Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-04-18
TERRIBLE SACRIFICES
Will BE radc by Armcnians In IN
Effort 10 Secure Freedom.
Revolutionary Party Has Both
+. Money and Guns.
Helpless Women and Children Expected 10 Be
the Greatest Sufferers

LONDON, April ls.--The following CORE
spondence daed March Is. has just bcer
received from Armenia:
AS a result of my invcstig igations, an
In aposiuon To say that the Armenlar
question viii soon reach AN acute and
painful crisis. Goaded into frenzy by
tyranny and continued injustice and
furious with grief and rage over the awful
butchery at Sassoun, Armenia has re-
solved TO strike blow which shall mean
freedom or determination. Christian
blood will be avenged In Moslem blood
before the snow Of Sassoun gives up its
dead.
In fact. Armenia Is preparing for war.
The revolutionary party has now both
money and guns. During the past eight
weeks money has poured into the revolu-
tionary treasury in a steady stream from
many Armenian colonies The money
raised publicly has been obtained by means
Of balls, socials. theatrical performances
and lotteries. The affairs were more sue
cessful than anything of the kind ever
known before in the communities where
they were held. The willingness to con
tribute money and the enthusiasm for the
cause were every whore SO manifest that
one could not doubt their sincerity.
General Uprising.
The central idea OF the plan of cam
paign is general uprising of Armenians
throughout the Turkish empire some time
during the month Of May. The leaders
have promised the people in the eastern
part OF Armenia that the chief attack W II
be made on the city Of Constan tinople it
self. and that the brunt of the fighting
will be borne by the Armenians resident
therein
The leaders have even gone so far as to
declare that the first attack will be on the
palace OF the sultan, and the reign of
Hamid will come to a sudden end. There
are men who believe that in the over
throw of Hamid the Armenians will be
encouraged by the younger and more
progressive generation Of COnstan tinople
Turks
1t Is very easy matter tc buy guns at
Tifiis as there are numerous gunshops
and nearly every human being goes
armed, contrary to Russian law, which,
In the Caucasus region, Is dead letter.
AS nine tenths of the business houses in
Tifls are owned by Armenians, there
should be no difficulty OF sending even
large shipments of arms into Armenia
The only real difficulty In the way Of
equipping Armenians with guns and am
munition is the raising Of the purchase
money, and there is no doubt now that
the revolutionary leaders have very sub
stantial fund on hand.
Going Back to Armenia.
A very significant circumstance Is that
Sassoun refugees at Etchmiadzin are pre-.
pared to return to, Armenia Moreover,
they are going back with guns In their
hands The spiritual comfort which the
refugees received at Etchmiadzin was sup
plemented by Martini Henry rifles and O
supply of Russian cartridges
To the one who considers this movement
by the tangible facts alone. it has the ap-
pearance OF unutterable madness For
handful Of unframed Armenans to de-
liberately begin a fight with the regular
troops Of the Turkish empire is folly too
colossal for human conceptions; yet one
must take into account the underlying
motives of the revolutionary leaders be-
fore passing final judgment
The purpose Is not to bring Turkey to
terms in a fair fight but to secure set
element Of the quarrel by the Intervention
OF the European powers. Before the revo
luton is three months old. the powers 1t
is believed, will be compelled to inter.
fere, for the cruelty, atrocity outrage,
blood-lust and butchery Of the struggle
will be so unthinkably horrible that
Christian humanity will rise in wrath
and demand that it cease. Then Armenia,
1t Is hoped, may get her freedom, and the
Turkish empire may be torn limb from
limb and thrown piecemeal to It's expect
ant neighbors.
Thus there is possibility that what the
Crusaders of old failed to do may be done
now, and that Palestine, the birthplace OF
Christianity. may at last come into the
possession of "a Christian nation. The
revolutionary leaders are not looking as
far as Palestine. however They will be
content with Armenian independence and
revenge for the blood or Sassoun and the
martyrs Of Erzlngen.
Vengeance Must BE Satisfied.
'Thc dead of Erzingen," they declare,
''cry aloud for vengeance. But IL will be
the helpless women and children who will
suffer most. They will be outraged,
tortured and butchered by Thousands, and
the mountain streams will run red with
their blood"
The revolutionary leaders expect that 1t
will be so, and In fact they count upon 1t
, as the chief factor In the success OF their
cause, for the red horror and the awful.
ness Of it all will compel the Christian
powers to interfere
To what extent the plans of the revolu-
tionary leaders are approved OF by the Ar
menisn people at large it Is difficult o
tell. am quite certain that they are not
known at all to the poor wretches who,e
wives and daughters and sisters are to be
sacrificed upon the altar Of Armenian
freedom. II they know, they would be
the last persons on earth to consent to any
such arrangement. x
IL Is only common charity for us to
suppose that the revolutionary party bears
the same relation to distressed Armenia
as the surgeon boars to the patient The
surgeon knows that he must infiict great
pain and even torture upon his patient in
order that good may follow. 80 the revo-
lutionary leaders know that to free Armc-
MIA from the dreadful condition TO which
she has sunk, they must surrender some of
their fellow-countrymen to torture, out
n n.