The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-10-23


Bishop Cannon traced the history
OF Mosiem dominion of the Near
East, from the capture of the By
zantine Constantinople to the pres
ent time. He showed that neither that
city nor the city of Smyrna were es-
sentially Turk. but that both were
Christian. His text, taken from the
Revelations of st. John, showed that
Christians were In Smyrna during the
life of Jesus Christ
Butcher BY Nature
"The Turk has built nothing" de-
clared Bishop Cannon. He did not
build Constantinople; he did not
build Smyrna. He can only tear
down. He is a butcher in time of
war and In time of peace, and is a
butcher from habit and from nature"
Telling of former atrocities of the
Moslems. Bishop Cannon reminded
the audience of the massacre of Ar
menians by Abdul, the Bloody, 30
years ago. 1t was at this time, he
said, that Gladstone implored the
House of Lords to take some action.
Political considerations entered in,
however, the speaker said. and pre-
vented British Intervention.
SICK Man OF Europe
All of the Balkan states united in
a feeble effort to drive the Turk out
of Europe in the Balkan war. he said.
The treaty of 1918 aimed at driving
the Sick Man. cart and baggage. out
of Europe into Asia, where he be-
longed, he continued.
1t was then, the speaker pointed
out, that France assumed the pro-
tectorship of Silesia, which she de-
clared she would maintain as a home
for the Armenians. To this trust. he
said, France was unfaithful. few
years later. she betrayed the helpless
Armenians into the hands of the
Turk. for considerations of oil, rail-
road. and other commercial conces-
sions.
Pathetic Picture
Bishop Cannon gave pathetic pic.
ture of the futile effort made by the
Christians In Smyrna to escape TIL,
bloody clutches of the Turk, wher
the French column moved out of thu
city down to the sea. British troops
protected the British In the city, hi
said. and American troops protected
Americans, but the Armenians anc
Greeks were left to the ravages Of
the high-strung Turk. Lights OF
British and American battleships an.
chored in tho harbor played grimly
over that bloody night, he said.
when Renal Pasha sent that tele-
gram to the 81 nations of the world
seated In conference at Geneva last
September that he could not be re-
sponsible for the massacres OF the
Turkish people, adding that he could
not restrain the passions OF his high
strung army, everybody knew what
would happen.
should Have stepped In
at was then that we should have
stepped In. 1t was then that the United
States should have said to Renal
Pasha, If you cannot restrain your
troops, we will restrain them" This
declaration WAS received with louo
cheering.
Bishop Cannon said that the pro-
tests OF Secretary Hughes were
adequate at the time they were
made, but that four days later they
were not adequate
The Smyrna massacre, Bishop Can
non said, was not only the blacklist
page of Turkish history. but Il is
history of Christendom, When the
world protested the Turk laughed up
his sleeve, the bishop added, and
burned the city.
Turks Burned Smyrna
That Turkey actually did burn
Smyrna, Bishop Cannon said, is borne
out by testimony of American Red
Cross nurses, Near East workers, and
other citizens who were in the city
at the time. It is alo significant, he
added. that the fire was perpetrated
at q time when tho wind was blowing
from the Turk quarters of the city
toward the Christian quarters. That
tho Turkish portion of Smyrna is left
standing, intact, while the Christian
section Is devastated is proof for the
average mind, Bishop Cannon as
serted, that the Turk. and not the
Greek, burned the city.
Bishop Cannon told of some Of the
horrible instances that accompanied
the ravishing of the city. Men were
deported supposedly to be put to
work, but everybody knew. he added
solemnly, what would be come of them.
Women were dragged from houses
and into houses for outrage, and Dr..
Esther Lovejoy, one of the leading