The sun., 1896-09-06
THE ARMENIAN TROUBLES.
81. Desperation OF the Victims or the Turk
ana or Engiish 1mpotencY.

.,,h the provision In the treaty of Berlin affect
,oo that part of the Turkish territory In Asia
u,nor after the war OF 1S77-7e, Gen. Loris-
w.,koT, commander of the army of the Cau-
s..us. himself an Armenian, called round him
~. Armenian notables OF the city and made
,h.r, I. short address. His concluding words as
\, ,ode away were; And now remember what
.,y 10 you. keep friends with the Turks."
ThIs advice WAS IN flagrant contrast with that
.,yen by Gen. LNzareff, also an Armenian, who
commanded the Russian corps of occupation,
vh,ch WAS 10 rise on tho FIRST opportunity and
throw over tho Turkish yoke. Theso two men
we're both brave and loyal soldiers of the Rus
alan Gar, and devoted Armenian patriots. They
are both dead. and we may say OF thom as Of the
Knights OF old:
Their bones are dust, their good swords rust
Their souls are with the saints. We trust.
Although. through tho opportunities given by
the alternating defeats and successes OF tho
eontendiug armies. the inhabitants OF eastern
Armenia had become possessed OF considerable
quantities OF good weapons and ammunition.
th.y made no attempt to take advantage Of the
utter disorganization OF the Turkish army or
the confusion into which the administration
had fallen at tho end Of the war. Relying upon
the solemn pledges given by tho powcrs repre-
,ented at tho Berlin Congress, and tho promises
NJ their sovereign. the Sultan; relying also
upon the pledges gratuitously given them by
England on her own account In tho Cyprus
convention, and the reiterated assurances of
British Am mbassadors and Consuls. tho Arme-
man people consented TO surrender TO the Turk
ish authorities the arms with which they might
have defended tho lives and honor of them
selves. their women. and their children, and
waited 10 patience tho dawning Of that prom
ised better day that was never to come. Re-
lieyed by the surrender OF their arms from any
fear OF q rising among the Armenians. and
subjected to no pressure by the powers
or by England, which had exacted guarantees
from the Sultan that he would give some kind
Of decent and civilized government to tho Ar
menian and other Christians Of his eastern
Asiatic provinces and protect them from Kurd-
sh and Circassian thieves and murderers. the
Turkish Standardization. with tho direct ap-
proyal Of the Sultan. entered upon systematic
oppression OF the Armenian people in the matter
Of taxation and allowed the Kurds free rein to
punder. murder. and violate. Governors of
provinces who showed any tendency to human
ity in dealing with the Armenians were promptly
removed and, to assure the effective use of tho
army the sultan placed his own son-in-law,
Zekki Pasha in command OF the army corps,
with It's headquarters at ErzinRhiAn. and gave
him for a subordinate, among others, Chetket
pa.ha, Infamous for his connection with the
Ba,ak massacre in Bulgaria, in 1875.
from 1856 on the Consular reports from Ar
nen!A testify to an ever-increAsing and more
relentless persecution of the Armenian people.
Representations, no matter how respectfully
made to the Sultan. were either unheeded or
resulted only in causing the arrest or banish-
ment OF those daring to complain against the
increasing abominations of the administration.
Abandoned by the protecting powers and by
England. in whom they trusted to the end, they
,urned TO that last resort of desperate men;
they began TO conspire and form revolutionary
societies. In the madness of their methods and
the recklessness OF their actions. the Armenians
have illustrated in an awful manner the truth
Of The French proverb. III ny rien plus dan
serenx qu'un mouton enrage." From the nrst
massacre that took place In Erzeroum, in
800. deliberately provoked by the action of
some revolutionary Armenans from Russia,
down to the latest horrors of tho past week in
Corstsrt!aople. every undertaking OF tho Ar
meniau revolutionaries has been characterized
BY what can only be termed sheer madness.
The sympathy which was at one timo ex-
tended to them By their compatriots In
the Russian Caucasus, with the more or less
covert acqu!escence OF the Russian authori-
ties. was promptly suppressed az soor as tho
Russian Government discovered that the la
tioraIist revolutionary propaganda was being
made the vehicle for the dissemination of
auarchistc and sociai!st!c ideas imbibed in
the schools Of Germany, France. and Switzer-
land BY the young Armenians who frequented
them. Once the succor from the Armenians Of
Russia was cut of. the revolutionary move
ment in eastern Armenia became hopeless and
irnf Ia n-l,. ~, t. Il. -.
amovement might have had any chance of pro-
ducng some result was Zeitoun. in that part of
western Armenia that formed the ancient king
dom NJ Cilicia Of the time of the Crlsades. But
here everything was done without judgment or
forethought. Without preparation OF any
Kind the mountAineers Of Zeitoun. armed with
nothing but old Aint-lock guns, were stimu-
Aied to rise. Such, however. were their fight
ing qualities. that. even with these. only about
thousand OF them made prisoners of
whole battalion Of Turkish troops. with their
arms. captured two cannon and held out with
such effect that II was only on the Intervention
Gthe European powers. at the instigation Of
Russia that they ultimately surrendered. A
70" OF them have found their way over to the
Iolted States. and are endeavoring to qualify
Tor American citizenship by studyin the Eng
lib language.
The movements In the district of Van. in the
mountains round BitlIs and Moush. and in the
plains and hills round Erzeroum were fore
aoomed TO failure. Tho Inhabitants of
the country to the westward were pre-
destined beyond redemption TO the knife of tho
Aoslem butcher, instiRated from Yildiz at Con-
rantinople
"hat seems equally unaccountable, when ono
considers the matter, Is the faulty of the Arme-
man people and OF the Turkish Sultan When