| Show TURKS AND ARMENIANS A writer to lo a london magazine pictures pic turea the armenians Armen ians as a half chiv people living in burrows in the earth passing their lives in agriculture or in petty trade or when rich e enough lending money at afu usurious rious rates to the he kuras of whose tlona they complain they are saiu raid to be uneducated fanatical and immoral in the bligh behest est degree practicing vieve vices generally ascribed to the mohammed an ana it la in evident that the author has hag a purpose but it if his bis intention la 18 to soften the sentiment against the turks by ompha emphasizing sizing the dark of vocial nobial ilie among the sufferers of armenia ne lie must fail ail for the reason tuat that the responsibility for that condition chiefly reth re th with the ruling class the turks the armenians Armen ians met with every where in the coast cities of asia minor where laws jaws of civilization are of necessity reo to some extent and katr the characteristics ot of the race are given some freedom of development those armenians Armen ians as a rule are diligent bard goeking sid beaming forto the keen intelligence peculiar tu to orientals Orient als their lin skid Is simply imply wonderful they are progressive selve as far as circumstances wil permit longing lor for a place among the ibe civil z id cat ions their past bib tory lory and aau their traditions inspire them with hope for the future the race must be judged lilaa the qualities they exult t under favorable circumstances and not from the condition of the rural population in the relentless rasp of the monster of oppression which for centuries oun has wound its iett tentacles tenta cleo around them it is ie almost impossible for people living under the blessings oi 01 a ree free government to realize what despotism despo tiem really Is ie freedom ol of ot of speech of action becomes ao 80 natural tuat teat a dif different lerent condition seema gems almost inconceivable even the groans droane from ane depths of ine abyss ol of oppression are likely to be misinterpreted off an the rebellious utterances ol of malcontents of which the world to full one must have seen been the misery jim io order to understand it fancy a country in which officiate officials are author iced iak d to seize every book boob even bible bables that have dot a government approved stamped upon if 11 a country to in which the vilia villagers gere bide at ac the approach of a stranger because they fear ne he has cime oi me to gatner gainer jazef where officials with impunity lay jay hand on everything that is valuable and where there consequently is no incentive to work for the sake of obtaining a compe the bare of a life in poverty must be hidden bidden in eaves or otherwise where you cannot can dot travel ravel from one oily city to another without official where you trust a poet post menter with a W stamp but must most watch hina him until he be has cancelled it and reo ren dered it not worth while stealing but these conditions prevail all over the turkish empire and worse still the life nor the honor of the women safe in the trucks tracks of many of the bona bands that traverse tra verae the provin ces cea for the purpose of gathering revenue for the central government both and christians are constantly subjected to those methods and when they are considered it to clear that whatever spark adark of civilization or tendency towards progress till still remains 18 a strong indication of the possibilities of a marvelous marve loua develop ment under favorable circumstances only a lew few days daya ago in timatea that he was satisfied atla ned with wilh this mode ot of ruling and this in ia probably true the turks know well what they are doing the fact Is that the manc for some reason or other do not increase lo in proportion to the armendi son ana they would soon become a help lease minority but for the constant raids by the kurd who are decimating a population deprived of the right of possessing pose essing arms for their own de tente enee no one acquainted with the situation believes beli evea that the armenian are of atrocities but the provocation to is bob such that in ia soy any other country a general uprising would long loni ago fago have taken place A new stage of the turkish turk lib question la is looked for tomorrow saturday december 7 when the sultan must give a definite answer to the demands demanda ot of england eagland for a permit to feud an extra gunboat to con will the sultan dare to refuse the impression Impre uloa beeme to be emeral general that no one power except ru airala gals is ia in a position at present to du do more than threaten the sublime porte and that russia la Is merely bid tog jog her time for a decisive action there Is ia a tradition in the modam world mat to in the falness of time the czar will restore the arose to we church of st sophia and if we i mistake not the turks fear russia buia more than all the rest reat of europe combined |
