New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-27

ment of the invaders from the East.
She was first to feel the impact OF
mighty hordes of semi-savages rush
ing at Christian Europe. In the thir-
teenth century she was subjugated by
the Tartar khans. In the fourteenth
century the great Tamerlane descended
upon the unhappy land, committing
terrible atrocities, driving the inhabi-
tants into the mountains. lie buried
alive, upon one occasion, four thou
sand Armenian soldiers who were de-
Tending a town. Such deeds were con-
stantly perpetrated upon the suffer
ing race.
And still Armenia persisted in exist
|. ing. II anything, the horrible or
deals which she underwent made her
more invulnerable and fuller OF vi
tally. AS soon as an invader had
passed her, Armenians by the thou
sands would emerge from mountain
crags and hidden valleys to pcrpet-
uate the race of their fathers and TO
revive and restore their motherland,
only to be again slaughtered and dew
astated by new hordes of barbarians.
For several centuries the Turks and
the Persians battled on the fields of
Armenia, soaking her soil with their
blood and sparing not the inhabitants.
In the seventeenth century a Persian
king, retreating before the Turks, and
fearing lest the latter should rescue
the Armenians and use them against
the Persians, decided TO transfer the
Armenian population to Persia. Hun
dreds Of thousands of them were driven
in front of the Persian army till they
reached the River Araxes, over which
there was not a bridge. A Turkish
army was rapidly moving on the Per-
slams. The commander of the latter,
Shah Abbas. therefore ordered his
forces TO drive the Armenian multi
tude into the river, thus affording an
opportunity to those who were able to
swim to save their lives. Only small
part of the huge throng was saved,
the rest impeding with their corpses
the course Of the river.
In 1889 treaty between Persia and
Turkey coded the eastern part Of Ar
menia to the first of the two powers.
In that part is located the Province
of Erivan, the chief city Of which,
Etchmiadzin, is the ecclesiastical and
cultural centre Of the country. But a
new power was soon to enter the arena
of the Near East, a power which was
destined to play most important role
in the life of the tortured Armenian
nation.
Russia was looking in the direction
CT Turkey. Peter the Great had de-
signs on Constantinople. His success
sors preserved this heritage of the
great Slavic Gar Russia and Turkey
periodically came TO grips. The lat
ter almost always left part Of her ter
ritory in possession of the northern
en- pire. Early in the nineteenth Gen.
fury Russia had acquired the Geor-
gisn Kingdom, and made OF it Rus
sian province. The Christians in the
Caucasus and Asia Minor, after centu-
ries OF oppression at the hands OF the
Mos'em Turks and Persians, looked up
to the White Car with relief and
hope. The Russians took karabagh
from Persia in 1873; and in 1928 the
province of Eriyan passed into their
possession by treaty. Hcnceforth
since the centre Of Armenian civiliza-
ton was in the hands of Russia, the
latter became, in the eyes Of the Ar
menians, the savior Of their land. In
1929 Russia took from Turkey the
province OF Akhaltsykh, and in 1875
the province of kars.
1t was in this latter year that Eng.
lands ignominious part in the life OF
the Armenian nation was played.
British historian refers TO II as lone