36 chapters
3 hour read
Selected Chapters
36 chapters
INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
This is an important book. It deals with a burning question, and in a way which will command public attention and public confidence. The author is thoroughly equipped for his task. Birth, residence, and travel in Turkey have made him personally acquainted with the situation which he discusses, and the independence of his position enables him to write without restraint and without prejudice. After nearly four years of service as a missionary of the American Board in Van, the centre of Armenia, du
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The writer has, from his birth, been a student of the Eastern Question, but makes no claim to having mastered it. What he has learned of the phases of that question here treated has been by absorption, observation, travel, residence, and investigation, in the land itself, and by study and reading in regard to it. The very short time allowed in the preparation of this humble contribution to the subject has necessitated a hasty and partial treatment at the expense of literary form. Some of the mat
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CERTIFIED EVIDENCE OF THE MASSACRE IN SASSOUN.
CERTIFIED EVIDENCE OF THE MASSACRE IN SASSOUN.
We, the undersigned, by examination and comparison, have satisfied ourselves that the following statements are verbatim reports, written under the dates which they bear, by American citizens who have spent from six to thirty years in Eastern Turkey. We have examined also the fact that they are written from six different cities from one hundred to two hundred miles apart, but forming a circle about the centre in which the massacres occurred. For the personal safety of the writers the names of the
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
EXPLANATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.
EXPLANATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.
These letters are written by men who can have no possible motive for misrepresenting the facts in the case, while, on the other hand, each writer subjected himself to personal danger by putting such statements upon paper and sending them through the mails. Several of the documents have gotten through Turkey by circuitous routes, in some instances having been sent by special messenger to Persia, and so on to this country. Others were never risked in the Turkish mails, but have come through the Br
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE EVIDENCE.
THE EVIDENCE.
[The reader should take notice that this first letter was written over four months before the massacre actually occurred.] It does seem in this region as if the government were bent on reducing all those who survive the process to a grovelling poverty, when they can think of nothing more than getting their daily bread. There is good reason for thinking that unless so-called Christian nations extend a helping hand, they [the Armenians] will become wellnigh extinct. Of course I do not sympathize i
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE INHABITANTS.
THE INHABITANTS.
Probably about one half of the population of Turkish Armenia is Mohammedan, composed of Turks and Kurds. The former are mostly found in and near the large cities, such as Erzingan, Baibourt, Erzerum, and Van, and the plains along the northern part. The Kurds live in their mountain villages over the whole region. The term Kurdistan, which in this region the Turkish Government is trying to substitute for the historical one Armenia, has no political or geographical propriety except as indicating th
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SUMMARY OF ABUSES.
SUMMARY OF ABUSES.
“I. Unjust and corrupt assessments. 1. Villagers are compelled to give assessors presents of money to prevent them from over estimating the taxable persons and property. 2. Assessors, to secure additional bribes, signify their willingness to make an underestimate. This, in turn, affords opportunity for blackmail, which is used by succeeding officials.” “II. Injustice and severity in collecting. 1. The collectors, like the assessors, have ways of extorting presents and bribes from the people. 2.
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
WHY ARE THESE FACTS NOT KNOWN?
WHY ARE THESE FACTS NOT KNOWN?
The ignorance and incredulity of the public is a most significant commentary on the situation. But the explanation is simple. In the nature of the case, in reports of outrages where the victims or their friends are still within the clutches of the Turks, all names of individuals and often the exact locality must be concealed. Such anonymous accounts naturally arouse little interest, and, of course, cannot be verified. The former British Consul-General at Erzerum, Mr. Clifford Lloyd, showed me at
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
The scope of this book does not permit a discussion of even the Armenian phase of the Eastern question, beyond a bare reference to its possible three-fold solution. There is, first, Russian annexation, a step for which the sufferers themselves are praying, and which Russia is prepared to execute at a moment’s notice. If this were the only alternative from present conditions, it should be universally welcomed. Russia is crude, stupid, and, in certain aspects, brutal, but she is not decrepit, deba
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE OFFICIAL PRAYER OF ISLAM
THE OFFICIAL PRAYER OF ISLAM
which is used throughout Turkey, and daily repeated in the Cairo “Azhar” University by ten thousand Mohammedan students from all lands. The following translation is from the Arabic: “I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, [the rejeem ] the accursed. In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful! O Lord of all Creatures! O Allah! Destroy the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the enemies of the religion! O Allah! Make their children orphans, and defile their abodes! Cause their feet to
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V. THE OUTCOME OF THE TREATY OF BERLIN.
CHAPTER V. THE OUTCOME OF THE TREATY OF BERLIN.
It is quite needless to remark that Turkey, instead of doing anything to improve the condition of the Armenians, has done much to make it worse during the past fifteen years. The question now arises, what have the Powers signatory to the Berlin Treaty done to compel the Sublime Porte “to carry out the improvements and reforms” demanded in the Sixty-first Article? And what steps has Great Britain taken in addition, to discharge the additional obligation for the improvement of Armenia which she as
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI. THE SULTAN AND THE SUBLIME PORTE.
CHAPTER VI. THE SULTAN AND THE SUBLIME PORTE.
Church and State are one and inseparable in Turkey. The Sultan of the empire is also Calif of the Mohammedan religious world. He cannot abdicate either office, if he would, without vacating the other by the same act. In fact, herein lies the secret of the present Sultan’s policy, which seems suicidal on general principles of government. He has, on the one hand, been lavish in the building and repairing of mosques, and in establishing Moslem schools throughout his dominions. On the other hand, he
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
DEFENSELESS CHRISTIAN SUBJECTS MASSACRED IN TURKEY 1820 TO 1894.
DEFENSELESS CHRISTIAN SUBJECTS MASSACRED IN TURKEY 1820 TO 1894.
The above figures indicate the extent of the massacres mentioned. The following extracts reveal the occasion and manner in which they were carried out. The first extract is in regard to the Greeks, and is a translation, by Mr. Robert Stein, from the French: “The blow had been long premeditated. Sultan Mahmoud was in the habit of replying to every success of the Greek insurgents by ordering massacres, violations, and enslavement in regions without defense, where there were none but women, childre
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
OUTRAGES IN CRETE IN 1866–7.
OUTRAGES IN CRETE IN 1866–7.
On July 21, 1867, the British, Russian, French, and Italian Consuls at Canea, Crete, sent the following identical telegram to their several governments: “Massacres of women and children have broken out in the interior of the island. The authorities can neither put down the insurrection nor stay the course of these atrocities. Humanity would imperatively demand the immediate suspension of hostilities, or the transportation to Greece of the women and children.” The number of relieving ships sent t
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
OUTRAGES IN ARMENIA IN 1877.
OUTRAGES IN ARMENIA IN 1877.
The writer is C. B. Norman, special correspondent of The London Times , who says in his preface: “In my correspondence to the Times I made it a rule to report nothing but what came under my own personal observation, or facts confirmed by European evidence. A HIGHWAY IN ARMENIA. “A complete list it is impossible for me to obtain, but from all sides—from Turk and Armenian alike—I hear piteous tales of the desolation that reigns throughout Kurdistan—villages deserted, towns abandoned, trade at a st
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE MASSACRE OF THE YEZIDIS NEAR MOSUL, 1892.
THE MASSACRE OF THE YEZIDIS NEAR MOSUL, 1892.
“The Yezidis are a remnant of a heathen sect, who have never been converted to the Moslem faith. “Their holy place is not far from the city of Mosul, one day’s journey, and their principal villages are also close by. In the summer of 1892 the Sultan sent a special officer, called Ferik Pasha, to Mosul to correct certain abuses in the government, to collect all back taxes, and to convert the Yezidis. His authority was absolute, the Vali Pasha of the city being subject to his orders. “In reference
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII. ISLAM AS A FACTOR OF THE PROBLEM.
CHAPTER VIII. ISLAM AS A FACTOR OF THE PROBLEM.
It is with reluctance that I approach this side of the question. It is not desirable that the subject be complicated or embittered by religious animosities. But unfortunately these animosities do exist and have always formed a primary and essential feature in all the relations of the Turks with their Christian subjects. A writer who styles himself “Diplomatist,” in a recent review article of considerable merit, [48] with a stroke of the pen, disposes of this phase of the subject by characterizin
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX. GLADSTONE ON THE ARMENIAN MASSACRE AND ON TURKISH MISRULE.
CHAPTER IX. GLADSTONE ON THE ARMENIAN MASSACRE AND ON TURKISH MISRULE.
On the eighty-fifth anniversary of Mr. W. E. Gladstone’s birth, December 29, 1894, a deputation of members of the National Church of Armenia presented to his son, the Rev. Stephen Gladstone, rector of Hawarden, a silver gilt chalice for the use of the church, in memory of the ex-Premier’s sympathy with and assistance to the Armenian people. On that occasion Mr. Gladstone made a long and eloquent speech, in the course of which—after thanking the deputation for their token of sympathy and their gr
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X. WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS?
CHAPTER X. WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS?
That a field so rich in possibilities for the student of history, ethnology, or language as Armenia and Kurdistan should have remained as yet so little explored, is due, no doubt, to three causes [55] : first, the apparent loss of significance of the Armenian nation, which now, like Poland, seems but a stranded wreck in the stream of history; second, to her geographical isolation and the danger and hardship of travel in that region [56] ; third, to the linguistic obstacles to be overcome. So lit
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
STATISTICS OF AMERICAN MISSIONS IN TURKEY.[70]
STATISTICS OF AMERICAN MISSIONS IN TURKEY.[70]
The following figures, with the exception of the Press statistics, represent the work of the American Board (Congregational) and of the Presbyterian Board taken together. The Congregational proportion constitutes about three fourths and the Presbyterian one fourth in all these figures, the work of the latter society being confined to Syria and Mosul. There are six American institutions in Turkey incorporated under the laws of the United States, and controlled by trustees in that land. There is a
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE CASE.
THE CASE.
The legation of the United States of America has the honor to invite the attention of his highness, the minister of foreign affairs, to the matters following: By note No. 167, June 13, 1883, the legation informed his highness that two American citizens, traveling in the vilayet of Bitlis, had been set upon by Kurds, robbed, and left to die, and that the governor-general of the vilayet had manifested the most singular indifference about the affair, and might be fairly charged with responsibility
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE POSITION TAKEN IN WASHINGTON.
THE POSITION TAKEN IN WASHINGTON.
Sir : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 317, of the 25th ultimo, relative to the case of the Rev. Mr. Knapp and Dr. Reynolds, murderously attacked by Kurds near Bitlis, and to say that, after a careful consideration of all the facts before the Department, the inaction of the governor of Bitlis and the failure of the supreme Government to force him to undertake such measures as the case evidently demanded, must be regarded as a denial of justice. While this Government is always averse
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE POSITION TAKEN IN CONSTANTINOPLE.
THE POSITION TAKEN IN CONSTANTINOPLE.
General Lew Wallace is understood to have been emphatically a persona grata as U. S. Minister to Turkey, in fact to have enjoyed, to a very exceptional degree, the personal confidence and friendship of His Majesty the present Sultan. The following quotation will show what treatment even he received in the discharge of his official duties in the case under consideration: The Porte, in deciding how far it is safe to affront foreign Governments, has even ranked the United States below some of the E
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE RESULT.
THE RESULT.
The ten years that have elapsed since the above was written clearly show that what seemed then to be a “settled purpose” has become the settled policy of the Ottoman Government in regard to Americans and their rights in Turkey. In regard to the outcome of the case of Messrs. Knapp and Reynolds, the humiliating fact must be recorded that not one cent of the indemnity demanded by the United States of America has to this day been obtained. The monster, Moussa Bey, was allowed by the Turkish Governm
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
1. Number of Individuals and Interests Involved.
1. Number of Individuals and Interests Involved.
Distributed in thirty of the principal cities of Asiatic Turkey alone, there is a permanent body of two hundred and fifty Americans , not including their children, who hold over two million dollars of American property for residence and the use of their educational, medical, publishing and religious enterprises. These figures do not cover the large commercial interests of Americans in Turkey, for which statistics are not at hand....
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
2. Nature and Extent of the Danger to which they are Exposed.
2. Nature and Extent of the Danger to which they are Exposed.
There are two sources of danger: first, the lawlessness of numerous highwaymen who infest the country, and of the fanatical Moslem population of the cities; and second, the hostility of Turkish officials, who have repeatedly failed to restrain, and in some cases have even encouraged attacks upon the lives and property of American citizens....
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
3. Evidence of this Dangerous Condition.
3. Evidence of this Dangerous Condition.
So far back as June 29th, 1881, Secretary Blaine, in official instructions to Minister Wallace at Constantinople, wrote: “Your attention will doubtless be prominently and painfully drawn to the insecurity of the lives and property of foreign travelers in Turkey, and the failures of the authorities to prevent or repress outrages upon American citizens by wayside robbers and murderers, or even to execute its own laws in the rare instances of the perpetrators of such outrages being brought to justi
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE REQUEST.
THE REQUEST.
We feel that the condition shown by the above evidence, not to add more, abundantly justifies a renewed request for some Consular protection in the Eastern part of Turkey, for the American citizens permanently residing there in the prosecution of lawful pursuits . Our present exposed and helpless condition is clearly set forth in a communication from the United States Legation at Constantinople, to the State Department: “It may not be doubted that the absence of an American Consul at Erzroom lea
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX C. DR. HAMLIN’S EXPLANATION.
APPENDIX C. DR. HAMLIN’S EXPLANATION.
A cutting from the Herald has been sent to me to-day containing a letter of His Excellency, Mavroyeni, on the Armenian atrocities. I must strongly object to the use he makes of a letter of mine in the Boston Congregationalist of last year (December 23, 1893). The object of that letter was to show the absurdity of the revolutionary plotters. The Armenians are a noble race, but few in number, scattered and unarmed. The Turkish Government has never had the least fear of any such movement. It knows
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX D. THE CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS.
APPENDIX D. THE CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS.
With what intelligence and religious toleration the censorship of the press is conducted may be judged from examples found in an official document: “The quotation, in religious books, of the words of Scripture for proof or illustration, has been subjected to the will of the censor; and even the printing of religious books has been objected to on the ground that since Christians are graciously allowed to use the Holy Bible, they need no other books of religion. Appeal from the decisions of the ce
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
HISTORICAL.
HISTORICAL.
Norman , Armenia and the Campaign of 1877 . London, 1878. Milner , The Turkish Empire . London: Religious Tract Society. Clark , The Arabs and the Turks . New York: Dodd & Mead. Tozer , The Church and the Eastern Empire . New York: Randolph. London: Longmans. Latimer , Russia and Turkey in the XIX. Century . Chicago: McClurg & Co., 1894. Morfill , Russia . New York: Putnams. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1893. Lane Poole , Turkey . New York: Putnams. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1893. Chu
49 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
TRAVEL.
TRAVEL.
Smith and Dwight , Researches in Armenia . 2 vols. Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1833. Stephens , Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Poland . 2 vols. New York: Harpers, 1839. Southgate , A Tour through Armenia, Persia, and Mesopotamia . 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1840. Van Lennep , Travels in Asia Minor . 2 vols. New York: Van Lennep, 1870. Van Lennep , Bible Lands: Their Modern Customs and Manners . New York: Harpers, 1875. Theilmann , Journey in the Caucasus, Persia, and Turke
39 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
MOHAMMEDANISM.
MOHAMMEDANISM.
Sale’s , The Koran . 2 vols. Philadelphia: Wardle, 1833. Smith , R. Bosworth, Mohammed and Mohammedanism . London: John Murray. New York: Harpers, 1875. Washburn , The Points of Contact and Contrast between Christianity and Mohammedanism . Chicago: The Parliament Publishing Company, 1893. Burton , Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Mecca . New York: Putnams. Belfast: Mullan. Muir , Life of Mahomet . London. Sprenger , Life of Mohammed . Allahabad, 1851. Irving , Life of Mahomet . Putnams. Stobart , Is
53 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
MISSIONS.
MISSIONS.
The Missionary Herald, 1820–1894. Boston: The American Board. Dwight , Christianity Revived in the East . New York: Baker & Scribner, 1850. Anderson , Missions to the Oriental Churches . 2 vols. Boston: Congregational Publishing Society, 1872. Wheeler , Letters from Eden . Boston: American Tract Society, 1868. Wheeler , Ten Years on the Euphrates . Boston: American Tract Society, 1860. Wheeler , Daughters of Armenia . New York: American Board, 1891. Prime , Forty Years in the Turkish Emp
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ARMENIAN HISTORY.
ARMENIAN HISTORY.
Moses Chorenensis , Armenian History , Arm. and Lat. London: William and George Whiston, 1736. Langlois, Victor , Collection des Historiens anciens et modernes de l’Arménie , en Français. Vol. i. Historiens grecs et syriens traduits anciennement en Arménien. Vol. II. Historiens arméniens de 5 e siècle. 8º. Paris, 1867. Dulaurier , Recueil des Historiens des Croisades. Documents Arméniens . Paris, 1869. Folio with facsimile reproductions. Pp. 855. Arm. and French. Dulaurier , Étude sur l’Organisa
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ARMENIAN LITERATURE.
ARMENIAN LITERATURE.
Nève, Félix , L’Arménie Chrétienne et sa Littérature . Louvain, 1886. Catalogue des anciennes traductions Arméniennes, siècles iv.-xiii. 8º pp. 783. Venezia, 1889. Dwight , Catalogue of all Works known to exist in the Armenian Language earlier than the Seventeenth Century . American Oriental Society. Vol. iii. 1853. Fortescue , The Armenian Church, History, Literature, Doctrine . London, 1872. Issaverdenz , The Divine Ordinances according to the Catholic Armenian Ritual . Venice, 1867. Alishan ,
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter