The Washington times., 1895-03-31
Armenia Not fhg Only Province
Where Anarchy Reigns.
EVIL CoUNsELL0Rs IN POWER
They Have So Influenced the Rnler That Ar
menians, Albanians, Turks. Greeks, ana
Arabs Suffer in Common D. K.
Varzhabadian Replies to ',amerioan obser-
yer" Ministerial Responsibility Needed.

Certain Turkish Officials, trusting in the
biissful Ignorance OF Easssrn affairs that
prevails in civilized countries, try to repre-
sent the Arnenians as revoiutionists
who are plotting the BpbversioD OF the
Turkish government Let me at once
stignatize this assertion as an infamous
lie. No sober Armenian can desire any
thing but the maintenance and develop
nlent of the Turkish Empire, for should it
be destroyed, cur own nationality would
vanish with it, A II we ask is to be gov
erned by law, not the barharouG law OF the
Koran, but the modern law or Turkey.
which in theory IS quite as good as thai Of
most countries The fact is that this law
exists merely On paper, while in practice
the law is tie VIII of the governors This
being the case, we zee no remedy but in the
appointment of Christian governor in
Armenia, not because we desire TO be
governed by a Christian, bat by civilized
man. This we demand, not for our own
sake only. but also for the sake of our
Turkish feliow-couHrymen. For it must
be remembered that the lower classes of
The Turks suffer nearly as much as the
Christians, bat lDI 5e the Christians, they
have no one to whom they may address
their complaints.
The party OF Young Tarkey." which
was strong under the Hast Sultan. has been
suppressed, and its lenders execBted or
eSiled; but their spirit stiil lives among
4 tie people No better proof OF this can be
afforded than by paIfipi4ict published
! by the Ottoman committee OF young
! Turkey" in August, 1853, eutitled The
! \ AFIaenians ard the Turks Under SU;ftan
! Abdul HamiG" Har;Ity anything can bet
ter serve 10 illustrate the present sltuat on
! than this slHtcmeDt from o Turkish So
ciety, and it n2r therefore be Interesting
| to quote ne folio wing extract from that
4 pamphlet.
ANARCHY Z ALL OVER TURKEY.
The evils, the eg'TTgIssions, and the
tGrtEres caused to THIS .EazInenians in the
Turkish provinces in. Atla, have lately
created in Europe, aI44 more especially in
/ England, where Tie oIercssed always meet
! Tlth great sJinpathy is4nosf pa:nfGl inpTes-
! zion. Meetings have .besE held ttD5er the
! patronage Oi the nigh qlcBical gfficIGis and
/ OF Members OF PGTnsr@aElt 1or tie defense
ct t,leir cozreIiE.uuisass gBd petitions bavc
! Ieen prcsH MED to theJlgIt s,h Government
I il or6.sr TO bring Itss susiuetca to bear
i on the Turkish GoFerlHglaIs for the defense
/ OF the Christian pupatatfm IN Armenia
! who, dag alter day, aEs subjected 10 ia
/ justice ard tyrannicals rule- What Is most
/ appapeni-fs that roo I;Iuca religious color
/ is con5i antRy EiVCl 10 these 4 Armenian
! subjects instead GI tHet 4GfiHHra humanity
| We do not N-iEh,sgn aagpart 10 rniunnize
/ TIE actual state OF tgTFaE (which is going
ON in Armenia, and the IIlisEorttlnc N-bicfl
IS being caused 20 it, Pcaceful iih-abitants;
hut ThGt we want TO point out is mat
the tyranny which is, Tcie-nng to-day in
I those provinces is not limited 80 the Chris
tian population, bl.t affects every sGEf of
unfortunate SUBJECTS oI the Sultan, as Sir
ltenry LayaTd oieverly explained in his
6iEpatch TO. Lord Granville, as viii be
seen hereafter. II any one Is 20 be Blamed
tiat such vast ana wealthy enlilirc as
Turkey is. is to be always exposed 10 such
Il degraded conGition al that OF to-day,
4 EsuTelY the Groa al powers, who. on-more |
lalan olIe occasion, iIaVe signed treaties
guaranteeing tha Integrity ana independence /
Of the Ottoman empire.
: rElenia isaot the only province In Turkey |
where anarchy is rcigIiug to-day where /
The strong are allowed 10 crush the weak, /
and where the fiCiI oIIsrUs5 the poor. This !
state of things is Raging to-day all over
| Turkey Ii is trne that one province may !
be worse than another. but the whole !
state OF Turkey is in a most painful con
for life and property which is reigniug in
Armenia is qGi.e as bad as it is in Con
stantinople itself.
TEE SULTAN's PROMISES.
Abdul Hamid had already been in com
munication with Sir Henry Elliot. then
the British Ambassador at Constantinople,
asking his support TO his accession TO Tie
throne, promising him TINT lie would eDdow
Turkey with all the blessings of d legisIa-
tive Institution Thus il viii be seen that
! the accession OF the Sultan TO the throne
was conditional to the reforms he promised .
| Turkey, as we'll Gs England. to carry out.
| What did Sultan Hanld do? As soon as
! be was declared sovereign, he at once pro-
! claimed the constitution and began show
4 ing that he meant TO put into execution
| all the reforms he had promised, but when
| the question of budget came on the tapis
/ the Sultan found it too difficult for him
| not to have as much money as he wanted.
| He came in contact With unScrupalous per
| SONS, ard at once made the famous coup
| d'etat, in which the great Turkish re{orIner,
1 Midhat Pasha, and oil those who belonged
| to his school, as well as nll the liberal and
| progressive members of Parliament, were
\ arrested and baniSled to different prov
/ inces in Asia, and the unfortunate lot of
/ Midhat Pasha and his party was Mecca,
7 where they Were put to cruel torture and
4 utaCn. IL dn 1Slfg lfssn Stt,HeSEtlan, SIT
! Henry Elliott himself, had rot narrated
| this painfully cruel act of Abdul Hamd,
| no one would have believed it. Here is
/ the very brief narrative of what Sir Henry
! wrote i'll long and interesting article in the
| Nineteenth Century, February, 1880, on
4 this subject: ''As had, been long enough
/ in Turkey to be well aware of the need for
/ reform, and to he coByineed that nothing
4 effeotual could be done till some control
over the palace and the ministers was OBJ
| tanned, when NHtihat TfIsha took the aIatter
4 IN hand and endeaIored to secure the
! control, / gave him all the encouragement |
4 i'll my power, never dosfstisg for an instant
1 that he would be warmly ,applauted in
! England, whether he;Sucpeeded or failed
| i'll his attempt t.a+
EXACIToNs oFlGoVERNoRs.
"The empire Midhaa Pasha said, twas
/ being rapidly brought TO destruction; cor
ruption had reached apitciFIhat it hadnever
before attained; the service of the.state was
starved, while untold millions were poured
| into tllepalace, and the provinces were being
ruined by the uncontrolled, ,exactions of the
governors, who purchased their appoint
ment at the palace, and nothing could save
| the country but a complete change of sys-
| tenn. The only remedy that he could per-
! ceive lay, first, in securing a control over
| the sovereign by making the ministers,
| especially asregarded the finances, RESPONSE
| BILE to national popular assembly; Sec
! ondlv, in making this assembly national''
| After giving full description of that as
senihly, Sir Henry continues:
Zone day Prince Harnid sent to me a
person in his service, an Englishman, who