The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-05
Glad of m Excuse.

In our dispatches this morning It is
stated that a terrible massacre of Arme-
nian Christians has taken place at BIZ
vidjik in Asia Minor. the number killed
being about nine hundred. And yet the
Christian nations of Europe do nothing
toward putting a stop to the work OF
discriminating the Christians in the Turk
ish empire, although the work has been
prosecuted with great vigor for months
of the Turkish government. The whole
Christian world has been looking to Eng
land to take the lead in putting stop
to the massacres. because she is largely
responsible for the existing situation She
has. however. done practically nothing.
She has heard with comparative indiffer-
ence the cries Of the helpless women and
children who were being subjected to
outages that filled the Christian world
with horror. The inference from her con-
duct is that she never intended to ex-
tend to the Armenians a helping hand.
The evidence that she did not is found in
the avidity with which she seized upon
the Venezuelan episode as an excuse for
doing nothing for them. The leaders of
her government declared that President
Cleveland's Venezuela message had de-
stroyed every chance of saving the Ar
menians. and Washington correspond
ent of a leading London paper reiterates
that statement
What has President Clevelands Vene-
zuela message to do with the Armenian
outrages? In what way has 1t prevented
the Christian powers of Europe from
saving the Armenians? More than fifty
thousand Armenians had been massa-
cred and hundreds of thousands of them
had been plundered of all their possess
sions and driven from their homes before
the message was written. The statement.
therefore, that President Clevelands
Venezuela message has destroyed all
chance of saving the Armenians comes
with very bad grace from either British
or American sources. The statement has
been made in one or two papers published
in this country, but they are papers edited
by men whose sympathies are with Eng
land rather than this country
That the statement is lacking in all
the elements of truth is so apparent that
it is hardly necessary to contradict it. 1t
affords England just the excuse she want
ed, however, for her selfish conduct in
respect to the Armenians, and she is pa
rading 1t i'm her newspapers with as much
show of sincerity as If she believed it. or
thought it was believed by the people Of
other Christian nations. Even If the
Venezuela message had not been written
the situation in Armenia would not be
different from what it is. There is good
reason for thinking that England does
not intend to interfere in behalf of the
Armenians, unless she could do so with
out jeopardizing any of her interests. At
no time could she have interfered with
out risk to herself. The Presidents Ven
ezuela message has not changed the Ar
menian situation in the least The same
reasons that have prevented England from
interfering before the message was issued
still exist. The excuse that she was
checked in her good intentions toward
the Armenians is one that the civilized
world viii not accept. 1t is an excuse
that is not creditable to her from any
point of view.