The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-01-27

only hope would be in our navy, but
suppose we could succeed in capturing
Constantinople, then the unaaswerable
question would arise, what shall we
do with the Turks2' Give to this ques-
ton careful. honest and faithful DELHI
Grafton. He did not believe in calling
Turks ''beasts." They are men, but
some Of them are bad men, monsters per-
haps.
DR.. Fem spoke of his visit to turkey,
and of seeing the Sultan on his way to
prayers attended by his guards. The
appearance of the Sultan was in his
favor. 1t did not seem to him that the
man lives who would deliberately saori-
fee six million lives of his SUBJECTS
There is strong race feeling in Europe,
and it is divided against ITSELF The
Greeks hate the Turks, and the hatred
is returned with interest. The Italians
dread the Frenchmen, and there is no
love lost in return. France and Germany
stand in dread of each other. Tho great
powers are divided. We are hardly in a
position to criticize the acts of the Turks
when we recall the fact that we have
driven the red man almost from the face
of America. He then gave brilliant
description of the African question, and
quoted from DR.. Livingstone to show
the horrors OF the slave trade, and said !:
Africa has suffered more at our hands
and at the hands of our fathers thar the
Armenians are suffering at the hands Of
the Turks" He spoke of the treatment
OF the Chinese in some sections OF this
country. He spoke OF religion as being
the great element in the development of
the races, and this is a case of religious
fanaticism. He spoke of the coming of
the Armenians to this country. Some
of them have accumulated great wealth,
and are sending their money home to
help thoir oountrymen. While the Ar
menian has advanced, the L Turk has stood
still, and there is in Turkey resolution
to crush this spirit Of Armenian advance,
something almost out of place in that
stand still empire. Let us appeal to
God, and 'tmove the arm that moves the
world" We can express our feelings in
many ways besides making threats. By
public demonstrations, such as cannot
help having a great effecG ON the Sultan
He spoke Of the speech of Senator Frye,
and said that with the coming OF the
Russian, the missionaries would he ordered
TO leave the country and missions and
schools would be closed. Burning in
dignation every man must feel when
thinking of the horrors in Armenia,
but he councjlled calmer talk, and more
peaceful means than those suggested ny
the some. We can make our voice heard
il condemnation of what has occurred
and is occurring in Armenia.
Rev. W. S. Ayres was introduced by
DR.. Parsons. He said he was there to take
the place of layInan who had positively
refused to speak. He regarded this as in
effect, war between tn Christian re-
ligion and the religion Of the prophet.
between Christ and Mahomet. The Ar
menian church is one of the oldest in the
world. He said that when the mission
aries first went to Turkey they we're told
"We know all about Christianity. we'y We
had Christians among US for many years,
and we want as little OF Christianity as
we can have" and when The mission
aries looked about, they found that this
was true. The Armenians had gone
down in The moral scale below the Turks
Ii there was drunkard in the village,
IL was sure to be an Armenian, and SO the
missionaries wrote home 10 their frlenus
that ii the Turks were ever LIE TO reached
these poor Christian Armenians must be
hrst reached and ma g better, and yet
thousands OF these poor ArmenianS have
within lew months submitted to death
rather than TO give up their hope in Jesus
Christ. War is not to be thought of, Tor
III three days of actual war more lives
would tie lost than will be lost in ali
Armenia, and war between England and
Turkey would be followed by general
European war. He spoke OF two letters
sent from Chicago, one to England and
the other to Russia, and said that con-
sidering the push and dash of Chicago
is 1t not strange that it has not single
handed already captured Turkey? What
can be done is to make large offering to
show that we feel for Armenia to show
our interest for the afflicted Christian
people. Gou, in His righteous wrath will
avenge His suffering people.
Rev. DIR. Parsons spoke briefly. He
admitted that he did not have quite the
same feeling regarding this question,
the burning question of the age, that
had been expressed by DR.. Fem, and Mr.
Ayres. He said he had no excuse to offer
for the treatment of the red men by tie
whites. Ho had no word to say in favor
of the slave trade, that mighty injustice
ana wrong Of the past as far as this coun-
tr. is concerned, and the treatment the
Chinese have received in this country
has too often beer wrong before God.
We could not reasonably have found
fault If after the passage of the Geary
act China had excluded every American
missionary from her territory This is
the last great struggle between opposing
religious forces. 1t is the last great
conflict between religion Of Mahomet
and the conquoring religion Of Jesus
Christ. Two consuls appointed to rur-
key by tie United States government
have been refused admittance to that
country, the greatest insult that one
oouI try can offer to another Dr. Par
sons said that while it is true that the
Turks respect America, he desired to
see that respect increased. He supports
the position taken by Senator Frye, and
would invoke the power of the Russian
nation against Turkey, and if Russia is
not nal RI bor ta IL than Ipt ZIG oi vo bar