The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-02-03

spectators, there is not much hope that
the the Eur European residents w Of Constantinopie
are really locking forward to with conf
dence is the investigation of the whole affair
by European commission They believe
that the Turkish commission will bring in
such an unsatisfactory report that the
and make an Investigation whether the
Turks like 1t not. This Is what ft must
come to in the end. for. no mater what re-
forms the Sultan may promise. the Ar
menian agitation will continue until the en-
tire vexed question is passed on by the rest
of the world.
THE Sultan's promise of reform will not
be binding on the Armenian revolutionary
the do mnns etaton proved for
one way another by the Christian powers
of the world there will be no end to the dis
tionary party's opportunity, and it will make
the most of 1t. If Christianity does not
question. once for all, crimes. massacres and
namelesS atrocities will continue until 1T
does.
METHODS OF THE AGITATORS
"It is of course impossible to say to what
extent radical ideas prevail among the rev.
olutionary propagand,sts, but the plans of
some of the leaders shocking in the
extreme. In brief, their plans are to COM
NIT atrocities on Turks In order that the
infuriased Turks shall shock the Christian
world by the fiendish outrages of their re-
taliation When demonstrated with IN re-
gard to these unchristian plans. the men
who are responsible for them merely say:
1T may seem to you cruel and barbarous,
but we know what we are doing and why we
doing it.. u, ro
almost as ingenious their plans of ponti-
cal agitation Certain Armenians OF a loMer
grade of mental ability are reauiredn az 20 ca1 arr
rish so many thousand piastres TO the con.-
| mittee and the means OF obtaining the
| money are plainly mapped out Here IS a
| case in point: A wealthy Turk in the serv-
ice of the government at ConStantinopie re-
ceived a letter the other morning siyin5
that unless he deposited twelve thousand
nastres in a certain place within twenty
| four hours he would be killed. An lnVesli-
cation led to the discovery or the Iacl S tlial
the letter was written by an Armenian VINO
| has been in his employ trusted servant
for several years. The servant confessed ms
| guilt but he asserted in seif-defenSe tnat tne
revolutionary agitators had compelled him
| to write the letter under penalty OF death
| 1t case of choice OF ev.is ana sne
| Of a long term of imprisonment. 1t Is be-
| lieved that a great deal of money is raised
in this way, but whether or not this money
| gets beyond the pockets Of the revolutionary
| agitators man pretends to know. .Inere
is a theory that this money is used in the
| purchase of rifles and ammunition, but this
is a matter known only to the leaders theH-
| .aThe consulate at Sivas is maintained
solely for the protection of the American
missionaries for Armenia. There is abso-
lutely no other business for a consul 10 at
| tend to. 1t viii be remembered that the
Sultan refused to permit the United states
/ T.
| to make an Independent investigation. 1t
| is not unlikely that had the United States
proposed to send man ma onfsctIon mot eny
| at the palace that DR.. Jewett had too
strong asympathy for the Armenians to be
| an impartial investigator. 1t might be well
| for the United States government to bear
to s appoint adi "a an % investigator should come up
| in future. The Turk is a suspicious Great
| ure with little faith in Christian fair play.
l 4l,.a hrhA ntffh
| that all of the facts in the case of the
Sassoun massacre have been sent TO the
| State Department at Washington
PETTY SPITE VENTED.
| Not only are innocent women and chill
dren made to suffer hideous cruelty and un-
| speakable outrage as result of the Ar
| menian plots and Turkish retaliation, but
| the revolutionary agitation and disturbed
| condition of the country are used by the
| wicked and unscrupulous to oppross the
poor and satisfy the thirst for petty ven
geance. Here is an illustration, picked up
at random from a mass of stories of false
| arrests, unjust imprisonments and other
| petty prosecutions: An aged Armenian has
been in prison in the city. of Trebizonde
| for several months and is there yet unless
he has been released within the past four
| days, on charge of being concerned in
a revolutionary conspiracy. The specific
charge is that he was acting as a messen-
ger for the leaders of the conspiracy Com
mon sense should have told the Turks
that aman eighty-fve years old was not
messenger. but the Turkish official seems
to be singularly free from common sense.
At his trial, after most wretchad imprison-
| ment, the old man proved his innocence by
conclusively establishing an alibi. and four
days ago the indications were that he
trumped up fresh charge against him.
| 1t was shown at the trial that the charge
' iisious spite. bite not Of Mosiem against Chris
tian, but of Presbyterian against Baptist.
There has been denominational dispute
of some sort other and this was the
way in which it was settled. The man in
prison is Garrubi Dunliliyan. His accuser
is Solomon Papadziyan.
Not only should the Sassoun massacre
be probed to the bottom. but all the attend
shg sderad For n thing the @ tate of
in Armenia, and especially along the kurd-
ish frontier, should receive the closest scru-
tiny. The facts, now and then told mer-
est matters of course are most appalling
in their depth of depravity. When an Ar
from her home and outraged by armed
bands of Turks and I<urds, and any member
| of her family who lifts a hand in defense
of her honor is shot down like a dog. Or
| the Kurdish frontier the rayagers do not
| ding. but they seize her when she has
| reached certain age and carry her off tC
the mountains, where she is most shame.
| fully treated. In a few days she is allowed
| to return to her home.
| NO WOMAN ESCAPES.
'.This infamous practice is so common
| that it is declared that there is not a youne
| Armenian woman living along the Kurdish
| frontier who has not been victim of it
Even children of tender years are not ex
| empt and some have actually died in the
most frightful agony. Any attempt of ths
| Armenians tc combat this custom or t.
punish the perpetrators of the outrages il
| met by severe measures
1.-The Turkish commission will not inves
| tigate such cases, and yet the state of so
| ciety which makes these things possible j!
| responsible not only for the Sassoun mas
| saere but fer the hundreds of isolated case:
| of outrage, murder and false Imprisonment
| which the outside world knows nothing of
| 1t is a significant fact that outrages arr
not daily perpetrated by Turks on othel
Turks or by Kurds on their fellow-tribes
men; it is always on the Armenian Chris
| tian that the Turks and Kurds let 1oos'
| their ingenious depravity. 1t Is the differ
| ence of religion that is the basis OF all In
| Jury oppression and wrong.
what will the practical Christianity O.
| England and America do about it? VIII j
| help the Armenian revolutionist party tt
1 form an Independent state in order tina
the innocent women and children may hs
/ protected against outrage and death? VIII
| it give Armenia to Christian Russia, where
already mary thousands of Armenians art
living IL, peace and prosperity? VIII i