St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-15
They RULE THE LAND.
Christians in Armenia at the
Mercy of Mahometan
MurdererS.
No Mussulman Shall Be Pun
iShed for Outrage on a
81 Christian.
This Is an Unwritten Turkish
Law Obeyed to the
Letter.
None Of the Great Powers
Has Enough Courage to
Protest.
Special Cable to the Clone.

LONDON, Sept. 14.-The Constantine
pie correspondents of number OF
English and German Liberal papers
continue to send distressing accounts Of
Mahometan outrages in Armenia. They
all agree that little good may be ex-
pected from the commission appointed
by the porte to inquire into the horrible
crimes which Mr.. Gladstone recently
enumerated in letter to the London
Daily News. 1t is an unwritten Turk
ish law that no MusSulman shall be pun
lshed for outrage on Christian. No
better proof can be given than in the
ease of Moussa Bey, the most noted
murderer and thief among the Kurdish
chiefs. When the vail of Bitlis conf
munieated to him the order of the sultan
to go to Constantinople. that worthy re-
piled that when he (ali) had given him
back the 5000 he had taken from him
in bribes that he would obey the order.
1t happened just at that time that an in
spector of Justice, named Ibrahim Bey,
was in the district, and in an interview
which he had with MOussa Bey he
plainly informed him that if he did not
obey the sultaE'S command an order
would probably be given to have him
shot. Moussa Bey has
MORE THAN ONE ENEMY
among the Kurdish beys, so he took the
hint and went to ConstantiDople with
out delay. Since his arrival there he
has turned informer, and the the vail,
the chief of police and the head officer
of the Zaptiehs at BitliS have been
Summarily removed from their posts for
completely with the notorious Kurdish
chieftain. So far this was we'll enough,
but the porte has not yet found any
honest men to take their places, owing
to the belief that the government is not
sincere in its proposed reforms. MOussa
Bey is still Nnpunished and is treated
with marked distinction by palace
officials. The twenty Armenians who
came to C0nstantinOple in answer to a
circular from the porte, to give teSti-
mony against Moussa Bey, have either
been transported OF lodged in prison, so
that they have since been unable to
communicate with their friends. This
has so alarmed the Armenians that very
few, if any, of them will dare 10 go be-
fore the commission. The massing of
Russian troops onthe Armenian frontier
and the activity displayed by c0rre-
spondents in furnishing their papers
outrages have alarmed the porte. In
Constantinople they are beginning to
understand that this Armenian business
may become very serious indeed, but
away in the wiids of Bitlis, Moosh, Van
and BayaZid the functionarieS act as
though the end were coming, and are
profiting by the opportunity to plunder
and
CRAFTY THEIR PASSIONS
at the expense of the Christians, with
out regard to the consequences to their
government. The porte undoubtedly
remembers that the details furnished
by correspondents of the horrors of
Tatar Bazarjik, in Bulgaria, instigated
Russia to intervene in behalf of the
Bulgarians. Lord: Salisbury has also be-
come uneasy at the fact that Russia Is
closely watching events and may be
tempted to interpose in manner pref
judicial to peace, and the English
premier has made representations of
Strong character to the porte. For 800
years the ArmenianS have lived under
the dark shadow of Turkish dominion.
FrOmI the beginning of history their
kinsmen, the wild nOmad KurdS, have
lived among them. The Armenians
have been Christians from very early
period, theirs being the oldest of the
national churches. The Kurds have
long been MohammedanS of the Shiite
sect, and, as such are haters of the or
thodoX Turks. In Armenia the Chris
tians and the Kurds form the pupula-
ton, the Turks are handful, mainly of
rulers and officials. But the basis of
Turkish law, the foundation of the
Turkish state, is the doctrine that the
iF4aiever alone possesses the full rights of
t-.as fT &c
t;~t4s and functions of citizenship.
=, Christian is the unbeliever, the
dog whose existence may be tolerated,
but who can have no rights, still less
any authority. The history of ROu-
mania. Servia and Bulgaria before their
liberation, and of Macedonia and of
Crete to-day, illustrates precisely the
same conditions. But the
ARMENIANS ARE WORSE OFF
tf4sr their European fellows, for they
not only the Turk but the Kurd.
5r<.r. .ng the winter the kurds from the
LA9untains are quartered on the Armen-
ian villages of the plain. The Christian
population must provide them with
everything and receive no payment in
return. Some of the Kurdish clans are
addicted to burning, robbing and MUIR
der. There are Turkish soldiers sta
toned in the country to keep order, but
the ArmenianS do not appeal to them,
for they add to the practices of the
Kurds of others still more repulsive.
The ArmenianS wish TO be governed by
England, but that is hardly practicable.
Next to that thsy would like to be gov
erned by Russia, again solu
ton to which there are objections.
European residents propose the
appointment of a Christian governor,
the formation of local militia and the
expenditure within the province of the
revenue there collected. These are re-
forms which the sultan cOuld really in
troduce only at the risk of his throne.
A Christian governor in Turkey is
stantial Christianity on his part is intol-
cradle to the Turks, high and low, who
are the sultan's only faithful subjects.
A local militia means arming the
Christians-a measure which would
necessarily translate itself into the eX-
termination of the Turks, at least so the
Turks understand it. As for spending
the taxes of Armenia on Armenian adj
ministration, that would be to deprive
the porte of the only good it gets from
the province-money.
= THUS THERE Is A DEADLOCK.
Meanwhile the Russian deliVerers are
at the door. They will deliver when IL
suits them. The only way to avert the
war which would follow this is for the
powers friendly to Turkey to compel
the porte to make new autonomous
prineipality "a Bulgaria, on the
Murad-but at present these pow
ers are occupied with anxieties
nearer home. There is an impression