St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-07-31
BlOOdthirsty Sultans.

| [Correspondence of THE CALEDoNIAN.J
An intelligent surgeon in order to have
a clear idea and perfect understanding
about his patient, must probe.to the core
of things he must plunge his scalpel
into the flesh; he must lay bare the gan
grenous sores and reveal the causes that
must make health imminent. So in order
to have clear idea Of Turkey, one must
study carefully the his tory OF the Turk
ish empire; he must study the melan-
choly picture OF the ruling class; he must
study the moral condition Of the sultans,
their viziers and governors. One must
not engage himself with the ideal but
with the real
l have often been asked, why does
the present sultan permit the butchery
and persecution of his Christian sub
jects?" My answer is: Because it is
one OF the principal teachings Of his re-
ligion; because he inherited his policy Of
annihilation from his predecessors; be-
cause he learns his lessons from his an
cestors." When we study the records of
the sultans of Turkey we will see that
Selim massacred forty thousand persons
suspected of heresy; Murad the Third
murdered his five brothers; Mohammed
the Third killed all of his brothers and
let his own son be .butchered; Murad the
Fourth caused the massacre of hundreds
of thousands of Christian people; Mo.
manned the Fourth gave full power to
his grand vizier to work what monstrous
infamy he listed at that time. We have
the massacres of Turks, the massacres of
HISTORIANS, the massacres OF Bulgarians,
the throttling of fifteen thousand OF Ma
ronites and Syrians. Who was the cause
Of the murder of Sultan Abdul Aziz?
Who accused Sultan Murad of habitual
drunkenness? Study the history of the
Turkish empire and you will find out
who they were.
What, then, do you expect from Sultan
Abdul Hamid the Second? Do you
blame him when his majesty follows the
steps of his predecessors in prosecuting
the Christians, in permitting the butchery
of men, the ravishing of women, the
slaughter of babes? Do you blame him
when looking toward Armenia and Asia
and demanding tyrannically of the
Christians, "You shall become Moham-
medans or l will sell you into slavery,
will burn your homes, freeze, starve, de-
stroy and slaughter you. Christian help
from abroad shall not be permitted to
come to you. Missionaries shall be
driven from the land. You are my serfs.
am the successor of Mohammed and
your privileged oppressor and destroyer"
Sultan Hamid has been a good ex-
ample of his predecessors and is worthy
to be called Sultan Hamid, the massacrer,
the modern Nero, Herod of the nineteenth
century and Pharaoh of the present day.
PRAISE TO THE SULTAN.
Our thanks to you, great Sultan you have
turned
Armenia to a chaos of hewn stone;
Daily by myriads you have slaughtered us;
| Our thriving hamlets you have overthrown.
GLORY and fame unto your majesty!
Following the Koran's law, you have not
feared
| Our holy Bibles pages to defle;
| With filth and mre the cross } GU have be-
Smeared.
| Our gratitude to you, great Patriarch
Gain from our slaughter has accrued to you.
| Your intimate associates you have made
| Circassians foul and Kurds, a theivish crew.
ain noisome dungeons, thousands glorify
Your Sovereign Majesty with loud &C.
claims
| You leave no blank in all the calendar,
But fill each space with myriad martyrs
names.
"Armenia's happy ruins, glorious King.
Will never forget you, on our history's
| page
Your wondrous deeds and your illustrious
| name
Shall blazoned be to live from age to age"
A FOREIGNER.
| ST. IOHNSRNRy VI Iu1v 06 1896