Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-08
THE ARMENIAN SITUATION
Condition of Affairs Unique in the
 History of the World.
LONG SUFFERING G CHRISTIANS
Their Claims Upon the Sympathy of the AmerI- can People Strongly Urged-What
 pr. Dillon Himself Saw.

The Armenian situation of today stands unique in the history of the world. It is at direct antpodes with the mar velous advancement of the great nine teenth century, and leaves far behind all the tales of horror that the victims Of professional tyrants of all heathendom could tell from the days of Pharoah to those of the infamous Nero. It has de- veloped in rapid succession so many wonderful phases, that 1t might be rec commended to any intelligent person as highly interesting study in the course or human affairs, were it not for the one permanent background of wholesale hu- man sacrifice and such diabolical cruelty and unnamable outrageS as to sink every other consideration out of slght ana make it at once question of humanity claiming the most serious consideration of every true man and woman.
 In epochs when the highest interests of humanity have been at stake, the prophets, the men of the hour, have ap- peared. and the warning voice haS been heard calling in the desert. So with the awful agony of the Armenian people. Among the men and women Of honor and high position who have raised their voices on behalf of periShing Armenia, and filled the hearts of the whole Arme- nian nation with hope and gratitude, three illustrious men have stood forth as seer and prophet of the Armenian cause, and have cried aloud to awaken the conscience and infiame the right eous passion of the people throughout Christendom They are Gladstone, Mac Call and Di1lon-the grand old man of England "a tower of strength to an op- pressed people," the learned and valiant of and a n rppi6 tr3 VPlpr and scholar. From fields far apart these champions of righteousness raise their voices today once more in the loud cry of alarm and the instantaneous call to arms. Their clear message is that the Armenian people are at this moment fac ing a final and decisive crisis, and that whatever help is to come in the name of duty or honor, humanity or Chris tianity must be sudden and speedy" to be of any avail.
 The glory that will ever surround the name of Gladstone will shine brighter for the marvellous speech he delivered at Chester tower hall on the 9th of August in the words of the London Times, "an effort unparalleled even as mere phys- cal achievement, by man advanced In his Seth year." Down from the peaceful retirement of his "repose and quietude" came the veteran soldier of thousand battles for the truth, bringing his old- time brilliancy of oratory, impasSioned rhetoric, and vast resources of knowledge to frame and launch an indictment of Turkish outrage and oppression that will echo in the ears of men as long as there remains one oppressed people on the face of the earth It Is admitted on all hands that MT. Gladstone spoke with "modera- tion and prudence;" his conclusion there fore is all the more convincing when he says that "the case is made out and all the fiendish outrages upon Armenians that have been reported have not been overstated, not withdrawn, not qualified, not reduced, but confirmed in all their breadth, in all their horrible substance, in all their sickening details AS for any exaggeration MT Gladstone has no fear, .because it is too we'll known that the powers of language hardly suffice to. de- scribe what has been and is being done. and exaggeration, if we were ever SD much disposed to it, is in such case really beyond our power" This charac- teristic verdict of the Grand Old Man de- serves repetition in the United States, where for many months bold and persist ent denial of the facts was circulated and where, as the old Arme nian historian would say. "by reason of the misery or the times" there was found room for even one newspaper of any note that could violate the confidence of the public and veil the awful with idle accusations against the sore oppressed and bleeding Armenian nation.
 Overshadowed only by the great per sonality of MT. Gladstone, with evidence and revelation of stupendous importance, comes Mr. Dillon, who, on the free soil of England, seems to see the appalling horror of the Armenian situation in its true light, as whole; whereas, while himself on the field. he had been looking. as 1t were, at the blood-curdling scenes of the Armenian Pandemonium" one at a time. Surely never before was such a picture of more than diabolical atroc- ities opened before the eyes of the civ ilzed world as Dr. Dillon has drawn with every sickening detail In the opening ar ticle of The Contemporary Review for August In spite of the fact that he has omitted the mention of 'outrages for which the English tongue has no name, and civilized people no ear," the grue- some stories of inconceivable cruelty and outrage that follow, page after page, thrill the-heart of the reader with mad dening horror and Indignation; and sad despair overwhelms the soul as you read