Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-08
WOULD MOB SALISBURY  If He Should Tell All That He
 Knows ABOUT ARMENIAN AFFAIRS MT. William 0'Brien's Recent Article Is At-
 tracting Unwonted Attention.
OWING TO EASTERN DEVELOPMENTS
The English Public Is Taking Little Inter- est in the Venezuelan Question, But the Leading Papers Have Much
 to Say on the Subject.

London, Dec 7.-(Special Cable Let ter)-What information is obtainable and the nature of the consular reports that are reaching the foreign office con- firm the worst fears of the destruction of the Armenians within the area from Trebizond southeast to Van, thence southwest to Alexandretta on the Bay of Iskanderoon, from Alexandretta slightly northeast to Kara-Hissar and from Kara -Hissar northeast to Trebi- zond. Whole Christian towns and vil- lages have been pillaged and burned. Those who have been left alive have been forced to abandon their faith and turn Mohammedans. Accurate details concerning the condition of affairs in the district beyond the immediate sphere of the consulates remain wanting, but there is no reason to doubt the reports derived from fugitive survivors and the better sort of Turks who have not shared in the outrages that a similar condition of affairs exists in those places.
 The correspondent of the Speaker, the paper which first gave publicity to the Armenian outrages, is now known to have close relations with the consulates in Constantinople, and from information | derived from them he estimates that not less than 800, 900 persons have been either killed or are now dying of starvation, beyond the chance of timely relief. He says that after the soldiers had sacked the Armenian towns and villages the Kurds completed the plunder. The lat ter mixed the grain they could not carry off with dung and set fire to the houses, leaving the people with no food and the1t homes heaps of smouldering ruins
 Io advised porte to permit the Red Cross society to undertake the relief of the distressed people, but the presence of hundreds or Red Cross agents would reveal horrors that the porte must conceal. This fact debars the possibility of the government giving it's assent to the plan:
 The representative of the United Press who has been for some time in Constan- tinople in the interest of that organiza- ton has received a letter from the HadJin mission. which begins with the words: 'sWe are alive, praise the Lord" The let ter refers to the prominent part Clrcas- sians have taken in the atrocities around Hadjin. and says that 10000 Circassians and Turks were actively employed Tn sacking the Christian villages. The gov ernment did nothing to protect the Chris tians. and even refused them permission to defend themselves. H did, however, promise the aid of regular Turkish troops who the writer states, were of the same feather as those engaged in the murders and pillage.
 official Turkish statements, repeatedly communicated to the press, that order has been restored everywhere, become worthless If the foreign office publish ed all it's information, says the Speaker, Lord Salisbury would not dare to appear In public. He would be mobbed In the streets.
 An article written by Mir. William O'Brien for the Review Politique, on "The European Aspect of the Irish Question" has attracted unwonted at tention, owing to the developments in the east. MT. O'Brien argues that the lrlsh bond of sympathy with Englands ene- mics has not entirely disappeared. The new movement begun in Chicago ought to be for statesmen a matter of study. The Irish-Americans have sufficient in- f1uence with the United States govern ment to stop the programme of family entente between the two great English speaking nations. They have also the power to arouse an enemy that England has the most reason to fear in the world. The young men of Gaelic athletic asso- ciations, he says. would form ready made army for a French or Russian ex- pe1ition, which would put rifles in their hands. and they would capture Cork and Limerick and hold them long enough to allow Irishmen to rally their flag. MT. O'Brien is of the opinion that the English fleet watching the channel could not pre- vent landing in Ireland.
 The latest instance of British greed for new territory is the proposed protector ate over lower Siam, which would place the whole Malay peninsula, from Slnga- pore to Burmah. under British rule. The Westminster Gazette states that the ex- tention has been on the cards for years and has been clearly explained by France Such a protectorate, it is claim ed would be welcomed by the Malays, who are now only nominal tributaries of Siam, while the mineral and other re- sources of wealth in the country are of great importance to Great Britain. The other papers curtly refer to the acquisi- tion in a similar strain. as if 1t was the natural consequence of the position of the territory between countries already held by England.
 In accordance with unvarying prece- dent the reply of Prime Minister Sails bury to the note of Hon. Richard Olney. the American secretary of state, on the Venezuelan dispute, will not be issued by the foreign office until 1t is presented to parliament.
 { The English public takes small inter- est in the dispute and in the attitude of the United States on the matter. Not the remotest reference to the subject has been made on the political platform dur ing the period that the prime minister has been wrestling with Mir Olney's note land the reply thereto. The comments in the press alone indicate the line of Brit ish opinion, which, according to the newspapers, is unanimously against any arbitration concerning the territory within the Schomburg line.
 The Statist says neither for it's own sake nor ours is 1t expedient for the United States government to put for ward claim as of right to dictate how we shall conduct dispute with another country relative to territory that has long been held by the British. The Unit ed States government is entitled to offer it's good offices, but there is a wide dis ltinction between these and intervention based on the ground of the United States having right to forbid any government in the world to enlarge the area underits Jurisdiction in any part of the American