The Newtown bee., 1897-04-02

) seizure of Constantinople by the Christ
 ian Powers.
 !, Then there is the possibility of 8 re ligious war. Peter the Hermit to-da, would be an utter impossibility among
 he followers of Christ, perhaps an i'm
 possibility among the followers 0
 Buddha or of Confucius, but he is en
 tirely possibility among the followers
 of Mohammed. The Moslems are scat tered in Africa, in western Asia, il
 India, still, were man of Mohammed's
 ability or of Peter the Hermit's zeal anC
 persuasivenness. to arise, the fanatica spirit might be aroused.
 BEFORE EUROPE's ARMIES
 could be gathered millions might be slaughtered, lands devastated ard the
 world undergo a shock, the effect o1 which would be felt for centuries.
 There are reasons why such a war is not
 probable, but let the Moslems feel that
 Christian armies are assaiIipg them, and
 it might come.
 People often talk as though the ! Armenian question were a mere trif1e ! that England could settle it if she only would. I think she might try if she was sure she could. I feel toward the
 Armenian question az many felt toward ! slaverly in this land fifty years ago. Awful, it ought not to extend, it ought to cease-but how? A million flags floating on Decoration Day tell a little, only very little, of the story. If a Christian Protestant country must needs so ag0nize to banish from it's own hearth stone an accursed thing, it does pot
 behoove us to wonder why England can
 not in day purify the robbers den on
 the distant mountains. How shall the
 p&oblem be solved? The Bulgarian
 problem was solved, but that was child's
 play compared with the Armenian prob lem. Bulgaria is in Europe, Armenia is in Asia; Bulgaria is circled by Christian countries, Armenia is surrounded mainly by Moslem nations. Bulgaria is inhab- tied almost exclusively by Christians; in Armenia the followers of Mohammed are nearly or altogether in the majority. Bulgaria with clearly defined boundaries, Armenia with none such; Bulgaria is part of the great Slavic race, Armenia without brother or sister among the nations. Similarly the Cretan difficulty, though somewhat perplexing, is very simple compared with the Armenian problem.
 Armenian national independe ncy is an utter impossibility. Pressed by sur rounding Moslem peoples, with great Moslem population, the Armenians could not hold the reins of government very long.
 thing that the seizure of Constanti- nople will be no solution of the Arme- nian problem whatsoever, and that England's control in Armenia similar to that in India, or even in Egypt, would be unnatural, expensive, profitless and short lived. The laying of her hand on Egypt was natural because of it's rela- tion to her route to India. Her political 1 control in India and her other provinces has followed naturally the activity of 1 her merchants and the enterprise of her 1 colonists. Armenia is to her an out-of- the-way place, and when Britain as- sumes unnatural responsibilities she 1 will fall to pieces.
 There are two solutions to the Arme- nian problem. The first is the seizure 1 of Armenia by Russia. This is the most l natural, the simplest. Russia has al- ready some Armenian subjects, she has adjoining territory, she could seize it driving the sultan from Con- without precipitating the l 80 called Eastern question. Remember that the Eastern question and the Armanian question are two different problems. The Eastern question, problem which has long perplexed Europe, IS, Shall the sultan control Con- stantinople and the adjoining water ways? If not, who shall? The Arme- nian question, of more recent origin, is, Shall the Christian Armenians be pillaged, massacred. annihilated? They are very different. The former is politi- cal, the latter humanitarian. If Eng land tries to solve the Armenian prob- lem she must solve the Eastern problem on the way. But Russia can settle the Armenian problem without precipita- tating settlement of the Eastern ques- tion. It must be remembered that Russia will settle it in her way. She will protect their lives but lesson their liberties. The civilization of Western Europe would be debarred, Protestant. ism would come under the ban, mission ary schools would be closed, missionary teachers and preachers probably would be banished. Russia has no use for the American Board nor any Yankee ideas. Spiritual Christianity and modern ciYili-