St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-01-24
HOW THE SULTAN MANAGED.
The London Times A ccount ofthe Whole
Matter, so Far as II Can BE Told.

Those who have taken liberty to
doubt the reports of missionaries,
who have been inclined to excuse
the Turk, who have pretended
to believe that the Armenians pro-
voked the treatment they have re.
ceived, may now read the report
made, as a summary, by the Con-
stantinople correspondent of the
London Times. The Times is per-
haps the greatest newspaper in the
world; it's correspondents are men Of
tried and trustworthy judgment;
their statements are practically edi-
torial in character,-they are war
ranted by the Times. Nothing can
be more conclusive than this story
which more than confirms the letters
which have been from time to time
received from missionaries in the
region where the murders have
occurred, as well as from CONSTANT
nople and other places not in the
region. This is the relation of the
Times correspondent
No accurate detailed statement
can be given as yet of the events Of
the last two months. Comparative.
lv few of the details will ever be
known to the world, especially of the
destruction of the villages; but the
accounts which have come in from
consuls and other European resi-
dents, as well as from unofficial
Turks, are sufficiently full to justify
the attempt to present a general
view of what has occurred. The
tables which will be found at the
close of this letter are incomplete,
but there is enough in them to make
it clear what is the purpose Of the
Turkish government and by what
means it is seeking to attain its end.
The occasion of these massacres
was the pressure putupon the sultan
to carry out certain reforms in six
vilayets and in part of the Aleppo
vilayet, in accordance with the
treaty of Berlin. The territory to
which these reforms were to be ap-
piled lies on the east of line drawn
from Sassoun, on the Black sea,
south to Alexandretta. The object
of the massacres was to nullify these
reforms and carry out the established
policy of the present sultan by reduc-
ing the Christian population in this
territory to an insignificant minori-
ty without wealth or influence. This
object has been attained -
First, by killing in cold blood a
certain number Of the leading Armen.
ians in every town.
Second, by looting the shops and
houses of all the Armenians in the
towns, thus depriving those left alive
at once of their property and their
means of living.
Third, by destroying the Christian
village and thus reducing the agri-
cultural population, as well as.that
of the towns, to the alternative OF
death by starvation or of embracing
M ohammedanism.
Fourth, by completing the work of
destruction after the massacres by
con6scation, imprisonment and
death under the form OF Turkish law.
The attention of Europe has been
directed almost exclusively to the
massacres in the towns, as made
known by fragmentary kilograms
and mendacious official reports. De-
tails have been published only of the
massacres OF Constantinople, Treb-
zond and Erzerum. Up to the pres
ent time there have been such massa-
ores in 80 principal towns. More or
less details have come from almost
all of them, and in a general way the
story of Erzerum, which has been
given so fully in the Times, answers
for all. The killing has been done by
the soldiers, the Turks of the towns
and surrounding villages, and in
some cases by Kurds, Circassians or
Lazes, under the protection of the
soldiers. In general the Armenians
have been unarmed and have made
no resistance, though in most places
a few Turks have been killed either
by Armenians who defended them
selves or by chance shots of their
own people, In one case the Kurds.
after finishing the Armenians, looted
a number OF Turkish shops.
The official reports published by
the Turks represent that in every
town the Armenans have provoked
these outbreaks by attacking the