| Show CHARGES AGAINST KNAPP the charges against rev mr knapp an american missionary in armenia as aa officially stated have now reached the public it will be ro remembered that helas arrested by j turkish officials and expelled but that he secured a hearing bearing bat ire the united states charge d daf faires at constantinople to leave the country before having bad an eunity to state his bis side of the case by the turks be Is accused of being one of the chief conspirators in armenia according to their afta affi invite lavdie he had a bell in the belfry of big bia church and this abla he tolled as a signal for the rebels to com wence mence disturbance iv he supplied as begins with weapons and even hired ufa his servants to kill in hio bis sermons he be used language calculated to inflame the llie faithful ap and the general tendency of his bis labor was to incite rebellion and disorder to anyone acquainted with oriental conditions it appears quite probable that the turks who preferred these cli charges arges against bey mr knapp fully believed that they are true an illi orate erate people necessarily depede i 1 I on bearsby lor for the dietr tiu bu tion lion I 1 of bems con concerti concer cerni nl g what la Is going on outside the limited circle of personal observation but it is well known that a rumor a story cannot travel very far from lip to lip before it assumes fantastic shapes this Is the case everywhere and par ticul arly in the orient where imagine mon plays euch a role A stranger comes to town he stays for a shorter or longer period and after a while everybody in that town has haa made up his hie mind as to the antecedents present i purposes and future course of the visitor Is he be a christian the current of t 6 thought takes a hostile direction ana the edans will soon have him mat down so as an enemy to good bruer in this way it is quite easy to perceive how bow a peaceful missionary hould at a time when disturbances occurred in armenia in the minds of the turks he connected with those 11 4 angul nary outrages as the chief cause of them the credulity out there is so great an old sheik should express suspicion that a christian missionary chief diet to Is human flesh and blood it would be looked upon as plausible and it would take but a few days to assume F all the dignities 0 of f a fact to which 4 t hundreds would be walli willing g to testify t without actual observation it is ie impossible to form idea of the real condition of a people that has never been under the educating eu e u eating cating iti in fluence of a free press free speech and conae measure of self government all I 1 but notwithstanding the utter ab r ef the special charges against knapp in H general way 1 it ierne we pre prep 01 U jt ristian la in Aruie Liia aia is lu in directly responsible tor lor the disturbances there it is the light rom from the 1 far west that has enabled the oppressed race to perceive a possibility of better it is the doc trine of christianity about a universal universal brotherhood that has baa in in within them a hope that by embracing bracing those doctrines doctrin ep western nations would extend their sympathy to them to the extent of fighting for their liberty this was waa plainly shown at the late gathering of christian en deavor erp when speakers from ar menia appealed to christiana here either to help them in their struggle for liberty or tako back the bibles they have sent them they cannot under stand a brotherhood in religious mat tera which ceases at the threshold of temporal aff affairs airs it will be well for christian missionary societies to consider carefully the responsibilities they undertake with their enterprises in foreign lands land are they to in a position to meet those responsibilities to the full extent reverend mr knapp will of course te be acquitted provided he be obtains a hearing bearing before an impartial tribunal 1 and probably his bis experience will be a leison both to bis big friends and opponents |
