The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1894-12-01
THE ARNENIANS.

THE ARNENIANS.
If the reported slaug Inter of Arme-
mans If even exaggeratedlY true the
failure of Christian powers to inter-
vene for the redress and protection of
that people will be cowardly infamy,
to the lasting disgrace of so-called
civilized nations says the Inter Ocean,,
The Armenians are the oldest branch
of the Eastern Christian church sep
arate from the Greek or Roman Cath
olic church, and the crimes that sub
ject them to the outrageous oppression
of the barbarous and pagan nations
surrounding them are, first, their
christianity, and. second, their desire
to be an Independent, self-ruling ma
tion. If in order to secure themselves
in the practice of their own religion,
and to establish themselves as an au-
tonomy, they have resorted to devices
and expedients to excite the sympathy
and gain the support of the supreme
European powers, they have been
driven to such courses by the implaca
BILE prosecutions that have been unre-
hitting since the earliest incursions of
conquest made against them by Per-
slams, Kurds and Turks, interested in
their despoliatIon and extinction.
The aggressive hostility of the Turks
is easily accounted for in the natural
desire of that people to beat back
from their very door, as it were, re-
ligion so inimical to their own; but
there can be little in the practical or
geographical relations of these two ma
tions to justify in the remotest way
the murderous authority that a too
indulgent treaty between the powers
has invested in the Turk.
Nothing the Armenians have done
or can do in the way of political or
religious agitation affords a warrant
for their overwhelming invasion and
hideous massacre by the fanatical
fiends and savages that have In the
last few weeks committed atrocities
in the mere knowledge of which the
civilized world stands aghast. Hu
manity and the common respect of the
rights of the weak demand tine inter
vention of European or other powers
to control the action of the Turks, ir-
respective of those questions of politi-
cal precedence or supremacy, the con-
sideratlon of which in this moral crisis
is shame to civilization.
1t was possible to secure to the
Bulgarians degree of security against
their Turkish enemies without imper-
ling the peace of Europe, and a SINH
lar service should be now performed
in behalf of the Armenians. It is
preferable hundred times that the
Porte be abolished as q power, com
pletely knocked out Of sovereign treaty
than that it be permitted to
butcher at will Christian nation on
the untenable plea that it is instigating
political rebellions that at worst are
only aimed at the recovery of an in
that was lost through the
invasions of wild tribes and vicious
nation, incompsrably inferior to the
Armenians in intelligence and skill of
government.
The western world should be enough
in this affair to act in con-
cert to the adjustment of the political
situation in way to make it imrossi-
BILE for the Turks to carry on their
old-time persecution of a people that
by every principle of humanity, re-
ligion and political equity are entitled
to protection from the Christian world
against barbarian warfare that aims
to degrade into helpless servitude and
dependence nation detested
for its adherence to Christianity. 1t
is scandalous reproach to modern
civilization that Christian people |
should be at the mercy of a power
ike that of Turkey, while other pow
,rs hold of through fear of political
that, firmly dared, would
prove to be no more than vapor.