Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-01-12
OUR MISSIONS IN TURKEY.


DR. j. b. Angel, president of the Uni
NcrstY of Michigan and cX-mnistor to
Turkey. and formerly president of the
L. Y. NJ, deliy cred an address in the Cen
tral CONGREGATIONAL church, Brooklyn, y.
Y, on the work of the missionaries in
Turkey and Of the attitude Of the Turk
lsh government toward them.
The mission for Turkey, he said, was
one of the most important which the Am
erican board had sent out. lie spoke in
hieh terms Of the character and work Of
the earlier missionaries, ana said that
some of them had aided the Sultan in
many ways. as for instance i'm the intro
duction Of the Cotton-plantinE industry,
/ and in consequence they had stood high
! in his favor. They found, however, that
/ the MOhammcdans were not greatly open
! TO conversion, and So instead of setting
! up separate church the missionaries
| bent their efforts toward revival Of the
/ Christian spirit in the Greek ana Grcgor-
ian-Armenian churches, which had oX-
/ listed for mdiy centuries. Later they did
/ the same for the bulgarian and syrian
! HISTORIAN churches. However, the au-
thoritos of the old churches became ieal-
Gus. and III many ways prosecuted those
who joined in the revival
! Nevertheless, said DIR. Angel, the
church prospercd. Many congregations
/ became sclf-sustanins, and in some the
COMMITMENTS exceeded 1860 i'm number.
+ Then the relations between the Turks and
/ Armcnians became strained and the mas
sacrcs of 1860 began. The Armcnlans
had been a subject people for go years,
and had acquired some of the character
/ ties Of ScrNilc people Not having been
allowed to serve in the Turkish armies,
/ they had become unwdrlilSe, and so re
with extraordinary patience the robbery
of their goods hY the kurds and many
outragos upon their families.
l4. he a.
soldiers ana unskiled in commerce the
/ Armcnians developed surprising skill in
finance and in the industrial trades. Con-
! scpuently after they obtained the right to
hold real estate, they grew rapidly rich at
the oNucusc of the Turks, lending them
4 money, taking mortgages, and in many
cases seiznS their lands. This gave rise
! to a feeling of hatred on the part of the
Turks, similar to that cvnced in many
parts Of Europe toward the Jews. 1t was
not religious hatred so much as an cco-
monte rivalry, and it was out of this
rivalry and the cruelty Cf the kurds that
the massaCres grew.
| Dr Angel recalled the incidents attend
ing the Armenian plot in Constantnopie
and the slaughter that followed in Ar
mcnia, where between 10000 ana 100000
persons persisted.
"Our missions at Ilarput were burned
by the Turkish soldiers who were sent to
AIRY Barnum was ordered to leave but re-
fused Miss Gorilla Shattuck stood in the
doorway of the mission at Oorfa and de-
Clared to the Turks who threatened 1t
| that they must pass over her body before
they should enter, They fen back, and
the refugees IN the mission were saved.
"Thc Turkish government charged that
the slain were reVolutionists. There was
not word of truth in II. The revolutions
lists numbered 20 or 80 young men. The
rest were innocent. Then the authorities
in the Armenian ana Greek churches saw
their opportunity. They began to report
to the local officials that our missionaric
were stirring up strife. These reports
were carried TO the sultan ana the minis
ter Of foreign affairs questioned me. |
knew many of these missionaries myself.
They had always been against the pro-
Cecdings OF the rovolutionsts, and in some
cases had discharged teachers who had
become tainted by lnarchistic associa-
tons. / made explanations, and heard no
further complaints, ana the last year, so
far as the missionaries are concerned has
been one Of peace"
The Turkish government, DR.. Angel
added, often made improper DEGREES, but
lii the minister met them with a deter