Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-14

and Cancellation. -
The Young Turks do not possess the
! confidence Of the people. They reign. hut
| do not govern. unless 1t may be held that
terror, exile and the scaffold Is govern
ment. when these are but temporary ex-
pedents. The real liberalists of Turkey
| deplore this condition and many pious
! Mussulmans are scandaliZed by the i'm
pety of the Young Turk who styles him.
self "unienist and progressionist."
| il X
| In the actual state OF affairs grave in
eident In Armenia or Syria might be the
preteXt Of intervention
The Turks which would. lead to the
cof.rro,d dislocation OF the Otto
| man empire. The Turk,
il should be said has no choice of his
means OF safety; there Is but one, a policy
OF reform and of decentralization.
| \ compact group of more than $500 900
Turks inhabits the plateau of Anatolia :;
/ but beyond the Taurus and as far as the
! frontiers OF Persia and the Russian Trans
| caucasus the population is mixed with
| Christian Armenians and kurds. But 1t
IS in the heart of the mountainous re-
sions of Erzeroum, Bitlis, Van and Khar-
pout that the Armenians are in the ma
jority. 1t is difficult to know the number
OF Armenians. The Turkish figures count
them as l. 15O,0OO In Turkey and ASIA the
| Armenians claim $50. 600 In the six viii
| ayets of Great Armenia: 10000 Ar1ne-
mans inhabit Russian Armenia. and the
| Transcaucasus. Little Armenia situated
around the Gulf of Alexandrette belongs
to the vilayet of Aleppo and Adana and
has a numerous population.
Armenia was never an Independent
| kingdom except for a brief period under
TiSrane the Great. the Authoritarian of
Mithridates t9J-J6 B. C.)
| Armenia has been considered in all the
treaties. Notably. in 1850, Prince Gorts-
chakoff, Russian minister Of foreign af-
fairs, addressed note to the signatories
| Of the treaty of Paris inviting their at
| tention to the ill treatment Of Armenians
and the Maronites Of Syria Gortschakof
said: In uniting all our efforts to place
the Ottoman government in course
| believe we are giving proof of our solicit
| tude, while at the same time we fulfill
| q duty of humanity
1t will be recalled that it was Prince
| Gortschakoff who said. that the oriental
| question was not in the orient but in the
| riralries Of the cabinets of Europe" And
it is this dictum which is being manifest
ed today as it was in 1850.
1t should be recalled that Napoleon III
in 1867 informed the Sultan Abd-el-Aziz
that If he should send
Napoleon Ills an army to zeitoun to
w., crush the Armenians
/ waning there, as was threat
ened, French army would intervene.
AS result, it was established by a con-
vention that a Christian governor should
be appointed at Zeitoun, Turkey OBJ
served that convention until the advent
Of the Young Turks, who violated it by
the appointment of Mussulman.
The treaty of San Stefano (article 16)
stipulated formally that immediate re-
forms Should be established in favor OF
to Russia Bayezid. Alachkert. and the
| route from Trebizonde to Teheran by
| Tebriz which gave these commanding
heights and sources of rivers into Rus
| sian hands. England became alarmed and
| arranged that Russia's Asiatic conquest
should be reduced. Russia, which would
be the protectress of Armenia, was dis
placed by the treaty of Berlin, and the
| powers were given this authority. Finally
| the powers delegated their authority to
England. So that England practically in
tervened to prevent Russian protection
of Armenia. For this questionable serv-
ice to the Turk England asked and re-
ceived, June 4. 1873, from Turkey the ces-
sion of the Island of Cyprus
In the massacres of Christians which
have followed at intervals down to those
at Adana there lies the responsibility Of
England. 1 do not recall the text Of Mr..
Gladstones reproach to his government
on this head, but in view of all that
Christian Armenia has suffered at the
hands of the Turks 1t is regrettable that
England should have concluded barter
that has reacted upon the Christians of
A menia.
on the 10Th of May. 1913, the assembly
at Constantinople submitted to the grand
vizier a memorandum. in which atten-
ton was invited to the dangerous situa-
ton in Armenia and the urgent necessity
of a solution. Mahmoud Chefket Pacha
frankly said
'Armenians are not the only ones to
suffer from brfgandage: there are others
who suffer also The government has the
firm intention to put an end to all crimes.
Too many words have been uttered. too
many promises made.
Il will avoid promises. This govern
ment will be known by its acts
Now Chefket was perhaps honest in
this perspective. He told the French am
bassador. who urged upon him the neces-
sity for immediate action. that IL he act