. For a year he
+held at bay the overwhelming forces of the Persian Empire, and was
+victorious in every battle, even to the last,--a striking parallel
+to Judas Maccabaeus in historical position, as well as military
+ability. Finally the forces were arrayed for battle on the banks of
+the Dughmood river, in the plains of Avarayr, near the present city of
+Van. Vartan had 66,000 men, the Persians several times as many. Vartan
+prayed to God for help, and to Christ for his own salvation; then he
+made a speech to his soldiers, in substance as follows:--"Soldiers,
+as Christians we are averse from fighting; but to defend the Christian
+religion and our own freedom we have to fight. Surely our lives are
+not as valuable as Christ's, and if he was willing to die on the
+cross for us, we ought to be willing to die in battle for him." Then,
+with his troops, he crossed the river, fell on the enemy's center,
+and scattered the huge army in rout, killing 3,544 men besides nine
+great princes, and losing 1,036 of his own; but alas! one of these
+was himself, dying from a mortal wound not long after. Nevertheless,
+he had won the victory he was striving for. Yazdegerd saw it was
+impossible to conquer the Armenians in a war for religion, and granted
+entire liberty to the Christians to believe and preach as they pleased.
+
+
+
+
+ARMENIAN LITERATURE.
+
+FIFTH CENTURY.
+
+The Armenian schools and universities and their outpour of great
+scholars and writers have already been spoken of, but of course
+Armenian youths, eager for the best of the world's learning,
+did not confine themselves to their own country; they studied in
+Constantinople, Athens, Antioch, Alexandria, and wherever great
+teachers were located. All were zealous Christians, and the books
+they have left behind were Christian literature, not works of mere
+enjoyment. A very rich and valuable literature it is, too, in my
+judgment the most so of any single body that exists; though much of
+it has perished in the recent destruction of everything Christian
+the Turks can reach. My readers will not credit my opinion of it,
+because most of it has never been translated, but that makes it all
+the more valuable now, it has so much that is new to add to the stores
+of the world. It is not necessary to give them all, but to point out
+the chief writers.
+
+The fifth century is called the Golden Age of Armenian
+literature. First in point of time as well as importance comes the
+Armenian Bible. The furious opposition of the Church in the Middle Ages
+to letting the people have the Bible to read in their own tongues seems
+perfectly ridiculous, when we remember that in the early Christian
+church every people had it in their own language, and it was thought
+to be the greatest work for a heathen people that could be done, to
+translate the Bible for them. It was not thought needful then to keep
+the word of God in a strange tongue, so that the people could neither
+read it for themselves nor understand it when it was read to them.
+
+There were probably some books of popular tales and songs in Armenia
+before the fifth century, for we are told that there was an Armenian
+alphabet to write them in as early as the second, but if so they
+have all perished, and the alphabet was doubtless a poor and meager
+one. Armenian scholars and writers read Greek or Latin books, and
+occasionally Hebrew or Syriac ones, and wrote in Greek or Latin
+themselves; if it was necessary to write Armenian, as in letters,
+they made the Greek, Syriac, or Persian characters, which of course
+were insufficient to give the Armenian sounds. They would have got
+along with this, however, if it had not been for the eagerness of
+Christian enthusiasm which made them wish to give the Bible to Armenia;
+it was to spread the word of God, not to write books, that they were
+anxious. St. Mesrob set to work and invented a very perfect alphabet
+of thirty-six letters, to which two have been added since. According
+to one of his disciples, having vainly sought help from the learned,
+he prayed to God, and received the new alphabet in a vision. This was
+about 405. He and Sahag the Pontiff at once began to translate the New
+Testament and the Book of Proverbs from a poor Greek version, the best
+they had, with the assistance of two pupils, John of Eghueghiatz and
+Joseph of Baghin. This was finished in 406. Many years later (seemingly
+about the time Persian Armenia was made a satrapy), they undertook the
+translation of the Old Testament; but as the Persians had destroyed
+all the Greek MSS., it was necessary to use a Syriac version. The
+same two assistants aided them; but being sent to the Council of
+Ephesus in 431, they brought back copies of the Greek Septuagint,
+and the old translation was at once dropped, and a new one put under
+way. But all found their knowledge of Greek too imperfect to rely on,
+and the pupils were sent to Alexandria and Athens to complete their
+education; on their return they seem to have brought a new Alexandrian
+version, and corrections were made from that, and the work completed,
+most likely about 435.
+
+The Bible completed, they turned to other labors. The Saints Sahag and
+Mesrob are said to have written six hundred books themselves, all in
+Christian theology and instruction; and the pupils from the schools
+St. Nierses and themselves had founded--the chief of their own were at
+Noravank, Ayri, and Vochkhoroz--wrote great numbers besides. The first
+original work of Sahag was one on Pastoral Theology, setting forth
+that the Church of Christ is the Bride of Christ, and the ministers
+must therefore be holy, pure, and obedient. He wrote many epistles to
+kings and emperors, all of whom reverenced and were greatly influenced
+by him. He wrote a large part of the Armenian Church History, composed
+many hymns, and translated many commentaries and theological works
+from the Greek.
+
+Fortunately during this period the government of Armenia was very good,
+with the exception of one period of two years or so; even after its
+partition, for close on forty years it had practically self-government
+in internal affairs, and for another decade the Christians enjoyed full
+rights of worship. Bahram IV of Persia (389-399), who helped divide
+it, was a monarch who loved peace above all things, both with foreign
+countries and his own people; his successor, Yazdegerd I (399-420),
+went even further, employed the Catholicos or Pontiff on embassies
+to Constantinople, and as mediator with his own brother, and made
+his son, Shahpur, governor of Persian Armenia, continuing the Arsacid
+dynasty. He was murdered by his nobles, instigated by the Zoroastrian
+priests, for being too tolerant to the Christians, and his successor
+Bahram V, who got the throne by favor of the rebellious elements,
+tried to please them by persecuting the Christians; this involved him
+in a war with Rome, as I have said, and after a couple of years he
+made peace and gave toleration again. The turning of Persian Armenia
+into a satrapy in 428 I have already told; but no fresh persecution
+was undertaken till that of Yazdegerd II, in 439, ending in Vartan's
+revolt just detailed. Shahpur of Armenia was a prince of great wisdom,
+generosity, and public spirit; he patronized men of learning, founded
+schools, made large grants from the treasury for scholarship, and
+sent scholars to all the great seats of learning to teach and acquire
+the languages, literature, and history of other nations, after which
+they wrote and translated hundreds of volumes. Among them were Tavit,
+Khosrov, Mampre, and Zazar; a great historian, Eghishe (Elisaeus),
+author of the Life of Vartan; and a great philosopher, Yeznic. These
+are only a few out of scores worthy of mention.
+
+Dr. Philip Schaff says:--"In spite of the unfavorable state of
+political and social affairs in Armenia during this epoch, more than
+six hundred Greek and Syrian works were translated within the first
+forty years after the translation of the Bible; and as in many cases
+the original works have perished, while the translations have been
+preserved, the great importance of this whole literary activity is
+apparent. Among works which in this way have come down to us are
+several books by Philo-Alexandrinus, on Providence, on reason,
+commentaries, etc.; the Chronicle of Eusebius, nearly complete;
+the epistles of Ignatius, translated from a Syrian version; fifteen
+Homilies by Severianus; the exegetical writings of Ephraim Syrus,
+previously completely unknown, on the historical books of the Old
+Testament, the synoptical gospels, the parables of Jesus, and the
+fourteen Pauline epistles; the Hexahemeron of Basil the Great; the
+Catechesis of Cyril of Jerusalem; several homilies by Chrysostom,
+etc. The period, however, was not characterized by translations
+only. Several of the disciples of Mesrob and Sahak left original
+works. Esnik wrote four books against heretics, printed at Venice
+in 1826, and translated into French by Le Vailliant de Florival,
+Paris, 1853. A biography of Mesrob by Koriun, homilies by Mambres,
+and various writings by the Philosopher David, have been published;
+and the works of Moses Chorenensis, published in Venice in 1842,
+and again in 1864, have acquired a wide celebrity; his history of
+Armenia has been translated into Latin, French, Italian, and Russian."
+
+
+
+
+SIXTH CENTURY.
+
+The leading authors in this century are Abraham Mamigonian, who wrote
+on the Council of Ephesus; and Bedross Sounian, who wrote on the Life
+of Christ. There are, however, many others of merit.
+
+
+
+
+SEVENTH CENTURY.
+
+By far the greatest name in this century, and indeed the best-known
+and most important name in Armenian literature altogether, is
+the writer who calls himself Movses Khorentzi, well known to all
+historical scholars as Moses of Chorene, author of the History of
+Armenia. For more than a thousand years, up to this century, indeed,
+this was practically the only source of Armenian history to the world;
+the other writers were inaccessible. And it is still very valuable,
+though not in just the way it was once thought to be. It preserves
+a vast amount of Armenian tradition, stories and ballads, and real
+history, which have perished except for this work; but he seems not to
+have had the Greek and Latin histories to draw from, and makes a great
+many mistakes. He gives a life of himself, and says he is writing in
+the fifth century, and knew Sahag and Mesrob when he was young; but he
+really lived in the seventh, and wrote history about the year 640. But
+still he is a great writer, and one of Armenia's literary lights;
+and we do not need to claim for him anything more than he deserves.
+
+Besides Movses, the chief authors were Gomidas, Yezr, Matossagha,
+Krikoradour, Hovhannes, Vertanes, and Anania. They wrote chiefly
+religious books; but Anania Shiragatzi is the author of a valuable
+work on astronomy.
+
+
+
+
+EIGHTH CENTURY.
+
+The leading authors were: Hovhan Imassdasser, Sdepannoss Sounetzi,
+and Levont Yeretz. They wrote hymns, books on oratory, etc.
+
+
+
+
+NINTH CENTURY.
+
+Zakaria Shabooh, Tooma, Kourken, etc.
+
+
+
+
+TENTH CENTURY.
+
+The chief authors were Anania, Khasrov, and Krikor Naregatzi. The
+latter wrote a prayer book in ninety-five chapters, which one of the
+missionaries of the American Board thinks the best in the world. He
+says that only Beecher was able to offer such prayers as Krikor
+Naregatzi.
+
+
+
+
+ELEVENTH CENTURY.
+
+The leading writers were Hovhannes, Krikor, and Aristagues. In this
+century some of the best commentaries were written on the Bible.
+
+
+
+
+TWELFTH CENTURY.
+
+Leading authors: Nerses Shinorhali is the foremost of Armenian poets,
+and a thoroughly converted and consecrated man of God. His hymns were
+intensely spiritual, and the Armenians still chant them in their
+churches. They are worthy to be translated into English. Nerses
+Lampronatzi, the greatest scholar ever born in Armenia, was a
+distinguished commentator on the Old Testament, and wrote many other
+books. Another is Yeremia.
+
+Again I quote from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia:--"Another
+nourishing period falls in the twelfth century, during the Rubenian
+dynasty. Nerses Klagensis and Nerses Lambronensis belong to this
+period; also Ignatius, whose commentary to the Gospel of St. Luke
+appeared in Constantinople in 1735 and 1824; Sargis Shnorhali, whose
+commentary on the Catholic Epistles was published in Constantinople in
+1743, and again in 1826; Matthew of Edessa, whose history, comprising
+the period from 952 to 1132, and continued by Gregory the Priest to
+1163, contains many interesting notices concerning the Crusaders;
+Samuel Aniensis, the chronologist; Michael Syrus, whose history
+has been edited with a French translation by V. Langlois, Paris,
+1864; Mekhitar Kosh, of whom a hundred and ninety fables appeared
+at Venice, 1780 and 1812. A most powerful impulse the Armenian
+literature received in the eighteenth century by the foundation of
+the Mekhitarist monastery in Venice, from whose press the treasures
+of the Armenian literature were spread over Europe, and new works,
+explaining and completing the old, were added. The Armenian liturgy
+was published in 1826, the breviary in 1845, the ritual in 1831."
+
+
+
+
+THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+Leading authors:-- Krikor Sguevratzi, Kevork Sguevratzi, Mukhitar
+Anetzi, Vanagan Vartabed, Vartan Vartabed, etc. They wrote histories,
+commentaries, etc. As the Armenian dynasties ended in the fourteenth
+century, I will reserve my notes on the later literature till towards
+the end of the book.
+
+The peculiar value of the Armenian literature is not realized as it
+should be, by European and American scholars; the language is well
+worth learning for what it can give the student. Not alone is the
+original work that comes from the first Christian nation specially
+valuable for its bearing on primitive Christianity, but the Armenian
+scholars translated great numbers of works from other languages,
+and these translations are preserved in Armenian monasteries when
+the originals have been irretrievably lost in the wars, and burnings,
+and devastations of other countries. Six hundred volumes of this old
+literature are known to exist now, two hundred in Europe, and four
+hundred in different places in Armenia.
+
+
+
+
+THE ARMENIAN CHURCH.
+
+The first thing to remember about this is, that it is an independent
+and separate body as much as the Greek or the Roman Catholic church,
+and older than either of them. I often hear such expressions as "the
+Armenian Catholic Church," and many people think it simply a "branch"
+of the great Eastern or Greek Church. It would be just as sensible
+to consider the Greek a branch of the Armenian Church. Each of them
+represents a form of church organization and body of doctrine which
+best satisfied the representatives of certain races or nations;
+the advantage of the Greek was that that race--or at least its
+speech and thought--happened to be dominant in the Roman Empire at
+the time when Christianity won the battle, and so had the official
+backing of the empire, and was able to outgrow and crush down the
+others. It was not any truer, any more the real Church of Christ,
+than the Syrian or African or Armenian; it was not the earliest,
+for the very first Christian churches sprang from the Jews; it was
+not even the earliest great national church body, for the Armenian
+church has that distinction. It had the most soldiers back of it to put
+down its opponents, that is all. I have already told the story of the
+foundation of the Armenian church by St. Gregory and Tiridates. That
+church has its own head--the Catholicos or Pontiff, who is no more a
+subordinate of either the Pope or the Greek Patriarch than the Grand
+Llama is, or Dr. Parkhurst--and its own self-subsistent being.
+
+As to the differences between them, in the first place the Armenian
+is a purely Trinitarian. There is no room for Unitarianism within
+its lines. When Gregory the Illuminator was preaching his sermons
+on the hills and plains of Armenia, he laid the foundation of the
+national church in the Trinity. His first sermon was on the Trinity;
+his last sermon was on the Trinity. In all his sermons he asserted
+the Trinity,--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ
+being a perfect Man and a perfect God; in his person we see God in man
+and man in God; a perfect Emmanuel, God with us. We see in him that
+man can be united with God. The only possible way of salvation is
+through Jesus Christ. He is the Saviour of the world and none else,
+and whosoever believeth in Him shall be saved. This is the belief
+and the only belief of the Armenian Church. Its members repeat the
+Apostolic Creed and the Lord's Prayer every day in their churches. I
+say every day because Armenians go to church every day,--twice,
+morning and evening, and three times on Sunday.
+
+Secondly, the Armenian has never been a persecuting church, and
+every other one of the great Christian churches has been. The Armenian
+church, as befits the first and most Christ-like of all the bodies that
+professed Christ before Luther's time, has always been the broadest,
+the most inclusive, the most untechnical of churches. It fellowships
+with all other churches. It demands only that men shall profess and
+believe in Christ, and live Christian lives; not that one shall belong
+to its own church body. Its canons are conversion and regeneration,
+purity, holiness, being born again from the Holy Spirit and becoming
+Christ-like. It holds that Christianity is brotherhood through Jesus
+Christ, and gives no warrant for oppression or persecution, curses
+or anathemas. I need hardly say that it is alone in this of the
+older churches. The others hold that no one can be saved outside of
+their own bodies; hence they fulminate anathemas against all others,
+and have the anathemas read in their churches, and they persecute
+others to compel them to join themselves, or rid the world of a
+possible danger that their own members may be tolled outside. The
+Greek Church, where it has full power, will not even allow people
+of other creeds to come into its country; for example, in Croatia a
+Protestant is not allowed to live there at all, and the people said
+in the Hungarian Diet that "intolerance was the most precious of
+their rights." The Russian Greek Church will not permit a Protestant
+missionary in Russia. Where the Roman Catholic power is complete,
+it is just as intolerant. The Armenian church has been repeatedly
+persecuted by both, and has always protested against the principle
+of it, as well as against the pretensions of the Popes to universal
+sway. It is fairly entitled to be called the first Protestant Church.
+
+That the Armenian contention is for freedom of will, freedom of
+conscience, freedom of worship, and political freedom, is the cause
+of their being hated both by the Mohammedans and by their so-called
+Christian neighbors; but it ought to be also a reason why Americans,
+who believe in these things themselves, should sympathize with us. If
+the Armenians would accept Mohammedanism, would the Turks persecute
+them? No. If they would accept Roman Catholicism would the Turks
+persecute them? No, for the Catholic states would not permit it. If
+they would accept the Greek Church, would the Turks persecute them? No,
+for Russia would not permit it. But as they are an independent church
+the others are interested in persecuting them, and nobody is interested
+in defending them. If there is any help to come to them it will not
+be from the old churches of Europe, but from Protestant Anglo-Saxons
+helping their spiritual brethren, the Anglo-Saxons of the East; and
+it will be found, when the great battle comes, that the Slavonic,
+Greek, and Catholic churches will be on the side of the Mohammedans
+against the Armenian Christians. But that battle will come, and the
+victory will be on the side of freedom and righteousness.
+
+As to theological questions, the Armenian Church fathers did not pay
+much attention to them. Not because they were not able, but because
+they were too able, and very far-sighted. They knew well that such
+questions can never be solved, no matter how many centuries pass away,
+no matter how great scholars the world produces; therefore they would
+not enter into the debate. And so every Armenian scholar has his own
+theology. I confess that the Armenian Church has not a theology, or an
+especial official doctrine; and this is a very fortunate thing for the
+Armenians. They care more for righteousness of life than for particular
+beliefs about the way of getting it. When there was a great controversy
+in the Council of Chalcedon, 451 A.D., about the nature of Christ,
+Armenians did not care about it. Some of the great theologians said
+Christ had two natures; some said he had only one nature; the Armenian
+bishops would not give any opinion. They believe in Christ as their
+Saviour, that is the essential thing; but whether He has two natures
+or one nature is not essential. Then came the controversy about the
+Holy Spirit. Whence does the Holy Spirit proceed? Some say from the
+Father and the Son, some simply from the Father. When the question came
+before the Armenian bishops they replied that they did not care whence
+He proceeds. They know that they need the Holy Spirit for guidance
+in spiritual life, for regeneration; they know that the Holy Spirit
+is one of the persons in the Trinity; and that is enough for them.
+
+Now I would ask, do the theologians of the nineteenth century agree on
+such questions, or any other theological question? Are the theologians
+of the coming centuries going to agree on them? I leave this to the
+scholars of Europe and America. I simply state that I studied in three
+different theological seminaries in America; first in Oberlin, in 1880;
+second in Union Theological Seminary, New York, in 1881; and finally
+I was graduated from the Chicago Theological Seminary. But I never saw
+a theologian who could agree with any other, and have no hope ever to
+see any such. President Fairchild of Oberlin differed from Professor
+Shedd of New York, and Professor Boardman of Chicago did not agree
+with either of them; and I never agreed with any of them, and as an
+Armenian I have my own theology. So every reader of this book will see
+that the Armenian scholars had the best judgment, far-sightedness,
+and common sense of those in any or all the communions. Instead of
+theological controversies, they preached the gospel and reached the
+masses, for the Kingdom of Christ.
+
+
+
+
+THE ARMENIAN CLERGY.
+
+The Armenian clergy are divided into three classes: the pastor,
+the preacher, and the presiding bishop. The pastor is called Yeretz,
+the preacher is called Vartabed, and the presiding bishop is called
+Yebisgobos (Episcopus). The presiding bishop ordains the preacher and
+the teacher. The Armenians believe in apostolic succession, and they
+believe in immersion. Baptism can be administered both to grown people
+and to children, if they are the children of members of the church;
+but always by immersion, and in the name of the Father, the Son,
+and of the Holy Ghost. If you unite the present Episcopal church with
+the Baptist, you will make an Armenian church. All the clergy of the
+Armenian church, bishops, preachers, and teachers, were married in the
+early centuries. Gregory the Illuminator, the first bishop of Armenia,
+was married. His sons were bishops, and were married. There was no
+church law whatever against marriage of the clergy. At present the
+bishop and the preacher, or the Yebisgobos and the Vartabed, cannot
+marry, but the pastor or Yeretz must be married. No Armenian pastor
+can be ordained if he is not married.
+
+Of course I am not writing here an Armenian church history; the main
+object in writing this book is to inform the American public about the
+causes of the atrocities, and the atrocities themselves. Therefore
+I consider the above information about the Armenian church enough;
+but I will add that the Armenian church until the twelfth century
+was as simple in ceremonial as any American Protestant church is
+to-day. But when their kingdom was coming to an end, and they were in
+a life-and-death struggle with the Mohammedan powers, Popes Innocent,
+Benedict, and others promised to help them if they would accept some
+of the Roman doctrines and ritual; and since that time--the twelfth
+century--there has been more or less similarity in the ceremonial of
+the two churches. But Armenians have never believed in the Pope, and
+now they are getting rid of the Roman ritual also, as it is foreign
+to them.
+
+Before I finish this subject, I must give a little information about
+the Armenian Patriarch in Constantinople, and the Armenian Catholicos
+of Etchmiazin. There are many people in this country who do not know
+the difference between the Patriarch and the Catholicos. The difference
+between them is as follows: The Patriarch at Constantinople has nothing
+to do with religion, though he is a bishop. As a personal bishop, he
+goes to the church, and occasionally preaches and leads the pastors,
+but his duty is political. He is the political head of the Armenians
+in Constantinople, and responsible to the Sultan for the Armenian
+nation who live in Turkey. The Armenians are not anxious to have
+such a political head; it is simply the wish of the Sultan, or it
+has been the wishes of the Sultans in centuries gone by. The present
+Patriarch, Right Rev. Bishop Izmirlian, is a very learned, experienced,
+and eloquent bishop. He is very popular; the whole Armenian nation
+love and esteem him; but the Sultan hates him, because he is brave,
+honest, and true. The Sultan ordered him to send out false reports,
+alleging that the Armenians were not being massacred, but were safe
+and prospering under Abdul Hamid's reign; but the Patriarch refused
+to issue any such documents while in fact the Armenians were being
+plundered, tortured, outraged, and killed. The Patriarch's life is
+consequently in great danger, but the Patriarch says that if it is
+necessary to sacrifice his life for his beloved nation, he is ready
+to die.
+
+The Armenian Catholicos is the spiritual head of the Armenian
+church; he has nothing to do with politics. He is considered to
+be fallible, and he is elected both by bishops and laymen; and if
+the nation is not satisfied with him, they may remove him and elect
+another. He is a presiding bishop. He lives at Etchmiazin (the former
+Vagharshabad) north of Mt. Ararat in Russia; it has been the seat of
+the Pontiff since the time of St. Gregory. The present Catholicos is
+Rt. Rev. Bishop Mugurditch Kirimian. He is very much esteemed and loved
+by the Armenians throughout the world. Before he became Catholicos,
+he was Patriarch in Constantinople, and was the most popular and
+the ablest of Patriarchs, but the present Sultan of course hated
+him, and according to stories I heard from good authority, when I
+was in Constantinople, tried repeatedly to kill him. One day he was
+summoned to the palace to see the Sultan; but on arriving there, was
+instead locked into a room with a brazier of burning charcoal, and
+left to die. Before it was too late, however, the Russian Ambassador,
+being informed of the attempt, saved his life. Failing to get rid of
+him that way, the Sultan banished him to Jerusalem, but sent false
+reports to the newspapers, that he thought highly of the Patriarch,
+and had given him money to go to Jerusalem that he might improve his
+health and enjoy himself. The Sultan lives and breathes falsehood.
+
+While in Jerusalem, Kirimian was shadowed by the Sultan's detectives;
+but about three years ago he was elected Catholicos by the Armenians,
+and the Russian Czar (not the present one, but his father, Alexander),
+sanctioned his election. The Armenians are proud of him, for he
+is worthy of his office. He is a great scholar, and the author of
+several books which are worthy of translation into English. His book
+Traghti Endanik (the family of Paradise), is the best book I ever saw
+or read in any language on family life. In it he describes the first
+holy family, which was created in the Garden of Eden, in Armenia,
+and then goes on to describe a holy family, the ideal family, a true
+home. It is full of the Holy Spirit. Catholicos Kirimian was married
+and had a family, and really his family was a holy family and he had an
+ideal home,--therefore Armenians call him Kirimian Hayrig or "father,"
+and he is worthy of the title; but his wife died. He is also a great
+orator, preaching fiery gospel sermons as our greatest revivalists
+preach them. He loved the American missionaries in Constantinople,
+and they returned the feeling. Kirimian was born in Van April 16,
+1820; therefore he is now 76 years old, but full of life and vigor. I
+hope he will live longer, to see his beloved nation and country saved
+from the oppressions of the cruel Turkish Sultan. I could write a
+book on the life of Kirimian and his great deeds in Armenia, for the
+Armenians; how he opened schools and established printing presses;
+how he went to the Congress in Berlin and championed the Armenian
+cause; and all his noble works. But this is not the place.
+
+
+
+
+THE PAKRADOONIAN DYNASTY.
+
+For a century after the Mohammedan conquest of Persia, the fortunes
+of Armenia were apparently at their lowest ebb, and as a country it
+almost disappears from history; but by one of the compensations of
+nature, which provides that human force, like other force, cannot be
+extinguished, but if suppressed will find an outlet elsewhere, its
+people began a career of brilliancy and power unequaled in its history,
+and broadened from the rule of a tormented buffer-state to that of
+the great Byzantine Empire itself. The Saracen torrent flowed over
+Armenia's lowlands and up to the base of its mountain fortresses, but
+never overcame them; generation after generation the contending forces
+battled together, surging back and forth, and filling the beautiful
+valleys with fire and blood, but Armenia proper was never added to
+the list of Saracen conquests, never made a part of the Mohammedan
+Empire or strengthened Mohammedanism till four centuries later through
+Byzantine greed and folly. Internally it was all in feudal anarchy
+again so far as concerned any one central focus of government. Even
+the Persian satraps had gone from the Persian side, and with them the
+half-control they had kept over the turbulent baronage; on the Roman
+side from early in the seventh century to early in the eighth, the
+throne of Constantinople was filled with weak and unstable monarchs,
+fighting for Anatolia against the Saracens, and unable to exercise
+any effective control over Armenia, to which indeed they looked as
+a frontier defense against those very foes.
+
+But let us not attach too harsh a meaning to "anarchy." There were a
+hundred rulers, it is true, great dukes and barons, each supreme in
+his own district; but because they held power by the sword against
+a savage enemy, their subjects had to be a strong, independent race,
+with arms in their hands, which they would use against their chiefs
+as well as the foreigners if there was great oppression. In this
+fiery school, Armenia learned the sternest lessons of self-help
+and discipline. With no interference from outsiders to fear, and no
+help from them to be got, it became even more confirmed in its own
+independent isolated ways, a world to itself as it has been ever
+since. Its cultivators tilled their fields as they had done for
+so many centuries, and its scholars read such books as they had,
+and wrote such as their own minds furnished. But vast numbers of its
+hardy sons took service in the Greek armies, and became the bone and
+sinew of the defense of Asia Minor against the caliphs; not only so,
+but they rose by hundreds to the highest commands in the empire, both
+civil and military. They formed the best "society" in Constantinople
+itself; and to crown all, a score of emperors and empresses in four
+different lines, including the most illustrious ones that ever sat
+on the throne from Constantine down, and who ruled the empire for
+two hundred and seventy-seven years, were Armenians.
+
+It is within the truth, and can be justified from the greatest of
+English historians, to say that for four centuries the Byzantine
+Empire was not a Greek but an Armenian empire. Armenians by blood
+filled all the great offices of state, commanded the armies, occupied
+the throne for nearly three hundred years, preserved the empire from
+external invasion and internal disintegration. It was the accession
+of an Armenian dynasty that turned it from a decaying power to one
+that expanded steadily for two centuries, from one falling into
+anarchy to one the glory of the world for scientific organizations;
+and it was the final overthrow of Armenian influence that ruined
+the empire, being followed almost at once by the loss of half its
+territory and the richest part, and the break-up of its system of civil
+administration. Everywhere in the time of Byzantine glory you find the
+list full of Armenian names. The appearance of "Bardas" as the name of
+generals or civil magnates is always proof of Armenian blood, and that
+name is monotonously common; it is the Greek form of "Vartan," though
+now and then they make it "Bardanes." One of the greatest conquerors
+in Byzantine history, John Kurkuas, was an Armenian, from a family
+which supplied three generations of statesmen and generals, and two
+great emperors. And this is part of what the immortal historian of
+"Greece Under Foreign Domination," George Finlay, has to say:--
+
+
+"At the accession of Leo III (717), the Hellenic race occupied a
+very subordinate position in the empire. The predominant influence
+in the political administration was in the hands of Asiatics,
+and particularly of Armenians, who filled the highest military
+commands. Of the numerous rebels who assumed the title of emperor,
+the greater part were Armenians. Artabasdos, who rebelled against his
+brother, Constantine V, was an Armenian. Alexios Mousel, strangled
+by order of Constantine VI, in the year 790; Bardan called the
+Turk, who rebelled against Nicephorus I; Arsaber [Arshavir] the
+father-in-law of Leo V, convicted of treason in 808; and Thomas,
+who revolted against Michael II, were all Asiatics, and most of them
+Armenians. Many of the Armenians in the Byzantine Empire belonged to
+the oldest and most illustrious families in the Christian world; and
+their connection with the remains of Roman society at Constantinople,
+in which the pride of birth was cherished, was a proof that Asiatic
+influence had eclipsed Roman and Greek in the government of the
+empire. An amazing instance of the influence of Asiatic prejudices
+at Constantinople will appear in the eagerness displayed by Basil I,
+a Sclavonian groom from Macedonia, to claim descent from the Armenian
+royal family." (But I shall show that he was an Armenian.)
+
+
+Let us note the Armenian sovereigns of the Byzantine Empire. First the
+great Iconoclast house, of Leo the so-called Isaurian, the saviour and
+restorer of the empire, which reigned from 716 to 797. Leo considered
+himself an Armenian, and he ought to have known best, and he married
+his daughter to an Armenian. He saved Constantinople from capture
+by the Saracens, causing the destruction of the finest Mohammedan
+army ever got together; of its 180,000 men only 30,000 got back home,
+according to the Mohammedan historians. Twenty-two years later another
+great Moslem army was annihilated by Leo, and for two centuries
+the Saracens scarcely troubled the empire again. But not only so,
+he remodeled the whole administration so effectively that no serious
+break-down occurred for three centuries, and he put new life into the
+whole society, so that it began to outgrow its enemies, as well as
+outfight them. After his able dynasty ended, another Armenian, Leo V,
+reigned seven and a half years, from 813 to 820. About half a century
+later began the Basilian dynasty, under which the laws were codified,
+and Bulgaria destroyed. Basil was born in Macedonia, but the name
+of his brother, Symbatios, Armenian Simpad, shows that he was of an
+Armenian family, the colonies of Armenians having spread all over the
+civilized world. His line reigned without a break from 867 to 963,
+when the beautiful widow Theophano was pushed aside for sixteen
+years by another Armenian house, Nikephoros Phokas and his nephew
+John Zimiskes, two of the ablest generals and statesmen ever on the
+throne, descendants of a brother of the great commander, John Kurkuas,
+before spoken of; then Theophano's son, Basil II--Boulgaroktonos,
+the Bulgarian slayer, and the ultimate destroyer of Armenia as
+well--took the throne, 979, and the dynasty continued till 1057,
+when it had run to dregs, and had just before finally ruined Armenia,
+and by so doing ruined the empire.
+
+To go back to Armenia itself. The reason a feudal anarchy always ends
+in a military monarchy, no matter how able or self-willed every one of
+the separate chiefs may be, is that this very class most interested
+in perpetuating it grow weary of it. The stronger barons oppress and
+plunder the weaker, who are always superior in numbers, and in united
+strength if they will act together. A small lord may like to be free
+from control by the king's officers as well as a great one; but if he
+can only have that privilege by letting his overbearing neighbor be
+free from it too, and rob him, he finds it does not pay, and sighs
+for a law that will control everyone alike, and a strong ruler to
+enforce it. So if a chief in such a community comes to be known as
+having a hard hand and letting no one be above the law but himself,
+the small landholders flock under his banner; he grows into a prince,
+and eventually some prince of such a family will make himself king,
+with the goodwill and help of all but a few great houses, who feel
+able to take care of themselves and desirous of taking care of others.
+
+This happened in Armenia. In 743, a century after the battle of
+Nehavend and four years after Leo's crushing defeat of the second
+great Saracen army, we find that a chief named Ashod, of the family
+of Pakrad or Bagrat, claiming descent from the ancient Jews (see
+the Haigian dynasty in this book), had managed to win control over
+central and northern Armenia; how long it had been exercised, or
+what it grew from, no one knows. Ashod I is the first known founder
+of the Pakradoonian dynasty, though it is counted as beginning from
+the recognition of its independence by the caliphs over a century
+later. He recovered some parts of Armenia proper, and fought hard for
+Lesser Armenia. The family had vigorous blood in it, and somewhere
+in the ninth century--885 is the date fixed--it was recognized by the
+caliphs as an independent house of kings, and Armenia as a kingdom. But
+it had really been so for over a hundred years before.
+
+Ashod II, "the Iron," gained his title from his stern military power;
+he beat back the Arabs and gave the land peace for a considerable
+time. He left no son, and his brother Appas succeeded him; another
+brave and wise ruler, who brought back the Armenian captives held in
+bondage by the Saracens. He made the city of Kars his capital. It
+is now owned by Russia, having been captured by her forces in the
+Russo-Turkish war of 1878. He greatly improved the city, and built
+a beautiful cathedral there. After a reign of twenty-four years he
+died in peace, and his son succeeded him as Ashod III.
+
+This was the glory of the line in prowess and generosity; he reminds
+one of Alfred the Great, in England. He was the terror of his country's
+enemies; not one of them--Arab, Greek, or Persian--dared to invade
+Armenia, and they sent presents to conciliate his friendship. It was
+under him that the country became formally independent again. He filled
+it with fortified places. He gave all his personal income in charity,
+and established almshouses and state charities. He was so benevolent
+and so interested in the destitute that he was called The Merciful. He
+ruled over Armenia twenty-six years, and was succeeded by his son
+Simpad. This was neither a good man nor good ruler; corrupt, cruel,
+and ambitious only for selfish purposes. He made the city of Ani, on
+the north side of Mt. Ararat, the royal capital, built strong walls and
+lofty towers around it, and is said to have erected 1001 churches in
+it--which he might do, and still be a bad man. The extent of its still
+existing ruins of palaces, churches, towers, and castles testifies that
+it was one of the great cities of the world, like Babylon and Antioch.
+
+For more than a century Armenia flourished and grew rich; then it
+disappeared once more under the hammer and anvil of Byzantine and
+Saracen, aided by internal disruption--the traitorousness of its great
+nobles, who hated the kings for controlling their lawlessness. Let
+us take in just its situation. It included the heart of the Armenian
+highlands; but it had not the extent of old Armenia, several Armenian
+districts being independent of it, and either free or tributary to
+the Byzantine Empire. Ani was its seat; but the district around Kars,
+fifty miles northwest, had split off into a separate principality, the
+boundary between the two being the Aras; on the east was Vaspourakan,
+another princedom; on the west Sebaste, another; on the north Iberia,
+and Abkhasia or Abasgia or Albania, the realms of the Georgians; and
+one or two others not quite certain,--but all these ruled by Armenian
+princes, mostly of the Pakradoonian house. Though Armenia was in
+fragments, therefore, the pieces formed a sort of family confederacy,
+and often acted together, as they did to their eventual ruin. Their
+folly paved the way for the destruction of Armenian national existence,
+and the worse folly of a Byzantine emperor accomplished it. About
+1020 the Seljuk Turks were pressing so hard on Vaspourakan that the
+prince, Sennacherib, was unable to hold out, and ceded his dominion to
+Basil II of Constantinople in return for the sovereignty of Sebaste,
+which he agreed to hold as a Byzantine governor; great numbers of
+his subjects went with him. Something about this transaction roused
+the Armenian national feeling to resentment; for John Simpad, king of
+Armenia (known at this time as the Kingdom of Ani, from its capital),
+joined with George the Pakradoonian king; of Iberia, to promise help
+to a couple of discontented generals, one at least an Armenian, who
+were to raise the standard of revolt in Cappadocia and call on all
+Armenians to rise. It was to have been a general revolt of all eastern
+Asia Minor. But the mighty Basil, conqueror of Bulgaria, and nearing
+the end of his half-century's reign, first crushed the rebellion by
+buying up one of the generals and getting him to assassinate the other
+(the Armenian), and then crushed the league of Bagratian kings. The
+king of Armenia, as the price of retaining his throne, was compelled
+to sign a treaty ceding the kingdom to the Byzantine Empire after
+his death.
+
+John Simpad was succeeded by his nephew Kakig, an able ruler and
+good general. But in 1042 there was placed on the Byzantine throne
+the fourth husband of the despicable old female (Zoe), whose male
+creatures, married or not married to her, misgoverned the empire for
+nearly thirty years. The reign of Constantine Monomachos stands out
+black in the history of the world; it not only destroyed Armenia,
+but it fatally wounded the Greek Empire; it gave Asia Minor to
+the Turks; it was the first great step towards subjecting Eastern
+Christianity to the Mohammedans; it began the Eastern Question. The
+sack of Constantinople by the Turks, four centuries later, was
+directly due to it. Almost never has sheer contemptible negative
+good-for-nothingness produced such awful results. He was a worthless
+man and an utterly incapable statesman; a libertine without decency,
+a spend-thrift without generosity or taste, a ruler without sense
+of responsibility. Having spent on debauchery or his favorites,
+or diversions, or palaces in Constantinople, or other selfish,
+short-sighted gratifications, or on the church to win its indulgence
+for them, all the money he could wring from his subjects without
+risking his throne, he bethought himself of another resource. The
+provinces on the frontiers of Iberia, Armenia, and Syria, were exempted
+from taxation, and the small dependent states in that region from
+tribute, in consideration of maintaining bodies of militia to defend
+their territories, and save the central government from keeping
+regular troops there. The emperor ordered the militia disbanded,
+and the taxes and tribute collected and remitted to Constantinople
+as from other places. This monstrous piece of imbecility laid the
+southeastern frontier open to the Turks at once; and the money was
+quickly wasted in the emperor's pleasures. But even this was not
+enough, and he cast his eyes on Armenia as a rich country to squeeze
+taxes out of, and sent word to Kakig to fulfill his uncle's will, and
+yield up his kingdom. Kakig refused. Constantine formed an alliance
+with the Saracen emir of Tovin (on the east flank of Armenia),
+and sent an army to attack Ani; and a number of the great Armenian
+nobles turned traitors and joined the Byzantine forces. Kakig could
+not make head against the three allies with the slender forces left
+him; and choosing to yield to Christians rather than Saracens, though
+Constantine evidently had no such scruples, surrendered Ani to the
+imperial forces (1045), and went to Constantinople to plead his cause
+with the emperor. Constantine would not yield, and Kakig resigned
+his kingship for a magistracy, and large estates in Cappadocia. The
+emperor forced the Catholicos to leave Ani and live at Arzen, then
+at Constantinople; finally the Comnenian house allowed him to settle
+in Sebaste among his people. The princedom of Kars alone preserved
+its independence against both Christians and Saracens, and thus the
+Armenian life still beat; but as a kingdom, Armenia perished and the
+Pakradoonian dynasty with it when Ani surrendered.
+
+This piece of wanton foolishness and criminality had its immediate
+reward; it laid all Asia Minor open to the Turks--for the Armenians
+after they had lost their independence would not fight for their
+oppressors as they had fought for themselves; and the Turks were
+ready. Three years before the capture of Ani, a Turkish chief, cousin
+of Togrul Beg, flying after a defeat, had asked the Byzantine governor
+of Vaspourakan to let him pass through that district; on being refused,
+he attacked the imperial troops, routed them, captured the governor,
+and on reaching Turkish ground sold him as a slave, and urged Togrul
+to invade the Byzantine territories, as they were of matchless
+fertility and wealth, and the troops not formidable. Togrul sent
+his nephew Ibrahim to do so in 1048; the timid Byzantine commanders,
+after defeating a detachment of his troops, waited for reinforcements
+before encountering the main body, and Ibrahim, finding the movable
+wealth mostly stored up in fortresses, assailed the rich, unfortified
+city of Arzen, with 300,000 people, who had neglected to transfer
+their possessions to Theodosiopolis, the nearest fortress. It was
+one of the chief seats of Asiatic commerce, full of the warehouses of
+Armenian and Syrian merchants. They defended themselves for six days
+with such desperation that Ibrahim, giving up the hope of plunder,
+and wishing at once to secure his rear from attack while retreating,
+and to injure Byzantine resources, set fire to the city, and reduced it
+to ashes. Few such conflagrations have ever been witnessed on earth;
+perhaps Moscow and Chicago are the only things comparable. It is said
+that 140,000 persons perished in the fire and in the massacre by the
+Turks that followed, and the prisoners taken were such a multitude
+that the slave markets of Asia were filled with ladies and children
+from Arzen. This was the first of the many such calamities that
+have dispersed the Armenians all over the world, like the Jews, have
+reduced one of the richest and most populous countries on the earth
+to a poor and thinly populated one, and turned Asia Minor practically
+into a desert. The next year Kars was overrun; but in 1050 an attack
+on Manzikert failed, and after an unsuccessful invasion again in 1052,
+the Turks retired for a while, but only for a more terrible onslaught.
+
+Before going on to the next dynasty, I will finish the story of
+Kakig. In his Cappadocian magistracy he was still called King Kakig
+and honored as a king. One day he heard that a Greek bishop had
+called his dog "Armen" to insult the Armenians, and went to his
+house to make sure, and to exact vengeance if it were true. They
+drank heavily together, and Kakig ordered the bishop to call his dog;
+the bishop, too drunk to know what he was about, called him "Here,
+Armen." Kakig, in a rage, ordered his retainers to put the bishop
+and his dog into a bag together, and then beat the dog till he bit
+his master to death. The church was too powerful for even a king
+to murder a bishop with impunity, and Kakig was hanged on a castle
+wall. This gave rise to the Turkish proverb, "Kart Giavour musliman
+almaz, Room Ermenie dost almaz" (An infidel never becomes a Moslem,
+a Greek never loves an Armenian). The Turks have always acted on this,
+and used the Greeks against the Armenians; but the old hate has died
+out now under common oppression.
+
+
+
+
+THE RUPENIAN DYNASTY.
+
+The imbecile policy of the Byzantine Court continued after the
+suppression of the line of Pakrad, and with even worse results. Having
+destroyed the interest and even the right of Armenia to keep up
+an army of her own, and confiscated her revenues applied to that
+purpose, the loss of defenders should have been made good as far
+as possible, by keeping a large regular army there in their place;
+but the same corrupt and profligate court avarice which had caused
+the one, prevented the other. Not only did Constantine X (1059-67)
+actually reduce the number of his army, leave it unprovided with arms
+and ammunition and other supplies, let the frontier fortifications
+fall out of repair, and leave the garrison unpaid, to save money
+for his overgrown court of costly favorites (the Byzantine court a
+little later cost $20,000,000 a year by itself), and let the officers
+put civilians on the rolls, and made artisans and shop-keepers of
+their real soldiers to pocket fraudulent pay for themselves, as the
+Persians do now, but he used to disband most of his army after every
+campaign to save paying them, letting them have free quarters on the
+citizens. The Seljuks were prompt to take advantage of this. In 1060
+Togrul sacked Sebaste. In 1063 his greater nephew Alp Arslan began
+a series of raids that soon reduced Iberia and Northern Armenia
+almost to a waste. The systematic policy of the Turks was to make
+any country they invaded impossible of civilized habitation again,
+by obliterating all the results and "plant" of civilization which
+many ages of labor and money had enriched it with. They deliberately
+cut down all the vineyards, orchards, and olive groves, wrecked the
+aqueducts, filled up the wells and cisterns, broke up the bridges,
+and in short made the land (except for a few fortresses) a mere
+desert pasture ground to feed their cattle on. They were only nomad
+shepherds and cattle-men, despised cities as at best necessary evils,
+and did not care for tilling the soil. Whatever spot the Turk has
+set his foot on, he has blasted like a breath from hell, turning to
+naught the labors of thousands of years at a blow; and he has never
+put anything of his own in place of what he has destroyed. Where are
+the Turkish great cities developed by them, the Turkish flourishing
+agricultural regions, the Turkish manufactures, the Turkish literature
+or art? At most they have not quite been able to exterminate others'
+progress, because they must perish themselves in doing it.
+
+The Armenian king of Iberia had to submit; the Armenian prince of
+Lorhi close by had to give his daughter's hand to Alp Arslan; and
+at last the royal city of Ani, though strongly situated on a rocky
+peninsula and protected on two sides by a rapid river and a deep
+ravine, was left without help by the Byzantines, and in spite of a
+heroic defense, was taken by storm, June 6, 1064. This convinced the
+Armenian prince of Kars (another Kakig), that he could not hold out;
+he surrendered his province to the Byzantine Empire for the appanage of
+the district of Amassia. This removed the last Armenian prince from the
+old seats of the race, which were now all occupied by the Turks; and
+the Armenians emigrated in vast numbers to the districts west and south
+(old Cappadocia and Cilicia), where their native princes were living
+as great Byzantine dukes and governors. A number of semi-independent
+vassal principalities were soon formed, making as before an Armenian
+wall between the Turks and the empire; but only part way, and far
+weaker, having left its impregnable mountains, and being much poorer,
+and having lost heart. The upper part, through Old Armenia, was left
+wholly open; and the Seljuks poured into Asia Minor like a flood,
+ruining the country beyond reparation as they went. Within a dozen
+years from the capture of Ani, the Seljuk dominion reached to Nicaea,
+fifty miles from Constantinople, and the seat of the first Christian
+church council. Its lands could be seen from St. Sophia; the Byzantine
+Empire retained only a strip of Asia Minor along the sea-coast.
+
+But the Armenian courage and national spirit, and the political
+and military ability which had governed the Eastern Empire so many
+centuries, were not extinct. The heart of the nation, forced out of
+its immemorial lands, still beat strongly, and animated their mass
+of dukedoms, now forming a compact body in the center of Asia Minor,
+with a common life and national instinct, which was soon to weld
+them into a new Armenian kingdom, as true and real a one as the
+old, Armenians under an Armenian prince, but in a wholly different
+territory, south and southwest of the former. Among the great barons
+of this district was one Rupen (Reuben), a relative of the slain Kakig;
+it is said that he saw him hanged. At any rate, no sooner was the deed
+accomplished than he retired to the mountains of Northeastern Cilicia,
+and raised the standard of Armenian independence, with himself as
+king. There was absolutely no reason why it should not be gained;
+the Seljuk conquests had cut the Armenian districts wholly off from
+the Greek Empire, so that a Greek army could not come upon them to
+punish them for revolt without traversing at least a hundred miles
+of Turkish or other Mohammedan territory. The Armenian settlements
+were an island in a sea of Mohammedanism. The new kingdom of Cilicia
+or Lesser Armenia grew with a rapidity that would seem miraculous,
+only it was a mere coalescing of the fragments of Armenia into their
+old unity; in no long time it had spread east to the Euphrates,
+taking in Melitene (Malatia), and Samosata, north fully half way to
+the Black Sea, and south to the Mediterranean, occupying the coast
+from Tarsus almost to Antioch. This kingdom played a part of the first
+importance in the history of Asia Minor for close on three centuries;
+its territories were gradually whittled away by Turks and Mongols, but
+it kept the Eastern Mediterranean open for Christian action against the
+Mohammedans to the last. To their shame, the Byzantine emperors were
+much more hostile to it than to the Turks, with whom they often allied
+themselves against it; for some years it was vassal to the Byzantine
+Empire; later it was overwhelmed by the Mameluke deluge from Egypt,
+and allied itself with Jenghiz Khan's Mongol hordes against them;
+but the Mongols passed and the Mamelukes remained, and exacted a
+terrible vengeance, putting an end to the kingdom with the usual
+horrors of Oriental conquest in 1375.
+
+Rupen's son Constantine succeeded him. It was by his help that
+the leaders of the first crusade captured Antioch. Constantine was
+succeeded by his two sons, Leo and Theodore jointly, but finally
+Leo reigned alone; he was an able prince, fought the Saracens with
+success, and much enlarged his kingdom, and at last made a naval
+attack on Isaurian Seleucia, the frontier fortress of the Byzantine
+Empire in this part, and an important seaport. This brought "Handsome
+John," the ablest of the Comnenian line of Byzantine Emperors, into
+the field; he stormed the Cilician seaports, and then reduced the
+chief interior fortresses; Leo fled to the Taurus Mountains, but was
+captured, and died in captivity at Constantinople. His son Rupen had
+his eyes put out on a charge of treason, and died of it; but his other
+son, Toros, escaped, and after John's death restored the Cilician
+kingdom, which had temporarily been made vassal by John. Toros is
+the glory of the whole Rupenian line; he was of the first rank, both
+as a general and a statesman. He scarcely ever suffered a military
+reverse. He beat the Byzantine armies in campaign after campaign, and
+the Seljuks as well; under him the new Armenia was almost a match for
+all its enemies combined, and no one of them dreamed of attacking it
+single-handed. Levon was another able ruler, who maintained the power
+and prosperity of the kingdom; he was an ally of the great Emperor
+Frederick Barbarossa in the Third Crusade, assisted him in capturing
+Iconium (1190), and both Frederick and the Greek Emperor Alexius III
+sent him crowns,--the second no great honor, as Alexius was one of
+the most contemptible of human beings. In Levon's time the capital
+of the kingdom was Cis, where there is now a great Armenian monastery
+with rare manuscripts, the residence of a Catholicos. The changes in
+the extent of the kingdom are very curious; perhaps most curious of
+all (since the Armenians were always a race of inland and highland
+farmers, not seamen), the new kingdom was gradually crowded down on
+the north and lost two-thirds of its territory in that direction,
+but steadily extended along the coast until it came to include not
+only all Cilicia but all of old Isauria clear to its western mountain
+barrier; hundreds of miles of seaboard, from close to Antioch on the
+one side, to far west of Cyprus on the other, being indeed a strong
+maritime power. At the end it had lost these western coast extensions,
+but still had an area larger than that of the Crimea now, a very
+considerable power to hold the northeast corner of the Mediterranean.
+
+It was during these times that the hard-pressed Armenians received
+promises from the Popes to help them against their enemies if they
+would use the Roman ritual and ceremonial, and submit themselves
+to the papacy. The country never did accept Romanism, though some
+churches introduced the ritual and images, and conformed to the Roman
+fashion; and of course it never did get any help from the popes, who
+had nothing to give but recommendations, which the temporal powers
+paid no attention to.
+
+Levon VI was the last of the line. He was a weak, easy-going man,
+handsome and popular, but not of much ability; perhaps he could not
+have saved his country if he had been. I have told of the Mamelukes and
+their invasion; they overran the country, and treated the people as the
+Turks have done lately, striking terror to them by terrific massacres,
+satiating their lust on the women, and carrying off many thousands of
+captives for wives or slaves. Levon was taken captive also; after some
+years in Egypt, he was permitted to go free, wandered through Europe
+for a dozen years, and finally settled in Paris, where he died in
+1393. He was buried by the high altar of the Church of the Celestine;
+the following epitaph is on his monument, which still exists to-day:
+
+
+            Here lies Levon VI, the noble Lousinian Prince,
+                          the King of Armenia,
+                who died 1393, A.D., Nov. 23d, in Paris.
+
+
+I have been dealing here with the special kingdom of Armenia, under a
+regular king; but it must not be forgotten that the older sections,
+ruled by Greek or Turk, were Armenia still, inhabited largely by
+Armenians, in spite of emigration and Turkish settlement, and their
+fortunes really part of this history. Under both Jenghiz Khan and his
+successors, and Timour, every horror was let loose on the unhappy
+lands. For nearly a century the first Tatar invasion cursed and
+devastated it; hundreds of villages were destroyed, the inhabitants
+slain or at the mercy of the savages, and vast numbers emigrated in
+despair. Among others, the cities of Ani and Erzeroum were captured,
+and every inhabitant put to the sword, each soldier being given
+his portion to kill, so that none should escape. Timour compelled
+all whom he spared to become Mohammedans. When he took the city of
+Van, he threw the inhabitants from the castle walls until the dead
+bodies reached to the height of the walls. A great famine followed,
+and many thousands died of it; the starving wretches sometimes ate
+their children or parents to sustain life a little longer. The reader
+will see later whether the modern Turks have any superiority over
+the hordes of the thirteenth or fifteenth century.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.
+
+
+SULTANS OF THE PAST.
+
+The Ottoman Empire begins with Othman, born 1258 A.D.; the dynasty is
+usually counted from the time of his being given a local governorship
+by the last of the Seljuk Sultans, in 1289. The tribe was simply one
+small group of families when we first hear of it; Othman's father
+Ertogrul entered the Seljuk dominion not many years before that
+date with only four hundred tents, say two thousand people in all,
+counting women and children. They had been driven from their homes
+in Central Asia by the Mongols. The Seljuk Sultan Ala-ed-din III
+made Othman governor of Karadja-hissar (Melangeia). Now Othman,
+though a plundering marauder like other tribal chiefs, turbulent
+and cruel, knew some things that better men never find out. He
+knew that impartial justice is a greater strength to a state and a
+greater lure to draw others to it than anything else; he made the
+fair at Karadja-hissar a model of business equity for all races and
+religions, it was thronged with traders, and other Turkish tribes
+soon flocked to the banner of the man who never broke his promises
+and dealt out even-handed justice. The lying Greeks never learned the
+lesson in all their history. In a dozen years he was able to collect
+an army of 5,000 soldiers, beat a Byzantine force sent against him,
+overrun a large province of Asia Minor, and with the plunder greatly
+increased his following. He realized too that education and thorough
+practical training and moral discipline were the foundations of
+success; most of us know that now, but few understood it then. But
+the wild and barbarous Turks could not be educated and disciplined
+as he wished,--would not stand it and were incapable of profiting
+by it,--and so he or his son Orkhan developed the terrible system
+which for centuries made the "Turks" irresistible, which made the
+"Turks" seem to increase rapidly, and makes the "Turks" to-day
+appear numerous while in fact not one drop in ten of the blood in
+their veins is Turkish at all. This was to exact from the Christian
+population--Greek or Armenian chiefly--a regular tribute of boys as
+well as money. These were taken from their parents at about eight
+years old, educated and trained in the household of the Ottoman Sultan
+himself, of course drilled in the Mohammedan religion, and gradually
+inducted into the highest posts, civil or military, if fit for them,
+or made into a special body guard for the Sultan. These were called
+"yeni cheri" (new soldiers), which is familiar to everybody in the
+form "Janissaries." From that day to this, the Turkish system has
+been built up by foreign blood, and outside of the Sultanate pretty
+much entirely by foreign brains; it was the constant infusion of
+fresh civilized Christian ability and moral character into it that
+kept its inherent defects and vices from bringing it to an end long
+ago. Finally the system partly rotted out and partly became impossible
+to enforce for fear of revolution (Sultan Mahmoud ended it in 1826);
+but never outside of this has a tribe of barbarians ever succeeded
+so completely in impressing into its own service the powers of a
+higher race. It is as though horses should have regularly broken and
+driven teams of men for centuries; even more usefully to the Turks,
+because intermarriage (largely by force on their part) has filled
+their own veins with civilized Armenian and other blood. As soon as
+this reinforcement stopped, the Turks began to decay.
+
+I cannot enter even in outline into the political history of the
+Armenians during the next few centuries. The country has been torn
+into fragments, and each fragment has a history so separate that
+there would be no unity between them. One section of what was once
+Armenia would be governed by Persian officials; another occupied by
+the savage Kurds; another mis-governed and oppressed by the Turks;
+another under the rule of Russia; and so on. Persia, when she recovered
+her national being, held and still holds a small part of the eastern
+section, as I stated earlier in the book, Russia the north; but the
+heart of old Armenia is in Turkish hands. The Sultans have succeeded
+in mixing themselves with the natives and occupying their confiscated
+lands till the Armenians are put in a minority in their own country.
+
+I must correct here a notion fostered by historical writers, that
+the Turks are very brave. They may have been once, though I doubt it
+and there is no proof of it; but they certainly have gotten over it
+now. In the last Turko-Russian war (1878), they ran by thousands to
+Christian houses for protection. They are just like wild dogs: savage
+and ferocious, but not brave. Nor are they wise: they have some low
+cunning, but no practical sagacity--that too is a thing of the past. As
+to industrial talents they have simply none whatever; they depend on
+foreigners for everything: they will not learn and indeed cannot learn,
+and never try to learn. They have never made a cannon or even a gun,
+they never built a war vessel and very few if any other kinds, they
+make neither powder nor shot; all come from Europe or America. Nor
+have they even decent military talent, the very thing they pretend is
+their special business: their best generals are Germans, their admiral
+for a long time was the Englishman Hobart, I think the Englishman
+Woods is so now. As to civil ability, their best administrators have
+always been Armenians. Bezjian Amira was Sultan Mahmoud's adviser;
+Haroun Dadian, another Armenian, is the chief adviser in foreign
+affairs of the present Sultan. His personal treasurer is an Armenian,
+Portucalian Pasha. Is this inconsistent with what I have said of his
+hating the Armenians for their intelligence? Not in the least: he
+employs them in spite of his hatred, because he can trust no others:
+the Turks are too stupid and all others too unsafe.
+
+
+            LIST OF OTTOMAN SULTANS AND DATE OF ACCESSION.
+
+                          A.D.  |                             A.D.
+ 1. Othman I, gazi,       1299  |  18. Ibrahim I,             1640
+ 2. Orkhan I, gazi,       1327  |  19. Mohammed IV,           1648
+ 3. Murad I, gazi,        1360  |  20. Suleyman II,           1687
+ 4. Bayazid I, yelderim,  1389  |  21. Ahmed II,              1691
+ 5. Mohammed I, chelebi,  1413  |  22. Mustafa II,            1695
+ 6. Murad II, gazi,       1421  |  23. Ahmed III, gazi,       1702
+ 7. Mohammed II, fatih,   1451  |  24. Mahmud I, gazi,        1730
+ 8. Bayazid II, gazi,     1481  |  25. Othman III,            1754
+ 9. Selim I, yavouz,      1512  |  26. Mustafa III, gazi,     1757
+10. Suleyman I, kanooni,  1520  |  27. Abdul Hamid I, gazi,   1773
+11. Selim II, gazi,       1566  |  28. Selim III,             1789
+12. Murad III, gazi,      1574  |  29. Mustafa IV,            1807
+13. Mohammed III, gazi,   1595  |  30. Mahmud II, adil,       1808
+14. Ahmed I, gazi,        1603  |  31. Abdul Mejid I, gazi,   1839
+15. Mustafa I,            1617  |  32. Abdul Aziz I,          1861
+16. Othman II, guendj,    1618  |  33. Murad V,               1876
+17. Murad IV, gazi,       1622  |  34. Abdul Hamid II, gazi,  1876
+
+
+Some of the above Sultans have special titles, like our "William the
+Conqueror," "Charles the Bold," "Henry Beauclerk," etc. Thus, gazi and
+fatih mean conqueror; adil, righteous; guendj, young; yavouz, brave;
+kanooni, law-giver; yelderim, lightning; chelebi, gentleman. Most
+of them have the title gazi, or conqueror; the present Sultan bears
+it because he fought with Russia. He was beaten, to be sure, but he
+took the title all the same.
+
+Sultan Mohammed II, who captured the city of Constantinople,
+established an Armenian Patriarchate there in 1461 A.D. The first
+Patriarch was Hovaguem, the Bishop of Broosa, a friend of the
+Sultan. Mohammed II had two motives in this: first, to have an
+Armenian ecclesiastical center in Constantinople for the nucleus of
+a strong Armenian settlement there, to play off against the Greeks
+from whom the city was taken and who might be dangerous, whereas the
+feud between Armenians and Greeks would make each weaken the other;
+second, to have a hostage for the Armenians, responsible for their not
+breaking into revolt; not at all for the benefit of the Armenians,
+but for that of the Sultan. The same reason obtains to this day. If
+there was no Patriarch, their cause would be much better off. After
+the establishment of this Patriarchate the Armenians had no more
+kings or princes; their political head was the Patriarch. Even after
+the Patriarchate was established they were not safe. They yielded
+to the Sultans, they became slaves to the Sultans, but the Persian
+Mohammedans were foes of the Turkish Mohammedans, and Armenia, as
+of old in Roman times, was the battle-ground. In the time of Sultan
+Ahmed and Shah Appas, the latter overran Armenia and carried away
+the people to captivity, besides killing hundreds of thousands. Then
+it was retaken by the Turks. Then a part of it was captured by the
+Russians. Historians write of the Huguenots and their sufferings; of
+the conflicts in Europe between the Catholics and the Protestants. How
+many centuries were the Protestants persecuted and martyred? How many
+millions were killed by the Roman Catholics? Do all the Protestant
+martyrs in Europe number as many as the Armenian martyrs? I doubt it.
+
+And let it not be said that these were not religious martyrs, but
+merely victims of the fortunes of war or political conflicts. The
+wars were three times out of four based on real if not nominal
+grounds of religious antagonism,--Mohammedan or Zoroastrian against
+Christian,--or claims of religious protectorate, as Russia over
+the Armenian Christians; the political exigencies which called or
+formed a pretext for the massacre of myriads of men and old women,
+the outrage of the young brides and maidens, the enslavement of the
+children, were without a single exception created by the resistance
+of Christians to forced conversion, or the fear of Mohammedan rulers
+that as Christians they meant to revolt, or sheer blind hatred to
+men of another creed. The victims were truly martyrs to Christianity.
+
+
+
+
+THE PRESENT SULTAN, HAMID II.
+
+This is the thirty-fourth Sultan in the Ottoman line, and probably
+the worst, the least, and the last. It is not likely the Turks will
+ever have another Sultan, for this one is pretty sure to bring the
+Sultanate to an end. His days are numbered, he knows it well, and the
+Turks know it well too. Before his life and his kingdom are finished,
+he has resolved to end the Armenian nation; that, however, will not
+be ended, the people will not be exterminated; when the Turkish Empire
+is abolished the remaining Armenians will have freedom.
+
+Hamid II was born September 22, 1842, second son of Abdul Mejid,
+and wrested the throne from his brother Mourad August 31, 1876. He
+is not a legitimate Sultan, but a usurper. When but a little boy he
+manifested a savage and cruel spirit. While the Dalma Bagsh Palace,
+the largest in Constantinople, perhaps in the world--was going up,
+he went to visit it; seeing it unfinished, he called the Armenian
+architect and told him it must be finished by the next day. "My dear
+prince and lord," said the architect, "I wish I could finish it, but it
+is impossible; and especially not to-morrow, since it is Sunday, and we
+Christians do not work on Sundays." "You heathen dog, you Armenian,"
+said the boy Hamid, "if I grow up, and some day become a Sultan,
+I will force all the Armenians to break the Sabbath, and if they do
+not, I will order the soldiers to kill them all." He is carrying
+out his threat. He grew to manhood without becoming any milder,
+and is morally corrupt besides. He has drunken bouts with worthless
+associates, and spent his time in all sorts of monstrous debauchery
+and brutality. He was such a miserable wretch that it is impossible
+to describe his beastly life on paper. There is no humanity in him,
+no grace, no sympathy, no brains, no strength; he is pale and sick,
+well worthy to be called the "sick man of Turkey."
+
+This is a very different description of him from that given by
+General Lew Wallace and Mr. Terrell. I can only say that I know what
+I am talking about, and they do not. I lived in Constantinople, as
+a native of Turkey, and with means of knowing, seeing him often, and
+hear authentic stories of his doings day by day. General Wallace was
+invited to the palace, feasted and flattered, and his wife decorated
+with jewels; naturally, he thinks no ill of a man who treated him so
+well, and with whom he hopes for more good times when he goes back. He
+has done infinite harm to the cause of Armenia by his popular lectures,
+declaring the atrocities "exaggerated" (he evidently thinks that if
+a newspaper report gives ten thousand men murdered when there were
+only five, and all the women of a city violated when a dozen of them
+got away, you are entitled to dismiss the whole thing from your mind
+as of little account), and the Sultan a good man, incapable of such
+things. People are bewildered, and ask, "How can we doubt a good
+American who was minister there?" Why, good people, what has his
+ministry got to do with it? He was hundreds of miles from Armenia,
+and did not know any of the chief languages of Constantinople,--either
+Armenian, Turkish, or Romanic; and what could he tell of his host,
+except of the quality of his hospitality? A man usually shows his
+best side to those he entertains; did he suppose the Sultan was going
+to amuse his guests by having one Armenian disemboweled, and another
+emasculated or impaled on red-hot iron rods, and a couple of women
+ravished, as a light and playful interlude between the main dishes and
+the dessert? His praise of the Sultan is as valuable as his praise
+of the Grand Llama would be,--he knows nothing of either; and his
+inference from the Sultan's pleasant talk that he could not order
+a nation extirpated with hideous cruelties, is simply imbecile. And
+since he has given all this loose talk, the consular reports, from
+English residents among the very scenes, have been published, showing
+that the atrocities have not only not been exaggerated, but are even
+worse than reported. In this case, even the newspapers were unable to
+come up to the truth; their rhetoric fell short of the full measure
+of the awful truth.
+
+To go back a little: Twenty years ago Abdul Aziz, uncle of the present
+Sultan, was the ruler of the Ottoman Empire. He cared little for
+the country or the people; he wanted only to eat and drink, and have
+good times. He was a very strong and hearty man, and I was told he
+could eat a whole roast lamb for dinner, and think it probable. He
+had the innate cruelty of his family, their love of blood for its
+own sake. He had tigers and lions fight together; he would order a
+live lamb flung to a lion, and laugh to see the lion tear and devour
+it. He married all the handsome girls he could find, but for pure
+animality; he cared nothing for their education or virtue, and his
+several hundred wives were what you might expect. One of them fell in
+love with the commander-in-chief, or Minister of War, Heussein Avni
+Pasha, a very ambitious and daring adventurer, who had gained the
+confidence of the Sultan, and went often to the palace. The Sultan
+heard of the intrigue, went to the woman's room, kicked her fatally,
+and threw her out of the window. But before her death, she sent word
+to Heussein to avenge her on the Sultan. Heussein's position was very
+critical; evidently it was a race between him and the Sultan which
+should kill the other first. He went to Midhad, the Grand Vezir,
+and to Kaysereli Ahmed, the admiral, both liberal-minded pashas,
+in favor of establishing a constitutional (or even if they could,
+a republican) government, and without telling them his relations
+to and fears from the Sultan, persuaded them that now was the time
+to depose the Sultan, and establish liberal institutions, and told
+them it must be done that night, or the Sultan would get wind of
+it, and then good-by to all of them. And he clinched the argument
+by telling them he would order his soldiers to kill both of them if
+they refused to join him, and then depose the Sultan just the same;
+"as commander-in-chief," he said, "I can compel obedience, and I am
+in earnest." They consented, and while the Sultan was asleep that
+night the commander's soldiers and the admiral's sailors surrounded
+the palace by the land and sea. This was the Dalma Bagsh, the largest
+and handsomest palace in Constantinople. Heussein entered, saying he
+had important news for the Sultan. Going to the chamber where Aziz
+was sleeping, he awakened him, and said, "In the name of your nephew,
+Sultan Murad, I depose you." Then he compelled him to go down-stairs
+to a boat in waiting, filled with soldiers, carried him to Cheragan
+Palace, and imprisoned him there; after which he informed the Sultan's
+nephew, then Prince Murad, that his uncle had been deposed because the
+people would not endure him, and added, "As the oldest in the royal
+family you succeed him, and I, as commander-in-chief, have the honor
+and privilege of humbly serving my master, and leading your majesty
+to the throne of the Ottoman Empire."
+
+Murad was too astonished to know what to do or say; but Heussein was
+resolute, and Murad reluctantly followed him to the Dalma Bagsh;
+there the commander ordered the soldiers to cry out three times
+"Padishahum chock yasa" (Long live the Sultan). All this was about
+midnight; and meantime printed notices were prepared and scattered
+throughout Constantinople that Sultan Aziz was deposed and Sultan
+Murad was on the throne. After a few days the commander-in-chief
+sent a eunuch and a physician to Cheragan Palace, with orders to
+put Aziz to death. They did so by chloroforming him and cutting his
+blood-vessels with scissors. Heussein prepared a false report stating
+that he had committed suicide, and brought it to Sultan Murad. The
+latter did not believe it, and said, "you killed my uncle." Heussein
+left the Sultan's presence in great anger, and went to Midhad's
+palace to confer with him, calling in also Kaysereli Ahmed and other
+officers. While they were together, another officer, Cherkez Hassan
+by name, brother-in-law of the dead Sultan, came to the palace,
+informing the guard that he had a message from the Sultan to the
+pashas, who were in conference. The guard admitted him, and he went
+to the parlor. After the usual salutations the commander asked him,
+"Hassan, why did you come here?" Hassan replied, "I came to kill you,
+dog," and fired three shots at him from his revolver, stretching
+him dead on the floor. Then, before the others could assail him,
+he killed every one present, except Midhad, who escaped. Hassan
+was finally captured and hanged, but Murad was established on the
+throne. He was a good-natured and liberal-minded man; he believed in
+constitutional government, and organized a working system. There was
+to be a parliament, one-third Christians and two-thirds Mohammedans,
+elected by the people of the provinces or vilayets. Each vilayet
+furnished three members, two Mohammedans and one Christian, all
+indorsed by the clergymen. During the elections I was pastor of Adana
+in Armenia Minor, and had to endorse our members. The Adana member
+was an Armenian named Krikor Bizdigian, the richest man of that
+city, perhaps in Turkey; if still living, he must be ninety. When
+the parliament was opened in Constantinople, Sultan Murad presided,
+and told the members to discuss any questions freely. He said, "We are
+here for the good of the country, and the empire needs to be reformed;
+how can we reform it?" This was an entire novelty; "government by
+discussion" is not the Oriental way, and not the Oriental liking
+either. The Mohammedan members were astonished, and they were wrathful
+at the Christian members when the latter began to make free and able
+speeches. They said, "Are we going to be governed by these heathen
+dogs, the Christian hogs? We will have no parliament where every dog
+is free to open his mouth. We want the good old ways of Mohammed." They
+were like mad dogs, ready to bite. They hated the Christians, and they
+hated the Sultan. They went to his younger brother, the present Sultan,
+and told him his brother Murad was insane. "He makes Christian dogs
+equal to Mussulmen; he will ruin the country; you must become Sultan to
+save the Turkish Empire." This suited Abdul Aziz exactly; he headed a
+revolt, deposed his good brother, dissolved the parliament, imprisoned
+Murad in the palace where his uncle was assassinated, and since then
+has been carrying the country to destruction. He is a perfect devil
+in all respects. A devil can take the guise of an angel, and the
+Sultan has the cunning to make himself appear a perfect gentleman,
+a benevolent and humane person. The devil can cheat most people,
+and so can the Sultan, all but the native Christians in Turkey,
+to whom he shows his horns, and hoofs, and tail.
+
+The nauseous praise of the Sultan from travelers and ministers reminds
+me of a Turkish brigand named Guro, who infested Asia Minor a quarter
+of a century ago. He robbed year after year all travelers who had
+anything worth taking; but when he met tramps he gave them money,
+and even a roasted lamb to eat now and then. The tramps all praised
+him; he was a benevolent, humane, kind-hearted man; they had never
+seen anything cruel or dishonest about him. So the Sultan robs the
+Armenians, and uses their money to feast the American ministers and
+decorate their wives. Oh, but the Sultan sent money to the sufferers
+from famine in the Western States of America; so generous of him! I am
+glad to say the money was refused. All Americans who praise the Sultan
+are like the tramps and the brigand. They are either ignorant or in
+effect bribed. And then there is the affectation of impartiality,
+so easy a cover for ignorance, coldness, and laziness. You must say
+some good things about a scoundrel, and some ill ones about a saint,
+or you will be considered a partisan. You must not tell even the
+truth, if the truth is all on one side. If the Sultan massacres all
+the Christians in Turkey, why, there are two sides to the question;
+perhaps the Christians were not agreeable people, and if so, you cannot
+wonder he has them exterminated by sword, and fire, and torture, and
+rape; it is really the only way he could get rid of them. And then,
+he is king, and has a right to do what he pleases with his own; nobody
+has any business to interfere. Of course a President could not order
+three millions of people put to death by letting loose all the savage
+Indians of the West on them to do as they pleased with them, for the
+sake of making them worship the Big Manitou; but a Sultan--that is
+different, even though a Kurd is exactly as bad as an Indian, and
+an Indian's knife does not cut throats any more effectively, nor an
+Indian's tortures inflict more unnamable horrors of suffering, nor an
+Indian's torch burn houses any better, nor an Indian's beastly lust
+defile women any worse. Are all the writers, then, who have praised
+him ignorant or silly? Yes; the Sultan's deeds, proved by countless
+thousands of witnesses, set forth in the consular reports, show that
+they are.
+
+As soon as Abdul Hamid had seized the throne, he girded on the sword of
+Osman, which I will explain later is equivalent to coronation. The keys
+of the palace where Murad was imprisoned he keeps in his pocket. The
+nominal ground of his imprisonment is insanity, but he was not insane;
+it was his liberality of mind, his greatness of heart, and his mild
+and kind spirit. He was an exceptional Turk. Then Hamid called Midhad
+Pasha to him, gave him $25,000, and told him to leave the country and
+never come back. The country was thus left without a single man of any
+force of character and a large position combined. After the death of
+Aziz the two greatest Turks were Sultan Murad and Midhad Pasha, and
+had Murad not been imprisoned, and Midhad banished, the Turkish Empire
+would be an entirely different country, and have a different future.
+
+Midhad was finally recalled, but only to be murdered. As the Sultan
+felt his position secure, he began to get rid of all men of superior
+character and education. Some he banished, some he imprisoned, some he
+killed. But Midhad, as the greatest, was the most obnoxious. He was
+of course not dispatched at once. He was invited back, made governor
+of Smyrna, given the highest emoluments, paid the greatest honors;
+then one night he was suddenly summoned to Constantinople by the
+Sultan. He knew it was the death-call, and fled to the French consulate
+for shelter, but the consul was afraid to protect him. Finally he was
+taken by force to Constantinople, tried before a tribunal of course
+packed by the Sultan, and condemned to death. But the kind-hearted
+Sultan commuted the death sentence to banishment and hard labor for
+life, and quietly ordered the officers who were going to take him to
+banishment to kill him instead, which they did.
+
+After he had got rid of all the great Turks, he appointed a host
+of ignorant and cruel ruffians as governors, sub-governors, and
+generals; like Hadjii Hassan Pasha, governor of Beshick-Tash near
+the Sultan's palace, and whose business is to watch over the Sultan,
+and who cannot read or write. He prefers ignorance, because it means
+fanaticism, and he thinks cannot plot against him. He dreads and hates
+education and the educated, though he makes a show of encouraging
+them. He taxed the people for public schools and put up magnificent
+buildings, but there are few if any scholars in them; they were not
+built for educational purposes, but for a show, and if necessary,
+for barracks in the future. All the same, he has his agents in Europe
+and America chant his praises as a lover of learning. Parents will
+not send their children to them anyway, for there are not competent
+teachers in them; there are a very few ignorant Mohammedan teachers,
+but even they are so corrupt morally that no one dares trust his boy or
+girl with them. The Sultan professed that people of all nationalities
+and religions would have equal privileges in his public schools,
+therefore he ordered all to contribute money for them. He raised the
+farmers' tax from one-tenth to one-eighth of the crops on pretense
+of supporting the public schools. Of course he got most of it from
+the Armenians, but there is not an Armenian teacher or child in them.
+
+Abdul Hamid is a stupendous hypocrite and charlatan; he makes a great
+pretense of wisdom, religion, and morality, and he has not a spark of
+either one. His wisdom is only the animal cunning of a jealous, cruel,
+suspicious brute, his morals simply do not exist, and his religion
+is pure sham. It is often reported that he is very religious. All
+that it amounts to is that every Friday (the Mohammedan Sunday)
+he goes to the mosque to worship (a ceremony called selamlik), with
+several thousand soldiers lining the roads from the palace to the
+mosque to prevent his assassination, of which he is in hourly fear;
+that once a year he goes to the old Seraglio and pays tribute to
+the mantle of Mohammed and other relics, kissing the slipper, coat,
+and beard of the prophet; and he worships in the mosque of St. Sophia
+as a conqueror. All this is merely for show, to please the fanatic
+Mohammedans. He advertises himself as a temperance man, too, but he
+drinks to excess privately. In a word, he is thoroughly false from
+top to bottom, pretending all good, and doing all evil.
+
+His officers of course imitate him; most of them are absolute
+infidels, believing in nothing, but professing great devotion. I
+knew a governor of this stamp. He used to worship at the mosque,
+and even ordered a hair of Mohammed's whiskers to be brought from
+Constantinople to please the Mohammedan population. He never drank a
+drop of liquor in public, but privately drank all he could hold. He
+had plenty of fellows. For instance, Khalil Rifat Pasha, the present
+Grand Vezir, appointed a few months ago, has been governor of several
+different provinces, and notorious in all as a great hypocrite and a
+thoroughly corrupt man, full of lust and profligacy. When a European
+or a native Christian of high position called on him, he would treat
+the visitor with great politeness, promise anything he asked, say,
+"take my word of honor," and assure him of his entire sincerity; as
+soon as he was gone, Khalil would curse him, and call him a heathen
+dog, say to another Mohammedan, "See how that Christian hog believed
+what I said!" and keep not a word of his promises.
+
+The Sultan is just the same. He is outwardly very pleasant, very
+gentlemanly, very humane. He will promise almost anything, but he will
+do nothing, and he calls his enraptured guests dogs and hogs behind
+their backs. Who knows how many times he has called Lord Salisbury,
+the German Emperor, or the Russian Czar, who are helping him to kill
+the Armenians, heathen dogs? See the promises of the Sultan in 1878,
+in the Berlin Treaty, Article 61:--"The Sublime Porte undertakes to
+carry out without further delay the improvements and reforms demanded
+by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians,
+and to guarantee their security against Circassians and Kurds. It
+will periodically make known the steps taken to this effect to the
+powers, who will superintend their application." These promises were
+made eighteen years ago, and the reforms were to be made "without
+further delay." His reforms have consisted in ordering Circassians
+and Kurds to murder and plunder them. Since the Berlin Treaty, the
+Sultan, calling the European kings, emperors, and princes heathen
+hogs and Christian dogs, directly and indirectly has killed 200,000
+Armenians. That was his reform.
+
+When he seized the throne, Turkey had 40,000,000 people, and the
+Sultan thought his power was irresistible. He let loose a horde of
+Circassians to massacre the Bulgarians, just as he has let loose
+the Kurds to massacre the Armenians. But the Bulgarians are Slavs,
+and belong to the Greek Church, and the Russian Czar, Alexander,
+grandfather of the present Czar, interfered in their favor. This
+excited the fears of the other powers, and a Congress was held in
+Constantinople to settle the question. Lord Salisbury came from
+England, Count Ignatieff from Russia, and others from other parts
+of Europe, gathered in a beautiful palace (now the admiralty) on the
+shores of the Golden Horn of sweet waters, discussed the question, and
+decided that the Bulgarian atrocities must stop, Bulgaria be reformed
+and allowed to govern itself internally, and that Turkey must not fight
+Russia because it was too weak. This decision was communicated to the
+Sultan, and he was furious: he would not grant freedom or a government
+to Bulgaria, and he was quite able to fight Russia. Finally he refused
+flatly to accept the decision, and called a Turkish Congress to give
+their "opinion." Of course they gave what was wanted, and pronounced
+in favor of a war with Russia. A few were bold enough to disfavor it,
+and the Sultan punished them. One of these was Hagop Efendi Madteosian,
+the representative of the Protestant Armenian community. Another was
+a thoughtful, experienced Turk, and when the Sultan asked him his
+reason for opposing the war, he related the following parable:
+
+"There was once a miser whom the king gave his choice of three
+things: to eat five pounds of raw onions without bread at one meal,
+to receive five hundred lashes on the bare back, or to pay $5,000. The
+miser could not bear to lose so much money; he could not endure such
+a flogging; and he chose to eat the onions. After eating a pound or
+so their bitterness and rankness nauseated him, and he concluded to
+take the whipping. He stood about a hundred lashes, and saw that he
+should die under it; and decided to pay the $5,000 after all." "Now,"
+said the wise Turk, "this illustrates what I mean. If you go to war
+with Russia, you will sacrifice many thousands of soldiers, which is
+a very bitter thing to digest; then you will lose European Turkey,
+and finally you will have to pay millions of dollars indemnity and
+ruin the country. I cannot approve the war." The Sultan cried out in
+rage, "Begone, you old crank! I will not listen to any more foolish
+words from you. I shall conquer the Czar, enlarge the country, and
+strengthen my kingdom." He did go to war in 1876, was whipped by the
+Czar, and lost almost the whole of European Turkey and other parts
+of the empire, with 22,000,000 people: Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia,
+Bosnia, Herzegovina, part of Macedonia, part of Armenia, Cyprus, and
+afterwards Egypt. He lost many thousands of soldiers and millions of
+dollars, and besides has had to pay millions of dollars indemnity to
+Russia. And the Sultan is called an "able man" and "wise ruler"! These
+things look like it.
+
+After the war and the loss of the provinces, he encouraged the
+Mohammedan population of European Turkey to emigrate to Asiatic
+Turkey, that they might not live under Christians, and that they
+might increase the number of Mohammedans in the Asiatic part. The
+slaughter of the Armenians and the confiscation of their property
+forms part of the scheme to make room for them. Before his time the
+Armenians in Armenia outnumbered the Turks; but the massacres, the
+occupation of the farms and houses by the savages let loose on them,
+and the emigration of many more Armenians to Persia and Russia, have
+greatly diminished their numbers. Of course they are not permitted to
+emigrate, they simply fly. About 200,000 have actually perished. As
+to the forced conversions, the Sultan does not care a particle for
+Islamism, but wants to please the Moslem and finds this an agreeable
+way to do it. As to the converts from Islamism to Christianity, they
+are ordered to go to Constantinople and are killed there. Hundreds
+and thousands of the Mohammedan Turks are Christians in secret,
+but do not dare to confess it. These are the ones who helped and
+protected the Armenians during the recent atrocities. Some six years
+ago a number of such professed the Christian religion publicly;
+they were at once ordered to go to Constantinople and every one of
+them was murdered by order of the Sultan. When the representatives
+of the Christian powers asked about them the Sultan denied that they
+had come there at all. This was the method of their assassination:
+The Sultan has several pleasure boats, and in one of these boats he
+fitted up an air-tight room with an air-pump; each night one of the
+converts was taken from prison and put into this room, the air was
+pumped out, and he was suffocated; then an iron chain was hooked
+round him, and he was thrown into the Bosphorus. One by one all of
+them were so murdered. How did the author of this book discover the
+secret? Well, when in Constantinople, I had an intimate friend among
+the engineers; the engineer of this death boat told my friend about
+it, and he told me.
+
+And the Sultan is not simply a murderer by proxy and official
+order; he is a murderer himself personally. When in Constantinople,
+I learned from several authoritative sources that he killed with
+his own revolver several of his servants, for no cause whatever,
+but merely from suspicion or rage. He always keeps a revolver in his
+pocket, and whomever in the palace he suspects, he shoots. He is a
+great coward. I heard there that he has more than 10,000 detectives,
+at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars a year. He lives in
+Yildiz Palace, about two miles from the Bosphorus, on a hill on the
+European shore; he has built new barracks, and keeps a large army
+around the palace to protect him from assassination. His "wisdom" is
+merely care for his skin. He cares nothing for the prosperity of the
+country; it is steadily growing poorer, while he is personally growing
+very rich. That is one reason why he keeps an Armenian treasurer,
+that the Turks may not know his secrets. Even the Turks are disgusted
+with him. I often used to hear the Turks say, "God deliver us from the
+Sultan and send another master, even if he is the Czar of Russia." His
+immense family costs him from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 a year; it is
+the largest in the world. I was told that it consists of 5,000 persons,
+counting the eunuchs, the servants, and all. He has about 500 wives;
+he did not marry them all; he inherited most of them. When a Sultan
+dies, his successor has everything that belonged to him, including
+his wives. And besides, he has to marry a new wife every year, by the
+Mohammedan and governmental law; he has no choice in the matter. That
+makes twenty wives in the twenty years of Abdul Hamid's reign. This
+is the system: He has at present nearly one hundred young girls in
+the harem, supposed to be the most beautiful in the world; they are
+presented to him by the governor-generals, who get them from the local
+governors, who get their offices by sending their superiors the finest
+looking girls, or the best Arabian horses, and the governor-generals
+get theirs by passing the gifts on to the Sultan. That is the way to
+get office in Turkey. You may be a murderer, a thief, or an ignoramus,
+but you can be sure of an office if you can furnish a handsome girl,
+or a fine stallion, or a few thousand dollars. When I was pastor in
+Marsovan, the local governor, Sudduc Bey, bought a very pretty girl,
+and sent her to the governor-general of Beshick-Tash in Constantinople,
+Hadji Hassan Pash, the Sultan's special guard; he had got his office
+from that functionary. As to how the girls are got, it depends;
+if they are Mohammedan, they are bought; if they are Christian
+they are seized by force, for the Christians will not sell their
+daughters. Several months ago Bahri Pasha, the governor-general of
+Van, carried off several Armenian girls and presented them to the
+Sultan, who decorated him for the service, and appointed him Vali or
+governor-general of Adana, in Armenia Minor. These girls are kept in
+the harem of the Sultan. When the time comes to marry another wife,
+he has the girls stand in a row, and chooses one of them by covering
+her face with a silk handkerchief; then she is taken by the eunuchs to
+the quarters allotted to the Sultanas, and can have separate servants,
+carriages, and eunuchs. The life of the Sultan and his big family is
+the most miserable in the world. The palace is a focus of discontent,
+quarrels, jealousy, lust, and cruelty; in a word, it is a perfect
+hell. The women have nothing to do, and nothing to think of; they do
+not read, they have no work, and no share even in household management;
+they are idle, and unspeakably bored, and they do what most idle
+people of both sexes do all over the world--excite their nerves with
+sensual cravings, and then try to satisfy them. They often manage
+to bring boys to their quarters by stealth, and keep them there for
+weeks for purposes of lust, and the Sultan knows nothing about it;
+often they bribe their eunuchs, and go to other places to satisfy
+their desires, and the Sultan never hears of it. Aziz lost his life
+through an intrigue of one of his wives. With so large and exacting
+a family, it is no wonder the Sultan has no time or energy left for
+improving his administration. He only finds a little time to send
+telegrams to the governors to exterminate the Armenians.
+
+
+
+
+THE SULTANATE AND ITS POWERS.
+
+There is no coronation in Turkey; instead the Sultans gird on the
+sword of Osman, the founder of the Ottoman Dynasty, which is kept in
+the mosque of Ayoob, in Constantinople. When a Sultan is proclaimed,
+he goes to that mosque with great pomp, and all the members of
+the Sublime Porte, the civil officers, the generals, commanders,
+soldiers, patriarchs of different religions, and the Sheik-ul-Islam,
+the Mohammedan religious head, follow him. But no Christians enter
+that holy place, as it is forbidden them. After impressive service,
+the chief of the dervishes of the order of Mevlair girds the Sultan
+with the sword; then he is officially recognized as emperor. Then,
+as God's will be done, Sultan's will be done, because the Sultan
+represents God in heaven, Mohammed in Paradise, Osman on the earth. He
+has three offices, God's office, Mohammed's office, Osman's office. He
+is as infallible as the Pope of Rome, and temporally everything belongs
+to him without exception, men, women, children, money, property,
+just as everything belongs to God. A Turkish proverb says, "Mal,
+jan, erz, Padishahin dir" (Property, soul, and virtue belong to the
+Sultan). He can claim any man's wife for his enjoyment at any time;
+his son, or his daughter, or his money, or his property of any sort;
+there is no use refusing--a man does not own himself, or his wife, or
+his children; the Sultan owns them all, and it is only by his grace
+that he permits his subjects to have anything, and he can resume it
+at any time, for half an hour, or forever. Besides, anybody's head
+would come off that refused. If the Sultan asks a millionaire in
+Constantinople to send him half his wealth, the millionaire must not
+refuse; he himself is simply a steward; if the Sultan wants it all it
+must go to him, and the millionaire must beg bread for a living. At
+the same time he must praise the Sultan, because the Sultan is God
+on earth. If he refuses to send his wife or daughter to the Sultan's
+bed, or his son or money for whatever uses they are wanted to supply,
+the Sultan has a right to kill him, and take all his possessions by
+force, because the man was not a faithful slave.
+
+"But I cannot believe this," says the American in his free, peaceful
+country. "It is not natural. How can a man be considered as God,
+owning everything, not in a spiritual sense, but in a very material,
+pecuniary, and male sense?"
+
+Go to Turkey, get naturalized there, become a Turkish subject, and
+you will understand it fully, and perhaps shockingly. Of course, if
+you go as an American citizen, with plenty of money, travel under
+the escort of soldiers, or Zapties, get presented by the American
+minister to the Sultan, are entertained in the palace, and receive
+handsome presents, you will not understand it at all; very likely
+not believe it; you may come home and praise the Sultan like the rest.
+
+The natural question is, I know, "Do the Sultans, any of them, carry
+this theory into practice? Has the present Sultan?" Yes; and not once
+or twice, but thousands of times. To be sure, they do not go in person
+on such errands; they depute their officers and soldiers to do what
+they wish. I have shown how the history of the Armenians illustrates
+it, in the seizure of their property, the forced conversion of their
+boys into troops to fight against their parents, the appropriation of
+their wives and daughters, to be given to the Sultan. As to the present
+Sultan, I have already spoken of Bahri Pasha's exploit in carrying off
+by force several Armenian young brides, and girls, and presenting them
+to the Sultan, and his being decorated and promoted for it. While on
+his way, he had to pass through Trebizond, and the Armenians fired
+on him to rescue the women, but failed. They forgot that all women
+belong to the Sultan, and they made a mistake in firing on one of
+his officers. He at once ordered all the Armenians in Trebizond to
+be slaughtered. Some of the richest of the nation lived there; every
+penny was taken from them, most of them were killed, and their wives
+and children, and those of them who survived are begging bread. And
+all through Armenia the girls and young brides are being looked over
+to pick out the best looking ones for the Sultan's harem.
+
+Once for all, Armenia is not America. The Turks, the Kurds, the
+Circassians, the Georgians, though they may be like Americans, are like
+American Indians only. The Sultan is not a president, and his divine
+right to kill any man, appropriate any property, or enjoy any woman,
+is not like the Constitution of the United States. People who think
+that the Sultan would not do or be allowed to do such things because
+no ruler they are familiar with does them, that it is impossible they
+can happen in Armenia because they could not happen in America, that
+the Armenians must have provoked them in some way, because it is hard
+to believe any ruler could do so in pure wantonness or from deliberate
+policy, are reasoning from wrong premises. They did happen, and are
+happening,--see the consular reports; were perfectly unprovoked,--see
+the plentiful proofs that the Armenians carry no arms, and cannot
+even defend themselves from murder, or their wives from dishonor
+before their eyes. Why it is done, and how much more is to be done,
+I have explained repeatedly.
+
+
+
+
+THE SUBLIME PORTE AND THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION.
+
+The Sublime Porte, or in Turkish Babi-Ali, is the cabinet of the
+Turkish government, as follows:--
+
+
+     1. The Grand Vezir, or Prime Minister.
+     2. The Minister of the Interior.
+     3. The Minister of Foreign Affairs.
+     4. The Superintendent of the Cabinet Council.
+     5. The Commander-in-chief, or Minister of War.
+     6. The Minister of the Navy.
+     7. The Minister of Finance.
+     8. The Minister of Commerce and Public Buildings.
+     9. The Minister of Sacred Properties.
+    10. The Minister of Education.
+    11. The Sheik-ul-Islam, or religious head.
+
+
+There is no election in Turkey; all officers are appointed by the
+Sultan, who can dismiss any of them at any time, and appoint some one
+else, and I have already explained why he almost always appoints bad
+ones. The Sublime Porte has no power to decide anything; it is simply
+a farce council to cheat the European powers; a dumb tool in the
+hands of the Sultan. For instance, the Sultan calls the Grand Vezir,
+the president of the Sublime Porte, into his presence, and tells him
+such a question is to be discussed in such a way, and this or that
+conclusion reached. "Very well, my Lord and Master," says the Grand
+Vezir; he goes to the Sublime Porte palace, and says to the council:
+"To-day I was permitted to come into the presence of His Majesty the
+Sultan, and he instructed me that I must bring such a question before
+you, and after we discuss it in such a manner, we must come to such
+a decision." Then all of them stand up and say, "Sultan's will be
+done," and that is all; their "decision" is announced to the Sultan,
+and he "sanctions" it. There is no discussion for days or weeks, as
+in England or here; it is all cut short. The Sublime Porte can decide
+any question in a few minutes. This is the sort of thing Mr. Carlyle
+wanted. You have seen the beautiful effects of it.
+
+The question naturally arises, Why does the Sultan keep a Sublime
+Porte, since he decides everything himself?
+
+There are three reasons.
+
+First, it is the old custom. All the other Sultans have had one,
+and he might offend the Turks if he abolished it.
+
+Second, as the Sultan can do no wrong, there must be somebody else to
+lay blame on. He is the representative of God and Prophet Mohammed. If
+there is any mistake in any decision, he is not responsible for it;
+the Sublime Porte is responsible.
+
+Third, because he has relations with the European powers, and if any
+decision needs to be reversed, it can be if it is that of the Sublime
+Porte; but if it were the personal decision of the Sultan it could
+not be changed, because he is considered immutable, just as God is.
+
+When people read about the Sublime Porte after this, I hope they will
+understand that there is not really any Sublime Porte; that it is a
+mere name, an echo, a farce, a show to bunco the world with.
+
+Some newspaper and other writers think it is "impartial" to say that
+the Sultan means well, but he has a "corrupt ministry"; that it is the
+Sublime Porte that ruins the Turkish Empire; if it were left to the
+Sultan, he would reform the country; he would not let the Armenians be
+massacred. Put no faith in such ignorant rubbish. The Sultan dictates
+everything; and if any minister has the sense and courage to suggest
+any improvement, the Sultan dismisses him, saying that it is his own
+business to consider the improvements of the country and not that
+of any one else. The governors would not dare to order the Kurds
+and the Turks to wreak their worst and vilest will on the Armenians
+without direct orders from the Sultan. The Sultan originates all these
+cruelties. The recent Grand Vezir, Said Pasha, at one time was a very
+decent Turk. When he differed with the Sultan about massacreing the
+Armenians, the Sultan threatened to kill him, and he had to fly to
+the English embassy for protection. Murad Bey was another good Turk
+who remonstrated against the cruelties; his life was threatened, and
+he fled to Europe; now he is in Egypt, denouncing the Sultan in the
+press and in letters. The Sultan sentenced him to death, and asked
+the British government to hand him over to the Turkish officers; but
+the representative of the British government in Cairo refused. Just
+before the Armenian atrocities in Constantinople, the members of
+the Sublime Porte tried to have the Armenian grievances redressed,
+and the people pacified; the Sultan would have no such pottering,
+and ordered the soldiers to kill the Armenians in the streets. But
+this was a rare piece of virtue in the Porte. Mostly they are as bad
+as the Sultan himself, for he appoints men of his own stripe. Good men
+would not be useful tools. The Sultan has another trick of management;
+before making any one a member of the Porte, he tries to find out
+whether he is a friend to any of the ministers already in; if so,
+he will not appoint him. On the other hand, if the man happens to be
+an enemy to one of the members, he is almost sure of appointment. The
+Sublime Porte, therefore, is a group of mutual enemies, hating one
+another, and ready to betray one another at any time. He thinks if
+they are friendly, they may unite and depose him some day. Besides
+this, there are more detectives in the Sublime Porte, watching the
+ministers on behalf of the Sultan, than there are members. They keep
+the Sultan informed about the situation. If any minister or officer
+acts contrary to the wishes of the Sultan, he is marked for death.
+
+
+
+
+THE SHEIK-UL-ISLAM.
+
+Sheik-ul-Islam means chief of Islam--the Mohammedan religion. His
+office is solely religious; he has nothing to do with politics. He sees
+that the mosques and priests are kept in order, and the religious
+services properly conducted; and there are many questions among
+the Mohammedans which are settled without going to a magistrate,
+by the Sheik-ul-Islam, or by his deputies, called Muftees. These
+Muftees can be found in every city in Turkey. The Sheik-ul-Islam and
+his representatives issue Fetvas (religious decrees) according to
+the Koran.
+
+There is no inconsistency between this and what I have said before
+about the Sultan being the representative of Mohammed, and therefore
+the chief of his religion. Both the Sultan and the Sheik-ul-Islam
+are the heads of it, just as the Greek emperor and the Patriarch
+were of the Greek church, and the relative position is about the
+same. The Sheik-ul-Islam is the special head of the ecclesiastical
+organization. The Sultan appoints him, but once appointed, if
+he is insubordinate and opposes the Sultan, the latter cannot
+suppress or replace him without grave scandal to the Mohammedan
+world. It is like Henry II and Becket; it is easier to make a head
+of a church than to rule him afterwards. It is like the Emperors
+and the Popes in the Middle Ages; and as with them, sometimes the
+Sheik-ul-Islam joins with political officers to depose the Sultan,
+and his fetva, or decree, makes it legal. When Abdul Aziz was deposed,
+the then Sheik-ul-Islam, Khairollah Effendi, issued the fetva for it,
+reluctantly, for Heussein Avni Pasha forced him to do it under threat
+of death. As Heussein's own head was in immediate peril, he had no
+scruples about the Sheik-ul-Islam's. Every fetva has two questions
+and one answer. A case is set forth; after a brief discussion the
+question Olourni (To be?) and Olmazmi (Not to be?) are asked, and the
+answer is given as either Olour or Olmaz (To be, or Not to be). The
+fetva which Heussein forced the Sheik-ul-Islam to sign was something
+like this:--"If a Sultan should prove to be unworthy to govern his
+people, is it necessary to uphold him or not?" The answer was Olmaz,
+and Abdul Aziz was deposed.
+
+
+
+
+MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE INTERNAL STATE OF TURKEY.
+
+Nobody who has not lived in Turkey can realize how hopeless, almost
+self-contradictory, it is to talk of "reforming" Turkey. It could
+not be reformed and be Mohammedan Turkey; the lack of reform or power
+of reform is just what makes it what it is. The root of the evil is
+Mohammedanism itself; it is embodied social stagnation, corruption,
+ultimate ruin. Neither the Sultan nor the Turks can improve the state
+of the Empire, even if they wished. The usual "broad-minded" statements
+about Mohammed and his religion are simply elaborations of ignorance,
+made up out of men's own minds, and what they think must be true. It
+is customary for writers to talk in this fashion:--"Mohammedanism is a
+half-way house to Christianity; Mohammed converted the heathen Arabs
+to a belief in the true God. Mohammed established a great religion
+and a great Empire," etc., etc. There is no truth in this, for all its
+plausible sound. Mohammedanism is not even on the road to Christianity;
+and Arabia, Asia Minor, and Palestine were all much better off before
+the Mohammedan conquest than after it. Buddhism and Brahmanism are
+better religions than Mohammedanism. The Chinese, the Japanese, the
+people of India are much better than the Turks. The Chinese Emperor and
+the Japanese Mikado are far better men than the Mohammedan Sultan. The
+heathen religions rear better men than Mohammedanism. The Mongols
+are more humane and sympathetic than the Turks. Heathenism at its
+worst, though a low form of religion, is really a form of religion;
+but Mohammedanism is not a religion at all. Then what is it? It is a
+system of imposture and false pretense, and of lives of human lust
+and cruelty. Mohammed practiced all these, and his successors have
+done the same, and taught the same ever since; and the system means
+just that now, and nothing else. There is neither love nor sympathy,
+manliness nor humanity in Mohammedanism. Can a system lacking all
+these be considered a religion? This is the substance of Mohammed's
+teachings:--"Love your fellow believers, hate and slay all who refuse
+to accept your religion. Marry as many wives as you can afford; if you
+can afford but one do not repine, for you shall have seven thousand
+to enjoy in Paradise. If you conquer a country, show no mercy to the
+people unless they embrace Islam; if they refuse, either kill them or
+make slaves of them." What sort of reforms can you expect in Armenia,
+or in Turkey, when the very religion that is to make people better,
+inculcates such principles? If one does not know a language he cannot
+speak it; if he has not a principle he will not practice it; how
+can the Sultan, a vicious man to begin with, trained in a religion
+calculated to make a cruel and licentious animal even out of a decent
+man, reform anything? His very religion forbids it; he cares nothing
+for the religion when it stands in his way, but he will follow its
+injunctions to please the Mohammedans, especially when they gratify
+and justify his worst passions.
+
+I shall be asked if the Mohammedans do not believe in one God,
+and the same God as the Christian; and if that does not make it
+a religion, and very near that of Christians. Yes, they do; and
+so do the devils. That is what Mohammedanism is, the religion of
+devils. Most of the Turkish conversation consists of oaths and smut. I
+do not mean among the common people--theirs is nothing else--but
+of the educated upper classes, their scholars, teachers, governors,
+and priests. I came in contact with them for years, and I hated to
+listen to them, their talk was so full of cursing and filth. You
+never see the fruits of the spirit in them; only the fruits of the
+flesh. They do not understand what spiritual life is; with them all
+is sense,--eating and drinking, finery and lust,--lust above all,
+everywhere and always, like cattle. They seem never able to forget
+sex and its uses. Some people think the climate makes the Turks lazy;
+it is enough on that point to say that Constantinople is almost exactly
+in the same latitude as New York, and Smyrna as St. Louis. The Turkish
+climate is a temperate and salubrious one, with no greater extremes of
+temperature than the United States; not tropical or enervating. Nor
+is it their race that makes the Turks lazy; they were not so at the
+outset. It is their religion and the habits it breeds. Their minds
+and bodies are enervated by the unwholesome nervous excitation of
+lust, their energies further sapped by a falsehood that leaves no
+room for aspiration, their vanity as a military caste in not working
+takes all the spirit of manly enterprise out of them. If the climate
+enervates the Turks, why does it not the Christians? In the very same
+cities you find the Christians rich, enterprising, full of energy; the
+Turks poor, ignorant, unambitious, and lazy. The religion makes all
+the difference. Christianity teaches purity, sympathy, and industry;
+Mohammedanism teaches impurity, hate, and sloth. The pure life of the
+Christian conserves all the energies; the hopes of Christianity give
+vigor and endurance. The promise of each for the future gives the
+clue to the history of each; the Christian heaven of unity with God,
+the Mohammedan heaven of a lot of street dogs and sluts.
+
+Here I must comment on the extraordinary statement of Alexander
+Webb, at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Mr. Webb was an
+American consul in the East, and became a convert to Mohammedanism,
+or professes to have done so; it is not very hard to guess what
+part of that so-called religion attracted him. He said the religion
+of Mohammed teaches the Fatherhood of God, and the Brotherhood of
+Humanity. Now, as a fact, Mohammedans believe in neither one. As to
+God, they believe he is a monarch, and that no one can approach him;
+they have the same idea the Jews had. "Our Father who art in Heaven"
+is a purely Christian aspiration, not that of any other religion
+on earth; it is Christianity alone that teaches the Fatherhood of
+God. And Mohammedans directly ridicule the idea of God the Father, or
+of a Son of God. They say God is not married, and cannot be a father;
+and that when they go to heaven they will not be in his presence,
+nor wish to be, but will have a separate heaven, to enjoy their wives
+in. They look at everything from a sexual or sensual standpoint. As
+to brotherhood, there is no such thing in Mohammedanism; even sons
+of the same mother are not brothers in feeling. A Mohammedan has not
+confidence enough, even in his brother, to show his wives to him, and
+even in heaven they will have to live in different places on account of
+their wives. How can there be brotherhood without love or purity? And
+we have seen and know what the "brotherhood" of Mohammedans to other
+nations and religions is; there can be no relations whatever but of
+master and slave, or murderer and corpse, or violator and victim. The
+impudence of this talk of brotherhood is fathomless.
+
+And then he said he was proud to be a convert to Islam, because
+that meant believing in purity! This is more outrageously impudent
+still. His ideal of purity must be a curious one if he finds more
+in Mohammedanism than in Christianity; in a religion with a heaven
+stuffed with concubines than in one where even earth is sprinkled with
+nuns; in one that makes Titanic lust its crowning reward, as if men
+were so feeble in sexual desires that they needed to be stimulated,
+than in one which makes chastity its key-note, and pronounces the
+very coveting of more than one wife a spiritual adultery; in one
+that prescribes polygamy (that is, keeping erotic turbulence stirred
+up much oftener and longer than it naturally would be), than in one
+that allows but one wife, and smiles on getting along without that;
+in one whose devotees are ashamed of foul language, and even of foul
+thoughts, than in one whose devotees are rank and rotten with lustful
+ideas and talk to correspond.
+
+The whole Mohammedan system is designed to make the gratification of
+lust as easy and plentiful as possible short of a promiscuity that
+would lead to civil anarchy. A Mohammedan can divorce his wife any time
+he pleases by paying back her dower, and marry another and do likewise;
+every week, or day if he sees fit, and he can remarry and redivorce
+the first one as often as he pleases. It is like trading horses;
+as little sentiment or morality in one as the other; the slightest
+possible regulation of sheer animal desire. There is, however, one
+form or divorce which is complete, and does not allow of remarriage
+until another marriage has intervened; that is called the achden
+docuza (three to nine) divorce, from the terms the husband uses in
+doing it, "I divorce you three to nine." Nobody knows what it means or
+meant. After this, if he wants his wife back, he must get somebody else
+to marry and divorce her regularly; and as this is perilous, because
+the second husband after marrying her may take a notion to keep her,
+or anyway keep her much longer than the first one relishes, or demand
+a large sum of money, the usual plan is to fix on a very poor man,
+or a blind beggar (preferably blind, so that he cannot see the wife,
+and be so charmed by her beauties that he will wish to keep her),
+get him to become the woman's husband for a few days, and then pay
+him something to divorce her. Then the first can marry her again if
+he chooses.
+
+There are many more specimens of Mohammedan "purity" too shameful
+to write, and too shameful to read; I cannot soil the paper with
+them. Doubtless they are part of Mr. Webb's pride in being a
+Mohammedan. But I must mention one more engine of corruption which
+lies at the very root of Mohammedanism itself: the pilgrimage
+to Mecca, to the birthplace of Mohammed in Arabia. Once a year
+Mohammedan pilgrims from every quarter of the world go to Mecca to
+pay homage to their beloved prophet; averaging a million a year. It
+is their duty to sacrifice animals there, and about a million are
+so sacrificed. This is done on the hills which surround the great
+temple, the greatest mosque in the world. It is a square building,
+which covers several acres of land. Just in the cluster is the Holy
+Well, called Zemzem. Mohammedans believe that if they drink of that
+water, hell-fire cannot burn them, and every pilgrim does so; then
+they begin to die from cholera to the tune of fifty thousand a year
+or so, for the well is a mere cesspool. You see, after cutting the
+throats of the animals, they leave the filth and blood just as they
+are, for the Mohammedan religion does not allow the sacrifice to be
+touched. The sandy soil absorbs this putrid filth, which leaches into
+the well. But it is a great merit to die on the spot where Mohammed
+was born; one goes straight to heaven if he does. That is not the
+worst, however; they fill bottles with that water, and carry it to
+their families, and friends throughout the Turkish Empire, Persia,
+and India, from which cholera is spread abroad over the world.
+
+The pilgrims do not take their wives as far as the birthplace
+of Mohammed, but leave them half-way, and on reaching Mecca they
+marry temporarily. About 20,000 prostitutes there make a business of
+being short-term wives of the pilgrims, getting $5 to $25 from each,
+and being his wife for anywhere from a day to a fortnight, so that
+each woman marries from fifty to a hundred pilgrims a year. This is
+not prostitution; it is religion--and Mohammedan "purity." Mecca is
+considered the most holy spot on earth by Mohammedans; but it is the
+most corrupt spot. It is a hell. And the Mohammedan Paradise is worse
+than Mecca.
+
+In one word, Mohammedans have no right to exist, politically,
+socially, or religiously. In the first they have wrought nothing but
+ruin; in the second nothing but corruption; in the third nothing
+but devilishness. They are working nothing else now in either
+of the three. They have never built up anything; they are pure
+destroyers. Anything which is built in any Mohammedan country is built
+both by Christian money and by Christian architects; Mohammedans
+have neither the money, the architects, nor the sense. The day one
+becomes a Mohammedan he loses his intellect, his skill, and his common
+sense. Mohammedanism is a poison fatal to any good gifts or graces;
+it cultivates in him falsehood, cruelty, and lust. It was sent by
+God for a curse to the Christians; as a punishment, just as the
+Philistines were sent to the people of Israel.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+THE GREAT POWERS AND THE ARMENIAN QUESTION.
+
+
+There was no Armenian question till the time of the present
+Sultan; under Abdul Aziz, whatever his faults as a ruler or a
+man, the Armenians prospered well, and though the whole system of
+administration is bad, corrupt, and uncertain, they had no special
+grievance as a race to complain of. I have already referred to Abdul
+Hamid's usurpation, his Bulgarian atrocities, his famous war against
+Russia, and the Congress in Berlin in which the powers ordered him
+to execute reforms in Armenia, and report to them, and the Sultan
+signed the treaty promising to do it. This was in 1878. The Sultan
+lost no time in violating the treaty, and not only so, but in acting
+grossly contrary to it. He called in Circassians and Kurds to settle
+in the midst of Armenians, and confiscated Armenian lands for them to
+settle on. The Armenians were far worse off than before the treaty; but
+foolishly depending on the powers, they did not try to arm themselves
+for the future. They have had plenty of chance to repent in blood
+and tears, agony and shame, their faith that Christian nations would
+not ignore a solemn obligation, voluntarily entered into, to save a
+whole people from being exterminated by fire and sword. England was
+the worst of these sinners, for she had taken on special obligations
+by a separate treaty, and forced those who would have taken the Sultan
+by the throat to let go.
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGLO-TURKISH CONVENTION.
+
+This took place at the same time as the Berlin Congress; it was simply
+between Turkey and England.
+
+
+    Article I. "If Batoum, Ardahan, Kars, or any of them shall be
+    retained by Russia, and if any attempt shall be made at any future
+    time by Russia to take possession of any further territory of His
+    Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, in Asia, as fixed by the Definitive
+    Treaty of Peace, England engages to join His Imperial Majesty,
+    the Sultan, in defending them by force of arms.
+
+    "In return, His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, promises England
+    to introduce necessary reforms, to be agreed upon later between
+    the two powers, into the government and for the protection of the
+    Christian and other subjects of the Porte in these territories;
+    and in order to enable England to make necessary provisions
+    for executing her engagement, His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan,
+    further consents to assign the Island of Cyprus to be occupied
+    and administered by England.
+
+    Article VII. "If Russia restores to Turkey Kars and the other
+    conquests made by her in Armenia during the last war, the Island
+    of Cyprus will be evacuated by England, and the convention of
+    the 4th of June, 1878, will be at an end."
+
+
+When England was preparing this private treaty, the English
+fleet was on the Sea of Marmora, at the gate of the Bosphorus,
+threatening Russia, to make her withdraw her soldiers from the
+gates of Constantinople, for the conquering Russian army had reached
+the suburbs, and encamped at San Stefano, only eight or ten miles
+away. But for England, Russia would have captured Constantinople,
+and kept it. But England backed Turkey, and the other powers backed
+England, and Russia reluctantly withdrew her troops. But Russia has
+never forgiven England for it; and if England wishes to help the
+Armenians, no matter how many are massacred, Russia will help Turkey,
+while the others side with neither. As to there ever being a European
+concert to reform Armenia, a pleasant dream which has deluded many
+thousands, I have always laughed at it, and I laugh at it still. The
+powers will never act together for any such purpose. It is not
+"practical politics" to think of it. The real center of action is
+not Germany or Russia, but England, for several reasons. One is that
+London is the money capital of the world. Money rules; money buys
+force. The richest nation is the strongest. What does Lombard street
+say? is the vital question. The second is her navy, the strongest
+in the world; stronger that that of any other two nations combined;
+perhaps in actual fight a match for all combined. The third is that
+her possessions are everywhere; she is a local power in every quarter
+of the globe; she has to pass by everybody's doors in managing her
+colonies. So I will begin with England.
+
+
+
+
+ENGLAND AND THE ARMENIAN QUESTION.
+
+If England had wished to solve this question, she could have done it
+long ago; but she never cared to. When Mr. Gladstone was in power,
+he tried to do it, but his Cabinet overbore him. He did, however,
+show by isolated cases what power England had if she chose to
+exercise it. After I was banished by the Turkish government, two
+native Christian ministers supplied my pulpit. They were sentenced
+to death on a false charge, but Gladstone threatened the Sultan,
+and the latter commuted the sentence to banishment. These ministers
+were Professors Thoumaian and Kayayian, who are now in England with
+their families. What could be done on a small scale could be done on
+a large one. I will give here some of the speeches of Gladstone on the
+Armenian question; then compare Lord Salisbury with him and his policy.
+
+
+
+
+W. E. Gladstone.
+
+He assails Turkey's Intolerable Misgovernment and Emphasizes the
+Value of Impartial American Testimony.
+
+[By Cable to The New York Herald.]
+
+
+    London, Aug. 6, 1895.--A pro-American meeting, presided
+    over by the Duke of Westminster, was held at Chester this
+    afternoon. Mr. Gladstone was among those present, and upon entering
+    the hall was received with great enthusiasm.
+
+    In addressing the meeting, Mr. Gladstone said he had attended
+    rather to meet the expectation that he would be present than
+    because he had any important contribution to make to the
+    discussion of the subject under consideration. The question
+    before the meeting, he said, was not a party question, neither
+    was it strictly a religious question, although the sufferers,
+    on whose behalf the meeting was called, were Christians. The evil
+    arose from the fact that the sufferers were under an intolerably
+    bad government--one of the worst, in fact, that ever existed. A
+    resolution would be proposed presenting, with justice and firmness,
+    the true view of the matter. Mr. Gladstone added that as America
+    had no political interest in the Levant her witnesses were doubly
+    entitled to credit.
+
+
+Important Treaty Provisions.
+
+
+    The treaty of 1856, Mr. Gladstone continued, gave the powers
+    the right to march into Armenia and take the government of the
+    country out of the hands of Turkey, and under the treaty of 1878
+    the Sultan was bound to carry out reforms. The ex-Premier made
+    three proposals:--First, that the demands of the powers should
+    be moderate; second, that no promises of the Turkish authorities
+    should be accepted; and third, that the powers should not fear
+    the word "coercion."
+
+    "We have reached a critical position," said Mr. Gladstone,
+    in conclusion, "and the honor of the powers is pledged to the
+    institution of reforms in Armenia."
+
+    A resolution was then proposed expressing the conviction that
+    the government would have the support of the entire nation in any
+    measures it might adopt to secure in Armenia reforms guaranteeing
+    to the inhabitants safety of life, honor, religion, and property,
+    and that no reforms can be effected which are not placed under the
+    continuous control of the great powers of Europe. The resolution
+    was seconded by the Rev. Canon Malcolm MacColl, and was adopted.
+
+
+Says Baseness and Villany Have Reached a Climax in Turkey's Treatment
+of Armenia.
+
+[From The New York Herald.]
+
+
+    London, Dec. 27, 1895.--Murad Bey, formerly Ottoman Commissioner
+    of the Turkish debt, who recently fled from Constantinople to
+    Paris, sent to Mr. Gladstone a few days ago a pamphlet which
+    he had published in Paris, entitled "The Yildiz Palace and the
+    Sublime Porte," with a view to enlightening public opinion on
+    Turkish affairs. In the course of his reply acknowledging the
+    receipt of the pamphlet, Mr. Gladstone disavowed any feeling of
+    enmity toward the Turks and Mussulmans generally. He said:--"I have
+    felt it my duty to make it known that the Mohammedans, including
+    the Turks, suffer from the bad government of the Sultan. I have
+    heartily wished success to every effort made toward ending the
+    great evil. Still, Turks and other Mohammedans are not, so far
+    as I know, plundered, raped, murdered, starved, and burned;
+    but this is the treatment that the Sultan knowingly deals out
+    to his Armenian subjects daily. There are degrees of suffering,
+    degrees of baseness and villany among men, and both seem to have
+    reached their climax in the case of Armenia."
+
+
+His Masterly Speech in Chester Re-enforced with a letter to a Turk.
+
+[From The New York Sun.]
+
+
+    London, Aug. 10.--Once more have the wonderful power and the true
+    greatness of England's Grand Old Man been demonstrated in the
+    remarkable revival of popular interest in the fate of Armenia. The
+    whole nation is marveling over his great speech at Chester, and
+    there are no words, even among those who have always been his
+    political opponents, save those of sympathy and admiration. Nobody
+    is any longer foolish enough to deny the main features of the
+    fearful atrocities in Armenia, and there is no possible doubt of
+    the accuracy of the latest reports that thousands near the scene
+    of the massacres are perishing of starvation.
+
+    The only protest against Mr. Gladstone's speech has been a long
+    letter from Khalef Khalid, a conspicuous Turk, who asks the Grand
+    Old Man why he hates and denounces the Turks so indiscriminately,
+    when as many and as great outrages against the Mohammedans have
+    been perpetrated by Christians as were ever committed by the
+    subjects of Islam.
+
+    Mr. Gladstone's reply was made public to-day. It is one of the
+    most pointed epistles the old man ever wrote. He says:--"I entirely
+    disclaim the hatred and hostility to the Turks, or any race of men,
+    which you ascribe to me. I do not doubt that you write in entire
+    good faith, but your statements of facts are unauthenticated. I
+    proceed only upon authenticated statements. I make no charge
+    against the Turks at large, but against a Turkish government. I
+    make the charges which they have been proved guilty of by public
+    authority. In my opinion, I have been a far better friend to the
+    Ottoman Empire than have the Sultan and his advisers. I have
+    always recommended the granting of reasonable powers of local
+    self-government, which would have saved Turkey from terrible
+    losses. This good advice has been spurned, and in consequence
+    Turkey has lost 18,000,000 of people, and may lose more. Pray
+    weigh these words."--
+
+
+The birthday of the Ex-Premier was made the occasion for an
+anti-Turkish demonstration.
+
+
+Outrages and Abominations of 1876 in Bulgaria Repeated in Armenia
+in 1894.
+
+[From The New York Herald.]
+
+
+    London, Dec. 29, 1894.--Mr. Gladstone celebrated his eighty-fifth
+    birthday to-day, and was the recipient of hundreds of letters
+    and telegrams of congratulation and parcels containing birthday
+    gifts. Mr. Gladstone was in remarkably good health and spirits,
+    and, despite the stormy weather, drove through the village of
+    Hawarden to the church, where he met a deputation of Armenian
+    Christians from Paris and London. The deputation presented a
+    silver chalice to the church. The chalice was presented to the
+    Rev. Stephen Gladstone, son of the ex-Premier, and rector of the
+    Hawarden church, in recognition of the interest his father has
+    taken in the Armenian outrages. Mr. Gladstone, in his reply to the
+    deputation's address, said that it was not their duty to assume
+    that all the allegations of outrages were true, but rather to await
+    the result of the inquiry which had been instituted. However, he
+    said, the published accounts pointed strongly to the conclusion
+    that the outrages, sins, and abominations committed in 1876
+    in Bulgaria had been repeated in 1894 in Armenia. Continuing,
+    Mr. Gladstone said: "Don't let me be told that one nation has no
+    authority over another. Every nation, aye, every human being,
+    has authority in behalf of humanity and justice." He had been
+    silent, he said, because he had full confidence that the government
+    knew its duty. If the allegations made should prove to be true,
+    it was time that the execration of humanity should force itself
+    upon the ears of the Sultan of Turkey, and make him sensible of
+    the madness of such a course as was being pursued. Mr. Gladstone,
+    in conclusion, said:--"The history of Turkey is a sad and painful
+    one. The Turkish race has not been without remarkable, even fine
+    qualities, but from too many points of view it has been a scourge
+    which has been made use of by a wise Providence for the sins
+    of the world. If these tales of murder, violation, and outrage
+    be true, well, then, they cannot be overlooked, nor can they be
+    made light of. I have lived to see the Empire of Turkey in Europe
+    reduced to less than one-half of what it was when I was born. And
+    why? Simply because of its misdeeds, and the great record written
+    by the hand of Almighty God against its injustice, lust, and most
+    abominable cruelty. I hope and feel sure that the government of
+    Great Britain will do everything that can be done to pierce to
+    the bottom of this mystery, and make the facts known to the world.
+
+    "If happily (I speak hoping against hope) the reports be disproved
+    or mitigated, let us thank God. If, on the other hand, they
+    be established, it will more than ever stand before the world
+    that there is a lesson, however severe it may be, that can
+    teach certain people the duty of prudence, and the necessity
+    of observing the laws of decency, humanity, and justice. If
+    the allegations are true, it is time that there should be one
+    general shout of execration against these deeds of wickedness
+    from outraged humanity. If the facts are well established, it
+    should be written in letters of iron upon the records of the
+    world that a government which could be guilty of countenancing
+    and covering up such atrocities is a disgrace to Mohammed the
+    prophet, a disgrace to civilization at large, and a disgrace to
+    mankind. Now that is strong language, but strong language ought
+    to be used when the facts are strong. But strong language ought
+    not to be used without the strength of facts.
+
+    "I have counseled you to be still and keep your judgment in
+    suspense; but as the evidence grows, the case darkens, and my
+    hopes dwindle and decline, and as long as I have voice it will
+    be uttered in behalf of humanity and truth. I wish you heartily
+    every blessing, and also wish with every heartiness prosperity
+    to your nation, however dark the present may seem."
+
+
+Lord Salisbury.
+
+Now we come to the present Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury. He is
+reputed a great statesman. That should mean that he has accomplished
+something great. Well, what? I know of nothing, have heard of
+nothing. Has he saved any country? Has he elevated any? Has he
+done any public action that can be set down to his credit? He has
+hindered some good ones, that is all. On the Armenian question he
+has done enormous harm. If he is not a great hypocrite, there is no
+use comparing a man's words with his actions. I have always told my
+friends that nothing good could be hoped for from him, for morally he
+is worse than the Sultan. An eminent English clergyman told me that
+Lord Salisbury is another Sultan, and I believe him. Here are a few
+of Lord Salisbury's deliverances; see how they agree:--
+
+
+[From The New York World, August 16, 1895.]
+
+
+    Lord Salisbury to Sir Philip Currie, the British Ambassador to
+    Constantinople:--"The Porte must accept the proposals of the Powers
+    unconditionally, or England would use sharper means than those
+    adopted by Lord Rosebery to settle affairs in Armenia."--[July
+    30, 1895.
+
+    Lord Salisbury, in a speech in London about the time of the
+    above, said, "The concert of Europe on the Armenian question is
+    complete, and England has the loyal support of other powers to
+    reform Armenia."
+
+    At another time we note:--"There is every reason to believe that
+    the Chinese government is sincerely desirous of punishing the
+    perpetrators of the outrages and those who connived at them. Should
+    any lukewarmness become discernible, it will become our duty to
+    supply its defect.
+
+    "With respect to Armenia, we have accepted the policy which
+    our predecessors initiated, and our efforts will be directed
+    to obtaining an adequate guarantee for the carrying out of
+    reform. We have received the most loyal support from both France
+    and Russia. The permanence of the Sultan's rule is involved in
+    the conduct he pursues. If the cries of misery continue, the
+    Sultan must realize that Europe will become weary of appeals, and
+    the fictitious strength which the powers have given the empire
+    will fail it. The Sultan will make a calamitous mistake if he
+    refuses to accept the advice of the European powers relative to
+    the reforms." The House of Lords adopted the address in reply to
+    the Queen's speech.
+
+
+After the above strong words, Lord Salisbury backed down and sneaked
+out of his bold attitude in this way. (Jan. 31, 1896.) See how he
+asserts, first that England cannot do anything for the Armenians,
+and second that it is not her duty to do anything:--
+
+
+[From The New York Tribune.]
+
+
+    "The Prime Minister expressed sympathy with the Armenians, but
+    denied that Great Britain was under obligation to declare war
+    against the Sultan of Turkey in order to compel him to govern
+    justly, and cited the treaties in proof of his contention. He
+    ascribed the atrocities to the passions of race and creed. He
+    believed that the Sultan's government was wretched and impotent,
+    but there was no ground for imagining that the Sultan had
+    instigated the massacres. It might be asked why Europe did not
+    interfere. He could only answer for England. She had lacked the
+    power to do the only thing necessary to end the troubles, namely,
+    to militarily occupy Turkish provinces. None of the powers wished
+    so to occupy them.
+
+    "Lord Salisbury said he concurred in the belief that the only
+    authority, albeit it was an evil one, in that country was the
+    prestige of the Sultan's name. Patience must be exercised, and
+    time must be given to His Majesty to enforce the reforms he had
+    promised. He remarked upon the gradual return of order in Anatolia
+    during the last few weeks, although he admitted that these signs
+    should not be trusted too much. He concluded by declaring that
+    if Great Britain did not co-operate with the other powers, she
+    must act against them, which would lead to calamities far more
+    awful than the Armenian massacres."
+
+
+Ambassador Currie instructed not to exert Undue Pressure on the Sultan.
+
+[From The New York World, 1895.]
+
+
+    London, Nov. 23, 1895.--It can be authoritatively stated that
+    Lord Salisbury's instructions to Sir Philip Currie, the British
+    Ambassador to Turkey, who left England a few days ago on his return
+    to his post of duty, are to refrain from exerting undue pressure on
+    the Sultan for the execution of the reforms in Armenia, and to give
+    the Porte time to recover from the existing administrative anarchy,
+    and appoint authorities through whom the reforms must be effected.
+
+    Sir Philip has taken with him an autograph letter from the Queen to
+    the Sultan. This is supposed to be a reply to a letter the Sultan
+    sent to her with the communication he sent to Lord Salisbury,
+    which the latter read at the meeting of the National Union of
+    Conservatives at Brighton, on Tuesday night last.
+
+    It is reported that the Queen will invite the Sultan to visit
+    England, when the time shall be auspicious. The anxiety at the
+    Foreign Office in regard to the East has greatly lessened during
+    the week.
+
+
+England possessed the Island of Cyprus, and it became her duty
+to look after the reforms in Turkey. But now Salisbury denies it,
+saying that it is not her duty, and meantime says that time must be
+given to the Sultan of Turkey, as if all the time had not been given
+him since the Berlin treaty of 1878.
+
+Salisbury used another silly trick, persuading the Queen of England
+to write a letter to the Sultan and appeal to his good nature; as if
+the Sultan had a good nature; but the Queen wrote the letter.
+
+A strong criticism by the editor of the New York "Press" on Lord
+Salisbury's speech.
+
+
+                                                       February 3, 1896.
+
+    "We confess that we are at a loss to comprehend the meaning of Lord
+    Salisbury's Armenian speech. We do not know what to make of it when
+    he says that the Berlin Treaty "bound the signatory powers, that,
+    if the Sultan promulgated certain reforms, they would watch over
+    the progress of these reforms. Nothing more." We cannot understand
+    him when he declares that the Cyprus Convention 'contains no
+    trace of an understanding to interfere in behalf of the Sultan's
+    subjects.' When Russia made, in March, 1878, a treaty with Turkey,
+    called the treaty of San Stefano, Great Britain became alarmed lest
+    Russia should secure too much influence in Constantinople. Russia
+    then held some Armenian provinces bordering on her territory, and
+    it seemed clear that it was her purpose to seize others. England
+    protested to the Sultan against the treaty of San Stefano, but
+    the government of the Ottoman Porte was helpless against the Czar,
+    and the Sultan declared that he must adhere to the treaty. Great
+    Britain then secretly bound herself to aid Turkey by force of arms
+    in preventing Russia from appropriating further Armenian provinces,
+    Turkey agreeing, on her part, to reform her local administration
+    in her remaining Armenian provinces and assigning the island of
+    Cyprus to be occupied and administered by Great Britain.
+
+    "Great Britain, meanwhile, had incited the other powers of Europe
+    to take action against the treaty of San Stefano. Austria was
+    induced to suggest a European Congress. Russia at first refused
+    to go into this Congress; but, seeing that all the great powers
+    were uniting against her, she consented to attend. The result
+    of this Congress was the Treaty of Berlin, signed by the six
+    powers,--England, Russia, Germany, France, Austria, and Italy. By
+    this treaty Turkey was stripped of Bulgaria, Servia, and Roumania,
+    and Russia was deprived of all she had won during the Turko-Russian
+    war, except the Armenian provinces which she still controls. By
+    this treaty, also, the signatory powers became guardians and
+    trustees of the Ottoman Porte, pledging themselves that religious
+    freedom should be secured in the Turkish Empire, and that Armenian
+    Christians should be protected against the Circassians and Kurds.
+
+    "We are puzzled, therefore, to understand Lord Salisbury when
+    he says that all these promises did not mean anything. Certainly
+    he ought to know, for, as the agent of the Disraeli government,
+    it was Lord Salisbury who drafted the agreements and drew up the
+    promises. For eighteen years Christian civilization has supposed
+    that they did mean something. But Lord Salisbury says not. He
+    says that all the powers agreed to do was to 'watch over the
+    execution of those reforms' if they were promulgated.
+
+    "What does that mean, anyway? Does it mean, as the Christian
+    world has all along supposed, that the six powers would engage
+    themselves to see that these reforms were carried out by Turkey,
+    or does it mean that if the reforms were carried out they would
+    simply look on; and if the reforms were not carried out, if ten
+    thousand Armenian homes were destroyed, and four times ten thousand
+    Armenian citizens were butchered, they would still simply look on?
+
+    "Nor do we understand Lord Salisbury when he pleads that
+    it requires time for the Turkish government to carry out the
+    reforms 'which the Sultan recently has accepted.' Why the Turkish
+    government? There is no Turkish government. There is a Mohammedan
+    administration, but the government of the Ottoman Porte expired
+    with the Treaty of Berlin. The Turkish government is vested de
+    facto in the six signatory powers of the Berlin Congress. Even
+    the local government of Constantinople itself lies in the hands
+    of these powers. The capital is divided into six sections, each
+    controlled by a treaty power. Each has its own courts, its own
+    military, even its own police. When Englishmen wish a wrong to
+    be righted in the Turkish Empire, or a reform to be executed,
+    they do not request the 'Turkish government' to listen to their
+    appeal. The British Minister summons the Grand Vezir and orders
+    him to do what is wished. And he does it forthwith, so far as he
+    is permitted by the orders of the representatives of the other
+    treaty powers. It is in London, in Berlin, in St. Petersburg,
+    in Paris, in Vienna, and in Rome that the Turkish government rests.
+
+    "It is for these reasons that we are unable to understand what
+    Lord Salisbury means when he says that the Berlin Treaty and the
+    Cyprus Convention impose no responsibility for Armenian reforms
+    upon any one save the Sultan. The Cyprus Convention specifies:--
+
+    "Treaty of Defensive Alliance between the British Government and
+    the Sublime Porte, signed on June 4, 1878:--
+
+
+        Article I. If Batoum, Ardahan, Kars, or any of them shall
+        be retained by Russia, and if any attempt shall be made at
+        any future time by Russia to take possession of any further
+        territories of his imperial Majesty, the Sultan, in Asia, as
+        fixed by the definitive treaty of peace, England engages to
+        join His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, in defending them by
+        force of arms. In return, His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan,
+        promises to England to introduce necessary reforms, to be
+        agreed upon later between the two powers, into the government,
+        and for the protection of Christian and other subjects of the
+        Porte in these territories; and in order to enable England
+        to make necessary provision for executing her engagement, His
+        Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, further consents to assign the
+        Island of Cyprus, to be occupied and administered by England.
+
+
+    "Why, then, does not Lord Salisbury carry out England's pledges,
+    for which he is directly responsible, since he made them in
+    her name?
+
+    "England must be held to an accounting for the disorders in
+    Armenia. There are no such disorders in the provinces administered
+    by the Czar, provinces adjoining those where for the last six years
+    pillage, destruction, and murder have swept away every sign of
+    government. In the provinces controlled by the Czar the Armenians
+    have been so well treated, enjoying unquestioned religious freedom
+    and rights, that there have been not the slightest disorders. But
+    in the provinces where England pledged reform, the Armenian is
+    butchered daily.
+
+    "Does Lord Salisbury mean that so long as Great Britain occupies
+    Cyprus, pending the execution of reforms, it is better for England
+    that the reforms should not be executed and that England should
+    'watch over them; nothing more'?"
+
+
+Note carefully what Salisbury says first; then what he says
+afterward. First he says there is complete concert among the powers,
+then he says there is not; first he threatens the Sultan, then he is
+friendly. First he seems to be a brave and noble statesman, then a
+cowardly politician.
+
+Sir Philip Currie, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, is a
+brave and noble gentleman. He was sent there by the Liberal government,
+before Salisbury's accession. He has done a great deal for the Armenian
+cause. But after Lord Salisbury became Prime Minister, he called him
+to London and instructed him to have cordial relations with the Sultan,
+and now he can do nothing.
+
+Finally there appear to be two Englands, conservative England and
+liberal England, slave England and free England, selfish England and
+noble and sympathetic England, false England and true England. The
+head of conservative, selfish, false, oppressive England is Lord
+Salisbury. The head of liberal, free, noble, and true England is
+Mr. Gladstone. Therefore nothing for Armenia can be expected from the
+Conservatives, while much may be hoped from the Liberals. Gladstone
+is an old man, but God will raise a Joshua to succeed Moses; Gladstone
+will see the Armenian nation free, and then he will die.
+
+
+
+
+GERMANY AND THE ARMENIAN QUESTION.
+
+Listen to what the haughty young ruler of Germany says:--"It
+is better that the Armenians be killed than the peace of Europe
+be disturbed." The explanation is easy enough. When he visited
+Constantinople half a dozen years ago, the Sultan presented him with
+Arabian horses, jewelry of massive gold, and many other valuable
+articles, worth in all several hundred thousand dollars; and last
+summer sent him a beautiful and valuable sword made in Constantinople
+by Armenians, which was carried to him by Shakir Pasha, the butcher
+who was afterwards appointed by the Sultan to reform Armenia,--the
+commander of the "Hamidieh Cavalry," whose work I tell of later
+on. This embassy was to secure the alliance of Germany against
+molestation by Russia.
+
+The German Emperor has three motives in his present action. One is
+to show gratitude for the Sultan's generosity--as though it were not
+the easiest thing in the world to be munificent when it all comes
+out of other people. The second is to punish Lord Salisbury for not
+getting England to join the Triple Alliance, when the Emperor asked
+him in person on his journey to England. When Salisbury threatened
+the Sultan in the interest of Armenia, the German Emperor said,
+"The English government has no right to interfere with the Turkish
+Empire. Every sovereign must have the right to govern as he thinks
+necessary, or he is no sovereign." He afterwards sent his Chancellor,
+Prince Hohenlohe, to the Czar to arrange united resistance to England,
+and afterwards sent Count Von Moltke on the same errand. And the
+Czar instructed his Ambassador at Constantinople, M. Nelidoff, to
+inform the Sultan that he would not support the English government
+in coercing Turkey. The Sultan therefore refused Salisbury's demands,
+and he dared not go on alone. The Emperor's third motive was to gain
+the friendship of the Czar against France, which had lately been
+taking up the Russian alliance with great fervor. Another reason is
+that he hates the Armenians for having bought the German factories
+and property in Amassia. He is very anxious to plant German colonies
+in Turkey, of all places in the world, for profit. There are about
+fifty families in Amassia, near Marsovan, and they had started various
+kinds of factories there; but the shrewd and wealthy Armenians bought
+them out. The Emperor is angry because his colony was not successful.
+
+For all these reasons the German Emperor refused to send gunboats
+to the Bosphorus when the other powers did; he said he saw no need
+of it. He was right so far as Germans were concerned; the Sultan
+was not going to allow his ally's subjects to be slaughtered and
+the ally turned into an enemy. And if he could stop the massacre of
+one sort of people, he could of another; nothing shows the Sultan's
+deliberate purpose in the massacres better than the fact that when he
+chose not to let any particular sort of people be harmed, that sort
+were not harmed. But as to Germany, what hope for Armenia is there
+from it? The Emperor has his own interests, and the Armenians might
+be tortured or outraged to death, and he would not stir a finger.
+
+
+
+
+RUSSIA AND THE ARMENIANS.
+
+The present Czar, Nicholas II, is a corrupt weakling, who is on the
+throne by the law of heredity, against the will of his father. Morally
+he is as bad as the Sultan; not so cruel yet, though he may develop
+that in time, but fully as sensual and devoid of principle. I have had
+it from good Russian authority that his life before his marriage was
+so bad that it has rendered him entirely impotent. "Birds of a feather
+flock together." No wonder he helps the Sultan. His political aims
+and character are wholly selfish. He, too, like the German Emperor,
+is continually exchanging presents with the Sultan. Here is a press
+notice of Feb. 26, 1896:--"M. Nelidoff, the Russian Ambassador,
+has presented to the Sultan a pair of jasper vases from the Czar,
+together with an autograph letter from His Majesty thanking the Sultan
+for the gifts sent to him." Not only so, but they have concluded an
+alliance. Read the following dispatch of Jan. 23, 1896:--
+
+
+    "London, Jan. 23, 1896.--A dispatch to the Pall Mall Gazette
+    from Constantinople, dated yesterday, says that an offensive
+    and defensive alliance has been concluded between Russia and
+    Turkey. The Pall Mall Gazette correspondent adds that the treaty
+    was signed at Constantinople, and that the ratifications were
+    exchanged at St. Petersburg between Arifi Pasha and the Czar.
+
+    "The basis of the treaty is declared to be on the lines of the
+    Unkiarskelessi agreement of 1833, by which Turkey agreed, in the
+    event of Russia going to war, to close the Dardanelles to war-ships
+    of all nations. The Pall Mall Gazette's correspondent then says
+    the treaty will soon be abandoned, owing to the refusal of the
+    powers to recognize it. He also says that the French Ambassador,
+    M. Cambon, conferred with the Sultan yesterday, and that it is
+    probable France will be included in the new alliance.
+
+    "The Pall Mall Gazette says: 'We regard the news as true, and the
+    result of the treaty is that the Dardanelles is now the Southern
+    outpost of Russia, and Turkey is Russia's vassal. We presume the
+    British government will protest against the treaty for all it
+    is worth.
+
+    "'The information is plainly of the very gravest importance. The
+    first intimation reached us four days ago; but we withheld it
+    until the arrival of strong confirmation, which we received
+    this morning. This brings Russia into the Mediterranean with a
+    vengeance, and may necessitate the strengthening of our fleet in
+    those waters. Politically, the effect will be far greater. The
+    treaty means that Turkey has realized her own impotence against
+    disorders both from within and without, and has decided to throw
+    herself for safety into the arms of Russia. She is now Russia's
+    vassal, and Russia is entitled to dispatch troops to any part
+    of the Sultan's dominions whenever there is the least breach of
+    order--and when is there not?
+
+    "'We presume the arrangement will give the keenest satisfaction
+    to the Anglo-American section of our people. With them lies the
+    chief blame for the complete alienation of Turkey, though it must
+    be owned that it has been sedulously fostered by a long term of
+    weak policy at Constantinople.'"
+
+
+For the present the Czar will do no more mischief, because he is
+to have his coronation in May, and prefers to put on the smoothest
+outside to every nation; but after that is over he will show his
+hand. His father and his grandfather favored the Armenians in Russia,
+and they prospered wonderfully, but this one proposes to persecute
+them to please the Sultan. The two will join in a common policy
+toward the unhappy race, till not less than a million are slain. The
+Czar's motive is not love of the Sultan, whom he hates in spite of
+their community of character; it is simply that he wishes to get
+Constantinople peaceably if he can. The Sultan knows this quite well,
+but he is too weak in military power, and too poor, and owes too large
+an indemnity to the Czar to be able to help himself. He is compelled
+to throw himself on the Czar for protection.
+
+Will the Czar succeed in getting Constantinople? No; the attempt will
+ruin and break up the Russian Empire. All the European powers would
+resist it; some of them may seem friendly to the Czar now, but when
+he comes to seize Constantinople every one of them will be against
+him. He will try it, none the less. The famous "will" of Peter the
+Great, though a patent and notorious forgery of Napoleon's,--never
+seen till 1812, just before the Russian campaign, and circulated
+then to influence Europe against Russia,--was the most magnificent
+piece of forgery ever committed, for it has actually become a guiding
+policy to the country it was aimed against, just as if it had been
+real. Nothing in history equals this for impudence and success
+combined; it is a true Napoleonism. This bogus "will" has become
+the "Monroe doctrine" of Russia; I am not entitled to say whether
+the latter is as mischievous as the former. That most Russian of all
+Russian journals, the "Ruskija Vjadomosti," has lately been having one
+of its periodical spasms of hysterical hatred toward all policy not
+"good Russian," and boldly proclaims that Russia must follow the
+precepts laid down in this will! Since, therefore, it is just as
+important as if it were not the greatest of all "fakes," I give it
+here that the reader may know what Russian policy is to be:--
+
+
+    Will of Peter the Great.
+
+    In the name of the most holy and indivisible Trinity, we,
+    Peter the Great, unto all our descendants and successors to the
+    throne and government of the Russian nation: the All-Powerful,
+    from whom we hold our life and our throne, after having revealed
+    unto us his wishes and intentions, and after being our support,
+    permits us to look upon Russia as called upon to establish her
+    rule over all Europe. This idea is based upon the fact that all
+    nations of this portion of the globe are fast approaching a state
+    of utter decrepitude. From this it results that they can be easily
+    conquered by a new race of people when it has attained full power
+    and strength. We look upon our invasion of the West and East as
+    a decree of divine providence, which has already once regenerated
+    the Roman Empire by an invasion of "barbarians."
+
+    The emigration of men from the North is like the inundation of
+    the Nile, which, at certain seasons, enriches with its waters
+    the arid plains of Egypt. We found Russia a small rivulet; we
+    leave it an immense river. Our successors will make it an ocean,
+    destined to fertilize the whole of Europe if they know how to
+    guide its waves. We leave them, then, the following instructions,
+    which we earnestly recommend to their constant meditation.
+
+    I. To keep the Prussian nation in constant warfare, in order always
+    to have good soldiers. Peace must only be permitted to recuperate
+    finance, to recruit the army, to choose the moment favorable for
+    attack. Thus peace will advance your projects of war, and war those
+    of peace, for obtaining the enlargement and prosperity of Russia.
+
+    II. Draw unto you by all possible means, from the civilized nations
+    of Europe, captains during war and learned men during peace,
+    so that Russia may benefit by the advantages of other nations.
+
+    III. Take care to mix in the affairs of all Europe, and in
+    particular of Germany, which, being the nearest nation to you,
+    deserves your chief attention.
+
+    IV. Divide Poland by raising up continual disorders and jealousies
+    within its bosom. Gain over its rulers with gold influence and
+    corrupt the Diet, in order to have a voice in the election of the
+    kings. Make partisans and protect them; if neighboring powers raise
+    objections and opposition, surmount the obstacles by stirring up
+    discord within their countries.
+
+    V. Take all you can from Sweden, and to this effect isolate her
+    from Denmark, and vice versa. Be careful to rouse their mutual
+    jealousy.
+
+    VI. Marry Russian princes to German Princesses; multiply these
+    alliances, unite these interests, and by the increase of our
+    influence attach Germany to our cause.
+
+    VII. Seek the alliance with England on account of our commerce,
+    as being the country most useful for the development of our navy,
+    merchants, etc., and for the exchange of our produce against
+    her gold. Keep up continual communication with her merchants
+    and sailors, so that ours may acquire experience in commerce
+    and navigation.
+
+    VIII. Constantly extend yourselves along the shores of the Baltic
+    and the borders of the Euxine.
+
+    IX. Do all in your power to approach closely Constantinople and
+    India. Remember that he who rules over these countries is the
+    real sovereign of the world. Keep up continued wars with Turkey
+    and with Persia. Establish dockyards in the Black Sea. Gradually
+    obtain the command of this sea as well as of the Baltic. This
+    is necessary for the entire success of our projects. Hasten the
+    fall of Persia. Open for yourself a route toward the Persian
+    Gulf. Re-establish as much as possible, by means of Syria,
+    the ancient commerce of the Levant, and thus advance toward
+    India. Once there you will not require English gold.
+
+    X. Carefully seek the alliance of Austria. Make her believe that
+    you will second her in her projects for dominion over Germany,
+    but secretly stir up other princes against her, and manage so
+    that each be disposed to claim the assistance of Russia; and
+    exercise over each a sort of protection, which will lead the way
+    to a future dominion over them.
+
+    XI. Make Austria drive the Turks out of Europe, and neutralize
+    her jealousy by offering to her a portion of your conquests,
+    which you will further on take back.
+
+    XII. Above all, recall around you the schismatic Greeks who are
+    spread over Hungary and Poland. Become their center, and support
+    a universal dominion over them by a kind of sacerdotal autocracy;
+    by this you will have many friends among your enemies.
+
+    XIII. Sweden dismembered, Persia conquered, Poland subjugated,
+    Turkey beaten, our armies united, the Black and Baltic seas guarded
+    by our vessels, prepare, separately and secretly, first the court
+    of Versailles, then that of Vienna, to share the empire of the
+    universe with Russia. If one accept, flatter her ambition and
+    vanity, and make use of one to crush the other by engaging them
+    in war. The result cannot be doubted; Russia will be possessed
+    of the whole of the East and a great portion of Europe.
+
+    XIV. If, which is not probable, both should refuse the offer of
+    Russia, raise a quarrel between them, and one which will ruin
+    them both; then Russia, profiting by this decisive movement, will
+    inundate Germany with the troops which she will have assembled
+    beforehand. At the same time two fleets full of soldiers will leave
+    the Baltic and the Black Sea, will advance along the Mediterranean
+    and the ocean, keeping France in check with the one and Germany
+    with the other. And these two countries conquered, the remainder
+    of Europe will fall under our yoke. Thus can Europe be subjugated.
+
+
+But aside from this, no help could be expected from Russia in
+any event, because she needs all her strength to save herself from
+destruction by her own internal decay. She is a great tree, hollow in
+the inside. The Nihilists and the Constitutional Reformers are both
+against her, and, in my belief, she will go to pieces in the present
+Czar's lifetime. The Sultan's days are numbered, but the Czar's and
+the Emperor's are too; their own people will rise and depose them. It
+is against Socialists and Nihilists that they are massing such great
+armies. How can they spare any service for a people being murdered
+off the earth?
+
+
+
+
+FRANCE AND ARMENIA.
+
+Of the other powers, little need be said. France has lost all her
+great men, and become a tail to Russia, and is ready to be moved
+blindly, as Russia may direct. And as part of the people are infidels,
+and the rest fanatical Catholics, there is no religious motive to
+prompt them to come to the rescue. France, in a word, can or will do
+nothing directly; all it can do is to threaten the haughty Emperor
+of Germany. Italy is bankrupt, and even the throne of King Humbert
+is in danger, and that country will follow in the wake of Austria.
+
+
+
+
+THE POPE OF ROME AND THE ARMENIANS.
+
+Pope Leo XIII sent 70,000 lire to the Armenian sufferers; probably to
+the Catholics alone, for there are about 100,000 Catholic Armenians
+in Turkey. But the Armenians can expect no help from the Pope; he
+has no troops; he has no great fund of spare money, and he would be
+very unlikely to use either if he had them. The motive of all the
+Popes has been to convert the Protestant Armenian Church to become a
+part of the Roman Catholic Church,--to acknowledge the Papacy. I say
+Protestant, for before Martin Luther was born, the Armenian Church
+protested against the popes of Rome age after age, and was persecuted
+by them. The Armenians offer their thanks to the Pope for his gifts,
+but they cannot accept his dominion.
+
+
+[Press dispatch, N.Y. Herald.]
+
+
+    "Rome, Dec. 16, 1895.--The Pope has sent 20,000 lire for the relief
+    of the sufferers from Turkish misrule in Anatolia, in addition
+    to the 50,000 lire previously given by him for the same purpose."
+
+
+The European edition published recently in a dispatch from Rome the
+following passage dealing with the Eastern question in the allocution
+delivered by Leo XIII at the consistory on November 29:--
+
+
+    "The whole of Europe in anxious expectation looks toward its
+    eastern neighbor, troubled by grievous events and internal
+    conflicts. The sight of towns and villages defiled by scenes of
+    blood and of vast extents of territory ravaged by fire and sword
+    is a cruel and lamentable spectacle.
+
+    "While the powers are taking counsel together in the laudable
+    effort to find means of putting an end to the carnage and restore
+    quiet, we have not omitted to defend this noble and just cause
+    to the extent of our power. Long before these recent events,
+    we voluntarily intervened in favor of the Armenian nation. We
+    advised concord, quiet, and equity.
+
+    "Our counsels did not appear to give offense. We mean to pursue
+    the work we have begun, for we desire nothing so much as to see
+    the security of persons and all rights safeguarded throughout
+    the immense empire.
+
+    "In the meantime we have decided to send help to the most tried
+    and the most needy of the Armenians."
+
+
+
+
+AMERICA AND ARMENIA.
+
+Now we cross the ocean and come to the United States. Everywhere here
+the people have shown the greatest sympathy for us; and the Armenians
+are deeply moved and exceedingly grateful for it. The newspapers have
+almost uniformly been on our side also; the only exception of any
+moment has been the New York "Herald," which has steadily favored the
+Sultan. The reason is the same as for General Wallace's like opinion
+of that worthless animal,--mistaking his entertainments and gifts for
+proofs of good character, humanity, and statesmanship. Mr. Bennett,
+too, knows the taste of the dinners at the palace, and perhaps the
+weight of the golden ornaments he gives out. Fortunately his paper
+has very little influence on public opinion; and the real leaders of
+it have remained true.
+
+I believe it will be the Americans who will finally put an end to
+the Armenian atrocities; but the time has not come yet. It will take
+two years more, then this 70,000,000 of people will be aroused as one
+man and stop them. I should like here to give an account of the many
+mass meetings held here for our cause; but I can only take space for
+two, one which I organized in Baltimore, and one held in New York,
+at which I was present.
+
+
+Mass-Meeting at Levering Hall, Baltimore
+
+[Report From Baltimore Sun.]
+
+
+    December 11, 1894.--An enthusiastic meeting of Baltimoreans
+    was held last night at Levering Hall, Johns Hopkins University,
+    to make an emphatic protest against the Turkish outrages upon
+    Christian Armenians, and to urge the United States government to
+    do all in its power to remedy the existing evils.
+
+    The meeting was called by a committee of Baltimore ministers. It
+    was presided over by Attorney-General John P. Poe, and the
+    Rev. T. M. Beadenkoff was the secretary.
+
+    Addresses were made by Mr. Poe, Rev. George H. Filian, an
+    exiled Armenian Christian Minister, Rabbi Wm. Rosenan, and
+    Rev. Dr. F. M. Ellis.
+
+    Cardinal Gibbons and Judge Harlan sent letters regretting their
+    inability to be present, and expressing sympathy with the object
+    of the gathering.
+
+    Mr. Poe, in taking the chair, said:--"The accounts which have
+    reached us of the indescribable atrocities recently committed
+    upon the Christians in Armenia have stirred the indignation and
+    aroused the sympathy of the whole country.
+
+    "At first the nameless outrages inflicted upon them were received
+    with incredulity, for it seemed almost impossible that they could
+    be true. But there is now no reason to discredit the harrowing
+    details. Indeed, denial is hardly any longer attempted, nor is it
+    claimed that the reports of the cruelties of which these helpless
+    people are the victims have been exaggerated.
+
+    "Conscious that the facts cannot be suppressed or belittled,
+    the representatives and apologists of the ruthless perpetrators
+    of these atrocities are endeavoring to palliate and excuse the
+    enormities which they cannot truthfully deny. In order to shield
+    themselves and their governments from universal execration, the
+    world is asked to believe that the Christians of Armenia were
+    themselves the aggressors, and that the horrors of massacre and
+    rapine which have been visited upon them with such relentless
+    fury were but necessary and pardonable measures of punishment and
+    repression. The long record of the patient and submissive sufferers
+    is a silent yet unanswerable refutation of this falsehood.
+
+    "In their misery and woe these sufferers lift their eyes to us,
+    and ask us to extend to them such sympathy and assistance as will
+    rescue them from total ruin.
+
+    "We are met here to-night to express these feelings--to declare
+    that we cannot look unmoved upon the calamities of our Christian
+    brethren, though separated from us by thousands of miles, and to
+    recommend to Congress the adoption of such measures as, without
+    departure from the well-settled policy of our government, will
+    bring to them speedy and effectual deliverance, safety, and peace."
+
+
+Cardinal Gibbons' letter sent to the meeting was as follows:
+
+
+    "I regret my inability to attend the meeting to protest against
+    the alleged outrages recently committed in Armenia.
+
+    "The reports of these outrages have been published with harrowing
+    details throughout the civilized world, and I am not aware that
+    these circumstantial details have been successfully denied.
+
+    "The Christians of Armenia have been conspicuous among their
+    Oriental co-religionists for their enlightened and progressive
+    spirit.
+
+    "It is earnestly to be hoped that these alleged deeds of
+    lawless violence will be thoroughly investigated in a calm and
+    dispassionate spirit, so that the whole truth may be brought
+    to light, and that outraged law may be vindicated. The recital
+    of these inhuman cruelties is calculated to fill every generous
+    heart with righteous indignation.
+
+    "The commercial and social ties that now bind together the human
+    family quicken our sympathy for our suffering brethren, though
+    separated from us by ocean and mountains, and this sympathy is
+    deepened by the consideration that many of their countrymen have
+    cast their lot among us, and that they and their persecuted
+    brethren are united to us in the sacred bonds of a common
+    Christian faith.
+
+    "It is gratifying to note, from recent publications, that a mixed
+    commission, to make thorough investigation, has been appointed
+    by the Sublime Porte."
+
+
+Dr. Cyrus Hamlin of Lexington, Mass., whose article on the outrages
+in Armenia, published in the "Congregationalist," has been used by
+the Turkish government as a defense of the recent actions of the
+soldiers of the Porte, was asked to be present at the meeting, and
+was also asked to define his position as to the probable accuracy of
+the reports from Armenia, and as to the responsibility of the Sultan
+for the occurrence of the massacre.
+
+His letter of reply was read at the meeting. He stated emphatically
+that he believed the accounts of the horrible atrocities to be in
+the main true, and added that he believed the Sultan of Turkey was
+perfectly cognizant of them, and should be held responsible for them.
+
+Extracts were also read from a letter from some Congregational
+missionaries now near the seat of the massacres. The stories which
+they told, having been written nearly a month after the occurrences,
+showed that the earlier dispatches did not enlarge upon or exaggerate
+the horror of the scenes.
+
+Much interest was manifested in the address of Mr. Filian, who
+feelingly described the pitiable condition of his country and his
+countrymen, and graphically portrayed the extent of the recent
+massacres, illustrating his talk with references to a large map of
+Turkey and Armenia.
+
+"Armenia," he said, "was mentioned in the Bible 700 years before
+Christ. It then had an area of 1,000,000 square miles, and it was
+in that land that the Garden of Eden was situated. Adam was created
+there, and within its confines, upon Mt. Ararat, the ark of Noah
+found a resting place after the flood. Armenia was named after Armen,
+the great-grandson of Japhet, one of the three sons of Noah. In the
+time of Christ the population of the country was 40,000,000. It was
+fully Christianized in 310 A.D., and was not only the first Christian
+nation of the earth, but the first civilized nation. And now, from
+all these glories, the people of Armenia have dwindled to 4,000,000."
+
+He concluded by citing the cause of the massacre as the desire of
+the Turks to check the rapid growth and improvement of the Armenians.
+
+The following resolutions, which had been prepared by a
+committee composed of Rev. Dr. Conrad Clever, Rev. W. T. McKenney,
+Rev. Y. T. Tagg, and Rev. C. A. Fulton, were, after some discussion,
+passed:
+
+
+    "It has come to our knowledge through sources that cannot
+    be disputed that an outrageous massacre of Armenians has been
+    executed within the boundaries of the Turkish empire.
+
+    "These outrages have been committed by soldiers who are in the
+    employ and under the direction of the Sultan at Constantinople.
+
+    "The thousands who have been murdered were Christians and peaceably
+    disposed citizens.
+
+    "We, representatives of the citizens of Baltimore, prompted by
+    motives of Christianity and common brotherhood, do call upon our
+    government to use every power in its control, in harmony with that
+    international law which governs nations in their relationship
+    with each other, to aid these sufferers, and if possible to
+    bring such influence to bear upon the Turkish government as
+    will render justice to those who have been deprived of their
+    rightful liberties as honest and industrious citizens of one of
+    the recognized empires of the earth."
+
+
+It was also resolved that a committee of five, with Mr. John P. Poe
+chairman, should be appointed to present the resolutions to the
+president at the earliest opportunity, and "to gratefully acknowledge
+the steps already taken in the appointment of an American member of
+the committee of investigation."
+
+
+Mass Meeting In Dr. Greer's Church.
+
+[Report from N.Y. Tribune.]
+
+The interest which the American Christian feels in the Armenian
+question was shown by the large attendance at St. Bartholomew's Church,
+last night, when a special service was held under the direction of
+Rev. Dr. David H. Greer. The object was to express indignation at
+Turkey's acts of violence toward Armenians, and to enter a protest
+against a course of conduct which is not in keeping with the spirit
+of the nineteenth century.
+
+The main body of the church was reserved for Armenians, of whom there
+were about 500 present.
+
+After the processional hymn, "The Son of God Goes Forth," had been
+given, the full choir sang the anthem, "I Will Mention the Loving
+Kindnesses of the Lord."
+
+Dr. Greer then spoke of the outrages committed last September in
+Armenia, the particulars of which had only recently become known. He
+said in part:
+
+"The purpose of this meeting is not only to express sympathy with
+those who have suffered, and are suffering now from the atrocities and
+barbarous cruelties inflicted by Turkish soldiers, but for protesting
+against the further infliction of such atrocities. What has been done
+is done, and cannot be undone; but if it is possible to prevent in any
+measure a repetition of it in the future, it should become everyone
+who is not a Christian merely, but a man, to exert himself to the
+utmost in that direction."
+
+The speaker told of the untrustworthiness of reports from Turkey,
+and said that letters recently received from good sources give the
+following details:
+
+Early in September some Kurds--the brigands of that region--robbed
+some Armenian villages of their flocks. The Armenians tried to recover
+their property, and about a dozen Kurds were killed. The authorities
+then telegraphed to the Sultan that the Armenians had killed some
+of the Sultan's troops. The Sultan on hearing this ordered the army,
+infantry, and cavalry, to put down the rebellion; and not finding any
+rebellion to put down, they cleared the country so that none should
+occur in the future. A number of towns and villages--the estimate
+varying from twenty-four to forty-eight--were destroyed. Men, women,
+and children were put to the sword, and from six to ten thousand
+persons massacred in the district of Sassoun. As the result of this
+wholesale butchery and slaughter, an epidemic of cholera has broken
+out, which is still ravaging the country.
+
+The Turk has always been a cruel force, and has practiced his cruelties
+hitherto with impunity. But he cannot do so now. An enlightened
+public opinion is to-day the governing power of the world. It is to
+that we have to trust to accomplish moral reforms, not only here, but
+everywhere. It is stronger than states; it is mightier than empires,
+and the most arbitrary and autocratic of despots feel its controlling
+force. It is the force that moves the world. If meetings similar to
+this are held in different parts of the country and public sentiment
+aroused, even the Turkish authorities will not be impervious to it.
+
+Dr. Greer read a letter from Bishop Potter, in which he expressed
+his regret at being unable to be present at the meeting. "I am,"
+he wrote, "A Monroe-doctrine disciple, first, last, and all time,
+but I am a human being also, and while I think our competency as a
+nation to send a commissioner to Turkish-Armenia is open to question,
+I am quite clear that our duty as something else than savages is to
+protest against barbarism wherever it is to be found."
+
+The Rev. Abraham Johannan then spoke in Armenian, and was followed by
+the Rev. Dr. George H. McGrew, who, during years of missionary work
+in Armenia, had become familiar with the people and their customs,
+and gave vivid pictures of the hatred of the Turks toward any who
+acknowledges Christ as the Son of God.
+
+
+
+Mr. Depew's Speech.
+
+Chauncey M. Depew was then introduced, and made an eloquent appeal
+for the Armenians. He said in part:
+
+"The closing days of 1894 could not be passed more appropriately than
+in a protest by the Christian peoples of the world against the outrages
+upon humanity which will be the ever-living disgrace of the dying
+year. The industrial and financial disturbances which have convulsed
+the world, and caused such widespread distress during the last twelve
+months, are of temporary and passing importance compared with the
+merciless persecutions of a people because of their religious faith.
+
+"It is a criticism upon the boastfulness of the nineteenth century that
+there should be any occasion for this meeting, but it is also a tribute
+to the spirit of the century that this meeting is held. There have
+been religious wars and persecutions, and bloody reprisals, in all ages
+of modern times. They arouse our indignation and our horror, but they
+excited little attention beyond the countries where they occurred from
+the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries. The distinguishing feature
+of our period is an international public opinion. It came with steam
+and electricity; it is the child of liberty of conscience. The Turkish
+government, founded by the sword of Islam, is a hierarchy and a creed,
+and not a government of liberty and law."
+
+Mr. Depew then described the disadvantages under which Christians dwell
+in Turkey, and how their standing before the law amounts to nothing.
+
+"It was the atrocities incident to such institutions," he said, "which
+aroused Europe and liberated Greece, which caused the other nations to
+stand still and risk the balance of power, while Russia freed Bulgaria,
+Roumania, and Servia, and made them practically independent states. It
+was to assure religious liberty that the treaty of Berlin recognized
+the autonomy of the states, and bound the Christian nations of Europe
+to protect the Christian people still within the Turkish dominion."
+
+After holding up to ridicule the European "peace" which is
+being maintained with continually growing armies, Mr. Depew said:
+"The Armenians are the New Englanders of the East. Their intellect,
+industry, and thrift make them prosperous." He spoke of their being the
+oldest Christian people, and of the sacrifices which they have made
+and which they daily make in the cause of their faith. The horrible
+outrages committed against the peasants in Armenia were graphically
+described, and in this connection Mr. Depew said:
+
+"The story of the attacks of these savage hordes and no less savage
+troops reads as if fourteenth-century conditions, repeated with all
+their horrors in 1894, were the means adopted by Providence to shame
+the civilized world into the performance of its duty, and to stir
+the Christian conscience to a sense of its neglect of it."
+
+Mr. Depew's description of the heroism of the Armenian women who,
+rather than be captured by the Turks and suffer defilement, threw
+themselves into the ravine which surrounded their village, moved the
+audience deeply. He went on:
+
+"The world has taken little note of this supreme tragedy. Fifty years
+from now, and some painter will become immortal by putting it upon
+canvas. A few years, and some novelist will mount to enduring fame
+by a romance, of which it will be the center. A few years, and some
+poet will embalm it in verse which will stand in literature alongside
+of the battle lyrics of Campbell, Macaulay, and Tennyson. Some orator
+will give to the narrative and its lesson a setting and an inspiration,
+so that from the stage of the school and the academy, from the lips of
+the boys and the girls, it will teach down the centuries the triumphs
+of patriotism and faith.
+
+"Yesterday an old man of world-wide fame celebrated his eighty-fifth
+birthday. He had been the ruler of the British Empire--he is a
+private citizen. Among the utterances which he deemed appropriate,
+in reply to the congratulations which came to him from every land,
+was an indignant protest against the outrages against the Armenian
+Christians, and a demand upon the Christian people of the earth to
+compel their governments to call upon Turkey for a halt.
+
+"This warning and appeal from the lips of Mr. Gladstone was flashed
+across continents and under oceans; it penetrated cabinets, it
+thundered in the ears of sovereigns, and through the great journals
+it thrilled every household and every church of every race and of
+every tongue.
+
+"To-morrow--aye, to-day--Rosebery is consulting with the French
+Premier, and France and England are speaking to the Emperor of Germany,
+and the young Czar and the King of Italy, and the Emperor of Austria
+for united action, which will bring the Turk to mercy, peace, and
+liberty for the Armenian Christian without destroying the equilibrium
+of Europe.
+
+"We seek no foreign alliances, we court no international complications,
+but we claim the right under the Fatherhood of God to demand for our
+brother and our sister in the distant East, law, justice, and the
+exercise of conscience."
+
+
+
+Dr. Greer then read resolutions expressing sympathy for the Armenians,
+and protesting against further outrages. The document closes as
+follows:
+
+
+    "Resolved, That we hereby extend our deepest sympathy to the
+    Armenian people who, for their Christian faith, have repeatedly
+    suffered unspeakable cruelties from their Turkish rulers and
+    Kurdish neighbors;
+
+    "Resolved, That we hereby express to our Christian brethren in
+    England and on the continent, who are endeavoring to investigate
+    these outrages and to bring the perpetrators of them to justice,
+    our hearty good-will and godspeed. We hope and believe that they
+    will not pause until the extent of these atrocities is clearly
+    ascertained and the responsibility for them finally fixed;
+
+    "Resolved, That in their efforts to provide against the recurrence
+    of similar acts of oppression in the future, they shall receive
+    our hearty and unwavering moral support;
+
+    "Resolved, That we earnestly call upon our Christian
+    fellow-citizens everywhere throughout the country to organize and
+    express an indignant and universal protest against the continuance
+    of a state of affairs under which it is possible for women and
+    children to be murdered simply because they are Christians."
+
+
+The resolutions were adopted by a rising vote, and the
+Rev. Dr. Tiffany, Archdeacon of New York, pronounced the benediction.
+
+Very many such mass meetings were held in different cities of the
+United States. The U. S. Senate discussed the question and made
+similar resolutions. Mr. Call submitted the following as a substitute
+for the committee resolutions:
+
+
+    "'That humanity and religion, and the principles on which all
+    civilization rests, demand that the civilized governments shall,
+    by peaceful negotiations, or, if necessary, by force of arms,
+    prevent and suppress the cruelties and massacres inflicted on the
+    Armenian subjects of Turkey, by the establishment of a government
+    of their own people, with such guarantees by the civilized powers
+    of its authority and permanence as shall be adequate to that end.'"
+
+
+All these resolutions, both of the people and the Senate, went to
+President Cleveland, but he has not seen fit to act on them. It would
+be absurd to impute this to weakness or unwillingness to decide a
+new question: Mr. Cleveland, whatever his limitations, has never
+lacked firmness or decision. Doubtless it is because he thinks this
+country ought not to break away from its old traditions and involve
+itself with European concerns. But this is not a European concern;
+it is European, Asiatic, American, the world's; the concern of all
+humanity, not to say Christianity.
+
+It concerns the lives and result of sixty years' work of American
+missionaries; the government cannot wash its hands of all concern
+or responsibility for them, and alone of all great powers declare
+that its Christian citizens may not spread Christianity. And a great
+and rich nation has no more right to go off with its hands in its
+pockets, and declare that it has no obligation to the well-being of
+the world, than a great, rich man has a right to declare that he has no
+obligation to society. The rich man only keeps his money because there
+is a civilized society with laws and policemen to protect him in it;
+this nation only keeps at peace because other nations' civilization
+and international law prevent a great combination to plunder it. It
+ought to accept its share of the general social duty--man the fire
+pumps, and do police work if needed; and not let a thug murder one
+of its companions--nay, relatives--before its eyes. It is bound as a
+Christian state not to let a bloody and sensual Mohammedan barbarism
+extinguish the light of a sister Christian community; it is bound
+as a nation of civilized beings not to let a horde of savages like
+its own Indians stamp out a civilized nation millions in number
+by horrors unspeakable, every atrocity of butchery, and rape, and
+torture that ever sprung from the cruelty or the lust of man. These
+things are as awful, as hideous to the Armenians as they would be to
+you if fifty thousand Indians overflowed Colorado and inflicted them
+on your American families. What would you feel and do if most of that
+State were turned into a burnt desolation, with here and there a cabin
+standing, Denver half obliterated and ten thousand of its inhabitants
+slaughtered in cold blood, hundreds impaled, or burnt, or flayed alive,
+the sisters and daughters of your own households by thousands violated
+over and over, thousands made slaves and concubines in the wigwams
+of dirty Indian brutes, and others wandering as naked beggars in the
+wintry snows about the ruins of their once happy homes? Yet this is
+a picture of what happened over part of Armenia; can you think it is
+of no concern to you? Ought Congress and the President to think it
+of no concern to them? Surely there are some things where national
+lines ought not to count.
+
+Mr. Cleveland has been unfortunate in his advisers, partly chosen by
+himself, and partly inherited. Minister Terrill has taken the word of
+the Sultan and the palace clique, and made no attempt to investigate
+for himself; consequently he is full of respect for the Mohammedans,
+and scorn for the Armenians. Admiral Kirtland visited a few seaports,
+found the Armenians there working as usual (of course--the massacres
+were carried on where news could be intercepted and suppressed by the
+Turks), and reports that he didn't find any evidence of outrages or
+disorders, and considers the stories false, or much exaggerated. And
+such lazy or prejudiced negatives as these are to be counted as
+outweighing the sworn official reports of consuls on the spot, and of
+pitiful letters from the survivors among the very victims themselves!
+
+I have said that Mr. Cleveland does not lack firmness. He does not in
+internal policy, but he certainly did not show enough in the matter of
+these atrocities. The Sultan asked him to nominate a commissioner to
+join those of other powers in investigating the Sassoun massacres. He
+appointed Milo A. Jewett, consul at Sivas; but Mr. Jewett was much
+too keen and forcible a man for the Sultan, who refused to let him
+take his place on the commission. Mr. Cleveland did not insist,
+as he ought. The very fact that the Sultan did not want it, was the
+best of reasons for persisting.
+
+Again, last year, the Senate voted to send two more consuls to Armenia;
+Mr. Cleveland appointed Messrs. Chilton and Hunter to go to Erzeroum
+and Harpoot respectively, but the Sultan refused to accept them,
+and they had to come back. To consent to this was wrong and weak;
+the American government should firmly declare its right to protect
+its own interests in its own way.
+
+But the President will act if the American people will stand at his
+back. When will they send forth a mandate that these horrors must stop?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES.
+
+
+THE GREAT QUESTION.
+
+The Armenian atrocities can never be fully understood by those who
+may be born in a free land, where there are no Turks, no Kurds, no
+Circassians, no Georgians, no Zeibecks, and no Mohammedan religion,
+with its oppressions and persecutions.
+
+Why the Sultan orders the Turks, Kurds, or other followers to destroy
+the Armenians, whereby more than 100,000 of them have recently
+been killed, and 500,000 been rendered homeless and left to die of
+starvation in the streets and fields, or why the Sultan ordered all
+who are spared to accept the Mohammedan religion, is never referred
+to with any sort of correctness by the newspapers or periodicals in
+their accounts of the dreadful atrocities taking place in Armenia,
+and therefore the people are left in ignorance and doubt respecting
+the true situation both as to the causes and the atrocities themselves.
+
+
+
+
+FIRST CAUSE.
+
+The first cause is a very simple one. That the Armenians are
+Christians, and the Turks, Kurds, Circassians, and Georgians in Turkey
+are Mohammedans, and the Mohammedan religion urges brutality. It has
+already been shown to be not a religion, but a system of falsehood,
+hatred, cruelty, lust, and sensuality; of course, these things combined
+can only result in corruption. It would seem that Mohammed must
+have taken his inspiration from both the domestic fowl and a bull. A
+rooster is a polygamist; he has his hens without limit. So Mohammed,
+the professed prophet, had wives without limit. He claimed to have
+received a revelation from Heaven directing him to take to himself
+any woman he pleased, no matter whether she was married and had a
+husband or not; that made no difference with Mohammed. He took any
+woman he wanted, and if her husband objected he was sure to be put to
+death. Mohammedans cannot differ from their prophet, they follow him,
+they strive to imitate him just as much as true Christians strive to
+follow and imitate Christ. Further, cocks, as a rule, have crowing
+spells five times in twenty-four hours, and generally mount a high
+place and do their screaming there. So the Mohammedan priests, who
+are called Moezzins, ascend a minaret, or a tower, and five times in
+twenty four hours they call the people to worship. There is so little
+confidence placed in the priests or criers that the people prefer to
+have a blind one go on the minaret to give the calls, so that he may
+not see their women unveiled in their houses.
+
+From a bull, because he is not only immoderately lustful, but
+fierce and destructive; and the farmers say that the older he
+grows, the worse he is in both respects. It is certainly so with
+Mohammedans,--naturally enough, for nothing is so lickerish as an old
+man who has been sensual all his life, and cruelty is a trait which
+grows with indulgence. The Sultan grows more of a beast, and more of
+a fiend as he grows older, and all the Mohammedans are of the same
+stripe. Armenian men and Armenian women alike dread the approach of
+an old Turk far more than of a young one. Unless one has witnessed a
+fight between bulls, he can have little idea of Turkish warfare. No
+animal fight can approach it in ferocity or insatiability; when a bull
+conquers another, he never leaves him until he gores him to death. So
+when Mohammedans conquer a nation, be sure they will exterminate
+it. To them mercy means apostasy; to leave a man alive or a woman
+unravished is to be false to the precepts of Mohammed. They cannot
+help it, it is their religion; a religion for wild animals. Their
+priests go to the mosques and preach to them thus: "Believers in
+Mohammed, love your fellow believers, but hate and kill all others;
+they are Giaours, heathen dogs, filthy hogs." To kill a Christian and
+to kill a hog is all the same to a Mohammedan; there is as little sin
+in one as the other. The priests say, "Ask them to accept our religion;
+if they do, you must not harm them; but if they will not, kill them,
+for they have no right to live in a Mohammedan country. It is not only
+no sin, but a great virtue; the more Christians you kill, the greater
+reward you will have from Allah and his prophet Mohammed." The Turks
+are slaughtering the Armenians to earn this reward. Of course if the
+men apostatize they are spared; but the Turk has no notion of losing
+the gratification of his lust on the women in that way. A woman who
+falls into their hands need not hope to keep her virtue on any terms,
+even by abjuring her religion; they violate her first, and force her
+to become a Mohammedan afterwards.
+
+Let it be fully understood throughout the Christian world that
+the massacre is a religious demand; the Turks have to comply. As
+a Christian tries to be faithful to Christ and his teachings, so
+the Turks are trying to be faithful to their prophet and his. They
+go to the mosques and pray, "Allah, help us; strengthen our hands
+and sharpen our swords to kill the infidel Armenians." Then they
+come from the mosques and begin to kill, and plunder, and outrage,
+and commit every sort of indescribable atrocities on the peaceable
+and defenseless Armenians. And it will grow worse instead of better,
+since so-called Christian nations have given the Sultan public notice
+that they will not interfere with him. Do not be deceived by his
+lying reports; there was no Armenian rebellion; they could not rebel;
+they did not kill the Turks, they never dreamed of such madness. This
+awful fate has fallen on them purely and simply for being Christians.
+
+
+
+
+SECOND CAUSE.
+
+This seems frivolous and incredible, but it is true; namely, a dream
+of the Sultan.
+
+Some six years ago, a report was circulated in Constantinople about
+this dream. It was, that in his sleep the Sultan saw a little tree
+planted in the center of his kingdom. It began to grow larger and
+larger, till it covered the whole Turkish Empire, and overshadowed even
+the mountains. All the nations of Turkey dwelt under its glorious and
+majestic shade. Still it grew, till the branches crossed the oceans
+and covered all the other kingdoms, finally the whole world. He
+woke, but the dream troubled him deeply, and he called some of the
+ulemas or wise men, of whom he always has a number in his palace, to
+interpret it for him. They explained it by saying that the tree was
+Christianity; Christian missionary work in the heart of his empire. It
+was a menace to his throne and country, and would grow till it covered
+the world. The Sultan, alarmed and angry, asked what he should do. The
+ulemas advised him to cut it down while it was small, and he has been
+doing his best to follow their advice. He did not dare to kill the
+missionaries, but he is accomplishing the same result by destroying
+their churches and schools and forbidding any more to be built,
+confiscating all religious books, and killing the native Christian
+ministers. He has employed every device to force the missionaries
+to depart by paralyzing their work; if they chose to stay, he would
+accuse them of inciting the natives to revolt. He has succeeded so far;
+plunder, burning, torture, murder, violation and forced conversion of
+Christian women, have practically put an end to missionary work. Now
+the time has come to kill the missionaries; and he will very likely
+find some excuse for doing it--he has an arsenal of falsehoods always
+at his command. Quite likely he will say the Armenians killed them,
+and then murder more Armenians in reprisal. His cunning is as infinite
+as his cruelty. He gives a charter to a missionary institution and
+destroys ten others. He invites Minister Terrell to the palace, gives
+him grand receptions, and loads him with promises and flatteries,
+and all the time goes on obliterating the schools and churches and
+killing the native pastors. He creates a ruin; when the European powers
+protest, he says he will make amends, and he does it by perpetrating
+a greater one, in which the first is forgotten. He massacres hundreds
+in a city; when the powers protest, he says he will restore order,
+and does it by ordering thousands killed in another city, and the
+first is again forgotten. His atrocities increase as he finds that he
+is to be unmolested; he is resolute to cut down that spreading tree,
+and has already cut thousands of branches from it. And the Christian
+nations look on and say they cannot help it. They know perfectly well
+what is going on, but their "interests" of one sort or another will
+not permit them to remove that awful blot on civilization.
+
+
+
+
+THIRD CAUSE.
+
+The Mohammedan population in Turkey is decreasing, and the Christians
+are increasing. When the present Sultan captured the throne from his
+brother Murad, Turkey had 40,000,000 people; as soon as he girded
+the sword of Osman, he began the great battle with Russia, and after
+the Turko-Russian war he found himself with 18,000,000. Who are the
+lost? Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina,
+a part of Macedonia, Cyprus, and a part of Armenia. Practically the
+whole of Europe was lost for Turkey except Constantinople and the
+district Edirne or Adrianople. Turkey is not an empire any more, but it
+is a little kingdom; rather a little feudal system, or more accurately
+still, a little anarchy. If it were not for mutual European jealousy,
+the Sultan could not keep his anarchism. Yet many still think that
+the Ottoman Empire is a great one, a powerful government. They look
+at the Sultan and his dominion through a magnifying glass. This shows
+ignorance. The Turks are decayed and are decaying. The sick man of
+Turkey is the dead man of Turkey, and ought to be buried, but the
+European powers do not bury him because there are precious stones
+and jewelry in the coffin; no matter how bad the corpse smells,
+they will endure it. And the bad smell of the Sultan is killing
+hundreds of thousands of Christians; but the dead stays where it is,
+and may stay for some years, but the end will come before many have
+gone by. When I say that the days of the Sultan are numbered, and
+the brutal Turkish mis-rule will cease, many Americans will rejoin
+"that the same has often been said long years since, though the empire
+remains to-day, and seems likely to remain." The fact is, however,
+that during my own life more than half of it has gone to pieces,
+and the fragment which remains will go to pieces soon. Permit me to
+say that all former prophecies have been mistaken because those who
+made them have judged and misjudged the situation from an occidental
+standpoint; I judge it from that of a native, who knows the realities
+as only a native can. What can an English ambassador or an American
+minister in Constantinople, staying perhaps two or three years,
+and entertained and decorated by the crafty Sultan, know about the
+internal state of Turkey? Having traveled through the country, lived
+and preached for years at a time; preached in different cities,
+including Constantinople, I can see signs of a break-up that a
+foreigner would not notice.
+
+The reason the Turkish population does not increase is this: The
+army has to be made up of Mohammedans, partly because the Sultan does
+not put arms into the hands of the Christians, for obvious reasons,
+since they have no motive to uphold and every motive to fight him,
+and partly because to be a soldier in Turkey is a holy service, the
+privilege of Mohammedans alone. As there is a large standing army,
+nearly all the Mohammedan youths have to become soldiers. Their service
+begins when they are about twenty years old. The shortest term is
+five years; for many it is ten; and even after that, there are many
+who cannot escape. If a young Mohammedan is not married at twenty,
+obviously he cannot marry until twenty-five anyway, and perhaps
+thirty,--very late for a country population; if he is married his
+wife is virtually a widow for five to ten years. Now the reader can
+see my drift. With marriages so late, and husbands so long absent,
+Turkish families are small; they do not make good the deaths. And
+there is a still plainer cause: The soldiers being very poorly fed,
+and constant fighting going on, ninety per cent. die in the army,
+and so never have any families; the flower of the nation perishes
+barren. Those who survive and return are pale and sick, good for
+nothing, a burden to their families and to the nation. The Armenians
+have to support the Sultan's army, since they do not furnish it,
+but they rear families, and are drowning out the Turks.
+
+Another cause of decrease is the pilgrimage to Mecca, where Mohammed
+was born. On an average, a million pilgrims go there every year,--of
+course not all from Turkey, but most of them, and every year about
+50,000 of them die of cholera before reaching home, from the Holy Well
+(Zemzem sooyi), which is full of unholy foulness; even those who live
+and return home take that water to their families, and many of the
+latter die too. Cholera is perpetual in Turkey, and it originates at
+Mecca. When I was in Marsovan twelve at one time went on the pilgrimage
+and only four returned. It is a great virtue to die where Mohammed was
+born, or to drink that water and die, and they are going to him at a
+rapid rate. Last year, when the English, Russian, and French consuls
+at Jiddeh, the seaport of Mecca, established a quarantine to detain
+those coming from Mecca and bringing cholera, they were murdered by
+the Mohammedan Arabs, who said they were interfering with the sacred
+religion, and the Sultan had to pay the indemnity.
+
+Still another reason is the shocking increase of abortions among the
+wealthy town dwellers. The Mohammedan women are growing to love selfish
+indulgences better than the duties and delights of motherhood. They
+do not wish to be "bothered" by children, and they take medicine to
+prevent having them. Where the women come to this, it is better for
+a race to die out; they have outlived their purpose.
+
+A fourth cause is polygamy. People naturally think that marrying more
+than one wife should increase the number of children; but the facts
+emphatically prove the reverse. The polygamous Turks do not increase
+as fast as the Christians who have but one wife.
+
+For the fifth, the Turks are an exceedingly sensual race, by nature and
+education, as I have shown. The very religion that should help to make
+them pure, helps to make them vile. Lust leads them, and they follow;
+nature prompts, and their religion requires it. I am truly ashamed
+to tell it, but even when they go to their mosques to worship, they
+manifest their sensuality. Not only the relations of male and female
+are very rank, but between male and male they are worse; between
+the old Turks and young Turks, the very boys, the relations are too
+disgusting to describe. All such moral corruptions not only weaken a
+people's forces morally, but physically as well; they substitute barren
+lusts for legitimate gratifications, selfish passions for mutual ones.
+
+Hence the Mohammedans are fast decreasing in Turkey, and the Sultan
+is terrified, and hopes by killing a large part of the Christians,
+and forcing the survivors to accept Mohammedanism, that their power
+of multiplication may be the boon of a Mohammedan people. Out of the
+18,000,000 inhabitants of Turkey, 6,000,000 are native Christians,
+about half of them Armenians. This leaves only 12,000,000 for the
+whole Mohammedan population in the present Turkish dominion; and
+it grows less, while the Christian part grows greater. To check
+this increase, the Sultan a few years ago made the obtaining of a
+marriage certificate compulsory, and the Turkish authorities have
+understood that they are to make it as hard as possible to get; it
+has cost great sums of money to obtain it. But for many months now,
+there have been no marriages at all in Armenia; the authorities will
+not grant certificates on any terms, and to prevent any more Christians
+being born, the daughters and young brides of the murdered thousands
+are made mothers through violation by the Turks and Kurds.
+
+The Christians have been increasing not only from within, but from
+without. Europeans have begun to go wherever railroads go. Hence
+another reason for massacre and forced conversion. That the Sultan
+has been planning this massacre ever since the Turko-Russian war is
+evidenced by the fact that after the war he encouraged or ordered
+a number of Mohammedan tribes--Circassians, Georgians, Kurds, and
+Lazes--to emigrate from Russia to Armenia, confiscated masses of
+Christians' property, and gave it to them, and directed them to
+reduce the number of Armenian Christians by any way they saw fit,
+giving them full license to do what they would with Armenians, without
+penalty. You know what that means with fierce tribes of human wild
+animals, cruel and foul, and he knew what it meant too, and intended
+it to mean that. Before his time the Christians far outnumbered
+the Mohammedans in Armenia proper; but under his "government"--his
+deliberate policy of extermination--great numbers fled the country,
+numbers were killed and their women made concubines to Mohammedans,
+and now the Mohammedans are more numerous in Armenia than the Armenian
+Christians. And if the Sultan is permitted to go on, he will kill a
+million more, the rest will be "converted," and then he will call the
+attention of the European powers to this fact, and say, "See here, you
+ask me to reform Armenia; Armenia is reformed. There is no Armenia;
+there are no Armenians; the people in that part of my empire are
+Mohammedans, and they are satisfied with my government. What do you
+want from me? What right have you to interfere with my country and
+religion?" That is his plan. When the Berlin Congress was held, the
+Armenians were the majority in their own country, and the Congress
+decided on reforms for it; the Sultan promised them, with the full
+intention of depopulating and converting it, and then telling the
+powers there was no need of reform there. He is doing this now
+incessantly, and as remorselessly as a fiend.
+
+
+
+
+FOURTH CAUSE.
+
+The Armenians are rich and educated, and the Mohammedans are poor and
+ignorant. The Turks have never cared for money or education. They have
+always said, "Let the Christians make the money, and we will take it
+from them whenever we choose. We will be the rulers, the soldiers,
+the police; we will have the sword in our hands. Then their property,
+and their women too, will be ours at will, and we can force them to
+become Mohammedans." Such being their reasoning, they took good care
+of their swords and their guns, which were furnished to them from
+Europe and the United States. The Christian Armenians believing that
+the great Christian powers would never permit the Turks to wreak their
+murderous and shameful will on them, did not risk the vengeance of
+the Turks by secretly buying weapons, nor train themselves in the use
+of arms. They trained their minds, got education, traveled in Europe
+and this United States, enlightened themselves in every way they
+could; they sharpened their intellects rather than their swords. They
+learned to make money also; they established all the business houses
+in Turkey; all the Turks that get employment in the cities get it from
+the Armenian merchants. As far as Turkey has any finances, they are
+in the hands of Armenians. Go where you will in Turkey, seaboard or
+interior, all the money and education belong to the Armenians, poverty
+and ignorance are the portion of the Turks. Ninety per cent. of the
+Armenians know how to read and write, while ninety per cent. of the
+Turks do not. Sixty per cent. of the Mohammedan property has been
+sold to the Christian Armenians within twenty years. When I was in
+Armenia, the Mohammedans were always selling and the Christians always
+buying. One day a Turk was going to sell his field to an Armenian, and
+they went to the government office to make the transfer. The officer
+in charge said he could not transfer the property of a Mohammedan to
+a Christian. This was something new. "Why is that?" they asked. "The
+governor forbids it," said the officer, "he told me that hereafter it
+should not be done." Finally both went to the governor and asked him
+why he forbade it. The governor replied, "Of late the Armenians have
+bought up the fields of the Mohammedans, till they own the greater
+part of them; if we let them go on they will own everything, and the
+Mohammedans will be left without property. Therefore I forbid it; no
+Mohammedan shall hereafter sell any property to a Christian." He told
+the Turk he might sell his field to another Mohammedan, but not to a
+Christian. "All right," said the Turk, "I will sell it to you, then,
+at the same price, or maybe a little less; will you buy it? I need the
+money to support my family." "I cannot buy it," said the governor;
+"I have no money." "I know that," replied the Turk; "and not only
+you, but all the other Mohammedans have no money either. They are
+all poor. I cannot find any Turk who has the money to buy my field,
+and I need money, and I have to sell it to that Christian." Finally
+the governor was forced to give the permission, and the Armenian
+bought the field. This is only one case, but it is typical. There are
+thousands of just such. And this is another cause which aroused the
+jealousy of the Sultan and his subordinates to order the massacre of
+the Armenians, and the seizure of their property.
+
+I often hear it said in this country, "Let us help the poor Armenians";
+and I feel very indignant. Poor Armenians! There are poor among the
+Armenians, as among all nations; but the Armenians as a body are not
+poor. They are the richest people in Turkey. That is one reason why
+they are plundered and killed. I do not want the American people to
+help the Armenians as a poor, ignorant, miserable people, but because
+they deserve help as a rich, noble, Christian nation being rooted out
+by plunder and murder, for the benefit of, and by means of a horde
+of savages. I will illustrate by a very little story.
+
+When Alexander the Great reached the mountains of Afghanistan on
+his way to India, the Afghan king refused to let him pass through
+his country. After a great battle, and the slaughter of thousands on
+both sides, Alexander was victorious. The king himself was captured,
+and brought before Alexander, who said to him, "You are my captive;
+how shall I treat you?" "As a king," said the prisoner. Alexander
+was charmed with the dignity of the answer, and replied, "You shall
+be treated as one, and a brave one. I leave you on your throne;
+but permit me to pass on to India." So the king kept his royalty as
+before, and Alexander continued his conquests.
+
+Such is the Armenian question. They are a noble people, an enterprising
+people, but captives in the hands of the Turks. But the Turks have not
+the magnanimity of Alexander. We need a nation which does have it, to
+say to the Armenians, "Remain where you are, in your ancient home, and
+rule there; govern yourselves freely as a Christian nation. You have
+fought centuries after centuries for home and honor, and now we come
+to your help, to establish you on the old Armenian throne." Do not help
+the Armenians merely as a poor people, but help them because they were
+rich, and now they are stripped and poor, without fault of their own,
+from hate of their (and your) religion, and envy of their superiority.
+
+
+
+
+FIFTH CAUSE.
+
+This is perhaps the greatest of all. It is the American missionary
+work in Armenia. It was in 1831 that the American Board of Foreign
+Missions established the first Protestant mission there. Their purpose
+was to send missionaries, not simply to the Armenians, but to all
+classes and sects in Turkey. Those pioneer American missionaries were
+among the noblest of men, and greatest of teachers, preachers, and
+organizers. I will name a few: Dr. Goodell, Dr. Dwight, Dr. Schaffler,
+Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, founder of Robert College, living now at Lexington,
+Mass., 86 years old, one of the greatest missionaries ever born,
+Dr. H. Van Lennep, another great missionary, greatly beloved by
+the Armenians. Books could be written about these Christian chiefs,
+to whom, and to the American people who sent them, we Armenians are
+grateful. When Dr. Van Lennep died at Great Barrington, Mass., about
+six years ago, the author was raising money here to build a church
+in Armenia, as already told. He went to condole with Mrs. Van Lennep,
+and told her not to put any monument over the doctor's grave. He would
+see the other Armenians, and as a grateful people they would erect
+him a beautiful one. He kept his word, and his faith was justified;
+they raised the funds and put up the monument. It stands in the
+cemetery at Great Barrington, with the following inscription:--
+
+
+                      Henry John Van Lennep, D.D.
+
+                               1815-1889.
+
+                 For Thirty Years Missionary in Turkey.
+
+            This monument is erected by his Armenian friends
+            in grateful appreciation of his heroic virtues,
+            and endearing services rendered to their people.
+
+                         The beloved Missionary
+                              Van Lennep.
+
+
+When the noble missionaries went to Turkey, the Turks hated them, the
+Jews hated them, the Greeks hated them, and these three peoples hate
+them still. But the Armenians welcomed them; they loved and esteemed
+them, and they love and esteem them more than ever now. The question
+is often asked "Are not the Armenians a Christian people? Then why
+did the missionaries go there?" Yes, they are; but still they needed
+the missionaries, and need them now more than ever. Why? Well, for
+two reasons. Their churches and schools having been destroyed by
+the long oppression by the Turks, they needed help from a sister
+Christian church to help them educate themselves, and build up
+churches, schools, and colleges, benevolent institutions, printing
+offices. The missionaries have done that great work in Armenia, but
+I am sorry to say that some of their creations have been destroyed
+by the Turks during the recent atrocities.
+
+The second reason is that the Armenian church stood in great need of
+reformation. I have already explained in this book (see "The Armenian
+Church") how in the last desperate struggle for national existence,
+a part of the people reluctantly accepted help from the Pope of
+Rome, at the price of uniting with the Roman church, and using its
+rituals, images, etc. Hence, in many of the Armenian churches there
+was no pure gospel preaching; rituals were the leading element of the
+services. There was therefore great need that such preaching should be
+introduced; the missionaries did so, and the Armenian church has been
+greatly reformed. My purpose here is not to write a church history,
+nor to give an account of missionary work in Turkey. I mention it
+incidentally as a chief cause of the atrocities.
+
+The missionaries have trained both boys and girls in their schools
+for sixty-five years now; many thousands of them. The Turks have
+not been permitted to go to them, the Greeks are too proud to
+send their children, but the Armenians were hungry for education,
+especially for an American education. The new-born baby of the time
+when the missionaries arrived is now sixty-five years old, with his
+American education, which has wonderfully elevated the Armenians,
+and turned Armenia almost into a second America, educationally. The
+American colleges in different parts of Turkey are great centers
+of light; about ninety per cent. of the students and the leading
+native professors and teachers are Armenians. I will mention a few:
+Robert College and the Woman's College in Constantinople; the Ladies'
+Seminary in Smyrna; Anatolia College, the Ladies' Seminary, and the
+Theological Seminary in Marsovan; the writer's pastorate, Central
+Turkey College and the Ladies' College at Aintab, Euphrates College
+(first called Armenia College, but the name is forbidden by the Turks,
+as encouraging Armenian independence) and the Ladies' Department at
+Harpoot; the Academy and the Theological Seminary at Marash, where I
+studied three years; the colleges both for girls and boys at Beirut;
+and many high schools and primary schools throughout Armenia. The
+American Bible House is a great depot of Christian literature. These
+are all American Christian institutions, and nine-tenths of their
+inmates are Armenians.
+
+The reader can clearly see how the Armenians have become a wholly new
+race; they have had the advantage of American education, and it has
+revolutionized the nation. It has elevated, refined, and prospered
+them. This great improvement among the Armenians aroused the jealousy
+of the Sultan and his underlings. He first began to close the schools;
+then to imprison the native Armenian teachers and preachers; then to
+kill the Armenians and destroy the missionary institutions, that no
+Armenian may be left to go to any American school, and that if any
+escapes, there may be no American school to receive him. I consider
+this missionary education the very greatest cause for the atrocities,
+and the Armenian bishops agree with me. Here is what the Armenian
+bishop of Oorfa (Edessa), where about 8,000 Armenians were massacred,
+has to say:
+
+
+    TO THE AMERICANS.                                 March 12, 1896.
+
+    "We have been strenuously opposed to your mission work among us,
+    but these bloody days have proven that some of our Protestant
+    brothers have been staunch defenders of our honor and faith. You
+    at least know that our crime, in the eyes of the Turk, has been
+    that we have adopted the civilization you commended. Behold
+    the missions and schools which you planted among us, and which
+    cost millions of dollars, and hundreds of precious lives, now in
+    ruins. The Turk is planning to rid himself of missionaries and
+    teachers by leaving them nobody to labor among."
+
+
+It is very significant that wherever there was a missionary
+institution, and especially a missionary Theological Seminary to
+train Armenian ministers, there has been the greatest atrocity. This
+shows how the Sultan hates Americans, and American education. There
+are nearly two hundred American male and female missionaries in
+Turkey. They are in great danger. The Turks have determined to kill
+them, and the Sultan can no longer control them, for he gave the
+order and put the sword into their hands. The Kurds and the Turks
+say, "The missionaries have better things than the Armenians had. We
+killed the Armenians and got their valuables, and we enjoy them. We
+are richer now, and we did not work for it; we did not waste time in
+hard labor; the only thing we had to do was to obey the Sultan and
+kill the Armenians and get their property. Why not kill the Americans
+and get richer?" Reader, keep in your mind that the Turks will kill
+the missionaries also. The horrible time is coming, in spite of what
+your minister to Turkey says, and partly because he believes Turkish
+lies, and says there was no need of sending missionaries there.
+
+Another point worthy of consideration is this: Russia and Turkey made
+an alliance. Russia is as much opposed to the missionaries as Turkey
+is, and perhaps the Czar is secretly encouraging the Sultan to get
+rid of them. Undoubtedly Russia is trying to get rid of Protestant
+influence in Turkey, and therefore sacrifices the old Protestant
+Armenian nation to Turkey. In my belief, the time is coming when
+the Protestant nations will unite and protest practically against
+the outrages of Turkey and Russia. They have no right to persecute
+Turks or Russians, but they have a perfect right to protect an old
+Protestant church and the American missionaries. No matter how much
+it costs, it pays to protect them, and, pay or no pay, it is the duty
+of America and England to unite and protect them. And if England and
+America should really unite, Turkey and Russia will yield. I do not
+at all concur with Americans who favor Russia and hate England. Lord
+Salisbury is too timid to do it, but Lord Salisbury is not England. The
+English people are a noble people, and if the American noble people
+unite with them, they can accomplish a great work for God and humanity,
+for peace and liberty, for freedom and happiness in Armenia.
+
+As far as I can judge, the foregoing are the causes of the atrocities
+in Armenia. Perhaps there may be other minor ones, but they are not
+worthy of discussion.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA.
+
+
+THE BEGINNING.
+
+Turkish atrocities in Armenia are no new thing; they have gone on
+for centuries, and left but a fraction of the population it once
+had. But let us disregard old history, and come to the subject
+of to-day. Practically that begins with Hamid II, the present
+Sultan. He began his persecutions nearly twenty years ago, but on a
+small scale. He has continually devised new methods of getting rid of
+the Armenians without responsibility; finally he hit on the plan of
+arming the Kurds and letting them loose with full power to do their
+worst. When I was in Constantinople he summoned the Kurdish chiefs,
+hundreds of them--I have seen them with my own eyes--entertained them
+in the palace, armed them with modern rifles, and sent them to Armenia
+on their mission. The pretense under which he did it was worthy of
+him: he called them the "Hamidieh Cavalry," and pretended that they
+were a sort of mounted police, who were to keep order and protect the
+Armenians. This was exactly as though a regiment of red Indians should
+be armed and sent to Oregon to protect the inhabitants, and called,
+say, the Presidential Guard, and the Armenians knew well what they were
+for. But the European travelers and newspaper correspondents took it
+all seriously, and talked of his "civilizing the Kurds," etc. Now these
+were only the chiefs; each chief had a large following of tribesmen,
+so that about 30,000 Kurds in all were given arms and ordered to go
+to work exterminating the Armenians. This work began in 1891, but on
+a small scale, and in a very crafty way, so that it should not have
+the appearance of a premeditated massacre; then it was stopped till
+about sixteen months ago, when they were encouraged to begin again,
+publicly, and with full swing. It was decided to begin in Sassoun, a
+district far from the sea, with no roads and a sparse population; if
+successful in escaping report there, he could carry out the massacre
+through all Armenia, for which "reforms" were asked and promised. He
+ordered Zekii Pasha to have his soldiers ready, and meantime to have
+the "Hamidieh Cavalry" the Kurdish chiefs and tribesmen, ready to
+attack and kill all the Armenians in Sassoun. This city lies between
+Moosh and Bitlis, in a mountainous country, and the Sassounites
+are a brave people, as much so as the Zeitoonlis are. The district
+had about sixty villages and towns, and about 20,000 people sixteen
+months ago, but it has none now. The regular soldiers and the armed
+Kurds surrounded the district from all sides, and in about a month
+had slaughtered the entire population. It was reported that Zekii
+Pasha carried on his breast an order from the Sultan as follows:
+"Whoever spares man, woman, or child is disloyal." After he had
+finished his task, he received great rewards from the Sultan, and is
+now one of his most esteemed commanders.
+
+Zekii Pasha is said to have had 40,000 Kurds and regular soldiers
+under his command when he began the massacre. The people of Sassoun,
+knowing that they were doomed, fought desperately. They repulsed the
+Kurds several times, and killed many of them; but finally the regular
+soldiers took part, pretending to come in aid of the Armenians,
+and overbore them, killing all without quarter. The Sultan's order
+was to spare neither man, woman, nor child; but as the men met the
+enemy first, they were killed first. When the women's turn came,
+the Turks and Kurds abused all they could get hold of, and then told
+them that if they would deny Christ and accept Mohammed and become
+their wives, they should live; but if they refused, every one of them,
+according to the Sultan's order, should be killed. "Now," said they,
+"choose between Islam and death." These noble Armenian Christian women
+said:--"We are Christians, we can never deny Christ. Jesus Christ
+is our Saviour. He came down from Heaven and died on the cross for
+us. For that dying and loving Christ we are Christians; we are ready
+to die for Him who died for us." And they added further, "We are no
+better than our husbands were; you killed them, kill us too." Then
+the horrible butchery began on those defenseless women. Thousands
+of them were slaughtered, and thousands ran to different churches,
+hoping that perhaps they might find protection in some way in those
+holy walls, or hoping that God in his great mercy might shelter
+them. But the ferocious Kurds and Turkish soldiers pursued them,
+sword in hand, violated them, even in the churches, and cut their
+throats there until the floors were streaming with blood. Then they
+poured kerosene on the buildings and burned them.
+
+They went to one village and killed every man; the women of course,
+knowing their fate was soon to be worse than their husbands'. One of
+the leading women, named Shaheg, perceiving that the Turks and Kurds
+were getting ready to seize and ravish them, called the other women
+and said, "Sisters, our husbands are killed, and you know what is in
+store for us and our children. Don't let us fall into the hands of
+these savage beasts; we have to die anyway, and can die easier, and
+without being defiled first, and perhaps tortured. Let us go to the
+precipice and jump off." So saying, she took her baby on her arm, ran
+to the rock, and threw herself over; the others followed her, and thus
+all were killed. The Turks captured many boys and girls, six, or eight,
+or ten years of age, held them by an arm or foot, and hacked them to
+pieces with their swords. Sometimes they stood the boys in a row and
+shot them, to see how many could be killed by a single bullet. They
+wrenched babies from their mothers' arms, cut their throats while the
+mothers shrieked and pleaded, and boiling them in kettles, forced the
+mothers to eat the flesh. They cut open women about to become mothers,
+tore out the unborn babes, and marched triumphantly with the ghastly
+trophies on their spears--something almost surpassing the savagery of
+the Apache Indian. Even their worst horrors they made worse yet by
+the way they did them; they took a gloating delight in doubling the
+cruelty or the shame by making it torture others too. The husband
+was forced to look on while his wife was violated, and she in turn
+while he was mutilated, tortured, and murdered; the father while his
+daughters, even little girls of ten or twelve, were deflowered and
+their throats cut, the son while his parents had every form of shame
+and torture inflicted on them, and were killed before him, or saw him
+killed first. They tortured their victims like Indians or Inquisitors,
+in every fashion of lingering death and torment that makes the heart
+sicken and the blood run cold to read of. Crucifying head downward,
+and pouring boiling water or ice-cold water on them, leaving them so
+till death came; flaying alive; cutting off arms, feet, nose, ears,
+and other members, and leaving them to die; thrusting red-hot wires
+into and through their bodies. They pulled out the eyes of several
+Christian pastors, said, "Now dance for us," poured kerosene on them
+and burned them to death. They put a Bible and a cross before others,
+and ordered them to first spit and then trample on both, and deny
+Christ; on their refusal they were butchered. The handsomest girls
+and young matrons were not murdered, but worse; each one was kept as
+a spoil of some Turk or Kurd, who carried her to his house, and made
+a slave and concubine of her. Many hundreds of them are there to this
+day, enduring the awful fate of having been dragged from happy and
+virtuous homes, seen their husbands, or parents, or brothers, or all of
+them horribly murdered, and passing their lives each in doing menial
+labor and serving the lust of a brutal master, and all the other men
+he lets have their will of her, without hope, or comfort, or decency,
+and a long life of shame and misery yet to look forward to. This is
+another specimen of Mohammedan purity, and it all happens because the
+Armenians are Christians. If my readers think I am exaggerating, I
+refer them to the consular reports. All this was done by the barbarians
+con amore, with relish and delight. They boasted of it, they plumed
+themselves on it, they praised the Sultan for ordering them to do it,
+and he praised them for doing it, and decorated all the officers.
+
+The condition of those who were murdered out-right was much better
+than that of those who were imprisoned and tortured. The following
+was written by an Armenian from one of the prisons:--
+
+
+    "Our condition in prison passes description. Only he who sees can
+    understand it. Most of the occupants of every room are Christians,
+    but many are Moslems. Life would be a shade more tolerable if the
+    subject race were not compelled thus to associate with the dominant
+    race, whose temper, tastes, and habits are so different. Into one
+    small room twenty persons are crowded. Except for a few Moslems,
+    not a single person has room enough on the bare floor to stretch
+    out and lie down. For fully sixteen hours in the night, the doors
+    of the rooms are all locked. In one of these small rooms, sometimes
+    twenty cigarettes are smoking at once. Out of the small amount of
+    food which reaches us, instead of eating themselves, the Christians
+    are obliged to feed the Moslems confined there. Moslem oppression
+    continues, even here; it is a tyranny within a tyranny. In
+    every room there are a few Aghas or principal Moslems, and every
+    Christian must contribute money to their lordships. Those who
+    withhold such contributions are not allowed to sit down.
+
+    "Among the inmates of the prison are twenty or thirty rowdies
+    and bullies, under whom the Christians must serve as menial
+    slaves. There is no respect, no pity. The horrible blasphemies
+    cannot be described. There is no book, no Bible, no work, no
+    sleep. Every man is covered with the swarming vermin with which
+    the unwashed rooms of the prison teem. To clean ourselves is
+    impossible. Now and then the rumor sweeps through the prison that
+    we are all to be put to death, and all our hearts melt like water.
+
+    "The terrible darkness of the night, the curses and stripes
+    inflicted from time to time, cause us to live in the valley
+    of the shadow of death. It is a living grave, a visible hell,
+    a world without God. Out of this throng of prisoners more than a
+    hundred are in daily suffering from the gnawing of hunger, and
+    from nakedness, but there is no one to pity. Many praying men
+    are tempted to cease praying, many are tempted to change over
+    to the Moslem faith. In truth, all of us are dumb; what to say
+    we know not. We are wearied of the long silence; our eyes are
+    strained with watching, our bones ache, our prayers are despised
+    by the revilers. Night is not night, and day is not day. Our
+    grief is our food, our sleep is weeping, for how long a time
+    must we cry? O Lord, wilt Thou hide Thyself forever? How long
+    will Thy anger burn like fire? And yet some of us are saying:
+    'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.'
+
+    "When will the Christian statesmen and philanthropists of the world
+    find a way to cleanse these Augean stables all over Turkey? Long
+    centuries cry out for redress. Within a month the following
+    incidents have occurred: A Christian confined in this prison was
+    ordered to receive 400 stripes. After 300 had been inflicted he
+    cried out that he could endure no more or he must die. An officer
+    then presented to him a paper with the names of fifty Christians
+    in the city who were accused therein of sedition. In his great
+    agony he signed it, and this is to be used to incriminate others,
+    wholly regardless of their guilt or innocence. The other victim
+    of unendurable stripes was an old man. When he could endure no
+    more of this inhuman treatment, he also was asked to sign a paper
+    implicating others indiscriminately.
+
+    "Can any one living in a free country for a moment understand what
+    it is to live under such a government? There is a great flourish
+    just at present over the reforms that are being instituted in
+    certain parts of this land. No resident of this country can have
+    confidence in the superficial operations. What will you do with
+    a land where lying is the simplest of mental exercises, and where
+    no one was ever known to blush over it if exposed?"
+
+
+I give here the testimony of a gentleman from Sassoun who escaped the
+atrocities. He is an Armenian from Sassoun, and my personal friend. I
+quote this from a little pamphlet, entitled "Facts About Armenia."
+
+
+    The Massacre of 1894.
+
+    "The Armenians of Sassoun were fully aware of the hostile intention
+    of the government, but they could not imagine it to be one of
+    utter extermination.
+
+    "The Porte had prepared its plans, Sassoun was doomed. The Kurds
+    were to come in much greater number, the government was to furnish
+    them provision and ammunition, and the regular army was to second
+    them in case of need.
+
+    "The various tribes received invitations to take part in the
+    great expedition, and the chiefs, with their men, arrived one
+    after the other. The total number of the Kurds who took part in
+    the campaign may be estimated at 30,000. The Armenians believed in
+    the beginning that they had to do only with the Kurds. They found
+    out later that an Ottoman regular army, with provisions, rifles,
+    cannons, and kerosene oil, was standing at the back of the Kurds.
+
+    "The plan was to destroy first Shenig, Semal, Guelliegoozan,
+    Aliantz, etc., and then to proceed toward Dalvorig. The Kurds,
+    notwithstanding their immense number, proved to be unequal
+    to the task. The Armenians held their own, and the Kurds got
+    worsted. After a two weeks' fight between Kurd and Armenian, the
+    regular army entered into an active campaign. Mountain pieces
+    began to thunder. The Armenians, having nearly exhausted their
+    ammunition, took to flight. Kurd and Turk pursued them, and
+    massacred men, women, and children. The houses were searched
+    and then set on fire. From certain villages groups of men,
+    tax receipts in their hands, went to the camp and asked to be
+    protected, but were slaughtered.
+
+    "A great number of villages outside of the Dalvorig district,
+    which had in no wise been concerned in the conflicts of the
+    previous years, were also attacked, to the unspeakable horror
+    of the populations. The troops climbed up even the Mount Antok,
+    where a multitude of fugitives had taken refuge, and massacred
+    them. A number of women and girls were taken to the church of
+    Guelliegoozan, and after being frightfully abused, were tortured
+    to death.
+
+    "When the work of destruction was nearly accomplished in the other
+    districts, some of the Kurdish armies were set on Dalvorig. The
+    people defended themselves against the overwhelming number of the
+    barbarians, but after four or five days they saw other tribes and
+    regular Turkish troops marching on them from every side, and they
+    took to flight, but were overtaken and massacred. The scene was
+    most horrible. The enemy took a special delight in butchering the
+    Dalvorig people. An immense crowd of Turkish and Kurdish soldiery
+    fell upon the villages, busily searching the houses and rooting out
+    hidden treasures, and then setting fire to the village. While the
+    troops were so occupied, a number of the fugitives fled wildly to
+    get out of the district, and tried to hide themselves in caves,
+    between rocks, or among bushes. Three days after the complete
+    destruction of Dalvorig villages, the Kurds and the regular
+    soldiers divided among themselves the result of the plunder,
+    and the Kurds returned to their own mountains."
+
+
+As my use of English is defective, I take the liberty here of quoting
+from a long letter by E. J. Dillon to the Contemporary Review,
+January, 1896.
+
+Dr. Dillon is an Englishman who was the special correspondent of the
+London "Daily Telegraph," a most accurate and conscientious reporter,
+who writes as an eye-witness:
+
+
+    "If a detailed description were possible of the horrors which our
+    exclusive attention to our own mistaken interests let loose upon
+    Turkish Armenians, there is not a man within the kingdom of Great
+    Britain whose heart-strings would not be touched and thrilled by
+    the gruesome stories of which it would be composed.
+
+    "During all those seventeen years, written law, traditional custom,
+    the fundamental maxims of human and divine justice were suspended
+    in favor of a Mohammedan saturnalia. The Christians, by whose
+    toil and thrift the empire was held together, were despoiled,
+    beggared, chained, beaten, and banished or butchered. First
+    their movable wealth was seized, then their landed property
+    was confiscated, next the absolute necessaries of life were
+    wrested from them, and finally honor, liberty, and life were
+    taken with as little ado as if these Christian men and women
+    were wasps or mosquitoes. Thousands of Armenians were thrown
+    into prison by governors like Tahsin Pasha and Bahri Pasha, and
+    tortured and terrorized till they delivered up the savings of a
+    lifetime, and the support of the helpless families, to ruffianly
+    parasites. Whole villages were attacked in broad daylight by
+    the Imperial Kurdish cavalry without pretext or warning, the
+    male inhabitants turned adrift or killed, and their wives and
+    daughters transformed into instruments to glut the foul lusts
+    of these bestial murderers. In a few years the provinces were
+    decimated, Aloghkerd, for instance, being almost entirely 'purged'
+    of Armenians. Over 20,000 woe-stricken wretches, once healthy
+    and well-to-do, fled to Russia or Persia in rags and misery,
+    deformed, diseased, or dying; on the way they were seized over
+    and over again by the soldiers of the Sultan, who deprived them
+    of the little money they possessed, nay, of the clothes they were
+    wearing, outraged the married women in the presence of their sons
+    and daughters, deflowered the tender girls before the eyes of
+    their mothers and brothers, and then drove them over the frontier
+    to starve and die. Those who remained for a time behind were no
+    better off. Kurdish brigands lifted the last cows and goats of the
+    peasants, carried away their carpets and their valuables, raped
+    their daughters and dishonored their wives. Turkish tax-gatherers
+    followed these, gleaning what the brigands had left, and, lest
+    anything should escape their avarice, bound the men, flogged
+    them till their bodies were a bloody, mangled mass, cicatrized
+    the wounds with red-hot ramrods, plucked out their beards hair by
+    hair, tore the flesh from their limbs with pincers, and often, even
+    then, dissatisfied with the financial results of their exertions,
+    hung the men whom they had thus beggared and maltreated from the
+    rafters of the room, and kept them there to witness with burning
+    shame, impotent rage, and incipient madness, the dishonoring of
+    their wives and the deflowering of their daughters, some of whom
+    died miserably during the hellish outrage.
+
+    "In accordance with the plan of extermination, which has been
+    carried out with such signal success during these long years
+    of Turkish vigor and English sluggishness, all those Armenians
+    who possessed money, or money's worth were for a time allowed to
+    purchase immunity from prison, and from all that prison life in
+    Asia Minor implies. But as soon as terror and summary confiscation
+    took the place of slow and elaborate extortion, the gloomy dungeons
+    of Erzeroum, Erzinghan, Marsovan, Hassankaleh, and Van were filled,
+    till there was no place to sit down, and scarcely sufficient
+    standing room. And this means more than English people can realize,
+    or any person believe who has not actually witnessed it. It would
+    have been a torture for Turkish troopers and Kurdish brigands,
+    but it was worse than death to the educated school-masters,
+    missionaries, priests, and physicians who were immured in these
+    noisome hotbeds of infection, and forced to sleep night after
+    night standing on their feet, leaning against the foul, reeking
+    corner of the wall which all the prisoners were compelled to use
+    as.... The very worst class of Tartar and Kurdish criminals were
+    turned in here to make these hell-chambers more unbearable to the
+    Christians. And the experiment was everywhere successful. Human
+    hatred and diabolical spite, combined with the most disgusting
+    sights, and sounds, and stenches, with their gnawing hunger and
+    their putrid food, their parching thirst and the slimy water, fit
+    only for sewers, rendered their agony maddening. Yet these were
+    not criminals nor alleged criminals, but upright Christian men,
+    who were never even accused of an infraction of the law. No man
+    who has not seen these prisons with his own eyes, and heard these
+    prisoners with his own ears, can be expected to conceive, much
+    less realize, the sufferings inflicted and endured. The loathsome
+    diseases, whose terrible ravages were freely displayed; the still
+    more loathsome vices, which were continually and openly practiced;
+    the horrible blasphemies, revolting obscenities, and ribald jests
+    which alternated with cries of pain, songs of vice, and prayers
+    to the unseen God, made these prisons, in some respects, nearly
+    as bad as the Black Hole of Calcutta, and in others infinitely
+    worse. In one corner of this foul fever-nest a man might be heard
+    moaning and groaning with the pain of a shattered arm or leg; in
+    another, a youth is convulsed with the death spasms of cholera
+    or poison; in the center, a knot of Turks, whose dull eyes are
+    fired with bestial lust, surround a Christian boy, who pleads for
+    mercy with heart-harrowing voice while the human fiends actually
+    outrage him to death.
+
+    "Into these prisons venerable old ministers of religion were
+    dragged from their churches, teachers from their schools,
+    missionaries from their meeting-houses, merchants, physicians,
+    and peasants from their firesides. Those among them who refused
+    to denounce their friends, or consent to some atrocious crime,
+    were subjected to horrible agonies. Many a one, for instance, was
+    put into a sentry-box bristling with sharp spikes, and forced to
+    stand there motionless, without food or drink, for twenty-four and
+    even thirty-six hours, was revived with stripes whenever he fell
+    fainting to the prickly floor, and was carried out unconscious at
+    the end. It was thus that hundreds of Armenian Christians, whose
+    names and histories are on record, suffered for refusing to sign
+    addresses to the Sultan accusing their neighbors and relatives of
+    high treason. It was thus that Azo was treated by his judges, the
+    Turkish officials, Talib Effendi, Captain Reshid, and Captain Hadji
+    Fehim Agha, for declining to swear away the lives of the best men
+    of his village. A whole night was spent in torturing him. He was
+    first bastinadoed in a room close to which his female relatives
+    and friends were shut up so that they could hear his cries. Then
+    he was stripped naked, two poles extending from his armpits to his
+    feet were placed on each side of his body and tied tightly. His
+    arms were next stretched out horizontally and poles arranged to
+    support his hands. This living cross was then bound to a pillar,
+    and the flogging began. The whips left livid traces behind. The
+    wretched man was unable to make the slightest movement to ease
+    his pain. His features alone, hideously distorted, revealed the
+    anguish he endured. The louder he cried, the more heavily fell the
+    whip. Over and over again he entreated his tormentors to put him
+    out of pain, saying, 'If you want my death, kill me with a bullet,
+    but for God's sake don't torture me like this!' His head alone
+    being free, he at last, maddened by excruciating pain, endeavored
+    to dash out his brains against the pillar, hoping in this way
+    to end his agony. But this consummation was hindered by the
+    police. They questioned him again; but in spite of his condition,
+    Azo replied as before: 'I cannot defile my soul with the blood of
+    innocent people. I am a Christian.' Enraged at this obstinacy,
+    Talib Effendi, the Turkish official, ordered the application of
+    other and more effective tortures. Pincers were fetched to pull
+    out his teeth, but, Azo remaining firm, this method was not long
+    persisted in. Then Talib commanded his servants to pluck out the
+    prisoner's moustachios by the roots, one hair at a time. This order
+    the gendarmes executed, with roars of infernal laughter. But this
+    treatment proving equally ineffectual, Talib instructed the men to
+    cauterize the unfortunate victim's body. A spit was heated in the
+    fire. Azo's arms were freed from their supports, and two brawny
+    policemen approached, one on each side and seized him. Meanwhile
+    another gendarme held to the middle of the wretched man's hands
+    the glowing spit. While his flesh was thus burning, the victim
+    shouted out in agony, 'For the love of God kill me at once!'
+
+    "Then the executioners, removing the red-hot spit from his hands,
+    applied it to his breast, then to his back, his face, his feet,
+    and other parts. After this, they forced open his mouth, and burned
+    his tongue with red-hot pincers. During these inhuman operations,
+    Azo fainted several times, but on recovering consciousness
+    maintained the same inflexibility of purpose. Meanwhile, in the
+    adjoining apartment, a heart-rending scene was being enacted. The
+    women and the children, terrified by the groans and cries of the
+    tortured man, fainted. When they revived, they endeavored to rush
+    out to call for help, but the gendarmes, stationed at the door,
+    barred their passage, and brutally pushed them back. [2]
+
+    "Nights were passed in such hellish orgies and days in inventing
+    new tortures or refining upon the old; with an ingenuity which
+    reveals unimagined strata of malignity in the human heart. The
+    results throw the most sickening horrors of the Middle Ages into
+    the shade. Some of them cannot be described, nor even hinted
+    at. The shock to people's sensibilities would be too terrible. And
+    yet they were not merely described to, but endured by men of
+    education and refinement, whose sensibilities were as delicate
+    as ours.
+
+    "And when the prisons in which these and analogous doings were
+    carried on had no more room for new-comers, some of the least
+    obnoxious of its actual inmates were released for a bribe, or,
+    in case of poverty, were expeditiously poisoned off.
+
+    "In the homes of these wretched people the fiendish fanatics were
+    equally active and equally successful. Family life was poisoned at
+    its very source. Rape and dishonor, with nameless accompaniments,
+    menaced almost every girl and woman in the land. They could not
+    stir out of their houses in broad daylight to visit the bazaars,
+    or to work in the fields, nor even lie down at night in their
+    own homes, without fearing the fall of that Damocles' sword ever
+    suspended over their heads. Tender youth, childhood itself, was no
+    guarantee. Children were often married at the age of eleven, even
+    ten, in the vain hope of lessening this danger. But the protection
+    of a husband proved unavailing; it merely meant one murder more,
+    and one 'Christian dog' less. A bride would be married in church
+    yesterday, and her body would be devoured by the beasts and
+    birds of prey to-morrow,--a band of ruffians, often officials,
+    having within the intervening forty-eight hours seized her and
+    outraged her to death. Others would be abducted, and, having for
+    weeks been subjected to the loathsome lusts of lawless Kurds,
+    would end by abjuring their God and embracing Islam; not from any
+    vulgar motive of gain, but to escape the burning shame of returning
+    home as pariahs and lepers, to be shunned by those near and dear to
+    them forever. Little girls of five and six were frequently forced
+    to be present during these horrible scenes of lust, and they,
+    too, were often sacrificed before the eyes of their mothers,
+    who would have gladly, madly accepted death, ay, and damnation,
+    to save their tender offspring from the corroding poison.
+
+    "One of the abducted young women who, having been outraged by the
+    son of the Deputy-Governor of Khnouss, Hussein Bey, returned,
+    a pariah, and is now alone in the world, lately appealed to
+    her English sisters for such aid as a heathen would give to a
+    brute, and she besought it in the name of our common God. Lucine
+    Mussegh--this is the name of that outraged young woman whose
+    Protestant education gave her, as she thought, a special claim to
+    act as the spokeswoman of Armenian mothers and daughters--Lucine
+    Mussegh besought, last March, the women of England to obtain for
+    the women of Armenia the 'privilege' of living a pure and chaste
+    life! This was the boon which she craved--but did not, could
+    not obtain. The interests of 'higher politics,' the civilizing
+    missions of the Christian powers, are, it seems, incompatible
+    with it! 'For the love of the God whom we worship in common,'
+    wrote this outraged, but still hopeful, Armenian lady, 'help us,
+    Christian sisters! Help us before it is too late, and take the
+    thanks of the mothers, the wives, the sisters, and the daughters
+    of my people, and with them the gratitude of one for whom, in
+    spite of her youth, death would come as a happy release.'
+
+    "Neither the Christian sisters nor the Christian brethren
+    in England have seen their way to comply with this strange
+    request. But it may perhaps interest Lucine Mussegh to learn
+    that the six great powers of Europe are quite unanimous, and are
+    manfully resolved, come what will, to shield His Majesty the Sultan
+    from harm, to support his rule, and to guarantee his kingdom from
+    disintegration. These are objects worthy of the attention of the
+    great powers; as for the privilege of leading pure and chaste
+    lives--they cannot be importuned about such private matters.
+
+    "In due time they began. Over 60,000 Armenians have been butchered,
+    and the massacres are not quite ended yet. In Trebizond, Erzeroum,
+    Erzinghan, Hassankalek, and numberless other places the Christians
+    were crushed like grapes during the vintage. The frantic mob,
+    seething and surging in the streets of the cities, swept down upon
+    the defenseless Armenians, plundered their shops, gutted their
+    houses, then joked and jested with the terrified victims, as cats
+    play with mice. As rapid, whirling motion produces apparent rest,
+    so the wild frenzy of those fierce fanatical crowds resulted in
+    a condition of seeming calmness, composure, and gentleness which,
+    taken in connection with the unutterable brutality of their acts,
+    was of a nature to freeze men's blood with horror. In many cases
+    they almost caressed their victims, and actually encouraged them
+    to hope, while preparing the instruments of slaughter."
+
+
+After the horrible scenes at Sassoun, and other places, the Armenian
+protests shamed the European powers, who signed the treaty of Berlin,
+to send a commission and investigate the atrocities. It found the
+stories quite true, laid the facts before the Sultan--and that was
+the end of it. The Armenians asked, "Since you admit the truth of
+these things, why do you not punish the criminals, stop the outrages,
+and compel the payment of indemnity to those who were outraged and
+who lost their dear ones and their property?" The powers were deaf to
+all this. Then the Armenians prepared an appeal (several months ago)
+and carried it to the Sublime Porte, asking it to do them justice. As
+soon as the Sultan heard of this, he ordered his soldiers to fire on
+them if they presented it. The appeal was presented, and before the
+eyes of the European Ambassadors in Constantinople, the brave soldiers
+of the kind-hearted Sultan butchered about 3,000 Armenian Christians,
+several thousand were imprisoned, and several hundred were murdered
+in the Central Prison. Then the cold, wise, and considerate European
+powers began to move very slowly, not for the sake of the Armenians,
+but for their own, their citizens in Constantinople and elsewhere.
+
+They ordered the Sultan to reform Armenia, brought their fleets
+to the Dardanelles near Constantinople to overawe him, prepared a
+scheme of reform for Armenia, and made huge threats to the Sultan
+if he did not accept it. But he knew that this pretended concert of
+the powers for Armenian reform was a mere trick and sham, as I have
+persistently asserted all along in the face of my hopeful European
+and American friends; in fact, the Russian government at this very
+time was secretly urging him to stand firm and refuse to accept the
+reforms. He did so, broached a scheme of his own as a substitute, and
+the powers accepted it as such; and then the whole thing was dropped,
+the Sultan did nothing whatever about it, as he had never intended
+to. The European countries were hoodwinked, and the Armenian massacres
+and conflagrations, plundering and deflowering, went on at a greater
+pace than ever. Then the powers dropped the Armenian question, and
+took up that of gunboats in the Bosphorus, to protect their citizens
+against a rising in Constantinople; that they forced the Sultan to
+permit, because their own interests were concerned in it,--which shows
+that they could have forced him to stop exterminating the Armenians if
+they had cared. All joined in this except Germany; the German Emperor
+is the Sultan's friend, and backs him up. So now Germany, Russia, and
+the Sultan are hand in hand, leagued to prevent any of the miserable
+victims of his tyranny from escaping his clutches, and the Sultan has
+the best possible encouragement to go on killing the Armenians. The
+German Emperor says, "Better that Armenians be killed than have a
+war in Europe and lose the lives of some of my soldiers." The Czar
+says, "Time must be given to the Sultan to reform his country." Lord
+Salisbury says, "The Sultan has promised, and we must wait and see what
+he will do." And the Sultan, cursing every Emperor and lord of them all
+as a set of Christian hogs, orders the soldiers and the Kurds to go on
+with the good work in Armenia. And when we come to America, the Monroe
+doctrine obliges it to quarrel over Venezuela, and not only refuse
+help itself, but give Lord Salisbury a good excuse to give none either.
+
+Such is the situation; the massacres are going on in Armenia and the
+Armenians in despair are crying, "O Lord, how long, how long!"
+
+Mass meetings are good as far as they go; raising money and sending
+it to relieve the Armenians is good as far as it goes; the Red Cross
+Society is good as far as it goes; there are no objections to any of
+them; they are all noble and Christian. But, reader, don't you think
+all these good movements with good motives will hurt the Armenian
+cause, as there is nothing to aid that cause directly? All these
+mass-meetings merely irritate the Sultan into carrying on the murders
+more strenuously, since there is no force back of them. Don't you think
+the Armenian question being discussed in the United States Congress,
+and resolutions made without any action, will hurt the Armenians
+more than anything else? If you can't tread down the Sultan, don't
+stir him up. Miss Clara Barton, that noble woman, is in Armenia to
+help the Armenians. The Red Cross Society is there and is feeding
+the Armenians. I thank her, every Armenian thanks her. But do you
+think that that will relieve the situation? Spring has come, and what
+now? Will the Armenians have any crops? Did they, or could they sow any
+seed? Is there any farmer left alive? Has any farmer, if he is alive,
+any oxen or horses? If he has, will he dare go to his field, sow, reap,
+and thresh? Reader, consider all these things, and reconsider them,
+and I am sure you will come to the same conclusion I did many years
+ago, that Turkey does not need a Red Cross Society, but a Red Cross
+crusade, not like the medieval crusades, but a Protestant American
+crusade in the nineteenth century. Let me illustrate this Armenian
+question by the following parable:--
+
+Suppose a lamb is torn by a wolf, and the wolf lies in wait to
+finish it. You go to the lamb with a bundle of grass in your hand,
+pat it and say, "Here, poor lamb, I pity you, I give you grass; take
+it and eat it." Then you leave the lamb and go away. Do you think
+you have helped the lamb? As soon as you have gone, the wolf will
+come and tear the lamb to pieces. If you are going to help the lamb,
+you must kill the wolf, else no matter how much grass you give the
+wounded lamb, it will do it no good. You will do no good by sending
+Red Cross societies to Armenia to feed the Armenians if you have not
+the power or the will to keep the wild beasts off. You will feed them,
+and then the wolves will kill them.
+
+Now I will pass in review some of the leading cities in Armenia
+where there have been great persecutions. Before beginning, however,
+I must state that it is impossible to give an accurate census of
+the population in the Armenian cities, or the number who have been
+massacred; for the Turkish government never takes a correct census, and
+never gives or will give the true number of those it has murdered. But
+I think I can make a fair approximation of both. I will begin with
+the city of Harpoot. [3]
+
+
+
+
+HARPOOT AND ITS VICINITY.
+
+This is one of the most important Armenian districts, because the
+Armenians outnumber the Mohammedans there; in the city the Turks are
+the more numerous, but there are many Armenian towns and villages which
+make up. The district has about 150,000 people, most of them Armenians,
+and about 40,000 were killed in the recent massacre. Harpoot is built
+on three hills, and has a commanding view. Here is located a great
+American missionary institution, the Euphrates College; it has three
+departments, the college, the Theological Seminary, and the Girls'
+Seminary. There were twelve buildings, eight of which were burned in
+the outrages, a loss of $100,000.
+
+Almost all the outlying villages were burned, and the movables carried
+off. Women were made prey, boys and girls were kidnapped; the horrors
+can never be described. I give here a few words from a private letter,
+written by a Mohammedan Turk to his brother in this country. I have the
+letter in my possession, written in the Turkish language. He says:--
+
+
+    "My dear brother:
+
+    "All the Christian villages which belong to Harpoot district,
+    we plundered and destroyed, and killed the inhabitants. We killed
+    them both with our swords and with our rifles. The bullets of our
+    rifles poured upon them like rain; none of them are left, neither
+    any dwelling was left, we burnt all their houses. We thank God
+    that not a single Mohammedan was killed. Everywhere throughout
+    Armenia the Christians were punished in the same manner."
+
+
+Another testimony from another Mohammedan, an officer; he says nearly
+40,000 were killed in Harpoot province, February 26, 1896:--
+
+
+    "A petition in behalf of the Armenians was given to the powers
+    in the hope of improving their condition. An imperial firman was
+    issued for carrying out the reforms suggested by the powers. On
+    this account the Turkish population was much excited, and thought
+    that an Armenian principality was to be established, and they
+    began to show great hostility to the poor Armenians, who had
+    been obedient to them and with whom they had lived in peace for
+    more than 600 years. To the anger of the people were added the
+    permission and help of the government; and so, before the reforms
+    were undertaken, the whole Turkish population was aroused, with the
+    evil intent of obliterating the Armenian name; and so the Turks of
+    the province, joining with the neighboring Kurdish tribes by the
+    thousand, armed with weapons which are allowed only to the army,
+    and with the help and under the guidance of Turkish officials,
+    in an open manner, in the daytime, attacked the Armenian houses,
+    shops, stores, monasteries, churches, schools, and committed
+    the fearful atrocities set forth in the accompanying table. They
+    killed bishops, priests, teachers, and common people with every
+    kind of torture, and they showed special spite toward ecclesiastics
+    by treating their bodies with extra indignity, and in many cases
+    they did not allow their bodies to be buried. Some they burned,
+    and some they gave as food to dogs and wild beasts.
+
+    "They plundered churches and monasteries, and they took all
+    the property of the common people, their flocks and herds, their
+    ornaments and their money, their house furnishings and their food,
+    and even the clothing of the men and women in their flight. Then
+    after plundering them, they burned many houses, churches,
+    monasteries, schools, and markets, sometimes using petroleum,
+    which they had brought with them to hasten the burning; large
+    stone churches which would not burn they ruined in other ways.
+
+    "Priests, laymen, women, and even small children were made Moslems
+    by force. They put white turbans on the men and circumcised them
+    in a cruel manner. They cut the hair of the women in bangs, like
+    that of Moslem women, and made them go through the Mohammedan
+    prayers. Married women and girls were defiled, against the sacred
+    law, and some were married by force, and are still detained in
+    Turkish houses. Especially in Palu, Severek, Malatia, Arabkir,
+    and Choonkoosh, many women and girls were taken to the soldiers'
+    barracks and dishonored. Many, to escape, threw themselves into
+    the Euphrates, or committed suicide in other ways.
+
+    "It is clear that the majority of those killed in Harpoot, Severek,
+    Husenik, Malatia, and Arabkir were killed by the soldiers, and also
+    that the schools and churches of the missionaries and Gregorians
+    in the upper quarter of Harpoot City, together with the houses,
+    were set on fire by cannon balls.
+
+    "It is impossible to state the amount of the pecuniary loss. The
+    single city of Egin has given 1,200 (some say 1,500) Turkish
+    pounds as a ransom.
+
+    "These events have occurred for the reasons I have mentioned. I
+    wish to show by this statement, which I have written from love to
+    humanity, that the Armenians gave no occasion for these attacks."
+
+
+The Turk, whose document is thus translated, figures that the total
+deaths in the province of Harpoot during the scenes, have been 39,334;
+the wounded 8,000; houses burned, 28,562; and that the number of the
+destitutes is 94,870.
+
+
+    "In a letter just received (Jan. 18, 1896) from the
+    Rev. H. N. Barnum, D.D., of Harpoot, Eastern Turkey, where
+    the property of the American Board was burned, he says that
+    reports have been secured from 176 villages in the vicinity of
+    Harpoot. These villages contained 15,400 houses belonging to
+    Christians. Of this number 7,054 have been burned, and 15,845
+    persons are reported killed. Dr. Barnum adds: 'The reality,
+    I fear, will prove to be much greater.'"
+
+
+A letter from an Armenian named Kallajian, written from Husenik,
+a town about three miles from Harpoot, addressed to his brother in
+this country, says:
+
+
+"Sunday, November 11, the government came to our town, Husenik,
+and asked the Armenians to give up their arms, and they surrendered
+all they had; and in the evening asked them to take the church bell
+down. They also obeyed, and by night the Turkish soldiers surrounded
+the town until the morning, and in the morning early they sounded the
+bugle. When they sounded the bugle, about 25,000 Kurds made an attack
+on the town, and plundered all the houses, killing 700 men, women,
+and children, besides the wounded. When the attack was made, we left
+our house, with two of our neighbors' families and many others from our
+town, about thirty in all. One little boy, my nephew, I carried on my
+shoulders, and the other was carried by its mother, and we ran up the
+hill toward Harpoot. The bullets were showering upon us by hundreds,
+and father fell. He was shot once in the head and once in the belly,
+and stabbed with a sword through his chin. When we reached the top
+of the hill, about twenty Kurds came down from Harpoot, and took all
+our clothes and money, and left us naked; and a little after, a band
+of Turks came down and made so much trouble for us that I am unable
+to describe it. They took us to the city, and we finally succeeded
+in getting to the house of Sadukh Effendi, formerly of our town,
+but now living in the city. We went to his house, and this kind man
+kept us there for two days in his house, and on Tuesday evening he
+took us to our own town, and as we came near to our house I found
+that father was dead under a tree. We went to the house; we saw that
+our house was open and stripped of everything, and father's trunk was
+broken open, and his papers were soaked in kerosene and set on fire,
+and twenty-five houses were destroyed on our street. We are hungry and
+in destitute condition; help us if you can. Our little nephew says:
+'O Jesus, keep us afar from such trouble.'"
+
+
+    There are other letters also from Harpoot, but this is enough to
+    show the nature of the scenes there.
+
+
+
+
+PALOO AND WHAT HAPPENED THERE.
+
+Paloo is one of the oldest cities in Armenia. It had 15,000 population,
+5,000 Armenians and 10,000 Mohammedans, and there were over forty
+Armenian villages in the district around. About 5,000 Christians were
+killed during the recent massacre.
+
+
+Personal Letters From Paloo.
+
+
+                                                    December 15, 1895.
+
+    "Paloo is in a miserable condition. All the houses and shops have
+    been robbed. About 2,000 persons have perished, and few have
+    survived this great ruin; but we thank God all our family is
+    in safety. Just to-day I received a letter from our home; they
+    write: 'We are alive, but hungry.' They have no bread to eat,
+    and no clothes to wear; our only hope is God. If the country is
+    soon reformed we can get our living, but if not we shall all
+    perish. Turks, Kurds, and soldiers united, plundered, robbed,
+    and burned the houses of Paloo and the neighboring villages. You
+    can guess very well who has given the order."
+
+
+A personal letter received by the Armenian Relief Association, in this
+city, under date of Paloo, Armenia, November 24, presents an awful
+picture of the horrors to which the people there are subjected. The
+letter is in part as follows:--
+
+
+    "On November 3, the Turks of the town armed themselves, attacked
+    the stores, plundered their contents, and killed those who
+    attempted to defend themselves. A few days later the Turks left the
+    town, joined a band of 10,000 Kurds, and began a general assault
+    upon the surrounding villages, pillaging and burning the houses,
+    and killing all the men. They poured kerosene oil on all the
+    stored grain and set it on fire, and mixed the flour with filth,
+    so that it could not be used. The beautiful women were delivered
+    to the Kurds, who committed the most indescribable outrages. Many
+    were carried off to slavery, and forced to accept Mohammedanism.
+
+    "In Habab Village, where the people defended themselves for
+    six days, the government soldiers were called to the aid of the
+    Kurds, and the united forces overpowered the village and burned
+    all except fifteen of their three hundred houses.
+
+    "All of the forty-one Armenian villages around Paloo are in ashes,
+    the fields laid waste, and the inhabitants massacred. Nothing is
+    left but death and desolation.
+
+    "On November 11, 10,000 armed Kurds fell upon the city of
+    Paloo. They plundered the houses, even pulling down the walls with
+    hooks to discover anything valuable that might be hidden. All the
+    large houses were burned. Ten of the wealthy Armenians, who have
+    always cared for the poor, and sheltered the distressed, are left
+    without a pair of shoes or a blanket, 1,732 men were butchered
+    in cold blood, and of the 10,000 population, two hundred men only
+    are left, saved on condition that they serve the Turks as slaves.
+
+    "More than 5,000 women and children are left without any means
+    of living. They are begging from door to door for even a meagre
+    pittance of bran, which is all that is left, and every day death
+    claims more and more of the victims by starvation. All of the more
+    beautiful women have been taken by the Kurds. The Armenian youths
+    who have been forced to accept Mohammedanism are also forced to
+    take Turkish wives to prove their sincerity.
+
+    "All of my relations, save two, have been killed in my
+    presence. Our priests have all been butchered, except one, who
+    was forced to accept Islamism. Our churches have been turned into
+    mosques, where the remaining women and old men are compelled to
+    go and be taught Islam by the Mohammedan priest."
+
+
+But here is another letter, from an Armenian mother to her son in
+this country, which brings us still closer to the actual horrors, for
+this woman was herself a victim--turned at a blow from a comfortable
+matron to a naked beggar, in winter, among the ruins of her village,
+her own friends killed, herself foully abused. Read this, and then
+talk, if you dare, about "exaggerated accounts"!
+
+
+                                               "December 12, 1895.
+
+    "My Dear Son:--
+
+    "We received your letter dated November 14th, which we read
+    with great pleasure. You asked for information about us, as to
+    how we are, etc. Except your father, we are all still alive,
+    with our relatives, and long to see you very much. It is very
+    hard to describe with the pen all the misfortunes that we have
+    undergone. They cannot be told; but since you are very eager to
+    know, I will try to write it down for you very briefly. My dear
+    son, on Tuesday, November 28th, they took by force the oxen that
+    are used for ploughing the fields. Until the evening of that
+    day they gathered all the oxen for ploughing from Paloo and the
+    neighboring Armenian villages, and took them for themselves, and
+    gave us notice that they should attack the village. Wednesday
+    morning all the people of the surrounding Turkish villages
+    gathered round about our village, and our village was besieged
+    until about noontime. From ten to fifteen persons were killed
+    up to that time from our side, and the village was surrounded
+    by more than twenty-two thousand Turks and Kurds, who bear
+    arms. It was impossible for us to protect our village. We
+    applied to the government, there was no government to hear us;
+    despair reigned in the hearts of all. They fought until evening,
+    and before they had reached us, we, all the villagers, left
+    everything, even not taking bread for one meal with us, went
+    to the monastery and left the village to the Turks. We passed
+    the night in the monastery, hungry and thirsty; the number of
+    the killed reached to thirty by morning. Then we learned that it
+    was not safe, even in the monastery, although they had plundered
+    it two or three times. Thursday, by noontime, the monastery was
+    full of villagers. At noon there was a blow on the door of the
+    monastery. Ravenous Turks, Zazes, and others were besieging the
+    building. Until evening they beat at the iron door to break it;
+    fifteen persons were at it, but it was impossible for them to open
+    it. Within, the shrieks and the cries of the people reached up to
+    heaven. Men, in order to save their lives, dressed themselves in
+    women's clothes, and covered their heads. Your brother wrapped
+    his moustaches so thickly that he should not be known, as the
+    Turks were after him by name. About 3 p. m., when the Turks
+    saw that it was not possible for them to open the gate of the
+    monastery, they broke in one of the stones in the wall, and the
+    plunderers entered.... I cannot describe here the sufferings
+    of the people.... Within one hour they robbed and violated a
+    population of 1,500 people, five times each woman, married or
+    maiden, and then left the monastery. The villagers, every one
+    to save her or his life, left everything, property, cattle,
+    merchandise, and provisions, and fled, the man leaving his wife,
+    the wife her child, the son his mother, the brother his sister,
+    and they dispersed in the adjoining mountains, plains, valleys,
+    and hills, with only their under-garments on, as the Turks and
+    Kurds had stripped them of everything else. Friday morning the
+    number of the killed had reached about fifty. Your father was
+    shot on the plain of Sacrat, but the wound was not dangerous. For
+    three days the people gathered in Sacrat, hungry and thirsty;
+    from Sacrat they were given over to the Zazes, to take them to
+    the city.... I can not write down here all the things we endured
+    at the hands of the Zazes.... Finally, after we had suffered
+    unmentionable cruelties, being twice plundered in the city and
+    violated, three brides and maidens were carried away as slaves by
+    the Kurds, more than one hundred persons were martyred, among whom
+    were two priests, and the rest were forced to accept Mohammedanism,
+    and after that the massacre ceased. For twenty days we remained in
+    the city, naked, hungry, and thirsty, also hopeless. The city was
+    rescued from the massacre after having suffered the loss of six
+    hundred houses, together with all the property of the shops and
+    stores, and the total sum of the martyred being 2,000. Our village
+    was given over to be burned for twenty days successively. Out
+    of two hundred houses, there are hardly thirty left sound; the
+    rest are all razed to the ground.... The rest of this story will
+    follow by next mail. I wanted to tell you a little about our hard
+    situation. Saved with only our undergarments, hungry and thirsty,
+    our whole family came back from the city, among the ruins. I,
+    your mother, had to go begging wholly naked and barefoot to the
+    familiar Kurd neighbors. I had only one shirt, which I made into a
+    bag to put the things in which I begged from the Kurds. For fifty
+    days I have provided thus for the family; after this I commit it
+    to your care; you know best what to do. We have not got even a head
+    covering; nothing to carry the water home in from the fountain. It
+    is the month of December, and you know well it is the first month
+    of the winter; we have two and a half months yet before coming
+    to the spring. We are all of us very, very, hungry. Those Turks
+    who were so friendly before have turned now not to know us, they
+    don't even give a penny. We have no hope from anywhere else; if
+    you do not come to our help, we shall perish! perish! perish! We,
+    with all the villagers shall die. Behold the description of our
+    misery. Read this to all the villagers that are there with you,
+    and notify them that all of you must be the helpers and deliverers
+    of our people, especially to us who are all helpless and on the
+    verge of starvation. Send us help. I remain
+
+    "Your affectionate mother."
+
+
+
+
+MALATIA AND ITS HARDSHIPS.
+
+Malatia is located about midway between Marash and Harpoot, a little
+distance from the Euphrates river. More fruit is raised in and about
+there than in any other section of Armenia. The assortment is large,
+but the apples and pears are especially fine, perhaps better than those
+of any part of the world. It has about 20,000 population, two-thirds
+being Mohammedans, and one-third Armenians. The private letters
+which have been received from there do not state, and cannot state
+how many Armenians have been killed during the period of the present
+persecutions, and it is not likely there ever will be any correct
+estimate of them. The region has suffered immensely, and letters from
+there reveal a most distressing condition of affairs. The people were
+plundered and violated in every conceivable way until there was nothing
+more for the time being for the fiends to wreak their cruelty upon.
+
+
+Letters from Malatia.
+
+
+                                                Malatia, Dec. 22, 1895.
+
+    My Very Dear Son:--
+
+    We greet you with the fondest greeting, and it is the desire of our
+    hearts that the good Lord should enable us to see each other again
+    in this mortal flesh. In regard to ourselves, as to how we were,
+    and what we are doing. We are all alive yet with our whole family,
+    no loss of persons from among us. Don't mourn for us. Others
+    are mourning for their loved ones. Though in truth the grief and
+    mourning of others belong to us also because we are all Armenians,
+    one flesh and blood, and we all belong to the same nation.
+
+    I did not go to bring up the bride of our neighbor's with the rest,
+    so I was at home when the massacre began. You remember that there
+    was a well in that quarter. The Turks killed the bridegroom, his
+    brother, the priest, together with sixty-five other men, and threw
+    them into that well. In another house they burned seventy-five
+    men, and in still another forty-five men. Finally, I am unable
+    to describe with my pen all that passed in those days and hours.
+
+    May the Lord preserve your dear lives, and give you peace and
+    happiness. Your father.
+
+
+Another Letter.
+
+
+                                           Malatia, Dec. 22, 1895.
+
+    My Dear Friend:--
+
+    I received your very kind letter about a week ago, for which I
+    thank you very much, and I read it with great pleasure. But we
+    do not get the boys' letters regularly. It is nearly two months
+    since the disaster occurred, and in that time I have received
+    but one letter. The other day an Armenian handed me a letter
+    that was torn into nearly a hundred pieces. I put all the pieces
+    together and read it. It was also from the boys, and I read and was
+    very glad. Now I will try to give you a little information about
+    us. The first Monday I did not go to the market, for from Saturday
+    I got somehow suspicious that there was something impending over
+    the city, and I did not let father go either. My brother was to
+    accompany those who were going to bring up a bride for my brother's
+    partner in business. While my brother was at the wedding house,
+    they sent him on an errand to go and get a few policemen to
+    accompany them as protection in bringing the bride. Just at the
+    moment when my brother was on his way to the station-house, he
+    sees there was confusion in the market; then he drops the matter
+    of bringing a policeman, but goes to the market and closes the
+    shop, and then turns towards home in a hurry. While on his way,
+    some men fired at him several times, but fortunately he was not
+    hurt. He comes as far as to one of our neighbors, and there drops
+    down exhausted. They came and brought me the news that he was
+    there. Then I plucked up all the courage I could, and went and
+    brought him home. An hour or so after, the Turks came and besieged
+    that same quarter and killed about thirty persons. On Tuesday,
+    very early in the morning, we left everything, house, property,
+    and goods, and just to save our lives we fled to the new church,
+    and I don't know what became of the rest. We remained there in the
+    church until Friday; after that we came out of the church, being
+    a little assured of safety, and have been living on the provision
+    that the government allowed us, but that also ceased a few days
+    since. When we came back home again we did not find a single
+    thing; they had swept off everything. We brought a matting from
+    some place, and six of us sleep in one bed. Some sleep on hay. May
+    you never have to endure such hardships. This incident seems worse
+    than the earthquake or the cholera, or the fire. May the good Lord
+    preserve us from things worse than these. Our life is not worth
+    the living. We don't know the exact number of the killed. Malatia
+    is altogether a ruin. It is a worse ruin than the city of Anni,
+    and even worse than Sassoun. It is beyond conception, one cannot
+    keep account of it. May the Lord write it down in his own account
+    book, so that he should take the account in the day of judgment.
+
+    Please excuse all my shortcomings, because I am out of myself. Our
+    love to all the friends over there.
+
+    Yours truly,
+
+    P.S. Please tell the boys to know the value of money, and not
+    waste neither their time nor their money in vain. For we have no
+    one to look for but to God in heaven, and after Him to them on
+    earth. For the value of a son is known in the time of adversity,
+    when he helps his elders or parents. Let them not yet send any
+    money, for there are no brokers left where we can change it.
+
+
+
+
+THE CITY OF SIVAS AND THE ATROCITIES.
+
+Sivas is the seat of the vilayet or province of Sivas. The
+Governor-General of that province resides there. The population
+is about 30,000; one-third are Christian Armenians, and there are
+many Armenian Christian towns and villages round about, so that,
+if the Armenians are not more numerous than the Mohammedans, they
+equal them in number. Sivas is a missionary station, and during the
+atrocities, the Protestant Armenian pastor also was killed. His name
+was Garabet-Kilitjiam, one of the most gifted ministers of the gospel,
+my personal friend and successor. After I resigned my pastorate
+at Talas, Cesarea, he succeeded me. He was offered the choice of
+accepting Mohammedanism, but refused it, and then he was martyred.
+
+In the city and province of Sivas during the recent atrocities
+about 10,000 Armenians were killed, and many villages and towns were
+plundered and destroyed.
+
+
+The following is a press dispatch:--
+
+
+    London, Nov. 16, 1895.--The representative of the United Press
+    at Constantinople reports, under the date of November 15th, that
+    at six o'clock, on the evening of November 14th, M. A. Jewett,
+    United States consul at Sivas, sent a telegram to United States
+    Minister Terrell informing him that in the disturbances which had
+    taken place at Sivas, eight hundred Armenians and ten Turks had
+    been killed, and that, according to official reports, a large
+    body of Kurds were then approaching the town. Mr. Jewett gave
+    no details of the disorders, but the discrepancy in the figures
+    shows that the Turkish allegations that the Armenians were the
+    aggressors are absolutely untrue, and that the Armenians were
+    deliberately massacred.
+
+
+From a private letter from Sivas, Nov. 21, 1895.
+
+
+    "The air was full of wild rumors--but we could get at nothing that
+    seemed to have any substantial truthful basis. Dr. Jewett--our
+    consul--was on the alert. He interviewed the Governor-General,--and
+    asked for protection for us, for the U.S.A. vice-consul, for our
+    schools, and for the American Consulate. These were cheerfully
+    promised, and the next day, Tuesday, November 12th, at midday, like
+    a cyclone, Sivas was smitten, as I wrote you last week. Mr. P. and
+    I had steadfastly refused to believe that such violence could
+    take place in our city, and we were totally unprepared for the
+    shock. Our walls had been taken down,--that is, our front wall
+    had been,--a distance of 125 feet. Our girls' school-building had
+    been cut off seven and a half feet on the southwest corner, and
+    both our schools and our dwellings were in an entirely unprotected
+    state. The day of the terrible disaster, the city water was cut
+    off from our street, and for several days the heat was unusual
+    for this time of the year. The dead were buried on Thursday,
+    under the direction of the government, in the Armenian graveyard,
+    a priest of the Gregorian faith being present to offer a prayer.
+
+    "Our good native pastor was in the market to attend to the
+    interests of his people, when, at a given signal, a tribe of
+    mountaineers, known as Karsluks suddenly fell upon the Armenians
+    with clubs, and were soon followed by Circassians and local
+    Mussulmen, with knives and pistols; quickly and lastly the
+    police force and regular soldiers joined in with their Martini
+    rifles. It was a combined onslaught of four other races against
+    the Armenians. It has been declared that the Armenians were in
+    armed revolt against the government, and this was done to put
+    down the revolution. When the attack was made against them, we
+    fail to find that there was any armed resistance, so far as we
+    can learn. If the Armenians were premeditating an armed attack
+    upon the Mussulmen, we never could find it out, but that proves
+    nothing here or there, as missionaries are well known not to
+    sympathize with revolutionists.
+
+    "Badveli Garabed died a martyr; his life being offered him three
+    times if he would deny Christ. He bore noble testimony before
+    many witnesses, then fell in their presence, sealing his faith
+    and testimony with his blood.
+
+    "Yours affectionately,"
+
+
+Further Information about Sivas by the Missionaries who wrote to
+their friends Nov. 12, 1895.
+
+
+    "The cyclone which struck on the 12th reached Marsovan on the
+    15th. Don't be deceived by any of the silly government statements
+    which attribute all these massacres to the Armenians. It was
+    a deliberate plan on the part of the government to punish the
+    Armenians. The Sultan was irritated because he was forced to give
+    them reforms, so he has had 7,000 Armenians killed to show his
+    power since he signed the scheme of reform.
+
+    "The killing was permitted to go on here all last week; forty-six
+    were killed Saturday, November 16; sixteen on Sunday, and many
+    more on the following day. The total number killed is about 1,200
+    Armenians and ten Turks.
+
+    "It is a fact that the Kaimakam of Gurun telegraphed to the Vali
+    at Sivas, saying in effect that there is not an Armenian left at
+    Gurun. The Armenians at Sivas made no resistance, but at Gurun
+    they tried to defend themselves from the butchery, and suffered
+    the worse for it.
+
+    "In order to have an excuse for attacking the Armenians at Sivas,
+    the government smashed the windows of Turkish shops and charged
+    it to the Armenians. Food is scarce, and everything was carried
+    off from the Armenian shops. There will be terrible suffering
+    all over this country."
+
+
+Another letter from Sivas, according to the Constantinople
+correspondent, gives many details which all go to show that the whole
+movement against the Armenians is directly traceable to the head
+of the Turkish government, who proclaimed that his great desire was
+to keep always in view, "The safeguard of the rights of the people,
+and the maintenance of public confidence."
+
+
+    "What cruel mockery; Trebizond, Erzeroum, Bitlis, Marash,
+    Harpoot and how many more towns rise up and point the finger
+    of everlasting scorn and indignation to fix on Abdul Hamid
+    Khan the stigma of everlasting infamy! The deliberate murder
+    of thousands of innocent and industrious men, the exposure of
+    ten times that number of women and children and aged persons to
+    absolute degradation and destitution, will justify the name of
+    Kanukiar--the Bloodletter--which has been applied to the head
+    authority of the Empire."
+
+
+The Riot in Sivas.
+
+
+    "Last week, Monday, November 11, was one of the loveliest days
+    Sivas ever had. Although there were many rumors of trouble afloat,
+    we could get at nothing which seemed to have any greater foundation
+    than the fear that something might happen.
+
+    "I went unattended to the boys' school. On my way to school
+    that afternoon, I met a group of excited soldiers. They said
+    nothing to me, but their strangely excited manner impressed me
+    as being out of the usual order. When I began my class work,
+    the boys, instead of answering my questions, broke forth with
+    inquiries. They wanted to know if the soldiers were going to
+    shoot them, and if they were going to be killed. That was the
+    rumor afloat. I hushed them up as best I could, and told them it
+    was not right to speak of such things. I succeeded in quieting
+    the children, but went home full of anxiety.
+
+    "The next day, Tuesday, a large gang of Turkish workmen gathered in
+    our street to continue the public work of building up some walls
+    which had been torn down at the Vali's orders, for the purpose
+    of widening the street. Armenian carpenters were employed on our
+    building. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred until the workmen's
+    'bread time,' about 11 o'clock, was finished.
+
+    "Then all the Osmanli (Turkish) gang suddenly raised a hue and
+    cry; each one grabbed a pick or club, anything he could lay his
+    hands on, and a wild rush was made for the market-place. The air
+    was filled with yells of the furious men, who rushed along madly.
+
+    "The Protestant pastor remained at home on the day before,
+    but on Tuesday was in a shop when the signal for the raid was
+    given. A perfect cyclone of marauders rushed in and clubbed the
+    unsuspecting men in the stores to death before they could offer
+    any resistance. After the outbreak there was not a single Armenian
+    place of business left in the market.
+
+    "No list of the dead was made out, and none could be. The victims
+    were all buried in an immense trench in the Armenian burying-ground
+    two days afterwards. There were between seven and eight hundred
+    bodies thus buried."
+
+
+
+
+MARSOVAN AND THE ATROCITIES THERE.
+
+Marsovan has 25,000 population, 10,000 being Armenians, and the
+remainder Mohammedans. Marsovan is one of the greatest stations of
+the American missionaries. Anatolia College is there; a theological
+seminary for young men; and a seminary for girls. The writer was the
+pastor of the Evangelical Armenian church there till he was banished,
+for the reasons stated in the sketch of him. After this the Turks
+burned the girls' school; they tried to burn the boys' college building
+also, but did not succeed. Finally they several times massacred the
+Armenian Christians, and forced many to accept Mohammedanism.
+
+I have not been able to get exact information about the number of
+the martyred Christians in Marsovan, but it is believed that in that
+missionary station about 1,000 were massacred altogether. The richest
+men among the congregation were murdered, and so thoroughly plundered
+that their children are left wholly destitute; and the lives of the
+missionaries are in danger.
+
+
+
+
+CESAREA (KAISERIEH).
+
+The writer is well acquainted with this city, as he was the pastor
+at Talas, only three miles away, for years. It has about 50,000
+population, one-third being Christians; a few hundred Greeks only,
+but more than 15,000 Armenians. The richest and ablest Armenians
+live in that city, or in Constantinople, and came from there; its
+people are the leaders of the Armenian nation, both in business
+and intellect. For the story of its foundation, see "The Haigazian
+Dynasty," under King Aram. It is a typical Armenian city; and has
+several great Armenian churches, with flourishing schools. There is
+a beautiful evangelical church also, and it is a great missionary
+station, with several American missionaries, and several missionary
+schools, both for boys and for girls.
+
+The Rev. Dr. Avedis Yeretzian, one of the greatest of scholars,
+teachers, and preachers, and my personal friend, was martyred in
+that city during the recent atrocities. He was shot dead in his own
+house by a Mohammedan mob, then his wife was shot, then his son,
+and the remainder of his children were captured by the mob. About
+3,000 Armenians were killed and wounded there, besides the loss of
+property. The Mohammedan population of the city is very savage;
+side by side in the same city, the Christians are rich, refined,
+intelligent, and the Mohammedans poor, lazy, sensual, and cruel. I
+give here two letters from Cesarea.
+
+
+A Private Letter from a Girl.
+
+
+                                    Cesarea, Turkey, Dec. 31, 1895.
+
+    My Dear Brother:--
+
+    Before the massacre, everybody was in fear; several families
+    would gather in one house to protect themselves, and all the
+    Armenian stores were closed for twenty days; but as the government
+    guaranteed that there would be no danger, and told everybody to
+    attend to their business, and open their shops, they did so. It
+    was the 16th of November, on Saturday, that all opened their shops
+    again, and the transaction of business commenced in full force. At
+    2 p. m., at the doors of the market, bugles sounded, and several
+    hundred bashi-bazook [irregular soldiers] were at the doors of the
+    bazaar, every one of them having in his hands stilettos, swords,
+    yataghans, guns, revolvers, hammers, axes, hatchets, sickles,
+    poniards, daggers, and heavy sticks with twenty or thirty nails
+    fastened to them. Then they blew horns, the signal to start the
+    massacre. Cries were heard, "First kill, cut, and butcher the
+    Giavours; the property already belongs to us; cut, cut, kill, don't
+    care for plundering at present." Then they rushed into the market
+    and slaughtered all they met. Oh! you can imagine what became of
+    those who fell into the hands of those brutes. Alas! alas! how
+    unspeakable! They butchered them like cattle; cut their heads
+    off like onions. Some tried to run, but could not, others tried
+    to escape, but were brought back and killed. The bazaar was
+    full of dead bodies. People hid themselves among the goods,
+    and in the cellars, and were saved; ten or fifteen days after,
+    people were found there in a starving condition, not having dared
+    to come out. They killed in Avsharaghus factory thirty-eight men;
+    in Kayanjilar everybody was slain. After the massacre was over, the
+    governor, Ferick Pasha, sent soldiers around, and they discovered
+    many people hiding, and took them back to the government house
+    (seray), examined their pockets for revolvers and knives, and
+    not finding any, the governor sent them to their homes.
+
+    They plundered the bazaar of all its goods, and then, oh, my
+    Lord! they rushed upon the houses and upon the women's Turkish
+    baths.... I cannot describe this; when I think of it, my whole
+    body trembles. The people in the baths were killed and wounded,
+    and they carried away the young girls; every one was killed that
+    they came in contact with. The houses were plundered of all their
+    contents, and buildings were torn down, and houses full of people
+    were burned. Oh, how terrible! What I say you cannot imagine to be
+    so; you may think it is a dream, because your eyes have not seen
+    nor your ears heard the screams, wailings, weeping, shrieks, and
+    groaning; that even our forefathers have not heard, but of which
+    our ears are full day and night. My brother was in the bazaar,
+    but fortunately he had occupied a private room, where he was safe.
+
+    Some of the kidnapped girls were brought back by the government,
+    but most of them were wounded, and half dead from fright. Thank
+    God, we are safe, but we are not better than those girls. We are
+    in Mr. Wingate's house, where many lives were saved. He carried
+    beds and clothing to the people, who were stripped of all. A
+    few Mussulmans also protected in their homes some Armenians;
+    for example, James Imuroglov, Gojaki Ogloo.
+
+    Yeretzian Avedis Effendi's house is ruined, himself, his son,
+    and wife are killed, and the rest, five of them, are carried
+    away. Our block and their block is ruined. They butchered Avjinury,
+    Yuzukji, Dirnhitza and carried away her three daughters, but
+    later on brought two of them back. I mentioned them, as you
+    know. They also butchered Yuzikji Apraham and his wife Gaga Haji,
+    Gemerlkli Ohanness, Mustaamelji Gobra, Terrzi Artin, Erzurumli,
+    servant boy. Avedis Ago and his daughter were carried away. Gussi
+    Hamimon's mother is low. Oh, pity the intolerable many, many, I
+    cannot write by my pen, or describe with my tongue the terrible
+    sufferings. O Lord, have mercy upon us! To my knowledge there
+    were five hundred killed, six hundred wounded; many are dying from
+    their wounds and fright. Eight hundred houses are plundered, and
+    the tenants flocked to the churches. I cannot write one hundredth
+    part of what happened.
+
+    We are lost, lost, ruined, no work, no business, every one of us
+    looking for safety. Happy, happy be you that are in America and
+    have nothing to fear. They say to me, you ought to be with your
+    brother in America now. If the way was opened, everybody would
+    like to go.
+
+    If you are not in good circumstances there, you must feel satisfied
+    and give the thanks to God always. We also have to thank God that
+    we are still living. It is one month now that we have not been able
+    to go out in the streets. O Lord, help us, Oh! what shall we come
+    to? Oh, my dear brother, if you can help us in any way please do
+    so; make lectures, get some help; everybody is dying of hunger. I
+    cannot write any longer; we leave all to your conscience. I do
+    not write this letter only to you, but to all. Do whatever you can
+    for us, we are in a terrible condition. I thank you, my brother,
+    for the money that you sent to me, thank you very much.
+
+    We send our best regards to every one of you. I wrote this
+    letter with the tears in my eyes. We beg of you to write us good
+    letters. Vaham, the little boy, is in good health. We are all
+    well including
+
+    Your sister,
+
+
+Letter from Cesarea.
+
+
+    Cesarea, Nov. 20, 1895.--While the Armenians were engaged
+    in their business, as usual, the Turkish mob fell upon them,
+    killing 600 defenseless men and wounding 1,000 more. The mob
+    divided into four parts. The first part plundered the stores,
+    the second looted the houses, the third secured the maidens and
+    young brides, while the fourth, fiends incarnate, attacked the
+    public baths. These human devils killed six naked women in the
+    presence of the others, snatching their babies from their arms and
+    bayoneting the mothers. The shrieks and agonizing cries of these
+    poor creatures made no impression upon the minds of the savage
+    Turks, who laughed at their death agonies. They then took some
+    of the young girls, who were with their mothers at the bath,
+    and dragged them naked, by their feet, through the streets,
+    followed by a jeering and hooting mob.
+
+    The Turks who attacked the houses then killed them and fired the
+    houses. The cries of the women, mingled with the hoarse shouts of
+    the Turks, can never be forgotten. The men who survived the sword
+    were discovered, taken to the magistrate and searched, but no arms
+    were found in their possession, not even a knife. When released,
+    and allowed to return to their homes, they were confronted by a
+    most ghastly picture. Some found their wives dead, others horribly
+    mutilated; daughters were bleeding. My hand almost fails me to
+    write the awful particulars. It took three or four days to remove
+    the bodies of the dead with forty carts. Add to this the want,
+    the desolation. Oh, my God, for how long, how long! Where are
+    those Christian powers who saved African slaves? Where are those
+    Christians who advocated brotherly love and mercy, sending their
+    missionaries to teach us? Are they deaf to our piercing cry?
+
+
+
+
+AINTAB AND ITS HORRORS.
+
+The writer is well acquainted with Aintab, and some of his best
+friends live there, if they have not been killed. It has about 40,000
+population, one-third of it being Armenian. There are great scholars
+among them. Central Turkey College is there. It is an American college,
+but most of the professors are native Armenians, graduates of Yale
+College. There is also a woman's American College and a hospital. The
+Evangelical Armenians are the strongest; they have three large
+churches. They are considered to be the richest Evangelical Armenians
+in Turkey. But hundreds of them were killed, wounded and plundered;
+in all about 4,000 of the Armenian population were killed.
+
+
+A Letter from Aintab, November 23, 1895.
+
+
+    Aintab has had its baptism of blood and fire, and we sit in grief
+    among ruins. We had been hoping that the many things which seemed
+    to combine for our security would save our city from the fury
+    of the storm which is desolating so many places about us. Our
+    Christian community is large (about one-fourth of the whole
+    population), and the Christians, as a class, are exceptionally
+    intelligent and influential; the leading Moslems of the city
+    are intelligent and able men, and have shown themselves to a
+    degree tolerant and even friendly to Christians; the governor
+    has seemed disposed, beyond most Turkish officials, to respect
+    the rights of Christians. There is a considerable number of
+    foreign residents sure to be witnesses of any violence done to
+    Christians. The college and hospital have for years commanded a
+    powerful influence in the city; the hospital especially has the
+    good-will of all classes; the college, its students and teachers
+    were no doubt regarded by many with much suspicion on account of
+    the latent antagonisms inevitably existing between progressive and
+    conservative ideas, but personal relations were, so far as I know,
+    always friendly. Another thing in our favor has been the fact that
+    the Christians of Aintab have given very little countenance to the
+    ultra-revolutionists, who have no doubt provoked trouble in some
+    places. Relying upon all these things, we had for nearly three
+    weeks been hearing reports of fighting and massacre at Zeitoon,
+    Marash, and Oorfa, and other places, with comparatively little
+    anxiety for ourselves. It is true we were frequently hearing of
+    fearful threats and warnings of what the Moslems were preparing
+    to do in Aintab, but we had got hardened to that sort of thing,
+    and regarded it as largely the invention of cowardly roughs to
+    terrify those whom they did not dare attack. The most alarming
+    thing in the situation was that the government was disarming the
+    Christians, and at the same time giving out rifles and ammunition
+    to Moslems. This, however, was attributed to an exaggerated fear
+    of a Christian rising, of which they profess to have information.
+
+    Meantime the Moslems liable to military service were called out
+    and equipped and hurried off toward Zeitoon, where it was reported
+    that the Christians were in rebellion. This, no doubt, was the
+    occasion of intense irritation, and both the soldiers and their
+    friends were saying, "If we must fight Christians we will begin
+    with those close at hand." Under these circumstances the native
+    Christians became very anxious, and made such preparations for
+    defense as circumstances permitted, at the same time keeping as
+    quiet as possible, and avoiding all controversy and altercations
+    with the Moslems. The government increased the police force in the
+    city, and held a considerable force of troops at the barracks near
+    the town, and the governor and principal men seemed to be making
+    much effort to quiet the people. Several considerable tumults
+    had occurred and been promptly suppressed without bloodshed;
+    so day after day dragged on, each hour increasing the hope that
+    we should tide over the crisis.
+
+    Saturday morning, November 16, more than three weeks after the
+    first riot in Marash, at about half past seven, just as we were
+    rising from breakfast, our people came in with white faces saying,
+    "The day of judgment has come in the city." We hastened to the
+    door, and sure enough the mob was at work; all the west and
+    south part of the city seemed to be in an uproar; crowds of
+    people rushing in every direction, roofs covered with excited
+    men, women, and children; the strange mingling of cries of fear,
+    anger, and defiance, with occasional gun and pistol shots, made
+    an exhibition of the most fearful tumult and confusion.
+
+    Already troops were hurrying forward, and soon a company of some
+    sixty soldiers were stationed in front of the Girls' Seminary,
+    with pickets out to cover the approaches to the hospital and
+    college. Dr. Shepherd and Mr. Sanders mounted their horses
+    and hastened to the hospital and seminary, where they remained
+    until the rioting ceased. The college is about half a mile west
+    of the seminary and hospital, and commands a full view of these
+    buildings, and of the whole west end of the city, where most of
+    the rioting occurred.
+
+    What we, who were looking on, saw from this point was the narrow
+    streets densely crowded with intensely excited people, now and then
+    a rush made upon some house or gate, the rally of defenders on the
+    roofs, among whom women were often foremost, using stones, clubs,
+    and sometimes guns and pistols as best they could. Sometimes the
+    attack is beaten off, and the assailants withdraw to organize a
+    new assault, sometimes a gate or wall is broken down, and then the
+    noise of conflict subsides and the work of massacre and plunder
+    begins. Later on, long lines of people moving off to their homes
+    laden with plunder, and later still the flames and smoke rising
+    from the burning houses.
+
+    What we heard was the indescribable roar of the mob, pierced by
+    the sharp reports of pistols and guns, with now and then shrieks
+    of agony and fear, and shouts of defiance or command, and over all,
+    and most horrible of all, the loud shrill "Zullghat," (wedding cry)
+    very like the cry of our northern loons prolonged and sharpened,
+    raised by Turkish women crowded on their roofs and cheering on
+    their men to attack. The massacre and pillage began in the markets,
+    and in those parts of the city where Christians' houses, surrounded
+    by Moslem neighbors, offered easy points of attack; these places
+    having been looted, the mob moved on towards what are known as the
+    Christian quarters of the town. There the resistance became more
+    obstinate; in two of these quarters the old street gates were still
+    in use, by shutting which, the district enclosed becomes a small
+    fortified community capable of making a strong resistance to an
+    organized mob. The assailants were at last beaten off and arrested.
+
+    Under such general conditions the storm of mob violence raged
+    on without much abatement till the middle of the afternoon, when
+    the tumult gradually subsided, and night at last brought quiet,
+    except in the vicinity of burning houses, where the uproar went
+    on till near midnight. By morning, arrangements seemed to have
+    been made which gave us hope that order would be maintained;
+    the guard for our mission premises had been increased, and the
+    soldiers posted at intervals around the Christian quarters of the
+    city. Very early in the morning of the 17th, crowds, evidently
+    eager to share the plunder, were seen hurrying towards the city
+    from every direction. The soldiers met and turned them back, and
+    even beat some of them and chased them off. They soon returned,
+    however, increased in numbers, and being joined by friends from
+    the city, became very turbulent. About noon we saw through our
+    glass an officer, apparently a captain, ride forward into a mob,
+    and address them at some length; we could not hear what he said,
+    but immediately, without any show of opposition from any one, the
+    whole crowd came pell-mell with the soldiers into the city. This
+    was at the southwest corner of the town, and immediately under
+    our eyes. At the same time much the same thing was occurring at
+    the northwest corner; then for an hour chaos was let loose again,
+    and the horrors of the previous day were repeated, only that this
+    time the Christians were prepared, and, being in a strong position,
+    were generally able to beat off their assailants. At one point
+    of the line of defense were a few Moslem houses, and we were
+    delighted to learn that the men heartily and bravely joined in
+    the defense with their neighbors; the gallantry of this act was
+    somewhat marred, however, by the demand which they made the next
+    day for a large sum of money for their service; these men actually
+    demanded and received about $5 apiece for this neighborly help.
+
+    When it became apparent that the mob could not force their way
+    into the places held by the besieged, the soldiers, perhaps having
+    received new orders, resumed a show of activity, fired a few shots
+    into the air, and drove the mob out of the city and dispersed
+    them; this is the last serious fighting that has occurred up to
+    the present time, though local tumults have broken out frequently,
+    several houses have been pillaged and burned, and two Christians
+    at least were shot while being conducted through the streets by
+    soldiers. Strict military rule is now established, and special
+    care is taken to safeguard the lives of property of foreigners. We
+    are kept under very close restriction, and not allowed to visit
+    the city except for special objects, and then under a strong
+    guard. The amount of damage we can only estimate; as nearly as
+    we can judge, the figures will be about 200 killed, 400 wounded,
+    nearly all the Christian shops and 250 houses pillaged, and a
+    considerable number burned. Some 1,000 men who in the first panic
+    took refuge in khans and mosques are still held as prisoners,
+    for purposes which we can only surmise.
+
+    P.S. Dec. 17. Quiet has for the most part been maintained under
+    strict military rule. No Christian can yet venture out without
+    armed escort, and there are not wanting signs that there is waiting
+    and even expectation of another signal from above. The government,
+    however, seems to be trying to restore order and confidence. We
+    are glad to say that we have heard of no cases of special violence
+    or abuse offered to women.
+
+    The above-named prisoners have been gradually released, till
+    now there are only some six of the principal Christians still in
+    confinement. The number of killed just now must be set down at
+    over 400; the butchery in the markets where the first attacks
+    began far exceeded our belief. A great number of bodies were
+    thrown together into some distilleries, and these buildings
+    set on fire and burned to the ground, thus removing for a time
+    much of the terrible evidence of the extent of the massacre. The
+    attack being made in the morning and beginning in the markets, it
+    happened that the killed are about wholly from the "bread-winners"
+    among the Christians. As a result, there are now in Aintab more
+    than 4,000 people dependent on charity for daily bread, and most
+    of those to whom they would naturally look for aid are utterly
+    impoverished; the outlook for the winter is simply appalling. We
+    appeal for aid speedily in the name of humanity.
+
+
+
+
+THE CITY OF BIRIJIK AND THE ATROCITIES.
+
+The city of Birijik is on the shores of the Euphrates; it has a
+beautiful appearance from the other side of the river. The Mohammedan
+population there are very wild and ignorant.
+
+
+The Massacre at Birijik (Province of Aleppo).
+
+
+    Birijik had about 300 Christian houses, or say about 1,000
+    souls, in the midst of the Mussulman population of about 9,000
+    souls. After the massacre at Oorfa on the 27th of October, 1895,
+    the authorities at Birijik told the Armenians that the Muslims
+    were afraid of them, and that therefore they (the Armenians) must
+    surrender to the government any arms that they possessed. This
+    was done, the most rigid search being instituted to assure the
+    authorities that nothing whatever in the way of arms remained in
+    the hands of the Armenians. This disarmament caused no little
+    anxiety to the Armenians, since the Muslim population was very
+    generally armed, and was constantly adding to its arms. In fact,
+    during the months of November and December the Christians have
+    kept within their houses because the danger of appearing upon
+    the streets was very great.
+
+    Troops were called out by the government to protect the
+    people. Since the soldiers had come to protect the Christians,
+    the Christians were required to furnish animals for them to carry
+    their goods. Then they were required to furnish them beds and
+    carpets to make them more comfortable. Finally they were required
+    to furnish the soldiers with food, and they were reduced to a
+    state bordering on destitution by these increasing demands.
+
+    The end came on the first of January, 1896, when the news of
+    the massacre of several thousands of Christians at Oorfa by the
+    soldiers appointed to guard them incited the troops at Birijik
+    to imitate this crime. The assault on the Christian houses
+    commenced at about nine o'clock in the morning and continued until
+    night-fall. The soldiers were aided by the Muslims of the city in
+    the terrible work. The object at first seemed to be mainly plunder,
+    but after the plunder had been secured the soldiers seemed to
+    make a systematic search for men, to kill those who were unwilling
+    to accept Mohammedanism. The cruelty used to force men to become
+    Muslims was terrible. In one case the soldiers found some twenty
+    people, men, women, and children, who had taken refuge in a sort
+    of cave. They dragged them out and killed all the men and boys,
+    because they would not become Muslims. After cutting down one
+    old man who had thus refused, they put live coals upon his body,
+    and as he was writhing in torture, they held a Bible before him,
+    and asked him mockingly to read them some of the promises in
+    which he had trusted. Others were thrown into the river while
+    still alive, after having been cruelly wounded. The women and
+    children of this party were loaded up like goods upon the backs
+    of porters and carried off to the houses of Muslims. Christian
+    girls were eagerly sought after, and much quarreling occurred
+    over the question of their division among their captors. Every
+    Christian house except two, claimed to be owned by Turks, was
+    plundered. Ninety-six men are known to have been killed, or about
+    half of the adult Christian men. The others have become Mussulmans
+    to save their lives, so that there is not a single Christian left
+    in Birijik to-day. The Armenian Church has been made into a mosque,
+    and the Protestant Church into a Medresse Seminary.--[Dr. Dillon.
+
+
+
+
+OORFA AND ITS ATROCITIES.
+
+Oorfa, the old Ur of the Chaldees, where Abraham, the old patriarch of
+the Bible, was born, was called Edessa in the time of Christ. I have
+told the story of King Abgar and his conversion in the historical part
+of this book. It had about 50,000 population, about 20,000 of whom
+were Armenians before the massacres. Out of that number 8,000 were
+slaughtered, according to Mr. Fitzmaurice, the British vice-consul
+who returned from Oorfa to Constantinople on March 21. The Evangelical
+Armenian pastor, the Rev. Hagop Abuhayatian, was also martyred. I knew
+him personally. He was educated in Germany, a man of great ability;
+a great scholar, and a great and forcible preacher.
+
+
+A Letter from Oorfa, Jan. 28, 1896.
+
+
+    Dear Friend:--
+
+    Your only remaining brother sends you a letter, but no letters
+    can begin to explain the sad state of this city. The massacre of
+    Dec. 28 and 29 has left all homes except Catholics and Syrians
+    entirety empty of any comforts. Many families have not one bed
+    even; all cooking utensils, clothing, bedding, carpets, etc.,
+    were taken. Most have a little zakhere left, though some have
+    not that. We are feeding about 175 of the most needy, and more
+    will come to us every week. The loss by death is between 4,000
+    and 5,000. Our pastor, the Rev. Hagop Abouhayatian, Dr. Kivorc,
+    and brother Harotoun, Sarkis Varjebed Chubukian and brother and
+    son, Garabed Roumian, Habbourjou Avedis and brother Sarkis, old
+    sexton Garabed and other sexton Bogos, Majar Kivorc and brother
+    Bogos and Berber Monofa and two sons, Eskejiyan Marderos, Zarman
+    Roomian's three eons, are some of the dead. In all, our Protestant
+    dead are 115. Some of our people perished in the Gregorian Church,
+    where 1,500 or 2,000 went for refuge Saturday night, and on Sunday
+    were murdered or burned, very few escaping. It was the most awful
+    of all the terrible events of those two days.
+
+    Thank God, two hundred and forty were saved by coming to me; sixty
+    of them were men. I could not keep the men in my house or yard,
+    because it was forbidden by the guards, but I hid them elsewhere,
+    and fed them for three or four days. The government carefully
+    protected me, and killed as many of my friends as possible. We
+    have our house and all the schoolrooms full of the wounded and
+    the most forlorn.
+
+    Our Oorfa redeefs leave to-morrow; we have new soldiers now for
+    guard of the city, and Christians especially. Oorfa redeefs have
+    been poor guards, and but for them the awful work would not have
+    been accomplished. The pastor of Severek, the Rev. Marderos,
+    was killed. The Rev. Vartan remains alive in Adayaman. Both in
+    Severek and Adayaman the number of the killed was very great. In
+    Birijik about two hundred were killed, and all remaining have
+    become Moslems; they have been circumcised.
+
+    In Aintab about three hundred were killed, 847 shops plundered
+    and 417 houses.
+
+    During our first disturbance, six to seven hundred shops here
+    were plundered, and about 175 houses. Then the Christians used
+    arms to defend themselves. Since then all arms have been taken by
+    the government from the Christians, and the leaders were forced
+    to sign a paper stating the city as "in peace and harmony, thanks
+    to the rulers," etc.; twenty-five signed it, and now almost all
+    of these have been killed. Our pastor signed for Protestants.
+
+    Only two of the Gregorian priests remain, and they are wounded. The
+    bishop is alive, but feeble, and does not work publicly now. Their
+    state is very sad. We desire your prayers, and the aid of all
+    who can give us help by money at this time.
+
+    Sincerely your friend,
+
+    P.S. Your brother asks you to send a letter to him by me.
+
+
+
+
+DIARBEKIR AND ITS STORY.
+
+Diarbekir (see the historical part for its foundation) has about 40,000
+population. Nearly half of them are Christians, but not all of them are
+Armenians. There are Chaldeans also. The Armenian population numbered
+about 12,000, of which 5,000 were killed during the recent atrocities.
+
+
+A Letter from Diarbekir, Nov. 20, 1895.
+
+
+    My Dear Sir:--
+
+    After salutation, I offer my thanks to God that after great
+    dangers and tribulation we have reached the present time. God's
+    will be done. How can I describe the horrors in our city to
+    you? Can any pen or any language tell them? No, but I shall try
+    to write at least a very short description of them. But who knows
+    if this letter will reach you, because of the letters we write,
+    very few reach you, and very few of your letters reach us, since
+    the government has control of the mail, and it is the government
+    that persecutes us. Our age is a peculiar age. God look at our
+    misery and save us.
+
+    How happy were those who were martyred on Nov. 1, and have gone to
+    their reward. The atrocities which happened here on November 1, 2,
+    3, cannot be matched in the history of the civilized world. I do
+    not think they can be in that of heathen lands, where the people
+    are barbarous.
+
+    When I write these lines to you, I hardly know what I am writing;
+    the darkness of Egypt covers all around me. The former millionaires
+    in the city have nothing and are begging bread. Nov. 1 was a black
+    day for the Armenians. Many were separated from their loved ones,
+    even parents from their children. Many merchants and rich people
+    were so thoroughly plundered and stripped that they are literally
+    left naked and hungry, and numbers have been put to unspeakable
+    tortures by the Turks and Kurds. Nov. 1 was Friday; it was about
+    noon when the Mohammedans came out from their mosques. The native
+    Turks, the Kurds who were brought from outside, and the soldiers
+    all united, swords, pistols, guns, axes, and clubs in their hands,
+    fell upon the Armenians in the market place or business place,
+    cut them to pieces, and plundered what they had. If they had
+    been all killed by bullets it would have been a sudden death, and
+    easier. But they cut them to pieces bit by bit with their axes,
+    and made holes in the bodies with their swords.
+
+    When they were killing the Armenians, they were repeating the
+    following words, "Bring testimony to prophet Mohammed. Our Sultan
+    ordered us to kill these heathen dogs, the Armenians." The governor
+    of the city, and all other officials, with the commander of the
+    soldiers, during the time of the atrocities were sitting near
+    the great mosque, and while listening to the cries and screams of
+    the martyred Armenians, they were laughing and joking with great
+    pleasure, and ordering the soldiers to carry the most valuable
+    things to their houses.
+
+    After they had killed everybody, and plundered everything in the
+    business place, they turned to the residences where Armenians
+    lived, and began to burn and kill. Some of the soldiers went to
+    the tops of the minarets or high towers, and began to shoot the
+    Armenians from there. What a pitiful scene was the condition
+    of the Armenian ladies, who were running from house to house,
+    from street to street, and were shot dead, and their children
+    left orphans. During the three days' massacre 4,000 Armenians
+    were killed, and the burning of the houses and stores continued
+    twenty-four hours. From the gate of the mosque to the place
+    where they make saddles, and from the twin caravansary to the new
+    caravansary, from Sheik Uatad to Melik Ahmed, all the buildings,
+    1,400 stores, were burnt and turned to ashes. There are other
+    stores also which were not burnt, but everything was taken from
+    them. The stores where goldsmiths worked every article is taken
+    from.
+
+    When the Armenians go among the ruins to see if they can find
+    any article, they are forbidden; and if some one manages to
+    find anything, the Mohammedans take it from him, cursing him,
+    and calling him a heathen dog at the same time.
+
+    When we come to the residences near your house, from the house of
+    Darakji to the covered place of Sheytan aglou, all are destroyed;
+    from Alo-Pasha bath to the Jemil Pasha Palace, all destroyed. But
+    the church of the Patrees is not destroyed. St. Sarkis's church
+    was plundered and afterwards burned. Before the church was burnt,
+    they killed the priests, and unspeakable violations took place in
+    the church. In that quarter half of the population were killed,
+    and the other half, who survive, are naked, barefooted, hungry,
+    and are begging bread.
+
+    Now the government pretends to give bread to the hungry, but
+    nothing is given, and those who have a little give to the others
+    who have nothing; but after a few days nothing will be left to
+    eat. Thank the Lord, the Kurds went out of the city. But it is
+    twenty days now since the massacre took place, and nobody dares
+    to go out to the streets.
+
+    We have no stores, no money, nothing to eat. Though my personal
+    house was not robbed, but I have ten orphans whose fathers and
+    mothers were killed; I am taking care of them. We have a little;
+    we shall eat that, and see what the Lord will provide.
+
+    From the Rev. Dr. Tomy's house to the church of the Evangelical
+    people all the houses were burned. Hovhanness's loss is about
+    $1,000. Those who hid themselves in Konsol Khan and in the church
+    of the Patrees escaped death. But every one who escaped was left
+    hungry and thirsty from twelve to fifteen days in their places
+    of confinement, because they were afraid of going out.
+
+    All the suburban towns and villages were totally destroyed. In
+    Sevorag both the Armenian church and the Evangelical Armenian
+    church were destroyed, and only from fifty to one hundred persons
+    were left alive. The monastery of Argen was destroyed, and the
+    teachers and all the inmates were killed.
+
+    They burnt the church of Ali-Punar and killed the priest. From
+    that place only five or ten persons were left alive. Your brother
+    at Kitibel with all his family are killed, and both the churches
+    are burned. They forced the ministers to accept the Mohammedan
+    religion; on refusal all three were killed, the Rev. Abosh, the
+    Rev. Khidershap, and the priest. All who were left alive at Kitibel
+    are only about forty persons. Afram's brother Kisho with all his
+    family were killed. At Renjil nobody is left. At Kara Bash only
+    fifty persons are left alive. The village of Satou is entirely
+    out of existence. In all this province all the towns and villages
+    are destroyed, and the people are killed, except the village of
+    Haziro, which is not destroyed, and the reason is that a Turk,
+    Sevdim Beg, did not permit the Kurds and the Turks to destroy it.
+
+    What will become of us hereafter we do not know. We are still
+    in danger, but we trust first in God, then in such friends as
+    you. My personal damage is $5,000 and now is the time to show us
+    sympathy and help us.
+
+    If you cannot do it yourself personally, can you not tell the
+    people of the United States of America to help us and relieve
+    our suffering?
+
+    Sincerely yours,
+
+
+
+
+TREBIZOND AND ITS ATROCITIES.
+
+Trebizond is built on the shores of the Black Sea, and is a part
+of Armenia. The population is estimated at 40,000; only 10,000 are
+Christians; perhaps about half of them are Armenians, and nearly
+half of the Armenians were killed and wounded during the recent
+savageries. Mr. Chelton, who was going to Armenia to organize
+consulates, was in Trebizond, saw the massacre of Christians, and
+reported to the government at Washington:--
+
+
+    "Trebizond, Oct. 9, 1895.--Many Armenians were killed here in
+    conflicts yesterday with Turks. No attempt was made to stop the
+    massacre of the Armenians. The Turks were armed, and the number of
+    troops present here is small. It is even stated that soldiers took
+    part in the slaughter, and in the pillage which accompanied it."
+
+    "London, Oct. 17, 1895.--The 'Daily News' publishes a dispatch
+    from Constantinople giving a description by an eye-witness of
+    the rioting at Trebizond. He says that four separate Moslem mobs
+    surrounded the Armenian quarters at eleven o'clock on the morning
+    of Oct. 8, and then began to pillage the shops. Being opposed,
+    they fired on the Armenians, and soon a general massacre began.
+
+    "Soldiers joined the mob in firing on the Armenians and in
+    pillaging the shops and houses. The scene continued until 4
+    o'clock in the afternoon, when nothing was left to pillage and
+    nobody remained to be killed. The mob then began to disperse. The
+    better class of Turks did their best to protect the lives of the
+    Armenians. They sheltered the women and children and many men
+    in their houses. The mob attacked only the orthodox Armenians,
+    leaving Catholics alone."
+
+
+An Armenian Massacre. Money Cabled to London by the Local Relief
+Association, Dec. 31, 1895.
+
+
+    "Recent letters telling of the massacres in various Armenian
+    cities contain information that helps to explain many points in
+    the awful outbreak of so-called Mohammedan fanaticism. A letter
+    from Trebizond says:--
+
+    "'Bahri Pasha, governor of Van, started to come to Constantinople,
+    and it was learned that he was bringing with him four of
+    the fairest young maidens of Sassoun, who had been spared
+    in the massacre, to make an acceptable present of them to his
+    Sultan. This aroused the Armenian people of Trebizond to a frenzy,
+    and it was impossible to restrain the young men, the more daring
+    of whom fired upon Bahri Pasha, wounding him. But he carried out
+    his mission to Constantinople, and was honored with the highest
+    decoration and appointed governor of Adana.
+
+    "'Afterward the pasha of Trebizond, calling twelve of the leading
+    men of the city, demanded that they should hand over the young
+    men who attacked the governor, and gave them just a few hours
+    in which to carry out his orders. The next day they answered him
+    that the government had no means of finding the men out.
+
+    "'When the mails had arrived, and the people went toward the
+    postoffice, the trumpet was sounded three times, and both the
+    soldiers and the mob rushed upon the people. It is impossible
+    to describe the horror of the scene--the roar of the murderers,
+    like that of wild beasts, the shrieks of the women in the houses
+    from whose arms their husbands and sons were torn and murdered
+    before their eyes, and universal tumult, added to the sighs and
+    groans of the dying. And this we know is only one, and not even
+    the most terrible of the massacres.'"
+
+
+
+
+BAIBURT.
+
+
+    "Constantinople, Oct. 28, 1895.--Another massacre of Armenians,
+    accompanied by the outraging of women, is reported to have
+    occurred recently in the districts of Baiburt, between Erzeroum
+    and Trebizond. According to the news received here, a mob of
+    about 500 Mussulmans and Lazes, the greater majority of whom
+    were armed with Martini-Henry rifles, made an attack upon the
+    Armenians inhabiting several villages of that vicinity, and set
+    fire to their houses and schools. As the Armenians fled in terror
+    from their dwellings they were shot down as they ran, and a number
+    of men and women who were captured by the rioters, it is added,
+    were fastened to stakes and burned alive.
+
+    "The Armenian women who fell into the hands of the mob, it is
+    asserted, were outraged and brutally mutilated. It is also stated
+    that the churches were desecrated and pillaged, the cattle, and
+    all the portable property of any value belonging to the Armenians
+    being carried off by the marauders. During the disturbance
+    150 Armenians are reported to have been killed. The surviving
+    villages applied for protection to the governor of Baiburt, who,
+    after hearing their complaint, sent three policemen to the scene
+    of the massacre after the slaughter was ended.
+
+    "The Turkish officials, it is claimed, know the ringleaders of
+    the outbreak in the Baiburt district; but apparently no steps
+    have been taken to arrest them."
+
+
+Another Letter from Baiburt.
+
+
+    "The Armenian bishop's vicar was killed, the teachers in the
+    schools and many other men and women were massacred. Women jumped
+    into open wells to escape worse deaths; the villages round about
+    were laid waste.
+
+    "Following this was the Erzinghan massacre. On Friday, the 25th
+    of October, 1895, the Moslems finished their noon hour of prayer
+    by pouring out of the mosques and attacking the Armenians in the
+    market, who, taken by surprise, were shot and cut down to the
+    number of 500; their shops being all plundered."
+
+
+    (Signed)      An American Missionary.
+
+
+
+
+ERZEROUM.
+
+This is a large city, almost on the boundary line between Russia and
+Turkey, in Turkish Armenia. It has about 60,000 people, one-third of
+whom are Armenians. Several times since the last Turko-Russian war
+the Christian Armenians have been massacred there by the Turks and
+the regular soldiers, and during the recent atrocities also there
+were massacred, and in all about 3,000 Armenians were killed.
+
+
+Letter from Erzeroum.
+
+
+    "Nov. 27, 1895.--The massacre evidently was pre-arranged. It began
+    all over the city at the same moment. The bugle was sounded,
+    and the soldiers began. They first said, "No harm to women or
+    children," but they soon passed those bounds. A soldier who was
+    on guard says the order was given by the Porte. We made ready
+    for defense, but it soon appeared that the soldiers had cut off
+    the rabble from our section, for no mob passed our street. A few
+    men tried to open the door, but three well-directed shots from
+    our balcony sent them off.
+
+    "The soldiers at the head of our street, apparently to guard it,
+    broke open three or four houses within a stone's throw of us,
+    and carried off everything they found. We saw loads of plunder
+    carried away by soldiers. A large number of women engaged in the
+    same work. The affair began shortly after noon and continued about
+    six hours. One Armenian was called to the door by an officer, who
+    professed to be friendly, and was cut down in cold blood. Others
+    were cruelly murdered. The death roll must be towards 300, if
+    not more. Between fifty and sixty wounded are in the hospital.
+
+    "Two hundred were gathered in the Armenian cemetery, some horribly
+    mutilated. There must be many wounded in the different houses. The
+    pillaged houses are to be counted by the hundred. No house attacked
+    was left until it was emptied of every movable thing. The next
+    day we went to an Armenian home. In the middle of a small room
+    (the kitchen), lying side by side on a mat, were the bodies of
+    two young women, almost naked, a light covering thrown over their
+    heads. At the other side of the room a grief-stricken woman was
+    trying to make bread from a little flour that had been left. She
+    had to borrow utensils to do it. She left her work, came forward
+    and removed the covering from the bodies. They were those of
+    young women developing into motherhood. The head and face of
+    one was covered with blood, and she was also badly wounded in
+    the hand. The other had a bullet wound through the abdomen from
+    the right side. A companion of these two had been carried off,
+    and was lying dead in another house. Their lives were sacrificed
+    in defense of honor.
+
+    "We passed through the ruins to other rooms. Boxes and
+    furniture were in splinters, windows smashed, walls ploughed
+    with bullets. The floor was covered with big patches of
+    blood. The bodies lying in the cemeteries are simply wrecks of
+    human beings. The majority have bullet wounds. Nearly all have
+    bayonet, sword and dagger wounds, some badly mutilated. Two or
+    three were skinned, and some were burned with kerosene. A great
+    many women are missing. Very many dead have been disposed of by
+    the Turks. Hundreds have nothing to eat, and no means of getting
+    anything. The villages of the plain have suffered awfully. No
+    definite news has come; only the news that columns of smoke tell."
+
+
+
+
+MARASH.
+
+The writer became acquainted with many noble Armenians here during his
+three years in the Theological Seminary, and almost all his friends
+were killed. Among them were the Rev. Sdepan Jirnazian, a noble
+Christian minister,--when I was a little boy he was my pastor in the
+suburbs of Antioch;--Bedros Iskiyan, an American citizen, butchered
+before his wife and children; Garabed Popalian, another noble man, and
+the richest among the Armenian Evangelical people; Dr. Kevork Gulizian;
+Khacher Bayramian and his family; Garabed Salibian, in whose house
+I used to take my meals. A private letter says that about half the
+Armenians were killed by the Turks. Marash had about 35,000 population;
+about 15,000 were Armenians, of whom about 7,000 were killed. It has
+four Evangelical Armenian churches there, a theological seminary,
+and a ladies' college. The local governor led the regular soldiers
+to plunder and kill the people.
+
+
+Letter from Marash.
+
+
+    London, Nov. 28, 1895.--The correspondent of the United Press in
+    Constantinople telegraphs, under date of November 27, that a second
+    terrible massacre has occurred in Marash, and that the houses there
+    have been pillaged without regard to who their occupants might
+    be. It is reported that thousands of persons were killed and many
+    hundred wounded. The American Theological Seminary was plundered
+    and burned, and two of the students in that institution were shot,
+    one being fatally wounded. The hotels and boarding houses also
+    were plundered. The Christians at Marash, and in that vicinity,
+    thousands of whom are destitute, have appealed for aid.
+
+    The following letter, under date of November 25, has been
+    received here:
+
+    "I will report the events of the 18th in this city. At 7 a. m.,
+    almost simultaneously the firing of Martini rifles was heard all
+    over the city, with conflagrations in three Christian quarters.
+
+    "We understood the meaning of it. Soldiers began firing against two
+    Christian houses, and their inmates fled into missionary houses,
+    and soon the soldiers were looting their buildings, followed by
+    a mob, who smashed doors and windows, and carried away property.
+
+    "Towards noon a squad of soldiers approached the missionary
+    grounds, and it was thought that a guard had been sent in behalf
+    of the missionaries. They entered the grounds of the seminary
+    and academy boarding department. Two seminary students, who had
+    concealed themselves in a cave, were discovered, and one of them
+    fatally shot, while the other was badly wounded.
+
+    "The soldiers looted the missionary academy boarding department
+    of all the students' clothing and bedding, and a part of the
+    year's provisions in store. Other soldiers joined and looted
+    the seminary. They repeatedly went to an Armenian house near by,
+    but did not force it.
+
+    "Three-quarters of that terrible day the missionaries were left
+    to any chance fate that might befall them. They had been informed
+    by a Moslem of a purpose to burn the Girls' College that day, and
+    a note had been sent to the local governor asking for a special
+    guard. He replied that the barracks near by were charged to care
+    for them. It was soldiers in relays from that very place that
+    were wrecking everything.
+
+    "In the afternoon four or five soldiers entered the seminary, and
+    soon after, fire broke out in the rear. As the flames wrapped the
+    building, a trustworthy captain with thirty soldiers appeared at
+    the gate, and the missionaries were assured of safety. The soldiers
+    still continue with the missionaries. We cannot estimate the loss
+    of life. Leaders of society have been struck down everywhere,
+    two missionary academy teachers among them."
+
+
+
+
+AKHISAR.
+
+The valley of the Sakaria (the ancient Sangarius), is, through a
+part of its course, followed by the Anatolia line of railway. At a
+spot ninety miles from Constantinople, where the valley broadens out
+into a considerable plain, is the station and town of Akhisar. This
+town was, until the tenth of this month, the center of a considerable
+trade. The plain is dotted with vineyards, olive orchards, mulberry
+gardens, fields of cotton, wheat, etc. The town consists of about
+160 houses of immigrants from Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Rumelia (who,
+having been concerned in the celebrated Bulgarian massacres, found
+refuge in Turkish territory), and sixty houses of Armenians.
+
+
+A Letter Oct. 15, 1895.
+
+
+    Thursday, Oct. 10 (a bright, beautiful day), was market
+    day. Numbers of people from the surrounding villages had come with
+    the fruits of their various industries. The market place consisted
+    of sixty-three permanent shops, and about 150 temporary places
+    of trade, where traders from the surrounding country exposed
+    their wares for sale. The market was almost exclusively in the
+    hands of Armenians, 200 of the shops and trading places being
+    in their hands. Rumors of danger were afloat, but the Armenians
+    anticipated no attack on market-day. They had no arms, or means
+    of defense, and had taken no precautions. They soon began to
+    notice, however, that their Mussulman neighbors had mysterious
+    whisperings among themselves, and that some of them were searching,
+    as with official authority, the persons of Armenian young men,
+    who were supposed to have knives or revolvers about them. Those
+    searching at last found a young Armenian, a seller of calico,
+    who had a knife in his possession. At once they fell upon him,
+    but he escaped in the crowd that gathered, and the Mussulmans
+    turned upon the Armenians, saying, "We must kill them all. Let
+    him who loves his religion join and help." With knives and
+    clubs the work was carried on, the Armenians fleeing, or hiding
+    themselves in or about their shops. Turkish officials encouraged
+    the killers. A herald was sent through the market calling,
+    "Let the Moslems go to the government house." They did go,
+    and immediately returned with rifles and revolvers. Then the
+    slaughter increased in madness. The piteous entreaties of the
+    threatened, the shrieks of the wounded, the groans of the dying,
+    the shouts of the killers, and the hysterical cries of some of
+    the Christians, who, to save their lives were calling out with
+    desperate energy the Mohammedan formula of faith, rose to the deaf
+    heavens. Ten-year-old Turkish boys, as though hunting rats, rushed
+    into holes and corners, and discovering the hiding-places of the
+    merchants and traders, called to their fathers and big brothers,
+    "Here is a Giavour!" and while that one was being dispatched they
+    rushed off to ferret out another. For four hours the slaughter
+    continued. Ropes were attached to the feet of the corpses, which
+    were dragged like the carcasses of dogs through the streets to
+    dry wells, into which they were thrown. An old man, aged 75,
+    was tumbled in alive, and left to die among the dead bodies of
+    his friends. The money and watches of the merchants were secured
+    by the ruffians. The notes of hand and account books were torn
+    into shreds (the killers were debtors to the merchants), and the
+    shops were looted. Not so much as a pin or needle was left in the
+    200 shops. Then the cry was raised, "To the houses!" to complete
+    the destruction of the Christian inhabitants.
+
+    Twenty-nine bodies were afterward recovered for burial;
+    thirty-three persons (some of whom afterward died), were
+    found to be wounded, and about forty are still missing. The
+    lieutenant-governor arrived that night on the scene, and sent an
+    official report (by telegram) to Constantinople, to the effect
+    that a row had occurred between Turks and Armenians, in which three
+    Armenians had been killed and two wounded, but that order had been
+    restored! Efforts were made to cover the matter up. Christians were
+    imprisoned for talking about the massacre, or for sending the news
+    to friends. A prominent man, well-known throughout the country,
+    wished to let his circle of friends know that he was still alive,
+    and was permitted to advertise that he had met with an accident,
+    but was quite well.
+
+    Great patches of dried blood in the shops presented the appearance
+    of places used for the slaughter of sheep. Groups of people were
+    standing before the houses, statue-like, bewildered and hopeless,
+    while other groups were wailing over the news of the corpses of
+    friends, just recovered from the wells. I saw one of the mutilated
+    corpses, and have seen it night and day since.
+
+    An American Missionary.
+
+
+The above missionary also says not only common people, but
+also officers of high rank, made free threats of massacre, and
+ostentatiously sharpened their swords and cleaned their weapons in
+the presence of their Armenian neighbors. Great care was taken by
+the authorities to deprive the Armenians of arms; but the Mussulmans
+were allowed to carry arms freely. The Constantinople demonstration
+and consequent massacre aggravated the situation. It was pitiable to
+see the fear that held the Armenians as in a nightmare, and to hear
+the threats and observe the bearing of the Turks.
+
+A soldier, passing the door of a Christian house and observing a young
+woman sitting on the door-step, ground his teeth and called out to her,
+"You may sit there four days more, and then I will have you on the
+point of this bayonet." The girl fled in terror into the house.
+
+
+
+
+ZEITOON.
+
+Zeitoon is fifteen miles from Marash. The Zeitoonlis are the bravest
+of all the Armenians; there are about 15,000 in the city, and no
+Mohammedans, save a dozen or two Turkish families, and they talk
+the Armenian language. Until about thirty years ago Zeitoon was a
+free city; but they were conquered by craft, and became tributary to
+Turkey. The Sultan garrisoned the place to keep them down, and the
+troops committed every sort of iniquity. Finally, about two years ago,
+the Sultan sent physicians there to poison the Armenian boys. These
+assassins professed to have come to vaccinate the boys; every boy
+who was vaccinated died. Then the Zeitoonlis revolted, captured the
+barracks from the soldiers, took all the guns, cannon, and ammunition,
+and sent the soldiers away. This action enraged the Sultan, and he
+sent some 20,000 regular soldiers and 30,000 bashi-bazooks to punish
+them; but they were repulsed with heavy loss by the Zeitoonlis. It
+has been reported that during the battle between the Zeitoonlis and
+Turks about 15,000 of the latter were killed. Finally the Sultan
+lost hope of conquering them, and asked the European powers to use
+their good offices to restore peace in Zeitoon, and the consuls of the
+different powers induced them to resume peaceful work by guaranteeing
+that the Zeitoonlis shall not be molested. But who believes a word of
+it? We know, with horrible clearness, of how much value the powers'
+"guarantee" is; they say there is no obligation but to keep count of
+the massacres.
+
+
+A Few statements from Zeitoon.
+
+
+    "Turkish mendacity is again asserting itself. A few days ago
+    the Sublime Porte set afloat the official report that Zeitoon
+    has fallen, after hard fighting, in which 2,500 Armenians were
+    said to have been killed as against 250 Turks. Now these official
+    reports turn out to have been official lies. News from independent
+    sources shows that Zeitoon has not yet fallen; that its gallant
+    defenders are still holding out their own. To Armenians who
+    understand Ottoman tactics, the alacrity with which Abdul Hamid
+    sent abroad the news of the supposed victory of his troops is a
+    sign of misfortunes and reverses. The Turks control the avenues of
+    communication at Marash, and it is not surprising that they attempt
+    to win victories upon telegraphic despatches--but not at Zeitoon.
+
+    "The Armenians at Zeitoon are rebels against organized
+    assassination, plunder, and arson. They have been unwilling to
+    submit meekly to Turkish outrages, and are determined to defend
+    their lives, their homes, and their property. They have vanquished
+    Turkish armies before, and strewn the ground with thousands
+    of Turkish carcasses. They need fear nothing but the lack of
+    supplies. Will not Christian nations intervene to save a valiant
+    people who are defending their homes and their liberties, and who
+    cannot be conquered by force of arms, yet who may be compelled
+    to surrender to inexorable hunger?--[Tigram H. Suni, Dec. 31.
+
+    "London, Feb. 3.--A dispatch from Constantinople to the 'Daily
+    News' says: 'Reports from Turkish sources believed to be fairly
+    accurate state that it is believed that the Zeitoonlis are still
+    holding out. The Turks have made seven different attacks upon
+    the town, but all have failed, and their losses are reported to
+    amount to 10,000. It is alleged that 50,000 troops will be needed
+    to capture Zeitoon.
+
+    "'It is believed that the Zeitoonlis number from 15,000 to 20,000,
+    well armed, and provisioned for a year. There is a doubtful report
+    that 4,000 Russian Armenians crossed the Persian frontier, and
+    defeated the Turks at Siz, eighteen hours from Zeitoon, and have
+    joined the Zeitoonlis.'"
+
+
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS
+
+In the province of Aleppo, the village of Chizek, the Armenian priest
+was killed for refusing to become a Mohammedan.
+
+In the province of Erzeroum and the district of Erzinghan, six separate
+attacks for pillage have been made upon the village of Zimara, and
+great pressure is being used to force the people of the village to
+become Mohammedans.
+
+At the village of Gazma the houses have been pillaged, and numbers
+of the people have become Mohammedans to save their lives.
+
+In the province of Bitlis a considerable number of Armenians at Sert
+have been forced to become Mohammedans. In the district of Shirvan,
+out of twenty-two Armenian villages, the inhabitants of four entire
+villages have become Mohammedans to save their lives. The priests
+also accepted Mohammedanism, and the churches have been changed
+into mosques. At a little village at which the inhabitants could
+not disperse over the mountains a considerable number were killed,
+and the survivors accepted Mohammedanism. This village is called
+Kourine. In the district of Chilain, returns from six villages have
+come in which show a considerable number of persons killed for refusing
+to accept Islamism.
+
+In the province of Van the stuffed skin of the superior of the
+monastery of Khizan was still hanging from a tree in front of the
+monastery three weeks after the massacre took place; that is, at the
+date of the last news from there, Nov. 27. At Kharkotz in this province
+three priests accepted Mohammedanism, and were paraded through the
+streets in the dress of Mohammedan ulema in order to influence the
+people to follow their example.
+
+In the province of Harpoot in many of the smaller villages, where
+the people have been supposed by the Turks to be mere peasants,
+without ideas of their own, the offer of Islamism has not been made,
+but the people seized without ceremony and circumcised by force,
+and are considered now as Mohammedans. At Haboosi, in this province,
+the Christian dead were left unburied in the streets for the dogs
+to eat. The Armenian church and the Protestant chapel and parsonage
+were burned.
+
+At Peri, in the same province, 450 Christians were made Mohammedans
+by threats of death.
+
+At Aivos in the same province, all the buildings were destroyed. The
+Armenian priest was forced to give the call to prayer, and was then
+shot for refusing to become a Moslem.
+
+At Garmuri the Christians accepted Mohammedanism at the edge of the
+sword, and have been circumcised. The Protestant chapel and parsonage
+were burned, and the Armenian church has been seized and made into
+a mosque.
+
+At Hokh the Armenian church and Protestant chapel and parsonage
+were burned.
+
+At Houilu in the province of Harpoot, 266 out of 300 Christian houses
+were burned, among them the fine new Protestant church. Two priests
+were killed. Many of the people succeeded in escaping from the
+village. The rest have been forced to declare themselves Mohammedans.
+
+The events above mentioned took place in the main between Nov. 6
+and Nov. 20. But the process of forced conversion and the murder of
+individuals who refuse to accept Mohammedanism was still going on
+as lately as the 20th of December, when the Turkish government was
+assuring the European Ambassadors that all is quiet in Asiatic Turkey,
+and that all that is necessary to complete the work of pacification
+is for Turkey to be let alone.
+
+The nature of the pacification which may be expected if Turkey is left
+free to carry out its schemes for these provinces may be judged from
+the following list of educated and influential Protestant ministers,
+who have been put to death for refusing to embrace Mohammedanism. In
+every case the offer of life on these terms was made; in several cases
+time was allowed for consideration of the proposal; and in each case
+faith in Jesus Christ was the sole crime charged against the victim.
+
+
+     1. Rev. Krikor, pastor at Ichme, killed Nov. 6, 1895.
+     2. Rev. Krikor Tamzarien.
+     3. Rev. Boghos Atlasian, killed Nov. 13.
+     4. Rev. Mardiros Siraganian, of Arabkir, killed Nov. 13.
+     5. Rev. Garabed Kilijjian of Sivas, killed Nov. 12.
+     6. Rev. Mr. Stepan, of the Anglican Church at Marash, killed
+        Nov. 18.
+     7. The preacher of the village of Hajin, killed at Marash Nov. 18.
+     8. Rev. Krikor Baghdasarian, retired preacher at Harpoot, Nov. 18.
+     9. Retired preacher at Divrik, killed Nov. 8.
+    10. Rev. Garabed Resseian, pastor at Cherwouk, Nov. 5.
+    11. Rev. Metean Minasian, pastor at Sherik, Nov.
+    12. Pastor at Cutteroul, Nov. 6.
+    13. Preacher at Cutteroul, Nov. 6.
+    14. Rev. Sarkis Narkashjian, pastor at Chounkoush, Nov. 14.
+    15. The pastor of the church at Severek, November.
+    16. The pastor of the church at Adiyaman.
+    17. Rev. Hohannes Hachadorian, pastor at Kilisse, Nov. 7.
+    18. The preacher at Karabesh, near Diarbekir, Nov. 7.
+    19. Rev. Mardiros Tarzian, pastor at Keserik, near Harpoot,
+        November.
+
+
+
+
+TELEGRAMS FROM HAJIN (ARMENIA).
+
+To the English Consul at Aleppo, and to the English Ambassador of
+Constantinople.
+
+
+    All the suburban towns of Hajin where Christians live were
+    plundered by Mohammedans, and some of the Christians were
+    killed. The people of Hajin and we are in danger; immediate help
+    is needed.--Nov. 5, 1895.
+
+
+To the American Minister at Constantinople.
+
+
+    The Christian villages of Hajin were totally plundered by the
+    Mohammedans. About two thousand, naked and hungry, ran away and
+    came to Hajin. Both the Christian people at Hajin and we are in
+    danger; immediate help is needed.--Nov. 5, 1895.
+
+
+Extracts From a Hajin Letter.
+
+
+    My Dear Sir:--      Nov. 25, 1895.
+
+    The situation is growing worse here. All the suburban Christian
+    villages were plundered by Mohammedans. Some of the villages which
+    were plundered were as follows:--Shar-Dere, Roumlou, Kokooun,
+    and Dash-olouk. All of them are left naked and hungry. Came here
+    to our city, and we are taking care of them. And the government
+    never punished any of the plunderers. They were encouraged, and
+    surrounded our city, and nobody can go out of the city, and if this
+    continues so, we shall have a famine soon, and die in the city. The
+    government does not protect us, but helps the plunderers, and we
+    are continually threatened to be killed. Our only hope is in God.
+
+
+Another Extract From a Letter of an Armenian.
+
+
+    Nov. 25, 1895.
+    My Dear Uncle:--
+
+    If you ask our condition, thank God that we are alive. But beside
+    life we have nothing, no comfort, no happiness, no property, no
+    church, no religion, all are taken from us. Though we are alive,
+    many of our number were killed, and those who survive are wandering
+    here and there, naked and hungry, and are dying in that manner.
+
+    God is angry, and exceedingly angry to us. Perhaps he will hear
+    your prayers; pray for us, or else all of us shall perish. I can
+    never describe the horrible situation in which we are put.
+
+    Yours truly,
+
+
+From Hadish Village, Armenia.
+
+
+    My Dear Friend:--      Dec. 2, 1895.
+
+    In great sorrow and in despair I am compelled to write to you a
+    few lines to inform you of our most miserable condition.
+
+    The Turks and Kurds came to our village, plundered everything we
+    had, killed more than 600 persons, violated the women and girls,
+    tortured the pregnant women, and now we who survive have nothing to
+    live on. Naked, hungry, cold, hopeless, we are crying bitterly. I
+    write these few lines; perhaps you can inform the Christian world
+    and they may help us and relieve our sufferings.
+
+    Yours truly,
+
+
+There are many other cities, towns, and villages in Armenia, where
+thousands of people were tortured and killed, their houses burned and
+plundered, their children kidnapped, the women violated. But there
+is no space to put all here in this book. I am sure the reader will
+be satisfied with reading this long chapter of Armenian horrors,
+and the letters on the atrocities from different reliable sources.
+
+To sum up, during these frightful scenes in Armenia more than 100,000
+Armenians were killed, and half a million left without food, homes,
+or clothing; they are dying in heaps; and there is no hope of getting
+any help from Armenia itself, even when the spring comes, for those who
+would have supported them are killed, and most of the destitute are
+women and children. Everything, even to clothes, is taken from them,
+the head of the family is killed, and they are left hopeless and in
+despair. How long can the Red Cross Society help them? How long can
+the American people help them? Not very long; when spring comes they
+will say, "We have done all we could for the Armenians; let them take
+care of themselves." But will they stop to think how the Armenians can
+take care of themselves? Have they oxen and horses to plough? No. Is
+there any man left to support his wife and children? No. Suppose here
+and there an Armenian is left (I mean in the country places, not in
+the cities), dare he go out to his field and work? No. Were any of
+those who plundered and killed punished? No. What guarantee can we
+have, then, that those who survive will not be killed or plundered
+in their turn? None. Will the European powers who signed the Berlin
+Treaty give any assurance to the Armenians that they will be protected
+hereafter? No. Is the Sultan a better man since the massacre? No. Are
+the Turks and Kurds better people since the atrocities? No. They are
+worse than ever before, because they have a freer hand, and all their
+passions are roused to greater strength. Well, then, if these are
+all facts, what is the use of feeding people a few weeks merely to
+keep them alive for another massacre that will finish the rest of them?
+
+O reader, do not be cheated. The Armenians need practical aid, not
+deceptive aid. I mean the Armenians must be liberated from the cruel
+Sultan; if not, no aid is given to the Armenians. Because the future
+will be worse than ever before.
+
+Thus far I have continually assumed and tried to prove that the Sultan
+of Turkey deliberately ordered all these atrocities committed. But
+perhaps you will doubt the statement of a native; you will think
+I am prejudiced. Therefore I will give you American testimonies
+from reliable sources. Please read the following from the "Review
+of Reviews":--
+
+
+    THE MASSACRES IN TURKEY.
+
+    From Oct. 1, 1895, to Jan. 1, 1896.
+
+    Certain persons in Europe and America, misled by statements of
+    the Turkish government, have ascribed the dreadful massacres
+    which have taken place in Asia Minor to sudden and spontaneous
+    outbreaks of Moslem fanaticism, caused by a revolutionary
+    attitude among the Armenians themselves. The truth is that
+    these massacres, while sudden, have taken place according to a
+    deliberate and preconcerted plan. According to the statement of
+    many persons, French, English, Canadian, American, Turk, Kurd and
+    Armenian,--persons trustworthy and intelligent, who were in the
+    places where the massacres occurred, and who were eye-witnesses of
+    the horrible scenes,--the outbreaks were under careful direction
+    in regard to place, time, nationality of the victims and of the
+    perpetrators, were prompted by a common motive, and their true
+    character has been systematically concealed by Turkish official
+    reports. The following paper is based upon full accounts of the
+    massacres, written on the ground by the parties above referred
+    to. Their names, for obvious reasons, cannot be made public.
+
+
+    I. In Regard to Place.
+
+    With only four exceptions of consequence, the massacres have been
+    confined to the territory of the six provinces where reforms
+    were to be instituted. When a band of two thousand Kurdish and
+    Circassian raiders approached the boundary between the provinces
+    of Sivas and Angora, they were turned back by the officials, who
+    told them that they had no authority to pass beyond the province
+    of Sivas. The only large places where outrages occurred outside
+    of the six provinces are Trebizond, Marash, Aintab, and Cesarea,
+    in all of which the Moslems were excited by the nearness of the
+    scenes of massacre, and by the reports of the plunder which other
+    Moslems were securing.
+
+
+    II. In Regard to Time.
+
+    The massacre in Trebizond occurred just as the Sultan, after six
+    months of refusal, was about to consent to the scheme of reforms,
+    as if to warn the powers that in case they persisted, the mine
+    was already laid for the destruction of the Armenians. In fact,
+    the massacre of the Armenians is Turkey's real reply to the
+    demands of Europe that she reform. From Trebizond the wave of
+    murder and robbery swept on through almost every city, and town,
+    and village in the six provinces where relief was promised
+    to the Armenians. When the news of the first massacre reached
+    Constantinople, a high Turkish official remarked to one of the
+    Ambassadors that massacre was like the small-pox; they must all
+    have it, but they wouldn't need it the second time.
+
+
+    III. The Nationality of the Victims.
+
+    They were exclusively Armenians. In Trebizond there is a large
+    Greek population, but neither there nor elsewhere have the Greeks
+    been molested. Special care has also been taken to avoid injury to
+    the subjects of foreign nations, with the idea of escaping foreign
+    complications and the payment of indemnities. The only marked
+    exceptions were in Marash, where three school buildings belonging
+    to the American Mission were looted, and one building was burned;
+    and in Harpoot, where the school buildings and houses belonging
+    to the American Mission were plundered and eight buildings were
+    burned, the total losses exceeding $100,000, for which no indemnity
+    has yet been paid.
+
+
+    IV. The Method of Killing and Pillaging.
+
+    The method in the cities has been to kill within a limited period
+    the largest number of Armenians,--especially men of business,
+    capacity, and intelligence,--and to beggar their families by
+    robbing them, as far as possible, of their property. Hence, in
+    almost every place the massacres have been perpetrated during
+    the business hours, when the Armenians could be caught in their
+    shops. In almost every place, the Moslems made a sudden and
+    simultaneous attack just after their noonday prayer. The surprised
+    and unarmed Armenians made little or no resistance, and where,
+    as at Diarbekir and Gurun, they undertook to defend themselves,
+    they suffered the more. The killing was done with guns, revolvers,
+    swords, clubs, pick-axes, and every conceivable weapon, and many
+    of the dead were horribly mangled. The shops and houses were
+    absolutely gutted.
+
+    Upon hundreds of villages the Turks and Kurds came down like the
+    hordes of Tamerlane, robbed the helpless peasants of their flocks
+    and herds, stripped them of their very clothing, and carried away
+    their bedding, cooking utensils, and even the little stores of
+    provisions which they had with infinite care and toil laid up for
+    the severities of a rigorous winter. Worst of all is the bitter
+    cry that comes from every quarter that the Moslems carried off
+    hundreds of Christian women and children.
+
+    The number killed in the massacres thus far is estimated at fifty
+    thousand, which includes the majority of the well-to-do, capable,
+    intelligent Armenians in the six provinces that were to have
+    been reformed. The property plundered or destroyed is estimated
+    at $40,000,000. Not less than three hundred and fifty thousand
+    wretched survivors, most of whom are women and children, are in
+    danger of perishing by starvation and exposure unless foreign
+    aid is promptly sent and allowed to reach them.
+
+
+    V. The Perpetrators.
+
+    They were the resident Moslem population, reinforced by Kurds,
+    Circassians, and in several cases by the Sultan's soldiers and
+    officers, who began the dreadful work at the sound of a bugle,
+    and desisted when the bugle signaled to them to stop. This was
+    notoriously true in Erzeroum. In Harpoot, also, the soldiers
+    took a prominent, part, firing on the buildings of the American
+    Mission with Martini-Henry rifles and Krupp cannon. A shell from
+    one of the cannon burst in the house of the American Missionary,
+    Dr. Barnum. In most places the killing was by the Turks, while
+    the Kurds and Circassians were intent on plunder, and generally
+    killed only to strike terror or when they met with resistance. It
+    is an utter mistake to suppose, as some have, that the local
+    authorities could not have suppressed the "fanatical" Moslem mobs
+    and restrained the Kurds. The fact is that the authorities, after
+    looking on while the massacres were in progress, did generally
+    intervene and stop the slaughter as soon as the limited period
+    during which the Moslems were allowed to kill and rob had expired.
+
+    At Marsovan the limit of time was four hours. In several places
+    the slaughter and pillage continued from noon till sundown, or
+    later. At Sivas they continued for a whole day. In every place
+    the carnage stopped as soon as the authorities made an earnest
+    effort, and had it not been for their intervention after the set
+    time of one, two, or three days, the entire Armenian population
+    might have been exterminated.
+
+
+    VI. The Motive of the Turks.
+
+    This is apparent to the superficial observer. The scheme
+    of reforms devolved civil officers, judgeships, and police
+    participation on Mohammedans and non-Mohammedans in the six
+    provinces proportionately. This, while simple justice, was a
+    bitter pill to the Mohammedans, who had ruled the Christians with
+    a rod of iron for five hundred years. All that was needed to make
+    the scheme of reforms inoperative was to alter the proportion of
+    Christians to Mohammedans. This policy was at once relentlessly
+    and thoroughly executed. The number of the Armenians has been
+    diminished, first by killing at a single blow those most capable
+    of taking a part in any scheme of reconstruction, and secondly
+    by compelling the survivors to die of starvation, exposure,
+    and sickness, or to become Moslems.
+
+    It is the very essence of Mohammedanism that the "ghiavour"
+    has no right to live, save in subjection. The abortive scheme of
+    Europe insisting on the rights of Armenians as men, has enraged
+    the Moslems against them. The arrogant and non-progressive Turks
+    know that in a fair and equal race the Christians will outstrip
+    them in every department of business and industry, and they see
+    in any fair scheme of reforms the handwriting on the wall for
+    themselves. If the scheme of reforms had applied to regions where
+    Greeks predominate, the latter would have been killed and robbed
+    as readily as the Armenians have been. Are the Greek massacres of
+    1822 forgotten, when 50,000 were killed, or the slaughter of 12,000
+    Maronites and Syrians in 1860, and of 15,000 Bulgarians in 1876?
+
+
+    VII. Turkish Official Reports.
+
+    The refinement of cruelty appears in this, that the Turkish
+    government has attempted to cover up its hideous policy by the
+    most colossal lying and hypocrisy. It is true that on Sept. 30,
+    1895, some hot-headed young Armenians, contrary to the entreaties
+    of the Armenian patriarch and the orders of the police, attempted
+    to take a well-worded petition to the Grand Vezir, according
+    to a time-honored custom. It is also true that the oppressed
+    mountaineers of Zeitoon drove out a small garrison of Turkish
+    soldiers, whom, however, they treated with humanity; it is likewise
+    true that in various places individual Armenians, in despair,
+    have advocated violent methods. But the universal testimony of
+    impartial foreign eye-witnesses is that, with the above exceptions,
+    the Armenians have given no provocation, and that almost, if not
+    quite, all the telegrams purporting to come from the provincial
+    authorities accusing the Armenians with provoking the massacres,
+    are sheer fabrications of names and dates. If the Armenians made
+    attacks, where are the Turkish dead?
+
+    And the dreadful alternative of Islam or death was offered by
+    those who have dazzled and deceived Europe with Hatti Shereps
+    and Hatti Humayouns, promulgating civil equality and religious
+    liberty for their Christian subjects.
+
+    Strangest of all, he who is the head of all authority in Turkey,
+    and responsible above any and all others for the cold-blooded
+    massacres and plundering of the past two months, wrote a letter to
+    Lord Salisbury, and pledged his word of honor that the scheme of
+    reforms should be carried out to the letter, at the very moment
+    when he was directing the massacres. And the six great Christian
+    powers of Europe, as well as the United States, still treat this
+    man with infinite courtesy and deference; their representatives
+    still dine at his tables, and some of them still receive his
+    decorations.
+
+
+    VIII. The Solution.
+
+    If the Armenians are to be left as they are, it is a pity that
+    Europe ever mentioned them in the treaty of Berlin or subsequently;
+    and to intrust reforms in behalf of the Armenians to those who
+    have devoted two months' time to killing and robbing them is
+    simply to abandon the Armenians to destruction, and to put the
+    seal of Europe to the bloody work. The only way to reform Eastern
+    Turkey is by forcible foreign intervention--not the threat of it,
+    but the intervention itself.
+
+    The position and power of Russia give her a unique call to this
+    work. Should she enter on it at once, the whole civilized world
+    would approve her course.
+
+    Russia should have as free a hand in Kurdistan as England has
+    insisted on having in Egypt. By frankly admitting this, England
+    would gain in the respect and sympathy of the world, and strengthen
+    her own position.
+
+
+
+
+INFERENCES FROM THE ARMENIAN ATROCITIES.
+
+First: That devotion to Christ is not lessened but increased. Many
+people think the spirit of unbelief and indifferentism has spread
+so widely that in this nineteenth century people will no longer
+die for Christ. But out of 100,000 Armenians massacred, 90,000 were
+actually martyred because they would not deny Christ. In all lands,
+Christians praise the old martyrs, the church fathers: let them know
+that there are as noble church sons and daughters to-day in Armenia
+as there were church fathers anywhere in the early centuries. Thus
+these hideous scenes ought to awaken a true Christian spirit both in
+this country and in Europe.
+
+Second: That it was a religious persecution. Though the false and cruel
+Sultan gave a political color to it, his universal order was to offer
+the Armenians the choice of Mohammedanism or death. This is proved
+by the fact that the leading gospel ministers were specially chosen
+for martyrdom. And some of the Armenian priests, after having been
+converted by force, to escape unbearable tortures, were led through
+the streets, followed by great crowds, as a warning to the remaining
+Armenians that they must follow the same road. When some of them did
+it, the Turks forced them to take arms and kill their brothers and
+sisters for refusing to accept Mohammedanism. To speak of the massacres
+as political affairs is doing injustice to the cause of Christ.
+
+Third: That whatever a man sows, he shall reap the same. The Sultan
+and the Turks are sowing,--they are killing, and thousands of the
+Christians are converted by force to Mohammedanism; but the time is
+coming when more Mohammedans will be killed than Armenians have been,
+and thousands, and even millions of the Mohammedans will be converted
+to Christianity, and the blood of the Armenian martyrs will be the
+means of their salvation through Jesus Christ. The time is coming
+when out of this great persecution a great and happy freedom will
+proceed. Out of this great darkness a very bright light shall shine.
+
+Fourth: Some of the Turks helped and saved the Armenians. Certainly
+these were secret converts to Christianity, but their lives being
+in danger, they cannot confess Christ publicly. All they can do
+for the present is to help the needy Christians and save them
+from murder. Another class of Turks who helped is those who were
+themselves getting a living out of the Armenians. The Armenians gave
+them employment, and if their employers were killed, how could they
+get a living? Still another class protected the Armenians, because if
+the Armenian houses were burned, their houses also would be burned;
+and they asked and got money from the Armenians as a reward for having
+saved them. It is a mistake to think that there are good Mohammedans,
+who, from a good Mohammedan motive helped the Armenians. There cannot
+be a good Mohammedan motive towards a Christian; if there is a good
+motive, it is not a Mohammedan motive.
+
+Fifth: That the time has come when American and European Christians
+should trust no longer in the promises of the Sultan and the European
+governments, but as Christian people must use something more than
+"moral principle" before all the Armenians and American missionaries
+are killed. Moral influence is very good as far as it goes; being a
+Christian minister, I also believe in it. But as far as the Turks
+are concerned it can do nothing, because they do not know what
+morals are, or what moral character is. All the Turks are morally
+corrupt. They know only two things; one is the sword, the other is
+moral corruption. They came and captured that country by the sword,
+and they must go by the sword; there is no other way. Europe tried the
+experiment century after century, but could find no other way. Moral
+advice, wise counsel have never moved the Turks, and will never move
+them hereafter. Europe and a part of Armenia were taken from them by
+the sword, and the only way Armenia and the Armenians can be saved
+is by using the sword. When Christ comes again He will never yield;
+He will never be crucified, but he will judge and condemn. The time
+has come when Christians have suffered enough; they must unite and
+remove that great curse, the Mohammedan power, and make free that
+happy and beautiful Bible Land, Armenia and Palestine.
+
+Reader, you cannot go and visit to-day the places where man was
+created, where Noah's ark rested. You cannot go in safety to visit
+the places where Christ was born and walked. Why? Simply because a
+corrupt Mohammedan power wills there, and will not permit you. Is
+it not a shame to mighty Christian nations and powers that this is
+so? Will not the Christian nations be aroused with great indignation
+and give the last blow to such a cruel Mohammedan tyranny?
+
+Sixth: That Turkey is a mere barbarism; it is not to be considered or
+treated as a nation, for it is not one in any sense. International
+law cannot be applied to Turkey. The Sultan must be considered as a
+brigand, a mere lawless oppressor, and the Turks as mere murderers, and
+dealt with accordingly. The powers must give up the farce of treating
+the Sultan as a national sovereign, who speaks for his people, and may
+govern, therefore, much as he pleases. As Mr. W. W. Howard says, "The
+blackest spot in the round world is the heart of the Sultan of Turkey."
+
+
+A Farewell Letter from a Prominent Armenian. March 24, 1896.
+
+
+    "We are evidently a doomed people. A hundred thousand of us have
+    been butchered, and more than a million of us are in extreme
+    suffering from hunger, and cold, and nakedness. Multitudes beyond
+    the reach of foreign aid must inevitably perish before spring. As
+    to the rest of us, our supplies of food and money are rapidly
+    diminishing. We can prosecute no business, we are not at liberty
+    to earn our daily bread, and for even the most fortunate, the
+    future has only the prospect of starvation a little later than
+    our poor brethren.
+
+    "We hear the announcement that order and peace are being restored,
+    but to us these are empty words. The terrible and wholesale
+    massacre at Oorfa and Birijik occurred long subsequent to the
+    most solemn and emphatic assurances that nothing more of the
+    kind was to be apprehended,--long after the commission sent out
+    from Constantinople to carry the message of peace and reform to
+    Armenia had reached its field of labor.
+
+    "Massacres are not now so frequent as they were a few months
+    ago, but the attitude of relentless hostility on the part of
+    the government towards us, the ferocious aspect of our Moslem
+    neighbors, has not a whit improved. They seem to be eagerly
+    watching for an opportune moment in which to finish their bloody
+    work, and rid themselves forever of this troublesome demand
+    for reform.
+
+    "May we not then rightfully offer our farewell message to our
+    fellow men?
+
+    "First--To our Moslem fellow countrymen:
+
+    "We desire to express our deepest gratitude to those of you who
+    have sympathized with and helped us in these days of calamity
+    and bloodshed. Towards those who have robbed and massacred us,
+    and plundered and burned our houses, we have chiefly feelings of
+    compassion. You have perhaps done these terrible things in what
+    has seemed to you the service of your religion and government.
+
+    "Second--To our Sultan--most dread and potent sovereign:
+
+    "Apparently you have been persuaded that we are a rebellious people
+    deserving only utter and speedy extermination. For such as you,
+    this work of destruction is no doubt an easy one, the more so as
+    we have had neither the means nor the disposition to resist it.
+
+    "Third--To the European powers:
+
+    "We have not been an importunate nor a turbulent people. We did not
+    incite the Crimean War, nor any of the subsequent wars which have
+    stricken this empire. It is not of our will that we were begotten
+    to a new political life by the treaty of 1856. Our complaints
+    and appeals have been based solely on the sentiment of humanity
+    and the common rights of man. It was you who arranged the "scheme
+    of reforms," and urged it upon our Sultan till he was irritated
+    to the extent that he seems to have adopted the plan of ridding
+    himself finally of this annoyance by exterminating us as a people;
+    and now, while he is relentlessly carrying out this plan, you
+    are standing by as spectators and witnesses of this bloody work.
+
+    "We wonder if sympathy and the brotherhood of man and chivalry
+    are wholly things of the past, or are the material and political
+    interests dividing you so great that the massacre of the whole
+    people is a secondary thing? In either case "We who are about to
+    die salute you."
+
+    "Fourth--To the Christians of America:
+
+    "Although we have cherished strong prejudice against your mission
+    work among us, recent events have proved that our Protestant
+    brethren are one with us, and have shared fully our anxieties
+    and our perils. You have labored through them to promote among us
+    the peace and prosperity of the gospel. It is not your fault that
+    one result of their teaching and example has been to excite our
+    masters against us. The Turkish government dreads and dislikes
+    nothing so much as the ideas of progress which you have sent us."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE ARMENIANS OF TO-DAY.
+
+
+There are about five millions of Armenians in the world at present:
+three millions in the Turkish Empire, a million and a half in Russian
+Armenia, and half a million more scattered through Persia, India,
+and Burmah, Egypt, Europe (there are two or three hundred thousand
+in the Austrian Empire), and America. There are poor and ignorant
+people among them, as among every people; the majority, however, are
+(or were before the late horrors) well off, and many of them rich,
+educated, refined, and, in a word, modern Christian people. Of
+all the impudent inversions of truth ever perpetrated, the most
+outrageously impudent and shamelessly the exact contrary of fact is
+the assertion of Mavroyeni Bey, the Turkish minister at Washington,
+that the case of the Turks against the Armenians is like that of the
+whites against the Indians in this country; that the American whites
+must be allowed to keep the Indians down, and the Turks must be allowed
+to keep the Armenians down. If the Indians possessed all the money,
+all the intelligence, all the cultivation, and all the morals in
+America, and the whites were a mob of ignorant, cruel, lustful ruffians
+holding them down by the organized power of the sword, the comparison
+would be just. As it is, the Turks correspond fairly enough with the
+Indians, and the Armenians to the whites, in every other respect than
+military power. Does a Turk--a true Turk--ever write a book? Does he
+ever publish a newspaper, or read one? Does he ever build a church,
+or pay attention to the moral precepts taught in one? Does he ever
+found or manage a business, or even an estate? In a word, does he have
+any more intellectual, moral, or business part in the life of modern
+civilization than a Hottentot or a Matabele? And do not the Armenians
+do and have all these things? Are they not in the stream of the same
+kind of cultivated Christian life led by Americans? Nowhere else on
+earth, but in the Turkish Empire, can one find millions of gentlemen
+and ladies and civilized modern citizens ruled over, oppressed, and
+massacred in hundreds of thousands by a gang of mediaeval Asiatic
+barbarians, not advanced from the time of Timour or Jenghiz Khan. It
+is the greatest anachronism and monstrosity of modern times.
+
+If my work is thought prejudiced, listen to what is said of them by
+men of the first authority,--the greatest statesmen, the best informed
+special correspondent, and one of the chief historians of England at
+the present time. First the statesman:--
+
+
+    "The Armenians are the representatives of one of the oldest
+    civilized Christian races, and beyond all doubt one of the
+    most pacific, one of the most industrious, and one of the most
+    intelligent races in the world."--[Gladstone.
+
+
+Next the special correspondent:--
+
+
+    "The Armenians constitute the whole civilizing element in Anatolia
+    (Asia Minor); peaceful to the degree of self-sacrifice, law-abiding
+    to their own undoing, and industrious and hopeful under conditions
+    which would appall the majority of mankind. At their best, they are
+    the stuff of which heroes and martyrs are moulded."--[E. J. Dillon.
+
+
+Lastly the historian:--
+
+
+    "The best chance for the future of the Asiatic provinces of Turkey
+    lies in the uprising of a progressive Christian people, which may
+    ultimately grow into an independent Christian state. The Armenians
+    have, alone among the races of Western Asia, the gifts that can
+    enable them to aspire to this mission. They are keen-witted,
+    energetic, industrious, apt to learn, and quick in assimilating
+    western ideas."--[James Bryce.
+
+
+
+
+IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE.
+
+There are about two millions of Armenians in Armenia Proper, and
+another million scattered through the rest of the empire. The absurd
+figures given by some writers, making them greatly less than this (one
+magazine editor got it down to 300,000! It is significant that he was
+a strong apologist for the massacre, and laid all the blame to the
+Armenians) result mostly from taking the official statistics of the
+Turkish government. Now, there are three reasons why these are always
+grossly wrong; of no more value than the weather predictions in an
+almanac, and always wrong in the direction of understating the numbers.
+
+One is that it is the Sultan's interest to make them as small as
+possible, that the Armenians may not be considered to have the right
+to autonomy as a nation; the fewer they are, and the more outnumbered
+by the Turks, the less right they seem to have. "An independent
+Armenia?" shriek the Turkish ministers and officers. "Why, there are
+only a few hundred thousand Armenians in their so-called country, and
+even so, there are three Turks to one Armenian in that very district!"
+
+The second is that in an Oriental country a census is not a means
+of knowledge but an engine of taxation. The ruler has no care for
+information on the subject for his own sake, as Western governments
+have. What he wants is to see how many people and in what places he
+can screw more taxes out of. The people know this as well as he, and
+use every effort to outwit his agents, and prevent them from knowing
+their numbers. This is why even civilized governments ruling over
+Oriental nations can rarely get any nearer than a rough guess at the
+numbers of the nation; the inhabitants are suspicious, and resort to
+falsehood. In the case of the Armenians, remember what I said in the
+first chapter about an Armenian being taxed for every male child he
+has, every year as long as the child lives; naturally, he will not
+tell the number of his children unless he has to. Here is a practical
+illustration. Some years ago I was in an Armenian village when the
+Sultan's officers came to take the census. There were about 300 persons
+in the village; the officer wrote 200, because only a few names of boys
+were given him out of the whole. The tax is based on the registration,
+and if you can keep off the registers you can escape the tax.
+
+The third is the gross incompetence, the corruption, and the
+drunkenness of the officers. The Turkish officials, governors,
+mayors, clerks, generals, soldiers, all drink any sort of liquor
+they can lay hands on, and are drunk as often and as long as sober;
+they are so ignorant that they cannot do their work decently even
+when they are sober; and they are utterly venal, without the least
+sense of official obligation. What sort of a census is likely to be
+taken by these ignorant, whiskey-swilling, venal barbarians? One of
+these officials, whom I know well, once came to a village to take
+the census. The Armenians got him so drunk that he barked like a dog,
+bribed him, and he put down about half the number of the population.
+
+How, then, do I know the correct number? From a knowledge of the
+districts, the numbers of villages, and statistics resting on a better
+foundation than the above. I do not pretend that the number is exact;
+but it is near enough for practical purposes.
+
+The Armenians in Turkey are divided into four classes. The first
+comprises merchants and bankers. The second is the professional class:
+physicians, professors, teachers, and preachers. The third is that
+of artisans: weavers, blacksmiths, copper, silver, and gold smiths,
+tailors, shoemakers, etc. The finest Oriental rugs are made by the
+Armenians, and there are weavers of silk and cotton goods, and all
+kinds of hand-made embroidery. There are no factories in Armenia. The
+fourth class is that of farmers, a pure, simple, industrious class,
+with beautiful farms, vineyards, and orchards, whose products I
+have described.
+
+One-tenth of all the Armenians in Turkey are in Constantinople. Many
+of them are poor, in the nature of things; but the leading bankers,
+merchants, and capitalists there are Armenians, surpassing even
+the Greeks and Jews. I give a few representative names: Gulbenkian,
+Essayian, Azarian, Mosditchian, Manougian, Oonjian. The physicians in
+largest practice are Armenians: Khorassanjian, Mateosian, Dobrashian,
+Vartanian, etc. The Sultan's personal treasurer is an Armenian,
+Portukalian Pasha. The chief counselor in the foreign office
+in Constantinople is an Armenian, Haroutiune Dadian Pasha. The
+greatest lawyers are Armenians: Mosditchian, Tinguerian, etc. The
+chief photographers of the Sultan are Armenians, Abdullah Brothers
+and Sebah, the former considered one of the best photographic firms
+in the world. The personal jeweler of the Sultan is an Armenian,
+Mr. Chiboukjian. For all his hate of the Armenians, he has to employ
+them, for no others are competent or trustworthy. The best musicians
+are Armenians: Chonkhajian Surenian, Doevletian, and an Armenian young
+lady named Nartoss, who often plays the piano before the Sultan. The
+greatest orator in Constantinople is an Armenian and a professor in
+Robert College, Prof. H. Jejizian, to my thinking, superior to either
+Beecher, Wendell Phillips, or Robert Ingersoll, all of whom I have
+heard. Finally, the Armenians, as a whole, form the best "society"
+in Constantinople, and their modes of living, dress, houses, and
+ways are precisely like those of Americans or Europeans. These are
+Mavroyeni Bey's "Indians"!
+
+Smyrna is a city of 150,000 or more population. About 80,000 are
+Greeks; you may call it a Greek city. The Armenians there number about
+8,000, or one-tenth of the Greeks, but are ten times richer than all
+the Greeks together. The principal buildings are owned by Armenians;
+the business is in the hands of the Armenians. The chief business men
+are well-known in Europe. Mr. Balyivzian owns many steamers which ply
+on the Mediterranean. Mr. Spartalian is another very rich and very
+benevolent man; he built a magnificent hospital at Smyrna. In Samsoun,
+Marsovan, Cesarea, Adana, Amassia, Tocat, Sivas, Harpoot, Mesere,
+Malatia, Diarbekir, Arabkir, Oorfa, Aintab, Marash, Tarsus, Angora,
+Erzeroun, Erzinghan, Moosh, Bitlis, Baiburt, Trebizond,--in a word,
+everywhere it is the same. Go where you like in Turkey, you find the
+Armenians at the top.
+
+When I say they are the richest, I mean until early in 1894 they
+were the richest. But now, in many cities of Armenia proper, since
+the recent atrocities, they have become the poorest.
+
+Leading citizens, and the fathers of families, for the reasons I have
+mentioned, were specially singled out for vengeance. Their stores,
+banks, and houses were plundered and then burnt, their money and
+jewelry taken from them, and then they were murdered wholesale. Now
+the Turks and the Kurds for a time are rich with Armenian property;
+wearing the gold watches of Armenian gentlemen, their women wearing
+the jewelry of Armenian ladies.
+
+
+
+
+IN RUSSIA.
+
+The Armenians in Russia are the richest and the most cultivated of any
+in the world, and have great influence. Mr. Kasbarian, an Armenian,
+is considered the richest even of them. The rich city of Tiflis is
+practically an Armenian city.
+
+There are about 50,000 regular Armenian soldiers in the Russian army,
+and some of its greatest generals have always been Armenians.
+
+If the Czar would permit this force and the capitalists to settle
+the Armenian question, they would do it in a month, and make
+Armenia free. The Armenians have so far been treated very kindly
+and have prospered exceedingly in Russia, but I do not believe it
+will last. In my opinion, the young Czar is only waiting for his
+coronation to oppress the Armenians as he has the Jews. Yet the Czar's
+ablest servants and advisers have been Armenians. The body-guard of
+Nicholas' grandfather Alexander was the Armenian Count Loris Melikoff,
+universally known; three times wounded by Nihilists on account of his
+position. During the last Turko-Russian war some of the generals who
+accomplished the most with the least sacrifice were Armenians: Der,
+Lucasoff, Lazareff, Melikoff. There are now no less than eighteen
+Armenian generals in the Russian service. I will mention a part:
+General Sdepan Kishmishian, commander of Caucasus; General Hagop
+Alkhazian, General Alexander Lalayian, General Demedr Der Asadoorian,
+General Ishkhan Manuelian, General Alexander Gorganian, General
+Ishkhan Gochaminassian, General Khosros Touloukhanian, General Arakel
+Khantamirian, General H. Dikranian. There are many other prominent
+Armenian officers.
+
+In Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other great cities in Russia there
+are many Armenian professors in the universities, mayors of cities,
+judges of courts, and high civil officers. I will give a few of their
+names, to show that I am not talking blindly:
+
+
+    Count Hovhannes Telyanian, minister of education, etc.
+    Gamazian, minister of foreign affairs in Asia.
+    Muguerditch Emin, counselor of education.
+    Nerses Nersessian, professor in Moscow in the Royal University.
+    Dr. Shilantz, professor in the medical college at Kharcof.
+    Boghos Gamparian, superintendent of the Royal army of Riza.
+    Melikian, professor of natural sciences in the University at
+    Odessa.
+    A. Madinian, mayor of Tiflis.
+    V. Keghamian, mayor of Erevan.
+    H. Moutaffian, mayor of Akheltzka.
+
+
+Hundreds and thousands are high officers in different departments of
+the Russian government, but there is no space to give a roll of them.
+
+One, however, a personal friend, I must write a few words of, namely,
+Professor John Ayvazovski, of the council of the St. Petersburg
+Academy of Fine Arts, a marine painter of the first rank. He is now
+79, but looks scarcely 60, with beautiful large, bright eyes. He came
+to the World's Fair, where fifteen of his pictures were exhibited
+in the Russian section; and he presented two other fine ones to the
+American people in recognition of their help to the Russian famine
+sufferers,--one showing the arrival in port of a steamer with its
+cargo of grain, the other the advent of a drosky at a village of
+starving people, with a man in front waving an American flag. He
+visited and painted an excellent picture of Niagara. He had seven
+pictures at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. His paintings are
+mostly in royal palaces: there are 120 in that of the Russian imperial
+family, and 34 in the Sultan's. His own gallery, at Theodosia, Russia,
+has 84. He has received many prizes from expositions. He is also a
+great scholar and a good Christian. His brother, who lately died,
+was one of the greatest bishops of the Armenian church.
+
+There is a very interesting story about Professor Ayvazovski's boyhood
+which I will give here:
+
+His parents were Armenian peasants, living in a village not far from
+Moscow. One day Nicholas I was passing by the hamlet on horseback,
+and dropped his whip. The Emperor beckoned to young Ayvazovski,
+and told him to pick it up. The boy approached boldly and asked,
+"Who are you?" Nicholas replied, "I am the Emperor." The boy rejoined,
+"If you cannot take care of your whip, how can you take care of your
+subjects?" The Emperor was pleased at this remark, and ordered him
+to be educated at his own expense, and in any profession he chose. He
+took to the brush, and is the pride of his nation.
+
+
+
+
+IN PERSIA, INDIA, ETC.
+
+The Armenians of Persia are great merchants, and high civil officers
+of the Shah. I name only a few:
+
+Chahanguir Khan is minister of arts and superintendent of the arsenal.
+
+Nirza Melkoum Khan was the former ambassador of the Shah at London;
+a man of great wealth and learning, and an able diplomat. He retired
+on account of age, and lives in London.
+
+Nazar Agha was ambassador of the Shah at Paris.
+
+General Sharl Bezirganian is the general superintendent of the
+telegraph service in Persia.
+
+In India and Burmah there are great Armenian merchants, who are
+millionaires, and respected by the governments and the peoples.
+
+In Egypt, though few in number, they are the ruling element. Nubar
+Pasha was the prime minister of the Egyptian government until a few
+weeks ago; one of the richest men in Egypt, and the greatest statesman
+in Africa. He speaks several languages, and spends his summers in
+France, owning property in Paris. Dikran Pasha is another rich and
+very gifted Armenian, and Boghos Pasha another man of power.
+
+
+
+
+IN EUROPE.
+
+There are very rich merchants among the Armenians at Vienna, Paris,
+Marseilles, London, and Manchester. There is a strong Armenian
+colony at Manchester. All of them are merchants, and some of them
+millionaires. Almost the whole clothing trade between England and
+Turkey is in their hands. They have a beautiful Armenian church
+there, and always a learned Armenian bishop; I speak from knowledge
+and observation. They are much respected by the English. Some of the
+Armenian gentlemen are married to English ladies of good family, and
+their domestic life is very happy. Prince Loosinian, an Armenian,
+a very great scholar, and much respected by the French, lives in
+Paris; he is descended from the last Armenian dynasty. His brother
+Khoren Nar-Bey Loosinian was one of the foremost Armenian bishops;
+the Sultan of course hated him, and it is said had him poisoned while
+imprisoned in Constantinople.
+
+The Armenian scholars in Europe are well-known, and on a level with the
+best of any country. There is not an institution of learning in Europe
+where they are not to be found, either as students or professors;
+and the prizes and medals they win are many.
+
+There are two great centers in Europe for the Armenian scholars and
+authors: one at Vienna and the other at Venice. They have colleges
+and printing presses in these places; and they write, translate, and
+publish themselves in nearly all languages all sorts of valuable
+books. So the Armenian people are well supplied with the best
+modern books. But it must be remembered that these valuable books
+are forbidden by the Sultan to go into Turkish Armenia; he wants
+the people kept ignorant. Some of their great scholars came home
+from Europe to preach and teach in Armenia, to elevate their nation;
+but some were killed and some banished during the recent atrocities.
+
+
+
+
+IN AMERICA.
+
+The Armenians are a new people in America. Seventeen years ago,
+when the writer first came to this country, there were not more than
+a hundred in the United States; since then about 10,000 have come,
+most of them within ten years. The first ones came about forty-five
+years ago, among them Mr. Minasian and Mr. Sahagian,--both poor young
+men, now both rich. Mr. Minasian lives at Brooklyn; Mr. Sahagian at
+Yonkers, N.Y. Those who have come lately are mostly the poorer class;
+they fled from the "order" of the Sultan, and not being allowed to
+leave Turkey, bribed the police and ran away. Not knowing the English
+language, they work in factories in various States. There are some
+well-to-do merchants, however, doing business in New York, Boston,
+and elsewhere, handling Oriental rugs, dry-goods, etc. Some of the
+New York names are Gulbenkian, Topakian, Tavshandjian, Yardimian,
+Chaderdjian, Telfeyian, Kostikian. In Boston are Ateshian, Bogigian,
+etc. Mr. Kebabian is in New Haven; Mr. Enfiyedjian in Denver. There
+are many others also in other large cities.
+
+Besides merchants, there are many professional men among them, about a
+dozen physicians in New York city alone: Dr. Dadirian, Dr. Gabrielian,
+Dr. Ayvazian, Dr. Apkarian, Dr. Altarian, Dr. Koutoojian. Some of them
+are engravers and photographers. In New York city there are Hagopian,
+Kasparian, Matigian, and others, very skillful engravers. In Boston
+there is the New England Engraving Co., who are Armenians; the manager
+is Mr. G. Papazian.
+
+There are about half a dozen Armenians who are pastors of American
+churches in different states. About a dozen are special lecturers
+on the Armenian atrocities: Mr. H. Kiretchjian, the secretary of
+the American Relief Association, Mr. Samuelian, Rev. A. Bulgurgian,
+Rev. S. Deviryian, Mr. S. Yenovkian, etc.
+
+There are hundreds of Armenian students distributed among nearly all
+the universities, colleges, and theological seminaries in America,
+and most of them are of a superior sort. The greatest physicians
+in Turkey are Armenians, who were graduated from different medical
+colleges in this country. Some of the leading pastors and professors
+in Armenia, who were banished and killed during the recent atrocities,
+were graduated in this country.
+
+Of the factory hands mentioned, there are about 1,000 in Worcester,
+Mass.; about 800 in New York and Brooklyn; about 400 in Boston, and
+the remainder are scattered everywhere from New York to California,
+from Maine to Florida.
+
+A number of Armenian young men have married American women; I believe
+ninety per cent. are happy. After forty or fifty years, there will
+be a large class of American citizens of Armenian blood, and many
+millionaires among them. They are gifted in business, and they are
+a sober, honest, and faithful people. I do not think that there is
+a single criminal among the 10,000 Armenians in this country.
+
+Some of the Armenian daily and weekly newspapers are as follows:
+
+In Constantinople: Arevelk, Avedaper, Puragn, Dyaghig, Hayrenik,
+Masis, Pounch.
+
+In Smyrna: Arevlian Mamoul.
+
+In Etchmiazin: Ararat.
+
+In Tiflis: Aghpour, Artzakank, Mishag, Murj, Nor-Tar, Darak.
+
+In Venice: Pazmaveb.
+
+In Vienna: Hantes Arnsoria.
+
+In Marseilles: Armenia.
+
+In London: L'Armenic.
+
+In New York: Haik.
+
+Wherever the Armenians go they carry with themselves the church,
+the school, and the press.
+
+
+
+
+THE ARMENIAN RELIEF ASSOCIATION.
+
+This association is putting forth every effort to alleviate the
+sufferings of needy Armenians wherever they may be found; their work
+has already resulted in untold blessings and it deserves the hearty
+support and contributions of the benevolent public. The officers of
+the association are the following well-known American and Armenian
+gentlemen:
+
+Right Rev. Bishop H. Y. Satterlee, D.D., president.
+
+Hon. Levi P. Morton, first vice-president.
+
+Right Rev. Bishop Potter, D.D., second vice-president.
+
+Charles H. Stout, Esq., treasurer.
+
+J. Bleeker Miller, Esq., chairman executive committee.
+
+Nicholas R. Mersereau, Esq., secretary.
+
+Herant M. Kiretchjian, general secretary.
+
+Rev. J. B. Haygooni, A.M., organizing secretary.
+
+Mr. H. K. Samuelian, agent.
+
+The headquarters of the association is in New York.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+THE FUTURE OF ARMENIA AND THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON.
+
+
+I am going to predict the future of Armenia. Not in the usual sense of
+guessing at it, but in the literal sense of foretelling the truth. I
+am not a prophet of God, yet my prediction is based on facts, and
+its accuracy should be given some credit from the way my predictions
+two or three years ago about the recent atrocities that have already
+taken place, have come true to the letter. At that time no American
+or European could be made to believe that such horrors would be
+perpetrated; but I said they would be, and they were. And even now
+the Western peoples are nearly as blind as ever; they cannot see the
+future of Armenia even with all the facts before them. Many have
+lost hope in it altogether; they think Turkey will exist forever,
+and exterminate the last of the Armenians. Doubtless I should in
+their place, but I was born in Turkey and know the situation.
+
+
+
+This, then, is the truth as I forecast it:--
+
+Till the end of next year the Armenians will suffer more than ever
+before. Perhaps a million will be massacred yet, not only in Turkey,
+but in Russia. The Jews, also, in great numbers, and not only the
+Jews and the Armenians, but the Americans and Englishmen too. The key
+rests in the character of the present Czar. Nicholas II is not like
+his father or grandfather, a strong man. I will not discuss the moral
+character of the two Alexanders, but I allow their powerful intellects
+and strong wills. They favored the Armenians. But the present Czar
+has no strength of character at all; he is weak both in intellect and
+morals. The Sultan is called the sick man of Turkey, but the Czar is
+the sick man of Russia. His short-sightedness in upholding Turkey is
+one proof. Up to the time of the coronation next May you will see no
+more massacres, for the Czar has ordered the Sultan to hold his hand,
+that there may be a peaceful ceremony, not clouded with horrors; that
+over, he will not only give the Sultan leave to unchain his dogs,
+but he will unchain his own. The atrocities in Turkish Armenia will
+be redoubled, and the Czar himself inflict on the Armenians all that
+has been inflicted on the Jews. Even this is not all: The Czar will
+instruct the Sultan to get rid of all American missionaries, either
+banishing them as breeders of sedition, or, if they refuse to go,
+requiring the United States government to order them back. Probably the
+government will obey. Probably, also, the missionaries will not obey
+the government; they will stay where they are. Then the Sultan will
+say he is not responsible for their lives, and will issue secret orders
+to kill them, which will be carried out. Further, the Czar will begin
+a fresh persecution of the Jews, and order the Sultan to follow suit
+on the Jews in Turkey, which will be done; no fear of the Sultan's
+refusing an order to butcher anybody. Still more, the Czar will
+command him in secret to banish the English missionaries from Turkey;
+the Sultan will request the English government to call them back,
+and there is little doubt that Lord Salisbury will comply; but they,
+like the Americans, will refuse to go. Then they will be murdered by
+secret orders from the Sultan, who will say he is not responsible for
+it. These massacres will continue for two years more. The victims will
+cry aloud, the Americans and English will have greater mass-meetings,
+but the governments of both will do nothing. And Germany, Austria,
+and Italy will look calmly on; if they act it will be with the Czar,
+and not against him. Meantime both in Europe and America the war
+preparations will continue with greater zeal and energy, until the
+cup is full, until the crisis comes; then the noble blood of the
+Anglo-Saxon race will begin to boil, and the English and American
+people at once will be aroused like one man, and the governments
+will have to yield. The wrathful Jews will contribute Jewish capital
+for the war expenses; the wrathful Armenians throughout the world
+will give both money and soldiers to the governments fighting their
+battles. And a fierce battle will be fought between Russia, Turkey,
+and France on one side; America, England, the Jews, and the Armenians
+on the other. The former alliance will be beaten: the Czar's Greek
+Church bigotry, the Sultan's Mohammedan fanaticism, and France's
+infidelity together will be crushed; Russia will go to pieces, Turkey
+will go to pieces, France will go to pieces; Armenia will be free,
+Judea will be free. The scattered Armenians will return to Armenia,
+the scattered Jews will return to Judea. Both the Armenians and the
+Jews will have their separate governments; not kings, not princes,
+but a clean republican form of government. Russia and Turkey will
+be opened to the gospel work. Where now hundreds of missionaries
+are going from England and America to other lands, then thousands
+of them will go; and Christian America and England will open their
+hearts and purses together to send as many missionaries as they can
+to Russia, to Turkey, and to France. They will hasten the coming of
+the Lord Jesus Christ. They will prepare the way for the coming King,
+who has the power both in heaven and on the earth.
+
+What will become of Germany, Austria, and Italy, who form the Triple
+Alliance? That alliance will be dissolved. The German Emperor is trying
+hard to maintain it, but he will fail. France will once in a while
+threaten Germany with vengeance, but she will never be able to carry
+it out, and there is no need for it, because the German people during
+this century will get rid of their Emperor. There will be a great
+civil war in Germany, between the people and the army. If the German
+emperor could do it, he would begin to crush the Socialists now. He
+will order his soldiers to kill their brothers and fathers, but they
+will not,--they are not as foolish as the Emperor; the only result
+will be the break-up of the German Union, and the division of Germany
+into small republican governments. Italy, Austria, and Spain will all
+have the same fate: civil war, and splitting into small republics. No
+czars, no emperors, no princes, no lords will remain. Government will
+be for the people, of the people, by the people. The time has come;
+this century will purify the whole world. But until it is purified,
+a great deal of fire will burn, very great battles will be fought,
+until freedom and peace shall reign. And the Armenian blood, now
+continually pouring like a river in Armenia, will be the cause and
+the foundation of the coming freedom of the world. For the present,
+the world is not free; it is not civilized. It cannot be with such
+rulers. To be free and happy, the people must be aroused, and get rid
+of them. The United States must be the example to the older nations;
+they must embrace Washington's principles.
+
+It is true that England and America will never go regularly to work
+to give freedom to Judea and Armenia, nor with that intention. Their
+immediate motive will be to punish Russia and Turkey for the murder
+of the missionaries, and after the victory is won, by the help of
+Jewish and Armenian purses and swords, the Armenians and Jews will
+be rewarded by giving them their original homes and mother-lands.
+
+This will be laughed at by many, perhaps most, as a romantic and
+pleasant dream. They will say it can never be accomplished during this
+century; perhaps in the future, after a century or two, but not now. I
+am used to this incredulity; my predictions are never believed at the
+time: but after they come true they are. This century is not like the
+other centuries; a day in this century is equal to a year of those
+which have passed away. We may expect from a year of it as much as
+from a century in the ancient times. This world is a wonderful world
+now, and will be more wonderful hereafter. The future of the world
+is bright, and the world will be brighter and happier.
+
+Why do I keep repeating "two years"? Why do I not say one year or three
+years, or a few years? I have reasons for it: one is the political
+situation in Europe, and the other is the Bible prophecy in the Book
+of Revelation.
+
+
+
+
+THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN EUROPE.
+
+The Europeans have already made great preparations for battle. Every
+one of them preaches peace and prepares for war; and none of them have
+finished their preparations yet,--if they had, they would be in the
+thick of it by this time. Each of them declares that its preparations
+will be finished about the end of 1897. Russia is building war-ships,
+England is building war-ships, France is building war-ships, and all
+will be finished about the end of 1897. All preparations converge on
+the end of 1897. When all are ready, they will begin. When newspapers
+write about an immediate European war, I do not believe it. There
+will be no European war for two years; but after that there is no
+escape from it,--they have to fight, and will fight. The war-ships
+will be ready, the cannon will be ready, the guns will be ready,
+the ammunition will be ready, the soldiers will be ready.
+
+The cunning Sultan knows all this, and is in a hurry to exterminate
+the Armenians, so that when they start in earnest with guns to reform
+Armenia, he can say there is no Armenia or Armenians to reform. But
+that makes no difference for the European powers: Turkey is doomed,
+and the Turkish Empire will come to an end forever within this
+century. There will never be any more Turkish Empire or Mohammedan
+government; all the Mohammedan powers will be under Christian rule.
+
+The second reason is my belief in the Bible prophecies. The close
+resemblance of the Jews and Armenians will be observed by the reader:
+both the chosen people of God. The children of Israel were the chosen
+people before Christ, and as the Armenians became the first Christian
+nation after Christ, they became the chosen people after Christ. And
+these chosen people have suffered more than any other nations on the
+globe; they have had more martyrs than any other nation, and have
+been carried into captivity, and finally scattered throughout the
+world. The Bible lands are Palestine and Armenia, where the first
+man, Adam, was created, and where Christ was born and was crucified;
+and so these lands after Christ, becoming the first Christian lands,
+became the Temple of God.
+
+We have a prophecy in the eleventh chapter of Revelation that the
+court of the Temple will be given unto the Gentiles, and the Holy City
+shall they tread under foot forty and two months; "and I will give
+power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy a thousand two
+hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth." (Rev. xi, 2-3.)
+
+Forty and two months and a thousand two hundred and three score
+days are just the same thing. Each day in the Bible prophecy is one
+year. According to this interpretation, which I consider correct, the
+Holy City will be trampled by the Gentiles one thousand, two hundred
+and sixty years. Now the question is this, Where is the Holy City,
+and who are the Gentiles who will trample the Holy City? First,
+the Holy City is both literally the Holy City before Christ, and
+spiritually the Holy City after Christ.
+
+Literally, the Holy City is Jerusalem, where the Temple of God was;
+this is very clear. Spiritually, the Holy City is Christianity;
+wherever there are Christians, there is the Holy City. But this is
+very general, and takes the whole world after it is Christian. But
+before we come to that general Holy City, we find in the third verse of
+the same chapter the following words: "I will give power unto my two
+witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred and three
+score days, clothed in sackcloth." So from these statements we find
+that two especial witnesses in that Holy City, clothed in sackcloth,
+will testify. Who are these two witnesses? My interpretation is that
+they are the two chosen peoples of God and Christ. And the two chosen
+peoples are the Jews and the Armenians. The Jews were the chosen
+people before Christ, and the Armenians became the chosen people
+after Christ, as King Abgarus, the Armenian king, believed in Christ
+before Christ was crucified, and afterwards, in the time of Gregory
+the Illuminator, the whole Armenian nation became a Christian nation,
+in 310 A.D. Before Palestine was considered a holy country, Armenia
+was considered a holy land, because the first man was created there,
+and Noah's ark rested on Mount Ararat. And as the Armenians became
+the first Christian nation on the globe, Palestine and Armenia were
+the holy countries or the Holy City. Although this is so, after all
+the literal Holy City, Jerusalem, remains a holy city; and she will
+be after Christ, under the rule of Gentiles one thousand two hundred
+and sixty years, while the two witnesses will testify there under
+sackcloth for one thousand two hundred and sixty years.
+
+Now the question is this, How long is it since the city of Jerusalem
+was captured by the Gentiles, or more correctly by the "beast
+that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit" (Rev. ii. 7), which is
+the Mohammedan power? The Mohammedan power in different places in
+Revelation is called the Beast, the Dragon, the Whore or Harlot, and
+the False Prophet, and it is the Gentile kingdom after Christ. And
+the time which is given to the Mohammedan power to rule, to destroy,
+and to kill the Jews and the Christians in Jerusalem or in the Bible
+lands, is only one thousand two hundred and sixty years. Since the
+city of Jerusalem was captured by the Mohammedans is 1258 years,
+and when this present year and the next come to an end in 1897, the
+Mohammedan power will also come to an end, and the city of Jerusalem
+will be restored to the Jews, and Armenia to the Armenians.
+
+Towards the end of the Mohammedan power, Mohammedans will begin
+to kill both the Jews and the Armenians for three and a half years
+(see Rev. xi, 7, 8, 9). Now, for a year and a half the Mohammedans
+have been killing the Christians,--which the author predicted two or
+three years ago; and they will kill two years more. "And the sixth
+Angel poured out his vial upon the Great River Euphrates and the water
+thereof was dried up." (See Rev. xvi, 12.) That means that the people
+on the shores of the Euphrates were killed, namely the Armenians.
+
+I am not writing a commentary on Revelation, but simply bringing in
+a few passages to enlighten the mind of the reader about the future
+of Armenia and the battle of Armageddon.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON.
+
+(See Rev. xvi, 13-16.)
+
+The battle of Armageddon is the final and the greatest battle. All the
+nations will take part in it; but the leaders in the battle will be the
+ones I have said, and the other will be their followers on the one side
+or the other. And this battle will settle all the questions which are
+not settled now. The great Eastern question will be settled, the great
+question between capital and labor will be settled, all the emperors
+and czars, kings, and princes will come down from their thrones, and
+permanent international arbitration will be established. The questions
+which are asked now will never be asked: What do the emperors say? What
+do the czars say? What do the Sultans say? Men will ask then, What
+do the people say? What is the wish of the people?
+
+Then the question comes, where is Armageddon? Armageddon is Armenia. Of
+course this is entirely a new interpretation to European and American
+scholars; no one has ever been certain where Armageddon is, but it
+is generally thought to be somewhere near Jerusalem, a little hill
+called Mount Megiddo. In the time of Judges, "The kings came and
+fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of
+Megiddo." (Judges v, 19.) But as a native of the Bible lands, and as
+a native minister, I am positive about it. The first question is,
+What does Armageddon mean? It means the High Lands. Is there any
+higher land in the Bible lands than Armenia? The main land is from
+4,000 to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea, and Mount Ararat
+is about 18,000 feet high. Another question is, What does Armenia
+mean? It means precisely the high lands, as Armageddon does. Armenia
+took her name from King Aram or Armenag; both mean high lands, or
+the possessors of high lands; and Armenia also means the high lands.
+
+Again, what does Ararat mean, which is just in the center of Armenia
+proper? It means the holy or high land. Now bring all together,
+Armageddon, Armenia, Ararat, all mean just the same: high lands. Not
+only high lands, but holy high lands. Long before Palestine was called
+a holy land, Armenia had the name of Holy land, and the Armenians
+were called the Highlanders.
+
+In a word, Armageddon is the combination of three different words,
+Armenia--Garden--Eden: Armageddon.
+
+So the final battle will be fought in Armenia. The nation with the
+greatest part will have the greatest future. As man fell from grace
+in Armenia, man will be restored to peace and holiness in Armenia. And
+before that peace, holiness, and restoration come, the greatest battle
+will be fought in Armenia. After the fall of man, disgrace and curse
+went forth from Armenia; so prosperity and blessings will come forth
+from Armenia. As the first battle in the world was fought in Armenia,
+between Cain and Abel, and the other battles followed, so the last
+battle will be fought in Armenia, and the universal peace will come
+out of it. As the first martyrdom in the world was in Armenia, so the
+last and greatest martyrdom will be in Armenia. And from the blood of
+Armenian martyrs everlasting happiness will follow to all nations. And
+the kingdom of Christ will be established throughout the world.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+POEMS ON THE ARMENIAN QUESTION.
+
+[From the New York Independent, by special permission.]
+
+
+
+
+
+LORD SALISBURY.
+
+By the Rev. T. S. Perry.
+
+"Oh! for a year, a month, a day of Oliver Cromwell."--The Independent.
+
+"What Lord Salisbury seems to lack is a little Cromwellian courage."--A
+Speaker in City Temple, London.
+
+
+                1.
+
+    Oh! for an hour of Cromwell,
+      For a leader brave and grand
+    To guide the wrath, and point the path,
+      Of a mighty Christian land!
+    To heed the cry of innocent blood,
+      To blush for the world's disgrace,
+    With hand to deal a blow of steel
+      In the murderous Moslem's face!
+
+                2.
+
+    Alas! for a leader heedless
+      While massacred villages flame,
+    Unmoved by shrieks of maidenhood
+      At wrong too foul for name!
+    Strong to throttle the feeble,
+      Feeble to beard the strong,
+    With eye o'er-meek, and blanching cheek,--
+      How long, O Lord, how long?
+
+                3.
+
+    And women cover their faces,
+      And men are fain to hiss.
+    Cromwell's head upon Temple Bar
+      Were a leader better than this!
+    And heaven grows black with horror,
+      And earth grows red with wrong,
+    And martyrs cry from earth and sky,
+      How long, O Lord, how long?
+
+                                Orange Park, Florida.
+
+
+
+
+
+DEUS VULT.
+
+By Allen Eastman Cross.
+
+"It is time that one general shout of execration--not of men, but
+of deeds--one general shout of execration, directed against deeds of
+wickedness, should rise from outraged humanity."--Gladstone's Armenian
+address at Chester.
+
+
+    No tomb of death shall be our guest
+    Wherein the Lord of Life may rest.
+
+    No empty sepulcher of stone
+    Across the world makes bitter moan,
+
+    But Christian hearts that break and bleed
+    For our avenging pity plead.
+
+    O brothers, for our brothers' sake
+    Let the crusading spirit wake!
+
+    O Christian England, 'tis the Christ
+    By Moslem hands is sacrificed!
+
+    Away, away with hollow words,
+    Now sheath our speech, unsheath our sword!
+
+    God wills: The guns of Christendom
+    Proclaim the tyrant's doom has come!
+
+                                    Manchester, N. H.
+
+
+
+
+
+TWO SONNETS.
+
+By Henry Van Dyke.
+
+
+                    I.
+
+             The Turk's Way.
+
+    "Stand back, ye messengers of mercy! Stand
+      Far off, for I will save my troubled folk
+      In my own way." So the false Sultan spoke;
+    And Europe, harkening to his base command,
+    Stood still to see him heal his wounded land.
+      Through blinding snows of winter and through smoke
+      Of burning towns she saw him deal the stroke
+    Of cruel mercy that his hate had planned.
+      Unto the prisoners and the sick he gave
+    New tortures, horrible, without a name;
+      Unto the thirsty, blood to drink; a sword
+    Unto the hungry; with a robe of shame
+      He clad the naked, making life abhorred.
+    He saved by slaughter, but denied a grave.
+
+                    II.
+
+               America's Way.
+
+    But thou, my country, tho' no fault be thine
+      For that red horror far across the sea;
+      Tho' not a tortured wretch can point to thee,
+    And curse thee for the selfishness supine
+    Of those great powers who cowardly combine
+      To shield the Turk in his iniquity;
+      Yet, since thy hand is innocent and free,
+    Rise, thou, and show the world the way divine.
+    Thou canst not break the oppressor's iron rod,
+      But thou canst minister to the oppressed;
+    Thou canst not loose the captive's heavy chain,
+    But thou canst bind his wounds and soothe his pain.
+      Armenia calls thee, Empire of the West,
+    To play the Good Samaritan for God.
+
+                                                New York City.
+
+
+
+
+
+TO THOSE WHO DIED FOR THEIR FAITH.
+
+Armenia, 1894 to 189--?
+
+By Mrs. Merrill E. Gates.
+
+
+    "These loved their lives not, to the death!"
+      But we at ease to-day, who claim
+      Allegiance to the One great Name,
+    Could we as nobly die for Faith?
+
+    We challenge not the crucial test!
+      Self cannot prove to self its power
+      If e'er should come that testing hour
+    God give us grace to choose the Best!
+
+    But these have overcome! Their Lord
+      In bitter death have not denied!
+      Have chosen still the Crucified
+    In face of bayonet and sword!
+
+    Our age heroic looms! Our eyes
+      Behold white martyr brows! Still hears
+      Our sin-gray world with unthrilled ears
+    Once more the martyr-chorus rise!
+
+    Come Thou to succor the great need!
+      Thy judgment shall not long delay!
+      God doeth his strange work to-day!
+    The Judge is at the door! Take heed!
+
+                                        Amherst, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+
+ARMENIA.
+
+By Willimina L. Armstrong.
+
+
+    Out of storms and peace light, out of confusing things,
+    Bound in mysterious fashion by the bindings of blood and hate,
+            Lo, are the Nations assembled now
+            At the Twentieth Century Gate.
+    Leaning beside the portal: Close! in the name of God!
+    Over the Garden of Eden, in the evening of this our Day.
+            Over the breast of the Mountain old
+            Where the Ark of deliverance lay.
+
+    Leaning beside the portal: Hark to the clashing arms!
+    Hark to the voice in the Garden, to the Nations of Earth it calls,
+            "Bid! for the Woman is Christian blood;
+            And the sword and the bayonet falls!"
+    Sold! A Christian Woman! Sold in the name of Christ!
+    Sold to her death in the Eden with its soil by her blood made damp!
+            Sold in the eve of our Mighty Age!
+            With the light of our Age for a lamp!
+
+                                                          New York City.
+
+
+
+
+
+ARMENIA'S BITTER CRY.
+
+By Hetta Lord Hayes Ward.
+
+
+                I.
+
+    World, world, hear our prayer
+    Oh where is Russia, where?
+      A fearful deed is done,
+      Its glare affronts the sun.
+    Smoke! Flame! Fire!
+    Rouse thee, great Russian Sire!
+      When Christian homes are ablaze,
+      Hast thou no voice to raise?
+    Thy neighbor to thee has cried,
+    Pass not on the other side.
+      Look on our dire despair!
+      Where art thou, Czar, oh, where?
+
+                II.
+
+    Land of the sun and sea,
+    Wake, Rome and Italy!
+      Our ancient Church in vain
+      Calls thee to break her chain.
+    Shame! Shame! Shame!
+    Where sleeps thy early fame?
+      To death our priests are led,
+      Their flocks lie slaughtered, dead.
+    Awake, good Pope of Rome!
+    Our saints through blood go home;
+      Hear thou their dying plea,
+      Where, where is Italy?
+
+               III.
+
+    Land of Fraternite,
+    Brave France, turn not away!
+      Shall blood thy lilies stain?
+      Wilt bear the curse of Cain?
+    Wake! Wake! Wake!
+    For God and glory's sake!
+      On a ghastly funeral pyre,
+      Brave men are burned with fire;
+    God calls to France, the free,
+    "Thy brother, where is he?"
+      Lest God in wrath requite,
+      Awake, befriend the right!
+
+                IV.
+
+    Where is good Frederick's son
+    When evil deeds are done?
+      Shall prisons reek and rot,
+      His mother's blood speak not?
+    Haste! Haste! Haste!
+    Time runs too long to waste.
+      If halts the Kaiser dumb,
+      Let all the people come.
+    Your oath must sacred stand,
+    Treaties of Fatherland;
+      Victims of Turk and Kurd,
+      Rest on your plighted word.
+
+                V.
+
+    Your sisters' shame and blood
+    Cry out to England's God.
+      Slain on the church's floor,
+      Their blood flowed out the door.
+    Speak! Speak! Speak!
+    The strong must help the weak.
+      Leave Turkish bonds unsold;
+      Betray not Christ for gold.
+    Let the Moslem dragon feel
+    Once more Saint George's heel.
+      England, awake, awake!
+      World, hear, for Jesus' sake!
+
+                                Newark, N.J.
+
+
+
+
+
+ARMENIA.
+
+By Geo. W. Crofts.
+
+Tune: "Maryland, My Maryland."
+
+
+    Where'er thy martyr blood has run
+                Armenia!
+    Shed by the fierce Mohammedan,
+                Armenia!
+    There nations gather in their grief--
+    There would they bring in swift relief--
+    Oh, may thy agony be brief,
+                Armenia!
+
+    God's eye of pity glances down,
+                Armenia!
+    He sees thy rudely broken crown,
+                Armenia!
+    His heart is touched with all thy woes,
+    His mighty arm will interpose,
+    He'll save thee from thy cruel foes,
+                Armenia!
+
+    All o'er thy verdant plains shall spread,
+                Armenia!
+    The golden grain where thou hast bled,
+                Armenia!
+    Thy harvest song shall yet arise
+    To him who rules in yonder skies,
+    Whose ear has heard thy bitter cries,
+                Armenia!
+
+    America extends to thee,
+                Armenia!
+    The cordial of her sympathy,
+                Armenia!
+    And every soul in this free land
+    Would give to thee the helping hand,
+    And near thee in thy sorrow stand,
+                Armenia!
+
+    In this dark hour be brave and strong,
+                Armenia!
+    The right shall triumph over wrong,
+                Armenia!
+    'Twill not be long till thou shalt see
+    The glorious dawn of liberty,
+    When thou shalt be forever free,
+                Armenia!
+
+
+
+
+
+ARMENIAN HYMN.
+
+By Alice Stone Blackwell.
+
+[From the Armenian of Nerses the Graceful; born 1102, died 1172.]
+
+
+    O Dayspring, Sun of righteousness, shine forth with light for me!
+    Treasure of mercy, let my soul thy hidden riches see!
+    Thou before whom the thoughts of men lie open in thy sight,
+    Unto my soul, now dark and dim, grant thoughts that shine with
+                                                                [ light!
+    O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Almighty One in Three,
+    Care-taker of all creatures, have pity upon me!
+    Awake, O Lord, awake to help, with grace and power divine;
+    Awaken those who slumber now, like Heaven's host to shine!
+    O Lord and Saviour, life-giver, unto the dead give life,
+    And raise up those that have grown weak and stumbled in the strife!
+    O Skillful Pilot! Lamp of light, that burneth bright and clear!
+    Strength and assurance grant to me, now hid away in fear.
+    O Thou that makest old things new, renew me and adorn;
+    Rejoice we with salvation, Lord, for which I inly mourn.
+    Giver of good, unto my sins be thy forgiveness given!
+    Lead Thy disciples, Heavenly King, unto the flocks of Heaven.
+    Defeat the evil husbandman that soweth tares and weeds;
+    Wither and kill in me the fruits of all his evil seeds!
+    O Lord, grant water to my eyes, that they may shed warm tears
+    To cleanse and wash away the sin that in my soul appears!
+    On me, now hid in shadow deep, shine forth, O glory bright!
+    Sweet juice, quench thou my soul's keen thirst! Show me the path
+                                                             [ of light!
+    Jesus, whose name is love, with love crush thou my stony heart;
+    Bedew my spirit with thy blood, and bid my griefs depart!
+    O thou that even in fancy art so sweet, Lord Jesus Christ,
+    Grant that with Thy reality my soul may be sufficed!
+    When thou shalt come again to earth, and all thy glory see,
+    Upon that dread and awful day, O Christ, remember me!
+    Thou that redeemest men from sin, O Saviour, I implore,
+    Redeem him who now praiseth Thee, to praise Thee evermore.
+
+                                                       Dorchester, Mass.
+
+
+Miss Alice Stone Blackwell is a noble Boston woman who is greatly
+interested in the Armenians. She has written many articles and poems,
+and done much toward arousing public sentiment throughout the United
+States in behalf of the Armenians.
+
+The author of this book esteems it a privilege to offer his personal
+thanks, as well as those of his persecuted nation, to Miss Blackwell,
+by whose kind permission the following poems from her book, "Armenian
+Poems," are here reprinted.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LAMENT OF MOTHER ARMENIA.
+
+
+                    I.
+
+    In alien lands they roam, my children dear;
+    Where shall I make appeal, with none to hear?
+    Where shall I find them? Far away from me
+    My sons serve others, thralls in slavery.
+
+                  Chorus.
+
+        Oh, come, my children, back to me!
+        Come home, your motherland to see!
+
+                    II.
+
+    Ages have passed, no news of them I hear;
+    Dead, dead are they, my sons that knew not fear.
+    I weep, the blood is frozen in my veins;
+    No one will cure my sorrows and my pains.
+
+                  Chorus.
+
+                    III.
+
+    My blood is failing and my heart outworn,
+    My face forever mournful and forlorn;
+    To my dark grave with grief I shall descend,
+    Longing to see my children to the end.
+
+                  Chorus.
+
+                    IV.
+
+    O wandering shepherd, you whose mournful song
+    Rings through the valleys as you pass along!
+    Come, let us both, with many a bitter tear,
+    Weep for the sad death of our children dear!
+
+                  Chorus.
+
+                     V.
+
+    Crane of the fatherland, fly far away,
+    Fly out of sight, beyond the setting day;
+    My last sad greetings to my children bear,
+    For my life's hope has died into despair!
+
+                  Chorus.
+
+
+
+
+
+LIBERTY.
+
+
+Michael Ghazarian Nalbandian was born in Russian Armenia in 1830;
+graduated at the University of St. Petersburg with the title of
+Professor; was active as a teacher, author, and journalist; fell
+under suspicion for his political opinions, and underwent a rigorous
+imprisonment of three years, after which he was exiled to the province
+of Sarakov, and died there, in 1866, of lung disease contracted in
+prison. It is forbidden in Russia to possess a picture of Nalbandian;
+but portraits of him, with his poem on "Liberty" printed around the
+margin, are circulated secretly.
+
+
+                I.
+
+    When God, who is forever free,
+      Breathed life into my earthly frame,--
+    From that first day, by his free will
+      When I a living soul became,--
+    A babe upon my mother's breast,
+      Ere power of speech was given to me,
+    Even then I stretched my feeble arms
+      Forth to embrace thee, Liberty!
+
+                II.
+
+    Wrapped round with many swaddling bands,
+      All night I did not cease to weep,
+    And in the cradle, restless still,
+      My cries disturbed my mother's sleep.
+    "O mother!" in my heart I prayed,
+      "Unbind my arms and leave me free!"
+    And even from that hour I vowed
+      To love thee ever, Liberty!
+
+               III.
+
+    When first my faltering tongue was freed,
+      And when my parents' hearts were stirred
+    With thrilling joy to hear their son
+      Pronounce his first clear-spoken word,
+    "Papa, mamma," as children use,
+      Were not the names first said by me;
+    The first word on my childish lips
+      Was thy great name, O Liberty!
+
+                IV.
+
+    Liberty answered from on high
+      The sovereign voice of Destiny:
+    "Wilt thou enroll thyself henceforth
+      A soldier true of Liberty?
+    The path is thorny all the way,
+      And many trials wait for thee;
+    Too strait and narrow is this world
+      For him who loveth Liberty."
+
+                V.
+
+    "Freedom!" I answered, "on my head
+      Let fire descend and thunder burst;
+    Let foes against my life conspire,
+      Let all who hate thee do their worst:
+    I will be true to thee till death;
+      Yea, even upon the gallows tree
+    The last breath of a death of shame
+      Shall shout thy name, O Liberty!"
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WANDERING ARMENIAN TO THE SWALLOW.
+
+By C. A. Totochian.
+
+
+                I.
+
+    O swallow, gentle swallow,
+      Thou lovely bird of spring!
+    Say, whither art thou flying
+      So swift on gleaming wing?
+
+                II.
+
+    Fly to my birthplace, Ashdarag,
+      The spot I love the best;
+    Beneath my father's roof-tree,
+      O swallow, build thy nest.
+
+               III.
+
+    There dwells afar my father,
+      A mournful man and gray,
+    Who for his only son's return
+      Waits vainly, day by day.
+
+                IV.
+
+    If thou shouldst chance to see him,
+      Greet him with love from me;
+    Bid him sit down and mourn with tears
+      His son's sad destiny.
+
+                V.
+
+    In poverty and loneliness,
+      Tell him, my days are passed:
+    My life is only half a life.
+      My tears are falling fast.
+
+                VI.
+
+    To me, amid bright daylight,
+      The sun is dark at noon;
+    To my wet eyes at midnight
+      Sleep comes not, late or soon.
+
+               VII.
+
+    Tell him that, like a beauteous flower
+      Smit by a cruel doom.
+    Uprooted from my native soil,
+      I wither ere my bloom.
+
+               VIII.
+
+    Fly on swift wing, dear swallow,
+      Across the quickening earth,
+    And seek in fair Armenia
+      The village of my birth.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTICE.
+
+
+The author of this book delivers lectures on the following subjects:
+
+
+    Armenia, Armenians, and the recent Atrocities.
+    The Sultan of Turkey, Hamid the II.
+    American Missions in Turkey.
+    Social and Political Life in Turkey.
+
+
+About 400 stereopticon views, as well as large maps, and costumes are
+used to illustrate the various lectures, which are highly instructive
+and entertaining, and never fail of interesting the most critical
+audiences.
+
+The lectures are delivered upon very reasonable terms. For particulars
+address,
+
+Rev. Geo. H. Filian,
+Cor. Eastern Parkway and Cresent St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
+
+From the testimonials of prominent clergymen, authors, and secretaries
+of Y.M.C.A.'s, the following few are selected.
+
+
+From Dr. R. S. Storrs, President of the American Board of Foreign
+Missions.
+
+Your address to my congregation was admirable in its tone, and its
+entire impression upon those who heard it. Your knowledge of the
+facts presented is, of course, accurate and complete; and your method
+of presenting the facts is clear, impressive, and leaves the minds
+instructed and the hearts quickened.
+
+
+From the Faculty of Chicago Theological Seminary.
+
+This will introduce to you Rev. George H. Filian, a graduate of this
+Seminary, a man of true character and devotion. He has been obliged
+to suspend work for a time in Turkey, owing to his faithfulness
+in preaching the truth, and is recommended to the consideration of
+Christians throughout America.
+
+                        By order of the Faculty, H. N. Scott, Secretary.
+
+
+From Prof. G. B. Wilcox, D.D., Chicago Theological Seminary.
+
+Rev. G. H. Filian, a graduate of this Seminary in 1882, and
+since pastor of Armenian Evangelical Church, Marsovan, Turkey, is
+lecturing on Turkish missions and Turkish manners and customs. He
+is an exceptionally able speaker, and may with all confidence be
+introduced by any pastor to his congregation. I speak from long and
+intimate acquaintance.
+
+                                                           G. B. Wilcox.
+
+
+From Rev. John H. Barrows, D.D., Pastor First Presbyterian Church.
+
+Rev. Geo. H. Filian, of Syria, lectured on Constantinople to my people
+last night, greatly interesting them. His illustrations are excellent,
+and he speaks with great enthusiasm. The evening's entertainment was
+very wholesome, and I cordially commend his worthy lecture. My people
+have heard him also with pleasure on "Social Life in Turkey."
+
+
+From the Department Secretary Y.M.C.A. of Chicago, Illinois.
+
+Rev. Geo. H. Filian delivered before one of our meetings his
+interesting lecture on "Missions in Turkey." I have never heard a
+speaker more interesting, and that held the attention of the audience
+in a greater measure than Mr. Filian. He is intelligent upon such
+a subject. He is versatile in expression, enthusiastic in delivery,
+and certainly very devout in heart.
+
+                                                           Daniel Sloan.
+
+
+From the Secretary in charge Central Building, Y.M.C.A., Brooklyn, N.Y.
+
+Rev. Geo. H. Filian gave his stereopticon lecture on "Constantinople"
+before our young men last night, and I am pleased to say that it is
+a lecture of rare interest and enjoyment. The views are beautiful and
+very instructive, as they are rarely thrown upon a screen. Mr. Filian
+has the advantage of speaking from actual experience, and his eloquent
+words, devoted spirit, and fund of humor quickly win the attention
+and sympathy of any audience.
+
+                                                         Arthur B. Wood.
+
+
+From Rev. Henry Van Dyke, D.D., Pastor of the Brick Church, New York.
+
+Your lecture before our Young Men's Society on Monday was a decided
+success. Every one was interested in what you had to say, and the
+pictures were excellent. We shall be glad when the time comes to have
+you with us again.
+
+
+From Rev. George M. Stone, D.D., Hartford.
+
+Mr. Filian is thoroughly intelligent on the whole Eastern question,
+and gives a view of Armenia and its present trial which is exceedingly
+valuable.
+
+
+From A. C. Dixon, D.D., Pastor Hanson Place Baptist Church, Brooklyn,
+N.Y.
+
+Rev. George H. Filian has lectured twice in the Hanson Place Baptist
+church, and it gives me pleasure to say that his lectures are
+interesting and instructive. They stir the heart to work and pray
+for the relief of persecuted Armenia.
+
+
+From Louis Albert Banks, D.D., Pastor of Hanson Place M. E. Church,
+Brooklyn, N.Y.
+
+I take great pleasure in saying that the Rev. Geo. H. Filian, who has
+spoken from the platform at Hanson Place M. E. church in behalf of the
+Armenian Christians, and also lectured in our church on Constantinople,
+is a very eloquent and earnest speaker, who will attract attention
+and arouse interest anywhere.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+
+[1] The word "Armenian" is not altogether indicative of race, it refers
+more particularly to those who are Christians. Any who have forsaken
+the faith and become Mohammedans are no longer regarded as Armenians,
+but are Turks.
+
+[2] The above description is taken literally from a report of the
+British Vice-Consul of Erzeroum. Copies are in possession of the
+diplomatic representatives of the powers at Constantinople. The scene
+occurred in the Village of Semal before the massacres, during the
+normal condition of things.
+
+[3] Extracts from letters are left unsigned for fear of endangering
+the writers' lives.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Armenia and Her People, by George H. Filian
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59270 ***