The record-union., 1895-04-27
THE ARMENIAN oUrRAGEs.

This is a nice record for q year o.
Christian civilization at the close of the
nineteenth century. In Armenia the
Turks and the Kurds have burned l 1851
dwelling houses. sixteen churches and
eight schools. Forty villages have been
wholly or in part destroyed, and 1900
human beings have been butchered,
drowned, burned to death, or starved to
weakness and then beaten to death. The
Turks lay the blame upon the Kurdish
militia, and the latter grin and point to
their masters, the Turks.
The European powers manifest
strange and cowardly unwillingness to
deal With the matter. The reason is fear
OF each other, not of Turkey. They
know far more than do we OF the horrible
truth about the outrages.
The Daily Telegraph of London, the
Nelgs of the same city, II PapagaLLo of
Bologna, the VosSische Zjetung of Berlin,
and the leading papers of Vienna and st.
Petersburg have published long and veri-
fed accounts of which these lines merely
indicate the character:
Men and boys murdered and mutilated
priests dragged tOa infamous death. children
killed with every refinement Of torture, girls
uishOnOreu, pregnant women treated In q
fashion which cannot be spoken or thought
Of-tneSe are the things which cry aloud from
a soil saturated with human blood. Here and
there STANDS out a deed OF simple heTOism,
some act Of common mercy, which shines al
the brighter by the contrast. 1t is good to
learn that there was a hurd who dared to pro-
tect an Armenian, even though he was ulti-
mately punished by the Turks for his weak
ness; nor can we do aught but admire the
thirty women who could hurl themselves
rOm the ROCKS TO AVOID a worse fate. One
glrl, told TO select her lover, snatched a bayO-
net while pretending to whisper in the ears of
the man she selected and stabbed herself to
the heart. . Surely the Foreign Office
and other Cabinets OF Europe must have
known TOR long time whether the state
ments OF our special Commissioner in Ar
menIa are IN the main true or false. official
reserve is one thing, but Official reuctance is
another. No longer is 1t possible to
speak lightly of the Armenian atrocities: the
evidence Is TOO palpa0le' too overwhelming.
The Turkish Colonel charged the priest
with having blinded the people, and ordered
that he should be blinded in turn. His ewes
were prIed out with a soldiers kDife, and his
tOrments were brought TO an end with the
bayOnet The other refugees were then fed.
to De dug, and the soldiers were told on into
butchering parties. Every night for a week
or ten days, party went to the trenches.
where they found patches of refugees waiting
for them, whom they murdered with the BAY
onet. 1t is evident from this mar
rative that we are in the presence of deeply
meditated aud ruthlessIy executed crime
which rivals even the horrors in Bulgaria
nineteen years ago There has been nothing
like it, to our knowledge, in modern history.
Such things have been going on un-
checked for over five months, and as yet
nothing has been done to stay the shame,
except by England, which sent out
commission that has been snubbed and
insulted at every turn. Public opinion,
however, is now thoroughly aroused and
indignant throughout Europe. But in
monarchies rulers are not easily moved
By public opinion. In free countries
public expression makes the law and
directs administration. Such outrages
as are reported from Armenia would be
impossible of continuance in any coun-
try upon this continent for instance
Public opinion in the United States
would so stir up our administrators that
protest would be followed by armed in
tervention in the name of common hu-
manity