New-York tribune., 1901-12-07

nassacres, there is room for just such work
on that unfortunate country that which Mr..
Lynch has prepared.
His volumes present the results of two jour
neys made in Armenia, the first in 1924 and
the second in 1895. His first attention was
given TO the Russian provinces, Turkeys Ar
.nenian possessions being visited later. The
evils OF Russian Armenia due, Mr. Lynch
thinks, to the defects of the bureaucracy but
the few nitigations which the situation has
apparently due to the same system, that the
two about balance. Sixty years ago the slave
ships infested the harbors Of the Black Sea.
For the fact that they DO more Russia
is to be Thanked. Russian Armenia is kept in
political subjection by bureaucratic govern
nent, with the omnipresent spy, no less than
Turkish Armenia Is by The rayaging and law
less Kurd- Thus Armenia is ground between
two mstones. and while each is totally diff
ferent in character from the other, 1t seems
difficult to say which is the more oppressive.
The trail of the political intriguer is over all
Russian Armenia The land swarms with spies
and suspicion broods in every corner. The trou-
hles CT the traveller under these circumstances
thus described:
We are about to enter a country which both
for straIesical and political reasons. is hedged
in with scarcely visible but extremely palpable
restrictions and for the unprepared and i'll rec
commended traveller is almost of the nature of
being allowed to move about without hindrance
and 10 enjoy the luxury of the confidence that
your presence will be tolerated and that You
will not summarily be expelled, it is necessary
TO provide yourself with special authorization
from the proper minister at St Petersburg.
At length we are provided with sufficient
recommendations 10 be warranted in trusting to
fortune TO do the rest; owed much to the
Kindness OF our Russian acquaintance at Con-
stantinople. and were able to realize fact
of which subsequently received such abun-
dant evidence. that the highest Russian officials
vale rGe-hSo r7ol r,anr Of he 0r1d
az well the kindest and most hospitable
hosts
For all his recommendations Mr.. Lynch got
into trouble Akhaltsykh where he
countered official stupidity, deprived Of his
letters and papers, was placed under surveil-
lance, and was only released on the arrival of
an official who understood the situation. In the
Armenian provinces the government is naged
ihy q handful of Russians through Arnenians.
s'The Armenian says Mr.. Lynch. lis man
of ancient culture and high natural capacity:
neither the instinct the quality would be
claimed by mis- Russian superior. who is the in
strument OF a system of government rather
than born ruler, and who in general is lacking
IN those attributes OF pliancy and individual
initiative which il is the tendency of the rigid
oureaucTacies to destroy. . e. When you see
him work among such a people the Ar
menians you ask yourself how it happened that
such wooden figures as these"
Through all this Russian governed land Ar
menia predominates in everything but power.
Arlnenians are nearly double the numbers of any
other race. The fertile ground is. for the most
part, titled by them: their language is the most
frequently heard and the legends and historical
memories which attach to the country theirs.
All TIE machinery of civilization that the land
posses ses is Armenian, and the country is dot
ted with beautiful monasteries and the ruins
OF ancient churches. that serve to preserve the
memory OF that past in which the Armenian
takes much pride. Mr.. Lynch has examined
with discriminating care many OF the architect
ural monuments OF the country, almost all Of
which of a religious character, and of many
OF them he speaks in terms of high praise, par
ticulariy Of the cathedral Of AMI.
A consideration OF the state of the Russian
provinces of Armenia would not be complete
without reference to the weapon with which
which constitutes the right arm of the Gar
head OF body of these horsemen, and his
description Of them is worth reproducing:
One feels the peculiar quality OF the material
behind one: il is in the air, and makes the
pulses beat There is champing of bits and
impatient curvettinE, do the riders sit up in
their saddles and look smart. They may be seen
in every posture loiling about in their shabby
drab uniforms, and holding their reins long. But
they communicate the impression that each man
fs a born soldier, and that one might march with
them from one end OF Asia to the other without
troubling much about the commissarat or the
length OF the particular stage. They are just