SMIot ^t ^^ Armenian Massacres OR The Sword of Mohammed CONTAINING A COMPLETE AND THRILLING ACCOUNT OF THE TERRIBLE ATROCITIES AND WHOLESALE MURDERS COMMITTED IN ARMENIA BY MOHAMMEDAN FANATICS INCLUDING A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE TURKISH PEOPLE, THEIR HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, MANNERS, CUSTOMS AND STRANGE RELIGIOUS BELIEF BY FREDERICK DAVIS GREENE, M.A. Secretary of the National Relief Committee and late Missionary to Armenia. TO WHICH IS ADDED THE MOHAMMEDAN REIGN OF TERROR IN ARMENIA EDITED BY Henry Davenport Northrop, D.D. The well-known author. Embellished with nearly lOO- Engravings showing the Characteristics of the People, Massacres, etc., etc. AMERICAN OXFORD PUBLISHING CO. PUBLISHERS. EutercAUK GLADSTONE UN THE ARMENIAN MASSACRE AND ON TURKISH MISRULE 121 CHAPTER X. WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS? 131 CHAPTKR XI. AMERICANS IN TURKKV, THEIR WORK AND IN- FLUENCE H7 CIlAl'TKR XII. ARMENIAN VILLAGE LIFE 157 APPENDIX A. A Hir OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 109 APPENDIX B. ESTABLISHMENT OF UNITED STATES CONSU- LAll.S IN EASTERN TURKEY 175 APPENDIX C. DR. CYRLS HAMLIN'S EXPLANATION 179 APPENDIX D. THE CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS ^Bl CHAPTER XIII. IHE .MMAi LIN(; CONDITION OF ARMENIA ... 185 CIIAITICR XIV. MR. (GLADSTONE ON ARMENIA 24.3 CHAPTER XV. THE CRY FROM ARMENIA L'56 C(y)ite7its. ix CHAPTER XVI. PAGE THE SHAME OF CHRISTENDOM 285 CHAPTER XVII. AN APPEAL FOR ARMENIA 309 chaptp:r XVIII. THE MASSACRE AT URFA 340 CHAPTER XIX. THE LAST THE WORST 345 CHAPTER XX. RUSSIA AND TURKEY 351 CHAPTER XXI. THE TYRANT TURK AND THE CRAVEN STATES- MEN 356 CHAPTER XXII. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AT CONSTANTINOPLE 358 CHAPTER XXIII. THE BLOT ON THE CENTURY 365 CHAPTER XXIV. THE ARMENIANS— WHO ARE THEY? 371 CHAPTER XXV. THE TURKISH QUESTION IN GERMANY 380 CHAPTER XXVI. TURKISH OPPRESSION 386 X Cofitenis. CHAPTER XWII. PAOB MISSIONARY WORK IN TLRKh\ 3% CHAPTER XX \' 111. TURKEY AND THE 1 URKS AiiU CHAPTER XXIX. THE TURKISH CiOVERNMENT Jli^ CHAPTER XXX. RELIEF FUR SUFl-KKING AKM1..\I.\ 413 CHAPTER XXXI. CAUSE AND EXTENT OF Till". KFCl-.N I' ATROCI- TIES 4:^.1 CHAPTER XXX 11. TO THE RESCUE \M) CHAPTER XXX ill. WHAT ONE MAY SEE IN ARMFNI.\ 4-19 CHAPTER XXX IV. THE TURKS AND THFIR KFI.K. ION 15S CHAPTER XXXV. HI.STORY OF IIRKEY AND THE MOll A.\IMFI).\N POWER 4"') PREFACE. HE would be a rash man who should claim to have mastered the Eastern Question — a ques- tion which it is not easy even to define, and of which the future of Turkey is only a part. To throw light on some phases of the latter problem is the writer's object — and this by way of inform.ation rather than argument. What he has learned of the subject has been by residence, travel, absorption, and investigation in the land itself, and by reading. The very short time allowed in the preparation of this humble contribution to the subject has necessi- tated a hasty and partial treatment at the expense of literary form. Some of the material and most of the illustrations are reproduced from articles by the author in the American Rcviczv of Rcviczvs, by the kind permission of the editor, Dr. Albert Shaw. No pains have been spared to insure accuracy. References to authorities have been given as far as possible, but in regard to much information from most reliable sources names must be withheld. This book, with all its harrowing details and records of murders and pillage, was prepared to prove th^ awful character of the first great massacre of Arme- nians which had taken pLice in .Sassoun some months xii Preface before, but of which no aulhcnticated evidence had up till that time been made pubh'c. It was beheved that, if the people of Great Britain could be con- vinced of the condition of Armenia, for which they were largely responsible, such a public opinion would be aroused as would at once lead to vigorous and determined action by that government. It was stated in the iVeface : "If such action is not taken, the effect of this book, as of all agitation in behalf of the victims of Turkey, will be to draw the fetters deeper." The exjiectalion that England would do her duty has proved to be groundless, but the Turk has lived up to his reputation. Irritated b\' Eng- land's threats, but emboldened by her cowardly and vacillating course, the Sultan, while pretending to reform Armenia, inaugurated there a reign of terror of which Sassoun was a mere local incident. Thk Sword of Mohammed is used as a sub-title, because there is still a crisis in the history of that important race ; and there will soon be one in Europe if .selfishness, jealous}-, and duplicity con- tinue to stille all considerations of humanity, national hiMior, and — I blush to add it — of Christianity. In order to protect " British interests," for two- score years, not to say longer, has "Christian" England stood guard at the Sublime Porte, warn- ing all intruders away. With her hand on the door of the Turk's discjrderly house, she lias compla- cently informed the world that she in particular — as well as the other Powers — has secured prom- ises, and even guaranties, that all would go well. But all the while, Her Majesty's Ministers, of what- Preface xiii ever party, have heard the bitter and despairing cry of the poor wretches within, and have done then- best to stifle it by carefully suppressing, in their archives, the consular reports which have kept them officially informed of the real situation/ And all the while, England's share of the profits of this partnership with " her friend and ally," has been steadily dropping into her overflowing coffers. Was Cyprus nothing? Is Egypt nothing? Is the inter- est on Turkish bonds, extracted in blood-drops by a pressure that England helps to maintain, nothing? England's Christian statesmen who so jealously pro- tect "British interests," even to the extent of con- niving, for " reasons of state," at the outrage and murder of Armenia — whose chief guardianship they insisted on assuming, — would do well to remember that there is a kingdom of God, which has its in- terests, and which for state reasons of its own has swept away mighty empires that defied its laws. As for France, whose cant at least is not religious, she tattoos her fair figure w^ith " Libcrtr, Egalitc, Fraternitd''' wherever there is space to write the words, but she evidently confines her motto to her- self. It is reported that, at the close of the Berlin ^ " I am at a loss to know why the reports of consuls ceased to be furnished in or about the year iSSi. Why are not consular reports to be made, and being made, why are they not to be printed ? If in this respect I am personally, or anyone associated \\\\\\ nie is, open to censure, let the facts be brought out ; but do not let a particular act at a particular time be confounded with the adoption of the prin- ciple of eternal silence about the horrors that prevail in Armenia." — Speech by the Rt. Hon. W, E. Gladstone, in House of Commons, May 28, 18S9. xlv Priface Congress in 1S7S, Prince Bismarck expressed the sentiments of official German}-, by saying tluit he " would nut give one Pomeranian grenadier for the Balkan Peninsula." If so, she would probably sac- rifice even less now for Armenia, though she would object, of course, to a division of Turkey without receiving some compensation herself. Austria would gladly extend her protectorate over Macedonia, which would also dispose of that bone of contention between Bulgaria and Greece. Poor Italy finds it hard to swallow what she has already bitten off in Abyssinia, and would be glad of something better. H(jly Russia feels so sure of the Armenian apple, which is bound to fall into her lap when it is ripe, that she does n't c\cn care to shake the branch, lest it might alarm her rivals. She is mistress of the situation, and time is in her favor. As for Turkc\', she has long seen the sword of Damocles over her head, and will bv)\v to the stroke of Fate whenever it falls. She hates and distrusts all the Powers, but, as a last resort, will probably yield to Russia, the nearest and the strongest, in hope of escaping the rest. Noboily expects or is really trying to secure reforms in Turkey, though promises of reform will still be demanded of the Sultan, and will always be ready on demand. What is the real underlying difficulty in Turkey? Is it a conflict u[ race, or religion? Primarily it is neither, though both of these elements seriously complicate the case at present. /// one ivord, it is inisgin'irnmcnt. Do not be deceived by this rather mild word, and dismiss the subject with the reflec- TURKISH LADY OF RANK ARMENIAN BREAD-SKLLER Preface xv tion that " there is misgovernment everywhere." Misgovernment, as it exists in Turkey, is a system breeding corruption and death. It is a disease, hereditary, chronic, penetrating the whole body pohtic and fastened on its very vitals. No creed is exempt ; every race is attacked by it. I have seen the crushing and — what is worse — demoralizing conditions from which all the races in Turkey suffer under Moslem misrule. I know how rapidly these fine races would advance along every line, were these conditions changed. I know the grand possibilities of the Armenians as a people, physically, intellectually, and morally. • The only wonder is that a people of so great ability, energy, and spirit have so long submitted. But when one sees, as I have been compelled to, during years of residence both in Constantinople and the interior, how the fetters have been forged on every limb, and how the movement of a finger even brings down immediate and terrible vengeance, the wonder arises why these wretches are so foolhardy as to undertake revolution. The fact is they are not engaged in any such enterprise. Individual agitators there are, but even their object is only to force the civilized world to ^VJQ attention to the despairing cry of their race, which even God does not seem, to them, to hear. 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 their behalf to those Avho have devoted three months' time to killing and robbing them is simply to aban- don the Armenians to destruction and to put the xvi Preface seal of Europe to the bloody work. The only way to reform Turkey, as history has so often shown, is by forcible foreign intervention — not the threat of it, but the intervention itself. The position and power of Russia give her a i.nique call to the work. Should she enter on it at once the whole civilized world would approve her course. Russia should have as free a hand in Ar- menia as England has insisted on having in Egypt, r.y frankly admitting this. England would gain in the respect and sympathy of the world and strengthen her own position. During a conversation with Mr. Gladstone in his home at Easter, 1895, I asked him if he shared the horror expressed by some, of opening the Eastern Question. Quick as a flash he replied, " The only •,vay to close it is to open it." If in this fair, honest, and determined spirit the statesmen of Europe should come together, it would not take long to dis- pose of the so-called " Sick Man." The fact is he is already dead, and the only way to dispose of him is by burying him out of sight. lie is too far decomposed to liold together and must, therefore, be buried piece- meal. No " joint action " will succeed. Each of the European undertakers should dispose of a part, be paid jiroportionately out of the estate, and adminis- ter tfie remainder as permanent guardians in the interests of the " Sick Man's " various children, thus happily ori)haned. I preach no crusade ; none is needed, l^ut it is high time f(»r the conscience of the civilized world to assert itself — not simply the " non-Conformist Preface xvii conscience," but the Established, the Orthodox, the Catholic, the Agnostic, and the Infidel conscience, in fact the human conscience — against this crime upon humanity. If this conscience is once aroused, I care not what parties are in power, or how the game stands on the diplomatic chessboard, the rule of the Turk will be ended, and one more blot will be wiped out from the annals of the world. The policy of the United States Government in this world crisis has been one of impotence as far as the cause of humanity is concerned, contemptible from the standpoint of national honor, and suicidal as regards American interests. While not lifting so much as a finger to shield tens of thousands of helpless women and children from murder and outrage, President Cleveland, by his gallant thundering about a few miles of swamps in Venezuela, at once threw into hopeless confusion the calculations of European statesmen in regard to the Armenians, and removed . 11 pressure in their be- half. Meanwhile, thirteen respected and law-abiding United States citizens were actually bombarded by the Sultan's troops, and had their houses plundered and burned. Though four months have passed, no indemnity has been secured, and it is not probable that any official will be punished for this insult to America. Emboldened by such timid and tardy action by this country, the Porte has now assumed the aggres- sive and audaciously accuses the American resi- dents of sedition and murder. The object of this xvili Preface charge is simply to secure their expulsion from the countr}'. In this policy of getting rid of the Americans, the Turks are ably seconded by the Russian Ambassa- dor and by the American ^linister at Constantinople, though from different motives. Turkey seeks the expulsion of the Americans because she knows that, as spiritual and educational leaders, they are a mighty influence in the development of her Christian sub- jects whom she wishes to retain as helpless serfs. Russia expects soon to inherit the land and would like to have it cleared of what she considers religious weeds and political brambles. The United States T.Iinister professes to be haunted by the future ghosts of American citizens, whom, for the very j)ur- pose of terrifying him, the Turks threaten to murder. These citizens, both men and women, have bravely and cheerfully stood at their j^osts while the storm of death has raged around them ; and now that it is passed, it is ridiculous to suppose that Turkey can- not continue to protect ihcm. Just as soon, how- ever, as the Sultan is convinced that it would he safe to have them massacred under the cloak of " a fanatical mob " that event is likely to occur. The jeopardy to American life and interests arises from llic undignified and half-hearted way in which they are being " defended." A reversal of this policy would safeguard not simply the persons and property of American citizens, but, what is more, our national lionor. It would, at the same time, indirectly, greatly advance the cause of humanity and civiliza- tion in that unfortunate land. CHAPTER I. A CHAPTER OF HORRORS. CERTIFIED EVIDENCE OF THE MASSACRE IN SASSOUN. WE, the undersigned, by examination and com- parison, have satisfied ourselves that the following statements are verbatim reports, •written under the dates which they bear, by American citizens who have spent from six to thirty years in Eastern Turkey. We have examined also the fact that they are written from six different cities from one hundred to two hundred miles apart, but form- ing a circle about the centre in Avhich the massacres occurred. For the personal safety of the writers the names of the places cannot now be made public. They are independent reports from a country where refugees and returned soldiers of the Sultan speak of what they know. We have the utmost confidence in these statements and regard them worthy the belief of all men. In the name of a suffering humanity we urge the careful perusal of these statements, and recommend that all readers take measures to make the indig- nation of an outraged Christian world effectually felt. We deprecate revolution among these helpless Turkish subjects, but bespeak cordial co-operation in bringing to bear upon Turkey the force of the righteous condemnation of our seventy millions of people. f^.^/^ a'^i^^^^-^^ -A^ Of ^ FREDERIC T. GREENHALGE Governor of Massachusetts. FRANCES E. WILLARD President National W. C. T. U. WM. LLOYD GARRISON Jr. SAMUEL J. BARROWS Editor Christian Register. GEO. C. LORIMER Pastor Tremont Temple, Boston. WILLIAM E. BARTON Pastor Shawmiit Church, Boston. H. M. JEWETT Ex-U. S. Consul, Sivas, Turkey.' MARY A. LIVERMORE Author and Lecturer. ALPHEUS H. HAPvDY FRANCIS E. CLARK Pres. United Society Christian Endeavor. ' Brother and predecessor of the present Consul Jewett, at Siva§. 3 CS^C.^^ ^ CA^-^^ r- oA-u^^^^ "^^^^ H oi O H to H EDWARD EVERETT HALE Pastor New South Congregational Church, Bostoa JULIA WARD HOWE Author and Lecturer. FRANCIS A. WALKER Pres. Mass. Instit. of Technology. A. E. PiLLSBURY Ex-Altorney-General of Massachusetts. ISABEL SOMERSET Lady Henry Somerset. CYRUS HAMLIN Founder of Robert College. L J. LANSING Pastor Park Street Church, Boston. JOSEPH COOK Author and Lecturer. WM. E. RUSSELL Ex-Governor of Massachusetts. JONATHAN A. LANE Pres. Boston Merchants' Association. 5 EXPLANATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHOR. THESE letters are written by men who can have no possible motive for misrepresenting the facts in the case, while, on the other hand, eacU writer subjected himself to personal danger by putting such statements upon paper and sending then- through the mails. Several of the documents have gotten through Turkey by circuitous routes, in some instances having been sent by special messenger to Pc'sia, and so on to this countr\-. Others were never risked in the Turkish mails, but have come throjgh the British post-office at Constantinople. It must be borne in mind that no writer was an eyc-v,itness of the actual massacre ; nor could he have been, inasmuch as the whole region was sur- rounded by a militar)' cordon during the massacre and for months after. The letters are largely based on the testimony of refugees from that region, or of Kurds and soldiers who participated in the butchery, and who had no hesitation in speaking about the affair in public or private until long after, when the prospect of a European investigation sealed their lips. Much of the evidence is, therefore, essentially first hand, having been obtained from eye-witnesses, 6 A Chapter of Horrors. 7 by parties in the vicinity at the time, who are im- partial, thoroughly experienced in sifting Oriental testimony, familiar with the Turkish and Armenian languages, and of the highest veracity. No one letter would have much force if taken alone, for it might be a large report of a small matter ; but these eleven letters are written independently of one another, at different times, and from seven different cities widely apart, five of them forming a circle around the scene of destruction. The evidence is cumulative and overwhelming. There is absolute unanimity to this extent : that a gigantic and indescribably horrible massacre of Armenian men, women, and children did actually take place in the Sassoun and neighboring regions about Sept. i, 1894, and that, too, at the hands of Kurdish troops armed by the Sultan of Turkey, as well as of regular soldiers sent under orders from the same source. What those orders were will probably never transpire. That they were executed under the personal direction of high Turkish military of^cers is clear. There can also be no doubt — for the ofificial notice from the palace was printed in the Constan- tinople papers in November last^ — that Zekki Pasha, Commander of the Fourth Army Corps, who led the regular troops in the work of extermination, has since been specially honored by a decoration from the Sultan, who was also pleased to send silk banners to the four leading Kurdish chiefs, by a special mes- senger. The latest, most accurate, and comprehensive doc- ument in this correspondence is No. 6. 8 The Crisis in Turkey. Vice-Consul Shipley, representing Great Britain in the inquiry held at Moash from January' 24 to July 21, 1895, substantiates the evidence published in this chapter a year ago : " We S^Messrs. Vilbcrt, Shipley, and Prjevalsky, the reprcsc7itativcs of France, E?igland, and Russia'] have, in our report, given it as our conviction, arrived at from the evidence brought before us, that the Ar- menians ivere massacred without distinction of age or sex ; and, indeed, for a period of some three loeehs, viz., from the J 2th of Aug. to the 4th of Sept. {O.S.), it is not too muck to say that the Armenians were absolutely hunted like wild beasts, being killed wherever they were met, and if the slaughter was tiot greater, it was, I believe, solely owing to the vastfiess of the mountain ranges of that district, which enabled the people to scatter and so facilitated their escape. In fact, and speaking with a full sense of responsi- bility, I am compelled to say that the conviction has forced itself upon me, that it was 7iot so much the capture of the agitator Mourad, or the suppression of a pseudo revolt, which leas desired by the Turkish authorities, as the extermination, pure and simple, of the GhcHcgiizan and Talori districts."' ' British Vicc-Consul Hampson, who made a tour of the whole region in August, 1895, adds : " That large numbers perished seems certain, the whole region being absolutely surrounded by Kurds and soldiers under the Mutessarif of Guendj, and Major Sali Effetidi, now in command. Nobody and nothing belonging to the Armenians was purposely spared!'"^ > Blue Book, Turkey, j 895, No. I , Part I., p. 206. » JbiJ. , p. 2CX). V -T THE EVIDENCE. No. I. [The reader should take notice that this first letter was written over four months before the massacre actually occurred.] D . . ., April 3, 1894. It does seem in this region as if the government were bent on reducing all those who survive the process to a grovelling poverty, when they can think of nothing more than getting their daily bread. There is good reason for thinking that unless so- called Christian nations extend a helping hand, they [the Armenians] will become wellnigh extinct. Of course I do not sympathize in any way with the ex- tremists in other lands who are stirring things up here. Nor do I agree with those papers that decry this movement as very foolish because there is no hope for success. If I rightly interpret the move- ment in this region, the thought is not revolution at all, but a desperate effort to call the attention of Europe to the wrongs they are suffering and will ever continue to suffer under this government. They feel that they will never succeed in attracting that 9 lO The Crisis i?i Turkey. attention unless they show that they are desperate enough to sacrifice their lives. And there is no com- puting the lives that are going, not in open massacre as in Bulgaria — the government knows better than that. — but in secret^ silent, secluded ways. The sooner it is known, the better. There never will be peaceful^ prosperous conditions here until others take hold with a strong hand. VICTIMS OF TURKISH TAXATION ABANDONING THEI& VILLAGE HOMES. No. 2. [This is the first report of the massacre.] 1) . . ., Sept. 26, 1894. Troops have been massed in the region of the large plain near us. Sickness broke out among them, which took off two or three victims every few days. It was a good excuse for establishing the quarantine A Chapter of Horrors, \\ around, with its income from bribes, charges, and the inevitable rise in the price of the already dear grain. I suspect that one reason for placing quaran- tine was to hinder the information as to what all those troops were about in that region. There seems little doubt that there has been repeated in the region back of Moosh what took place in 1876 in Bulgaria. The sickening details are beginning to come in. As in that case, it has been the innocent who have been the greatest sufferers. Forty-eight villages are said to have been wholly blotted out. No. 3. [Efforts to conceal the truth as soon as Vice-Con- sul Hallward arrived on the scene, and to ward off investigation.] D . . ., Oct. 3, 1894. As the time goes on the extent of the slaughter seems to be confirmed as greater than was first sup- posed. Six thousand is a low figure — it is probably nearer ten. Mr. Hallward, the new [English] Consul at Van, has gone directly there, and it is said that the other consuls from Erzroom have also been sent to investigate. The government tried to get the people here to sign an address to the Sovereign, ex- pressing satisfaction with his rule, disclaiming sym- pathy with the Armenians who have " stirred matters up," stating that the thousands slain in Talvoreeg met their just deserts, and that the four outsiders captured should be summarily punished, expressing 12 TJie Crisis i7i Turkey. regret that it has been thought best to send consuls to investigate, and stating that there was no need for their coming. Froin this document we at least get some facts that before were supi)ositions. It con- sisted of about two thousand words, and it was ex- pected that it would be sent by telegraph with at least a thousand signatures. The Armenians here have not yet signed it, though in four districts simi- lar papers have been secured properly sealed. The effect of such papers on foreigners will be much modi- fied ivJien they know the vieans used to procure them. Sword, famine, pestilence, all at once — pity this poor country ! No. 4. [The following is from a different source.] A . . ., Oct. 31, T894. We have word from Bitlis that the destruction of life in Sassoun, south of Moosh, was even greater than was supposed. The brief note which has reached us says : " Twenty-seven villages annihi- lated in Sassoun. Six thousand men, women, and children massacred by troops and Kourds. This awful story is just beginning to be known here, though the massacre took place early in September. The Turks have used infinite pains to prevent news leaking out, even going to the length of sending back from Trebizond many hundreds from the Moosh region who had come this way on business." This ma.ssacre was ordered from Constantinople in the sense that some Kourds having robbed Armenian TURKISH MUSICIANS aj A Chapter of Horrors. 1 3 villages of flocks, the Armenians pursued and tried to recover their property, and a fight ensued in which a dozen Kourds were killed. The slain were " semi-official robbers," i. e., enrolled as troops and armed as such, but not under control. The authori- ties then telegraphed to Constantinople that Arme- nians had " killed some of the Sultan's troops." The Sultan at once ordered infantry and cavalry to put down the Armenian rebellion, and they did it ; only, not finding any rebellion, they cleared the country so that none should occur in the future. No. 5. [This froni a third place.] B . . ., Nov. 16, 1894. Last year the Talvoreeg Armenians successfully resisted the attacks of the neighboring Kourds. The country became very unsettled. This year the gov- ernment interfered and sent detachments of regular soldiers to put down the Armenians. These were assisted by the Kourdish Hamcdic'hs [organized troops]. The Armenians were attacked in their mountain fastnesses and were finally reduced by the failure of supplies, both of food and ammunition. About a score of villages were wiped out of existence — people slaughtered and houses burned. A number of able-bodied young Armenians were captured, bound, covered with brushwood and burned alive. A number of Armenians, variously estimated, but less than a hundred, surrendered 14 Tlie Crisis in Turkey. themselves and pled for mercy. Many of them were shot down on the spot and the remainder were dis- patched with sword and bayonet. A lot of women, variously estimated from 60 to 160 in number, were shut up in a church, and the soldiers were " let loose " among them. Many of them were outraged to death and the remainder dis- patched with sword and bayonet. A lot of young women were collected as spoils of war. Two stories are told. i. That they were carried off to the harems of their Moslem captors. 2. That they were offered Islam and the harems of their Moslem captors,— re- fusing, they were slaughtered. Children were placed in a row, one behind another, and a bullet fired down the line, apparently to see how many could be dis- patched with one bullet. Infants and small children were piled one on the other and their heads struck off. Houses were surrounded by soldiers, set on fire, and the inmates forced back into the flames at the point of the bayonet as they tried to escape. But this is enough of the carnage of death. Esti- mates vary from 3000 to 8000 for the number of persons massacred. These are sober estimates. Wild estimates place the number as high as 20,000 to 25,000. This all took place during the latter part of August and [early part ofj September. The arrival of the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army Corps put a stop to the carnage. It is to be noted that the massacres were perpetrated by regular soldiers, foj the most part under command of officers of high rank. This gives this affair a most serious aspect. A Chapter of Horrors. 1 5 A Christian does not enjoy the respect accorded to street dogs. If this massacre passes without notice it will simply become the declaration of the doom of the Christians. There will be no security for the life, property, or honor of a Christian. A week ago last Tuesday evening at sundown a Turk kidnapped the wife of a wealthy Armenian merchant of the town of Khanoos Pert. Next morning her cries were over- heard by searchers and she was rescued from a Turkish house. No redress is possible. Wild rumors have been abroad for a long time, but trustworthy information came to hand slowly. Every- thing has been done to hush it all up. Some of the minor details of the stories I have told above may not be exact, but I feel quite certain they are in the main. However, that a cruelly barbarous and extensive massacre of Christians by regular soldiers assisted by Kourdish Hamedic'hs, under command of ofificers of rank and responsibility, has occurred cannot be denied. What now will the Christian world do? No. 6. [This is the most complete account, compiled on the ground. The following document was carefully prepared in common by parties, the signature of any one of whom would be of sufificient guaranty to give great W'eight. One of the party, who is largely responsible for the data given, is a man of high position and wide influence. The material was collected with the greatest difficulty and under the 1 6 TJw Crisis in Tiirkey. constant espionage of Turkish officials. Armenian Christians who were known to appear at the place where the writer was staying, were arrested and some are yet in prison if they have not met a worse fate already. The documents were sent by secret, special carriers into Persia and came by Persian post to the United States. They left Turkey about the last of November, 1894. This document alone is sufficient to stir the indignation of a Christian world.] C . . ., Nov., 1894. There is uneasiness in Bitlis as to the safety of that city. Scrutiny of the mails by the Turkish authori- ties continues, and some letters addressed to resi- dents and officials in the United States are failing to arrive. The HamcdicJi soldiers, who are Kourds, and who have been enrolled during the past three years, are uniformed to some extent, but left in their homes. They are committing all kinds of depredations. The government continues to e.xact taxes in the plun- dered districts, sends zabtichs, or Turkish soldiers, to abide in the villages, and eat the people out of provisions until in some way they manage to secure the money. In the Bashkalla region many of the men find, on returning, that the government has taken possession of their property and refuses to restore it or allow them to remain in their old homes. The authorities have taken and are taking every precaution to prevent accounts of the famous mas- sacre of Moosh from reaching the outside world. The English consul, Mr. liallwurd, went on a tour in A Chapter of Horrors: Vj the region affected. He was subjected to constant annoying espionage, and was absolutely unable to penetrate into the devastated region. To what extent Armenian agitation has provoked the terrible massacre it is difficult to determine. For a year or more there seems to have been an Arme- nian from Constantinople staying in the region as an agitator. For a long time he skilfully evaded his pursuers, but was at last caught and taken to Bitlis. He demanded to be taken to Constantinople and to the Sultan, and, it is said, he is now living at the capital, receiving a large salary from the govern- ment. Evidently he has turned state's evidence. FACTS REGARDING A MASSACRE AT SASSOUN, NEAR MOOSH, TURKEY. Late in May, 1893, an outside agitator named Damatian was captured near Moosh. The gov- ernment had suspected that the Talvoreeg vil- lages were harboring such agitators, and had sent orders to certain Kourdish chiefs to attack the district, assuming the responsibility for all they should kill, and promising the Kourds all the spoil. Not long after Damatian had been brought to Bitlis, the first week in June, the Bakranlee Kourds began to gather below Talvoreeg. As the villagers saw the Kourds gathering day by day, to the num- ber of several thousands, they suspected their de- signs, and began to make preparations. On the eighth day the battle was joined. The stronger position of the villagers enabled them to do con- siderable execution with little loss to themselves. 1 8 TJie Crisis in Turkey. The issue of the contest at sunset was some one hundred Kouids slain, ;iiid but six of the villagers, one of whom was a woman who was trying to rescue a mule from the Kourds. The villagers had suc- ceeded in breaking down a bridge across the deep gorge of a river before a detachment of Kourds from another direction could join in the attack against them. The Kourds thus felt themselves worsted, and could not be induced to make another attack that summer. At this juncture the Governor-general set out with troops and two field-pieces for Moosh, and in- fested the region near Talvoreeg, but cither he con- sidered his forces insufficient, or he had orders to keep quiet, for he made no attack, but merely had the troops keep siege. Before leaving, he r.ucceeded, by giving hostages, in having an interview with some of the chief men in Talvoreeg, and asked them why they did not submit to the government, and pay taxes. They replied that they were not disloyal to the government, but that they C(ndtl not pa\' ta.xes twice, to the Kourds and to the government. If the government would protect them, they would pay to it. Nothing came (;f the parley, and the siege was continued till snow fell. During the win- ter, while blackmail was rife in the vila\'et, several rich men of Talvoreeg were invited to visit the Governor-General, but did not sec best to accept. In the early spring the Kourds of several tribes were ordered to attack the villages of Sassoun, while troojjs were sent on from Moosh a-ui Bitlis, the latter taking along ammunition and stores, and ten mule- 20 Hie Crisis in Turkey. loads of kerosene (eighty cans). The whole district was pretty well besieged by Kourds and troops. The villages thus besieged would occasionally make sorties to secure food. The Kourds on one occasion stole several oxen, and their owners tracked their property to the Kourdish tents, and found that one ox had been butchered. They asked for the others, and were refused, whereupon the villagers left, and later re- turned with sonic companions. A scrimmage ensued, in which two or three were killed on either side. The Kourds at once took: their dead to the govern- ment at Moosh, and reported that the region was filled with Armenian and foreign soldiers. The government at once sent in all directions for sol- diers, gathering in all from eight to ten taboors (regiments). Kourds congregated to the number of about twenty thousand, while some five hundred HanicdicJi horsemen were brought to Moosh. METHODS OF PROCEDURE AND INCIDENTS OK THE M.\SS.\CRE. At first the Kourds were set t)n, ami the troops kept out of sight. The villagers, put to the fight, and thinking they had only the Kourds to do with, repulsed them on several occasions. The Kourds were unwilling to do more unless the troops assisted. Some of the troops assumed Kourdish dress, and helped them in the fight with more suc- cess. Small companies of troops entered several villages, saying they had come to protect them as loyal subjects, and were quartered among the houses. SCENE IN STAMBOUL — "THE TURKS ARE UPON US." STREET SCENE IN STAMBOUX, A Chapter of Horrors. 2 1 In the night they arose and slew the sleeping vil- lagers, man, woman, and child. By this time those in other villages were beginning to feel that extermination was the object of the government, and desperately determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible. And then began a campaign of butchery that lasted some twenty-three days, or, roughly, from the middle of August to the middle of September. The Ferik Pasha [Marshal Zekki Pasha], who came post-haste from Erzingan, read the Sultan's firman for extermination, and then, hanging the document on his breast, exhorted the soldiers not to be found wanting in their duty. On the last day of August, the anniversary of the Sultan's accession, the soldiers ivere especially urged to distinguish themselves, and they made it the day of the greatest slaughter. Another marked day occurred a few days earlier, being marked by the occurrence ot a wonderful meteor. No distinctions were made between persons or villages, as to whether they were loyal and had paid their taxes or not. The orders were to make a clean sweep. A priest and some leading men from one village went out to meet an ofificer, taking in their hands their tax receipts, declaring their loyalty, and begging for mercy; but the village Avas surrounded, and all human beings put to the bayonet. A large and strong man, the chief of one village, was cap- tured by the Kourds, who tied him, threw him on the ground, and, squatting around him, stabbed him to pieces. At Galogozan many young men were tied hand 22 The Crisis ifi Turkey. and foot, laid in a row, covered with brushwood and burned aUve. Others were seized and hacked to death piecemeal. At another village a priest and several leading men were captured, and promised release if they would tell where others had fled, but, after telling, all but the priest were killed. A chain was put around the priest's neck, and pulled from opposite sides till he was several times choked and revived, after which several bayonets were planted upright, and he raised in the air and let fall upon them. The men of one village, when fleeing, took the women and children, some i\\-c hundred in number, and placed them in a sort of grotto in a ravine. After several days the soldiers found them, and butchered those who had not died of hunger. Sixty young women and girls were selected from one village and placed in a church, when the soldiers were ordered to do with them as they liked, after which they were butchered. In another village fifty choice women were set aside and urged to change their faith and become hanuuis in Turkish harems, but they indignantly refused to deny Christ, preferring the fate of their fathers and husbands. People were crowded into houses which were then set on fire. In one instance a little boy ran out of the flames, but was caught on a bayonet and thrown back. Children were frequently held up by the hair and cut in two, or had their jaws torn apart. Women with child were ripped open ; older children were pulled apart by their legs. A handsome, newly wedded couple fled to a hilltop ; soldiers followed. A Chapter of Horrors. l% and told them they were pretty and would be spared if they would accept Islam, but the thought of the horrible death they knew would follow did not pre- vent them from confessing Christ. The last stand took place on Mount Andoke [south of Moosh], where some thousand persons had sought refuge. The Kourds were sent in relays to attack them, but for ten or fifteen days were unable to get at them. The soldiers also directed the fire of their mountain guns on them, doing some execu- tion. Finally, after the besieged had been without food for several days, and their ammunition was ex- hausted, the troops succeeded in reaching the sum- mit without any loss, and Lt scarcely a man escape. Now all turned their attention to those who had been driven into the Talvoreeg district. Three or iour thousand of the besieged were left in this small plain. When they saw themselves thickly sur- rounded on all sides by Turks and Kourds, they raised their hands to heaven with an agonizing moan for deliverance. They were thinned out by rifle shots, and the remainder were slaughtered with bayonets and swords, till a veritable river of blood flowed from the heaps of the slain. And so ended the massacre, for the timely arrival of the Mushire [Commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army Corps at Erzingan] saved a few prisoners alive, and prevented the extermination of four more villages that were on the list to be destroyed, among which was the Protestant village of Havodorick. This was the formidable army the government had massed so many troops and Kourds to vanquish. 24 The Crisis in Turkey. For God's sake do not let the public conscience go to sleep again over this reign of terror. The land is almost paralyzed \\\\.\\ horror and terror I Ko, 7. [The crisis and the need of keeping the issue clear. The real explanation of the massacre.] A . . ., Jan. 7, 1S95. The importance of the present crisis grows upon me. In the first place Turkey is preparing for a ter- rible catastrophe by squeezing Armenians, and arm- ing Moslem civilians in Sivas, Aleppo, Castamouni, and other provinces ; and in the second place it i3 putting on the screws tighter everywhere excepting in the three eastern provinces where the Commission is now commencing investigation. In \'an and Bit- lis the process of arresting and intimidating witnesses went on until the very hour of the departure of the Commission of Investigation. Then the order went out to stop, and those provinces are cnjoj'ing the first semblance of quiet that they have known for five years. This jjolicy of continued massacre and outrage is favored by the profound ignorance which prevails everywhere as to the actual state of things in Turkey. People think that the Sassoun massacre is something exceptional, and that until that is proved there is no evidence of a need of European interference in behalf of Christians in Turkey. What ought to be done is to fix on the mind of the public the fact th.•l^ Turkey A Chapter of Horrors. 25 has taken up the poHcy of crushing the Christians all over the Empire, and has been at it for several years, so that even if the massacre had not taken place, the duty of Efurope to prohibit Turkey from acting the part of Anti-Christ was still self-evident. i^^lHHHH [m^^^|r%. '' v^z^^SjJ^^ ^MHMBi^^^^KJMB Hl^2fe«^ ^I^^^^^HH^IHHHB^B^I^^n H|^| ^^ j^.^....^« t r , - , i '4. NAREG ; ANCIENT CHURCH AND MODERN HOVELS. No. 8. B . . ., Jan. 12, 1895. The people are in a state of horror because of the massacre. The Commission has been expected for some time, and without doubt 'the local authorities have used every means to cover up their tracks and terrorize still further those who may be probable 26 TJie Crisis in Turkey. witnesses. Those who arc encouraged to testify will be again at tlic mercy of the Turks after the Com- mission rises. I iia\e not the sHghtest doubt that some will be courageous enough to testif)-, but it will be at great odds. Almost e\'er}'thing is against the perfect success of the Commission's work, or rather the favorable outcome of the work of the European delegates. It will not be right to stake the fate of Armenia on the outcome of the work of this Commission. Rather it should be remembered that Sassoun is the outcome of a governmental system. There have been hundreds of Sassouns all over the country all through the last ten years, as you know. The laxity of Europe has afforded opportunity for the merciless working of this system in all its vigor. It is born of religious and race hatred, and has in mind tlie crush- ing of Christianity and Christians. It is not the Kcnirdish robbers, or famine, or chol- era that ha\e \.o answer for the present state of the country. It is rather the robbery, and f.imine, and worse than cholera entailed on the country by the workings of this system. It is not alone the blood of five thousand men, women, children, and babies, that rises in a fearful wail to heaven, calling for just vengeance, but also the fearful suffering, the desolate homes, the wanton cruelty of tax collectors and petty officials, and the violated honor of scores and scores. The Turk is on trial. Let ncjt Sassoun alone go in evidence, but remember that the same wail rises from all over the country. A Chaptei" of Horrors, 2 'J No. 9. [From a graduate of an American school.] [Tra.islated.] G . . ., Nov, 4, 1S94, " / implore that you zvill remember one of your former pupils, and hear my cry. Oh, %uoe is me, eternal pain and sorrozu to my young heart ! Evil disposed and latvless men have robbed me of the bloom ARMENIAN GIRLS OF VAN. and beauty of my zuifely purity. It was H Bey the son of the Kaimakam (the local Turkish Governor residing in the village). I was engaged in my ho::sc- hold zvork. I stepped outside the door, when I suddenly found myself in- the grasp of four men. They smoth- ered my cries and threatened my life, and by force carried me off to a strange house. Thoj/gh this is written with ink, believe me, it is written in blood and tears'' 28 The Crisis in Turkey. THE SEQUEL TO SASSOUN. The Sassoun massacre, which was first pubHcly proven beyond doubt by the foregoing evidence, was simply a gigantic murder of which the perpetrators were the Sultan's regular and irregular troops, and of which the victims were four thousand hardy, brave, but helpless mountaineers, the flower of the Armenian race. The massacre took place early in September, 1894. Within a month, the British Government was in possession of the main facts through reports of its own consuls. But instead of taking prompt action, it spent several months more in polite correspondence on the subject with the Powers and the Porte. After giving his officials four months in wliich to clear up the evidences of their crime, the Sultan sent a "Commission of In- quiry " to investigate at Moosh. This Commission was a farce from beginning to end, for it was com- posed of Turk3, and the Sultan had already rewarded and decorated the criminals. England, France, and Russia, whose right and duty it was to have insti- tuted an investigation of their own, contented them- selves with the " concession " from the Sultan that their vice-consuls should be allowed to attend the sittings of the Commission as visitors, but without the power of summoning or protecting witnesses. It is clear that the diplomats did not take the Commission seriously, for, without awaiting its report they jjroccedcd to prepare a " Scheme of Reforms" for the si.x eastern provinces — namely, Erzerum, Van, Bitlis, Diarbckir, Ilarj^oot, and Sivas — and presented it to the Sultan on May 11, 1895. w N W tfX 'A <| I— ( 'A W O w W O W w I— I w w o A Chapter of Horrors. 29 These reforms were mild and in the line of what the Turks had frequently promised, and their exe- cution was entrusted to the Sultan. But in spite of all this he obstinately refused to accept them. Spring and summer passed, the anniversary of the Sassoun massacre arrived. No redress had been secured, nor the punishment of a single official, nor the adoption of a single reform. Europe seemed to be trying to hush up the Armenian question. The Armenians felt that this would mean the sleep of death to their race. They had been growing more and more restive under the long delay, and a few hot-heads decided to have a demonstration in Constantinople in hope of hastening matters. They made no secret of it, representing that they were simply going to present a petition to the Grand Vezier in an orderly manner, and sent word to him beforehand of their purpose. Such methods of securing attention to grievances are common in Turkey. But the authorities, as a matter of course, took the wrong line of action. Instead of letting the crowd go to the Porte and present its petition, as usage requires, thus passing the affair off in a quiet manner, the police were ordered to block the way. This led to a riot on September 30th, during which about twenty Armenians were badly hurt, and three of them died, as well as three of the police. The few Armenians who had made a show of resistance belonged to the HuncJiagist or " agitat- ing " society. The members of this society are a mere handful compared with the mass of the Ar- 30 The Crisis in Turkey. mcnian population, which rcahzcs its utter helpless- ness and has no thought of resistance. No one understands this better than the Turkish Govern- ment ; but it delights to find an occasional trace of disloyalt}-, in order to brand the whole race as seditious, and thus justify the policy of cruelty, im- poverishment, and extermination which it has been deliberately executing in Armenia for years, and is determined to continue. If in defending their right of petition the Ar- menians were guilt}-, their guilt ends there, for they made no further resistance. But great numbers of them were arrested at once, and several hundred were brutally killed in Constantinople during the week by Mohammedan ci\'ilians and Softas, or religious students. The following is a significant extract from a letter : "Constantinople, Oct. 5, 1S95. "The slaughter continued through Tuesday and Wednesday morning. T here was ncj general attack on houses, but a tendency to kill every Armenian seen in the streets. This morning the Sultan sent presents to the Softas engaged in the work. No Mohammedan has been arrested for murder of Armenians. The worst feature of the whole affair has been ihe brutal murch-r of j^risoners at the Min- istry of Police by t!ie officers charged with their guardianship. Several e\'e-\vitnesses describe how men were beaten to death l)\' the police in the Court of the Ministry. The clerk of a foreign consulate happened to be there on Monda}', and saw eight A Chapter of Horrors. 3 1 Armenians brought in from the street and instantly bayoneted." The massacre at Trebizond, October 8th, was the first of a series, and in many respects was typical of those which rapidly followed in Erzerum, Erzingan, Baiboort, Sivas, Marsovan, Cesarea, Harpoot, Bitlis, Diarbekir, Malatia, Marash, Aintab and other places It should be remembered, however, that Trebizond, being a seaport, with a large foreign population and European consuls, suffered less than the cities of the interior where there were no such restraining influences. The following description of the massacre at Tre- bizond, is that of an American eye-witness and was written on the spot at the time. "Trebizond, Oct. 9, 1895. " On Saturday, October 5th, the excitement in town (over news of the attacks on Armenians in Constantinople) was very intense. The Consuls had a consultation, and going in a body to the Governor, earnestly pressed him to arrest those who were exciting the people to acts of outrage. The Gover- nor declined to do so but promised in his own way to do ' the right thing ' ! " Suddenly like a chip of thunder in a clear sky, the assault began at about 1 1 A.M. yesterday. Un- suspecting people walking along the streets and merchants sitting quietly at their shop doors were shot ruthlessly down. Some were slashed with swords until life was extinct. They passed through the quarters where only old men, women, and chil- 32 Tlie Crisis in Turkey. drcn remained, killing the men and large boys, gen- erally permitting the women and younger children to live. For five hours this horrid work of inhuman butchery went on. Then the sound of musketry died away and the work of looting began. Every shop of an Armenian in the market was gutted. For hours bales of broadcloth, cotton goods, and every conceivable kind of merchandise passed along without molestation to the houses of the spoilers. The intention evidently was to impoverish and as near as possible to blot out the Armenians of this town. So far as appearances went, the police and soldiers distinctly aided in this savage work, their only care being to see that the right ones — that is, Armenians — were killed." " Trebizond, Oct. 14, 1895. " Many, who even promised to accept the religion of Islam, were still most cruelly hacked to pieces. In this city and vicinity the killed number 1,000, almost exclusively males. When you consider that the adult males of the Armenian community did not number more than 2,000, the frightful mortality is at once understood. On the other hand, not one of the rioters has been arrested ; not one has been disarmed. Apparently all this wholesale murder of peaceable and law-abiding subjects of the Sultan is no crime worthy of notice. The Armenians are now so prostrated that they can do nothing. Relief must come from abroad." October i6th was a day f)f rejoicing in Constanti- nople, but it will be remembered as one of the A Chapter of Horrors. 33 blackest days in Armenian history. On that day the Sultan professed to accept the scheme of re- forms which for more than five months the Powers had urged upon him in vain. What he really did, as subsequent events demonstrate beyond a doubt, was to sign the death-warrant of the Armenians who were to have profited by the reforms. He had darkly hinted that this would follow if he Avere pushed too hard, but no one believed that he would really prove so vindictive or so foolish as to carry out the threat. The Armenian leaders who were baffled in trying to present their petition on September 30th, had for two weeks kept up a silent protest by com- pelling all Armenians to close their shops in the bazaars. But the granting of the reforms, which was all that the so-called " revolutionists " de- manded, produced at once an enormous sense of relief, and the streets were as busy as ever. From this time on reform by massacre was th' order of the day. The Armenians in city after cit; were quickly given over to slaughter and spoliation The following letter, written from Erzerum within three weeks after the Sultan accepted the reforms, shows with what energy, zeal, and good faith he carried them out. It should be remembered that Shakir Pasha, the Imperial Reform Commissioner, and Raouf Pasha, the best Governor in all the East- ern provinces, were in command at Erzerum : "Erzerum, Nov. 5, 1895. " The wave of destruction started at Constanti- nople and has so far swept through Trcbizond, Bai- 34 The Crisis in Ttirkcy. boort, Erzingan, Erzcrum, Bitlis, Harpoot, and the intervening districts. The entire Erzcrum province has been dekiged in Christian blood and the bulk of Christian property plundered or destroyed. "Theschcme of reform has now become an impossi- bility. The only hope of this land is foreign occu- pation. Appeal for relief funds. The remnant of the people are left in utter destitution. They cannot get out of the country. Two cents a day will give a man about a pound and a half of bread. For the love of God do all you can to get relief for these wretched people ! " The scene in the cemetery was awful. 1 he re- mains are simply the wrecks of human bodies. Awful cruelty was practised. The majority have bullet wounds in addition to bayonet, sword, and dagger cuts. Some were skinned, some burned with kerosene. A great many women are missing. Very many of the dead have been disposed of by the Turks them- selves. There must have been a thousand killed. About seven hundred houses aiul fifteen hundred shoi)s were plundered of ^r// that was in them. The wanton destruction of property that could not be removed was very marked. Boxes and other furni- ture were split to pieces. Provisions that could not be carried away were destroyed. " The Armenians had shown a great amount of patience. I am perfectly sure they had no thought of attack, much less any preparation for it. 'I he attack was made by Moslems after leaving the mosques, after the noon hour of prayer, and it was simultaneous all over the city. The Armenians A Chapter of Horrors. 35 were in their places of business, which were simply death-traps. For instance, the silversmiths' row was cut off at either end and not a man escaped, and the shops were not only plundered but wrecked. In fact, the most violent Armenians, /. c, the HnncJia- gijfs, had determined to keep perfectly quiet till the scheme of reform was well tried. The soldiers de- clare that they had been instructed beforehand. The Turks were expecting it for a long time, and evi- dently the orders were given from Constantinople. The massacre was almost entirely in the hands of the military. It began and ended with the bugle. The following has been received from perfectly trust- w;^rthy sources in regard to the massacre at Sivas : " The outbreak began on November 12th and was * permitted ' to continue for seven days ; during this * bloody week ' about twelve hundred Armenians and ten Turks were killed. Suddenly at noon, as if at a given signal, the Turkish laborers seized their tools, clubs, or whatever was at hand ; soldiers, Circassians, and police their arms, — all under command of officers. — and rushed to the market to begin their dreadful work of killing, stripping the dead, and looting the houses. No resistance was made by the Armenians. Many of the merchants and their clerks were killed ; thus at one blow the Armenian element is eliminated from the trade at Sivas. The Armenian villagers in the vicinity have been robbed of everything, and the people are left to beg and die. The suffering on the approach of winter will be very great. " As the fury of this storm of blood and greed subsided, the stricken Aripenians of Sivus slo\\ly J 6 TJie Crisis in Turkey. gathered the mangled and naked bodies of their kinsmen to their cemetery, where a great trench had been dug to hold the horrid harvest of death. A single priest read a short service over the long and ghastly rank, and thus "vvas closed another chapter in the yet unfinished story of cruelty, lust, and fanaticism." Similar reports from a score of other places might be given, but for the fact that space and the feelings of the reader forbid. The story is the same every- where. The greatest loss of life was in the province of Harpoot or Mamouret-ul-Aziz. Here 1 5,000 were slaughtered. Letters from that region state : " The Kurds plunder, but do not generally kill unless re- sisted ; but the Turks kill in cold blood and in ways suggested by the Arch-Fiend himself. The fate of Ihe survivors is even worse than that of those who have been killed. The villagers wander about the fields houseless, with scanty clothing, no food, and winter is upon them. Everywhere they meet with the dread alternative, ' Become Moslems or die.' At least fourteen Protestant pastors, besides Gregorian priests and hundreds of their flocks, have been pub- licly martyred on refusing to deny their faith." " In many places the Moslems are picking up the destitute widows and orphans and simply taking possession of them in order to make them Moham- medans without any will of their own." " Fifty-five Armenian women and girls, thus carried off from O/.cKjnovah, a village near Harpoot, were being con- veyed along the Fuphratcs, wluii, by a swift de- cision, they all jumped into the river and drowned ABDUI. HAMID II, Sultan of Turkey SMOKING AND TAKING TURKISH COFFEE. A Chapter of Horrors. 37 themselves to escape a life of Mohammedan slavery and bestiality." A letter from Cesarea of Dec. 3, 1895, states: " The method taken with the women was to de- mand that they proclaim themselves Moslems. If they refused, as many did, even young girls from twelve to fifteen years of age, they were cut down mercilessly. This is not intended to be a sensational account. It is a cruel fact which can be substantiated with the utmost ease." Enough of this Chapter of Horrors ! It has been necessary to omit the most cruel details, and the stories of inhuman lust of which hundreds of pure Christian women, both matron and maid, have been the victims, shall not be allowed to soil the pages of this book nor to defile the imagination of the reader. It will be sufficient to give a general sum- mary of the massacres of October, November, and December, 1895. A GENERAL SUMMARY. Careful study of trustworthy reports from all the regions devastated proves beyond doubt that the recent outbreaks, while sudden, were nndcr careful direction in regard to place, time, riationality of the victims and of the perpetrators, were pi'omptcd by a common motive and their true cJiaractcr has been sys- tematically concealed by Turkish ofp,cial reports. I. With some exceptions, the massacres have been confined to the provinces to be reformed. In out- rages elsewhere, as at Marash, Aintab, Oorfa and Cesarea, the Moslems Were excited by the nearness 7^S The Crisis i7t Tjirkey. ot the scenes of massacre, and by the reports of the plunder which others were securing. The region devastated is vast, being fi\-e hundred miles east and west, and three hundred north and south. It ex- tends from Asia Minor proper to the Russian and Persian frontiers, and from the Black Sea to the Mesopotamian plain. 2. The massacre in Trebizond occurred just as the Sultan, after six months of refusal, was about to consent to the scheme of reforms demanded by the Powers, as if to warn them that, in case they per- sisted, the mine was already laid for the destruction of the Armenians. In fact the massacre of the Armenians is Turkc\-'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 \illage in the six provinces where reforms Mere promised. When the news of the first massacre reached Constantinople, a high Turkish official remarkv.'d to one of tlie am- bassadors that massacre was like the small-pox: they must all have it, but they would n't need to have it the second time. 3. The victims 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, and in Harpoot, where eight buildings bcloiiging to the American IMission were plundered A Chapter of Horrors. 39 and burned, the total losses exceeding $100,000, for which no indemnity has yet been paid, though more than three months has passed. 4. The method in the cities has been to kill w ithin a hmitcd period the largest number of Armenians — especially men of business, capacity aiid intelli- gence — and to beggar their families. Hence the mas- sacres were begun during business hours, when the Armenians could be caught in their shops, just after the noonday prayer of the Moslems. The surprised and unarmed Armenians made little or no resist- ance, and M'here, as at Diarbckir and Gurun, they undertook to defend themselves, they suffered the more. The killing was done with guns, revolvers, swords, clubs, pickaxes, and every conceivable weapon, and many of the dead were horribly mangled. The shops and houses were absolutely gutted, and often burned. Upon hundreds of villages the Turks, Kurds, and Circassians came down like the hordes of Tamerlane, robbed the helpless peasants of their flocks and herds, stripped them of their very clothing, and car- ried 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 \:, estimated at forty thousand. Not less than two hundred and fifty thousand wretched survivors, most of whom are women and children, are in danger of 40 The Crisis 771 Turkey. perishing by starvation and exposure unless foreign aid is promptly sent and allowed to reach them. 5, The perpetrators were the resident Moslem population — armed and instigated by the authorities, w!io had previously disarmed the Christians, — rein- forced by Kurtls, 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 signalled to them to stop. This was notoriously true in Erzerum. In Ilarpoot, also, the soldiers took a prominent part, firing on the build- insfs of the American Mission with Martini-Henri rifles and Krupp cannon. 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 i'. that the authorities, after look- ing on while the massacres were in progress, did generally intervene ar.d slop the slaughter in the cities as soon as the limited period during which the Moslems were allowed to kill and rob had expired. 6. The motive of the Turks is apparent even to the superficial observ r. The scheme of reforms devolved civil offices, judgeships, and police appoint- ments on Mohammedans and non-Mohammedans in the six provinces proportionately. This, while simple justice, was a bitter pill to the Mohamme- dans, 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 exe- A Oiapter cf Ilovj-ors. 4 1 cuted. The Armenians have been both diminished and utterly prostrated, first, by killing at a single blow those most capable of taking a part in any scheme of reconstruction, and, secondly, by com- pelling the survivors to die of starvation, exposure, and sickness or to become Moslem. Thousands in despair of help from God or man have already ac- cepted the religion of the murderers of their rela- tives. Though only an outward acceptance now, it will soon become an irrevocable fact, unless the awful pressure of the Turks is broken by foreign inter- vention. It is the very essence of Mohammedanism that \.\\Q. gJiiaour \\d.':, no right to live save in subjection. The abortive schemes of Europe insisting on the rights of Armenians as men and Christians have 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 just scheme of reforms the handwriting on the wall for themselves. 7. The refinement of cruelty appears in this, that the Turkish Government has attempted to cover up its hideous policy and deeds by the most colossal lying and hypocrisy. By the constant publication of men- dacious telegrams and reports, it has tried to make Europe and America believe that the agricultural and commercial Armenians, stripped of all weapons and in a hopeless minority, are in rebellion. It is true that on September 30, 1895, some hot-headed young Armenians, contrary to the entreaties of the Arme- 4? TJic Crisis ill Turkey. nian Patriarch and the orders of the poHce, attempted to take a well worded petition to the Grand \'izier, according to a time-honored custom. It is also true that brave and oppressed mountaineers in the one isolated town of Zeitoun 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 advo- cated acts of violence and ro\'cnge with the hope of calling attention to ihcir wrongs. But the universal testimony of impartial foreign eye-witnesses is that, with the above exceptions, the Armenians have gix'en no provocation whatever. If the Armenians made attacks, where are the Turkish dead ? And all this has been done by those who have for j'cars dazzled and deceived Europe with Hatti Shereefs and Ilatti Ilumayouns, promulgating jivil equality and religious liberty for their Christian sub- jects. The Sultan who is the head of all authority in Turkey, wrote 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. The most appalling feature of this vast tragedy is the fact that all the " civilized " and " Christian " na- tions of the world have watched it for months with- out moving a finger to check it. The sober truth is that civilizati(jn is not jjrogress. and that the Chris- tianity of to-day is not Christian. CHAPTER II. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT EASTERN TURKEY. IN order that the ordinary reader may grasp the situation in Armenia, information is given at this point in regard to the country itself, its ad- ministration, the elements that compose the popula- tion, and their relations to one another. The massacre took place in the mountainous Sas- soun district just south of Moosh, two days' ride west of Bitlis, a large city where the Provincial-Gov- ernor and a permanent military force reside. It is near the western end of Lake Van, about eight hun- dred miles east of Constantinople, two hundred and fifty miles south of Trebizond on the Black Sea, and only one hundred and fifty miles from the Russian and Persian frontiers of Asiatic Turkey. These dis- tances do not seem great until the difficulties of travel are considered. The roads arc, in most cases, bridle paths, impassable for vehicles, without bridges, infested with highwaymen, and unprovided with lodging-places. It is, therefore, necessary to go to the expense of hiring government guards, and to burden oneself with all articles likely to be needed CD the way — tents, food supplies, cooking utensils, 43 44 l^fi^ Crisis 271 Turkey. beds, etc., which also imply cooks, baggage horses, and grooms. Thus equipped, it is possible, after obtaining the necessary government permits, often a matter of vexatious delay, to move about the coun- try. The ordinary rate is from twenty to thirty miles a day. With a good horse and no baggage I have gone three hundred and fifty miles, from Har- poot to Van, in eight days, but that was quite ex- ceptional. In spring, swollen streams and mud ; in summer, oppressive heat ; and in winter, storms, are serious impediments. In the neighborhood of Bitlis the telegraph poles are sometimes buried, and horses cannot be taken out of the stables on account of the snow. The mails arc often weeks behind, both in arriving and departing, and even Turkish light- ning seems to be yavash, and crawl sluggishly along the wires. Turkish Armenia — by the way, "Armenia" is a name prohibited in Turkey — is a large plateau quad- rangular in shape, and sixty thousand square miles in area, about the size of Iowa. It is bounded on the north by the Russian frontier, a line from the Black Sea to Mount Ararat, by Persia on the east, the Mesopotamian plain on the south, and Asia Minor . on the west. It contains about six hundred thousand Armenians, which is only one fourth the number found in all Turkey. The surface is rough, consist- ing of valleys and plains from four to six thousand feet above sea-level, broken and shut in by bristling peaks and mountain ranges, from ten to seventeen thousand feet high, as in the case of Ararat. Ancient Armenia great)/ varied in e.xtent at different epochs. (ij >. £ -3 v" uj ^ Information about Eastern Turkey. 45 reaching to the Caspian at one time, and even bor- dering on the Mediterranean Sea during the Crusades. It included the Southern Caucasus, which now con- tains a large, growing, prosperous, and happy Arme- nian population under the Czar, whose government allows them the free exercise of their ancestral re- ligion, and admits them to many high civil and mili- tary positions. The Armenians now number about four million, of whom two million five hundred thousand arc in Turkey, one million two hundred and fifty thousand in Russia, one hundred and fifty thousand in Persia and other parts of Asia, one hun- dred thousand scattered through Europe, and five thousand in the United States. The scenery, while harsh, owing to the lack of ver- dure, is on a grand scale. Around the shores of the great Van Lake are many views of entrancing beauty. The climate is temperate and the atmosphere bril- liant and stimulating. It is a dry, treeless region, but fertile under irrigation, and abounding in mineral wealth, including coal. Owing to primitive methods of agriculture, and to danger .while reaping and even planting crops, only a small part is under cultivation, and frequent famines are the result. The mineral resources are entirely untouched, because the Turks lack both capital and brains to develop them, and prevent foreigners from doing it lest this might open the door for further European inspection and interference with their methods of administering the country. All local authority is practically in the hands of the Valis, provincial governors, who are sent from 46 The Crisis in Turkey, Constantinople to represent the sovereign, and kr« accountable to him alone. The blind policy which was inaugurated by the present Sultan of dismissing non-Moslems from every branch of public servic( — post, telegraph, custom-house, internal revenue, -en- gineering, and the like — has already been carried out to a large extent all over the empire, and especially in Armenia. The frequent changes in Turkish ofifi- cials keeps their business in a state of "confus'on worse confounded," and incites them to improve their chance to plunder while it lasts. Traces of the relatively large revenue, wrung from the people, r.nd spent in improvements of service to them, are very hard to find. THE IMIAl'.ITANTS. Probably about one half of the population of Turkish Armenia is Mohammedan, composed of Turks and Kurds. The former are mostly found in and near the large cities, such as Mrzingan, Baibourt, I'lrzerum, and Van, and the plains along the northern part. The Kurds li\c in their mountain x'illages over the whole region. The term Kurdistan, which in this region the Turkish Government is trying to substitute for the historical one Armenia, has no political or geographical propriety except as indicat- ing the much larger area over which the Kurds arc scattered. In this vague sense it applies to a stretch of mountainous country about fifteen hundred miles in length, starting between Krzingan and Malatiah, and sweeping east and south over into Persia as far as Kcrmanshah. A KURD OF THE OLD TYPE. 47 48 The Crisis in Turkey. Thenumbcr of the Kurds is very uncertain. Neither Sultan nor Shah has ever attempted a census of them ; and as they are very indifferent taxpayers, the revenue tables — wilfully distorted for political purposes — are quite unreliable. From the estimates of British con- sular oflficers there appear to be about one and a half million Turkish Kurds, of whom about 600,000 are in the vilayets of Erzroom, Van, and Bitlis, and the rest in the vilayets of Ilarpoot, Diarbekir, Mosul, and Bagdad. This is a very liberal estimate. There are also supposed to be about 750,000 in Persia.' The Kurds, whose natural instincts lead them to a pastoral and predatory life, are sedentary or nomad according to local and climatic circumstances. Where exposed to a severe mountain winter they live ex- clusively in villages, and in the case of Bitlis have even formed a large part of the city population. But the tribes in the south, who have access to the IMeso- potamian jilains, prefer a migratory life, oscillating with the season between the lowlands and the moun- tains. The sedentary greatly outnumber the nomad Kurds, but the latter are more wealth}-, independent, and hig^hly esteemed. There is, probably, little eth- nic distinction between the two classes. A fourteenth-century list of Kurdish tribes contains many names identical with those of powerful families who claim a remote ancestry. " There was, up to a recent period, no more picturesque or interesting scene to be witnessed in the East than the court of one of these great Kurdish chiefs, where, like another Saladin, [who was a Kurd himself,] the bey ruled in ' limyc. lirilannUo, " Kurdistan." Information about Eastern Turkey. 49 patriarchal state, surrounded by hereditary nobility, regarded by his clansmen with reverence and affec- tion, and attended by a body-guard of young Kurdish warriors, clad in chain armor, with flaunting silken scarfs, and bearing javelin, lance, and sword as in the time of the crusaders." ' Within two days' ride southeast of Van, I found the ruins of four massive Kurdish castles at Shaddakh, Norduz, Bashkallah, and Khoshab, which must have rivalled those of the feudal barons on the Rhine. The Armenian and Nestorian villagers were much better off as serfs of the power- ful masters of these strongholds than as the victims of Kurdish plunder and of Ottoman taxation and oppression which they now arc. The Kurds are naturally brave and hospitable, and, in common with many other Asiatic races, possess certain rude but strict feelings of honor. But since their power has been broken by the Turks, their castles ruined, and their chiefs exiled, these finer qualities and more chivalrous sentiments have also largely disappeared under the principle of noblesse oblige reversed. In most regions they have degener- ated into a wild, lawless set of brigands, proud, treacherous, and cruel. The traditions of their for- mer position and' power serve only to feed their hatred of the Turks who caused their fall, and their jealousy and contempt of the Christians who have been for generations their serfs, whose progress and increase they cannot tolerate. One who has a taste for adventure and is willing to take his life in his hands, can find among them as ' Etuyc, Britannica, " Kurdistan." 4 50 The Crisis in Turkey. fine specimens of the human animal as arc to be found anywhere— sinewy, agile, and alert, with a steady penetrating eye as cool, cold, and cruel as that • ■ V ' 1 • • •1 JSk mWk IBkHs ™*vA ::.■;: ■-■ ^^^■S^Q^hPI Pf .■*•-'., ;'-j ' .^B^I^hk '** RUINS OV A KURUISH CASTLE AT KHOSHAB. of a tiger, I vividly recollect having just this impres- sion under circumstances analogous to that of a hunter who suddenly finds himself face to face with Information about Eastern Turkey. 5 1 a lord of the jungle. There was no sense of fear, at the time, but rather a keen dehght and fascination in watching the magnificent creature before me. His thin aquiHne face, his neck and hands were stained by the weather to a brown as deUcatc as that of a meerschaum pipe, and on his broad exposed breast the thick growth of hair obHterated any impression of nudeness. For a few moments he seemed engaged in some sinister calculation, but at last quietly moved away. Perhaps he wanted only a cigarette. Perhaps he wondered if I, too, had claws. The Winchester rifle behind his back did not escape my notice, nor did the gun across my saddle escape his. It is hardly necessary to remind those who may desire such ex- periences as the above, that the usual retinue of cooks, servants, and zabticJis should be dispensed with in order to secure the best opportunities for observation. The Kurdish costumes, always picturesque, show much local variation in cut and color. The beys and khans of the colder north almost invariably pre- fer broadcloth, and find the finest fabrics and richest shades — specially imported forthem — none too good. But the loose flowing garments of the Sheikhs and wealthy Kocher nomads of the south are often very inexpensive, and suggest Arab simplicity and dig- nity. There is, no doubt, considerable Arab blood in some of these families, who refer to the fact with pride. The women of the Kurds, contrary to usual Mo- hammedan custom, go unveiled and have large lib- erty, but there is no reason to suspect their virtue. Their prowess, also, is above reproach, and rash would 52 The Crisis in Turkey. be the man, Turk or Christian, \\\\o would venture to invade the mountain home when left in charge of its female defenders. On the whole, the Kurds are a race of fine possibilities, far superior to the North American Indian, to whom they are often ignorantly compared. Under a just, intelligent, and firm gov- ernment much might be expected of them in time. They keep up a strict tribal relation, owing alle- giance to their Sheikhs, some of whom are still strong and rich, and engage in bitter feuds with one another. They could not stand a moment against the Ottoman power if determined to crush and dis- arm them. But three years ago His Majesty sum- moned the chiefs to the capital, presented them with decorations, banners, uniforms, and military titles, and sent them back to organize their tribes into cavalry regiments, on whom he was pleased to be- stow the name Hamedidh, after his own. Thus, shrewdly appealing to their pride of race, and wink- ing at their subsequent acts, the Sultan obtained a power eager in time of peace to crush Armenian growth and spirit, and a bulwark that might check, in his opinion, the first waves of the next dreaded Russian invasion. In the last war the Kurdish con- tingent was worse than useless as was shown by Mr, Norman,' of the London Times. The Armenians, a very important element of the population, are generally known as being bright, practical, industrious, and moral. They are of a very peaceable disposition, and entirely unskilled in the use of arms, the mere possession of which ' Armenia and the Campaign of j 87 J. Information about Eastern Turkey. 53 is a serious crime in the case of Christians, al- though the Kurds are well equipped with modern rifles and revolvers, and always carry them. Their great and fundamental weakness, seen through all their history, is a lack of coherence, arising from their exaggerated individualism. They have the distinction of being the first race who accepted Christianity, King Dertad receiving baptism in 276 A. D., thirty-seven years before Constantine ventured to issue even the Edict of Toleration. Their martyr roll has grown with every century. The fact that the Armenian stock exists at all to-day, is proof of its wonderful vitality and excellent quality. For three thousand years Armenia, on account of her location, has been trampled into dust both by devas- tating armies and by migrating hordes. She has been the prey of Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes, and Alex- ander; of the Romans, the Parthians, and Persians; of Pyzantine, Saracen, and Crusader; of Seljuk and Ottoman, and Russian and Kurd. Through this awful record, the Christian church founded by Gregory, "The Illuminator," has been the one rally- ing point and source of strength, and this explains the tremendous power of the Cross on the hearts of all, even of the most ignorant pcaiiant. CHAPTER III. THE CHRONIC CONDITION OF ARMENIA AND KURDISTAN. MANY statements in regard to the state of affairs in Eastern Turkey are criticised as being too sweeping and general, and the in- ference is drawn that they are exaggerations, not based on exact knowledge of the facts. This chap- ter will, therefore, contain nothing but definite inci- dents and figures, names and places also being added regardless of consequences. This information is fur- nished by a trustworthy authority on the ground, and has already been ^.ublished in The Independent, of Mew York, January 17, 1895, from which I quote verbatim. It shows the usual course of things in times of so-called peace between Kurds and their Christian slaves, and indicates to what sort of a life these Armenian, Jacobite, and Nestorian Christians are condemned when no massacre is in hand. From my own residence and travels in Armenia, I know that the incidents related would apply to hundreds of villages with simply a change of name. "/I Partial List of Exactions made upon the Village of Mansurieh of Bohtan (Kaimakamlik of Jezireh) by the government, and by Mustapha Pasha, a Kurd- ish Kochcr, or nomad chief, in 1893 : Condition of Armenia and K2irdista7i. 55 I. Government Exaction^ Excess of official de- mand 3,000 ps.' Amount of double tax 4,000 Produce taken by gen- darmes .'... 2,000 9,000 ps. 2. Exaction by M . Pasha. Excess of tithe revenue 1,500 Damage to crops 2,000 3,500 Total excess taken from village for 1893 12,500 Total of legitimate taxes on village for the year. . . 14,000 The village complained to the government of Mustapha Pasha's exactions, but no redress was given by the government, nor anything done to Mustapha Pasha, who, when he learned of their having made complaint, sent droves of sheep to devour the crops that remained, viz., five pieces of ground sown and bearing cotton, millet, flaxseed, etc., valued at 2000 piasters." ^'Partial List of Exaction by AgJias of Shcrnakh (one day north of Jezireh), from Hassana of Bohtan, dur- ing years iSqi-'qj. Hassana has sixty houses : 1893. Use of 30 men to carry flour for Mohammed Agha, 2 days 150 ps. For Mohammed Agha, cash 10 liras 1,000 " " " 15 pieces of cloth 150 " Taher Agha, cash 14 liras 1,400 " " " taken from village priest, cash 75 ps. , saddle 75 ps., watch 200 ps 350 " Sahdoon Agha, cash 2 liras 200 '* Mohammed 1 20 Carried forward 3,370 ps. ' A piastre is a Turkish coin of about five cents, or two pence- half penny. In this region the pay of a day laborer is from two to five piastres. 56 The Crisis in Turkey. Brought forward 3.370 ps. For Khorsheed 57 " Mohammed Agha, harvest, 500 men at 3 ps. . 1,500 " " " rcjiair of hisroads, 65 men, 3 'lays 457 " *' " repair of his roads, somen, 3 days 375 •• *• " preparationof boiled wheat for winter, 450 men and 14 animals 1,160 *• " *' building house in Dader, 150 men 375 ** " " 20 ceiling sticks, 10 posts 554 •* " " 4 large trees for rafters, at 50 ps 200 Total for 1893 8,078 ps. The above were noted in a book at the time of the occurrence by a village priest, as being seen by him personally, and do not give the great part of the ex- actions of the Shernakh Kurds, which he did not see. One item additional to above: all the cotton of Mohammed Agha of Shernakh is, by the villagers, beaten, spun, twisted, woven, and returned as cloth (involving many days' labor and two days' journey), and any weight lost in the making up the amount must be made good. This oppression is increasing from year to year. The above priest noted for years i88o-'82, taken by Aghas — cash, 4141 ps. ; 90 animals used, 450 ps. ; 314 men used, 785 ps. Total for three years, 5376, as over against 10,973 ps. for three years, 189 [-'93." " Testimony given in writing, by a Christian of the District of Berwer, in reference to the oppression of Christians in that district by the Kurds, of which he himself was an eye-witness, the examples given being confined to three small villages and of recent occur- Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan 57 fence. He gives the names of places and of the parties concerned, both Kurds and Christians. We summarize them. Murders. — Eight men mentioned by name, others generahzed. Robbery. — Cash, 9 hras ; again 10 hras ; again 1 5 h'ras ; smaller sums being taken continually. Mohammed Beg, of Berwer, and his relatives re, sponsible in greater part for the above; also for robbing of two houses in Ina D'Noony. For generations these Christians have sown the fields of these Kurds, harvested them, done their threshing, irrigated their fields, cut and brought in the grass as fodder for the sheep for use during the •winter, together with much other labor, and all with- out recompense, they finding themselves. (These things are accompanied, of course, with cursings and beatings.)" " A number of Christian villages lying farther back in the mountains are even moie severely oppressed. The people are literally bought and sold as slaves. In other districts the buying and selling of Christians by Kurds is common." " Village of Shakh (five hours from Jezireh) ; like Mansurieh deserted for months by reason of extor- tion by tax collectors. Many of the people hved during the winter in caves in the mountains." "The writer was in Nahrwan when the Kaimakam of Jezireh came, several weeks after a murder, to examine into it. The examination was rendered so oppressive to the Christians that the people were glad to declare that nothing had happened, in order to 58 The Crisis in Turkey. escape any further inquisition. Even the old mother of the murdered man was frightened until she de- clared that she did not know of any such occurrence, and had no coin[)laints to make against anybody." " KannybaLivcr — Kaimakamlik of Amadia. Dur- ing the years iS93-'94 this village was raided sev- eral times by the Gugier and Sendier Kurds of the Kaimakamlik of Jezireh. They took one hundred head of animals, field tools, household utensils, beds, wool and yarn, gall-nuts — all of their fall gathering, — and dry goods which had been brought in to sell. At their last visit everything movable was carried off, and the people deserted the village. A leading man of the village, Gegoo by name, was seized by the Kurds, carried for several miles, anc' was then murdered in cold blood. There were about one hun- dred Kurds in the band led by Ahrno, brother of Hassu of Ukrul and Kerruvanu. The chief men of their village are Sherriffu and Ilassu, who would be responsible for such a raid." " In the city of Mosul, where there is a Vali, Chris- tians are robbed and killed openl}'. Three cases are given. Last year a y(iung man, of the Protestant com. munity, of high standing in the city as a merchant, was standing before his door when two young Kurds of notorious character came along, and one of them, without the slightest provocation, at the time or previously, from mere wantonness, stabbed him, and would have killed him had he not been restrained. The family of the man, though one of the most in- fluential families among the Christians of the city, did not dare to make accusation against him, know- ing that the only result would be more bloodshed." Conaition of Arme7iia a7id Kiirdistan. 59 "An old missionary who has been famih'ar with the region from Bohtan to Amadia for years, says these oppressions are increasing, and unless something is done speedily, all the Christian villages of these various districts will soon fall into the hands of the Kurds just as they have in Zabur." "These instances of oppression given are but a few of the many which might be given. Indeed it is not these greater occurrences, as the big raids and murders, which are the most serious to the Chris- tian. It is the daily constant exactions and oppres- sions which are crushing the life out of them." A whole chapter might well be devoted to the oppression by government officials in assessing anc collecting taxes. This evil is general, affecting ad Turkey. A brief summary of these abuses as gener- ally practised will be given. In view of the poverty- stricken condition of the land, even the legitimate taxes are an exceedingly heavy burden on Moslem and Christian alike, but the burden is greatly in- creased by the methods here classified : SUMMARY OF ABUSES. "I. Unjust and corrupt assessments. 1. Villagers are compelled to give assessors pres- ents of money to prevent them from over estimating the taxable persons and property. 2. Assessors, to secure additional bribes, signify their willingness to make an underestimate. This, in turn, affords opportunity for blackmail, which is used by succeeding officials." 6o The Crisis i7i Turkey. "II. Injustice and severity in collecting. 1. The collectors, like the assessors, have ways of extorting presents and bribes from the people. 2. The collectors, as a rule, go to the villages on Sunday, as on that day they find the people in the village. They frequently interrupt the Christian services, and show disrespect to their churches or places of prayer. 3. The collection of the taxes is accompanied with unnecessary abuse and rc\'iling, sometimes even with wanton destruction of property. 4. Disregard of impoverished condition of people. Even after several failures of crops in succession, when famine was so severe that the people were many of them being fed by foreign charity, the taxes were collected in full and with severity. Their food supply, beds, household utensils, and farming implements were seized by the collectors in lieu of taxes. Many were compelled to borrow money at enormous rates of interest, mortgaging their fields and future crops. Unscrupulous officials and other Kurds, in whose interests such opportu- nities are created, thus became possessed of Christian villages, the people of which henceforth becoming practically slaves to them. 5. These collectors make false returns of taxes received. The official in the city is secured by a bribe, and the matter is kept quiet until a succeed- ing set of officials come into office. They send their officers to the villages to present claims for back taxes. The villagers in vain contend that they have paid them. They have no receipts. They do not mt^m -J_ HON'. WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE. Condition of Armenia luid Kurdistan. 6i dare to ask for them. Or the head man of the vil- lage who keeps the account has been bribed to falsify his accounts. These taxes are collected again, en- tailing much suffering upon the people. 6. The books in the government offices at the Kaimakamlik are often incorrect through mistakes or dishonesty, and in consequence taxes are paid on fictitious names or on persons who have been dead for years." " III. Farm ing of taxes. Taxes are often farmed out to the highest bidder, who usually is some powerful Kurdish chief. Either in consequence of his power, or by means of bribes, he is secure from interference on the part of the government. He collects the amount due the gov- ernment and then takes for himself as much as he chooses, his own will or an exhausted threshing-floor being the only limit to his rapacity. While he is collector for these villages they are considered as belonging to him. During the year his followers pay frequent visits to the villages. They are ignorant and brutal, and on such visits, as also when collecting taxes, they treat the villagers with the utmost severity." " IV. All the above assessors and collectors — and they are many, a different one for each kind of tax, personal, house and land, sheep, tobacco, etc. — on their visits to the villages, take with them a retinue of servants and soldiers, zvho, zvitJi their horses, must be kept at the expense of the village, thus entailing a very heavy additional burden upon tJiem. Sol- diers and servants sent to the villagers to make 6-' The Crisis in Tuj'kcy. collections, very natural!}^ take something for them- selves." All the preceding testimony refers to regions where Jacobite and Nestorian Christians predominate and thus prove that Armenians are by no means the only sufferers. The same state of affairs \vas found b\- Mrs. Bishop, who made investigations on the jMOund five years ago. "On the whole, the same condition of alarm pre- vails among the Armenians as I witnessed previ- ously among the Syrian ' rayaJis. It is more than alarm, it is abject terror, and not without good reason. In plain English, general lawlessness pre- vails over much of this region. Caravans are stopped and robbed, travelling is, for Armenians, absolutely unsafe, sheep and cattle are being driven off, and outrages, which it would be inexpedient to narrate, are being perpetrated. Nearly all the villages have been reduced to extreme povert\', while at the same time they are squeezed for the taxes which the Kurds have left them without the means of paying. The repressive measures which have everywhere followed 'the Erzerum troubles' of last June [1890] — the seizure of arms, the unchecked ravages of the Kurds, the threats of the Kurdish Beys, who are boldly claiming the sanction of the government for their outrages, the insecurity of the women, and a dread of yet worse to come — have reduced these peasants to a j)itiable state.'" ' Often called Nestorian. ' Mrs. Isabella l;ir. 374, 375. Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan. 63 Through the influence of the British Ambassador at Constantinople Mrs. Bishop was allowed to state the situation to the Grand Vizier in person, and on arriving in England she presented a detailed state- ment of facts to the Foreign Of^ce and also to a Parliamentary Committee. That the recent outrages in Sassoun are conspicu- ous by their extent rather than character, tiiC follow- ing incident, which came within the author's own knowledge, on the ground at the time, will show. In June, 1893, four young Armenians and their wives, living only two miles from the city of Van, where the Governor and a large military force reside, were picking herbs on the hillside. They carefully kept together and intended to return before night. They were observed by a band of passing Kurds, who, in broad daylight, fell upon the defenceless party, butchered the young men, and, as to the brides, it is needless to relate further. The villagers going out the next day found the four bodies, not simply dead, but slashed and disfigured almost be- yond recognition. They resolved to make a des- perate effort to let their wrongs at least be known. Hastily yoking up four rude ox carts, they placed on each the naked remains of one of the victims, witl his distracted widow sitting by the side, shorn of her hair in token of dishonor. This gruesome procession soon reached the outskirts of the city, where it was met by soldiers sent to turn it back. The unarmed villagers offer no resistance, but declare their readiness to perish if not heard. The soldiers shrink from extreme measures that might cause 64 The Crisis in Turkey. trouble among the thirty thousand Armenians of Van, who are now rapidly gathering about the scene. The Turkish bayonets retreat before the bared breasts of the villagers. With e\'er increasing numbers, but without tumult, the procession passed before the doors of the British and Russian Vice- Consulates, of the Persian Consul-Gcneral, the Chief of Police and other high officials, till it paused be- fore the great palace of the Governor. At this point Bahri Pasha, who is still Governor, stuck his head out of the second-story window and said : " I see it. Too bad ! Take them away and bury them. I will do what is necessar}-." Within two days some Kurds were brought in, among whom were several who were positively identified by the women ; but, upon their denying the crime, they were immediately released and escaped. The utter hopelessness of securing any justice was so apparent, and experience had so often demonstrated the dan- ger of arousing the Kurds to greater atrocity by further efforts to punish them, that the case was dropped and soon forgotten in the callousness pro- duced by other cases of frequent occurrence. The system of mail inspection is so effective (all letters of subjects must be handed in open at the post-office) and the danger of reporting is so great that I doubt that any account of this incident has ever been given to the civilized world. This case was doubtless reported by the former British Vice-Consul, unless he was busy hunting, and, as usual, was buried in the archives of the l-'orcign Office for " state reasons." A foreign physician, never a missionary, and now Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan. 65 out of the country, told mc that during a large prac- tice of a year and a half in Armenia, while using every effort to save life, only one case was remem- bered of regret by the doctor for a fatal ending, — so sad is the lot of those who survive. This instance will explain the strange statement. A call came to see a young man sent home from prison in a dying condition. He could not speak, and had to be nour ished for days by artificial feeding, because his stom- ach could not retain food. Constant and skilful care for a month brought him back to life, from the con- dition to which his vile, dark, unventilated cell and scanty food had brought him. As soon as the police learned of his unexpected recovery, he was seized and re-imprisoned, though an only son, with a widowed mother and sister dependent upon him. When last heard of, he was still " awaiting trial." Such confinement is a favorite method of intimidation and blackmail in the case of the innocent, and, in the case of the guilty, amounts to punishment with- out the cost and labor involved in proving the guilt and securing sentence by legal process. From my own house in Van goods of considerable value were stolen in November, 1893. Though I had good clews to the guilty parties and would have been glad to recover my property, I felt constrained to use every precaution not to let the affair come to the ears of the police, lest they should use it as a pretext for searching the houses of many innocent Armenians, in the hope of finding a letter, book, or weapon of some kind, which might serve as an ex- cuse for imprisonment, This course exposed me to 66 The Crisis in Ttirkey. further attacks of thieves and necessitated a night watchman. WHY ARE THESE FACTS NOT KNOWN? The ignorance and increduHty of the pubHc is a most significant commentary on the situation. But the explanation is simple. In the nature of the case, in reports of outrages where the victims or their friends are still within the clutches of the Turks, all names of individuals and often the exact locality must be concealed. Such anonymous accounts naturally arouse little interest, and, of course, cannot be verified. The former British Consul-General at Erzerum, Mr. Clifford Lloyd, showed me at that place many such reports sent to him by members of Parliament for verification. He was unable to verify them, but said that the reports gave a correct im- pression of the condition of the country. At that very time, October, 1890, Mr. Lloyd called atten- tion, in an official dispatch, published in the " Blue Books" to : " I . The insecurity of the lives and properties of the Armenians. 2. The insecurity of their persons, and the absence of all liberty of thought and action. 3. The unequal status held by the Christian as compared with the Mussulman in the eyes of the government." On this subject there are five channels of varying market value. First. Consular reports, meagre and often inaccessible. The United States has no consuls in Armenia, and consequently no "official" knowledge of its condition. European consuls are expected to report nothing that they arc not abso Condition of Armenia and Kttrdistan. 67 lutely sure of, and arc given to understand, both by their own governments and by that of Turkey, that they must not make themselves obnoxious in seeking information. They are, at best, passive until their aid is sought, and then alarm the suppliants by refus- ing to touch the case unless allowc^d to use names. Second. Missionaries, whose mouths are sealed. They would be the best informed and most trust- worthy witnesses. But they feel it their first duty to safeguard the great benevolent and educational in- terests committed to them by not exciting the sus- picion and hostility of the government. Their position is a delicate one, conditional on their neu- trality, like that of officers of the Red Cross Society in war. Third. Occasional travellers, wdiose first impressions are also often their last and whose hasty jottings are likely to be very interesting and may be very misleading. Not so in the case of Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, whom I had the pleasure of meeting there, and who embodied the result of her careful in- vestigations in an article entitled, " The Shadow of the Kurd " in TJic Contcviporary Review} Fourth. Much evidence from Armenian sources, which is often unjustly discredited as being the exaggeration if not fabrication, of " revolutionists who seek a political end." Fifth. Turkish official reports, often obtained by corrupt or violent means, or invented to suit the circumstances. Though the financial credit of the Ottoman Government was long ago exhausted, there are some well meaning people who still place 'Confidence in Turkish explanations and promises. "4 * The Contemporary Review^ May and June, iSgi. 68 The Crisis t7t Turkey. WHAT CAN BE DONE? The scope of this book does not permit a discus- sion of even the Armenian phase of the Eastern question, beyond a bare reference to its possible three-fold solution. There is, first, Russian annexa- tion, a step for which the sufferers themselves are praying, and which Russia is prepared to execute at a moment's notice. If this were the only alterna- tive from present conditions, it should be universally welcomed. Russia is crude, stupid, and, in certain aspects, brutal, but she is not decrepit, debauched, and doting like official Turkey. The diseases of the "Sick Man" arc incurable and increasing, while the bully of the North is young, of good blood, and with an energy suggestive of a force of nature. Russia shaves half the head of scccdcrs from the Orthodox Church and transports them. Turkey, wMth more tact, quietly "disposes" of converts from Islam, many of whom would step forth if the prospect were less than death. The Jewish question, from the Russian standpoint, is largely a social and industrial one, like the Chinese question in the United States, When the writer passed from Turkish Armenia into the Caucasus, it was from a desert to a garden ; from danger to perfect security ; from want and sor- row to plenty and cheer. Until lately, thousands of Turkish Armenians have been in the habit of crossing the Russian border in spring, earning good wages during the summer, and returning to spend the winter with their families. This has opened their eyes to the contrast between tlic two lands and turned their hctirti Lo Russia. ARMENIAN LADY GKOTTP OF ARMP""^NS Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan. 69 The second solution is Armenian autonomy, like that of Bulgaria, the fond dream of those who ignore the geographical difficulties, the character, and distribution of the population, and the temper of Russia and other powers by whom it would have to be established and maintained. The only other method is radical and vigorous ad- ministrative reforms, which the European powers should initiate, and report to Turkey, instead of vice versa, as arranged in Article LXI. of the Berlin Treaty. These " Christian nations " have for six- teen years violated most sacred treaty obligations, and England a special guarantee for such reforms. While attended with difficulties, this is the most desirable solution, and is favored by the great mass of Armenians throughout Turkey, by the Anglo- Armenian Association,' founded by Prof. James Bryce, M.P., and by the Phil-Armenic Society in this country.* The real spirit and aim of the Armenian race, as a whole, is unfortunately obscured, in the mind of the public, by utterances and acts of a few irresponsible Armenian hot-heads, who have imbibed nihilistic views in Europe, and are trying, in a very bungling way, to apply them. ^The Case for the Armenians. London: Anglo-Armenian Asso- ciation. '^ An Appeal to the Christians of America by the Christians of Ar- menia. New York : Phil-Armenic Society. CHAPTER IV. OTTOMAN PROMISES AND THEIR FUL- FILMENT. IMPERIAL edicts of toleration, and promises of reform on the part of the Sublime Porte, have been very numerous, and have served Turkey well as political expedients. Their value is that of so much dust thrown in the eyes of Europe when her aid or her mercy was needful. As these reforms have all been promised under pressure, they have likewise been abandoned just so fast and so fai' as the pressure has been removed. In man\' cases there has been serious retrogression. The sow that is washed is forever returning to wallow in the mire. It is as true of the "Sick Man" as of him out of whom seven devils were cast, that the last state of that man is worse than the first. This is emphat- ically so in regard to the freedom of the press, the curtailment of religious and educational privileges, and the safety of the lives and property of Christians. The following is a partia. list of Turkish promises which have been broken in whole or in part, with the circumstances under which they were made. I. In 1829, by the Treaty of Adrianople at the close of a war with Russia, Turkey promised to rc- ^> Ottoman Promises and their Fuljilmeftt. yi form in her treatment of Orthodox Christians, and acknowledged Russia's right to interfere in their behalf.' 2. In 1839 Sultan Abd-ul-Medjid, in order to en- list European sympathy and aid — when the victori- ous Egyptian army under Ibrahim Pasha was threat- ening Constantinople — issued an Imperial rescript, the Hatti Sherif, in which he promised to protect the life, honor, and property of all his subjects irre- spective of race or religion. 3. In 1844 the same Sultan Abd-ul-Medjid gave a solemn pledge that thenceforth no apostate from Mohammedanism who had formerly been a Christian should be put to death. This pledge was extorted from the Sultan by the Ambassador of Great Britain, supported by those of other Powers, after the public execution in Constantinople of a young Armenian, Ovagim, who had declared himself a Mohammedan, but who afterwards bravely maintained his Christian profession in the face of torture and death. Since that time many Moslems even have embraced Chris- tianity, and have been put out of the way, quietly in most cases. 4. In 1850 the same Sultan, on the demand c. the same Powers, in view of the continued and fierce per- secution of the Protestant subjects of the Porte, granted the latter a charter, guaranteeing them lib- erty of conscience and all the rights as a distinct civil community, which had been enjoyed by the other Christian communities of the empire. But to this day the numerous Protestants of Stamboul have * MorfiU's Russia, p. 287. Putnam. *j2 The Crisis iii Turkey. never been allowed to erect even one chtirch, although they have owned a site and hr.d the necessary funds, and been petitioning for a firman to build for .fifteen years.' The Greek Protestants of Ordoo, who have a church, are not allowed to worship in it. There are many other flagrant violations of this charter. 5. In 1856, after the Crimean War, Sultan Abd-ul- Mcdjid,to anticipate demands which he knew would be included in the Treaty of Paris then being drawn up, issued the Imperial edict known as the Hatti Humayoun. This edict not only promised perfect equality of civil rights to all subjects of the Porte, but also added : " As all forms of religion are and shall be freely professed in my dominions, no subject of my empire shall be hindered in the exercise of the religion that he professes, nor shall he in any way be annoyed on this account." But as the interpretation and enforcement of this edict has remained absolutely in the hands of the Turkish Government, it is need- less to add that it has been a dead letter," 6. In 1878 the Anglo-Turkish Convention, entered into just before the Treaty of Berlin, included these ' Rev. II. O. Dwight, Tlu Indipcndcnt, New York, January i~,, 1895. * At the lime of tlie Crimean War Lord Aberdeen said : " Notwithstanding tlie favorable o])inion entertained by many, it is difficult to believe in the improvement of the Turks. It is true that, under the pressure of the moment, benevolent decrees may be issued ; but these, except under the eye of some Foreign Minister, are entirely neglected. Their whole system is radically vicious and inhuman. I do not refer to fables which may be invented at St. Petersburg or Vienna, but to numerous despatches of Lord Stratford (de RadclifTe) himself, and of our own consuls, who describe a fright- ful picture of lawless oppression and cruelty." (Sir Theodore Mar- tin's Life of the Prince Consort, vol. ii., p. 528.) Quoted by Canon MacGoU, The Contemporary Review, January, 1895. Ottoman Promises and their Puljilment. 73 words in its First Article : " His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, promises to England to introduce neces- sary reforms, to be agreed upon later between the two Powers, into the government and for the protec- tion of the Christian and other subjects of the Porte in these territories [Armenia] ; and in order to enable England to make necessary provision for executing her engagement [the keeping of Russia out of Ar- menia], His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, further con- sents to assign the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by England." Comment unnecessary. 7. In July, 1878, by the Treaty of Berlin, religious liberty and the public exercise of all forms of religion were guaranteed in separate articles to the people of Bulgaria, Eastern Roumelia, Montenegro, Servia, Roumania, and finally to all subjects of the Porte in every part of the Ottoman Empire. Cases of glaring violation of the principle of religious liberty may be found in Appendix C. on The Censorship of the Press. The Sixty-first Article of the same treaty reads thus: "The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, without further delay, the improvements and re- forms demanded by local requirements in the prov- inces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds. It will periodically make known the steps taken to this effect to the Powers, who will superintend their ap- plication." What the condition of Turkey was three years later, not simply in Armenia, but throughout Asia Minor, is shown by a report of Mr. Wilson, British Consul-General in Anatolia. " There has probably never been a time in which 74 TJie Crisis in Tiii'key. the prestige of the Courts has fallen so low, or in which the administration of justice has been so venal and corrupt. The most open and shameless bribery is practised from highest to lowest ; prompt, even- handed justice for rich and poor alike is unknown; sentence is given in favor of the suitor who ' places' his money most judiciously ; imprisonment or free- dom has in many places become a matter of bribery; robbers, when arrested, are protected by members of the Court, who share their spoil ; a simple order may send an innocent man to prison for months; crime goes unpunished, and all manner of oppression and injustice is committed with impunity. The Cadis,' especially those in the cazas,* are, as a rule, ignorant men, with no education, knowing little of law, except the Sheri, on which they base their decisions, and sometimes not overmuch of that. As to the mem- bers, it is sufificient to say that they are nearly all equally ignorant of law, and that probably not twenty- five per cent, of them can write Turkish, or read the sentences to which they attach their seals. In the Commercial Courts, the Presidents are frequently entirely ignorant of the duties which they have to perform. The low pay of the Cadis, the short term — two years — during which they hold their appoint- ments, and the manner in which they obtain them, render the receipt of bribes almost a necessity. The first thought of a Cadi who buys an appointment in the provinces is to recoup himself for his outlay; the second, to obtain enough money to purchase a new place when his term of ofifice is finished. Even under this system men are to be found who refuse ' Judge. * Local districts. Ottoman Promises and their Fulfilment. 75 to receive bribes ; and there are others who, whilst giving way to temptation, deplore the necessity to o so. The sequel to the Treaty of Berlin is found in the next chapter. The non-fulfilment of Ottoman promises in regard to Christian subjects, and the frequent massacres of the latter are an exact fulfilment of THE OFFICIAL PRAYER OF ISLAM which is used throughout Turkey, and daily repeated in the Cairo "Azhar" University by ten thousand Mohammedan students from all lands. The follow- ing translation is from the Arabic : " I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, [the rcjeein'\ the accursed. In the name of Allah the Compas- sionate, the Merciful! O Lord of all Creatures! O Allah ! Destroy the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the enemies of the religion ! O Allah ! Make their children orphans, and defile their abodes ! Cause their feet to slip ; give them and their families, their households and their women, their children and their relations by marriage, their brothers and their friends, their possessions and their race, their wealth and their lands, as booty to the Moslems, O Lord of all Creatures!'"' All who do not accept Mohammed are included among "the infidels" referred to in the prayer. ' Report of Mr. Wilson, Bhie-Book, Turkey, No. 8 (iSSi), page 57, No. 48. ' The Mohammedan Missionary Problem, p. 31. Jessup. Phila- delphia, Presb. Pub. Soc. CHAPTER V. THE OUTCOME OF THE TREATY OF BERLIN. IT is quite needless to remark that Turkey, instead of doing anything to improve the condition of the Armenians, has done much to make it worse duiing the past fifteen years. The question now arises, what have the Powers signatory to the Berlin Treaty done to compel the Sublime Porte "to carry out the improvements and reforms" demanded in the Sixty-first Article ? And what steps has Great Britain taken in addition, to dis- charge the additional obligation for the improve- ment of Armenia which she assumed by the so-called Cyprus Convention ? We find that in November, 1879, ^^^^ English Government, seeing that matters throughout Asia Minor were really going from bad to worse, went the length of ordering an English squadron to the Archipelago for the purpose of a naval demonstra- tion. The Turkish Government was greatly ex- cited, and with a view to getting the order counter- manded, made the fairest promises. But England was not the only Power aroused. On June II, 1880, an Identical Note of the Great Powers demanded the execution of the clauses of 76 The Outcome of the Treaty of Berlin, "jy the Treaty of Berlin which had remained in suspense. In the conclusion of the Identical Note a clear recognition is made of the fact that the interest of Europe, as well as that of the Ottoman Empire, requires the execution of the Sixty-first Article of the Treaty of Berlm, and that the Joint and incessant action of the Pozvers can alone bring about this result. On July 5th, the Turkish Foreign Minister sent a Note in reply to the representatives of the Powers. " It is of great length and small real value, except as combining in a remarkable degree the distinguish- ing characteristics of modern Ottoman diplomacy, namely, first, great facility in assimilating the ad- ministrative and constitutional jargon of civilized countries ; second, consummate cunning in conceal- ing under deceptive appearances the barbarous reality of deeds and intentions ; third, cool audacity in making promises which there is neither the power nor desire to make good ; and, finally, a paternal and oily tone, intended to create the impression that the Turkish Government is the victim of unjust preju- dices and odious calumnies." As soon as the reply of the Porte was received. Earl Granville sent copies to the British Consuls in Asia Minor, inviting observations thereon. Eight detailed replies to this request are published in the Blue-Book.' They concur in a crushing condemna- tion of the Ottoman Government. These conclusions, moderately and very diffusely expressed in diplomatic phraseology, are reflected in ' Bhie-Bnok, Tnrls-p", No. 6, 1881, reports of Wilson, Bennett, Chermside, Trotter, tJtewart, Clayton, Everett, and Bilotti. 78 The C^'isis 7?t Tiirkey. the Collective Note which was sent on Sept. 1 1, 1880, to the Sublime Porte by the Ambassadors of the Great Powers. On October 3d without makin fa O w a < Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. lol The writer in TJie Independent adds : " Thus we have Nejib Pasha in 1840, Beder Khan in 1850, Kurshid Pasha in i860, Chefket Pasha in 1876, and Zekki Pasha in 1894, concurring in this noble and phihmthropic scheme for reheving the Turkish Empire of its surphis Christian population ! " The following facts relate to the terrible atrocities perpetrated in Bulgaria by Turkish bashi-bazotiks in the spring of 1876. I quote verbatim from the pre- liminary report ' of the Hon. Eugene Schuyler, Amer- ican Consul-General, to the Hon. Horace Maynard, the American Minister, at Constantinople : " Philippopolis, August 10, 1876. " Sir: — In reference to the atrocities and massacres committed by the Turks in Bulgaria, I have the honor to inform you that I have visited the towns of Adrianople, Philippopolis, and Tatar-Bazardjik, and villages in the surrounding districts. From what I have personally seen, and from the inquiries I have made, and the information I have received, I have ascertained the following facts : . . . " The insurgent villages made little or no resist- ance. In many instances they surrendered their arms upon the first demand. Nearly all the villages which were attacked by the bashi-bazouks were burned and pillaged, as were also all those which had been abandoned by the terrified inhabitants. The inhabitants of some villages were massacred after exhibitions of the most ferocious cruelty, and the violation not only of women and girls, but even of persons of the other sex. These crimes were ' Article by Mr. Savage, The Independent, January 10, 1894. 102 The Crisis in Turkey, committed by the regular troops as well as by the bashi-bazouks [irregulars]. The number of villages which were burned in whole or in part in the districts of Philippopolis, Roptchus, and Tatar-Bazardjik is at least sixty-five. '• Particular attention was given by the troops to the churches and schools, which in some cases were destroyed with petroleum and gunpowder. " It is dif^cult to estimate the number of Bul- garians who were killed during the few days that the disturbances lasted ; but I am inclined to put 15,000 as the lowest for the districts I have named. . . . This village surrendered, without firing a shot, after a promise of safety, to the baslii-bazoiiks, under command of Ahmed Aga, a chief of the rural police. Despite his promise, the arms once sur- rendered, Ahmed Aga ordered the destruction of the village and the indiscriminate slaughter of ihe inhabitants, about a hundred young girls being re- served to satisfy the lust of the conqueror before they too should be killed. Not a house is now standing in this lovely valley. Of the Scoo inhabi- tants not 2000 are known to survive. "Ahmed y\ga, who commanded the massacre, has since been decorated and promoted to the rank of yuz bashi [centurian]. "These atrocities were clearly unnccessar\- for the suppression of the insurrection, for it was an insig- nificant rebellion at the best, and the villagers gen- erally surrendered at the first summons. " I am, sir, yours very truly, •' F.UO KNE ScH'uVLKR. "The Hon. Horace Mavnakd, etc." Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. 103 " The British Government had glossed over and tried to cover up these horrible transactions, Premier Disraeli turning them off with a sneer. The facts, as unearthed by Consul Schuyler, shook the British nation like an earthquake, and came near unseating the Ministry. . . . " A similar investigation was made in the same dis- trict by Mr. J. A. MacGahan, the brilliant correspond- ent of the London Daily News, who confirms all that Mr. Schuyler discovered, in a special despatch to the Daily News, dated Philippopolis, July 28, 1876." The circumstances and character of the Armenian massacre of 1894 are found in the first chapter of the present volume. In regard to this event the writer in The Independent of January 17th above quoted asks : "Will history repeat itself in 1895? Will the remaining Armenians of Sassoun be so terrorized as to refuse to testify before a Commission? Un- doubtedly. "If the facts already known do not force Europe to place Eastern Asia Minor under a Christian Viceroy there is little hope that any new facts will influence them. The dead tell no tales. The living fear to speak, lest they fall victims to the humane theories of Beder Khan and Nejib Pasha. " Will England now insist upon the protection of the Christian ? She is morally bound to. Four times has she saved the Ottoman Empire from de- struction, and the civilized world looks to her for a fulfilment of her high mission in the East. 104 The Crisis in Turkey " May British public opinion compel British public men to action : " To make this chapter a little more complete for reference, I add a passing allusion to three other outrages not included in the above list, which takes account of no massacres of less than ten thousand victims at once. OUTRAGES IN CRETE IX 1866-7. On July 21, 1867, the British, Russian, French, and Italian Consuls at Canea, Crete, sent the following identical telegram to their several governments: " Massacres of women and children have broken out in the interior of the island. The authorities can neither put down the insurrection nor stay the course of these atrocities. Humanity would impera- tively demand the immediate suspension of hostili- ties, or the transportation to Greece of the women and children." The number of relieving ships sent to Crete in obedience to this accord was four I-'rench, three Russian, two Italian, three Austrian, and one Prus- sian.' OUTRAGES IN ARMENIA IN 1877. The writer is C. B. Norman, special correspondent of The London Times, who says in his preface : " In my correspondence to the Times I made it a rule to report nothing but what came under my own personal observation, or facts confirmed by European evidence. ' U. S. Consul Stillman's The Cretan Insurrection of 1S66-7-S, Henry Ilult i: Co., 1874. Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. 105 " A complete list it is impossible for me to obtain, but from all sides — from Turk and Armenian alike — A HIGHWAY IN ARMENIA. I hear piteous tales of the desolation that reigns throughout Kurdistan — villages deserted, towns abandoned, trade at a standstill, harvest ready for the sickle, but none to gather it in, husbands mourn- ing their dishonored wives, parents their murdered children ; and this is not the work of a power whose policy of selfish aggression no man can defend, but the ghastly acts of Turkey's irregular soldiery on Turkey's most peaceable inhabitants, — acts the per- petrators of which are well known, and yet are allowed to go unpunished. " A bare recital of the horrors committed by these demons is sufficient to call for their condign punish- io6 TJie Crisis in Turkey. merit. The subject is too painful to need any color- ing, were my feeble pen enabled to give it." A few, out of many cases reported by Mr. Norman arc given : " This gang also attacked the village of Kordjotz, violating the women, and sending off all the virgins to their hills ; entering the church they burned the Bible and sacred pictures; placing the communion- cup on the altar, they in turn defiled it, and divided the church plate amongst themselves. " Sheik Obaidulah's men rivalled their comrades under the flag of Jelaludeen ; these latter operated between Van and Faik Pasha's camp. They at- tacked and robbed the villages of Shakbabgi and Adnagantz, carrying off all boys and virgins. At Kushartz they did the same, and killing 500 sheep left them to rot in the streets, and then fired the place. Khosp, Jarashin, and Asdvadsadsan, Bog- hatz, and Aregh suffered in like manner ; the churches were despoiled and desecrated, graves dug up, young of both se.xes carried off, what grain they could not transport was destroyed, and the inhabi- tants driven naked into the fields, to gaze with horror on their burning homesteads.'" THE MASSACRE OF THE YEZIDIS NEAR MOSUL, 1892. " The Yczidis are a remnant of a heathen sect, who have never been converted to the Moslem faith. " Their holy place is not far from the city of Mo- ' C. 1>. Norman, Armenia and the Campaign of /87J, pp. 293- 298. London; Ci^^^ll. Pctter, & Galpin, 1879. Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. 107 sul, one day's journey, and their principal villages are also close by. In the summer of 1892 the Sultan sent a special ofificer, called Ferik Pasha, to Mosul to correct certain abuses in the government, to collect all back taxes, and to convert the Yezidis. liis authority was absolute, the Vali Pasha of the city being subject to his orders. " In reference to his work among the Yezidis, he, it was generally reported, was to get a certain sum per capita for every convert made. " He first sent priests among them to convert them to the " true faith." They not succeeding, he very soon gave them the old alternative of the Koran or the sword. Still not submitting, he sent his soldiers, under command of his son, who put to the sword all who, not able to escape, refused to accept Moham- med. Their villages were burned, many were killed in cold blood, some were tortured, women and young girls were outraged or carried off to harems, and other atrocities, too horrible to relate, were perpetrated. " Those who escaped made their way to the moun- tains of Sinjar, where, together with their brethren of the mountains, they intrenched themselves and successfully defended themselves until the spring of 1893 against the government troops which had been sent against them. " This massacre was reported to the French Gov- ernment by M. Siouffi, Consul at that time in Mosul, and to the English Government by Mr. Parry, who was in that region under the instructions of the Archbishop of Canterbury. lo8 The Crisis i)i Turkey. " The Yezidis who remained in their villages on the plain had Moslem priests set over them to in- struct them in the Moslem faith. They were com- pelled to attend jirayers and nominally become Mohammedans ; but in secret they practised their own rites and declared that they were still Yezidis." ' After the massacre of the Yezidi peasants in 1892 an English lady of rank, visiting Mosul, was refused permission by the Pasha to travel through the Yezidi district, lest she witness the dreadful results of the massacre.* The writer in 77/r Irtdcpcndcnt of January 31st, gives this explanation : " The reason of the recurrence of masr-acres i.l Turk-ey is the fanatical intolerance of the Moslem populace and their hatred to Christianity, unre- strained and often fomented by Turkish oftjcials. " Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the ablest and best friend Turkey ever had, who believed that ' England should befriend Turkey in order to reform her,' says : ' " ' Turkey is weak, fanatical, and misgoverned. The Eastern question is a fact, a reality of indefinite duration. Like a volcano it has intervals rf rest ; but its outbreaks are frequent, their occasions un- certain, and their effects destructive ' (p. 6), "'Did not the massacres in Syria in i860 come upon us by surprise? . . . Have we any substantial security against the recurrence of similar horrors, of a similar necessity, and of a similar hazard?' (p. 79). ' The Independent, January 17, 1895. • Ibid,^ January 31, iSyj. ' Tfie Eastern Question. > « w Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. 109 '"The position of the Ottoman Empire is one of natural determination toward a state of exhaustive weakness ' (p. 97). " ' 111 fares the country where neither strong hand nor willing heart is to be found ' (p. 104). " A joint Commission is now en route to investigate the Sassoun massacres. Will any good come from it ? Doubtful. Lord Stratford says (p. 117) : " ' We know not how soon or where the kites may be again collected by a massacre or insurrection. Such occasional meetings [of Commis- sions] have their portion of inconvenience and risk. Their failure is discreditable ; the effect of their suc- cess, at best, transient and partial. The evils they are meant to correct are themselves the offspring of one pervading evil, the source of which is in Con' stantinople.' " CHAPTER VIII. ISLAM AS A FACTOR OF THE PROBLEM. IT is with reluctance that I approach this side of the question. It is not desirable that the sub- ject be complicated or embittered by religious animosities. But unfortunately these animosities do exist and have always formed a primary and essential feature in all the relations of the Turks with their Christian subjects. A writer who styles himself " Diplomatist," in a recent review article of consider- able merit,' with a stroke of the pen, disposes of this phase of the subject by characterizing it as " pure moonshine." But real diplomatists do not find it so easy to dispose of, nor do the great historians treat it as moonshine. The fanatical gleam that I have often cauglit in the eye of Turks and Kurds was never suggestive to me of the mild raj's of th.e lunar orb, but seemed rather like a gleam from the political Crescent, whose baleful influence dominates the East. The question is not concerning the merits of Mohammed or of Mohammedanism in the abstract. I have a profound respect for the Prophet of Arabia, who might have been another Apostle Paul, but for the fact that the corrupt church of that day failed ' New Review for January, 1895. ZIO Islam as a Factor of the Problem. 1 1 1 to give that young and ardent seeker after God a true and worthy conception of Christianity. I would fain admit the high conception of the Mohammedan ideal, portrayed so skilfully by Mr. R. Bosworth Smith in his lectures before the Royal Institution of Great Britain. But such considerations are irrelevant to the present discussion, which is simply, What are the practical bearings of Islam upon the question of reform or of reconstruction in Turkey? As has been already shown in Chapter VI., the Ottoman Government is a politico-religions system. This is the necessary constitution of any Moham- medan sovereign state, but the conception ha? special force and vitality in Turkey, whose Sovereign claims to be the successor of Mohammed, and thus the Calif of the Mohammedan world. The whole fabr'*:; of the Turkish Empire rests on a religious foundation. This religious foundation is not the general religious principle in man, but the particular form of religion established by Mohammed. To what extent, now, does Islam enter into the political structure? We find on investigation that it is part and parcel of the bone and sinew of the organism in Turkey called the State, — called so by courtesy on account of its faint analogy to what is understood in other countries by that name. The Turkish arm.y is exclusively a Mohammedan army, the national festivals are Mohammedan festivals, the ofificial calendar is a Mohammedan calendar, both as to year and month, the laws are based on the Koran and Mohammedan tradition, the expounders of the 112 TJie Crisis in Turkey. law are Mohammedan judges, and even testimony is a religious act of which only true believers are, in the nature of the case, capable. It is not denied that the testimony of Christians is allowed to be given in Turkish courts, but that does not signify that it is valid evidence in the eyes of the Court, especially when a Mohammedan is involved. Even the differ- ent formulae used show this. In the case of a Mohammedan it is, " His Lordship, So and So, testi- fied to the face of God "; in the case of a Christian it is, " Mr. Blank stated." In Article 63 of the Treaty of Berlin we read Turkey's solemn (it is hard to suppress a smile) promise to the European Powers in regard to the rights of Christians before the law: '^ All shall be allowed to give evidence before the courts without dis- tinctions of creeds The practical application of the above clause is shown in the official reports of British Consuls.' Mr. Wilson, Consul-General in Anatolia, writes: " In the greater portion of Anatolia, though Chris- tian evidence may be received, no weight is attached to it. When Moslem and Christian evidence arc op- posed to each other, the latter is disregarded. For instance, three Christians arc travelling along a road, and one of them is robbed by a man well known to all of them ; in the action which ensues, the robber has only to prove an alibi by two Moslem false wit- nesses to gain his case." ' These extracts are from Blue-Book, Turkey, No. 8 (1881), pp. 57- iio, as quoted by the high authority, M. RoUn-Jaequemyns, in his Armenia, the Armenians, and the Treaties^ p^J. 74-76« London : John Ileywood, 1891 Islam as a Factoi^ of the Problem. 1 13 Mr. Chermsidc, Vice-Consul at Sivas, writes: "As regards the acceptance of Christian testimony, theoretically is it accepted in all Nizam courts. Hearing testimony, however, and attaching the rela- tive importance to it that, from its tenor and con- sistency, it is entitled to, are very different matters: and there is no doubt that, especially in civil cases, tradition, sympathy, and education prejudice the Hakiui} against it — sentimental considerations, how- ever, are not proof against the love of gain." According to the latter part of this quotation, the spirit which animates the courts of Asia Minor may be defined as fanaticism tempered by corruption. The following is the opinion of Mr. Everett, Vice- Consul at Erzerum : " The first consideration of the administrators of justice is the amount of money that can be extorted from an individual, and the sec- ond is his creed." The only doubt as to the morality of the Turkish magistrates appears to be whether they are more corrupt than fanatical, or more fanati- cal than corrupt. The injustice done to Christians even in commer- cial transactions is shown by Mr. Bilotti, Consul at Trebizond : " Christian evidence is accepted in the town of Trebizond, but I am assured in the districts, that though the same principle is admitted, no Mussul- man has ever been condemned on the testimony of Christians ; so much so, that the latter are in the ' Tlie Hakim, who is a member of the religious body of Ulemas, presides over the lower court (Bidayet), which is to be found \\\ every (aza (hundred), and also over the Satidjak or district court. 1 1 4 The Crisis ijt Turkey. habit of having their bonds witnessed only by Mussulmans." Much is said in regard to the truthfulness of the Turks. Consul-Gencral Wilson writes : " From the peculiar value of Moslem evidence, most of the false witnesses are Turks." As a matter of fact, we thus sec that the millions of Christians in Turkey neither arc nor can be con- sidered and treated as citizens of the state, simply because they do not belong to the religion of the foreign invaders who rule them. No degree of loyalty can secure for non-Moslems admission to the army. Christians arc rapidly being excluded from even the humblest position:: in the civil lists also, except from such as Mohammedans are incompetent to fill. The status of the Christian before the law is that of an alien in regard to his own rights, and of a slave as far as the interests of Mohammedans are concerned. And yet we are told that the Ottoman Turks are tolerant of the members of other faiths. This is true in the same sense that the stomach is spoken of as being " tolerant " of certain easily digestible articles of food. Yes, so long as Christians submit to all forms of oppression, and make no claims in regard to rights which are generally supposed to belong to all men, they arc gladly tolerated. That the discrimination against Christian subjects is due to their religious belief, is, further, clearly shown by the fact that Mohammedans, who abandon the creed of the government, immediately forfeit their special privileges, and even incur punishmenf Islam as a Factor of the Problem. 115 as criminals. Apostacy from Islam is treason to the Sultan. Converts to Christianity are arrested and imprisoned. In the rare instances when foreign gov- ernments venture to inquire into such cases, the Ottoman authorities blandly insist that they care nothing for the man's religion, but that he must be arrested for "avoiding conscription," or on some other fictitious charge. He is, thereupon, hurried off to some distant military post, or finds a living grave in an unknown dungeon. Such is the politico-religious organization called the Ottoman Government. Can this union of Church and State be dissolved ? It can not be. The bond which unites them, according to Mohammedan doc- tors, is vital, as in the case of the Siamese twins. Inasmuch as the bond cannot be cut, the only re- maining hope must be in improving the health of the two bodies thus indissolubly united. Unfortu- nately, no change can be hoped for in the case of either part of this dual patient. MoJianimedanisin at its birth zvas a malformation, to say the least, and will continue so even though restored to a state of perfect health. In the opinion of every orthodox Mohammedan, the Koran is a " perfect revelation of the will of God, sufificient and Rnal," and " Islam is a separate distinct, and absolutely exclusive religion." As attempts are frequently made to convey a con- trary impression on this point, I quote the words of President George Washburn, of Robert College, Constantinople, an impartial student of Islam, who for thirty.fivc years has observed its practical work- ii6 The Crisis in Turkey. ings in ' oc Ottoman Empire. At the World's Par- liamen*; of Religions, in Chicago, 1893, he read a paper on " The Points of Contact and Contrast between Christianity and Mohammedanism." His whole treatment is remarkable for its judicial fair- ness, and his paper is commended to the reader who may desire a brief, comprehensive, and fair estimate of Islam. To the question whether Mohammedanism has been in any way modified, since the time of the Prophet, by its contact with Christianity, Dr. Wash- burn thinks that every orthodox Moslem would ansv/rr in the negative. He adds: "It is very im- portant to bear in mind that there are nominal Mohammedans who are theists, and others who arc pantheists of the Spinoza type. There are also some small sects who are rationalists, but after the fashion of old English Deism rather than of the modern rationalism. The Deistic rationalism is represented in that most interesting M-ork of Justice Ameer AH, Tlic Spirit of Islaui. He speaks of Mo- hammed as Xenophon did of Socrates, and he reveres Christ also, but he denies that there was anything supernatural in the inspiration or lives of either, and claims that Ilanifc and the other Imams , corrupted Islam, as he thinks Paul the apostle did Christianity; but this book does not represent Mo- hammedanism, any more than Renan's Life of Jesus represents Christianity. These small rationalistic sects are looked upon by all orthodox Moslems as heretics of the worst description." Although the Scriptures of the Old and New DERVISH BEGGARS Islam as a Factor of the Problem, 1 1 7 Testaments happen to be mentioned one hundred and thirty-one times in the Koran, they are only quoted twice. The fundamental doctrines of Chris- tianity, such as the Incarnation, the Trinity, the Atonement, and the Resurrection of Christ are specifically repudiated in the Koran. The reform of Islam as a system is, therefore, not within the range of possibility. How about the reform of the Ottoman Government? On this point I yield the floor to the great historian E. A. Free- man, who will close the debate ' : " There are some people who say the Turks are no doubt very bad, but that the Christians are just as bad, and have done things just as cruel. Now, as a matter of fact, this is not true ; and, if it were true, it would be another reason for setting the Christians free ; for if they are as bad as the Turk, it is the Turk who has caused their badness. While other nations have been improving, the Turk has kept them from improving. Take away the Turk who hinders improvement, and they will improve like the others. The slave never has the virtues of a free- man ; it is only by setting him free that he can get them. " When we point out the evils of the rule of the Turk, some people tell us that Christian rulers in past times have done things quite as bad as the Turks. This is partly true, but not wholly. Nc Christian government has ever gone on for so long 3 time ruling as badly as the Turk has ruled. But it is true that Christian governments have in past times ' The Turks in Europe, 1 1 S The Crisis i?i Turkey. done particular acts, -which were as bad as the acts of the Turks. But this argument, too, cuts the other way ; for Christian governments have left off doing such acts, while the Turks go on doing them still. The worst Christian government is better now than it was one hundred years ago, or five hundred years ago. The rule of the Turk is worse now than it was one hundred years ago, or five hundred years ago. That is to say, the worst Christian government can reform, while the Turk cannot. " It is sometimes said that we ought not to set free the Christians for fear that they shoukl do some harm to the Mohammedans who would be left in their land. Now, if the question were really put, Shall a minority of oppressors go on oppressing the people of the land, or shall the majority of the people of the land turn round and oppress the minority who have hitherto oppressed them ? — this last would surely be the lesser evil of the two. But there is no ground for any such fear. No one wishes to hurt any Mohammedan who will live peaceably and not hurt Christians. No one wishes that any man, merely because he is a Mohammedan, should be in any way worse off than a Christian, or be i)ut under any disability as compared with a Christian. There is no reason why he should be. For the Mohammedan religion, though it does not command that Christians shall be persecuted, docs command that Christians shall be treated as subjects of Mohammedans. But the Christian religion in no way commands that Mohammedan shall be treated as the subject of Christian. Christians and Miihammedans cannot Islam as a Factor of the Problem. 119 live together on equal terms under a Mohammedan government, because the Mohammedan religion forbids that they should ; but Mohammedans and Christians may perfectly well live together under a Christian government. They do so under the governments both of England and of Russia. The few Mohammedans who are left in Greece and in Servia are in no way molested ; there are mosques both at Chalkis and at Belgrade. But it is foolish to argue, as some people do, that because men of different religions can live together under a Christian government, therefore they can live to- gether under a Mohammedan government ; for both reason and the nature of the Mohammedan religion prove that it is not so. . . " The Turk came in as an alien and barbarian en- camped on the soil of Europe. At the end of five hundred years, he remains an alien and barbarian encamped on soil which he has no more made his own than it wms when he first took Kallipolis. His rule during all that time has been the rule of strangers over enslaved nations in their own land. It has been the rule of cruelty, faith- lessness, and brutal lust ; it has not been govern- ment, but organized brigandage. His rule cannot be reformed. While all other nations get better and better, the Turk gets worse and worse. And when the chief powers of Europe join in demanding that he should make even the smallest reform, he impu- dently refuses to make any. If there was anything to be said for him before the late Conference, there is nothing to be said for him now. For an evil I20 The C^'isis in Turkey, which cannot be reformed, there is one remedy only — to get rid of it. Justice, reason, humanity, de- mand that the rule of the Turk in Europe should be got rid of ; and the time for getting rid of it has now come." ARMENIAN REBELS WHO WOLLU NOT I'AY TAXES. This was written seventeen years ago with refer, enco to the discontinuance of the Ottoman power in Europe. Does it not now apply with equal force to the discontinuance of the same regime in Armenia? CHAPTER IX. ' GLADSTONE ON THE ARMENIAN MASSACRE AND ON TURKISH MISRULE. ON the eighty-fifth anniversary of Mr. W. E. Gladstone's birth, December 29, 1S94, a deputation of members of the National Church of Armenia presented to his son, the Rev. Stephen Gladstone, rector of Hawarden, a silver gilt chalice for the use of the church, in memory of the ex-Premier's sympathy with and assistance to the Armenian people. On that occasion Mr. Gladstone made a long and eloquent speech, in the course of which — after thanking the deputation for their token of sympathy and their grateful references to himself — he said : " Well, Mr. Stevenson — I address myself now per- haps more particularly to you and to my own coun- trymen, to any of them who will take notice of the deputation. I have said that in my opinion this manifestation from the Armenian community in England and in Paris was, on my part at least, quite undeserved. I have done nothing for you in circum- stances of great difficulty, and that, let me assure you, has not been owing to indifference. I will explain the cause in very few words. Rumors went abroad, growing more and more authenticated, which repre- J2I 122 TJic Crisis in Tnrkcy. sented a state of horrible and indescribable outrage in Armenia. The impulse ot every man in circum- stances of that kind is to give way to a burst of strong feeling, but I had the conviction that in a grave case of this kind every nation is best and most properly represented by its government, which is the organ of the nation, and which has the right to speak with the authority of the nation. " And do not let me be told that one nation has no authority o\xr another. Every nation, and if need be every human being, has authority on behalf of hu- manity and of justice. (Hear, hear.) These are prin- ciples common to mankind, and the \-iolation of which may justly, at the proper time, open the mouths of the very humblest among us. But in such cases as these we must endeavor to do injustice to no one, and the more dreadful the allegations may be, the more strictly it is our duty not to be premature in assum ing their truth, but to wait for an examination of the case, and to see that what we sa}-, we say upon a basis of ascertained facts. " Well, gentlemen, it was, my fate — my fortune, I think — about eighteen years ago to take an ac- tive part with regard to other outrages which first came up in the shape of rumor, but were afterwards too horribly verified, in Bulgaria ; but I never stirred in regard to those outrages until in the first place, their existence and their character had been established by indisputable authority ; and, secondly, until I had found myself driven to abso- lute despair in regard to any hopes that I could en- tertain of a proper representation of British feeling Gladstone on the ArTnenian Massacre. 123 on the part of the government which was then in office. You will see, therefore, that my conduct on this occasion has not been inconsistent with what I then did (hear, hear), and it does not imply, old as I am, that my feelings have been deadened in regard to matters of such a dreadful description. (Cheers ) " Now I remained silent because I had full confi- dence that the government of the Queen would do its duty, and I still entertain that confidence. Its power and influence are considerable ; at the same time they are limited. It is not in the power of this country, acting singly, to undertake to represent humanity at large, and to inflict, even upon the grossest wrong- doers, the punishments that their crimes may have deserved ; but there is such a thing as the conscience of mankind at large, and the conscience is not lim- ited even to Christendom. (Hear, hear.) And there is a great power in the collected voice of outraged humanity. What happened in Bulgaria ? The Sul- tan and his government absolutely denied that any- thing wrong had been done. Yes, but their denial was shattered by the force of facts. The truth was exhibited to the world. It was thought an extrava- gance at the time when I said : ' It is time that the Turk and all his belongings should go out of Bulgaria bag and baggage.' They did go out of Bulgaria, and they went out of a good deal besides. But, quite independent of any sentiment of right, justice, or humanity, common sense and common prudence ought to have taught them not to repeat the if/feina^ acts which disgraced the year 1876, so far j.-i T Hrlf ey was concerned. (Cheers.) 124 '^^^^ Crisis in T^irkey. " Now, it is certainly true that \ve have not arrived at the close of this inquiry, and I will say nothing to assume that the allegations will be verified. At the same time I cannot pretend to say that there is no reason to anticipate an unfavorable issue. On the con- trary, the intelligence which has reached me tends to a conclusion which I still hope may not be verified, but tends strongly to a conclusion to the general effect that the outrages and the scenes and abomina- tions of 1S76 in Bulgaria have been repeated in 1894 in Armenia. As I have said, I hope it is not so, and I will hope to the last, but if it is so 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 out- raged humanity, and should force itself into the ears of the Sultan of Turkey and make him sensible, if anything can make him sensible, of the madness of such a course. "The histor\' of Turkey has been a sad and painful history. That race has not been without remarkable and even in some cases fine quali- ties, but from too many points of view it has been a scourge to the world, made use of, no doubt, by a wise Providence for the sins of the world. If these tales of murder, violation, and outrage be true, then it will follow that they cannot be overlooked, and they cannot 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 wh\' ? Simply because of its misdeeds — a great record written by the hand of Almighty God, in whom tht H X, p ;^^ ;:^ O U < CO o u o '-i >i 3, o o I Gladstone on the Armenian Massacre. 125 Turk, as a Mohammedan, believes, and believes firmly — written by the hand of Almighty God against in- justice, against lust, against the most abominable cruelty ; and if — and I hope, and I feel sure, that the government of the Queen will do everything tliat can be done to pierce to the bottom of this mystery, and to make the facts known to the world — if, happily — I speak hoping against hope — if the reports we have read are to be disproved or to be mitigated, then let us thank God ; but if, on the other hand, they be established, then I say it will more than ever stand before the world that there is no lesson, however severe, that can teach certain people the duty, the prudence, the necessity of observing in some de- gree the laws of decency, and of humanity, and of justice, and that if allegations such as these are established, it will stand as if it were written with letters of iron on the records of the world, that such a government as that which can countenance and cover the perpetration of such outrages is a disgrace in the first place to Mahomet, the Prophet whom it professes to follow, that it is a disgrace to civilization at large, and that it is a curse to mankind. (Cheers.) Now, that is strong language. " Strong language ought to be used when facts are strong, and ought not to be used without strength of facts. I have counselled you still to retain and to keep your judgment in suspense, but as the evidence grows and the case darkens, my hopes dwindle and decline ; and as long as I have a voice I hope that voice, upon occasions, will be uttered on behalf of humanity and truth." (Cheers.) ' ' The London Times, Weekly Edition Jan. 14, 1895. 126 The Crisis in Turkey. In a remarkable paper entitled Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East called forth by the atroc- ities in 1876, Mr. Gladstone sums up some of the qualities of the Turkish race and of Turkish rule as follows : ' " Let me endeavor very briefly to sketch, in the rudest outline, what the Turkish race was and what it is. It is not a question of Mohammedanism sim- ply, but of Mohammedanism compounded with the peculiar character of a race. They are not the mild Mohammedans of India, nor the chivalrous Saladins of Syria, nor the cultured Moors of Spain. They were, upon the whole, from the black day when they first entered Europe, the one great anti-human speci- men of humanity. Wherever they went, a broad line of blood marked the track behind them ; and, a; far as their dominion reached, civilization disap- peared from \iew. They represented everywhere government b}- force as opposed to government by law. For the guide of this life they had a relentless fatalism ; for its reward hereafter, a sensual paradise. " They were, indeed, a tremendous incarnation of military power. This advancing curse menaced the whole of Europe. It was only stayed — and that not in one generation, but in many — by the heroism of the European population of those very countries part of which form at this moment the scene of war, and the anxious subject of diplomatic action. In the olden time all Western Christendom sympathized with the resistance to the common enemy ; and even during the hot and fierce struggles of the Rcforma- ' Reprinted from The Christiixn Kc^iitcr^ Boston, Dec. i, 1894. 128 The Crisis in Ttirkcy. tion there were prayers, if I mistake not, offered up in the English churches for the success of the emperor — the head of the Roman Cathohc power and influence — in his struggles with the Turk. " But, although the Turk represented force as op- posed to law, yet not even a government of force can be maintained without the aid of an intellectual clement such as he did not possess. Ilencc there grew up what has been rare in the history of the world, a kind of tolerance in the midst of cruelty, tyranny, and rapine. Much of Christian h'fe was contemptuously let alone, much of the subordinate functions of government was allowed to devolve upon the bishops ; and a race of Greeks M'as attracted to Constantinople which has all along made up, in some degree, the deficiencies of Turkish Islam in the element of mind, and which at this moment provides the Porte with its long-known and, I must add, highly esteemed ambassador in London. Then there have been, from time to time, but rarely, statesmen whom we have been too ready to mistake for specimens of what Turkey might become, where- as they were, in truth, more like hisiis natiircc, on the favorable side, — monsters, so to speak, of virtue or intelligence. And there were (and arc) also, scattered through the community, men who were not, indeed, real citizens, but yet who have exhibited the true civic virtues, and who would have been citizens, had there been a true polity around them. Besides all this, the conduct of the race has gradually been brought more under the eye of Europe, which it has lost its i)ower to resist or to defy ; and its Gladsto7ie on the Arvte^iian Massacre, 129 central government, in conforming perforce to many of the forms and traditions of civilization, has oc- casionally caught something of their spirit. . . . " I entreat my countrymen, upon whom far more than perhaps any other people of Europe it depends, to require and to insist that our government, which has been working in one direction, shall work in the other, and shall apply all its vigor to concur with the other states of Europe in obtaining the extinction of the Turkish executive power in Bulgaria. Let the Turks now carry away their abuses in the only possible manner — namely, by carrying off themselves. Their Zaptiehs and their Mudirs, their Bimbashis and their Yuzbachis, their Kaimakams and their Pashas, — one and all, bag and baggage, — shall, I hope, clear out from the province they have desolated and profaned. This thorough riddance, this most blessed deliverance, is the only reparation we can make to the memory of those heaps on heaps of dead ; to the violated purity alike of matron, of maiden, and of child ; to the civilization which has been affronted and shamed ; to the laws of God, or, if you like, of Allah ; to the moral sense of mankind at large. There is not a criminal in a European jail, there is not a cannibal in the South Sea Islands, whose indignation would not arise and overboil at the recital of that which has been done ; which has too late been examined, but which remains una- venged ; which has left behind all the foul and all the fierce passions that produced it ; and which may again spring up, in another murderous harvest, from the soil soaked and recking with blood, and in the 9 130 The Crisis i?i Turkey. air tainted with every imaginable deed of crime and sliame. That such things should be done once is a diuiuiing disgrace to the portion of our race wliieh did them, that a door should be left open for their ever-so-barely possible repetition would spread that shame over the zvhole.' Better, \vc may justly tell the Sultan, almost any inconvenience, difficulty, or loss associated with Buli^aria, ' Than thou reseated in tliy place of light, The mockery of thy peojilc and their bane.* " We may ransack the annals of the world ; but I know not what research can furnish us with so por- tentous an example of the fiendish misuse of the powers established by God ' for the jjunishment of evil-doers, and for the encouragement of them that do well.' No government ever has so sinned ; none has so proved itself incorrigible in sin, or, which is the same, so impotent for reformation. If it be al- lowable that the executive power of Tinkey should renew, at this great crisis, by permission or authority of Europe, the charier of its existence in Ikilgaria, then there is nut on record, since the beginnings of political society, a protest that man has lodged against intolerable misgovernment, or a stroke he has dealt at loathsome t\ranin-, that ought not hence- forth forward to be branded as a crime." ' And yet Englaiu! l>y the Cyiirus Convention ]iled;^ed all her resources t;> ka/i the door open, and the rejielition thus made possiblo has occurred. Author. CHAPTER X. WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS? THAT a field so rich in possibilities for the student of history, ethnology, or language as Arnnenii:. and Kurdistan should have remained as yet so little explored, is due, no doubt, to three causes' : first, the apparent loss of significance of the Armenian nation, which now, like Poland, seerns but a stranded wreck in the stream of history ; second, to her geo- graphical isolation and the danger and hardship of travel in that region ^ ; third, to the linguistic obstacles to be overcome. So little clear and accurate information about the Armenians is readily accessible that the following brief outline is offered in the hope of meeting this want at the present time. History —The Armenian race belongs to the ' " Kurdistan abounds in antiquities of the nioi^t varied and interest- ing character ... It may indeed be asserted that there is no region of the East at the present day which deserves a more careful scrutiny and promises a richer harvest to tlie antiquarian explorer thai the lands inhabited by the Kurds from Erzeroum to Kirman- shahan." — Major-General H. C. Rawlinson, Encyc. Britannica, article on " Kurdistan." 'Mrs. Isabella IMrd Bishop, yotirnfys in Persia ami Kurdistan. 1 v-jIs. New York : Tutnam's, \ ,\. l.uinion . J .liii Murray. 131 132 The Crisis i7i Turkey, Japhetic branch of the human family, falHng under the same category as the inhabitants of India and Persia, who form the Ar\-ans of Asia. The Armenian language proves this by its affinity with the Indo- Gcrma:iic tongues. Their physiognomy and physi- cal constitution connect them with the best types of Caucasian stock. Their manners and customs, as well as their religious beliefs, in heathenism, were similar to those of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, of the Medes and Persians, and, still later, of the Par- thian s. These people call themselves Haik, after Haig, the most celebrated of their ancient kings, and their land liaiasdan. Their national legends, fortified in their eyes by the Bible, make Haig descend from Ashkenaz or Togarmah, children of Gomer, a patri- arch of the line of Japhet.' Foreigners applied to them the name Armenians, derived from King Aram, said to be a descendant of Haig, who made great conquests.' The earliest biblical mention of this land is the statement that the ark " rested upon the mountains of Ararat," a term which evidently refers to a dis- trict rather than a peak.' Another scriptural allusion is in connection with Sennacherib, whose parricidal sons are said to have escaped, 681 B. C, " into the land of Armenia."* Ezekiel also refers to Armenia under the name Togarmah, as furnishing Tyre with ' Gen. X., 2, 3. * Moses of Khorene, History, V>V. i'., chap. 12. "Gen. viii., 4. *IIeb. Ararat, 2 Kings xix., 37 ; Isa. xxxvii., 38. MOUNTAIN ROAD IN ARMiiNlA HOWLING DERVISH Who are the Armenians? 133 horses and mules, a product for which it is still noted.' Tigranes I. is said to have been an ally of Cyrus the Great in overthrowing the Babylonians, and thus in liberating the Jews after their seventy years' captivity, 538 15. C. A foreshadowing of this event is probably found in the prophet Jeremiah : " Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz, ... to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant."" In the famous inscriptions of the Achemenidae, at Persepolis and at Behistun, the name Armenia is found in various forms, and the Armenian tributaries march after the Cappadocians to render homage to the great king.' Herodotus mentions the absorption of the Ar- menian Empire in that of Darius, 514 B. C, and a tribute of four hundred talents exacted." Xenophon's account of the retreat of the ten thousand through this mountainous region, in mid- winter, and constantly harassed by enemies, is valua- ble, not only as a tribute to the splendid discipline and spirit of the Greeks, but for the light which it throws upon the ancient Armenians and Kurds, whose houses, domestic habits, and employments are the same in many respects even at the present da}'.^ Armenia was included in the conquests of Alex- ander, and afterwards submitted to the Seleucidai of ' Ezek. xxvii., 14; also xxxviii., 6. ' Jer. li., 27-29 ; also 1., 9, 41, 42. ^ Christian Lassen, Die altpersischen Keil-Inschriften von Per- sepolis, Bonn, 1836, pp. 86, 87. * History, Bk. iii., chaj). 93. ''Anabasis, Bk. iv. 134 The Crisis in Turkey. Syria. In 190 B. c, \vhen Antiochus the Great was defeated by Scipio, Armenia revolted under Artaxias, who ga\e refuge to the exiled Kannibal. About 150 B. c, the great Parthian king, Mithridatcs I., established his brother Valarsaces in Armenia. The most celebrated king of this branch of the Arsacid family Vvas Tigranes II., who, while aiding Mithri- datcs of Pontus, was defeated by Pompey. After this, Tacitus says that the Armenians were almost always at war ; with the Romans through hatred, and with the Parthians through jealousy.' Princes of this line continued to rule, however, until the Arsacidae were driven from the Persian throne by the Sassanid Ardashir. Though frequently con- quered by the kings of that dynasty, Armenia was enabled as often to re-assert her freedom by the help of Roman arms. When Tiridates embraced Christianity, 276 A. D., the struggle became embittered by the introduction of a religious element, for the Persians were bigoted Zoroastrians. This condition reached a climax when the country v/as divided between the Romans and Persians, under Theodosius the Great, 390 A. I). After the fall of the Sassanida:, in the seventh cen- tury, Armenia was divided between the Greek Em- pire and the Saracens ; but from 859 to 1045 '^ was again ruled by a native dynasty of vigorous princes, the PagratidcU. This was brought to a close by the suspicious and sluMt-sighted policy of the Byzantine emperors, one of whom, Constantine IX., at last overthrew the Armenian kingdom, thereby laying ^ AnnaUs, Bk. ii., th. 56. AN AKMl-N'AN TOMiiSHlNK OK A.U. 934. 'i.Idence of a liiyli state ol art. 135 136 TJie Crisis in Turkey. open the whole eastern frontier to the invasion of the Seljouk Turks, who shortly before had begun their attacks, and who might have been successfully resisted by these hardy mountaineers. The result was fatal, both to Armenia, which was overrun, and to the Greek Empire ; for by the battle of Manzikert, 107 1 A. D., when Romanus IV. was defeated and made prisoner b}' Alp Arslan, the whole of Asia Minor was left at the mercy of the Scljouks.' Rupen, a relative of the last Pagratid sovereign, escaped into Cilicia, and established the Rupenian dynasty, which was not extinguished until the death of Leon \T., 1393, an exile in Paris, and the last of the Armenian kings. The Rupenians had entered into alliance with the Crusaders. They wel- comed the Mongolian hordes under Genghis Khan, early in the thirteenth century, and suffered the vengeance of the Mamelukes, 1375. A graphic account of the cruelties of Timour the Tartar, who devastated Armenia at the close of the fourteenth century, has been left us by Thomas of Medzop. The last great calamity which fell upon the mother country happened in 1605, when Shah Abbas forcibly transplanted twelve thousand families to Ispahan in Persia. The Armenian Church. — It is the oldest of all national churches. Their legends claim that our Lord corresponded with King Abgarus of Edcssa or Ur, and that the apostles Thaddasus and Bartholomew preached the Gospel to them. Ikit the historical founder of the Armenian church was St. Gregory ' Tozer, The Church and the Eastern Empire, pp. 22, 86. Who are the Armenians f 137 " The Iliuminator," ' an Arsaicid prince, related to KingTiridatcs (Dertad), who was consecrated Bishop of Armenia, at Caesarea, in 302 A. D. The Armenian church is Episcopal in polity, and closely resembles the Greek in outward forms. Misled by imperfect reports of the Council of Chalcedon, 451, which they were not able to attend on account of Persian persecutions, the Armenian bishops annulled its decrees in 536, thus gaining the credit of being Eutychians, which led to their gradual separation from the orthodox church, much to the satisfaction of the Persian ruler Chosroes. This es- trangement was doubtless political as much as doc- trinal, on account of the attempts at ecclesiastical supremacy by the churches of Constantinople and P.ome. As far as her ecclesiastical writers are con- cerned, and her beautiful liturgy, the Armenian church is in general orthodox. Her heresy, in com- mon with that of the rest of Christendom, is one of life rather than of doctrine. A chism in the Armenian church was brought about in the sixteenth century by Jesuit missionaries, who succeeded in detaching the community of Catholic Armenians from the mother church, of which theCatholicos at Etchmiad- zin is recognized as the supreme head. All Armenians — except perhaps the Catholic, whose allegiance has been transferred of course to Rome — still cherish a passionate attachment for the venerable church of their ancestors, to which they owe their identity as a people after the terrible vicis- ' Krikor " Loosavoritch," from which title the Armenian Gregorian church calls itself Loosavortcliagan. J 8 The Crisis in Turkey. sitiidcs of so many centuries. It is true that Ar- menians who have come under European influence, c^^i^ecially French, have to some extent become scep- tical and indifferent to reHgion. But even such men st'll profess at least an outward loyalty, as a matter of sentiment, and because they believe the formal preservation of the Armenian church to be the con- dition of national union in the future as it has been in the past. It is, indeed, almost a political necessity, as the Ottoman Empire is now constituted. It is to be hoped that the time will come when the children of the Armenian church of every shade will no longer look upon her as a mother frail and failing, yet to be treated with respect while she lasts ; nor as a mother ignorant and bigoted beyond hope of re- form ; still less, as one heretical and to be abandoned for Rome. Rather, let all her sons rally around her and help her to fulfil her true spiritual mission. She will then renew her youth and again take her honored place in the front ranks of " the Church of the living God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth." Would that the .spirit of the grand and broad- r.iindcd man who is now the Catholicos at Etchmiad- ;.!;i. His Holiness, Mugerditch Khrimian, might pervade the whole body of which he is the honored and beloved head. Less than a year ago, the author had the privilege of a long private interview with this venerable ecclesiastic, whose hand he kissed in ori- ental fashion, with respect for the man and for himself. His last words to me, found upon the title-page, were " HusaJiadclii chenk," meaning, " We must not despair" — a good motto for us all. H7io are llie Armenians f 139 That the grand old church of "The Illuminator" should somewhat lose its hold on the mind and con- science of the rising generation at this stage of supcr- THE CATHOLICOS OF ETCHMIADZIN, IN THE CAUCASUS. Religious head of the Armenian Church. ficial enlightenment is not strange. Ilcr real merits are concealed, unfortunately, under a growth of super- stition and ignorance which even the clergy admit. 140 The Crisis in Turkey. but lac"k the courage and abilit}' to remove. These abuses, however, are not clue to any demoralization of the Armenian race itself, but to its isolation, and to the repeated and terrible devastations that have checked its growth and reduced it to a condition of cxtieme poverty and helplessness. No greater service could be rendered to the Ar- menian people than aid and encouragement in estab- lishing institutions for the education of the clergy, who under present circumstances are their natural leaders. The twentieth century will bring, we hope, better political privileges. But unless, in the mean- time, the ancient church has maintained her hold on the conscience of the rising generation, she is in danger of sinking into the position of the church in France. By nature the Armenians are deeph' religious, a? ihcir whole literature and history show. It has been a religion of the heart, not of the head. Its evidence is not to be found in metaphysical discussions and hair-splitting theology as in the case of the Greeks, but in a brave and simple record written with the tears of saints and illuminated with the blood of martyrs. The seeds of a thorough and far-reaching reforma- tion have been carefully sown and are already bear- ing fruit. The prospect of rcfcjrm is brightened by three facts: first, the Armenian church is essentially democratic, and is not in bondage to any " infallible " human authority; second, her errors of doctrine and practice are not fundamental, and, having never been s.mctioned by councils, but simply by custom and o a o a P^ H Who are the Armenians f 141 tradition, can in due time be discarded ; third, she has always acknowledged the supreme authority of THE SUBORDINATE CATHOI.ICOS OF AGHTAMAR, A TOOL OF THE TURKS. "Wearing the Sultan's highest decorations for services rendered. the Bible, which is no longer a sealed book, having been translated into the modern tongue by American missionaries, very widely scattered, and at last gladly 14- The Crisis in Turkey. received by all classes. The dcinand for j^rogress and reform is by no means confined to the so-called "evangelical" element, but is making itself heard even in the pulpits of the old church and in the secular press. The Armenians, very numerous in ancient times, now number only about 4,000,000, of whom 2,500,000 are under the Sultan, 1,200,000 ia Russia, 150,000 in Persia, and the rest widely scattered in many lands, but everywhere distinguished for their peaceable and enterprising character. They arc the leading bankers, merchants, and skilled artisans of Turkey, and exten- sively engage in the various trades, manufactures, and agriculture as well. They love their native h.ome and are yet destined to pla}' an important jiart in the moral and material regeneration of western Asia. The following estimate is from an experienced and discriminating authorit}-, who is also a member of the Church of England : " I ha\e confessed already to a prejudice against the Armenians, but it is not possible to deny that they are the most capable, energetic, enterprising, and pushing race in Western Asia, physically su- perior, and intellectual!)' acute, and above all they are a race li'hick ean he raised in all respects to cur oivn level, neither religion, color, customs, nor inferi- ority in intellect or force constituting any barrier be- tween us. Their sh.rewdness and aptitude for busines". arc remarkable, and whatever exists of commercial enterprise in Eastern Asia Minor is almost altogether i 1 their hands. They ha\e singular elasticity, as their survival as a church and nation shows, and I Who are the Armenians f ^43 cannot but think it likely that they may have some share in determining the course of events in the East, both politically and religiously. As Orientals they understand Oriental character and modes of thought as \ve never can, ar.d if a new Pentecostal afflatus were to fall upon the educated and intelli- gent young men who are being trained in the colleges which the American churches have scattered liberally through Asia Minor, the effect upon Turkey would be marvellous. I think most decidedly that re- form in Turkey must come through Christianity, and in this view the reform and enlightenment of the religion which has such a task before it are of mo- mentous importance. " ' Language and Literature. — The Armenian grammar is analogous to that of other languages of the same origin. It has not the distinction of gen- der, but is rich in its declensions and conjugations. The accent of Armenian words is on the last sylla- ble, and many of the strong consonantal sounds strike the car cf a foreigner with harshness, and defy his tongue. The rich native vocabulary has been increased by additions from languages with which it has come in contact. It possesses also, as the Ger- man, great facility in building compound words. The earliest specimen of this language, though in the cuneiform character, is probably to be found in the tri-lingual inscriptions on the great citadel rock of Van, which have not yet been satisfactorily made out. The pre-Christian literature of Armenia, con- sisting (f national songs, has entirely perished, ex- ' Mrs. Bishop, Journeys ir Persia and Kurdistan, vol. ii., p. 336. 144 ^^ Ci'isis in Ttirkey, cept a few quotations. All that has come down to us is subsequent to the fourth century, and refers exclusively to history or religion. Poetry and fiction never greatly flourished among this serious race, al- ways in the midst of danger or suffering. The ancient Armenian version of the Bible, made by Mesrob, the inventor of their alphabet, and his disciples, early in the fifth century, has been called the queen of versions for its beauty, and, though not based on the Hebrew, is of some critical value in determining the readings of the Septuagint, of which it does not follow any known recension. Hundreds of other translations from Syriac and Greek writers soon followed, some of which are extant only in Armenian. The fifth century, their Golden Age, was adorned by such classic writers as Yeznig of Goghp, who wrote most eloquently, in four books, against the Persian fire-worshippers, the Greek philosophers, the Marcion heresy, and the Manichsans ; Goriun, the biographer of Mesrob ; David, the philosopher and translator of Aristotle ; Ycghishe, who relates the heroic struggle of Vartan for the Christian faith against the Persian Zoroastrians ; Lazarus of Parb ; and Moses of Khorene, their national historian. There follows a period of four centuries of literary barrenness, due to political disorder and schism. Under the Rupenian dynasty there was a second period of literary brilliancy. Then flourished Nerses Schnorhali " The Gracious," an orator grafted upon the poet ; as well as Nerses of Lampron, whose hymns also enrich the beautiful Armenian liturgy. The Who are the Armenians 9 145 annals of Matthew of Edessa give interesting facts about the first Crusade. Samuel of Ani, John THE ISLAND MONASTERY OF AGHTAMAR, IN LAKE VAN. One of many similar Armenian Monasteries srill existing, rich in parchment manuscripts exposed to decay and vandalism. Vanagan, Vartan the Great, and Thomas of Med- zop wrote succeeding chronicles. A third revival of Armenian letters was begun by 10 146 TJie Crisis in Turkey. Mechitar of Sebaste (Sivas),who established an order of Catholic monks at the monastery of St. Lazarus in Venice, 1717. These fathers have won the inter- est and admiration of European scholars by their publication of Armenian classics, together with many learned original contributions. Other centres of literary activity are to be found in Vienna, Paris, and the Institute of Moscow, as well as the schools of Constantinople and Tiflis. A list of authorities on Armenian subjects is given in Appendix E. CHAPTER XI. AMERICANS IN TURKEY, THEIR WORK AND INFLUENCE. THE American missionaries in the Turkish Em- pire are brought into the discussion of ahuost every question that arises in that land. Especially is this true at present, in connection with the Armenian problem. So many wild and contra- dictory statements are made in regard to them, and the Protestant communities which are the direct re- sults of their labors, that the mind of the public is more or less confused on the subject. The mission- aries, and the many thousands who have gladly fol- lowed their leadership in intellectual, moral, and religious reform, are an important, though not a noisy or conspicuous element. For this reason, as well as on account of popular ignorance and hostile misrepresentation, they cannot be overlooked in any fair and adequate survey of the situation. The writer has long been familiar with this phase of the subject, and has a large mass of evidence and statis- tics at his command. But he is not coniiccted -with any of the various missionary societies iin'olved, and is alone responsible for the statements made in this or any other part of the volume. 147 148 The Crisis in Turkey, It is very important to note that charges against the missionaries, of disloyalty to the Sultan, have never been sustained for a moment, and that investi- gation has shown them to be obedient to the laws, and opposed to revolutionary sentiments upon the part of any of the subjects of the Empi-'i. The highest ofTficials have repeatedly borne public testi- mony to the valuable services of the Americans in educational, literary, medical and philanthropic lines. Even H. L IM. Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid has graciously given expression to his confidence in Americans as being free from any political designs, such as all Europeans are supposed to entertain. Many are not aware of the great work already ac- complished by American missionaries during the past seventy years in the Ottoman Empire, nor of the vast influence they have exerted, both directly and indirectly. They have been in many depart- ments the pioneers of civilization. They have stuck to their posts, obscure or prominent, in peace or in war, in famine, plague and persecution. Pashas and diplomats and generals have sought their aid without fear of being misled or betrayed. But the messen- gers of the Cross have never been swerved from what they consider a "higher calling" — to instruct the ignorant, young and old, to counsel and reclaim the erring, to attend the sick and imprisoned, and to comfort the broken-hearted. To support these gen- eral statements, the reader must pardon a few statis- tics compiled from the latest oflficial tables, showing the direct results of American missionary effort in Turkey. Americans in Turkey. 149 STATISTICS OF AMERICAN MISSIONS IN TURKEY.' The following figures, with the exception of the Press statistics, represent the work of the American Board (Congregational) and of the Presbyterian Board taken together. The Congregational proportion constitutes about three fourths and the Presbyterian one fourth in all these figures, the work of the latter society being confined to Syria and Mosul. THE FORCE. Laborers, Foreign missionaries .....,, 223 Native pastors, preachers, teachers, etc. . . . 1,094 Total force of laborers . . . . .1,317 American missionaries to Turkey since 1821 , . . 550 ' By far the largest part of foreign missionary work in Turkey has always been in the hands of Americans, although, of course, they neither claim nor have any monopoly in this respect. As a mat- ter of fact there are many other large and successful missionary, be- nevolent, and educational enterprises conducted in that land by other foreign societies as well as individuals. The various Roman Catholic orders are strongly established in many parts, and are generally o^ French connections and introduce that language in their work as the Americans do English. The fol]o\\ing is a partial list of other socie ties at work in Turkey : The British and Foreign Bible Society, the Church Missionary Society, the Bible Lands Missions Aid Society, the British Syrian Mission Schools and Bible Work, the Church of Scotland Mission to the Jews, the Society of Friends (both English and American), the Irish Presbyterian Mission, the Reformed Pres- byterian Mission, and the German Deaconesses. In addition to all these agencies, there are many private and local schools and institu- tions that are doing excellent work, but of which only this general mention can here be made. The statistics of Robert College, Constantinople, are not included in these tables, as that institution, though a child of American Mis- sions, is independent of them. I50 The Crisis in Tiirkey. Plant. Value of property held by Americans, exclusive of churches, schools, etc., erected in the names of native subjects, with foreign aid, for which sta- tistics are not available ..... $2,500,000 Annual Expenditure. Appropriations from America .... $225,000 From native sources ...... 60,000 Total expenditure annually . . . $285,000 Total American expenditure from the first, at least $10,000,000 THE RESULTS. Religious. Churches organized .... Other stated preaching places . Total number of preaching places Communicants (received on confession of faith) Members of Protestant civil communities (adherents Average Sunday congregations .... Sunday-school membership Educational. Colleges well equipped, for both sexes Theological seminaries High-schools for boys ) Boarding-schools for girls ) Common schools for both sexes Total schools of all grades . 621 Students 5 6 - students So 530 •' 155 281 436 13,528 60,000 40,000 35,000 4,085 23,315 27,400 There arc six American institutions in Turkey incorporated under the laws of the United States, and controlled b\' trustees in that land. Medical. There is a well equipped American Medical Col- lege and Hospital at Beirut, and American mission- Americans in Turkey. 1 5 1 ary physicians treat, yearly, many thousands of paticn!:, of all classes and races throughout the land, bolli in their dispensaries and in private prac- tice, at a nominal sum and very often gratuitously. Publishing. Both weekly and monthly newspapers are pub- lished by the American missionaries at Constantino- ple, in the Armenian, Turkish, Greek, and Bulgarian languages, and an Arabic weekly is published at Beirut. The catalogue of editions of the Scriptures and of religious,, educational, and miscellaneous books and tracts in various languages, which may be obtained at the American Bible House, Constantinople, con- tains separate titles to the number of about looo. The publications in the catalogue of the Presbyte, rian Press at Beirut, mostly in Arabic, number 507. The number of copies of the Scriptures (entire or in part) put in circulation by the Levant Agency of the American Bible Society alone, 1847 to '893, is 1,378,- 715. The number of copies of the Scriptures (entire or in part) in languages and type available for Mo- hammedans, put in circulation by the same Agency in 1893, was Osmanli-Turkish (Arabic type), 5,392; Arabic language (Arabic type), 34,077 ; total, 39,469. The number of copies of Scriptures (entire or in part) circulated in Turkey since 1820 amounts to about 3,000,000. The number of copies of other books and tracts for the same period is about 4,000,- 000. The total number of copies of the Scriptures and of miscellaneous literature circulated is therefore about 7,000,000. 152 The Crisis in Turkey. Even these large figures by no means measure the extent and significance of Protestant influence in Turkey. The idea and spirit of Protestantism has a breadth which cannot be measured or portrayed by figures. As a matter of convenience and political ARMENIAN FAMILY, BITLIS. necessity, and also to destroy unity of feeling and action among the subject peoples, all non-AIosIem races were classified by Mohammed II., after the capture of Constantinople in 1453, according to their religious beHef. These lines of division have always" Americans in Turkey. 153 been strictly observed by the government in all its dealings with non-Moslems. Even many of the taxes are collected through ecclesiastical organizations. This policy of the government, together with the bitter persecution of Protestants by the older churches, led to the formation of a Protestant civil community in 1850, contrary to the original desire and instruction of the missionaries, and in spite of the protests of many evangelicals who preferred to retain connection with their ancestral church, but who were thrust out with violence and anathema. The Protestant communities which then sprang up all over the Empire, were not ruled, as are the other Oriental churches, by hierarchical bodies. The mis- sionaries, who are mostly Congregational or Presby- terian, while ready to advise and guide, have never exercised ecclesiastical control over their converts. The Protestants, in accordance with their inherent spirit and beliefs, have naturally organized their re- ligious and civil communities on a simple representa- tive basis, which has gradually developed indepen- dence of thought and character, and desire for progress. We come now to the indirect results of missionary effort, namely, the stimulus of evangelical example and success upon the Gregorian and other communities including even the Mohammedans. The homes, schools, and churches of the missionaries have been open to all comers ; their varied literature has gone everwhere ; their aid in sickness, distress, and famine has always ignored race or creed. Many thousands of Armenians, Greeks, Syrians, Jacob- 154 The Crisis hi lUrhcy. ites and others — Moslems being prevented by their rulers except in rare instances — have received education in Protestant schools, without changing their church relations. But, nevertheless, a deep impression has been made on these pupils by con- tact no less than by teaching, and this, together with a natural and worthy loyalty to their own institutions, has stirred up all the other races to higher ideals and efforts.' The existence of a marked desire for progress by all classes is now clear, and that this is largely due to foreign missionaries is admitted by air — gratefully by the Armenians and Christians generally, but often with chagrin by the Turks, who find themselves ' " The creation of churches, strict in their discipline, and protest- ing against the mass of superstitions wliich smother all spiritual life in the National Armenian Church, is undoubtedly having a very salu- tary effect far beyond the limited membership, and is tending to force reform upon an ancient church which contains within herself the ele- ments of resurrection." — Mrs. Bishop, yourtuys in Persia au J Kurd, islan, vol. ii., p. 336. ' Unhappily there are some who can see nothing but bigotry and mistakes in what the missionaries have done. Such characters are to be found among all races, as the following extract shows : " It might be thought that here, [Missilonghi] on the spot where he [Dyron] breathed his last, malignity would have held her accursed tongue ; but it was not so. He had committed llic fault, unpardonable in the eyes of political opponents, of attacliing himself to one of the great parties that then divided Greece ; and though he had given her all that man could give, in his own dying words, 'his time, his means, his health, and, lastly, his life,' the Greeks spoke of him with all the rancour and bitterness of party spirit. Even death had not won obliv- ion for his political offences ; and I heard those who saw him die in her cause afhrm that Byron was no friend to Greece." — Stephens, Greece, Turkey, A'ussia, and Poland, New York : Harper and Brothers, 1839. Americans in Turkey, 155 being rapidly left behind in the forward march which they have been too stupid or too proud to fall in with. It is, however, very gratifying to see that the Mohammedan leaders in both Church and State are at length becoming aware of the marked intellectual awakening and substantial progress that education has quietly brought about among the Christian races. Robert College on the Bosphorus stands at the head of the many well equipped American institutions in Turkey which have largely contributed to these results. We gladly recognize the wisdom and energy of His Majesty the present Sultan, in trying to estab- lish Moslem schools throughout his empire, some of which are already quite large, creditable, and popu- lar with the Turks. It cannot be doubted that these schools will lead ultimately to an awakening and a desire for reform and progress among Moslems which will make them no less restive under present conditions than are the non-Moslems to-day, and thus hasten the necessary reforms. While most hearty praise is due His Majesty for fostering and even forcing education among his Moslem subjects, it is greatly to be regretted that there is another side to this policy as carried out by his agents, namely, an equal zeal in curtailing and even closing, as far as possible, Christian schools. The hostility of the Sublime Porte has been grow- ing, just in proportion as the excellent results of American institutions, already enumerated, have appeared. Does the Turkish Government desire that its hostility be considered the most convincing 1 56 TJic Crisis in Turkey. proof of the success of disinterested efforts to benefit its subjects of all classes? And does it propose to continue to cripple and suppress such efforts ? If so, it is not the two hundred and fifty American missionaries in her borders who will suffer, but the many schools and churches which they have planted and the many thousands of peaceable and hitherto loyal subjects, who have been taught in them to serve God as well as honor the king. CHAPTER XII. ARMENIAN VILLAGE LIFE. THE following description will show to what con- dition the villagers of Armenia had been re- duced by their oppressors. And yet it was siicJi people who had to be further inpoverished and massacred, lest by their indomitable hopefulness and industry, and by the operation of reforms guaranteed by Europe, they might rise to equality with their Mohammedan neighbors. Of course the customs and style of living of the Armenians in the cities and in some villages, were on a far higher plane, but they too have now been utterly prostrated. It is very easy to miss the villages as one travels through the country ; their location is indicated by a few trees and cultivated fields rather than by con- spicuous buildings. The houses themselves are in- variably low and contiguous, and of the color of the mud and stones of which they arc made. Where the houses are on a hillside they run back into the ground, so that they present only a front elevation, the solid earth forming the sides and rear wall. Tn the region of Bitlis the earthen roofs of the houses, instead of being flat, are rounded, and thus the vil- lage at a distance looks like a collection of gigantic 157 158 TJie Crisis in Turkey. ant-hills, from the centre of which, however, there towers a church, s\-mbolic of the great and promi- nent part which religion plays in the humble lives of the people. The churches and monasteries are often very ancient structures of hewn stone, in some cases richly carved with inscriptions and reliefs, and sur- mounted with a low round conical tower. The dif- ference between these fine old structures and the modern hovels which surround them forcibly sug- gests to the beholder the former prosperity of this ancient people when independent, in contrast with the poverty and degradation to which they have been reduced by their Ottoman masters. In some places the remains of fine stone bridges are to be seen, where now the traveller is compelled to ford the stream, at the risk of losing his baggage and perhaps his life. The family is conducted on strictly patriarchal lines. As the sons grow up and are married they bring their brides to the father's house instead of starting new homes of their own. For this large establishment, which includes all, from grandparents to grandchildren, the word " family " or " house " is used. With this explanation it does not seem so strange to hear of families of twenty or even fifty souls. These large families are the units which com- pose the village. The members of each family have everything in common, property, living rooms, house- hold cares and pleasures included. The freedom of the family home belongs not sim- ply to every human member of it, but is also gener- ously conferred upon the numerous animals on which Armenian Village Life. 159 the family depends. As day declines, cows, buffaloes, horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, and chickens all turn their steps to the common entrance, where each knows his place and is duly cared for. There is little distinction between drawing-room, kitchen, chamber, and stable ; they all form parts of one semi-subterranean cavern, which is divided by posts, railings, and walls, forming a veritable labyrinth to the stranger, though every turn is familiar to the regular occupants. The people gladly welcome the European traveller, as an angel from the outside world, who can take back their story, and who, they know, will pay for all he receives, instead of extorting it as do the Kurds and Turkish zaptichs, or police. On reaching the village where one is to spend the night, he naturally desires at once to see his quar- ters. After the saddle is removed that it may not be injured in going through the low passages, both horse and traveller are led in by the light of a flicker- ing wick in a cup of linseed-oil, which barely suffices to reveal the sooty walls and posts. The guide warns you not to strike your head on that beam, or to step into the puddle on your left ; in avoiding the puddle you stumble over something on the right, but your host immediately puts you at your ease by saying it was only a calf. He then proceeds to remove a yoke of buffaloes or half a dozen sheep from one obscure corner, and informs you that it is at your disposal. The poor creatures linger so near that )'ou can hear them breathe and catch the reproachful expression of their lustrous eyes. Before you realize what is i6o TJic Crisis in Turkey, going on, the corner has been swept, with the effect of raising a stilling dust. In summer you would prefer the roof to the inside accommodation, but this happy alternative would be impossible in win- ter. The temperature of these crowded, unvcnti- lated, damp compartments — not to mention the fleas — makes you so uncomfortable that sleep is out of the question. A hole in the roof is often the only window, and serves also as a chimney ; but in winter even this is generally closed. The heavy pungent smoke of the animal fuel with which your supper is being cooked at last drives you out of your corner, and you conclude to take a quiet look about the house. The children, overawed by your presence, make no sound and hardly dare to move. You notice one woman nursing a baby, tightly rolled in swaddling bands and strapped into a cradle. She does not remove the child, but sits upon the floor, which is of earth, tilting the cradle over to her. The cradle has no rockers, and if the child cries he is rudely " soothed " by being bumped from side to side. Another woman is churning a goatskin full of sour milk by jerking it back and forth as it hangs from a beam in the roof. The meal, which consists of fermented milk, boiled wheat or rice, and eggs fried in a sea of butter, is at last served in the middle of the floor, on a round tray, about a yard in diameter, of wood or copper, resting on a low stool. Every article of food is served in a single dish, from which each helps himself, using his fingers for a fork. If the food is liquid, it is eaten by twisting the thin tenacious bread into the form of Armenian Village Life. i6i a spoon, which disappears in the mouth together with what it conveys. The civiHzed drudgery of dish- washing is thus reduced to the simple process of washing hands, wliich each one does for himself, both before and after the meal. A certain etiquette and kindly feeling refines even these dismal homes, and points to higher ideals than the material condition would indicate. THE SASSOUN COMMUNITY. As a matter of history I wish to place on record a brief description of the inhabitants of Sassoun, who were killed, scattered and destroyed as a com- munity by the massacre of 1894, and subsequent events. Hemmed in by rough mountains and wild Kurds, the Armenians of the Sassoun district were a re- markable community of about forty villages, shut off from the outside world, of which they had only the most vague ideas. Their position, bravery, and numbers had enabled them to resist, to some extent, the robber tribes around them, but not the con- stantly increasing extortions of the Turkish tax- gatherer. The dread of the former and the burden of the latter were all that clouded their otherwise glad and simple existence. They vrcre not, like the more exposed and impoverished Armenians of the plains, in the habit of seeking employment in distant cities, but, like all mountaineers, were passionately attached to home. The commercial instinct, so strong in most Armenians, was foreign to them. I once asked one of the leading men of Ghelieguzan, 11 1 62 The Crisis hi Turkey. " What is there >ou need which you cannot make yourselves?" "Nothing but salt," he instantly re- plied, adding, after a pause, " and gunpowder." Shut out the Kurds, and the Armenians would have had no use for gunpowder except against the bears and wolves. Though the mountains were rocky and precipitous, a large population supported itself by the care oi fields and flocks in the fertile and sheltered valley.-;. Life in Sassoun was physically comfortable, though not luxurious. Open-handed hospitality and care of the poor were as much a duty as provision for one's own family. The houses were of stone, often two and even three stories high. There was considerable variety in the occupations which followed one another in rapid succession throughout the year. Xo drones were tolerated in that busy hive, and in all their toil men and women stood shoulder to shoulder. Which bore the heavier burden the reader may decide. Take the care of the flocks and herds for instance, in which their chief wealth consisted. To the men was entrusted the task of pasturing and protecting them, but the women did all the milking and made the butter and cheese. The shearing of the sheep was men's work, but the women washed, carded, and spun the wool into thread, which Avas then woven into excellent cloth by the men on their heavy looms, and after- ward made into garments for all the household by the women. Crude cotton, also, brought from Mesopotamia, was put through the same stages. The bringing of wood and water was always left to Armenia7i Village Life. 163 the women and girls. After the men had ploughed, sowed, and irrigated the fields, the reaping — a very slow and laborious task — was done by their wives and sisters, who also winnowed and cleaned the grain, after the men had threshed it. The straw was carefully stored for the food of the horses and cattle in winter. During the dry months of summer practically all the animals and most of the women and children would migrate to the cool upper slopes of the mountains, where the melting snow keeps the grass always green. The men by irrigation were able to raise wheat, millet, barley, and rye, together with such vegetables as potatoes, tomatoes, squashes, cucum- bers, turnips, peas, and beans. Around their rude low stone houses they nourished a few fruit trees such as the apple, pear, cherry, apricot, and quince. In the lower valleys of Talori the fig also flourished and the vine, but in the course of the massacre all fruit trees and vineyards throughout the region were systematically cut down. Honey of excellent quality was very abundant. These clever people made even their own iron tools, which were so good as to be readily sold in Moosh and other neighborinir towns. The villajrers obtained the iron from the crude ore which, after being laboriously extracted by hand was reduced in rude furnaces, kept at melting heat by hand bellows day and night, two weeks at a time. The only fuel used was wood, and care had to be taken not to let the metal run out in quantities larger than a black- smith could easily handle in making a plowshare. t64 The Crisis in Turkey. scythe, axe, sword, or knife. The report that these blacksmiths even had the skill to make a rifle barrel is a mistake. I once asked a man and his wife to enumerate the various tasks which fell to their respective sexes and was quite amused at the eag'^r competition into which they at once entered. Strange to say, the woman entirely omitted the t/aining and care of children as one of her additional burdens. When I called attention to this oversight they both exclaimed " The children take care of themselves." And so they do, almost from the first. The children, with their bright eyes and ruddy faces, would be attractive but for the fact .that they were often far from tidy, and were dressed in coarse garments of red or blue. They were loved but not often petted, being taught to be silent and to show an air of reverence in the presence of their elders. At a very early age, the children were initiated into the employments which were to occupy their lives. Almost the only men who knew how to read and write were those connected with the Church, and they were by no means adepts. In the matter of numbers, however, they could easily calculate with- out the aid of figures. These intelligent highlanders knew the value of education, and had repeatedly tried to start schools in their villages, but they were invariably closed by the government. The morality of the people of Sassoun was of a very high standard. Wine made by themselves was moderately used on festive occasions, but drunken- ness was practically unknown. The mountain j4.rmenian Village Life. 165 women, unlike their sisters of the cities, used the veil, not to cover the face, but to fall as a graceful drapery down the back. They had the frank and direct look which we are accustomed to see only in children, and Averc quick to detect and resent evil, even with violence, as the intruder would find to his cost. These people had neither laws nor courts, but referred their disputes to the head-man of the vil- lage, from whose decision appeal was rarely made. The head-man, or "r//i-," held office simply by com- mon consent of the villagers, not as a hereditary right or a prerogative of wealth, but because of superior character and ability. Religion was a vital matter to the people of Sas- soun,but concerned itself only with the barest essen- tials. They had no more conception of theologi- cal doctrines than had the people who listened to the Sermon on the Mount. Christianity was to them a story, the characters of which were real and kept before them by the frequent festivals of the Chris- tian year. They felt profound reverence for the Virgin Mary, but Christ was the object of their wor- ship. Their gratitude, submission, and love to Him would find expression in brief significant exclama- tions, deep sighs, and sometimes silent tears. Such evidences I have frequently noticed among Armenian peasants as they listened to the reading of the Scrip- tures or engaged in prayer. Their first daily act as they stepped from their dark cheerless dwellings was an act of prayer, accompanied by repeated prostra- tions to the East with the sign of the Cross. A large number of villagers who had escaped the 1 66 The Crisis i?t Turkey. general massacre, and, relying on Turkish promises, followed their priest into the soldiers' camp, were offered their lives on condition they would trample upon the Crucifix and Holy Gospels. But the priest in horror refused to commit this sacrilege, and every member of his flock, following his example, was f(^rth- with butchered. I have carefully verified these details of Sassoun life and of the massacre in conversation with Bedros and his wife, who, after escaping almost miraculously, when a score of their relatives were killed before their eyes, were brought to London to give their testimony. I was profoundly impressed with the simple dignity and absolute truthfulness of these witnesses, who bore bodily scars, and in their faces showed the evidence of the terrible sorrow and suf- fering through which they had so lately gone. When asked what his impression was of England, the man thoughtfully replied : " I wonder at the houses, the great buildings, the fields all like gardens, the multitude of people, their wealth, and their churches ; but, most of all, I wonder that with all their greatness and power they did not lift a finger to save us, their poor fellow-Christians, of whose sufferings they have so long been officially informed." The following incident throws much light upon the character and environment of the people of Sassoun. About si.x years ago twenty armed Kurds suddenly came down upon the house of a rich man near Ghelieguzan to steal the sheep, when only his wife and children were at home. They ordered the woman to prepare a good meal before lliey left. In Armenian Village Life. 16^ the most obliging manner the housewife set about her task. But in the meantime she dispatched one of her httle boys to give the alarm to the men, away on the mountain side. The unsuspecting Kurds hung their long flint-lock rifles on the walls of the kitchen, and went out to search the stables and collect the live stock. While they were engaged in this work, out of sight, the woman with her strong fingers, quickly pulled out the flint from the lock of each musket, leaving them still hanging on the wall. In order to allow the men of her family more time, she prepared a specially elaborate meal, to which the Kurds made no objection. But when they were in the midst of the repast, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by the villagers who had hastily mustered. Each Kurd seized his flint-lock only to find it useless. They thereupon drew their swords and daggers, and were about to make a rush to escape, but were quickly brought to bay by the levelled muskets of the Armenians, to whom they thought best to surrender. After being stripped of all their arms and outer garments the Kurds were informed that they miglit go home, and if they wished their weapons they might return the next day with reinforcements and try to take them. The Kurds did not see fit to try lliis method, but so pes- tered the Armenians in other ways, that at the end of three months the muskets were given back to avoid further trouble. It should not be thought, however, that such inci- dents as this could occur among the Armenians any- where in Turkey, except among the highlanders of l68 TJie Crisis in Turkey, Sassoun, or those of Zeitoun, three hundred miles west in the Taurus mountains. These two httle communities were quite exceptional in their secure location and brave spirit. The other Armenians throughout Eastern Turkey, timid and crushed by- more severe oppression, used to speak of the Sas- sounlis with an admiration almost akin to reverence. It was on this account that tJicy were singled out by the Government for extermination, for it was feared that their brave and independent spirit might spread to the Armenians of the plains and cities, while their destruction, on the other hand, would strike terror everywhere, and prove a salutary object-lesson to those who might be disposed to express dissatisfac- tion with the Sultan's rule. In this calculation the Turks were mistaken. The blood of those noble mountaineers, instead of acting like a stupefying drug upon the Armenian race, proved to be a stimu- lant, and enlisted the sympathy of Europe. This so alarmed and irritated the Turks that, in order to prevent any progress of the Armenians either through their own efforts or those of Europe, they have committed further massacres in comparison with which Sassoun hardly deserves to be mentioned. There arc no words to characterize the cowardly betrayal of the Armenians by England, and Europe which guaranteed their protection. The " Powers " impotent for good, while masquer- ading in the livery of Christianity, have proved its worst enemies and shown themselves callous even to the principles of ordinary humanity. APPENDIX A. A BIT OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN TURKEY THE CASE. (Foreign Relations of the United States, 1884, pp. 538-539.') (Inclosure in No. 317.) Mr. Wallace to Aarifi Pasha. Note Verbale. Legation of the United States, Constantinople, yanuary 2^/., 1884 The legation of the United States of America has the honor to in- vite the attention of his highness, the minister of foreign affairs, lo the matters following : By note No. 167, June 13, 1883, the legation informed his high- ness that two American citizens, traveling in the vilayet of Bitlis, had been set upon by Kurds, robbed, and left to die, and that the governor-general of the vilayet had manifested the most singular in- difference about the affair, and might be fairly charged with responsi- bility for the escape of the malefactors. The suggestion was then made that his highness would serve the cause of humanity and justice by ordering the most energetic measures to be taken for the appre- hension of the robbers. By a communication. No. 71235, June 13, 1883, his highness was good enough to answer the note of the legation, and give the pleas- • This is an exact copy of the official documents as published by the State Department, capitalization included. 169 1 ^o The Crisis in Turkey. ing intelligence that the governor-general had succeeded in discover- ing the goods taken from the two gentlemen, and that the robbers had been arrested and delivered up to justice. This information his highness reported as derived from the governor-general. This report the legation found it necessary to correct; and for that purpose it addressed a second note to his highness, the minister of foreign aflairs. No. 179, dated September 10, 1SS3, declaring that the robbers had not been arrested, and that the goods and money taken from Messrs. Knapp and Reynolds had been returned to them, but in small parts. Under impression that it was yet possible to obtain the powerful assistance of the Sublime Porte in bringing the thieves and assassins to justice, the legation in the same note proceeded to give the full particulars of the affair, both those connected with the as- sault and those descriptive of the action of the governor-general. Of the assault, it remarked that Messrs. Knapp and Reynolds, accepting the assurance of the governor-general that the roads were perfectly safe, set out on their journey without a guard of zaptiehs. They put up for a night at a house where there was present Moussa Bey, son of Meza Bey, an influential Kurdish chief. When they took their coffee they failed to send a cup of it to the said Moussa, who feeling himself insulted by the inattention, took four assistants and next day waylaid the gentlemen, one of whom, Mr. Knapp, they beat with clubs until they supposed him dead. Moussa Bey, with his own band, cut down Dr. Reynolds, giving him ten cuts with a sword. The two were then bound and dragged into the bushes and there left to die. That there might be no excuse, such as tliat the murderers were unknown, tlie legation gave his highness the names of the sub- ordinate assassins and their places of abode, Sherif Oglon Osman and Iskan Oglon Hassan, both of the village of Movnok. A third one was pointed out as the servant of Moussa Bey, living in the vil- lage of Kabiaa. Of the action of the governor-general the legation said further that when the affair was reported to him he made a show of action by sending zaptiehs to arrest the robbers, but, singular to remark, he selected .Meza Bey, the father of Moussa, to take charge of the party. Going to the village of Auzont, Meza Bey pointed out four Kurds of another tribe as the guilty men, took them into cus- tody and carried them for identification to Messrs. Knapp and Rey- nolds, who said they were not the assailants. During the night, in Aozou, ainindic was thrown through a window into a room occupied by the police, whicli on txaniiuation proved to Appendix, ^^l contain a portion of the stolen goods. With this the governor-gen- eral rested from his efforts and dispatched to his highness the minis- ter of foreign affairs, that the stolen goods were recovered and returned, and the felons captured and punished. This report, the legation took the liberty of informing his highness, was not true, also that the chief of the assassins, Moussa Bey, was still at large ; and to emphasize its statement, the legation furtlier said to his highness, that the details it communicated were current through all the region of Bitlis, having been first given out by Moussa himself. The lega- tion then, in the same note, exposed the maladministration of the governor-general in language plain as respect for his highness, the minister, and for the Sublime Porte would permit, and suggested as the only means of accomplishing anything like redress that a brave impartial officer be sent to Bitlis to investigate the conduct of the governor and take the affair in his own hands. " Such a step," it was added, " might serve to save the lives of many Christians," and it was further represented that "could the assassins be brought to just sentence it would unquestionably lessen the demand for indem- nity which otherwise it would be the duty of the legation to present against the Imperial Government in this connection." On November 7, 1883, the legation of the United States, by a third note, No. 184, communicated to his highness, the minister of foreign affairs, that the governor-general of Bitlis had confronted four per- sons with Mr. Knapp for identification, and that that gentleman had recognized Moussa Bey as one of those who had robbed and wounded him. The legation of the United States then expressed a hope that the minister of foreign affairs would give proper orders for bringing Moussa Bey and his companions in crime before the tribunals for trial. Still later, on November 12, 18S3, the legation of the United States addressed a fourth note, No. 185, to his highness, the minister of foreign affairs, detailing again the circumstances of the attempted murder of Messrs. Knapp and Reynolds, and representing the un- trustworthiness of the governor-general by charging that Moussa Bey had already obtained froir him assurances of immunity in the event of a trial and conviction. His highness, the minister, was then requested that, if it was decided to maintain the governor-general at his post, orders be given for the transfer of the criminals to Constantinople for trial. The three notes last named of the legation of the United States 17^ The Crisis in Turkey. have not been answered by his highness, the minister of foreign affairs, except in a note, dated December 8, 18S3, in which he is pleased to renew assurances based upon telegrams from the governor- general, which are utterly unreliable. Wherefore, abandoning hope of justice through the governor- general of Bitlis, and the judicial tribunals of the empire, the legation of the United States finds itself compelled to change its form of ap- plication for redress, and demand of the Sublime Porte indemnity in behalf of Messrs. Knapp and Reyrclds, for the former p^i, 500, and for the latter, because of the more serious nature of his injuries, ;^2,000. THE POSITION TAKEN IN WASHINGTON. (Foreign Relations of the United States, 1884, p. 544.) No. 419. ATr. Frelinghtiysen to Mr. Wallace. (No. 153.) DErARTMKNT OF STATE, Washington, February /j, 1S84. Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 317, of the 25th ultimi), relative to the case of the Rev. Mr. Knapp and Dr. Reynolds, murderously attacked by Kurds near Bitlis, and to say that, after a careful consideration of all the facts before the Depart- ment, the inaction of the governor of Bitlis and the failure of the supreme Cioverninent to force him to undertake such measures as the case evidently demanded, must be regarded as a denial of justice. While this Government is always averse to making money demands for indemnity in countries whose administration of justice may differ from our own, the Department feels compelled to resort to this remedy under circumstances which manifestly make the local officers and the Government of the Porte responsible for the failure to do justice in this case. The action reported in your dispatch is, consequentlv. approved. I am, NSTANTiNOPLE, March i, 1884. The Porte, in deciding how far it is safe to affront foreign Gov- ernments, has even ranked the United States below some of the European States. The Porte during the past year has treated Gen- eral Wallace as if he were the representative of a Danubian Princi- pality. Remonstrance after remonstrance against fresh violations of the treaties it has left unanswered, and it has repeatedly omitted the courtesy of a bare acknowledgment of their receipt. In fact, Turkey has been relying upon the distance of the United States. Perhaps its officials even suppose that the American navy is afraid to risk adven- tures so far from home as the coasts of the Levant. General Wallace found it necessary, for the sake of the safety of American citizens in Turkey, to press for some definition of the situa- tion. During nearly five weeks he had been refused a personal interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the ground of " indisposition." During all that time the representative of that Min- ister declined to enter upon any discussion of the important questions at issue. Four times the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States had been turned away from the door of the Sublime Porte by the refusal of the Grand Vizier to see him. Each time plausible reasons were assigned which seemed to render any insistance on the part of the General uncourteous. Yet it became daily more evident that all these plausible excuses for declining negotiation on the inju- ries done by Turkey to American commerce and to American citizens were part of a settled purpose not to redress the wrongs. — New York Semi-Weekly Tribune, March 28, 1884. I 74 TJic Crisis i)i Turkey. THE RESULT. The ten years that have elapsed since the above was written clearly show that wiiat seemed then to be a " settled purpose " has become the settled policy of the Ottoman Government in regard to Americans and their rights in Turkey. In regard to the outcome of the case of Messrs. Knapp and Ray- nolds, the humiliating fact must be recorded that not one cent of the indemnity demanded by the United States of America has to this day been obtained. The monster, Moussa Bey, was allowed by the Turkish Government to continue his outrages on the Armenian vil- lages of the great Moosh plain, until his record became so appalling, that under European pressure the Porte summoned him to Constanti- nople, where he was entertained as the Sultan's guest. He was whitewashed by the courts, but the Sultan was prevailed upon to invite him to make a pilgrimage to Medina at his expense, and there spend the remainder of bis days in religious exercises. APPENDIX B. V. S. CONSULATES IN EASTERN TURKEY. The following petition was recently presented to the Hon. Walter Q. Gresham, Secretary of State, and to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, for the establish- ment of U. S. Consulates at Erzerum and Harpoot. The necessary legislation has been promptly enacted, for which the thanks of all Americans in Turkey is due to His Excellency the President, to the Secretary of State and to members of both Houses of Congress. Washington, D. C, Jan. 3, 1895, Apropos to the recent massacre of five thousand Armenians in Turkey, it is clearly inexpedient for the United States to mix up in the Eastern Question. But it is equally clear that //le duty of pro- tecting a large body of native born American citizens constantly sub- jected to danger, injury and insult in that land is not complicated by any Monroe Doctritie. In their interests, attention is called to this brief statement of facts, and to a practical request for consular pro- tection. 1. Number of Individuals and Interests Involved. Distributed in thirty of the principal cities of Asiatic Turkey alone, there is a permanent body of two hundred and fifty Americans, not including their children, who hold over two million dollars of Ameri- can property for residence and the use of their educational, medical, publishing and religious enterprises. These figures do not cover the large commercial interests of Ameri- cans in Turkey, for which statistics are not at hand. 2. Nature and Extent of the Danger to which they ARE Exposed. There are two sources of danger : first, the lawlessness of numerous highwaymen who infest the country, and of the fanatical Moslem 175 1 7^ The Crisis in Turkey, population of the cities ; and second, the hostility of Turkish oflicials, who have repeatedly failed to restrain, and in some cases have even encouraged attacks upon the lives and property of American citizens. 3, EVIDEN'CE OF THIS DANGEROUS CONDITION. So far back as June 2gth, 18S1, Secretary Blaine, in official instruc- tions to Minister Wallace at Constantinople, wrote : " Vour attention will doubtless be prominently and painfully drawn to the insecurity of the lives and property of foreign travelers in Turkey, and the failures of the authorities to prevent or repress outrages upon American citizens by wayside robbers and murderers, or even to execute its own laws in the rare instances of the peq^etra- tors of such outrages being brought to justice. I cannot take a better text on which to base this instruction, than the accompanying copy of a letter addressed to the President by a number of American resi- dents in Turkey. Its statements are known to be entirely within the truth, and can be verified abundantly from the files of your legation. They show in simple yet forcible language, the insecurity of traveling in that country, and the instances to the number of eight, within the past two years, when American citizens have been robbed and beaten by lawless marauders. On these occasions the lives of the assailed have been at the mercy of the robbers and, in one instance at least, the taking of life preceded the robbery." — Foreign Rela- tions of the United States iSSi. The above extract refers to outrages in Western Asia Minor and the vicinity of Constantinople, but it is well known that in the Eastern and interior part of Turkey, where many of us live, the in- security is greater and has steadily increased, during the thirteen years that have elapsed since the above facts were admitted by the State Dcpartttient. The murderous attack by a Kurdish chief in person, which nearly cost Dr. G. C. Raynolds, of Van his life, and for which 7to indemnity was ever obtained, though the assailant was positively identified in court, is reported in full in Foreign Relations of the United States, 18S3, 1884, and 1S90. The arrest and indignities inflicted upon Mr. Richardson of Erz- erum, by the Governor-General, for which no apology even was ever tecured, are related in Foreign Relations of the United States iSgi. The buruing of Marsovau College by an unrestrained Tiukii>h mob Appendix. 1 77 and the danger io the lives of many American residents is found in Foreign Relations of the United States 1 893. More cases of injury and insult, may. be found in the same official records. But in many other instances it has been felt to be useless and inexpedient to even report them. The absence of any American representative to substantiate and vindicate our rights on the ground, h Government, that it pro- ceeded in November, 1S95, to burn and bombard the important American settlement at Harpoot. These soon followed the burning of an American building in Marash. The timid and tardy manner in which indemnity is now being sought, is likely to lead to greater insolence liy Turkey, and the ultimat-; ruin of American interests tlirougho- 1 the Empire APPENDIX C. PR. hami.in's KXPLANATION. (New York Herald^ December 20, jSq^.J To the Editor of the Herald : A cutting from the Herald has been sent to me to-day containing a letter of His Excellency, Mavroyeni, on the Armenian atrocities. I must strongly object to the use he makes of a letter of mine in the Boston Congre^ationalist of last year (December 23, 1893). The object of that letter was to show the absurdity of the revolu- tionary plotters. The Armenians are a noble race, but few in num- ber, scattered and unarmed. The Turkish Government has never had the least fear of any such movement. It knows well that there is no place in the Empire where one thousand or even one hundred Ar- menians could assemble with hostile intent. And besides they have no arms, and they are not accustomed to their use. They would be lambs in the midst of wolves. Every one knows this who knows any- thing of Turkey outside of Constantinople. It is to be greatly regretted that the Ottoman Ambassador should attempt to cover up the path of these horrid atrocities which have agitated the whole Christian world and for which Turkey must give account. It were far better to deplore the fact and work for justice and judgment. It may be the time has passed when such deeds of blood and torture, committed upon unarmed men, women and chil- dren, can be condoned by the civilized world. The plots of the revolutionists were harmless as to any effective force, but were very pernicious in arousing fanaticism. The fact that a few hair-brained young men in foreign lands had plotted a revo- lution was a sufficient reason in the view of Moslem fanaticism for devoting the whole race to destruction. It was this which 1 feared and it is this which has happened. 179 l8o The Crisis i:i Turkey. Another object of the letter, from uliicli 1 1 is Excellency has quoted, was to draw attention to the fact tliat this revolutionary movement is a game which Russia is playing in her own interests. And she has played it well. She has again caught Turkey in her trap. The whole civilized world will now approve of her marching in with force to stop the slaughter of an industrious, peaceful, unarmed peasantry. If Russia enters, it will be with professions of great kindness toward the Sultan. It will be to aid him in his well known benevolent in- tentions in tlie government of his Christian subjects ! But she will call the Armenians to her standard and will arm and train them and they will prove a brave and valiant soldiery. Some of the ablest generals of the Russian army have been Armenians. Thus armed and trained, v ith the aid of their Russian allies, they will defend their own homes in the Sassoun or any other district. Turkey has brought this upon herself. His Excellency is a Greek gentleman, and has a natural sympathy with Russia. His influence has been to magnify the revolutionary plots instead of showing, as my letter did, their insignificance and their Russian character, and has led his government to give to ihcm an importance which seems absurd. The Turkish Government has had sufficient opportunity to study and understand Russia since the Treaty of 1S29, and again of 1833. Have her trusted advisers been true to her, or have they betrayed her interests ? The civilized and Christian world awaits with profound and fixed attention the i;olution of the question whether bloody, fanatical vio- lence or law shall reign over the Eastern regions of the Turkish Empire. Cyrus Hamlin. Lexington, Mass., December 18, 1894. Eight Commandments of the Mohammedans, English Translation of the Arabic Scription on the reverse page. (l .) " They are surely infidels, who say, Verily God is Christ the son of Mary." (Koran, Chap. V.) (2.) "O true believers, take not the Jews or Christians for )-our friends: they are friends the one to the other; but whoso among you taketh them for his friends, he is surely one of them." (Chap. V.) (3.) " War is enjoined you against the infidels ; but this is hateful unto you ; yet perchance ye hate a thing which is better for you, and perchance you love a thing which is worse for you; but God knoweth, and ye know not." (Chap. II.) (4.) "Fight therefore against them, until there be no temp tation to idolatry, and the religion be God's." (Chap. II.) (5.) "Fight against the friends of Satan, for the stratagem of Satan is weak." (Chap. IV.) (6.) "And when the months wherein ye are not allowed to attack them shall be past, kill the idolaters wheresoever Vj shall find them, and take them prisoners, and besiege then:, and lay wait for them in every conv^enient place." (Chap. IX.) (7.) "When ye encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads, until ye have made a great slaughter among them." (Chap. XLVII.) (8.) "Ye are also forbidden to take to wife free women who are married, except those women whom your right hand shall possess as slaves. This is ordained you from God." (Chap. IV.) ].S1 Eight Commatidments of the Mohammeaans. Written in Turkish. i^:^ ^-'^j-^]'j>^^%l\<)^ iM'J^i V*'^ >' v*^ it: 7r~~ '77jry~~^~Z ~~" — 7"! : 1— I ^jji^o^giSqij^ggaer For Translation, see next page. 182 PART II. THE MOHAMMEDAN REIGN OF TERROR IN ARMENIA. CONTAINING THE LATEST ACCOUNTS OF THE MAS- SACRES ; THRILLING SPEECH OP THE HON. W. E. GLADSTONE ; RELIEF WORK OF CLARA BAR- TON, DR. GRACE KIMBALL AND OTHERS ; THE HISTORY OF TURKEY; MAN- NERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE, ETC., ETC. m NOTE. To guard our readers against the prejudiced and ofter unfounded statements that have appeared in regard to Arme nia, and the terrible massacres that liavc been pcrpetratcc there, we have used great care as to the source of the material here presented, and desire to express our thanks to The Inde- pendent for much valuable information, the general accuracy of which is unquestioned. 184 CHAPTER XIII. Appalling Condition of Armenia. The first part of this volume, by Frederick Davis Greene, M. A., is fully endorsed by the eminent names found in the first chapter. Dark and horrible as the record is, it does not comprise the complete story of those deeds of pillage, murder and outrage in Armenia which have shocked the whole civil- ized world, and awakened universal horror and indignation. We present additional details of these bloody massacres, and also trace the causes which led to the recent outbreak of Mo- hammedan fanaticism and crime. The following facts are indisputable : The Armenians, in hundreds of cities and villages throughout an area five hun- dred miles long and three hundred miles wide have been given over to murder, rape and robbery. The latest trust- worthy estimates from Constantinople place the actual deaths at 40,000, the great majority being males, the bread-winners of the people. Of the survivors, half a million have been reduced to extreme poverty, and two hundred and fifty thous- and, mostly women and children, are in danger of perishing from starvation, exposure and sickness, unless they will accept Mohammedanism. Misrepresentation of Facts. Persistent efforts are made to obscure the situation and to alienate sympathy from the Armenians on the ground that they are rebels. Some color has been given to this idea by the wild talk of a few desperate Armenians outside of T'ukeA' 186 Appalli)ig Co?idition of AfDienia. but, wicii the one exception of the isolated and inaccessible town of Zcitouii, there never has been anything that can be called an Armenian insurrection. The ver\- idea of such a thing is ridiculous ; for, in the first place, the Armenians are only one-tenth of the Sultan's subjects, and nowhere consti- tute a majority of the population except in the city of Van, where, strange to say, there has been no outbreak at all. Secondly, they are exclusively a commercial and agricultural people, possessing neither arms, nor a knowledge of their use. Third, they are people of sense, and know that their only hope is through European intervention. IVIij then Jiave ilicy been massacred? Because Europe did intervene and compel the Sultan to accept a Scheme of Re- forms which would give the Christians cqualit)' with Moham- medans before the law, and a proportionate share in the judicial, civil and police administration in the six eastern provinces. Motive of the Massacres. While the Sultan outwardly accepted this scheme, he could not allow its execution without endangering his authority as religious head, and the supremacy of the Turks, who are the ruling class ; for i)i principle the " Infidel " has no right to live in a Mohammedan State, exccj^t in subjection, and /;/ practice the active, capable Armenian would soon outstrip the stolid, non-progressive Turk if given a fair chance. The only course left, from the Turkish point of view, was to diminish and par- alyze the Armenian population to such an extent as to render the Scheme of Reforms inoperative. This was immediately and thoroughly accomplished within one month after the Sul- tan gave liis consent to the Scheme of Reforms on October i6th, 1S95. While the motive of the massacres at first was political, Appalling €!^ondition of Armenia. 187 Moslem fanaticism and hope of plunder were kindled, and this accounts for the extremes of cruelty and brutality with which the work was done. But now that it has been accomplished, the fires of race hatred and lust have, to some extent, burned themselves out, the massacres have ceased, and " order " will be restored. The Crime of the European powers consists in not having guaranteed the successful execution of the reforms they demanded by a prompt and determined use of force. This would have prevented all bloodshed. Account by an Eye-witness. The following description of the present condition of Arme- nia is furnished by Mr. E. J. Dillon, the special Commissioner of the London Daily Telegraph. It is the account given by a close observer who has been upon the ground, and is accurate and truthful in all its horrifying details : P> pretty story is told of a little girl, who, fearing to lie in bed in the dark, begged her mother not to take the candle away until sleep should render it needless. " What are you afraid of, darling ? " asked the strong-minded parent. " Of darkness," was the reply. " But remember, dear, that God is here in the room with you, and God is light itself He will stay with you all night to keep you company." The silence that followed this dogmatic announcement seemed to show that the intended effect had been produced, until it was softly broken by the sweet voice of the child : " Then please, mamma, take God away and leave the candle. " The attitude of the Armenian population in Turkey toward the humane peoples of Western Europe, who, to fiendish tor- tures and bloody massacres, hopefully oppose well-timed expressions of righteous indignation and moral sympathy, offers considerable analogy to the frame of mind of tliat untu- tored child. " We can dispense with your sympathy and pity BARLY PORTRAIT OF ABDUL HAMID, SULTAN OF TURKEY. 188 Appalling Condition of Armenia. I '^U if only you guarantee us security for life and property." So reasons the grateful Armenian. The impartial outsider, ac- quainted with the horrible condition of country and people, would naturally go a step further, and fearlessly affirm that the expression of sympathy at public meetings, followed, as in England, by supine inactivity, is not merely inferior to effect- ive material aid, but is positively disastrous. Turkish Hatred of Armenians. Formerly the Turks disliked the Armenians, and the blood- bath of Sassoun offers a fair indication of the vehemence of their feeling. At present, after the wanton humiliation in- flicted upon them by the European friends of their victims, they loathe the very name of Armenia, and deem no cruelties sufficient to satisfy their outraged self-love. The Vali (Gov- ernor-General) of Erzeroum, when the foreign consuls of that city lately brought an unusually crying case of injustice to his notice, told the Dragomans that the Turkish Government and Armenian people stood to each other in the relation of hus- band and wife, and that outsiders who felt pity for the wife when her husband maltreated her, would do wisely and well to abstain from interfering. And the remark is quite true, if the pair arc to go on living together ; for the brutal husband can always choose his own time and place to vent his feelings on his helpless mate. And this is what is being actually done in Turkish Arme- nia. Under the eyes of the Russian, English, and French delegates at Moush, the witnesses who had the courage to speak the truth to the representatives of the Powers were thrown into prison, and not a hand was raised to protect them; and within a stone's throw of the foreign consuls and missionaries, loyal Armenians were hung up by the heels, the hair of their heads and beards plucked out one by one, their 100 Appalling Condi tiori of Armenia. bodies branded with red-hot irons and defiled in beastly ways tliat can neither be described nor hinted at in Christian coun- tries, their wives dishonored in their presence, and theii dau<;hters raped before their eyes. And all that the philan- thropic English nation has to offer these, its proteges, is elo- quent indignation and barren sympathy. Would it not have ,bccn much more benevolent to hush up the massacre of Sas- fSoun and ignore the Pits of Death than to irritate the Turk to the point of madness and then leave him free to vent his fury upon Christians who are shielded only by sentimental elo- quence ? A Costly Blunder. And yet the duty of England is simplicity itself; she should either put a speedy end to the horrors of Turkish Da- homey, or publicly proclaim her inability to fulfil her obliga- tions in Armenia, at the same time repudiating her gigantic engagement to maintain the integrity of the Turkish Empire in Asia. For as it was a grievous blunder to raise this Ar- menian Question without having first made sure that she could work it out to a satisfactory issue, it is little less than a crime to give the Turks the needful time to carry out their nefarious plans by refusal to look the facts in the face. Those who are familiar with the condition of the five prov- inces and their Christian inhabitants will unhesitatingly acqui- esce in this view of the subject ; for those who are not, the following brief sketch may prove instructive : Turkey's real sway in y\rmenia dates from the year 1847, when Osman Pa.-,ha gave the final coup dc gmcc to the secular power of the Koordish Derebcks in the five south-eastern provinces (Van, Bitlis, Moush, Bayazed, and Diarbekir). During that long spell of nearly fifty years, we can clearly distinguish twf) periods: one of' shameful misgovernmcnt (.1847-1891), aud the other (1892- 1894) of frank extcrmina- Appalling Condi tio7t of Armenia. ]01 tion. Suasion or remonstrance may do much to remedy the abuses that flow from the former system ; force alone can achieve anything against the latter. And in this sense Lord Salisbury's expressed view of the matter is absolutely correct. In the year 1891 the Sublime Porte, fearing serious dangers from the promised introduction of reforms into Armenia, and from the anticipated hostility in war time of the Christians living in provinces bordering upon Russia, resolved to kill two birds with one stone, and created the so-called Hamidieh cavalry, composed exclusively of Koords. It was an applica- tion of the principle on which rebels and rioters throw open the prison doors and invite convicts to rob and kill the mem- bers of the upper classes. The plan as propounded by some of the highest officials of the Empire was that the Armenians were to be driven out of the border lands, such as Ala^ihkerd, their places to be taken by Mohammedans, that their numbers in all the five provinces were to be so considerably reduced that the need of special reforms for them should pass away, and that in case of war the Koords should act as a counter- weight to the Cossacks. Armenians Threatened with Extermination. This plainpolicy of extermination has been faithfully carried out and considerably extended from that day to this, and unless speedily arrested, will undoubtedly lead to a final solu- tion of the Armenian problem ; but a solution which will 1 disgrace Christianity and laugh civilization to scorn. The enlisted Koords were left in their native places, exempted from service, supplied with arms, invested with the inviolability of ambassadors, and paid with the regularity characteristic of the Sublime Porte. And they fulfilled their mission with scrupulous exactness : robbing rich Armenians, looting houses, burning corn and hay, raiding villages, lifting cattle, raping 10'2 Appallmg Condi ticm of Arme^iia. young girls of tender age, dishonoring married women, driving away entire populations, and killing all who were manly or mad enough to attempt to resist. Armenians are now among the poorest and most wretched people on the globe. Perhaps the Turkish authorities did not foresee, nor Turkish justice approve, these results? The authorities not only expected them, but aided and abetted, incited and rewarded those who actually committed them ; and whenever an Armenian dared to complain, not only was he not listened to by the officials whom he paid to protect him, but he was thrown into a fetid prison and tortured and outraged in strange and horrible ways for his presumption and insolence. The massacre of Sassoun itself is now proved to have been the deliberate deed of the representatives of the Sublime Porte, carefully planned and unflinchingly executed in spite of the squeamishness of Koordish brigands and the fitful gleams of human nature that occasionally made themselves felt in the hearts even of Turkish soldiers. To complain, therefore, of the insecurity of life and property in Armenia, so long as the country is irresponsibly governed by the Sublime Porte, is as reasonable as it would be for a soldier to object to the great danger to life and limb from the enemy's bullets during a sanguinary engagement. The result complained of is precisely the ol)jcct aimed at, and its com- pleteness the most conclusive proof of the efficiency of the means employed. An eminent foreign statesman who is com- monly credited with Turcophile sentiments of uncompromis- ing thoroughness, lately remarked to me in private conversa- tion that Turkish rule in Armenia might be aptly described as organized brigandage, legalized murder, and meritorious immorality. Protests against such a system maybe right and ]>ropcr, but thcv can hardly be considered profitable. A philanthrc • Appalling Condition of Armenia. 193 pist visiting a prison may feel shocked when he discovers one of the convicts with his hands and feet tied with cords; but he will scarcely spend time in complaining if he learns that the prisoner has been condemned to death, and is about to be hanged by the executioner. The People Reduced to Poverty. The first step in carrying out the Plan of Extermination was the systematic impoverishment of the people. This is natural in a country whose officials arc kept waiting eight or ten months for their salaries, and must then content them- selves with but a fraction of what is due. " I have not re- ceived a para * for the past twenty weeks, and I cannot buy even clothes," exclaimed the official who was told off to " shadow " me day and night in Erzeroum. " Do they pay you your salary regularly ?" I inquired of the head of the telegraph office at Kutek. " No, Effendi, not regularly," he replied; "I have not had anything now for fully eight months. Oh, yes, I have; a month's salary was given to me at Bairam."f " How do you manage to live, then?" " Poorly." " But you must have some money to go on with, or else you could not keep body and soul together?" "I have a little, of course, but not enough. Allah is good. You have now given me some money yourself." " Yes, but that is not for you ; it is for telegrams, and belongs to the State." " Well, my shadow will have grown considerably less before the State beholds the gleam of it. I keep for myself all money paid in by the public. I take it as instalments of my salary. It does not amount to very much. But whatever it happens to be, I pocket it." These men are, of course, petty officials, but their case is not essentially different from that of the * A Turkish coin. Forty paras are equivalent to twopence, f Bairam is the festival which follows the long fast of Ramazan. 104 Appalling Condition of yinnenia. majority of their betters, and judges, officers, deputy-governors, and valis, etc., are, to the full, as impecunious and incompar- ably more greed)-. Tahsin Pasha, the late Governor-General of l^itlis, is a fair specimen of the high Turkish dignitary of the epoch of exter- mination. An avaricious skinflint, he was as cruel as Ugolino's enemy, Ruggieri, and as cold as Captain Maleger in Spenser's " Faery Queen." He cultivated a habit of imprisoning scores of wealthy Armenians, without any imputed charge or show of pretext. Liberty was then offered them in return for exor- bitant sums representing the greater part of their substance. Barbaric Tortures. Refusal to pay was followed by treatment compared with which the torture of the Jews in mediaeval England, or the agonies of the eunuchs of the princesses of Oude in modern India, were mild and salutary chastisements. Some men were kept standing up all day and night, forbidden to cat, drink or move. If they lost strength and consciousness, cold water or hot irons soon brought them round, and the work of coercion continued. Time and perseverance being on the side of the Turks, the Armenians generally ended by sacrificing everything that made life valuable, for the sake of exemption from maddening pain. It was a case of sacrificing or being sacrificed, and that which seemed the lesser of the two evils was invariably chosen. In the Vilayet of Bitlis several hundred Armenians who possessed money, cattle or crops, were arbitrarily imprisoned, and set free on the payment of large bribes. Some of them, unable to produce the money at once, were kept in the noisome dungeons until they raised the sum demanded, or were re- leased by death. About one hundred Armenian prisoners died in the prison of Bitlis alone. Appalling Condition of Armenia. 195 The following petition signed and sent to me — and if I mis- take not, also to the foreign delegates at Moush — from a well- known man whose name and address I publish, will help to convey some idea of how the Vali of Bitlis governed his province, and prospered the v/hile : " We, who have served the Turkish Government with absolute loyalty, are maltreated and oppressed, more particularly of late years, now by the PALACE (JV Tllii SLLTAN — CONSTANTiNOPLE. Government itself, now by Koordish brigands. Thus last year (1894) I was suddenly arrested at my own house by Turkish police and gendarmes, who escorted me to the prison of Bitlis, where I was insulted and subjected to the most hor- rible tortures. Having been kept four months there, I was released on condition of paying ;^2250, by way of ransom. " No reason, no pretext has been given for this treatment. On my return home, I found my house in disorder, my affairs lOG Appalling Co)idilion of Arfuenia. ruined, my means gone. My first thought was to appeal to the Turkish Government for redress, but I shrank from doing so, lest I should be condemned again. Hearing that you have come to Armenia for the purpose of investigating the condition of the people, I venture to request you, in God's name, to take notice of the facts of my case. Signed, Boghos Darmanian, of the village of Iknakhodja of the Kaza of Manazkerd." From Wealth to Want. In 1890, the village elder of Odandjor in Boolanyk, Abdal by name, was a wealthy man, as wealth goes in that part of the world. He possessed 50 buffaloes, 80 oxen, 600 sheep, besides horses, etc. The women of his family wore golden ornaments in their hair and on their breast, and he paid 5250 a )'ear in taxes to the treasury. That was in 1890. In 1894 he was a poverty-stricken peasant, familiar with misery and apprehensive of death from hunger. His village and those of the entire district had been plun- dered, and the inhabitants stripped, so to say, naked, the Turkish authorities smiling approval the while. During the year 1894, in the districts of Boolanyk and Moush alone, upwards of ten thou.sand head of cattle and sheep were driven off by the Koords. This was the method in vogue all over the country; the details varied according to the condition of things, places, and kinglets, but the means and end never varied. The result is the utter disappearance of wealth and the rapid spread of miser}^, so intense, so irremediable, so utterly loathsome in its moral and physical effects as to have inspired some of its victims with that wild courage akin to madness which always takes its rise in despair. Between the Vali or Governor-General and the Zaptieh or tax-gatherer the rungs of the administrative ladder are many, Appallmg Conditio7i of Armenia. V.^~ and to each and all of them some portion of the substance of industrious Armenians adheres. No doubt there arc far worse things than the loss of one's property, and unemotional ling- lishmen would rather save their sympathy for those who have endured them. But surely even that is bad enough when the outcome not of crime, accident, or carelessness, but of .shameless and defiant injustice, and where the loser has a family of some fifteen to twenty persons. And that the loss of property very often entailed far greater losses will be evident from some of the following facts : A Tale of Horror. In July, 1892, a captain of his Majesty's Hamidieh Cavalry, Idris by name, an ornament of the Hassnanlee tribe, came with his brother to demand a contribution of fodder from the inhabitants of Hamsisheikh. They accosted two of the Armenian notables, Alo and Hatchadoor, and ordered them to provide the hay required. " We do not possess such a quantity in the whole village," they replied. " Produce the hay without more ado, or I'll shoot you dead," exclaimed Idris. " But it does not exist, and we cannot create it." " Then die," said the gallant captain, and shot them dead on the spot. A formal complaint was lodged against Idris, and the Kaimakam, to his credit, arrested him and kept him in prison for four weeks, when the valiant Koord having paid the usual bribe was set at liberty. About thirty similar murders Avere committed in the same district of Boolanyk during that sea- son, with the same publicity and the same impunity. At first the Armenians were wont to complain when their relatives or friends were killed, in the hope that in some cases the arm of the law might be raised to punish the murderers 108 Appalling Condition of Armejiia. and thus produce a deterrent effect upon others who might feel disposed to go and do likewise. But they were very soon weaned of this habit, by methods the nature of which may be gathered from the following incident : In July, 1892, a Koord named Ahmed Ogloo Bahal rode over to Govandook (District of Khnouss) and drove off four CATHEDRAL (nOW TiJK MOSQUE) OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE. oxen belonging to an Armenian named Mookho. In 1892 the law forbidding Christians to carry arms was not yet strictly observed, and Mookho, possessing a revolver, and seeing that the Koord was about to use his, fired. Both weapons went off at once, and both men fell dead on the spot. What then happened was this : Nineteen Armenians of the village, none of whom had any knowledge of what had occurred, were arrested and put in jail and told that they would be released on payment of a heavy bribe. Ten paid it and were set fre^ Appalli7ig Condiiioji of Armenia. 100 at once. The remainder, refusing, were kept in prison for a long time afterwards. None of the Koords were molested. "Why should Mohammedans be punished for killing Armenians ?" asked a Koordish brigand who was also a Hamidieh officer, of me. " It is unheard of" Why indeed ? That the relatives of the murdered people should be punished and punished severely for complaining of those who have made them widows or orphans seems meet and proper to the Mohammedan mind — perhaps because it is usual. Incidents of Cruelty. lu August, 1893, the Djibranlee Koords attacked the vil- lage of Kaghkik, plundered it, and wounded a merchant named Cannes, who was engaged in business in his shop. Next day Cannes went to the Deputy Governor (Kaimakam) in Khnoussaberd and lodged a complaint, whereupon the Kaimakam put him in prison for " lying." The sufferings in- flicted upon him in that hotbed of typhoid fever exceeded belief — but that is another story. After eight days his neighbors brought a Koord before the Kaimakam who bore out their evidence that Cannes had been really wounded in the manner described, and that he was not lying. Then, and then only, the authorities allowed the peo- ple to pay a bribe of ten pounds for the release of the wounded man. The inhabitants of Krtaboz (a village in Basscn,) told me several horrible stories of what they had to endure lately from the Koords, who drove off their twenty-three oxen, twenty-eight horses, sixty cows, and twenty sheep. Cne which illustrates the method of Turkish ]W'=,'i\c^ will suffice to give the reader an inkling of their nature. " Last May (1894) twelve mounted Hamidichs attacked our village and seized our priest, Der David. They promised 200 Appallmg Conditioji of Armttiia. to release him if he paid them six pounds. He borrowed the sum, gave it to liis captors and was set free. The troops fired upon the other villagers, wlio ran awa\'. Next day Guil Beg went to Hassankaleh to complain to the authorities. They abused him, called him a liar, and ordered him to be impris- oned. After having spent forty days in the horrible hole called a prison, he was permitted to pay a bribe of seven pounds and go home." No Protection to Christians. There is no redress whatever for a Christian who has suf- feied in property, limb, or life at the hands of Mohammedans; not because the law officers are careless or lethargic, but be- cause they are specially retained on the other side. And the proof of this, if any proof were needed, is that the complain- ants themselves are speedily punished for lodging an informa- tion against their persecutors. But whenever a Koord or a Turk is the victim of a " crime," or even an accident, the energy of the Government officials knows no bounds. In the spring of last year, when the snows were tliawingand the waters rose high in the rivers and streams, some needy Koords were moving along the bank of the river, hard by Ilussnakcr. They were wretclied beggars, askmg alms, and battling with fate. In an attempt to ford the river they were carried away and drowned. Forthwith the villagers were accused of having murdered them, and four Armenian notables were arrested and imprisoned in Hassankaleh on this trumpery charge, the real object of which was not disguised. After the lapse of seven or eight months the villagers were told that on payment of a bribe of $375 the prisoners would be dis- charged. The money had to be scraped together and paid to the authorities, whereupon the men were released. I saw two of them, Atam and Dono, myself. Appalling Condiiiofi of Armenia. 201 The taxes levied upon Armenians are exorbitant ; the bribes that invariably accompany them, and are imposed by the Zap- tiehs, may swell to any proportions, and resume the most repugnant forms, while the methods employed to collect both constitute by them-" selves a sufficient justi- fication for the sweep- ing away of Ottoman rule in Armenia. To give a fair in- stance of the different rates of taxation for Christians and Mo- hammedans in towns, it will suffice to pomt out that in Erzeroum, where there are 8,000 Mohammedan houses, the Moslems pay only 395,000 piastres, while the Christians, whose houses number but 2,000, pay 430,000 pi- 2 "itres. In the country dis- tricts, everything, with marble staircase in the sultan's pal- out exception, is highly ^^e at Constantinople. taxed by the Government, and the heaviest burden of this legal exaction is light when compared with the extortion practiced by its agents, the Zaptiehs. A family, for instance, is supposed to contribute, say, twenty-five dollars, and fulfils its obligation. The Zaptiehs, however, ask for fifteen or twenty dollars more for themselves, and are met with a rash 202 Appalling Co7iditio7i of Aniiema. refusal. Negotiations, interlarded with violent and abusive language, ensue, and five dollars are accepted. But the Zap- tiehs' blood is up. In a week they return and demand the same taxes over again. The Armenians wax angry, protest and present their receipt; whereat the Zaptiehs laughingly explain that the document in question is no receipt but a few verses from a Turkish book. The villagers plead poverty and implore mercy. Greed, not compassion, moves the Zaptiehs to com- promise the matter for fifteen dollars more, but the money is not forthcoming. Then they demand the surrender of the young women and girls of the family to glut their brutal appetites, and refusal is punished with a series of tortures over which decency and humanity throw a veil of silence. Rape, and every kind of brutal outrage conceivable to the diseased mind of Oriental profligates, and incredible to the average European intelli- gence, varied perhaps with murder or arson, wind up the incident. These are Facts. I have seen and spoken with victims of these representa- tives of the Sublime Porte; I have inspected their wounds, questioned their families, interrogated their priests, their per- secutors, and their gaolers (some of them being incarcerated for complaining), and I unhesitatingly affirm, not merely that these horrors are real facts, but that they are frequent occur- rences. The following is the translation of an authentic document in my possession, signed and sealed by the inhabitants of Melikan (Kaza of Keghi), addressed recently to his Beatitude, the learned and saintly Metropolitan Archbishop of Erze- roum, a dignitary who enjo}'sthe respect and esteem of friends and foes : Appalling Co7idition of Armenia. 205 " For a long time past the four or five Zaptiehs charged with the collection of the imperial taxes have chosen our village for their headquarters, and compel the inhabitants of the outlying country to come hither to pay their contribu- tions. They eat, drink, and feed their horses at our expense, undisguisedly showing that they are resolved to reduce us to beggary. " Lately seven other Zaptiehs, who had not even the pre- text of collecting the taxes, entered our village, beat the inhabitants, insulted the Christian religion, and dishonored our wives and daughters, after which they seized three men who protested — Boghos, Mardig, and Krikor — bound them wiih a twofold chain, and hung them up by the feet from the rafters. They left them in this position until the blood began to flow from their nostrils. These poor men fell ill in conse- quence. The Zaptiehs, however, declared publicly that they had treated the people thus merely in obedience to the special orders of the chief of the police. " We therefore appeal to imperial justice to rescue us from this unbearable position. The inhabitants of the village of Melikan, Kaza of Keghi. (Signed) Katshere. " 26th March, 1895." Here is another petition from another village of the same Kaza, likewise addressed to the Metropolitan Archbishop of Erzeroum : " A number of Zaptiehs, on pretext of gathering the taxes, rode into our village at five o'clock Turkish time (about ten o'clock A. M.), broke open the doors of our dwellings, entered . the inner apartments, clutched our wives and children, who were in a state of semi-nudity, and cast them into the road along with the couches on which they lay. " Then they beat and maltreated them most cruelly. Finally they selected over thirty of our women, shut them up in a barn, and wrought their criminal will upon them. Before leaving they took all the food and fodder we possessed, as is 204 Appalling Candition of Arinenia. their invariable custom. We beg to draw your attention to tliesc facts, and to implore the imperial clemency. The in- habitants of the village of Arek, Kaza of Keghi. (Signed) MooRADiAN, Ressian, Bekghovan, Melkonian. "26th March, 1895." I was present myself in the house of an Armenian peasant, of the Village of Kipri Kieu, when a number of mounted Zap- tiehs arrived, woke up the inmates, and insolently demanded food for themselves, barley for their horses, and couches for the night. What more they would have called for I am not prepared to say; but I extricated my host from the difficulty by refusing them admittance on the ground that I had hired the house for the night. No wonder that the peasants of the District of Khnouss complain, in the petition which they asked me to lay before " the noble and humane people of l^ngland," " that the once prosperous and fertile countr}' is now deserted, waste and desolate." Armenians not the Aggressors. These, then, are the horrors which are connoted by the phrase so flippantly uttered by certain enlightened l^iglish people : " These Armenians and Koords are eternally quarrel- ing, and a little bloodshed more or less would not seem se- riously to affect the general average." It is true enough in the sense in which it is correct to say that sheep and wolves ^are perpetually at war with each other, and in this sense only. The Armenians are naturally peaceful in all places, passion- 'ately devoted to agriculture in the countr\', and wholly ab- sorbed by mercantile pursuits in the towns. Lest their in- born aversion to bloodshed, however, should be overcome by the impulse of duty, the instinct of self-defense, or deep-rooted affection for those near and dear to them, they are forbidden Appalling Condition of Armenia. 205 to possess arms, and the tortures that are inflicted on the few who disregard this law would bring a blush to the cheek of a countryman of Confucius. They must rely for protection ex- clusively upon the Turkish soldiers and the Turkish law. Khozro, a well-to-do inhabitant of Prkhooss, near Lake Nazig (District of Akhlat), was a lucky exception. True, he did not exactly possess a gun, but he was suspected of having one. His house was searched, the floor dug up, the roof examined, in vain. Then he was imprisoned for a month, and allowed to purchase his liberty by paying ^350 in gold, and signing a paper to the effect that he never had fire-arms of any kind. The nature of the protection afforded by the Imperial troops was sufficiently clearly revealed last August and September c J the slopes of Frfrkar and the heights of Andok, in the hamlets of Dalvorik, and in the valley of Ghellyegoozan. The villages of Odandjor, Hamzasheikh, Kakarloov Kharagyul, flourishing and prosperous in 1 890-1 891, did not contain one sheep, one buffalo, one horse in 1894. Reduced to Ashes. The stables were all tenantless, the stalls all empty, and the ashes of seventy enormous stacks of corn told the rest of the tale. This was the congenial work of the Koords, whose friends, the Turkish troops, were quartered, to the number of 200 horse soldiers in Yondjalee, half an hour distant from Odandjor, 200 in Kop, and 100 in Shekagoob. The protec- tion which they afforded was given to the Koords, and the reward they received was a share in the spoils. The protection given by Turkish law is of a like nature, only incomparably more disastrous to those Armenians who venture to have recourse to it. Two or three instances, vouched for by a host of witnesses, verified by foreign con- suls, and authenticated by official documents, will throw light Appalling Condition of Armenia. 207 enough for all practical purposes upon the strange forms assumed by Turkish justice in the provinces of Armenia. Kevork Vartanian, of the village of Mankassar (Sandjak of Alashkerd), testified, among other things, as follows : " In 1892, a Koord, Andon by name, son of Kerevash (of the tribe of Tshalal), came with his comrades to my house and took five pounds in gold belonging to me, which I had saved up to buy seed corn with. I lodged a complaint against him, but the authorities dismissed me with contempt. Andon^ hearing of my attempt to have him punished, came one night with twelve men, stood on our roof, and, looking down through the aperture, fired. A Tale of Horror. " My daughter-in-law, Yezeko, struck by a bullet, fell dead. Her two boys and my child Missak (two years old) likewise lost their lives then and there. Then the Koords entered the apartments and took my furniture, clothing, four oxen and four cows.* I hastened to the village of Karakilisse and complained to Rahim Pasha. Having heard my story, he said : ' The Hamadieh Koords are the Sultan's warriors. To do thus is their right. You Armenians are liars.' And we ivcrc imprisoned. Wc did not obtain our release until we had paid two pounds in gold. " The following winter two hundred soldiers entered our village under the leadership of Rahim Pasha himself. He at once told us that it was illegal to complain of the doings of the Koords. Then he quartered himself and his troops upon us, and demanded daily eight sheep, ten measures of barley, besides eggs, poultry and butter. * Cows, horses, ecc, are frequently lodged in the apartment in which the inmates live and sleep. I have passed many a restless night in a spacious ''oom alor.g with horses, buffaloes, oxen, sheep and goats. 208 Appalling Condition of Armmia. " Forty days running our village supplied these articles of food gratis, receiving curses and blows for our pains. Rahini Pasha, angry with his host, Pare, for grumbling, had a copper vessel hung over the fire, and, when heated, ordered it to be placed on Pares head. Then he had him stripped naked and little bits of flesh nipped out of his quivering arms with pincers. *' These ruffians had scarcely quitted our village when Aipe Pasha with sixty horsemen took their places. Seeing t'.at there were no more sheep to be had in the village, they slaughtered and ate our cows and oxen, and having inflicted much suffering upon us during six days, they too left. To whom could we address our complaints, seeing that the legally constituted authorities themselves perpetrated these things? Nothing was left for us but to quit the country. which we did." A Raid by Koords. In the month of June, 1890, the village of Alidjikrek was the scene of a double crime. The Armenian shepherds who were tending the flocks of the villagers rushed in excitedly asking for help. " The Koords of Ibil Ogloo Ibrahim came up with their sheep and drove us out of the village pastures." It was one of the commonplaces of village lile in Turkish Armenia. P'our young men set out to reason with the Mos- lems and assert the rights of property ; but scarcely had they reached the ground, when the Koords opened fire and killed one of the youths, named Hossep, on the spot. Another fell mortally wounded ; his name, Haroothioon. Their comrades fled in horror to the village ; the people, dis- mayed, abandoned their work ; the parish priest and several of the principal inhabitants ran to the scene of the murder, others rode off to inform the gendarmes. The Zaptiehs (gendarmes), accompanied by an official, Appalling Cojidition of Armenia. 209. were soon on the spot. They found Hossep dead, and the parish priest, Der Ohannes, administering the last consola- tions of religion to the dying Ilaroothioon. They ordered the prayers to cease and menacingly asked, " Where are the Koordish murderers ? " " They have fled," was the reply. *' Indeed ; probably you, dogs, have killed them, and buried them out of sight. You are all my prisoners." (Turning to the priest.) " You, too, come ! " And they were all taken to Hassankaleh and thrown into the loathsome dungeon there. After a time they were transferred to the prison of Erzeroum. Systematic Extortion. The parish priest, Der Ohannes, was a well-to-do man. The process of systematic impoverishment was then only beginning. His brother, Garabed, and their ten comrades in misfortune, were likewise men of substance, and it seemed desirable to the officials that their property should change hands. They were left, therefore, to soak in the fetid vapors of a reeking Eastern prison-house. The time dragged slowly on, day by day, week by week, and month by month, till they seemed to have been completely forgotten. Their families were in an endless agony of fear, their affairs were utterly neglected, their health was wholly undermined. In this pandemonium they passed a year — the most horrible period of their lives. Then they humbly besought their persecutors to help them to their liberty and to name the price. The terms were agreed to, and they were advised to send Koords to hunt up traces of the Koordish murderers whom they were accused of having murdered in turn. " If they be found you will be set free," The cost of this advice and of the ways and means of carrying it out amounted to about ;^2000, which the prisoners were compelled to borrow at 40 per cent, interest. Appalling Condition of Armenia. 211 The search was of course successful, Koordish and Turkish assassins, when their victims are Christians, having no need to hide their persons, no motive to hang their heads. What they do is well done. These particular heroes were found enrolled in a battalion of his Majesty's favorite cavalry — the Hamidieh of Alashkerd. They confessed and did not deny ; a cloud of witnesses — Turks and Koords of course, Christians being disqualified — testified in court in favor of the twelve Armenian prisoners, who were then set at liberty, with ruined fortunes and broken health. Murderers Escape. The sentence of the court set forth that the Armenians, charged with the crime of having killed certain Koords who had assassinated two Armenian villagers, had proved their innocence, the Koords in question having been discovered living and well, serving the Commander of the Faithful in the Hamidieh Corps. The Koordish murderers, about whose precious lives so much fuss was made, were left in peace, and they still con- tinue to serve his Majesty the Sultan with the same zeal and contempt of consequences as before. A dog will bark if another dog be shot in his presence. These Armenians did not even grumble ; they simply called in the representatives of Imperial law and justice, who pro- ceeded to deal with them as with murderers. But Christians in Armenia dare not aspire to be treated with the considera- tion shown to obedient dogs by good-natured masters. The stories told of these Koordish Hamidieh officers in general, and of one of them, named Mostigo, in particular, seemed so wildly improbable, that I was at great pains to verify them. Learning that this particular Fra Diavolo had been arrested and was carefully guarded as a dangerous 212 Appalling Condition of Armenia. criminal in the prison of Erzeroum, where he would probably be hanged, I determined to obtain, if possible, an interview with him, and learn the truth from his own lips. My first attempt ended in failure; Mostigo being a desper- ate murderer, who had once before escaped from jail, was subjected to special restrictions, and if I had carried out my original plan of visiting him in disguise, the probability is that I should not have returned alive. After about three weeks' tedious and roundabout negotiations, I succeeded in gaining the gaoler's ear, having first replenished his purse. I next won over the brigand himself, and the upshot of my endeavors was an arrangement that Mostigo was to be allowed to leave the prison secretly, and at night, to spend six hours in my room, and then to be re-conducted to his dungeon. When the appointed day arrived the gaoler repudiated his part of the contract, on the ground that Mostigo, aware that his life was forfeited, would probably give the prison a wide berth if allowed to leave its precincts. After some further negotiations, however, I agreed to give two hostages for his return, one of them a brother Koord, whose life the brigand's notions of honor would not allow him to sacrifice for the chance of saving his own. At last he came to me one evening, walking over the roofs, lest the police permanently stationed at my door should espy him. I kept him all night, showed him to two of the most respectable Europeans in Erzeroum, and, lest any doubt should be thrown on my story, had myself photographed with him next morning. The tale unfolded by that Koordish noble constitutes a most admirable commentary upon Turkish rcj^itiic in Armenia. This is not the place to give it in full. One or two short ex- tracts must suffice. Q. " Now, Mostigo, I desire to hear from your own lips. Appalling Condition of Armejiia. 213 and to write down, some of your wonderful deeds. I want to make them known to the ' hat-wearers.' " * A. " Even so. Announce them to the Twelve Powers." f There were evidently no misgivings about moral con sequences; no fears of judicial punishment. And yet retribution was at hand ; Mostigo was said to be doomed to death. Desirous of clear- ing up this point, I went on : Q. " I am sorry to find that you are living in prison. Have you been long there? " A. " I, too, am sorry. Five months ; but it seems an age." Q. "These Armenians are to blame, I sup- pose ?" A. "Yes." Q. " You wiped out too many of them, carried off their women, burned their villages, and made it generally hot for them, I am told." A. (Scornfully.) " That has nothing to do with my imprison- ment. I shall not be punished for plundering Armenians. We all do that. I seldom killed, except when they resisted. But the Armenians betrayed me, and I was caught. That's what *The Koords call all Europeans hat-wearers, and generally regard them with respect and awe. f /. e., to the whole universe. TURKISH LADY. 21-1 Appalling Condi tio7i of Anjteiiia. I mean. But if I be hanged, it will be for attacking and rob- bing Ihe Turkish post, and violating the wife of a Turkish Colonel who is now here iuErzcroum. But not for Arme- nians! Who are they that I should suffer for them?" Boasting of Infamy. After he had narrated several adventures of his, in the course of which he dishonored Christian women, killed Ar- menian villagers, robbed the post and escaped from prison, he went on to say : " We did great deeds after that — deeds that would astonish the Twelve Powers to hear told. Weattacked villages, killed people who would have killed us, gutted houses, taking money, carpets, sheep and women, and robbed travelers. . . . Daring and great were our deeds, and the mouths of men were full of them." Having heard the story of many of these " great deeds," in some of which fifty persons met their death, I asked: Q. " Do the Armenians ever offer you resistance when you take their cattle and their women ? " A. " Not often. They cannot. They have no arms, pnd they know that even if they could kill a few of us it weald do tliem no good, for other Koords would come and take vengeance ; but when we kill them no one's eyes grow large with rage. The Turks hate them, and we do not. We only want money and spoil, and some Koords also want their lands, but the Turks want their lives. A few months ago I attacked the Armenian village of Kara Kipriu, and drove off all the sheep in the place. I did not leave one behind. " The villagers, in despair, did follow us that time and fire some shots at us, but it was nothing to speak of. We drove the sheep towards Erzeroum to sell them there. But on the Appalting Condition of Armenia, 2lo way we had a fight near the Armenian village of Sheme. The peasants knew we had lifted the sheep from their own people^ and they attacked us. We were only five Koords, and they were many — the whole village was up against us. Two of my men — rayahs'^ only — were killed. We killed fifteen Arme- nians, They succeeded in capturing forty of the sheep. The remainder we held and sold in Erzeroum." Q, " Did you kill many Armenians generally ? " A. "■ Yes. We did not wish to do so. We only want booty, not lives. Lives are of no use to us. But we had to drive bullets through people at times to keep them quiet ; that is, if they resisted." Q. " Did you often use your daggers ? " A. " No ; generally our rifles. We must live. In autumn we manage to get as much corn as we need for the winter, and money besides. We have cattle, but we take no care of it. Wc give it to tlic Arincniaiis to look after and feed.'' Q. " But if they refuse?" A. " Well, we burn their hay, their corn, their houses, and we drive off their sheep, so they do not refuse. We take back our cattle in spring, and the Armenians must return the same number that they received." Q. " But if the cattle disease should carry them off? " A, " That is the A^nnenians' affair. They must return us what we gave them, or an equal number. And they know it. We cannot bear the loss. Why should not they ? Nearly all our sheep come from them." After having listened to scores of stories of his expedi- *The Koords are divided into Torens or nobles, who lead in war time, and possess and enjoy in peace ; and Rayahs, who sacrifice their lives for their lords in all raids and feuds, and are wholly dependent on them at all times. A rava/i's life may be taken by a ioren with almost the same impunity as a Christian's. 216 AppaHiui^ Condition of Armenia. tions, murders, rapes, etc., I again asked : " Can you tell me some more of your daring deeds, Mostigo, for the ears of the Twelve Powers ? " to which I received this characteristic reply ON THK nOSPHORUS. " Once the wolf was asked : Tell us something about the sheep you devoured ? and he said: I ate thousands of sheep, which of them are you talking about? Even so it is with my deeds. If I spoke and you wrote for two days, much would still remain untold." This brigand is a Koord, and the iKime of the Koords is Appalling Co7tdition of Armenia. 217 legion. Ex uno disce ovincs. (From one you may learn the character of all.) And yet the Koords have shown them- selves to be the most humane of all the persecutors of the Armenians. Needing money, this man robbed ; desirous of pleasure he dishonored women and girls ; defending his booty, he killed men and women, and during it all he felt absolutely certain of impunity, so long as his victims were Armenians. Is there no law then ? one is tempted to ask. There is, and a very good law for that corner of the globe, were it only administered ; for the moment he robbed the Imperial post and dishonored a Turkish woman, he was found worthy of death. Promises are only a Mockery. Laws, reforms and constitutions, therefore, were they drawn up by the wisest and most experienced legislators and states- men of the world, will not be worth the paper they are writ- ten on so long as the Turks are allowed to administer them without control. The proof is contained in the life and acts of Turkish officials any time during the past fifty years. Here, for example, is an honorable record of an energetic administrator, his Excellency Hussein Pasha, Brigadier-Gen- eral of his Majesty the Sultan, which will bear the closest scrutiny. Commanding a gang of Koordish brigands, which could be increased to about 2,000 men, he continually har- assed the peaceful inhabitants of the province, plundering, torturing, violating, killing, till his name alone sent a thrill of terror to the hearts of all. The Armenians of Patnotz suffered so much from his depredations that they all quitted their village en masse and migrated to Karakilisse, where the Kaimakam resides ; where- upon Hussein surrounded the house of the Bishop of Karaki- lisse with«a large force and compelled him to send the people back. 218 Appalti'yig Condition of Armenia. Even the Mohammedans felt so shocked at his doings, that the Mussulman priest of Patnotz, Sheikh Nari, complained of him to the Vali (Governor-General) of Erzeroum. Hussein Ihen sent his men, who murdered Sheikh Nari and frightened his daughter-in-law to death. In one expedition he carried off 2,600 sheep, many horses, kine, etc., took $2,500, burnt nine villages, killed ten men, and cut off the right hands, noses and ears of eleven others. Crimes Unpunished. Early in the year 1890 he raped five Christian girls of Patnotz, and in September and October of the same year he levied a contribution of $1,500 on the people of the same dis- trict. For noue of tJicsc crinics was he ever tried. In Decem- ber, 1890, he sent his brother to raise more money, which was done by raiding twenty-one villages of the Aintab District, the net result being $1,750 and 200 batviaiis of butter (=3,000 lbs.). Hatsho, an Armenian of Patnotz, who cou' J not, <-x would not, contribute a certain sum to his coffer, had /lis house raided in his absence, and his wife and two children killed. All this time the gallant Hussein occupied the post and " discharged the duties " of a Mudir or Deputy Sub-Governor. One day he drove off 1,000 sheep and 7 yoke of buftidoes from Patnotz and Kizilkoh and sold them in Erzeroum to a merchant, after which he confiscated a fine horse belonging to Manook, an Armenian of Kizilkoh, and sent it as a present to the sen of an P>zeroum judge. One night towards the end of February, 1 891, Hus.sein, his nephew Rassoul, and others, entered the house of an Armenian, Kaspar, for the purpose of carrying off Kaspar's handsome daughter-in-law. The inmates, however, shouted for help, whereupon Hus- sein, raising his revolver, shot the young woman dead. A Appalling Condition of Armenia. 219 petition was presented asking that he be punished, but the VaH of Erzeroum dedined to receive it, and Hussein was summoned to Constantinople, welcomed with cordiality, deco- rated by his Majesty, raised to the rank of Pasha, and ap- pointed Brigadier-General. When the troops went to Moush and Sassoun in 1894, Hussein was one of the heroes, and when " order " was restored there, he returned to Patnotz with several young Sassounian girls whom he abducted, and he now lives happy and respected. Conspirators in Crime. No doubt there are missions which might be entrusted to a gentleman like Brigadier-General Hussein Pasha and men of his type. But is the government of a Christian people one of them ? And if we assume that the then Vali of Erzeroum and the other administrators of the country were men of a much higher moral standard than he, of what avail were their noble character and admirable intentions, seeing that they allowed him to plunder, ravish, burn and kill unchecked ? And is it reasonable to blame Hussein Pasha for deeds, after the perpetration of which, he was honored and promoted by the guardian of all law and order, the Commander of the Faithful ? Not all of the officials have the same tastes or the same degree of courage as his Excellency Hussein Pasha. There are others — many others no doubt — who, whatever their pri- vate proclivities may be, feel moved by their official sense of the fitness of things to cast about for a pretext for acts for which there could be no conceivable justification. And the follies which they commit in pursuit of this shadow would seem incredible were they not notorious. The following case has been inquired into and verified by the foreign representa- tives in Turkey : 220 Appallifig Condition of Armenia. In the spring of 1893 Hassib Pasha, the Governor of Moush, feeling the need of some proofs of the disaffection of the Armenians of Avzoot and the neighboring villages, despatched Police Captain Reshid Effendi thither to search for arms. Reshid set out, made careful inquiries and dili- gently searched in the houses, on the roofs, under the ground, but in vain. There were no firearms anywhere. He returned -^^ Li.iiUiiiikjd ii<4i