The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-24
Did He Sell Turkey ::

The United Press correspondent at
 Constantinople sends via London the
 following information, under date of January [: Up to the present the names of six teen Protestant pastors have come in, all of whom have refused Mohammsdan-
 ism and have been Killed
 "The Turks here are very angry about the presents taken by Aarif from the sultan to the czar. The Oriental Ad- vertiser was suspended for publishing the facts that Aarif had left fin cofn- pany with the dragoman of the Rus sian embassy. There is no doubt that he( carried presents, and the Turks | think he has sold the empire. It is even said that the presents included q stone of great value, stons which is regarded with veneration as a talis-
 man. whose possessor will dominate the empire. I have heard this story from several sources.
 "Selim Melhameh, the present nlin- | ister of agriculture, mines and forests, was put out of the service of the pub lic debt, and being persona gratissimia at the palace. had his present office created for him. The year before last l he agitated the questions of an exposi- | tion, and a tax of ten sparas was put
 upon every ticket sold at the ferries. This tax Is still collected, though the exposition is forgotten. It is said that l f6S, 900 were thus collected and deposit ed by Selim in the Ottoman bank, and | that with the connivance of high off, cial in the bank he has speculated and | lost fS2,00O.
 "He probably has private property | enough to replace the sum, but as many palace people expected a share, there will have to be much bribery" 'The following official information came on the morning of January g: "A fray of little importance has taken place at Biridjik between the ArmenlanH and the Moslems, but, thanks to the | energetic action of the government, or der was immedia tely re-estabiished. On one side and the other, five were killed and fifty wounded Order and tram | quiity continue to reign throughout the empire.
 This last phrase, like a sort of bene- l diction closes every official statement, and is repeated every day in every jour ] nal But. as Terrell says. it is the tram | quility of death.
 "The loeal Armenian paper Khair-
 enik. the editor of which was stabbed 1 by an unknown person last Monday evening" has been suspended for pub | fishing strong article on the attempt-
 ed assassination Among other things l it defended its publication under the
 compulsion of the government of the articles praising the government.
 "Munir Pacha, governor of Broussa,
 resigned because the military commando
 CT at Broussai was ordered to discipline
 the Armenians
 | "Munir called the commander before him and said that massacre must be- | gin with himself The resignation is | not yet accepted.
 | '"The Turkish official reports that or 1 ders have been sent to destroy Zeitoun. l The following is the opinion of one well | qualified to give an opinion:
 "There is small probability that the l Armenians at Zeitoun can be induced to
 surrender It must be remembered that
 they have naturally strong position,
 that by bribery of Turks they have a
 practically unrestricted intercourse with the surrounding country. and that the Turkish troops who surround them are ill-fed and unpaid villagers who cannot resist offers Of bribes. The fact has