The Wilmington daily Republican., 1895-12-31
THE APATHY OF EUROPE
Responsible for the Continued Mas
saores Of Christians.
UNFOLDING TURKISH BRUTALITY.

A Stirring Appeal from the Armenian Ro-
lief Association In which 1t Is shown
That the sultan's Harsh Measures Are
Due to the Inactivity of the Powers.
NEW YORK, Dec. 81.-The Armenian
Relief association gives out the following
for publication on the last day of the year:
"fhe direct Information received from
various parts Of Armenia depicts so ap-
palling condition Of things that words
cannot possibly convey IN idea OF it. The
people of the west may possibly approach
in Imagination what the sufferings must
be OF people who wero living in compara-
tive peace in cities like Harpoot, Diarbekir,
Siyas and Gurun, and upon whom came
suddenly the unheard of calamity of
massacre initiated and consummated by
the government that was to protect them.
Their men are murdered or imprisoned,
their possessions robbed and their houses
burned, and not only are they exposed to
the terrors of famine, and the severe win
ter threatens to exterminate them, but
even merclful death is denied them, and
the reign of terror is still upon the land,
srrests and tortures still continuing.
''That the powers of Europe are not
moved by any feeling of humanity in doal-
Ing with the Turkish question is no more
doubted, but it Is impossible for us to be-
lieve the conscience of the English people
will not be ultimately shaken from its un-
paralleled dullness, and to honor the an
cient name of England as n defender Of
the right and the champion of the op-
pressed.
Recent letters telling of the massacres
In various cities contain items of informa-
tion that help to explain many points in
lawful outbreak Of so called Mohammedan
fanatics, A letter from Trebizond giving
the testimony Of eye witnesses states:
"Bahri Pasha, governor of Van, started
to come to Constantinople, and it was
learned that he was bringing with him
four of the fairest young maidcns of Sas-
SCUM, who had been spared in the massa-
ere, to make an acceptable present OF them
to his sultan. This aroused the Armenian
people Of Trebizond to frenzy, and it
was impossible to restrain the young men,
the more daring Of whom, as the newspa-
per dispatches have already informed you,
fired upon Bahri Pasha when he was
going about the city, with the result Of
wounding him. After he was cured as Is
known, he carried out his Internal mission
to Constantinople, and was honored with
the highest decoration and appointed gov
ernor Of Adana, In spite of the nerveless
protest of tho ambassadors
"Afterward the pasha OF Trebizond,
calling twelve of the leading men Of the
city, demanded that they should hand over
the young men who attacked the governor
and gave them just few hours in which
to carry ont his order. But the chiefs of
the people did not go to them until the
next day, and then only answered him that
the government could find out and arrest
the offenders.
"The Armenians, not suspecting any
thing, went rs usual to the stores in tho
market but the pasha had already begun
to communicate with the sultan by tele-
graph, and calling the commanders of the
soldiers ordered them to be ready at a
stated hour. When the mails had arrived
and the people went towards the postoffice
the trumpet was sounded three times and
both tho soldiers and the mob rushed upon
them. 1t is impossible to describe the
horror of the scene-tho roar of the muir
derers like that of wild beasts, the shrieks
of the women in the houses from whose
arms their husbands and sons were torn
and murdered before their eyes, and uni.
versal tumult added to the sighs and
groans of the dying. And this We know is
only ono and not oven tho most terrible Of
tho massacres over all Turkey.
. 'NtWS 1EOiu tJltlTDthlf EtpbEu
able sufferings among those q short timo
,, ago well to do Tho same from Gurun,
where not an Armenian house has been
left standing where q large community
was to be seen only few weeks ago.
From every part of Armenia comes the
call to Armenians who are out of the conn
try begging that money should be sent to
the survivors of their families without de-
lay, as they have neither food nor fuel,
nor scarcely any clothing In all cities
where the Armenians were slaughtered by
thousands numbers of the young maidens,
besides the slain, are missing, and known
to have been carried into the harems of
the Turks and kurds.
"When we consider the apparent con-
Germ of Europe to learn the facts of the
Sassoun massacre we may as well state
that such outrage has never before been
committed upon the conscience and sense
| OF decency of the civilized world as this
bloody aftermath Of slaughter and abduc-
ton 1t is impossible not to see that the
whole aim of the Turkish government in
this bloody movement has been to extir-
pate American Christian influence from
| Armenia, because the sultan finds that in
! Huence to be an enemy of oppression and
an impulse towards advancement and civ
ilization.n