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Title: Turkey and the Armenian atrocities
Author: Edwin Munsell Bliss
Release date: February 16, 2026 [eBook #77958]
Language: English
Original publication: Philadelphia: Hubbard publishing co, 1896
Credits: Peter Becker, Seth Siefken and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TURKEY AND THE ARMENIAN ATROCITIES ***
TURKEY
AND
THE ARMENIAN ATROCITIES
A REIGN OF TERROR.
FROM TARTAR HUTS TO CONSTANTINOPLE PALACES.
CENTURIES OF OPPRESSION--MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN--SULTAN
AND PATRIARCH--BROKEN PLEDGES FOLLOWED
BY MASSACRE AND OUTRAGE.
THE RED CROSS TO THE RESCUE.
BY THE
REV. EDWIN MUNSELL BLISS,
Late of Constantinople,
Editor of ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF MISSIONS:
Assistant Editor of THE INDEPENDENT.
ASSISTED BY
The REV. CYRUS HAMLIN, D. D., Founder of Robert College:
PROF. E. A. GROSVENOR, of Amherst College;
REV. BENJAMIN LABAREE, D. D., late of Persia,
and Other Eminent Oriental Scholars;
also Several Eye-Witnesses of the Massacres.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
MISS FRANCES E. WILLARD.
FULLY ILLUSTRATED.
HUBBARD PUBLISHING CO., PUBLISHERS,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Copyright, 1896, by M. J. COGHLAN.
[Illustration:
PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE. The ecclesiastical head of the Armenians
is the Catholicos residing at Etchmiadzine, in the Caucasus.
Of the same rank are the Catholicos of Aghtamar (near Van) and
the Catholicos of Sis, in Cilicia. Next come the Patriarchs of
Constantinople and Jerusalem, the former taking precedence as the
civil head of the Armenians in Turkey.]
INTRODUCTION.
We need a new angle of vision on the martyrdoms in Armenia. Let us
suppose that we had never heard anything about them and that on next
Sunday morning, in our respective churches, our respective pastors
should come forward with a statement like the following:--
Near the foot of a famous mountain there lived 1500 years ago, in a
little country about 400 miles square, a people numbering, perhaps,
3,000,000. In the turmoil of the centuries they had been scattered
until their ancestral valleys and mountain slopes have largely
passed into other hands. They still preserve, however, the racial
characteristics of that early time, and look back with intense yearning
to that olden time and those familiar places.
In face, figure and bearing, they are remarkably attractive. It is
said that their personal resemblance to the supposed physical type of
our Lord is probably more striking than that of any other race. In the
simplicity of their faith and the earnestness of their character, these
people are reminders of the early Christian Church. The bravery of
their men and the chastity of their women are proverbial. They cherish
the Bible as the most precious of their possessions and guard it all
the more sacredly when to do so involves the hazard of their lives.
They are unarmed and do harm to none, they only seek to tend their
flocks, till their fields, and conduct their trade in quietness and
peace.
Their country is controlled by a rich and powerful potentate of
another race, who with his court and his army would be neither cruel
nor vindictive except for their religion. They are Mohammedans and
have been taught for centuries that a Christian slain was the surest
passport to the favor of God and the enjoyment of eternal happiness.
Under the insane spell of this awful fanaticism, they have come down
like wolves on the gentle Christian people under their sway, and within
the last year have slaughtered men, women and children without mercy,
not for any wrong that they have done, but only because they are
Christians. Their villages and homes have been burned to the ground
and such ingenuity of torture and outrage inflicted upon them as could
hardly have been excelled if the bottomless pit had vomited forth its
leading spirits to urge the battle on.
The cruelty towards priests and women, the two non-combatant classes,
has been bitterest of all. Because the priest represented the detested
religion of Christ, he has been not only slain but mutilated, and the
sign of the cross cut in his forehead by murderous swords, and because
Mohammedans believe before all things in the harem rather than the
home, a brutal soldiery has spared neither the wife, the mother, nor
the babe unborn. Outrages worse than death have been endured by women,
always preceded by the promise that they would be spared if they would
abjure their faith, but in no instance have they hesitated to face
their double agony rather than disclaim allegiance to the Cross.
Now, in the presence of such a spectacle as this, with the martyrdom
of a devoted nation going forward under their eyes, the men of
Christendom have stood by and watched these agonies; have seen a
crowd of gentle Christian women shut up in a church and undergoing
a night of outrage ending in murder, the streams of blood flowing
out under the church doors; they have stood by while Moslem savages
deliberately disemboweled Christian mothers and brought into a world
accursed, innocent babes which were taken on the points of bayonets and
sportively tossed to and fro; they have passively beheld the massacre
of fifty thousand Christian people in the slowly-rounded circle of a
year.
Suppose that this were said in every Christian pulpit next Sunday
morning, with what righteous anger and holy indignation would the
congregation rise up exclaiming: “Where are these outrages? Who are the
dastards that stand by watching the slow martyrdom of a nation whose
only fault is its loyalty to the Gospel that we profess?”
And then should come the answer that Nathan uttered in the face of
David: pointing to America, England, the Christian nations of the
continent of Europe, “Thou art the man!” It is you that are standing by
like the traitors of old and consenting to the death of those who in an
age of spiritual apathy are sealing with the blood of martyrdom their
holy allegiance to “the faith once delivered to the saints.”
This is the situation: Armenians are the nation; the Sultan and
his soldiers are the devil’s scourge; the Anglo-Saxon race is the
cold-hearted spectator.
In saying this I am not upbraiding any person high in power, not
singling out any nation as more guilty than the rest. For in this
crisis mere criticism would be futile. What we must have is action;
united, cogent and immediate; we must not stand upon the order of our
going, but go at once, drawn by the compulsion of what is best and
most enduring in our natures, even “the tie that binds” us to the
assertion and proof of a common humanity and a “like precious faith”
in Christ. We have waited a year, and now across the horrid front of
war gleams the white figure of a woman. Clara Barton, the angel of the
battlefield, takes upon herself the heavenly task of going to Turkey to
represent the forces of the Golden Rule and of the Home which is their
outcome.
In the long and bloody annals of the Sultan’s country, two figures
brighten the scene, two names breathe benediction--Florence Nightingale
and Clara Barton, the fairest flowers of English and American
Christianity. Women may well be grateful that their sex has placed in
the sky where the crescent is fading into darkness the two brightest
stars of hope that shall glow in history’s constellation.
Americans have given costly hostages to the Turk. No band of men and
women more heroic have lived since the Great Light shone forth out of
Jerusalem, than our Missionaries in the land of the harem.
The record of their danger, suffering and death is only second to that
of the beloved Armenians whose devotion has rewarded their heroic toil.
Their colleges and schools, churches and hospitals have passed under
the withering blight of the Mohammedan.
In the present desperate emergency, the work of Miss Kimball in the
devastated city of Van will be chronicled on the fairest pages where
the bravery of Christian women is described.
The record that follows is given us by a noble young American, the
son of Isaac G. Bliss, D. D., that statesman-like Missionary whose
name has been endeared to the Christian Church for well nigh half a
century by reason of his wise and unremitting labors. The appearance
of this book is opportune, and its moderation of tone will commend
it to all thoughtful readers. For we do not wish to hate the Turk
or impale him on the point of rapier-like epithets. He is what the
centuries have made him, and like Saul of Tarsus who became Paul of
Damascus, he “verily thinks that he doeth God service.” Superstition
and fanaticism have been in all ages the most deadly foes of the human
race. Under their withering breath the Armenians seem likely to be
swept out of existence. Surely such an illustration, surviving in a
century when “sweet reasonableness” and universal toleration have made
more rapid strides than in any that has preceded it, should nerve the
will of every Christian man and woman to defend our Mission and our
Missionaries, whose work alone can disinfect the land of the scimitar
from its awful taint, and disintegrate by means of education the public
opinion that prefers the harem to the home and the Koran of Mohammed to
the New Testament of Christ.
_En route in the Southern States,
January 15, 1896._
FRANCES E. WILLARD.
PREFACE.
The object of this book is not merely to set forth the situation in
Turkey as it is to-day, but to trace the influences that have produced
it. Those influences are very complex. They include the social
characteristics of the peoples of Turkey, the religious beliefs and
ecclesiastical customs that have grown up in the empire during the
past centuries, the political ambitions and jealousies of the European
Powers, and the personal qualities of the different men who have been
prominent in the control of affairs. Probably no chapter in history is
more kaleidoscopic in its character. To set forth its various phases,
the topical rather than the strictly historical form has been adopted.
The effort has been made to let each phase stand out as clearly as
possible, first in itself, and then in its relation to the other
phases. The contemporary historian is never logical. That remains for
those who, with longer range, have a better perspective.
The various histories of Turkey have been consulted, but special
acknowledgment must be made to “Turkey Old and New,” by Sutherland
Menzies, which more than any other traces the development of the
Eastern Question from the standpoint of the European Powers. “The Life
of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe,” by Stanley Lane Poole, “Turkish Life
in War Time,” by Henry O. Dwight, and Dr. Cyrus Hamlin’s books, “My
Life and Times” and “Among the Turks,” have been consulted with great
advantage. It is a privilege not less than a duty to acknowledge the
very efficient aid rendered by Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, Dr. Benjamin Labaree
and Professor E. A. Grosvenor. Dr. Hamlin’s vivid remembrance of the
picturesque phases of Turkish diplomacy during the reigns of Mahmud
II and Abd-ul-Medjid; Dr. Labaree’s scholarly as well as practical
knowledge of branches of the Eastern Church which to most are little
more than historic names; Professor Grosvenor’s intimate acquaintance
with, and sympathetic appreciation of, the Greek life and character,
have laid me under peculiar obligations to each. I must also express
my thanks to those who from the very center of the conflict have given
those sketches which describe so vividly the terror of the situation.
Some of the letters appear for the first time on these pages;
others have been already given to the world in the columns of _The
Independent_ and the daily press. Their authors I know well and esteem
most highly for their great ability and high character, which has been
most nobly manifest during the trying scenes of the past year. As I
write these lines word has come of the death of one and of the critical
condition of another. They have been urged to leave their posts, but
one and all they have refused, with the exception of a very few who, in
their own physical weakness, have felt that they could not strengthen
their associates. Turkey and Russia are banded together to force them
to leave; the former that they may not bear witness against the evil
done; the latter that they may not hinder the progress of that policy
of repression already applied to Evangelical thought throughout her
empire.
What is in the future no man can tell, but the growth of pure religion
in whatever form of church organization; the development of freedom
of thought; the attainment of civil liberty, and that not merely for
Armenian, but for Greek, Nestorian, Jacobite, and even for the Turk
himself, depends upon the continuance of the influences for a higher
life that have been at work during the past sixty years, and that
depends upon the missionaries being supported at their posts. Theirs is
no sectarian work. They stand as the friends of Gregorian Armenians,
Roman Catholic Chaldeans, Nestorians and Jacobites as well as of those
in closer affiliation with the Protestant Churches of Europe and
America. America should stand by them and demand their full protection.
It is our right by treaty; it is our right by the duty we owe humanity,
by the duty we owe to our tradition as a liberty loving nation. We have
no political ends to serve; we want not a square foot of the Sultan’s
domains; but we stand, as we have always stood, for freedom for the
oppressed, for the right of every man to worship his God in the light
of his own conscience.
EDWIN MUNSELL BLISS.
_New York City,
March 21st, 1896._
[Illustration: Red--District Where Massacres Occurred.]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE TURKISH EMPIRE.
Geographical Extent--Topography--Physical
Characteristics--Products--Traveling and Transportation--Building 19
CHAPTER II.
POPULATION AND LANGUAGES.
Accurate Statements as to Population Impossible--No Census--Best
Available Estimates--Distribution--Most of the Races Described in
Other Chapters--Jews and Foreigners--General Characteristics--The
Languages--How Distributed--Peculiarities of the Turkish--Number
Spoken in the Seaboard Cities 37
CHAPTER III.
RELIGIONS.
Islam and Christianity--A Few Pagan Communities--Origin
of Mohammedanism--The Koran--The Traditions--Extent of
Islam--Present Condition--Effect upon the Turks--Contact with
Civilization--Sects--Oriental Christianity--Characteristics 51
CHAPTER IV.
THE TURKS.
Their Origin--Early History--General Characteristics--Good
Qualities--Kindness--Hospitality--Temperance--Honesty--Intellectual
Ability--Obedience to Rulers--Bravery--Bad
Characteristics--Indifference to
Suffering--Brutality--Degradation of Women--Sensuality--Official
Unreliability--Fatalism--Insolence--Indolence--General Summary 66
CHAPTER V.
THE KURDS.
Legend of the Serpents--Connected with the Medes--Tribal
Organization--Nomad Life--Saladin and the Crusaders--After the
Russo-Turkish War--The Hamidieh Cavalry--Brutal Treatment of
Christians--Arabs--Circassians and Other Moslem Subjects--The
Nusairiyeh--Yezidis and Druzes 85
CHAPTER VI.
THE ARMENIANS.
Their Origin--Early History--First Nation to Accept
Christianity--Dispersion Under Oppression--Change from
Agricultural to Commercial People--General Characteristics;
Loyalty to Nation and Religion--Industry--Morality--Intellectual
Ability--Shrewdness--Jealousy of One Another--Influence of Missions
and European Ideas--Growth of National Ambition--Armenians
in Russia--Autonomy--Armenians in Other Countries--Patriarch
Mattheos--Outlook for the Future 106
CHAPTER VII.
THE GREEKS.
Fidelity of the Oriental Churches--The Apostle Andrew--Concessions
by Mohammed II--Gennadios II--Suffering and Misery--Greek
Revolution--Growth of National Spirit--Hellenes or
Romaioi--Bulgarians in their Relation to the Greek Church 130
CHAPTER VIII.
OTHER ORIENTAL CHURCHES.
The Syrian Church Divided into Syrians, Chaldeans,
Nestorians, Jacobites, and some Roman Catholic Bodies--The
Jacobites--Patriarch of Antioch--Condition of Villagers--Jebel
Tur Region--Nestorians--Patriarch of Babylon--Badir Khan
Bey--Chaldeans--The Copts of Egypt--Maronites and Druzes 145
CHAPTER IX.
RISE AND DECLINE OF OTTOMAN POWER.
Capture of Constantinople--Victories of Mohammed II--The Sultans
Assume the Caliphate--Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent--Attack upon
Venice--Constant Strife over the Danubian Principalities--Internal
Disorganization--Weak Sultans and Powerful Viziers--Alliances with
Foreign Powers--Repeated Disasters--Weak Rule in Asia--Revolt in
Egypt and Syria--Condition at Commencement of present century 164
CHAPTER X.
TURKEY AND EUROPE.
First Intercourse--Alliance between Francis I and Suleiman the
Magnificent--Intrigues between France and Austria--The First
Treaty--Nature of Capitulations--Peculiar Favors Granted to the
French--Their Recognition as the Protectors of Christians--Entrance
of Other Powers--Louis XIV and His Ambassador--Influence of De
Brèves--Peace of Carlowitz--Turkey No Longer Dreaded in Europe 183
CHAPTER XI.
RUSSIA AND TURKEY.
Aggression of Peter the Great--Diminution and Renewal of French
Influence--The Contest over the Holy Places--Victory of Russian
Influence in Favor of the Greek Church--Russia’s Religious
Propaganda Among the Greeks--Rise of Phil-Hellenism--Dismemberment
Talked of--Effect of the French Revolution--The Russian Fleet in
the Dardanelles--The English Fleet at Constantinople--Peace of
Tilsit--Plan for Partition--Accession of Mahmud II 195
CHAPTER XII.
MAHMUD II.
A Disintegrating Empire--An Energetic Sultan--Napoleon
and Alexander--Lord Stratford de Redcliffe--Greek War
for Independence--Russia’s Perfidy--Destruction of the
Janissaries--Reforms Attempted--Mehemet Ali of Egypt--Accession of
Abd-ul-Medjid 210
CHAPTER XIII.
REFORM AND PROGRESS.
Reign of Abd-ul-Medjid--Influence of Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe--English Policy in Turkey--Hatti Sherif of Gulhané--A
Remarkable Document--Equal Rights for All Subjects of the
Sultan--Land Tax and Judicial Reform--General Situation of the
Country--Application of the Reforms 225
CHAPTER XIV.
TREATIES OF PARIS AND BERLIN.
Influence of Lord Stratford--The Holy Places--Crimean War--Treaty of
Paris--Abd-ul-Aziz--Extravagance--Influx of Europeans--Provincial
Government--Accession of Abd-ul-Hamid II--Russo-Turkish War--Treaty
of San Stephano--Treaty of Berlin--Cyprus Convention 238
CHAPTER XV.
CONDITION OF THE CHRISTIANS.
The Christians under Early Moslem Rule--Mohammed II--General
Oppression--Protection by French Government--Russian Intrigue--Power
of the Greek Church--Reforms under Mahmud II and Abd-ul-Medjid--The
Hatti Humayoun--General Improvement Throughout the Empire 259
CHAPTER XVI.
THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT.
True Moslem State Theocratic--Dual Form of the Present
Government--The Sublime Porte--Army and Navy--Internal
Administration--Financial Management--General
Corruption--Administration of Justice--Treatment of Christians--The
Ulema--The Palace Party--The Sultan 280
CHAPTER XVII.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN TURKEY.
Early History--Opposition of Ecclesiastics in the Oriental
Churches--Attitude of the Turkish Government--Work Among
Moslems--Development of Education--Societies at Work--The
American Board--Presbyterian Boards--American and British Bible
Societies--English Societies--General Statistics--Relations to the
Turkish Government--Character of the Missionaries 302
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ARMENIAN QUESTION.
A Progressive Grand Vizier--Victory of the Reactionary
Party--Egypt and the Mahdi--Rise of the Armenian Question--Russian
Intrigue--Articles of the Berlin Treaty--Autonomy Desired--The
Huntchagist Committee--Placards in Asia Minor--Burning of American
Building at Marsovan--Numerous Arrests--Armenians Exiled--Coercive
Measures of the Government--American Citizens--Threats--Huntchagists
Disowned by the Nation--Young Turkey Party--Absolute Failure of the
Huntchagist Movement 324
CHAPTER XIX.
GENERAL SITUATION IN 1894.
Terrible Oppression--Exaggerated Reports--Truth Stranger Than
Fiction--Religious Liberty Infringed Upon--Oppressive School
Laws--Rigorous Censorship--General Effort of the Government to
Suppress Christian Development 345
CHAPTER XX.
THE SASSUN MASSACRE.
A Deliberate Plan of The Turkish Government--Kurdish Raids--Armenians
Defend Themselves--Kurds Reinforced by Regular Troops--Terrible
Scenes of Slaughter--Stories of Survivors 368
CHAPTER XXI.
POLITICS AND MASSACRE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
Investigation at Sassun--Mr. Gladstone on the Situation--Disturbances
in Constantinople--Joint Notes by the Embassies--Plan of Reforms--New
English Government--Massacre in Constantinople--Decisive Action
of the Embassies--Signing of the Reforms--Subsequent Acts of
Defiance--Breach Between England and Russia--Collapse of English
Influence 384
CHAPTER XXII.
MASSACRES AT TREBIZOND AND ERZRUM.
Importance and General Prosperity of Both Cities--Threats by the
Turks--Terror Among the Armenians--Suddenness of the Attacks--Murder
and Pillage by Regular Soldiers, Under the Eye of Foreign
Consuls--Ferocity of the Turks--Testimony of Eye-Witnesses--Terrible
Scenes at the Burial of the Victims 406
CHAPTER XXIII.
MASSACRES IN HARPUT DISTRICT.
American Residences--First Indications--Specious Promises--Riot,
Murder and Pillage--A Dangerous Journey--Attempts at Defense--List
of Villages and Details of Massacres--Statement of a Turkish
Official--Armenians not Responsible--Turkish Dread of Reform--Tabular
Statement 427
CHAPTER XXIV.
AINTAB, MARASH AND URFA.
The Situation in Northern Syria--No Revolutionary Movement--Massacre
at Aintab--Kurdish Women--A Turkish Captain Helps the Pillage--A
Colonel Checks it--Caring for the Wounded--Two Attacks at
Marash--Destruction of American Houses--Brave Men in Zeitun--Story of
Massacres at Urfa 447
CHAPTER XXV.
CHARACTER OF THE MASSACRES.
Massacres at Sivas, Cesarea, Birejik, Bitlis, and the Region
of Mardin--Protection by the Turkish Government for the
Jacobites--General Survey--Place and Time of the Massacres--Victims
Exclusively Armenians--Effort to Destroy the Strength of the
Nation--Motive--Responsibility of the Turkish Government and of the
Sultan 464
CHAPTER XXVI.
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.
Motive of the Massacres--Primarily Political, then Religious--The
Religious Element Overpowering the Political--Dread of Christian
Domination--False Statements by the Turkish Government--Instances
of Persecution and Enforced Conversion to Islam--A Tremendous Moral
Disaster--Efforts of the Government to Suppress Reports 482
CHAPTER XXVII.
RELIEF WORK.
The General Situation--Absolute Destitution--Appeals to America and
England--Work in the Sassun Region--Van and Dr. Kimball--Appeals
Following the Greater Massacres--Clara Barton and the Red
Cross--Opposition of the Turks--Letter from Van--After the Massacre
in Harput--Suffering in the Villages--Appeal for Help 502
CHAPTER XXVIII.
PARTITION OF TURKEY.
Factors in the Problem--Turkey and Europe--Topography of the
Country--Distribution of Population--Countries Interested--Russia,
England, France, Austria, Italy, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria--Desire
for Territorial Aggrandizement--Mutual Jealousies--Possible
Solution--Turkish Factor Often Overlooked--Great Difficulties to be
met 528
CHAPTER XXIX.
AMERICA AND TURKEY.
Early Treaties--Some Prominent Ambassadors--American
Missionaries--Obedience to the Laws--Treaty Rights--Questions
of Importance--Indemnity at Harput and Marash--More Consuls
Needed--Naturalized Americans--Right of Domicile Threatened--Positive
Action Needed--Duty of America 542
CHAPTER XXX.
GENERAL SURVEY.
Statistics of Massacre and Pillage--Where Does the Responsibility
Rest?--The Turks; Fear, Ferocity, Outrage--The Armenians; Ambition,
Lack of Preparation, Unwisdom of Huntchagists--The European Powers;
Jealousy, Ambition, Cowardice--The Sultan; Alliance with Reactionary
Party, Difficult Position, Individual Care of Minutiæ--Latest
Development of Most Terrible Persecution 552
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE _Frontispiece._
VIEW OF MOUNT ARARAT 17
GENERAL VIEW OF THE GARDENS OF VAN 18
A KURDISH ENCAMPMENT 35
TURKISH PEASANT FAMILY 36
THE HAMIDIEH MOSQUE 53
TURKISH DERVISH 54
TURKISH PEASANT 71
GROUP OF MOUNTAINEERS 72
KURDISH SHEIK 89
GROUP OF XEIBECKS 90
ARMENIAN WOMAN 107
AN EVANGELICAL ARMENIAN CHURCH 108
KURDISH MOUNTAIN VILLAGE 125
A TURKISH VILLAGE SHEIK 126
THE CITY OF BRUSA 143
LAND WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 144
BRIDGE OF BOATS ACROSS THE LOWER TIGRIS 161
VILLAGE OF REED HUTS IN LOWER MESOPOTAMIA 162
A KHAN, OR CARAVANSARY 179
A DOME VILLAGE IN NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA 180
GENERAL VIEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE 197
VIEW OF ADRIANOPLE 198
GROUP OF ARMENIAN YOUNG MEN 251
THE CITY OF MARSOVAN IN ASIA MINOR 252
SULTAN OF TURKEY 269
AUDIENCE AT THE PALACE 270
ROBERT COLLEGE 287
THE BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL IN SMYRNA 288
CIRCASSIAN OFFICER IN THE SULTAN’S ARMY 305
SLAUGHTER OF THE ARMENIANS AT SASSUN 306
GATEWAY OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT AT CONSTANTINOPLE 359
THE CITY OF TREBIZOND 360
THE CITY OF HARPUT IN EASTERN TURKEY 377
THE CITY OF AINTAB 378
THE CITY OF GUMUSHKHANE 395
VIEW IN THE CITY OF TABRIZ 396
COUNCIL OF THE GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN REGARDING
THE ARMENIAN QUESTION 413
SQUARE OF THE ATMEIDAN 414
BRITISH FLOTILLA 431
MASSACRES OF THE ARMENIANS 449
LOOTING IN STAMBOUL 467
MASSACRE IN STAMBOUL 485
IMPRISONING ARMENIANS 494
SCENE OF SLAUGHTER 510
AFTER THE SLAUGHTER 526
BURYING THE ARMENIANS 543
[Illustration:
VIEW OF MOUNT ARARAT. This is taken from a celebrated
painting, not from a photograph, but is, perhaps, even better than a
photographic view as it sets out the peculiar nature of the country. In
the foreground is a caravan of camels such as is found less and less
frequently, most of the merchandise being now carried upon mules or
horses, or in wagons.]
[Illustration:
GENERAL VIEW OF THE GARDENS OF VAN. The hill in the
background is the Acropolis, occupying the site of the ancient city,
which dates back beyond the time of Christ. The light trees in the
foreground are poplars, which are planted in numbers where there are
streams, to furnish timber for the houses.]
CHAPTER I.
THE TURKISH EMPIRE.
Geographical Extent--Topography--Physical
Characteristics--Products--Traveling and Transportation--Building.
The Turkish Empire at the beginning of 1896 included: in Europe,
Albania, Macedonia, and the southeastern portion of the Balkan
Peninsula; in Asia, Asia Minor, Eastern Turkey or Kurdistan,
Mesopotamia, Syria, and a comparatively small section of Southern
Arabia. In nominal subjection was the large African province of
Tripoli, while Egypt and Bulgaria were reckoned as tributary States.
The total area may be estimated as follows:
IMMEDIATE POSSESSIONS.
Europe 63,850 square miles.
Asia 729,170 ” ”
---------
Total 793,020
Add Tripoli 398,873 ” ”
---------
Total 1,191,893
TRIBUTARY STATES.
Bulgaria 37,860 ” ”
Egypt 400,000 ” ”
Island of Samos 210 ” ”
---------
Total 438,070
---------
Grand Total 1,629,963
A better idea of the extent will be gained from the statement that
the immediate possessions cover very nearly the same territory as the
United States east of the Mississippi, while the addition of Tripoli
carries the line to include Minnesota and Louisiana, and the entire
possessions correspond to the section east of a line drawn south from
the western boundary of the Dakotas and cutting Texas in two.
It is, however, by no means a compact country, as will readily be
seen by the map, and the different sections are as unlike to as they
are distant from each other. The difference between Albania and
Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Egypt, is scarcely less great than that
between Maine and Honduras, Oregon and Cuba. This great diversity in
topography carries with it corresponding diversity in the general
characteristics of the people, and both must be kept in mind if the
situation, political and social, is to be understood.
Topographically the general characteristics of the Turkish Empire,
whether in Europe or Asia, are a great extent of coast line and a large
amount of mountainous country. With the exception of the Mesopotamia
plain, a portion of Northern Syria and the plateaus of Western Asia
Minor, the whole Empire is distinctly mountainous. In European Turkey
the mountains extend from Montenegro into Greece; and until within a
hundred miles of Constantinople, with the exception of the valley of
the Vardar, there is scarcely any plain at all. Asiatic Turkey may
be divided into four sections: Asia Minor, Eastern Turkey, Syria and
Mesopotamia. Asia Minor includes the country west of a line drawn
north from the Gulf of Iskanderun to the Black Sea; Eastern Turkey the
remainder eastward to the Persian border; Syria includes the section
south of the Taurus and east of the Mediterranean to the Euphrates; and
Mesopotamia covers the great valley between the Euphrates and Tigris
and the section between the Tigris and the Persian border as far south
as the Persian Gulf.
From the very eastern end of the Black Sea along its southern coast,
along the Sea of Marmora, the Aegean and the Mediterranean, extends a
range of mountains, broken only by occasional passes; while from the
Mediterranean through to the Persian border a line almost as sharp as
that of a seacoast separates the mountainous region known historically
as Armenia, more lately as Kurdistan or Eastern Turkey, from the level
of Mesopotamia. So also the Lebanon range, extending from this same
point of departure, the Gulf of Iskanderun, separates the narrow coast
line from the Syrian Desert and the Hauran.
The coast has almost no harbors worthy of the name. Constantinople,
with its Bosporus and Golden Horn, is famous; Smyrna has a good
harbor, but Trebizond, Samsun and Ineboli on the Black Sea; Adalia,
Mersine, Alexandretta, Beirut and Jaffa on the Mediterranean, are open
roadsteads. In European Turkey there are fairly good harbors at Kavala
and Salonica on the Aegean, but none on the coast of the Adriatic.
The mountain ranges have very few passes. The most important ones in
Asiatic Turkey are on the north from Trebizond to Erzrum, from Samsun
south to Marsovan and Sivas, and from Ineboli to Kastamuni and Angora;
and on the south from Mersine and Adana to Nidgeh and Cesarea, from
Marash to Malatia and Harput, and from Diarbekir to Harput. On the east
there are passes from Erzrum to Kars, from Van to Trebizond, from Mosul
by Rowandiz to Lake Urumia, and from Bagdad to Hamadan. There are of
course other roads, but they are so precipitous as to be most difficult
of passage. The western section of Asia Minor is mountainous, without
special ranges, and there are no passes of the same nature as those
that cross the northern and southern ranges of mountains. Still the
country is very rough and there are only a few roads easy of travel.
In such a country it is natural to expect that the scenery should
be fine, and the expectation is not disappointed. Along the Tigris
there are views unsurpassed, except perhaps among the high Alps or
the Himalayas, for grandeur. As the river cuts its way between lofty
precipices and catches glimpses through the valleys of snowclad
summits, one gets an idea of the strange effect it must have had upon
Xenophon and his ten thousand as they toiled along the path still
easily traced on the east bank. The approach to the city of Rowandiz
from Mosul and Arbela is through a gorge, where the road, which
winds for 2000 feet up a precipice, furnishes views equal to any in
Switzerland. The author, passing, here fired his gun expecting an echo,
but was disappointed and was just starting on when from far down the
cañon there came a faint sound. Nearer and nearer it came, hurled back
and forth from cliff to cliff, until the echo was almost deafening, and
he was satisfied.
A very different kind of scenery is that over the plains. The view
from Mardin, bounded by the Sinjar Hills, nearly 100 miles away, is one
never to be forgotten. The great Mesopotamia plain lies at one’s feet,
like a gorgeous carpet of many colors, and the villages like children’s
playthings dot it with miniature pictures of life. So too the views
over the Cesarea plain, from the slopes of the snowclad Argeus; over
the Harput plain, from the Deli Baba Pass near Erzrum, and from the
summits back of Trebizond and Samsun, where the Black Sea first breaks
on the view; and most unique perhaps of all, that from the citadel of
Van, with the gardens and lake in the foreground, and volcanic Sipan
Dagh looming up in the background. Of all the mountains Ararat is
certainly the most beautiful. From whatever direction it is seen its
symmetrical sides and regular summit appear perfectly approachable, yet
so difficult is the ascent that to the people it seems almost as if
God had forbidden its summit to be profaned. Very different from all
these is the region near Brusa, with its Bithynian Olympus, its lake of
Nicaea, and its vineyards, reminding one of Southern France. In some
future day when traveling is not only safe, but easy, searchers after
the beautiful as well as the grand, will find Turkey a favorite field
of travel.
Over the plateaus of Asia Minor and the great Mesopotamia plain,
passage is easy. Through the mountainous section of Eastern Turkey
it is almost as difficult in any direction as over the great ranges.
The Romans had built causeways in every direction, but in the later
Byzantine times, these had fallen into disuse, and the great pitfalls
occasioned by the dropping out of huge blocks of stone made them almost
impassable. In a few instances, the Turkish Sultans made some efforts
to repair these causeways, but they were seldom successful. The result
was that everything was carried on horses, mules or camels, and such
a thing as a cart or carriage was unknown. There have been various
attempts on the part of the Turkish government to develop a system
of carriage roads, especially within the past twenty years. Of these
there were five specially important ones designed to connect Bagdad
and Persia with the seacoast. One from Constantinople via Nicomedia,
Angora, Sivas and Diarbekir to Mardin, Mosul and Bagdad; one from
Samsun on the Black Sea via Amasia connecting with the first at Sivas;
one from Smyrna via Konieh and Cesarea also connecting with the other
at Sivas; one from Alexandretta via Aleppo and Urfa to Diarbekir on the
north, and on the south via Nisibin to Mosul connecting with the others
at Diarbekir and Mosul. On the north there was a road from Trebizond
via Erzrum and Van into Persia. In Syria the only roads of importance
are from Beirut and Khaifa to Damascus. At the present time there are
scarcely any roads worthy of the name anywhere in the empire, except
between Trebizond and Erzrum and between Beirut and Damascus.
There are a few railroads. The first to be built was from Smyrna to
Aidin. That was followed by one from Smyrna to Manisa, extended on to
Alashehir; then followed one from Constantinople to Nicomedia, since
extended somewhat on the way to Angora; one from Mersine to Adana, and
one from the coast to Brusa. It was the plan for all these to converge
into a great railway to Bagdad, but, like so many other enterprises,
they have proved unsuccessful. In European Turkey, owing largely to the
influence of Austria, there has been better success, and both Salonica
and Constantinople are connected by rail with Vienna and Paris.
The climate of the Turkish Empire is very varied. In European Turkey,
Western Asia Minor and Northern Eastern Turkey it is temperate; while
Syria and Mesopotamia are almost torrid in their heat. Undoubtedly
the lack of trees has much to do with the intense heat of the plains
of Northern Syria, and even of sections of Asia Minor. The rains have
washed the soil off the hills and mountains in many places, leaving
bare rock, the reflection from which is intense in summer, while in
winter the cold is almost equally unendurable. The snows throughout
Eastern Turkey are very severe, rendering the roads almost impassable
in winter, so that caravans are frequently detained for days and
weeks, and sometimes goods on their way from Erzrum and Van into
Persia are delayed for several months. In Western Asia Minor, there is
comparatively little snow, but the winter season is one of rain, and
the soil, being in the main clay, renders travel exceedingly difficult.
In Syria the intense heat of the plain may be escaped by going to
the higher slopes of Lebanon. Thus the inhabitants of Beirut have a
pleasant resort within a few hours’ ride. In Mesopotamia, however, this
opportunity does not exist, and almost the only relief from the intense
heat in Mosul and Bagdad, is found by taking refuge in cellars.
The whole empire is extraordinarily fertile. The great Mesopotamia
plain will bear the richest harvests with even the rudest form of
agriculture; so also the plateaus of Asia Minor and the valleys
of Macedonia. There is scarcely a level square mile in the whole
empire that does not yield excellent returns for very little labor.
Originally there were large forests. They have however almost entirely
disappeared, and the only sections of forest to-day are along the
shores of the Black Sea, in the region of Bitlis and between Marash
and the Gulf of Iskanderun. Elsewhere the country is desolate, and
the traveler is often directed on his way by landmarks of single
trees. Comparatively small portions of the empire are, however, under
cultivation. There are wide extended pasturages for herds and flocks,
but these do not by any means cover the entire land, and there are long
stretches without a sign of cultivation and with scarcely an inhabitant.
The products of the country are chiefly wheat, rice and barley. Cotton
is raised somewhat in Northern Syria and in Asia Minor, and there are
also large fields of poppies, the opium trade being quite extensive.
Tobacco is cultivated everywhere, and vegetables are much the same as
ours, with the exception of the potato, which is almost unknown. The
whole empire is rich in fruits of every kind, grapes, melons, figs,
olives, peaches, pears, oranges, pomegranates and dates. All are of the
best. The vineyards are extensive and in European Turkey and Western
Asiatic Turkey considerable wine is made, which is largely exported to
Europe and then re-exported bearing a French or Italian brand. Olive
groves are especially abundant along the shores of the Mediterranean,
and the fig orchards of Smyrna are well known. Dates are not found to
any great degree outside of Egypt.
The mineral wealth of Turkey is very great, but it is so thoroughly
undeveloped as to make its estimate very difficult. Along the shores
of the Black Sea and in some portions of the Taurus there is a great
deal of coal, but it is not mined and the extent of the deposit is
practically unknown. In Eastern Turkey there are important mines of
copper, silver and iron. These are worked with very rude methods and
with varying success, but the output is such as to indicate great
wealth, still undeveloped. There are also in Western Asia Minor mines
of baryta which have been worked to some extent. In European Turkey
there is considerable iron, and probably considerable in the mountains
of Western Turkey, but there are few if any mines.
The domestic animals of the empire are horses, mules, donkeys,
camels, sheep, buffaloes and dogs. There are also in certain sections
wild boar, deer and other game, but to a limited extent. The horses
vary from the fine Arab of the desert to the scrubby but enduring
pony of Syria. The ordinary horse used in caravans is a rather small
but powerful animal, sure-footed and easily adapting himself to the
rough roads and rather poor fodder. The use of donkeys and mules is
universal. The white donkey of Bagdad is almost as aristocratic an
animal as the Arab horse. Camels have gradually disappeared from the
North, but are found in the South, and are still occasionally sent out
in caravans from Smyrna. The cows are poor, small and of little value,
either for their milk or for use in farming. Agriculture is carried on
chiefly by the use of buffaloes. The animal to whose development most
attention has been given, is undoubtedly the horse, and next to that
the sheep. The Angora sheep and goats of Western Asia Minor are famous
all over the world, and in general the quality of wool and of mutton is
most excellent. The dogs are of many breeds, including fierce shepherd
dogs and fine greyhounds, but the most common is the mongrel cur of
the cities and towns. Fowls are to be found every where and in large
quantities, and there are pigeons and partridges in abundance.
The food of the people is chiefly the different preparations of
wheat and rice, and in meats they eat little but mutton and fowl;
beef is considered by most as unfit for food. They also use a great
deal of milk, chiefly of sheep or buffaloes. They are very fond of a
preparation of fermented milk, not unlike curds, generally eaten in the
semi-solid form, but sometimes mixed with water and made into a very
refreshing drink. A certain modification of this has been introduced
into this country and is widely known under the name of Madzoon.
The cooking is in the main very tasty, although the common people,
especially in the mountains and the southern plains, are content with a
very meager diet. The traveller who understands the ways of the country
can generally provide himself well, but he must carry some form of
provision with him. As is natural, the food to be found depends very
largely upon the nature of the country. In the heart of the Kurdish or
Taurus Mountains, there will often be little more than a coarse millet
bread, and perhaps milk, to be had; while in the cities and large
towns, as also on the great agricultural plains, almost anything can be
secured, and a good cook will provide a meal that the most fastidious
would heartily enjoy. The author has repeatedly enjoyed dinners that
would do credit to a New York Hotel for delicacy and richness of flavor.
Traveling and the carriage of merchandise is almost entirely by means
of horses, mules and camels. The use of wagons has been introduced to
a limited degree, but, except between Trebizond and Erzrum, it has
not become general. This is chiefly in consequence of the poor roads,
and the fact that even where there are stretches of good roads, they
are so short as to necessitate a change when the journey is to be
continued. For the mail and for travelers with little baggage, there
is a system of relay traveling. Horses may be changed at stations
from sixteen to thirty miles apart, and although seldom of the better
sort, they can be kept at a slow trot or uncertain gallop, so that a
speed of from four to six miles an hour can be maintained through the
day. The ordinary distance covered by a caravan, whether of travelers
or of merchandise, is from twenty-five to thirty miles a day. A post
rider will frequently, in Turkey, cover forty to fifty miles; and in
Persia, where the same system is employed, but the roads and horses
are better, seventy-five or eighty, even a hundred miles a day, are
not infrequently covered. The mail carriers, or Tartars as they are
called, ride day and night, stopping only for change of horses and
refreshments. One result of this general method of traveling is that
distances are measured by hours, not by miles, the hour varying
somewhat in different parts of the country. In Asia Minor, where horses
and mules are chiefly used, the hour is equivalent to from three to
four miles, but in Syria and Mesopotamia, where camels are more common,
the hour is seldom over three miles. Thus Erzrum is sixty hours from
Trebizond--180 miles; and Harput sixty hours from Sivas--240 miles;
but thirty hours from Marash to Alexandretta means no more than ninety
miles.
The country is very thoroughly covered with telegraph lines connecting
the principal cities, and the postal arrangements supply both the
cities and larger towns. Both are under the sole control of the
government, although one of the lines of telegraph, from Constantinople
to Bagdad, connecting with an extension to India, is owned by an
English Company. Turkey being a member of the Postal Union, letters
from any interior city can be forwarded to America at the regular
rate, but the internal rates are very high. Under the administration
of Abdul Aziz, and during the early part of the reign of Abdul Hamid,
both departments were, on the whole, fairly well conducted, but of
late years there has been no certainty of correct transmission either
of telegrams or letters, while papers frequently fail to reach their
destination.
In this connection a word should be said as to the means of business
communication. Constantinople and the seaboard cities are fairly well
supplied with banking facilities. The Imperial Ottoman Bank has also
a few branches in the interior, but for the most part the only method
of transmitting funds has been by sending coin through the mails.
In certain sections, this has been very hazardous on account of the
insecurity of the country, and as a result, internal trade has been
greatly hampered. The establishment of the American missions all over
the land has served in this matter greatly to the advantage of trade.
A system of drafts has been established by which the missionaries draw
on their treasurer in Constantinople and these drafts are sold in the
market, facilitating exchange greatly. The missionaries, however, are
very cautious, feeling that their position makes it unwise for them to
share to any great extent in general trade.
One thing that strikes the traveler in Turkey very forcibly is the
very sharp lines drawn between the cities, towns and villages and
the surrounding country. City walls have to a considerable extent
disappeared, though they remain in some of the more ancient places,
Diarbekir, Urfa, Erzrum, etc. Beyond the line of houses there are in
some instances, notably the city of Van, large sections of cultivated
land, garden, vineyard or wheat field. In other cases, as at Erzrum,
the city seems set down in the plain with no sort of relation to the
surrounding country. The same is true of the towns and villages. Some
are so completely imbedded in the gardens, that they appear much larger
than they really are, while others give no sign of their existence,
except as the village dog barks his signal of unwelcome to the traveler.
The general style of building varies with the section of country.
Along the seaboard, or within easy reach of it, the general appearance
of the houses reminds one of Europe. There is a frame of timber, with
a wall of board or rough brick or stone covered with stucco. Red brick
and dressed stone are also not uncommon. In the interior, however, the
general style is that of the Mexican adobe. Sun-dried brick furnishes
the chief material, sometimes whitewashed for more pretentious homes,
government houses, churches or mosques, but generally retaining the
color of mother earth. In parts of Asia Minor where a soft sandstone
abounds, there are brownstone fronts, rivalling in style some to be
found in our own cities. There is generally, however, some incongruity,
made manifest in a wooden beam supporting a carved window, or an
elegant doorway in the middle of an adobe wall. Diarbekir is famous
for its basalt walls, giving both city and houses a most forbidding
aspect. On the Mesopotamia plain, especially toward the south, reed
huts are numerous, while in Northern Syria the almost entire lack of
timber has occasioned the building of huts domed with sun-dried brick,
anticipating the principle of the Pantheon at Rome. In the mountains
of Kurdistan the villagers not infrequently burrow into the mountain
side, and even on the plains of Asia Minor advantage is taken of
rolling land to help in the making of the walls, and the traveler by
night need not be surprised if his horse breaks through the roof of
some unnoticed house. There are numerous instances, notably in Amasia
and Urfa and along the Tigris, of villages cut into precipices of rock,
while in other places the villagers burrow into the hills. In passing
from Mardin to Urfa once, the author came, toward evening, to the foot
of a hill, where the guide said he was to spend the night in an Arab
village. He looked around, but saw no signs of life. The guide went to
the summit of the hill, and shouted into what appeared a mere hole in
the ground. A few minutes after a man appeared through what had seemed
to be the entrance to a tomb, such as abounded in that region, and soon
the whole party were descending through a passageway into a large room,
used both as granary and living room by the villagers.
Such descriptions might go on indefinitely, but this will be
sufficient to indicate that throughout the empire the people have
made the most of the resources at their command, for their permanent
dwellings. Tent life is confined to the Bedouin Arabs and the summer
wanderings of the Kurds over the plains of Mesopotamia and Asia
Minor. It should be said, however, that within the past fifty years
there has been considerable advance in the style of building, chiefly
due undoubtedly to the influence of the missionary houses and the
evangelical chapels, and to-day the general appearance throughout the
entire country has greatly improved.
The arrangement within the houses also varies with the section of
country. In the interior cities and large towns, the ground floor is
taken up with court, stable, kitchen, storeroom and perhaps an audience
room, the living rooms being chiefly on the second floor. In the
villages, however, there are few houses with a second story, and often
the family share the one living room with their animals.
A word should be said as to the accommodation for travelers. This is
chiefly in the form of khans or caravansaries, situated in the cities
and on most of the caravan routes through the greater part of the
empire, at intervals of about thirty miles. They are as a rule stone
buildings, with a large open enclosure, surrounded by alcoves, closed
or open, according to the climate. In the north, where the winter
storms may be severe, there are stables frequently partly underground.
The alcoves are for the travelers, the open space for their loads
and the stables for the animals, but in case of severe weather the
stable becomes also the refuge for the traveler, whether merchant,
muleteer or official. In the large cities regular rent is charged,
but in the country there is simply a keeper who receives a small fee
for furnishing fuel and water, otherwise the place being free for all
comers. In some cases there is no keeper at all, the place being left
to go to ruin. Most of these buildings in the interior have been put up
as acts of merit by wealthy Turks, but with no regular income, and no
one to be responsible for them, they have in many places fallen sadly
into decay.
In the villages and even many of the larger towns where there are no
khans, the traveler is sent to what is known as the “guest room.” A
room, or in some instances, a house, is set apart both for travelers,
and as a meeting place, a sort of club for the villagers. Here they
meet in the evening to discuss the events of the day, much as Americans
gather at the postoffice or corner store. Some one is designated to
provide fire and coffee and the head of the village holds a sort of
court or assembly. Here also the traveler is welcomed, indeed has a
right, whether welcomed or not, to make his stay. The room as a rule
is oblong, with a fireplace at the end, and has a slightly raised
platform on either side. If the arrival be a foreigner or official, he
immediately takes the place of honor on the right near the fireplace
and all gather to show him courtesy. If an ordinary muleteer or
peasant, he must be content with a place near the door. Here also there
is no charge, the attendants being satisfied with what they receive for
the supply of food, etc. In case the village is too poor to boast a
guest room, the traveler must content himself with some private house
or room, which he generally finds no difficulty in securing. It will be
readily seen that the traveler in the interior must in the main provide
his own furniture and provision, unless he is able to put up with the
very simple fare of the villagers. Foreigners, and even natives of
the better class, carry their own bedding, cooking utensils and, to a
degree, their food.
The furniture of the houses is very simple, even in the cities, and
in the villages it is primitive to the last degree. Chairs, tables,
upright bedsteads, knives and forks are penetrating little by little
even to the towns, but still the great majority of the people roll
themselves in quilts for the night, sit on the floor around a platter
for their meals and use little more than spoons. A few copper kettles
serve for the cooking and goatskins for holding what little provisions
they keep. A story is told of a mountaineer in Eastern Turkey, who went
to visit some friends on the plain. When night came he was offered a
quilt or comfortable and a wool pillow. He accepted them, though with
rather rueful countenance, and laid down to sleep. Sleep, however,
refused to come. Alarmed by his tossings his friends asked him if he
were ill. No, perfectly well. But still he tossed on. Again they came
to him to know what was the matter. At last he blurted out, “I cannot
stand this quilt and pillow. Give me a piece of sacking to throw over
my head and let me lie on the floor.” Much against their will he
insisted and they yielded, and he slept the sleep of his own mountain
home.
[Illustration:
A KURDISH ENCAMPMENT. The black tents are those of Kurdish tribes
who spend the winter in the mountain villages and come down for the
spring and summer to feed their flocks on the plains. They are spoken
of in the Bible as the “tents of Kedar.”]
[Illustration:
TURKISH PEASANT FAMILY, from the interior of Western Asia Minor. The
family consists of the mother in the foreground, the son and his wife
and their two children, son and daughter. An excellent illustration
of the average Turkish peasantry of the somewhat better class, as
found in the villages of Asia Minor.]
CHAPTER II.
POPULATION AND LANGUAGES.
Accurate Statements as to Population Impossible--No Census--Best
Available Estimates--Distribution--Most of the Races Described in
Other Chapters--Jews and Foreigners--General Characteristics--The
Languages--How Distributed--Peculiarities of the Turkish--Number
Spoken in the Seaboard Cities.
Any accurate statement as to the population of the Turkish Empire it
is impossible to make. There have been various attempts at a census,
but they have amounted to little or nothing, as is illustrated by the
fact that in every case the number of males far exceeds, sometimes by
20 per cent., the number of females. The official returns likewise are
almost valueless. They are based chiefly upon tax returns and these are
notoriously inaccurate. The taxes are collected by the farming system
and based upon the returns from the heads of the different communities.
There is thus on the one hand a strong temptation on the part of the
communities to underestimate the number of taxpayers, and on the other
hand a tendency on the part of the collectors to misstate, in order
to give as much leeway as possible for filling their own pockets.
Accordingly about the only basis for an estimate that can in any degree
be relied upon is furnished by the statements of persons who have lived
or traveled extensively throughout the empire, are acquainted with
the manner of life of the people and have opportunities for accurate
information from the heads of the communities. On this basis a general
estimate of the population for the entire empire, including tributary
states, is about 30,000,000, divided as follows:
IMMEDIATE POSSESSIONS.
Europe 4,000,000
Asia 16,000,000
----------
20,000,000
Africa, Tripoli 1,000,000
----------
Total 21,000,000
TRIBUTARY STATES.
Europe 3,000,000
Africa, Egypt 6,800,000
The Mediterranean 40,000
----------
Total 9,840,000
Grand Total 30,840,000
Leaving out of account the tributary states as practically outside of
our purpose, we give here a brief general survey of the distribution of
this population, reserving more definite and particular statement for
the account of each race.
In European Turkey are Albanians, Greeks, Bulgarians and Turks. The
Albanians are found on the borders of the Adriatic; the Greeks on the
northern border of Greece, along the shore of the Aegean and somewhat
up the valley of the Vardar; the Bulgarians occupy the northern part
of that valley and the mountains up to the very border of Bulgaria;
the Turks are principally found in the vicinity of Adrianople and
Constantinople; there are also Armenians in Adrianople and along the
coast of the Marmora. The Greeks are the most numerous; next to them
probably come the Albanians and then the Bulgarians. Of Turks proper
there are very few. For years there has been a constant emigration from
European Turkey into Asiatic Turkey, many recognizing that the time was
at hand when the Ottoman rule in Europe must end. The Albanians are
Moslems. There is, also, in the mountains on the borders of Eastern
Rumelia, a considerable population, Bulgarian by race and Moslem by
religion, called Pomaks.
Passing over into Asia, so far as the population is concerned, the
country may be divided into three sections: Asia Minor and Eastern
Turkey, Syria and Mesopotamia. In the first of these there are Turks,
Kurds and a number of minor Moslem tribes, Circassians, Lazes,
Xeibecks, Avshars, Turcomans, etc. The Christian population is almost
entirely Armenian and Greek. The Turks are principally in Central and
Western Asia Minor; the Kurds are in Eastern Turkey, though extending
somewhat along the mountain ranges; the Circassians are found scattered
through Central and Western Asia Minor; the Lazes are on the borders
of the Caucasus; the Xeibecks and others are tribes occupying the
mountains inland from Smyrna; Armenians are found over the whole of
the territory, in almost equal proportions; the Greeks chiefly along
the coast of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and in the western
part of Asia Minor, though in Central Asia Minor there are a number of
Greek villages. In Syria the population--something over 2,000,000--is
about equally divided between Moslems and Christians. The Moslems are
in the main of the orthodox Sunni sect, but there are a number of
Metawileh, and the Druzes and Bedouin Arabs are numerous. There are
also about 250,000 Nusairiyeh. The Christians are chiefly orthodox
Greeks and Maronites; there are some Armenians, Jacobites and others.
The Druzes and Bedouin Arabs are found chiefly in the Hauran east of
the Lebanon ranges. In Mesopotamia, the population is chiefly Moslem
and Arab, though there are a number of Yezidis in the region of Mosul.
The Christian races are found in the mountains between the Tigris and
the Persian border, and include Jacobites, Nestorians and Chaldeans;
Armenians are also scattered throughout the whole region.
Jews are found in large numbers in Constantinople, Smyrna and
Salonica, and in smaller communities all over the land wherever there
is trade. They are very largely Spanish in their origin, having fled to
the Levant at the time of the persecution by Ferdinand and Isabella.
They include the wealthiest and the poorest of their class. Many of
the bankers are Jews, and their hold upon the finances of the country
is very strong. They also control certain branches of trade, are
very largely money-changers, and to a degree artisans. They occupy
certain definite quarters in the different cities, which have the
appearance familiarly associated with the Ghetto of Venice. They have
the same general characteristics as their fellows in other lands, are
shrewd, keen bargainers, but frequently find more than their match in
the Christians. They are looked down upon and despised by Turks and
Christians alike except when their wealth makes them the arbiters of
the financial fortunes of the empire and of individuals. Many of the
wealthier class are men of high character, universally respected for
their ability and holding a favored position in society. As to their
numbers it is difficult to give any figures. In Constantinople there
may be 75,000, and in the empire, aside from Palestine, perhaps 150,000
to 200,000.
Almost all foreign countries are represented in Turkey. Those that
furnish the largest number are probably Italy, Greece, France, Germany,
Austria, England and Russia. Italians are numerous in the cities on
the seaboard, in connection with shipping interests. The French are
merchants, bankers, and to a degree professional men, as also are the
Germans. Austrian subjects are not to a great degree pure Austrians,
but Hungarians, Bosnians, etc., interested in trade. The English colony
has been at times a very large one. During the reign of Abd-ul-Aziz,
English mechanics were brought into the country in large numbers, and
the various departments of the navy, army and public works were managed
almost entirely by them. At the present time their number has greatly
diminished. They are still employed to a degree by the government as
engineers, but their places are being taken by others. There are a
number of English mercantile houses, but the Germans have outstripped
them in the conduct of trade with the interior, and the community is
not as strong as it used to be. There is a large number of families
of these various nationalities connected with the diplomatic circles,
and Pera Society, as it is termed, is very largely composed of them,
together with the bankers and the wealthiest merchants.
The Americans resident in Turkey are almost entirely American
missionaries. They number in all not far from 300 adults, and are
found in all the chief cities of the empire, their headquarters being
in Constantinople and Beirut. Fuller statements as to their location
will be found in the chapter on missions. There are other Americans,
some merchants, a few professional men, chiefly physicians, and a
few interested in one or another form of concession from the Turkish
Government. The missionaries, however, form by far the bulk of the
American community.
Mention should also be made of a class peculiar to Turkey, known as
Levantines. These are generally descendants of foreigners, English,
French, or others who have settled in the seaboard cities, married
women of the country and, while retaining their political connections
with the country from which they originally came, have become
thoroughly Orientalized in many respects, in their manners, customs and
ideas. They are, as a rule, very capable, having all the shrewdness
of the East, and are apt to be equally devoid of moral principle. In
fact the term Levantine has become in great degree a term of reproach,
indicating a general lack of moral fiber. Many of them, however, are
persons of high character and considerable influence.
Each of these different races has its own particular and distinctive
characteristics, to be noted in connection with the specific
description of each race. There are, however, certain general
statements to be made which come in place here. The first thing to be
noted is the marked unity, or perhaps better, similarity between the
different races. Notwithstanding diversity of origin and language,
it is by no means easy for the uninitiated to draw the lines of
distinction. This is due partly to the fact of the general mingling
of the races, partly to the fact that dress and general habits of
life are regulated more by climate and physical conditions, than by
any arbitrary rule of government or society. In the first place there
is comparatively little pure blood except among the Christians. In
certain sections, notably the region of Asia Minor, formerly occupied
by the Seljuk domain, the Turks are exceptionally pure-blooded, but on
the seaboard there is a large admixture of blood of other races. The
introduction of Georgian, Circassian and even Armenian and Greek women
into the harems of the Turkish nobles has had a perceptible effect.
So also the general fact that the Turk is the dominant race has made
large numbers of others of entirely distinct racial origin ambitious
to take the name of Turk. Thus in Eastern Turkey, especially in the
cities of Erzrum, Bitlis, Van and Diarbekir, there is comparatively
little of pure Turkish blood, the great majority of those passing under
that name being of Kurdish origin. The same thing is found elsewhere
in Northern Syria, and to a degree in European Turkey. It must also
be remembered that large numbers of Moslems called by various racial
names are originally of Christian blood. In the early conquest of
the land many villages and even communities accepted Islam under the
pressure of the sword and because of weak faith in their own religion,
due chiefly to the ignorance enforced by ecclesiastics. Thus in the
mountains of Southern and Eastern Turkey there are whole communities
known now as Kurdish which were originally of the same blood and the
same characteristics as their neighbors now called Jacobites. Again
in European Turkey there is comparatively little difference between
the Moslem Albanian and the Greek Mountaineer of the same section.
The Moslem Pomak of the Rhodope Mountains on the southern borders
of Eastern Rumelia can with difficulty be distinguished from the
Bulgarians, where they are engaged in similar pursuits and occupy
similar territory. In Syria and Mesopotamia it is scarcely possible
to draw racial distinctions. The line between Moslem and Christian in
Aleppo, Mosul, Bagdad or Beirut is practically imperceptible except
as occasional difference of dress or bearing is observed. As we
have said, almost the only peoples who have kept their nationality
clearly distinct are the Armenians, Greeks, and there may be added the
Bulgarians. Yet as was inevitable, these have been to a considerable
degree affected; so that while the population of the Turkish Empire is
thoroughly heterogeneous, there is to the chance traveler comparatively
little distinction to be made between the men of the different races.
Among the women the different conception of womanhood makes a very
marked distinction, and on the street certainly even the most casual
observer finds little difficulty in distinguishing between Moslem and
Christian.
One general characteristic of the populations of the Turkish Empire
is that they are easily governed. This does not mean that they are
lacking in bravery, but the effect of the centuries has been to impress
upon them the necessity of submission to whatever law is dominant
in the empire. The Kurds are in the main thorough cowards. With the
exception of those in the South they are always amenable to a strong
hand and a very slight show of real force on the part of any government
is sufficient to secure their obedience. Travelers are usually able
to control them even in the wildest sections. It has been repeatedly
said that a very small body of European troops with mountain artillery
could pass from one end of Turkey to the other, even in times of
general anarchy, and meet with very little opposition. This as a
general statement is true. At the same time, organized resistance on
the part of the Turkish Government with its regular army, would present
an opposition which the strongest of European armies might hesitate
to meet. Among the Christians there has been no organization against
the Turkish Government, with the exception of two small sections.
The mountain Nestorians are practically independent on the Persian
border; nominally they pay a certain tribute; sometimes they pay,
sometimes they do not. The Armenians of Zeitun have been from time
immemorial practically independent. About 20 years ago they submitted
to the Turkish rule on certain conditions, which were accepted by
the Turkish Government. Their recent revolt and the persistency with
which they held out against the Turkish troops manifest the character
of the people. Undoubtedly they were assisted in great degree by the
topography of the country, but that was by no means the strongest
feature of their resistance. Aside from these two sections the
Christians have been the prey of the Turkish Government and have never
organized in opposition to it. The reasons for this will be apparent
in the chapters relating to the general history of the empire and the
condition of the Christians.
The languages of Turkey are Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Syriac and
Bulgarian. The Turkish is the official language of the entire empire
and is used to a greater or less extent everywhere except in the remote
villages of Kurdistan, Mesopotamia and Syria and throughout Arabia.
Arabic is spoken everywhere south of the Taurus Mountains, with the
exception of a few cities in the vicinity of Aintab and Marash. Kurdish
is used in the mountains of Eastern Turkey and to a limited extent in
the mountainous sections of Asia Minor. Armenian is spoken over the
entire empire wherever there are Armenians. Greek is used along the
borders of the Black Sea, the Archipelago and the Mediterranean and
to a very limited degree inland. Syriac is used among the Nestorians
and Jacobites, chiefly the former, in the mountains of Eastern Turkey.
The use of Bulgarian is confined to Bulgaria, Eastern Rumelia and
Macedonia. Constantinople itself is a babel, all the different Oriental
and many of the European languages being found there in everyday use.
Turkish is spoken by the Turks and Circassians and the various Moslem
tribes, also to a considerable degree by the Kurds, Armenians and
Greeks and by government officials everywhere. Certain sections of the
Armenians, especially those in Central Asia Minor, from Sivas west to
Angora and Cesarea, and those south of the Taurus in the vicinity of
Marash and Aintab, have in years past used Turkish almost entirely,
preserving their ancestral language only in the church services. The
same is true of the Greeks in Central Asia Minor. Arabic is used
by Moslems and Christians alike in the sections where it is the
vernacular. Kurdish is spoken both by Moslems and Christians. Bulgarian
is used solely by Bulgarians. All of these languages vary somewhat in
their characteristics, according to the section where they are used
and the class of people by which they are spoken. Thus the Arabic of
the plains and of Egypt is much milder in its form than that found in
the mountains. The same thing is true of the Turkish and the Armenian
of Bitlis, and the people of that section are almost unintelligible
to those farther west. The Greek of the Turkish Empire is also quite
different in many respects from that of Greece proper.
The Arabic and Greek languages are so well known as not to need any
particular description. They are essentially the same as they always
have been and are well known in literature. The Arabic is one of the
richest of all the Oriental languages in its literature. The character
is difficult to learn and the construction is so involved that
comparatively few foreigners become masters of it. It is said of Dr.
Van Dyck, the eminent missionary at Beirut, that he could speak Arabic
so well as to deceive even the Arabs themselves, and on one occasion
it is reported that this very facility in the use of the languages
operated to create a prejudice that really at one time endangered his
life, because they could not understand how any man who could speak
Arabic as well as that could be a foreigner and claim the protection
which he demanded.
The Turkish language is peculiar in many respects. Originally a
Tartar dialect, it has many of the characteristics of the Saxon. It
is terse and strong in its form of expression, and to a considerable
degree monosyllabic. The Turks, however, passing through Persia, came
very much under the influence of that language and felt the softening
influences of it. The Persian, as spoken by the Persians, is smooth
and flowing, liquid as any of the Pacific Island languages, and even
more so than the Italian. The way in which an educated Persian uses
his own language is unsurpassed for delicacy of expression or sound.
Passing from Persia and accepting the Koran, the Turks came under the
influence of the Arabic language, and the Turkish of to-day is the
result of the commingling of the three elements. As a consequence it
is an exceedingly rich language. As it is ordinarily spoken it is
not at all difficult to learn, but to use it in literature correctly
and with the appropriate adaptation of the forms derived from the
Arabic and Persian, requires an amount of study and skill such as
comparatively few have been able to bring to it. The character used
is the Arabic, which, however, is not entirely adapted to the simpler
Tartar forms, and as a result there is more or less of reduplication of
letters. While the lettering of the three languages, Turkish, Arabic,
and Persian, is the same, each language has its own distinct form,
so that a book printed in the type favored by the Turks will not be
acceptable either to the Persians or the Arabs, and the same is true
of the others. The tendency of education with Turkish, as with Arabic,
is to soften the gutterals, of which there are several harsh ones, and
Turkish as spoken in Constantinople by the educated is a smooth and
flowing language.
The Armenian is naturally a harsh language, the strong gutterals,
aspirates and sibilants affecting it materially. Here too is noticed
the marked effect of education, and the Armenian spoken in the western
part of Asia Minor is very mild compared with that along the mountains
and even on the eastern plains. The Armenians of the Caucasus and
Northern Persia use a form of Armenian which is somewhat distinct
from that used by those in Turkey. The basis of all is the ancient
Armenian, which has a very simple and direct construction, not unlike
the English. A sentence in the old Armenian version of the Scriptures
reads word for word almost the same as the corresponding sentence in
the English version. The modern language as used by the Armenians of
Turkey has been to a considerable degree affected by contact with
Turkish and has degenerated in that respect. For some years there has
been a tendency to revert to the more ancient form, and the teachers in
the Armenian schools everywhere have exerted all the influence possible
in that line. The result is manifest in their literature. The version
of the Bible prepared by Elias Riggs, D. D., of the American Board,
represents the best of what is known as modern Armenian of a quarter of
a century ago. But of late years there has been felt the necessity of
a revision to accord more closely to the type of the ancient language.
This tendency is in the line of simplicity. On the other hand, among
the Greeks, while there is an increasing desire for the ancient Greek,
which is quite distinct from the modern, an increasing familiarity
with it does not appear to be as much of an approach to the ancient
construction in the ordinary conversation as is the case in the
Armenian.
The Bulgarian language is not unlike the Russian, both in its character
and general construction, and belongs to the general Slav family.
The Kurdish language is entirely unique, though some Kurdish scholars
have claimed that it was parallel to the old Persian. It is a rough
language, and yet has certain musical qualities, and its poetry and
songs are like those of so many mountain sections, exceedingly full of
sentiment. Even the wildest of the men seem to come under its influence
most powerfully.
In Constantinople and along the seaboard foreign languages are used
to a considerable degree. The diplomatic language is French almost
entirely. There is a considerable amount of Italian used in the
seaports, and not a little German. The State papers for communication
between the ambassadors in the Sublime Porte are entirely in French,
though decrees of the government, of course, are written in Turkish.
This mingling of languages has necessitated the employment of
interpreters, and a large number of people, not merely connected with
the embassies, but in various departments of business, are employed
to transfer from one language to another such documents as may be
necessary. The use of English is widely extended. The study of English
in the different schools of the American missionaries and also in other
schools has operated very largely to increase the use, and English
commerce has extended to a marked degree. This latter, however, has
yielded in some respects to German, so that the German language is
known and spoken more and more. As a rule, Armenians in the cities all
speak Armenian and Turkish. Armenian merchants almost invariably add to
this French, and in not a few instances Greek. In fact no one can do
business successfully in the seaports without the knowledge of Turkish,
French and Greek. Smyrna is almost entirely a Greek city, and even the
Armenians use the language to a great degree. The Greeks, however,
seldom, if ever, learn Armenian.
In traveling, a knowledge of Turkish will carry one with ease over
the whole empire, except in Syria and Mesopotamia and a few sections
of Kurdistan. Even there, however, some one may usually be found who
has enough knowledge of the Turkish for ordinary use. On the seaboard,
Greek will be of advantage, but is by no means necessary. All large
business houses have some one who can converse in any one of the
languages of the country or of Europe. One effect of this is that
accurate use of any one language is hindered. At a dinner table in
Constantinople it will frequently be the case that the conversation
will turn from one language to another, and Turkish, French, Greek,
German, Italian or English may be used. When such a condition exists
there will be a general conversational use of all, but accurate
scholarly use of any one is rare. In the schools, Turkish, French
and English are the most generally taught, instruction in the other
languages being chiefly confined to those who use them as their own
vernacular.
CHAPTER III.
RELIGIONS.
Islam and Christianity--A few Pagan Communities--Origin
of Mohammedanism--The Koran--The Traditions--Extent of
Islam--Present Condition--Effect upon the Turks--Contact with
Civilization--Sects--Oriental Christianity--Characteristics.
The religions of Turkey are in general two--Mohammedanism and
Christianity. The semi-pagan forms of faith held by the Nusairiyeh,
Yezidis and Druzes are spoken of in another chapter in connection with
an account of those races. This is not the place for a scientific
statement of the general subject of Mohammedanism. The purpose of this
volume is to set forth the situation of the Turkish Empire as it is,
and we have to deal with Mohammedanism not as a theory or a doctrine,
but as a fact. At the same time some understanding of the doctrine is
essential in order to realize how potent a factor it is in the present
situation.
Mohammedanism is primarily a historical religion, based upon the
fundamental idea of the absolute unity of God and the recognition
by God of Mohammed as his latest and most approved prophet. Without
entering into the question of the sanity or insanity of Mohammed
himself, it is sufficient to say that this Arab imbibed with his
earliest teachings the doctrine which was held by the Jews, and a
few in Arabia, of the power of the Deity. Apparently the teachings
of the Hebrews had left their trace upon him, and his mind dwelling
upon the precepts of Moses and comparing them with what he saw of the
Christians, developed within him a hostility to any form of what seemed
to him idolatry, such as he found existent everywhere. Among the pagan
tribes there were said to have been 365 images of the gods, who were
looked upon as the children of Allah, the creator of all, whose wife
was Al-hat, and the Meccans looked upon their local deities as the
daughters of this idol. Idols were found in every house and formed an
important article of manufacture. Religion was a sort of barter, and
festivals and pilgrimages made up a large part of religious life and
worship. At the same time the form of Christianity was of the most
inferior type. The doctrine of the Trinity was practically a sort of
tritheism in which the three persons were God the Father, God the Son
and the Virgin Mary. To Mohammed there seemed little difference between
the two and both appeared to him the very lowest forms of religious
faith, and he was stirred with an earnest desire to know more. This,
according to the idea of the time, he thought to accomplish by a hermit
life and would spend days in a lonely cave. While here it is probable
that epileptic fits would come upon him and there would be what he
considered ecstatic reveries in which revelations appeared to him.
The story of the fierce persecution which he suffered at the hands
of his tribe is a most interesting portion of history. From the time
of his fleeing from Mecca to Medina, in 622, which marks the era of
Mohammedanism, his advance was rapid. In eight years at the head of
10,000 men he entered Mecca in triumph. He only lived two years longer,
but he had laid the foundation for a religious power of marvelous vigor
and extent. As to his character, those who have studied him most say
that there can be no doubt of his sincerity and his conduct was in the
main beyond reproach. He believed himself to be a divinely appointed
messenger for the overturning of idolatry, and for years endured the
hostility and taunts of his people with apparently no further motive
than their reformation. At a later time other characteristics appeared
of a much lower grade. Wealth and glory mingled with his reform ideas.
Cruelty, greed and the grossest sensuality were not merely allowed but
encouraged by his teachings, and the most successful portion of his
life, so far as his public career was concerned, made it appear that he
was a thoroughly self-deceived man.
The Koran is a volume divided into 114 chapters or suras, made up in
a volume not quite as large as the New Testament. It constitutes the
revelation proclaimed by him as received during the latter portion
of his life. These were originally written on all sorts of material,
“bits of stone, leather and thigh-bones,” but had their strongest hold
in the retentive memory of the Arabs, which assists their marvelous
power of story-telling. These were gathered together after his death,
in the caliphate of Othman, and the edition then prepared has been the
standard edition for the Moslem world ever since. It is written in
the Meccan dialect and held to be the absolute standard of the Arabic
language, so beautiful that its very style is proof of its divine
origin. The doctrine of the Koran is thoroughly simple. The fundamental
teachings are the unity of God, the final judgment and absolute
submission to his will or “Islam.” The confession of faith is simply,
“There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet.” The general
belief includes belief in God, angels, the Scriptures, the resurrection
and day of judgment, God’s absolute decree and predestination of
both good and evil. In practice it requires prayers, alms, fasting
and the pilgrimage to Mecca. In its relation to Christianity the
Koran thoroughly recognizes the Scriptures, both of the Old and New
Testaments, and the prophets, from Abraham to Jesus, are acknowledged
as divinely sent and of authority only less than Mohammed himself. The
result of this is that a thoroughly orthodox Mohammedan, well grounded
in his own faith, will always accept the authority of the Bible, merely
claiming that wherever that comes in contact with the Koran the Koran
supersedes it as being a later revelation. A Kurdish Sheik with whom
the author spent a Sunday in the city of Rowandiz, said, “Why do not
the great Bible societies of England and America print the Koran and
the Bible together? Both are revelations from God; the only difference
is, that the Koran being later is more authoritative. Print them both
together and then we shall have the complete revelation.” This fact
explains in great degree the position of the Turkish Government with
regard to the Scriptures. So long as they thought that there was
no danger of the Christians’ Bible superseding the Koran they were
entirely willing that it should be printed. It was only when they
learned that the teaching of the Bible was antagonistic to the Koran
that they made every effort to hinder its publication and circulation;
and in the whole contest the strongest argument and the one which they
could not answer was that based upon the absolute recognition of the
Bible by the Koran and the teachings of Mohammed.
Secondary to the Koran in form yet practically overpowering it are
the traditions: the “unread revelations,” the “uninspired record of
inspired sayings.” They refer “not only to what Mohammed said and
did, but what he allowed others to say unrebuked.” As was inevitable,
the mass of these traditions is very great and their influence is
proportionate. Any statement of Mohammedanism based upon the Koran
alone is sure to be misleading. That together with the traditions must
be understood in order to gain a clear and accurate conception of what
the religion is. It is due to this fact that Mohammedanism has adapted
itself with such marked success to the most varying conditions. It is
as powerful in Central Asia as in Central Africa. It appeals to the
educated Moslem of North India and to the ignorant and brutal Kurd. It
numbers among its votaries men of every grade of intellectual ability.
This is illustrated by the statement as to the extent to which the
religion has spread over the world. Any accurate estimate is simply
impossible owing to the fact that in Moslem regions there is no such
thing as a complete census known. _The Encyclopædia of Missions_
presents the following table derived from the _Statesman’s_ year-book
published in 1890:
EUROPE.
Rumania 2,000
Bulgaria 668,173
Servia 14,569
Bosnia and Herzegovina 492,710
Montenegro 10,000
Greece 24,000
Turkey in Europe 2,000,000
Russia in Europe 2,600,000
---------
Total for Europe 5,811,452
ASIA.
Turkey in Asia (including Arabia) 22,000,000
Persia 7,560,600
Bokhara 2,500,000
Russia in Caucasus 2,000,000
Khiva 700,000
Russia in Central Asia 3,000,000
Siberia 61,000
Afghanistan 4,000,000
India 50,121,595
Ceylon 197,775
Beluchistan 500,000
China 30,000,000
Australasia 15,000,000
-----------
Total for Asia 137,640,970
AFRICA.
Egypt 6,000,000
Zanzibar 200,000
Morocco 5,000,000
Tripoli 1,000,000
Tunis 1,500,000
Algeria 3,000,000
Bornu (Lake Tsad) 5,000,000
Wadai 2,600,000
Baghirmi 1,500,000
Egyptian Soudan 10,400,000
Sokoto and Feudatory States 14,000,000
Sahara and scattered 10,000,000
----------
Total for Africa 60,200,000
Total for Europe 5,811,452
Total for Asia 137,640,970
Total for Africa 60,200,000
-----------
Total Moslems 203,652,422
What is the effect of Mohammedanism upon the Moslems of the Turkish
Empire? What relation does it bear to the situation in Turkey to-day?
These are questions not altogether easy to answer definitely and
conclusively. A general idea is gathered from references made all
through this volume. The situation may be briefly summarized as
follows: Mohammedanism is on trial; it finds itself face to face with
the aggressive power of a reformed Christianity; it no longer has
to meet the effete systems of the middle ages, weakened by purely
doctrinal discussions that spread among the Christian Churches for
centuries. It comes in contact thus with a truer spiritual life, and
finds that it has suffered itself in its conceptions the same decadence
that Christianity had suffered when it started. The belief in the unity
of God is degenerating into pure and simple fanaticism; predestination
to good has disappeared, and in place of it comes predestination
to evil. The better characteristics of the Moslem influence have
disappeared, and it is only the worst elements that come to the surface
to-day. True there is an element in the Moslem Church that realizes,
in a degree at least, this fact and is making strenuous efforts to
reinstate the spiritual power to which the system has owed a large
part of its aggressive strength, but it is doing it and has done it by
means utterly subversive of the very ends it seeks to accomplish. From
time to time there go forth fetvahs from the Moslem priests commanding
the faithful to attend the mosque service, forbidding the faithful to
indulge in certain things forbidden by the Moslem laws. But such edicts
accomplish absolutely nothing. There is still to a certain degree the
practice of the old asceticism. Any one who will attend a meeting of
the Board of Censors in Constantinople will realize the truth of this
as he looks upon the hard-visaged Tartars from Central Asia, whose
fanaticism is manifest in every line of the countenance. But with
them their religion has ceased to have any spiritual power. It has
become nothing more than a form of doctrine identified with aggression
and despotism. Eternal punishments take the place of eternal rewards
and threats overpower promises. This manifests itself in two ways:
first, in the tremendous pressure brought to bear upon the government
to restore the austerities of the Moslem faith, and second, in the
manifestation of the sternest Moslem arrogance in the treatment of the
Christians. Scarcely at any time in Turkish history has that arrogance
been more prominent in certain sections and among certain classes. The
scorn and contempt manifest for the infidel; the utter disregard for
the most common rights of humanity; the assumption that Christians
exist purely and simply for the benefit of Mohammedans; that rapine,
murder and outrage are not criminal, but are absolutely legitimate;
that Christian property has no rights that Moslems are bound to
respect; all these characteristics are apparent to-day as they have not
been at any time during the past century.
It is impossible for races such as the Moslem races of the Turkish
Empire to come into contact with the results of a Christian
civilization without realizing and acknowledging to a considerable
degree the advantages of that civilization. These, recognizing the
fact that Islam has adapted itself to very varying communities and
circumstances, claim that it has still that power and that there is
no reason why the highest results of European progress may not be
appropriated by the Moslems. These men form the basis of what is known
as the Young Turkey party. They call for a constitution; they demand
railroads and telegraphs, electric lighting, free press, widespread
literature, freedom of thought and worship; they refuse to allow
that attendance upon mosque service is the test of loyalty to their
government. The strife between these two forces is one of the most
interesting and significant facts in Mohammedanism to-day. What the
result will be time only will show. One more thing should be said. The
exclusive power of the Moslem faith has never been manifested more
forcibly than it is now. No form of Christianity has affected it to any
appreciable extent. The reasons for this will be recognized by any who
have followed with care the developments of the past centuries.
They are to be found (1) in the dominating political power of the
religion, and (2) in the fact that as yet to only a limited degree has
there been any general perception of a truer spiritual power. This last
has affected some, but the great mass are utterly untouched. Should the
political break-up of the empire come, then there are many indications
that the ecclesiastical power will weaken and with it the force of the
faith. Many Turks have spoken of this in private, not daring to set it
forth in public.
The great characteristic of Mohammedanism which is most manifest in
the dealings of Moslems with each other and with the world at large,
is the fact that it recognizes no moral obligation of any kind. Sin
is merely transgression of statute; falsehood, deception, robbery,
murder, have no moral quality whatever. They are entirely legitimate
when used for the furtherance of the Moslem State and even for the
furtherance of individual advantage. Undoubtedly there are individual
Moslems everywhere who have a strong moral sense, but the great mass
of the Moslem community is utterly ignorant of what evangelical
Christians understand by the sense of sin. Mistakes are to be atoned
for by punishment, penance or remission of penalty; forgiveness in the
Christian sense of the term is almost absolutely unknown. Hence arises
one of the fundamental difficulties in dealings between Turkey and
Christian nations. The Christian Governments unquestionably are bad
enough in this respect, but the Moslem Government is far worse. It is
a fundamental element in the Moslem creed that “no faith is to be kept
with an infidel.” This has been carried out throughout the whole of
Turkish history and will continue to be carried out until the Moslem
system is overcome.
A word should be said with regard to the different sects of
Mohammedanism. Mohammed himself is reported to have said that the
children of Israel were divided into 72 sects, and his people would
be divided into 73. A Moslem writer says that there are 150 sects in
Islam, but the infinite shades between them make them practically
innumerable. The two great divisions of the Moslem world are Sunnites
and Shiites. The first follow the first three caliphs after Mohammed;
the latter regard these as illegitimate and commence with the caliphate
of Ali, the prophet’s nephew. The former embrace by far the larger part
of the Moslem world. The latter are chiefly confined to Persia, though
they are represented in a considerable degree in Turkey, especially by
some tribes of Kurds. The Shiites believe that the last Imam is still
alive and will appear as the Mahdi (director), after which the judgment
day will follow. Some of them even go so far as to give Ali divine
honors, holding him to be greater than Mohammed. They are as a rule far
more deceitful than the Sunnites, and observe certain fasts denied by
the orthodox. The Sunnites are divided into four great sects and these
again into a number of smaller ones. One, the most important, includes
in greater part the Moslems of Turkey, Central Asia and Northern
India; the second those of Southern India and Egypt; the third those
of Morocco, Barbary and Northern Africa generally; the fourth those of
Eastern Arabia and some parts of Central Africa.
Sikhism is a strange mixture of Hinduism and Mohammedanism in Northern
India. In Persia there are two great sects of considerable power:
the Sufis and the followers of Bab. These, however, have no relation
especially to Turkey. In Arabia, there is a sect, the Wahhabees, which
was at one time very powerful and in the early part of the present
century occasioned the Turkish Government considerable trouble. The
most prominent development of Mohammedanism of late years has been the
rise of the Mahdi, in the Sudan. To describe this at length is beyond
our limits. It arose in the dissatisfaction with the caliphate of the
Turkish Sultan, and the belief that the sheik who called himself the
Mahdi was in reality the one who was to lead Islam in its final victory
over the world.
In its relations to Christianity Islam allows absolutely no apostasy.
The death penalty is still existent in Persia, and while nominally
forbidden in Turkey, it is at least exile and often death for any Turk
to accept Christianity.
The different forms of Christianity are spoken of in connection
with the different races. A few statements, however, should be made
in regard to them in general. The characteristics manifested by all
the different Oriental churches are essentially the same; a strict
formalism in doctrinal belief and in worship, a very general lack
of spiritual life and an intense devotion to the national idea as
identified with church life. It is to this very largely that is due
the racial unity of the different classes, and while there has always
been through the centuries a great deal of true devotion to Christian
faith, it is unquestionably the fact that the national strife that
centered about propositions or the most abstruse facts of philosophical
theology, seems in many respects impossible to those of different
race and different education. The same characteristics, however, that
existed then exist to-day in considerable measure, and this must be
remembered in all consideration of the situation of Christians and the
development of Christian communities in the empire.
It must be remembered also that the rivalries first occasioned by these
theological differences and afterwards developed by the peculiar system
of government adopted by the Sultans, has done very much to intensify
the peculiarities of each of these sects. They are bitterly opposed
one to the other. Armenians will have nothing to do with Greeks, and
Greeks are bitterly opposed to the Armenians; Gregorian Armenians hate
those of their own race connected with the Roman Catholic Church, and
the Greeks despise the Bulgarians, although another branch of their own
general faith; Nestorians, Chaldeans, Jacobites, all strive against
each other. The position of the Protestants is somewhat peculiar. At
first they were looked upon merely as one additional sect developing
an additional nation, and to that extent detracting from the power of
those from whom they sprung, and they were hated by all. Of late years,
however, it has become evident that they are no less national in their
feeling than those who have remained in the old churches, and they
have been recognized more and more as parts of the same nations. It is
hoped by many that, as Evangelical ideas spread in all the different
communions, there will result a drawing together, not necessarily a
unifying of forms of worship or statements of doctrinal belief, but a
sympathy which shall make them support one another rather than work
against each other.
One thing more should be said. The general effect of religious
instruction throughout the Levant has been to divorce the profession
of faith from any control of life. The idea that moral conduct was
involved in the profession of a creed seems to have disappeared from a
good many lives, and the Greek brigand will say his prayers and then
start on his pillaging expedition; the Armenian merchant will attend
service and then go forth to get the better of his opponent in trade
without the slightest regard to the use of truth in his dealings. The
same thing appears in the Moslem, the most outrageous persecutions and
terrible cruelties having been carried on under the very lead of the
Moslem Church and as a matter of faith.
[Illustration:
THE HAMIDIEH MOSQUE, located close by the Sultan’s palace, at Yildiz,
to which he goes every Friday for service. In former times it was the
custom of the Sultan to attend service on Friday in different mosques
of the city, but Abdul Hammed II. has confined his attention to this
mosque, chiefly from fear of assassination in the public streets of
the city.]
[Illustration:
TURKISH DERVISH. The dervishes correspond in the Moslem communities
to the special orders in the Roman Catholic Church. There are
different classes, itinerant and local. This is one of the better
class of local dervishes. They are feared by the people rather than
respected, and are usually men of ability and considerable force;
fanatical in the extreme and bitter haters of all Christians.]
CHAPTER IV.
THE TURKS.
Their Origin--Early History--General Characteristics--Good
Qualities--Kindness--Hospitality--Temperance--Honesty--Intellectual
Ability--Obedience to Rulers--Bravery--Bad
Characteristics--Indifference to
Suffering--Brutality--Degradation of Women--Sensuality--Official
Unreliability--Fatalism--Insolence--Indolence--General Summary.
The term Turk is a somewhat indefinite one. In general it applies to
any or all of the different tribes originating east of the Caspian,
and who have spread in varying degrees north, south and west. Without
undertaking to give specific definition, it is sufficient to apply the
name to the greater part of the Turanian race, and for present purposes
to limit it to those branches that have at various times occupied what
is known as the Turkish Empire.
According to a legend, the common ancestor of all was a mighty king
by the name of Turk, who lived in the time of Abraham. A descendant
of his, called Oghuz Khan, had six sons, whom he sent one day to the
chase. Returning, they brought him a bow and arrows which they had
found. The bow was given to the three eldest and the three arrows to
the younger. The latter each took one, but the first three divided the
bow among them, receiving thereby the name Bosuk, The Breakers. They
were intrusted with the care of the right wing of his army, while to
the three youngest, called Utschok, The Three Arrows, was given the
care of the left wing. These younger ones extended their rule eastward
toward China and were the ancestors of the Mongols. The others roamed
westward. One became the founder of the Turkomans, another of the
Seljuks and the third of the Ottomans or Osmanlis. This, however,
is chiefly legend. What is clearer history is the fact that varying
tribes, with some evident connection with the Mongols of Eastern Asia,
spread westward through Russia and Persia, and encamped upon the plains
of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Their first incursions were about the
fifth and sixth centuries, at the very time when both Caliphate and
Byzantine Empire were showing the weakness of effeminacy. At first
their progress was, through lack of any organization and unity, of
little moment. They furnished the mercenaries for the Caliphs, and
while occasionally governing one section or another, held their power
in very uncertain hands.
The first chieftain to accomplish anything like permanent rule
was Togrul Bey, the grandson of Seljuk, an Ameer of Turkestan, who
wrested one country after another from its princes and reigned from
Bokhara to Syria, from the vicinity of the Indus to the Black Sea.
He bequeathed his vast empire to the famous Alp Arslan, who crossed
the Euphrates, conquered Armenia and Georgia, and came up to the very
borders of the already shrunken Byzantine Empire. Its emperor sought
to check the advance of the chieftain, but was defeated, captured, and
only received his liberty as a special favor of his conqueror. He,
however, granted it not so much from any considerations of humanity,
as because he realized that, brave and intrepid as his horsemen were,
they were no match in the long run for the disciplined legions of what
was to him a new world. As so often is the case, the adventurous rush
westward left his ancestral region exposed to enemies. On his return
to reinstate himself in Bokhara, Alp Arslan was killed, and his son,
Malek Shah, came to the throne. His reign, 1072-1092, was the golden
era of the Seljuk dynasty. His empire extended from the Caspian to the
Mediterranean, from Khorassan to the Bosporus. The Fatimite Caliphs of
Egypt were practically under his power, and from his capital at Konieh
(Iconium) he governed the whole of his vast domains. The Seljuk ruler
was not merely a conqueror. Whether under the influence of the Caliphs
or not, he interested himself in education, founded schools, and it
was during his reign that many of the most beautiful specimens of what
is mistakenly called Saracenic architecture were erected throughout
Central Asia Minor. The graceful mosques and arches, sometimes highly
adorned, mostly now fallen into ruin, are all that is left of a strange
incursion of the wild Tartars into civilization.
Malek Shah left little or nothing of his own ability to his three
sons, who disputed among themselves and divided the empire: one holding
Persia and laying the foundation for the present Kajar dynasty; another
occupying Northern Syria, while the third retained the ancestral
capital at Konieh. This division not merely made them subject to
incursions from abroad, but to revolutions from the chieftains who
nominally gave them allegiance. The first to take advantage of their
weakness were the Mongols, who, under Zinghis Khan, either overbore
the weak Seljuks entirely or held them in subordination, though still
allowing them the title of Sultan. The Mongols, however, had no staying
power, and gave place in their turn to still another incursion. A tribe
of Turks swept away by the Mongol invasion had found their way from
Khorassan to the region west of Ararat, where they camped about the
headquarters of the Euphrates. They found this, however, not exactly
to their mind, and longing for their ancient home, set out to return
to it. Their chief, however, was drowned in attempting to cross the
Euphrates, and the result was a division of the troops. The two oldest
sons held on their way to Khorassan; the younger two, with about 400
families, wandered back and forth in true nomad style from plain to
mountain. One, Erthogrul, came out upon a plain of Cappadocia and
found, according to the story, two armies in conflict. True to the
mountain instinct, unfortunately lost in later years, he joined the
weaker company, and with his fresh warriors won for them the victory.
Later consultation revealed to him the fact that his late ally was
the Sultan of the Seljuks, seeking to defend his much-diminished
kingdom against one of his periodical foes. The new arrivals, fresh
from their mountain life, unweakened by the experiences of the plain,
formed a valuable reinforcement. They joined heartily with those
they had helped, recognized loyally their chief, and assisted him to
regain his power over the various tribes around, and also to make some
headway against the Greeks. In course of time a closer alliance was
brought about and the son of Erthogrul, Ottoman, Osman, or Othman, by
persistent courtship and a convenient dream, won the daughter of an
Arab chief, and Malkatoun became the mother of Orchan.
Erthogrul lived to an advanced age, but little by little transferred
the care of his kingdom to Othman, who, on the death of his benefactor,
became the recognized head of the nation. This was in the latter part
of the thirteenth century. His reign, and that of Orchan, were occupied
chiefly in consolidating their power, developing the general character
of the people, introducing the best military arrangements known at that
day, and in extending their empire. One by one they drew under their
leadership the various Turkish tribes, and advanced nearer and nearer
to Constantinople, until they made Brusa their capital. It was here
that both father and son are buried, and their tombs are objects of
great reverence among the Turks to the present day.
It is probable that the influence of these two men largely controlled
the development of Turkish character. That character is often greatly
misunderstood. It is by no means as thoroughly barbaric as many
suppose. It is impossible that a nation that could develop such
power, could not merely extend its boundaries, but maintain them,
subdue nation after nation, and keep them in subjection, hold its
own for centuries against the hostility of Europe, and withstand the
disintegrating influences that have been at work during the past
century, should not have much of vitality in its nature. Whatever of
weakness at the head, there must have been, and there must still be,
soundness of body. That this is true is testified to, not merely by
travelers, of whatever nationality, but by the very people who are
quoted as saying, “There is no good Turk but a dead Turk.” The fact
is, that in order to estimate accurately the character of the Turkish
native, we must go not to the official circles, but to the private
houses, whether in the cities or the country, but most of all in the
country.
The ordinary Turkish peasant, and many a townsman, is a man very
simple in his tastes. His food is plain but wholesome, his dress is
unassuming, his house most primitively furnished. He is kindly in his
bearing; intensely fond of his children, frequently so of his wife;
a great admirer of the beauties of nature, generally contriving to
have some flowers within reach. He is social, but in rather a sober
way, in this respect quite different from the Armenians, who are far
more buoyant, and from the Greeks, whose entertainments are frequently
boisterous. He is thoroughly hospitable, entertaining with a free hand.
To the unfortunate, especially the blind, the crippled, the demented,
he is very kind, not only never lifting a finger against them, but
helping them when he can. So also with animals, he is careful and
generally considerate.
In his private life the Turkish peasant is temperate. Not as temperate
as he is supposed to be, but still temperate. As a rule he is a
monogamist. Polygamy is comparatively rare, chiefly because of
the expense. The facility and widespread use of divorce, however,
accomplishes much the same thing. Any Turk can put away his wife at
any time, and take another, and in the towns this privilege is used
constantly, nor is there any disgrace involved. There are, however,
multitudes of instances where husband and wife are true to each other
through a long life. The statement is frequently made that the social
evil is unknown. This is not true. In the cities, and wherever there
are garrisons, there is prostitution, though not to the same extent as
in Europe. Sodomy is far more common. In the main, however, the common
Turk of the provinces will compare very favorably with the peasant of
other lands, and one proof is found in the unimpaired vigor of his
physical constitution. He is ordinarily a robust, well-formed, powerful
man.
In his relations with the subject races of the empire, the Turk
never forgets that he is the lord of the land. This is intensified by
the fact that he occupies himself chiefly with the care of the land,
herds and flocks, which he considers the only real property. Trade he
has little taste for, and as little facility in it. Banking, too, is
entirely alien to his habits. These pursuits he looks upon as implying
endless trickery and deception, and accordingly he looks upon them with
contempt, for, except under the influence of the West, he is in general
truthful, honest and reliable. This contempt is usually mingled with
somewhat of dread, for he is no match for the very people he despises,
whom yet he finds so essential to his comfort and general welfare.
The result is, that for the most part he lives on good terms with his
neighbors of whatever race or creed. In ordinary times he will be seen
on friendly, even intimate, relations with them, and, although the
distinction is always clear, it is yet frequently overlooked. Villages,
Christian and Turkish, on the same plain, will ordinarily be at peace,
and in the towns and cities there is seldom any indication of the line
that separates one quarter from another. Even in the massacres of
the past year, there have been many instances where they have given
protection to hunted Christian refugees.
So far as the foreigner is concerned, he is to the average Turk more
of a curiosity than anything else, a kind of being with whom, or
with which, he has very little to do. He has a dim conception of the
existence of some strange countries far remote from his own, where
people dress in a most uncomfortable way, eat strange things, and
altogether lead a life which has not the slightest attraction for
himself. There are men, even in interior villages, who have a much more
accurate idea of Europe, and who have even heard of America, but the
following incident, which is a true one, will apply to the greater part
of the Turks of the provinces.
A foreigner who was traveling in Northern Syria came to a village on
the Euphrates, and entered into conversation with his host, a part of
which was as follows:
_Host._ What is the latest news?
_Foreigner._ Have you heard that the Russian Emperor is dead?
_Host._ No! When did he die?
_Foreigner._ Two or three weeks ago.
_Host._ Is there a new king yet? (Notice change in title.)
_Foreigner._ Why, yes, even though not formally crowned, the new
Emperor became Emperor the moment his father died.
_Host._ Who is the new king?
_Foreigner._ The son of the one dead. In Europe the crown goes from
father to child, not to the oldest male of the blood royal as in the
Turkish Empire.
_Host._ Has the new king come to Constantinople yet?
_Foreigner._ What for?
_Host._ Why, to get our Emperor’s permission to put on his crown; he
cannot put it on without our Emperor’s permission.
_Foreigner._ I think that has not been the custom of late years.
_Host._ Why, certainly it has. None of the kings of Europe can be
crowned without our Emperor’s permission. Is not that so? (this to a
Moslem who had just come in).
_Visitor._ Why, yes. They are all vassals of our Emperor.
_Host._ I wonder if our Emperor will not insist that the new Russian
king pledge himself to abstain from war two years, before letting him
put on his crown?
_Visitor._ Probably he will.
The intellectual ability of the Turk is good. When it is remembered
that there is almost no education of any kind throughout the country;
that what little there is, is confined to the priests; that there is
little reading and almost no opportunity for development, the facts
apparent on every hand indicate no mean order of talent. The records
of attainment in government schools and elsewhere show that Turkish
young men are fully the equals of any. In many respects the conduct
of the government is of a very good order, and the history of Turkish
diplomacy is certainly on a par with that of any court of Europe.
They have not the keenness of the Armenians or of the Greeks, but
have good minds, and, where circumstances give the opportunity, they
show ability to think for themselves. In the official class this is
particularly noticeable, and the educated Turk of Constantinople stands
fully abreast of his compeer in the cities of Europe. An American,
traveling in a railroad train from Adrianople to Constantinople, got
into conversation with a Turkish army officer. He found the officer
well posted in many lines of investigation and even well read in the
Turkish version of the Bible. It is an interesting and significant fact
that large editions of that version, in the form specially adapted
to Turks, have been sold throughout the empire, and that they are
constantly read and studied, has been repeatedly affirmed by the Turks
themselves. A nation that can produce such men as Fuad, Midhat, and
Ali Pashas, and not a few of those prominent in later years, and that
shows such interest in a daily press, cannot be considered of mediocre
intellectual ability.
From the standpoint of a despotic government the Turk makes an almost
ideal subject. He is absolutely obedient to those whom he regards as
constituted authorities, even where treated by them with the most
outrageous oppression and injustice, as is repeatedly the case under
the Sultan’s rule. He seldom if ever complains, and when he does it is
with bated breath, as if there could be no criticism of his superiors.
Whatever of wrong there may be, is laid at the door, not of the
authorities, but of some outside and to him unknown influences which
compel this action under which he suffers. Or it may be that he looks
upon it as just punishment from God for some crime against his law. But
of this later on. As a soldier he takes rank with the very best in the
world. His naturally fine physique and strong constitution and simple
manner of life give him great endurance, and his unwavering obedience,
which, however, is by no means stolid, as is that of the Russian, makes
him the reliance of his officers, while his education in his religion
from childhood makes him reckless even to the point of despising death.
The record of Turkish wars throughout the centuries has been one that
any nation might well be proud of, so far as achievements of its
soldiers are concerned; and no one who watched the veterans as they
returned from Plevna and from Shipka could fail to understand how it
was that Russia had to buy her way into the fortifications.
There is, however, another side to Turkish character, illustrated by
many facts along the lines already mentioned. The treatment of the
insane whose detention becomes necessary, and who have none to provide
for them, is brutal in the extreme. In times of famine or of general
distress the Turk will do little or nothing to relieve even his own
people, and when an animal becomes sick or helpless, it is left to a
miserable end. It is no uncommon sight on the caravan roads to see
camels, horses or mules, that have fallen by the way left to die,
while the vultures gather and commence their work even before life is
extinct. The stories of the past year of torture, murder and outrage,
seem to belong to a race of demons rather than of human beings. It
is true that for much of this the Kurds are responsible, as in the
Bulgarian massacres it was largely the Pomaks who were guilty of
the worst excesses, but still it is true that the Turks themselves,
soldiers and peasants, committed deeds of the most frightful enormity.
The ripping up of pregnant women to decide a wager as to the sex of
the unborn child, the wholesale outraging of women and girls, not to
speak of the torturing of men, and even little children, in the most
inhuman fashion, indicate a fiendish barbarism that seems absolutely
incompatible with the kindness and hospitality to which so many bear
witness. Yet it is simple truth that, were the facts to be detailed in
all their horror, the chronicle would disgust the world. A portion of
it has been set forth in such articles as those by E. J. Dillon, in the
_Contemporary Review_; by Frederick D. Greene, in “The Armenian Crisis
in Turkey,” and a few, comparatively very few, instances will be found
in later chapters of this book. They need not be repeated here. It is
sufficient to say that there is not a case given for which there is not
abundant proof.
So also in private life there are aspects of even the best of the
Turkish people that can call forth only condemnation. Most noticeable,
perhaps, is the condition of women, which is in the main thoroughly
degraded. From her birth she is looked upon as a menial and an
unfortunate. This is illustrated by the great amount of infanticide,
especially if the child be a girl; by the haggard, ugly countenances
of the old women, so different in that respect from the Armenians;
the piercing shrillness of their voices, from which every tone
of tenderness seems to have gone; the very general vulgarity of
conversation and of thought, always attendant upon a condition of
society where the woman must rely upon satisfying the passions rather
than the heart of her husband. As already stated, there are exceptions,
but in the main the condition of the Turkish women is very low. This
condition reacts upon the men and makes them vulgar and sensual in the
extreme. The everyday language of the average Turk would shock the
lowest of the slum boys in our own cities. Under ordinary circumstances
sensualism is kept measurably in check by the inevitable restraints of
community life, but once let those be broken and lust reigns supreme,
dominating everything. As a gentleman who knows them well and never
hesitates to recognize their good qualities, has said, “In a Turk’s
eye all that a woman has is sex, and for it he lusts with absolute
brutality.”
Similar characteristics appear in his relations with others. While
ordinarily peaceable and desirous of living on good terms with his
neighbors of other creeds or races, and thus generally truthful, honest
and hospitable, he will on occasion show the reverse of all these
characteristics, and it is not infrequently the case that travelers
find it impossible to understand how any one can possibly speak of
the race with other than contempt for its utter disregard of the most
ordinary amenities of life. The explanation is undoubtedly partly to
be found in their religious training, but there is ingrained in the
Turkish character an element of dishonesty and of disregard for truth.
This uncertainty appears somewhat in their relations to their own
government. Loyal as they are, it has not infrequently been true that
they, far more than the Christian subjects, furnish the most anxiety,
and if now the inmost thoughts of the Sultan could be learned, it is
most probable that he fears the Softas far more than the Armenians.
Next, perhaps, to the condition of woman, the weaker or the worst
side of Turkish character is manifest in the official class. The Turks
themselves have a proverb that “The Turk is a decent man until he
becomes an official, and then he becomes a scamp,” and this is borne
out in the greater part of the intercourse between that class and the
rest of the world. Probably no court in history can give so marked an
illustration of the decadence of all moral power as the Turkish court.
There have been noble men, men of preeminent ability and sterling
character, but they have been very rare, and the average official,
whether in civil, military or naval service, is absolutely unreliable.
He will make promises that he never intends to keep and that he knows
he cannot keep. He will accept bribes unblushingly and will deal with
all whom he comes in contact on the general principle that he is the
smartest man who can get the most and give the least; a sycophant to
his superiors, a bully to his inferiors. His whole life is a constant
strife with every one with whom he has any relations whatever. The
very atmosphere in which he lives seems to breathe dishonesty and
falsehood, and the ability he shows is prostituted to the very basest
ends. Yet here again, as in almost every other statement, exceptions
must be made. No one who has had dealings with the departments of
the government has failed to find many instances of courtesy and
consideration. With all the outrage and injustice perpetrated by the
provincial governors, there have been many instances of not merely
justice, but kindness, in their dealing with all classes of people.
When, however, every possible exception is noted, it remains true
that the official life from the highest to the lowest is thoroughly
demoralized.
The one dominant element in the Turkish character, however, the one
which controls and modifies all the others, is his religion. This is
no place for a general description of Mohammedanism. Some reference
has already been made to it in a preceding chapter. Here we have only
to note its effect upon the Turkish character. That effect is both
advantageous and disadvantageous. The grandeur of its monotheism
fills his soul and holds him in absolute subjection to that idea.
One result of this is that the natural simplicity of the race is
strengthened rather than weakened. Another effect of it is seen in
his general self-control and temperance. The Turk is by no means as
temperate a man as many suppose him to be; yet what temperance he has
is due primarily to the precepts of his religion. So also he is as a
rule self-contained, not from stolidity, but from principle. He is
above all things else a pure and simple fatalist, acknowledging God’s
absolute control over him and claiming that whatever is, is right. It
is immaterial to him what happens to him. Thus, on the field of battle
he absolutely refuses to recognize danger, and in private life, when
sickness overtakes him, he will frequently make no effort for recovery.
The following incident illustrates, better than any lengthy description
can, the power of this influence.
In the various scourges of cholera that have swept over many parts of
the empire, the Turk has been the most difficult patient to treat. In
the dread time in Constantinople in 1865, when the deaths numbered not
less than a thousand a day, a gentleman on his errand of mercy and of
healing met in the street a young man, who implored him to come into a
room near by and save, if he could, his father. The room was entered,
and there, upon a single quilt upon the floor, lay a Turk, old in
years, but not in strength, of magnificent physique and apparently of
perfect health until attacked by the plague. The disease had secured so
thorough a hold of him that he seemed to be marked for death. As the
medicine was produced he absolutely refused to take it, saying, “If it
is God’s will that I should die, I shall die, and your medicine will
do no good. If it is His will that I shall recover, I shall recover,
and your medicine will be of no use.” Scarcely needless to say the man
died. This same principle also makes him the obedient subject that he
is, and keeps him content with his lot when many another race would be
restless and urgent for revolution.
There are, however, other influences for evil. The very absoluteness
of Islam makes him overbearing and insolent to all who are not of his
own faith. Its exaltation of the sensual paradise frees him from all
restraint in the gratification of his passions. If once his recognized
ecclesiastical leaders, the authorized interpreters of the law, declare
against the authority of the government, he becomes immediately the
most dangerous revolutionist known to history; this in aggression. But
in another sense the same religion develops within him an indolence.
The one word that probably to many a traveler expresses Turkish
character, is the word “kef.” It is an untranslatable word, and denotes
a general condition of indolent and sensuous rather than sensual
enjoyment of different pleasures. In the enjoyment of it he is careless
of the future and the past, and lives only in the present. If urged
to labor in the fields, he says, “What is the use? I have enough for
the moment. Why should I look out for the future?” If appeal is made
to his ambition in the line of intellectual development or wide extent
of prosperity, the same indolent luxuriousness prevents his taking the
slightest trouble to alter his situation. That this indolence should
co-exist with the tremendous fury of the Turkish onslaughts as known in
history, with the atrocious barbarity of the events of the past year,
seems almost incredible, and yet it is true. This same characteristic
appears in still another form. It stands in opposition to any
development of the land. It is epicureanism interpreted in Tartar
language, and we have the Sybarite, with the bare mud floor, a cup of
coffee and a pipe, instead of the luxurious couch and deep potations
of the Roman court. This latter indeed is found where wealth gives
opportunity, but for the distinctive Turkish “kef,” we must look not in
the palace or on the shores of the Bosporus, but in the village and on
the plains of Asia Minor. An illustration is furnished in the refusal
of a Turkish pasha who owned some land on the southern slopes of the
Taurus. When some Europeans came to get a concession for working some
coal mines on his property, he replied, “If God Almighty had intended
that coal to be used, He would put it near the surface where it could
have been got at, not away below, where you have to dig for it. It is
blasphemy to change His plans.” What disturbed the pasha, however, in
truth, was not the blasphemy, but the interference with his “kef.”
It will be seen that the Turk, as is the case with so many other
peoples, is a bundle of contradictions. With some noble qualities he
unites some that are brutal and contemptible in the extreme. Those who
see only the courteous host and the easy, suave diplomat, will defend
him with all their power, while those who have felt the iron heel of
his despotism, and seen the wanton outrage of his lust, find it hard to
think that there can be any good in him. Probably the most typical Turk
of the century is the Sultan himself. To the foreign ambassador, to
the guest whom he delights to honor, he appears a man of kindly, even
benign bearing, sincerely desirous of the welfare of all his people,
sad at their distress, bitterly lamenting the cruel fate that has so
weakened the power of his rule that he cannot do what he would, yet
anxious to do all he can. To the official, however, who has displeased
him, to the peasant in his village who pays him taxes, to the priest
who seeks to perform the rites of his church, he appears a tyrant of
the most unjust and cruel type. Which is correct? In all probability
both. When all goes well, Abdul Hamid, like any other Turk, is kindly,
hospitable, even generous. When, however, adversity comes upon him, and
he finds himself face to face with disaster, not merely to himself, but
to his boasted title of Defender of the Faith, the old Tartar blood
enkindled by the ferocity of the Moslem Arab breaks forth, and he
permits, if he does not directly order, the most atrocious series of
massacres known in history. With capabilities for the best, the Turk
frequently manifests the worst elements in human nature.
[Illustration:
TURKISH PEASANT. They are ordinarily quiet, kindly men, fairly
industrious, but not aggressive. It is only when stirred by fanatical
appeals that they come to be dreaded. They almost all wear charms,
and the cord about the neck is fastened to one such. The turban is a
simple roll of dark cloth about a felt cap.]
[Illustration:
GROUP OF MOUNTAINEERS FROM CENTRAL ASIA MINOR. These are not as
fierce, although fully as brave as the Xeibecks. They form a
considerable element in what are known as the Bashi-Bozouks, or
irregular troops of the Turkish army. They are pure-blooded Turks,
stalwart, powerful men.]
CHAPTER V.
THE KURDS.
Legend of the Serpents--Connected with the Medes--Tribal
Organization--Nomad Life--Saladin and the Crusaders--After the
Russo-Turkish War--The Hamidieh Cavalry--Brutal Treatment of
Christians--Arabs--Circassians and other Moslem Subjects--The
Nusairiyeh--Yezidis and Druzes.
The passion for legend is illustrated in no better way than in the
statements as to the origin of the oriental races. Even the wildest
tribes share in this, and there have come down, through their famous
story-tellers, narrative after narrative, to be taken not as authentic
history, and yet as giving after all the kernel of authentic history.
The Kurdish people are no exception to this rule. According to the
story that is told in their camps and castles, extending all the way
from the eastern end of the Black Sea to the very borders of the
Persian Gulf, and from the mountains of Western Persia along the
mountain ranges of Asiatic Turkey, they owed their origin to one of
those acts of cruelty familiar to all Eastern history.
In the capital of Persia, in the ages long past, there was a king
famous even there for his cruelty. Through many years his crimes went
unavenged. At last the gods found them too severe, and in punishment
sent two serpents to take up their abode, one in each shoulder. These
serpents preyed upon his flesh, which yet was constantly renewed by
a miracle of divine retribution, so that each morning found the body
still unimpaired. The torture of the day brought to the king’s mind
a suggestion of relief. Reasoning that his own flesh was no sweeter
than that of his nobility, and that the younger the flesh the more
dainty the morsel it furnished, he sent out among the wealthy families
of his kingdom, and gathered in all the young men. Every morning lots
were cast, and two of these were taken and fed to the serpents, that
so they might be diverted from the body of the king. Naturally terror
reigned throughout the kingdom. Fear and anger assisted the subjects
to discover a way of cheating, both the king and the serpents, just as
the king had hoped to cheat his tormentors. They reasoned that when the
first taste of the serpents was sated, an ordinary sheep would satisfy
their hunger. Accordingly each morning, lots were drawn between the
two victims, one escaped and fled to the mountains, while his comrade
suffered. This was carried on, for how long the legend does not say,
long enough, however, to result in the gathering of a large number of
these escaped members of the nobility in the mountains of Demavend,
banded together to avenge the wrong upon them and upon their kindred
against the king and all his forces.
This, according to the legend, was the origin of the Kurdish people.
More authentic tradition states that a race variously called Gutu
(warrior), Gardu, and Karu (whence Kardukas, Charduchi), occupied the
mountainous eastern border of the Assyrian empire in the time of its
glory. These were of Scythian origin, but were conquered by a tribe of
Kermanj descended from Madai (Mede), the son of Japhet. In any case
their mountain fastnesses furnished a sort of cave of Adullam, to
which every man who had a grievance came, and a rude sort of feudal
government arose. In some cases the men were followed by the women
of their families; in others they gathered wives from the plain in
their raids. Thus there grew up a race in the mountains whose hand
was against every man and every man’s hand against them. Occupying a
position on the border of several kingdoms, it was natural that they
should become a thoroughly heterogeneous community, owing their origin
to no one race and taking their characteristics from many. Still,
whether due to the method of their life or to the dominant influence of
some racial element, there resulted a very marked race, unity governing
the diversity. Thus, while the Kurds of the North are in many respects
essentially different from those of the far South, both in general
appearance and even in language, there are certain characteristics of
both that mark them all as being of one race.
Probably no absolute distinction can be drawn between the different
sections. In general, however, it is legitimate to accept the
classification of some of those who have made careful study of
them. About the only published authorities are the Kurdish history,
“Shereef Na’ameh,” published in St. Petersburg, a report to the
British Government prepared by Major Henry Trotter, British Consul for
Kurdistan, and monographs by the American missionaries. Considerable
information has been given by individual Kurds, for they have furnished
not a few scholars, and upon the basis of this information they may be
divided according to race, religion, government and mode of life, the
lines of separation not being always clear, but sufficient to furnish
the basis for classification.
Taking up first the question of race, there appear to be two general
divisions, each with two subdivisions. First comes the great Jaff race,
divided into Kermanj and Goran or Koran; second, the Wend tribes,
divided between the Wends and the Lurs. The Jaff race includes those
tribes occupying the country from the eastern end of the Black Sea as
far south as Kerkuk in Turkey and Hamadan in Persia and throughout
the mountains of Asia Minor. The Kermanj are by far the most numerous
and include the entire population as far as the vicinity of Mosul
and throughout Asia Minor, with the exception of a comparatively
small number of tribes. The remainder are Goran. Of the Wends, the
distinctive Wend tribe has its origin in Afghanistan and extends
through Persia into Southern Mesopotamia. The Lurs occupy a section
of Luristan southwest of Hamadan. If the total Kurdish population be
estimated at three and a half millions, fully two millions belong to
what may be called the Northern Kermanj tribes; about 400,000 to the
Southern tribes, and about the same number (400,000) to the Goran
tribes; while the Wends number in all about 700,000.
In religion all are Moslems, the great majority being Sunnis
or orthodox; a comparatively small portion aside from the Wend
tribes being Shiahs. They are in the main very scrupulous in their
observations of religious rites, thoroughly enthusiastic and intensely
loyal Moslems, looking upon all Christians with the most utter
contempt. They are very largely under the influence of Dervishes, many
of their leaders belonging to the different Dervish sects which abound
far more in Eastern Turkey and Persia than in Western Turkey.
The general form of government is tribal, corresponding very
closely to that of the clans of Scotland and such as is natural to
all mountainous sections of country. As a rule, the chieftainship is
hereditary, and in some families it has remained for a long time; in
others the democratic element seems to rule, and there are frequent
changes. In the chieftainship among the Wend tribes that position is
held according to custom by the man whose prowess marks him as the
leader. There are, however, considerable sections in which the tribal
organization is practically disappearing. These mostly include the
Lurs of Persia and some of those found in Mesopotamia and through Asia
Minor. This loss of the tribal character is due chiefly to the contact
into which they have come with the dominating power of the Persian and
Turkish Governments.
Perhaps the most apparent division of the Kurdish people is according
to their manner of life, nomad or sedentary. The distinction between
these is not always easily drawn. In many cases the tribes are at one
season of the year nomad and at another sedentary; thus some of the
wildest clans of the mountains who spend their summers upon the plains
wandering back and forth with their tents, are in the winter confined
within their villages and have all the general aspects of a settled
population. It is doubtless true that the general tendency has been
from the nomad to the sedentary life, and many tribes whose ancestors a
half century ago knew practically no abiding place, are now found year
after year within the same geographical territory. But one of these
divisions can fairly be said to have retained absolutely its nomad
character, and that is the Wend tribe. They live on horseback, with
comparatively few flocks or herds, and prey upon whatever country they
happen to enter.
The great mass of the Kermanj are partially nomad, while the Lurs are
almost entirely sedentary. The development of city life has had its
effect, and there are a number of cities along the Persian border,
including Kerkuk, Suleimanieh, Rowandiz and Bitlis, where the entire
Moslem population is Kurdish. In some cases these have retained a
certain tribal form of organization though not of government, but in
not a few instances that has disappeared, and to the traveler the Kurd
appears to be an ordinary Turkish citizen.
The general characteristics of the Kurds vary somewhat according to
these general divisions. The nomads, whether Kermanj or Wend, are
lawless and often brutal to the last degree. The sedentary Kurds are in
the main sturdy, but quiet and unaggressive. On the other hand there is
a marked distinction between the sedentary Lur on the plains of Persia
and his kinsman in the city of Bitlis. In general the Kermanj are the
most aggressive; the Gorans show the most character; the Wends are the
wildest, and the Lurs the most peaceful. Comparatively few have come
into contact with any form of civilization, although some of the Goran
chiefs, and even men of no particular position, have manifested ability
of high order. One of the most successful ministers that the present
Sultan has ever had, who has not only been ambassador to Germany, but
has held the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and even that
of Grand Vizier at Constantinople, is a Kurd from Suleimanieh. The
editor of one of the most successful papers at the capital, before the
present intense censorship was established, was a Kurd from the same
section; and one of the most efficient assistants in the preparation
of the version of the Bible in the Turkish language was a Kurd who had
no education in foreign languages, simply what he had obtained from
Arabic, Persian and Turkish literature. No one can travel through the
mountains of Kurdistan, south of Van, without coming in contact with
men whose personal dignity of character and whose wide information
astonish him. Not a few who have known of these people have thought
that possibly with them lay the solution as to the ultimate rule of
that whole section.
Authentic history of the Kurdish people dates back not much more than
three centuries. Before that time they were simply a collection of
tribes with some racial unity, developing the idea expressed by the
legend of their origin. Occasionally chieftains made themselves a wider
reputation. Saladin, the famous Ameer of the time of the Crusades, was
a Kurd whose nomad instincts and ability placed him at the head of
the Moslem foes of the European kings. In the middle of the sixteenth
century they came under the power of the Ottoman and Persian rulers,
though the fealty that they rendered was perhaps scarcely worth
the name. Until the latter part of the last century they confined
themselves chiefly to the mountain ranges bordering Turkey and Persia,
spreading out upon the plains merely for occasional pasturage, but
within the last half century the tribes have spread east and west,
but principally west. Little by little they occupied the whole of the
mountain section of Eastern Turkey; then the mountain ranges skirting
the Black Sea; then the Taurus, until to-day they are found in varying
numbers and with some modified characteristics, yet still evidently of
the same race, even as far west as the borders of the Salt Plain of
Western Asia Minor.
The Kurds first came into prominence as an essential or at least
important element in the problems affecting the Turkish Government,
about the time of the Russo-Turkish war in 1876. Hitherto they had been
looked upon chiefly as an element of disturbance, but not of dread.
Whenever the government became more impatient than usual with their
raids, a strong hand was put forth and they were speedily brought
to terms. There was no apparent thought on their part of any united
action, or on the part of the Turks that they could be in any way made
use of.
The siege of Erzrum and attending battles on the border first brought
the Kurds into contact with the more advanced methods of western
warfare. They had seen something of it at Kars in 1856, but there had
not then been the advance made in the weapons used which characterized
the conflicts of twenty years later, and it seems to have made little
impression. On this latter occasion the Kurdish chiefs with their men
hung on the outskirts of both armies pillaging each with scrupulous
impartiality. They had no love for either Sultan or Czar, and looked
upon the soldiers, whether wounded or dead upon the battlefield,
chiefly as furnishing material for their own better arming. Two results
followed. There was a marvelous distribution of modern arms throughout
the Kurdish mountains, and a perfect revelation as to the methods of
modern warfare and the power that even they might exert. More than
this, however, there was borne in upon the Kurdish mind that neither
Sultan nor Czar was omnipotent. The sudden arrest of the Russian
advance and the subsequent evacuation of Erzrum could not in their mind
be attributed to the power of the Turk. There must be other influences
more mighty than he. In one way or another there came reports of the
great Queen of England, the Emperor of Germany and his wonderful
minister.
The author was lunching one day in a Kurdish village, not far from
Arbela, when he had a call from a Kurdish Sheikh, who asked him to read
the inscription on a magnificent pistol. He read, “Providence Tool
Company, Providence, Rhode Island.” The Sheikh would say nothing as
to where and how he gained possession of this weapon, but it did not
require much shrewdness to identify him with one of the leaders, who
brought terror to the stragglers, both Turks, and Russians, in the war
that had only ceased two years before. More significant, however, were
the questions he asked about Gladstone, Bismarck, Queen Victoria, the
Czar, etc., and especially those in which he tried to sound the visitor
as to the relations between those men and the Sultan and Shah. He did
not get much satisfaction, but his talk came very vividly to mind a
few weeks later, when a messenger from the most powerful chief of the
mountains came to the same traveler to ask, in a strictly private way,
how he could best come into communication with the Queen of England,
whom he desired to recognize as his suzerain. It was easy to refer him
to an English Consul, with the explanation that Americans had nothing
to do with Oriental politics.
The first fruit of this was manifest two years later, when the chief
who sent this last question declared open war on the Shah, and started
on an expedition that for a time threatened ruin to the two large
cities in Northern Persia. Sheikh Obeidullah was one of the finest
specimens of the Kurdish chief. A man of wide acquaintance, shrewd
judgment, boundless ambition, and fine bearing, he was evidently
fitted to inaugurate a Kurdish kingdom. He was connected, too, with
the Nakshibendi order of Dervishes, and could bring to his support the
mighty influence of that, the most powerful order in Western Asia. When
he started out from the fastnesses of the mountains north of Rowandiz
there was terror everywhere, and not a few felt that not merely had
a new element entered the conflict, but one whose power was beyond
computation. He traversed the plain south of Lake Urumia, appeared
before the city, and even threatened Tabriz. He doubtless made his
first attack on Persia, as the weaker of the two empires, planning,
in case of success there, to measure strength with the Sultan. He
doubtless hoped also to make such an impression as to attract the
attention of Europe. He was disappointed, however. His followers, with
no discipline or morale, proved absolutely unmanageable when it came to
meeting even the play troops of the Persian army, and the tumbledown
walls of Urumia. They soon became disheartened, feared lest they should
lose the plunder already collected, and the army of many thousand men
melted away like dew.
As a Turkish subject the Sheikh, under the representations from
Teheran, was taken as a captive to Constantinople. He was confined for
a time in an apartment of the palace, but managed to escape in the form
of a green dove, as the nursery stories went. He was found, however,
back in his old home, and again seized and sent into exile in Arabia,
where in due time he died.
This experience, however, had its lessons for the Turkish Government.
It was evident that there was an element of danger in the mountains of
Kurdistan, which, added to the other dangers menacing the Sultan, from
the activity of the Armenians, the pressure from the European powers,
and the general hostility to his Caliphate among the Arabs, might
easily prove very serious. Were the Kurds to join the Arabs, Turkish
rule in Eastern Turkey and Mesopotamia would be at an end. Were they to
join the Armenians the result would be equally disastrous. Such a thing
may seem absurd, and yet it was not so absurd as might appear. The one
power that seemed to Sheikh Obeidullah and doubtless to his friends
as the one to be courted, was England. England was well understood to
be the patron of the Armenians. The Kurds had little hostility to the
Armenians themselves. They were glad to plunder them when they could,
and very ready to raise the Moslem cry if it served their turn; but in
the main Kurdish and Armenian mountaineers had gotten along together
fairly well. It was the villages of the plain that had the most to
fear. Both alike suffered from the Turkish Government, both alike
dreaded Russia. It is by no means inconceivable that the two should
have united forces against both governments.
Whether this fear came to the Turkish authorities or not, it is certain
that they took the most effective way to prevent such a union.
The two things that appeal most to a Kurd are plunder and finery. If
he can appropriate other people’s sheep and goods and dress himself in
showy colors he is happy. With true Oriental shrewdness the Turkish
Government took advantage of this and sent word to the chiefs to
organize a portion of their men into a sort of irregular cavalry.
They were to be provided with uniforms and arms, were to be honored
with the Sultan’s own name, Hamid, and called the Hamidieh Cavalry.
At first there was some dismay, for it is the unvarying rule of the
Turkish Government to send its soldiers far away from their own homes
for active service. That rule was broken in this case. The Hamidieh
were especially favored and permitted to remain in their own mountains,
where they were authorized to act as police. The effect of this was to
give them absolutely unlimited opportunity for plunder. The slightest
defense on the part of the Armenians against a raid was sufficient
pretext to warrant their punishment for open insurrection, and this was
what happened throughout Eastern Turkey and even to the west, wherever
the Kurds extended. The result has been to bring out into bold relief
the worst elements in the Kurdish character. The atrocities committed
by them have been horrible beyond description. They have showed no
mercy to any. They have become so identified with robbery, murder
and outrage, that not merely have the Armenians come to dread them
as demons, but the Turks themselves often look upon them as the most
dangerous allies. At the same time their innate cowardice as well as
their weakness have been made most apparent. In every case where they
have carried devastation to places of any size or strength it has been
with the aid of Turks, and whenever the Turkish Government has really
sought to ward off their attacks it has done so with perfect ease. In
defenseless villages they have proved a perfect tornado of devastation,
but in not a single city have they unaided been able to accomplish
anything. In the attack on Harput, where the houses of the American
missionaries were destroyed, they were assisted by the Turkish rabble
from the city itself and by Turkish soldiers in disguise; but when,
as at Mardin, they sought alone to attack the city, they were easily
driven back.
The term Arab is applied in popular use to all the Moslem subjects of
the Sultan who use the Arabic language, and they are found in Syria,
Mesopotamia and Arabia. In fact a large number of these are not Arabs
at all. In both Northern Syria and along the Lebanon, the great mass
are Syrians who early accepted Islam, and are of the same race as their
Christian fellows of the Jacobite and Chaldean Churches. Thus, in the
cities of Aleppo, Mardin and Mosul there are comparatively few pure
Arabs, although genuine Arab tribes press very closely upon the borders
of all these places. Arabia itself, being practically independent, with
the exception of the provinces of Hejaz and Yemen, has comparatively
little to do with Turkish history, and notwithstanding that the Bedouin
tribes of Mesopotamia partake frequently of the general characteristics
of the mountain Kurds, they still have come into little antagonism
with Christians. They prefer the free life of the plains and are not
feared by the villagers as are the rougher Moslems to the East. The
chief interest for Turkish history connected with the Arabs arises from
the control Turkey has held, ever since the conquering of Egypt, of
the provinces of Arabia, where the Moslem religion has its center. The
Arabs of Mecca and Medina, and also those of the province of Yemen,
have always hated the Turk. The Moslem law says that the caliph should
be a member of the tribe of Koreish, and to have that high honor, so
dignified by the rulers of Bagdad and their followers, assumed by a
Tartar from Central Asia is a standing grievance with the descendants
of the Prophet and his kinsmen. Hence the Turkish hold upon those
provinces has always been very slight, scarcely more than its hold
upon any of the interior sections. Revolts in Yemen have become so
common a phrase that they scarcely attract any special attention. The
whole province is in a chronic state of disturbance, and almost at any
time, were Arabs really to exert themselves, or could they unite, they
could throw off the Ottoman rule. More important in many ways than the
regular Arabs are the Syrians. They are shrewd, proud, ambitious, love
display and manifest the peculiar characteristics of a race which for
centuries was subject and then assumed the ascendancy.
The Circassians, who are found in numbers in Asia Minor, from
Constantinople to Sivas, along the shores of the Black Sea, and also
to a considerable extent in European Turkey, are mostly the followers
of Schamyl, the famous leader who was defeated by the Russians in
1859. They are bold and daring, far more fearless and aggressive than
the Kurds and are also of a higher type of ability and character. The
Sultan listened to their appeal for protection and gave them a cordial
welcome into his domains. He appropriated to them certain lands and
then practically left them to claim possession and to extend their
claim wherever they could. As a result, for a number of years they were
a terror to all, Moslem and Christian. Gradually, however, they settled
down and then their industry manifested itself and the Circassian
communities in many cases attained a good degree of prosperity.
Naturally they brought more or less of their brigand style of life and
of dealing with them, and even the settled communities included not
a few who relied for their subsistence upon plunder. One thing may
be said in their favor. They brought their wagons with them from the
Caucasus, and have done more perhaps than any others to change the
method of transportation. Accustomed to rough roads in their old home,
the absence of roads in Turkey did not terrify them and they set to
work to make some, and to them perhaps more than to almost any other
influence was due the gradual disappearance in certain sections of
carriage by horse and mule caravan. Akin to the Circassians are the
Lazes, found chiefly in the region of Trebizond. They, however, are
of a lower grade, more brutal and less reliable, more easily led into
outrage and violence of the lower order. Their work is especially seen
in the massacres in the region of Trebizond, Baiburt and Erzrum.
In Western Asia Minor, in the mountains back of Smyrna and throughout
the generally rough country as far east as Angora, there are numerous
Moslem tribes passing under one name or another according to the
location--Xeibecks, Avshars, Yoruks, etc. They are a wild, lawless,
brutal lot, a terror to everyone in the whole region. They know no
restraint of any kind and put at defiance all law. Occasionally, when
their depredations upon the plains or villages have become too severe,
the Turkish Government has sent out some troops, but ordinarily they
have held their own in the mountain fastnesses and plundered the
villages and towns and carried into exile prominent citizens, holding
them for heavy ransom. In this respect they have vied with some of the
well-known Greek brigands, until it was scarcely safe for foreigners to
ride out an hour’s distance from the cities of Smyrna, Manisa or Aidin.
Ordinarily associated with Moslems and classed in a sense as Moslems
by the Turkish Government, yet not belonging to them really, are
three strange communities in Syria and Mesopotamia; the Nusairiyeh
and Druzes in Syria and the Yezidis in Mesopotamia. The Nusairiyeh
have their headquarters in the cities of Adana, Tarsus and Latakia,
and number perhaps 300,000. Their origin is lost in obscurity. Some
claim that they are descended from the Persians; others that they are
the remnant of the tribes that Joshua drove out of Palestine. Their
religious practices, which are held very secret, sustain the theory
of their descent from the ancient heathen tribes of Palestine. They
receive their name from a renowned leader and teacher, and their
religious system was brought to perfection by one of his descendants.
They claim to be followers of Mohammed, but are really pagans, the
claim being a diplomatic one, chiefly for the purpose of avoiding
the terrible oppression of the Moslem rule. They hold to special
mysteries into which none are initiated under eighteen years of age,
and each applicant must bring twelve men as security, and these must
each be secured by two others. He is then required to swear by all the
heavenly bodies never to reveal the mysteries under penalty of having
hands, feet and head severed from his body. It is, as a consequence,
almost impossible to learn anything from them, and one of their number
at Adana, who revealed their mysteries in part, disappeared shortly
afterwards, and undoubtedly suffered the penalty. They worship fire,
the wind, the waves of the sea--anything that manifests power; are
hearty believers in the transmigration of souls, and occasionally have
a strange mixture of paganism and Islam. They have numerous feasts,
and some of their religious rites are said to be most vile. They are
revengeful and practice blood atonement. They are thievish and tricky
to the very last degree, and their general morality is very low. At
the same time many of them manifest elements of character of great
interest, and their shrewdness makes conversation with them almost
fascinating. Their relations to the Turkish Government have always been
uncertain. They have been heavily oppressed and have been called on to
furnish tributes, but are such adepts in the art of deception that even
the government has found it impossible to carry out all its designs
with them.
The Yezidis are popularly known as devil worshippers, though this is
probably incorrect and due partly to the secrecy of their rites, and
partly to their idea of propitiating the powers of evil. They belong
to those Arabs who refused to accept Islam, and gathered in a loose
organization under a certain sheik from the region of Damascus, in the
early part of the twelfth century. Under Moslem rule they have in a
certain way accepted Mohammedanism, at least in outward appearance,
though they entertain a deep-seated hatred for Moslems, whether Arabs
or Kurds, and are in return treated by them with contempt. They are
found both in the mountains to the east of the Tigris and also in the
Sinjar Hills west of Mosul, as well as in the vicinity of that city
itself. Those in the mountains use the Kurdish language, but those
on the plains use Arabic as well. They are an agricultural people,
live in villages, and as a rule are neater and cleaner in their dress
than either the Arabs or the Kurds. In the main they are quiet and
industrious, but in the northern sections among the mountains they
are given to highway robbery, and in the Sinjar Hills, where they are
in the great majority, they are restive and hostile to the Turkish
Government. Their religious belief is very confused. They believe in
God as the Supreme Deity, but have nothing to do with Him in the way
of worship or service. They believe in an emanation from God who is
eternal, the Melek Taoos, or King Peacock, who became incarnate as
Lucifer, deceived Adam and Eve as Satan, and is one of the seven gods
who in turn ruled the world for ten thousand years. They also worship
the Sheik to whom they owe the organization of their religious system,
and various other gods. They hold to the transmigration of souls
and give a qualified reverence to the Scriptures, the Old and New
Testaments. They have a religious oligarchy composed of six orders;
the Ameer, Sheiks, and priests, who are Nazarites, having taken vows
of celibacy. They worship the sun and fire, and once a year perform
the service before the emblem of the Peacock, which is carried to the
different villages. They have no liturgy and observe several feasts.
Their relations to the Turkish Government have been not unlike those
of the Nusairiyeh, except that they have suffered more severely than
that community. In the early part of the present century there was a
terrible massacre in which thousands of them were put to death.
More notable than either of these previous classes, although much
smaller in numbers, is the sect or race of the Druzes, living in
Northern Syria, along the slopes of the Lebanon. They have about one
hundred and twenty towns and villages, and are estimated at a total
population of 65,000. Their chief town is Deir-el-Kamar, about fifteen
miles southeast of Beirut. Like the Nusairiyeh, they are generally
supposed to have descended from the pagan peoples of the land,
especially the Cuthites, who re-peopled Samaria; or perhaps partly from
the Mardis, brought to Lebanon by Constantine, with an element of the
Arabs and possibly something of the Crusaders. Their own traditions
indicate a widely extended knowledge, and in their conversation and
manners they show a certain refinement which is in marked contrast to
the other Syrian races. The reputed author of their peculiar religion,
which is held in secret by them, was a caliph of Egypt at the close of
the tenth century, who was undoubtedly insane, but who left the impress
of his ferocity upon the people. They do not acknowledge the claims of
any other religion, but allow the profession of any religion according
to expediency, and unite with the Moslem in many of his services.
So also they at times will sprinkle with holy water in the Maronite
churches. Far from being fatalists as the Moslems, they recognize
absolutely the freedom of the human will. Ordinarily they are quiet
and peaceable, but on occasion are stirred to terrible ferocity, as
was seen in the massacres of 1860, when they killed so many Maronites,
and at the present time they furnish the Turkish Government with not a
little cause for uneasiness. A threatened revolt in the winter resulted
in calling out the reserves of the Turkish army, and for a time there
was fear of a general outbreak. This, however, was averted and quiet
was restored.
[Illustration:
KURDISH SHEIKH, from the region north of Harput. Many of the Kurds of
that section were originally of Armenian origin. A great many of them
are men of considerable force of character and ability, generally
kindly in their disposition, and living for the most part on good
terms with their Christian fellow-subjects.]
[Illustration:
GROUP OF XEIBECKS; a tribe of mountaineers inhabiting the mountain
section inland from Smyrna. They are bold, reckless, rather brutal
men, famous for their marauding expeditions, in which they plunder
indiscriminately Moslem as well as Christian villages. In the
Russo-Turkish war, numbers of them were taken into Bulgaria, where
they committed the most atrocious outrages.]
CHAPTER VI.
THE ARMENIANS.
Their Origin--Early History--First Nation to Accept
Christianity--Dispersion Under Oppression--Change from
Agricultural to Commercial People--General Characteristics;
Loyalty to Nation and Religion--Industry--Morality--Intellectual
Ability--Shrewdness--Jealousy of One Another--Influence of Missions
and European Ideas--Growth of National Ambition--Armenians
in Russia--Autonomy--Armenians in Other Countries--Patriarch
Mattheos--Outlook for the Future.
The Armenians are generally supposed, from their language, to be of
Aryan origin, though having not a little in common with the Turanian,
or at least the non-Aryan races. In the Assyrian period, their country
was occupied by the Nairi and Urarda, both probably Turanian stock.
When the Aryan Armenian migration occurred is not known, but the
name first occurs, in the form of Armaniya, in a Persian cuneiform
inscription of Darius Hystaspis, 522-486 B. C.
According to Armenian tradition, the name is derived from a king,
Aram, under whose rule the nation achieved considerable power, though
subsequently overcome by the mythical Queen Semiramis of Assyria. They
do not, however, call themselves Armenians, but Haik, and their country
Haiasdan, after Haik, whom they consider the son of Togarmah, the son
of Gomer, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. He, according to their
traditions, established the Armenian kingdom in the vicinity of Ararat,
to which country he had escaped from the tyranny of Belus, the king
of Assyria, at an uncertain date, perhaps 2000 B. C. From that time
on they were a more or less powerful people, sometimes achieving a
period of independence, but generally succumbing to the attacks of the
more powerful kingdoms that arose to the south and west. Any accurate
statement of those early years it is impossible to make. It appears
to be the fact that most of their kings, among them Tigranes, the
friend of Cyrus, the younger Chosroes of the family of the Arsacidae,
and Mithridates, were not of Armenian origin, but chieftains from
the neighboring races, Parthian or others, who by personal force of
character gained a supremacy, and established for the time being what
was called an Armenian kingdom.
On the defeat by the Persians of Chosroes, of the family of the
Arsacidae, his young son Durtad escaped and went to Rome. He
subsequently gained the assistance of Rome and was re-established upon
his throne. It was through his influence in the latter part of the
third century, that the Armenians as a nation accepted Christianity.
This was the signal for renewed attacks by Persia, and the kingdom met
with various fortunes, achieving a certain independence under the sway
of the family of the Pagratidae, who for two centuries maintained a
general authority in what was known as Armenia. In the middle of the
eleventh century the Byzantine Empire became master of the greater part
of the country, and in the fourteenth century the Ottomans commenced
the reign that has been carried on till the present day.
Armenian history states that, in the time of Christ, Abgar, of their
royal line, was king of Edessa or Urfa in Northern Mesopotamia. In
other histories he is spoken of as King of the Arabs, but the Armenians
claim him for themselves. The name is certainly Armenian. According to
the chief Armenian historian, this king listened to the preaching of
Thaddeus, one of the seventy disciples who were sent forth by Christ,
and was also healed by him of a severe disease. The result was that he
accepted the Christian faith, and was baptized with his whole family.
His successor, however, refused to follow in his steps, and persecuted
the people so, that this incipient growth of Christianity was almost
destroyed. In the time of Durtad (Tiridates), in the latter part of
the third century, under the influence of Gregory the Illuminator,
as he is called, there was a great revival of Christianity, and it
was accepted as the religion of the nation. From this great preacher
the Church receives the different names by which it is known, “the
Gregorian Church,” the “Loosavorchagan Church” (Loosavorich being the
Armenian for “Illuminator”). Under his influence the king was baptized
in 301 A. D., and although there was bitter opposition on the part
of some of the nobles, the nation as a whole followed him, and the
Armenians have the distinguished honor of being the first people to
make Christianity their national religion.
Situated far from Constantinople, it was natural that they should not
mingle intimately with the theological strifes of the early centuries.
They were generally represented at the Church councils, but by some
chance sent no delegate to the Fourth Council at Chalcedon in 451 A.D.
The condemnation at that council of Nestorianism and Eutychianism
was either misreported to them, or misunderstood by them, and at a
synod of their bishops it was repudiated, and they declared themselves
decidedly in favor of the Monophysite doctrine of the nature and person
of Christ. There thus arose constant strife between them and the Greek
Church, and more and more they were shut off by themselves, so that
their national life developed, not merely independently of that of the
surrounding churches, but to the exclusion of any external influences,
such as materially affect the growth of modern ecclesiastical
communities. They would not accept instruction at the hands of the
Western Church, had no means of education within themselves, and as a
natural result formalism took the place of spiritual life. This was
assisted by the constant strife for their existence as a nation, until
the Church, as a church, lost almost its entire hold upon the spiritual
life of the people.
The history of the Armenians for the five centuries intervening
between the conquest of their home by the Turks and their coming into
prominent notice before the Christian world in the early part of the
present century, is one of constant conflict between the disintegrating
influences of an oppressive government and the intense national
characteristics of the people. From the very beginning they felt the
terrible rule of the Moslems, and as far back as 1360 some refugees
came to Edward III. of England complaining that the Moslems were
trying to exterminate their people. A little was done for them. They
were allowed to live in England and to collect subscriptions for their
fellow-sufferers, but that was about all.
In a certain sense the result of the oppression was not altogether
injurious. Up to that time the Armenians had been strictly confined
within their borders. Whatever of tyranny had been exercised there had
served to repress their national life. Now commenced a dispersion,
with both good and evil results. They wandered westward over Asia
Minor; quite a number settled on the northern slopes of the Taurus and
established a kingdom with Sis as its capital. Cut off from their own
people, they secured a patriarch to themselves, and there seemed every
possibility of their forming a distinct nation. This, however, was
destined to fall under the rule of the Turks, and they were scarcely
distinct from their fellows in other parts of the empire. Others
wandered eastward and peopled the Caucasus, which was then Northern
Persia. Shah Abbas recognized their value as subjects, and early in the
seventeenth century transported a colony to the vicinity of Ispahan.
This emigration naturally carried out of their own country some of the
most aggressive elements, and as was not unnatural, those who remained
felt still more the pressure of the surrounding Moslem tribes, who
crowded into their villages. Thus little by little the ancestral plains
of Armenia became more and more Moslem.
Another influence operated quite forcibly. In a preceding chapter
reference has been made to the custom of villagers leaving their homes
for a shorter or longer term of life in the cities and larger towns.
This was especially characteristic of the Armenians. Constantinople,
Smyrna, Trebizond, Adana and all the western cities of the empire, as
well as many inland, depended entirely upon this form of emigration for
their artisans and the great mass of their day-laborers. While many
of these bachelors, as they were called, returned to their own homes,
a large number became permanent occupants of the cities, sometimes
bringing their families with them, sometimes making their own homes.
In this way there grew up a class distinct in many respects from the
original Armenian population, with different ambitions, differing
needs and widely different customs. The agricultural character of the
race began more and more to disappear and the people became known as
tradesmen. With the control of commerce came the control of money, and
these Armenian tradesmen were the bankers in the empire. They found
their way into the service of the government, made themselves essential
to the Sultans and governors, and amassed in many cases large fortunes.
We come thus to the situation about the time of the Treaty of Paris.
The Armenians, no longer a homogeneous people with a national territory
markedly and distinctively their own, were scattered to the number
of from three to four millions over the whole of the Turkish Empire,
the Caucasus and Northern Persia. They had the same marked racial
characteristics. Physically of good stature, strong features, manly
bearing; industrious and frugal; loyal to their religion and to their
nation; of marked ability, adapting themselves to any circumstances,
whether of climate, social or political life; very kindly, sympathetic,
affectionate; with an element of the jovial in their life; intensely
proud of their history and their faith; clannish almost to the last
degree, refusing such association with other races as might imply the
loss of their own; of exceptionally pure morals among the Eastern
races; intense lovers of home and family life, and hospitable in the
extreme; with acute minds and suave manners, they manifested many of
the essential elements of a strong nation.
There were, however, other features which must be noted. They were
grossly ignorant and for the most part densely superstitious, held in
absolute thrall by a Hierarchy bigoted and overbearing to the last
degree, and fully as ignorant as the people whom they misled. Their
constant strife with other races and their long history of subjugation
had developed a shrewdness of dealing which partook in marked degree of
the unscrupulous. They were ready to take advantage of anybody and of
anything to further their ends. Obsequious and servile in their bearing
towards superiors, they were looked upon by the Turk as a necessary
evil; a fruitful source of income in the shape of taxes, advantageous
for their general skill as artisans and as servants, but beneath
contempt for their trickery. Similarly they had the hatred of their
fellow-Christians of other churches.
There was, however, another characteristic that has been recognized by
their best men for years as operating more than almost anything else to
keep them in subjection and prevent their best development. With all
their intense nationality manifesting itself in their devotion to their
history and to their church, their absolute refusal to be swallowed up
in any other race or any other community, there is a lack of mutual
confidence, a jealousy of one another’s advance that has made it
impossible for them as a race to hold together in any onward movement.
This is undoubtedly due to intense individuality and also to the
pressure of despotism. They are not by any means lacking in personal
courage, as is witnessed by multitudes of instances. Individually
they will fight for their lives and their honor and especially for
their families. They will suffer martyrdom for their religion, as they
have suffered repeatedly during the centuries. They will sacrifice
personal interests for Christ’s sake, but when it comes to the waiving
of personal opinion, the entrusting of power and the rendering of
obedience to others, they have throughout their history failed entirely.
A most marked instance of this was seen in the city of Erzrum. A
wealthy Armenian from Russia, anxious for the education of his people,
established a set of schools of very high grade, and for a time
they were carried on most successfully. But before long there came
jealousies in the management of those schools; mutual suspicion of
personal interest on the part of the directors, and year by year what
might have been the central point of Armenian national life dwindled in
strength until it almost disappeared.
The result of these characteristics was manifest in the general
situation of the Armenians, and their relation to the other peoples of
the empire. They were in many respects the most useful, and in some
respects almost the best hated of all. Their shrewdness and ability
made them indispensable. Thus they were everywhere the tradesmen and
small bankers, but at the same time had very little interest in general
commerce. The business directory of Constantinople shows almost no
Armenian firms, even for local business, and very few Armenian houses
engaged in foreign trade. Then also, when Sultan Mahmud II. organized
the government on a semi-European plan, he drew very largely upon the
Armenians for his administration officials in the various departments,
finding their versatility, ability and adaptability of the greatest
value.
At this time they began to show the result of two very powerful
influences from the West--those of American missions, and of French
literature and social life. The influence of American missions among
the Armenians has been a great power. While the proportion of those
who have identified themselves with what is known as evangelical
Christianity, in distinction from the excessive formalism of the old
Church, which had largely lost its spiritual power, was not large, it
included many men of great influence, and the general effect upon the
nation in opening the eyes of the more intelligent to the possibilities
of the new century were very marked. Wherever an American missionary
went, there was a school, and not merely a school of his own, but a
school for each of the different communities. The priests of whatever
faith found that they could not afford to lose their hold upon the
children and young people, and thus were sown far and wide the seeds
of the intellectual life that was spreading so rapidly in Europe. The
general condition of the nation, so far as education was concerned,
was deplorable. Throughout the villages it was rare to find a man
who could read, and even in the towns and cities the proportion was
very, very small. Many of the priests even were unable to read the
Scriptures in the old language, which was to them practically dead.
The introduction of these schools changed this in a marked degree. The
natural intellectual activity of the race asserted itself, and over all
the empire there was manifest a new impulse. So far as that impulse was
due to the influence of the missionaries, it was in the line of good
morals and the best national development.
Side by side, however, with this came another. As intercourse with
Europe increased, adventurous young men spread throughout the schools
of Paris and Vienna. They brought back a craze for French literature,
not the best, but the worst. With this came a revolt against religion.
It became fashionable to be known as free thinkers, and free thinking
meant not liberty, but license of thought and of life. The immediate
effect was almost appalling. The nation which had hitherto been noted
for its strict morality, became widely immoral. Gambling was almost
universal among the young men in the cities, on the seaboard, and the
achievement of considerable wealth, while in the government service,
and the openings of trade, had the effect of weakening national life.
The pride of national life had not lost all its power, but the hold of
national principles was becoming weaker. The best men in the nation
looked on aghast, and longed for influences that should serve as
anchors to keep the people. Thus there grew up a sympathetic feeling
between the better class of Armenian ecclesiastics and the American
missionaries, whose influence was strongly conservative.
The reigns of Abdul Medjid and Abdul Aziz were times of great advance
for the whole Armenian people. Oppression still existed, and oppression
of the worst form, but they were becoming more and more able to meet
oppression. Not merely in the cities, but throughout the empire, and
even in the villages, there was manifest a development which had, as
has already been said, its tokens both of good and evil, the good,
in the main, being predominant. The advent of the present Sultan,
following as it did upon the revolution which showed how thoroughly
rotten the whole Turkish fabric was, and accompanied by the events
which resulted in the formation of the Bulgarian kingdom, seemed to
open a new era to the Armenians. The young men who had been under the
educating influences of the different schools and colleges of the
Americans, or of the universities of Europe, were assuming positions
of influence among their people. Furthermore, education in their own
schools had brought sharply before them their own former history,
and there was a great revival of interest in the early kings. The
plains and valleys and mountains of Armenia were covered with a halo,
which perhaps was not historically just, but which served at any
rate to rouse the highest enthusiasm among the people. The use of
their own language, which had drifted from the severe simplicity of
its original form into a sort of mongrel, under the influence of the
Turkish language and other surroundings, was coming back. Everywhere
throughout the nation there was manifest an increasing ambition to do
for themselves what the Bulgarians had done.
Accordingly, at the conference at Berlin, a prominent Armenian was
present, and he set forth in very vivid and glowing terms the situation
of his people. The political effect of this is reserved for another
chapter. We here simply desire to point out its effect upon the nation.
That was undoubtedly in the main advantageous. It brought to an even
higher pitch their desire for education; it bound them more closely
together; brought them under the influence, to a greater degree, of the
better class of leaders, and as a natural result the first ten years
of Abdul Hamid’s reign were coincident with an even greater advance
in the general condition of the nation than had been made during the
preceding twenty years. Parallel with this, however, there was another
development, the result of two influences: the free thought of central
Europe and the pressure brought to bear by their compatriots in the
Caucasus.
Here we should turn aside to refer to that section of the Armenian
nation under Russian rule. When Russia conquered the Caucasus, and
drove the Persians south of the Aras and Schamyl’s followers into
Turkey, she found that for the development of the new territory she
must depend chiefly upon the Armenians, who had already come in in
considerable numbers. Accordingly they were made welcome and for some
time a good degree of freedom was allowed them. Their national church
was not interfered with, and though their schools were under close
supervision, they were not prevented from developing to a considerable
degree their national life. At the same time they were practically
unrestricted in trade. The easy-going Georgians were no match for them,
and in Tiflis, Schemachi, Shusha, Baku, Erivan, Armenian influence
became very strong, so that it was not surprising that there arose a
dream of national independence. They probably did not expect to wrest
any portion of Russian territory from the hand of the Czar, but they
did apparently hope for a revival of ancient Armenia in that portion
under Turkish rule. So long however as their condition in Russia was
fairly comfortable they made little attempt in that direction. But
it became apparent to the Russian Government as the years went by
that there was danger lest they find difficulty in carrying out the
general policy of the empire, which was to weld its very heterogeneous
population into a solid mass. Accordingly a system of repression was
commenced. Everywhere the Armenians felt the severe iron hand that
drove the people on the Baltic to despair. Their schools were more and
more interfered with. Their monastery and its theological department
at Etchmiadzine were watched with the eye of a detective, and both
in the choice of the Catholicos (the Primate of the Armenian Church)
and in the conduct of his office, the authority of the Holy Synod was
exercised in no slight degree. Naturally the people became restive.
They had seen the success of the Pan-Slavist Committee in stirring up
the disturbances in the Balkan Peninsula, and they conceived the plan
of accomplishing the same thing for their compatriots in Turkey. The
fuller statement of this will come in a later chapter on the Rise of
the Armenian Question. Here we note simply that the general effect
upon the Armenian people was to create still more of dissatisfaction
with their situation under the Turkish rule and fill their minds with
visions of political independence.
Parallel with this was the other influence referred to, that of the
free thought of Central Europe. The young men who had been educated
in the schools of France and Germany had become acquainted with the
stories of the revolutions that marked the close of the eighteenth
and the early half of the nineteenth century. Lacking the substantial
basis of careful investigation, not even knowing, or at least not
recognizing, the true character of their own history, they sought to
enkindle a flame not so much of revolt against the Turkish Government
as of protest to Europe against that government’s oppression. Had it
not been for the irreligion, even atheism, that characterized their
movement, they might perhaps have had greater influence. In fact
they accomplished very little, for they immediately encountered the
general conservatism of the nation, which declined to commit itself
to the leadership of those who had thrown aside to such a degree
the restraints of the Church. This was assisted by the conviction,
or at least the fear, that these men were not so much interested in
the general welfare of the people as in procuring opportunities for
political advancement for themselves, and by the fact that for the most
part they were out of the country and not liable to suffer themselves
in case of trouble. The result was that there was no unity of action or
of sentiment. No one man or body of men were authorized to speak for
the nation. Individuals set forth their personal opinions, but there
was no telling to what extent they represented the people. Constant
intrigues weakened the power of the Patriarch at Constantinople, the
civil head of the nation, and affected the choice of the Catholicos,
at Etchmiadzine, its religious head. Furthermore, the very rigid
censorship of the press, the oppressive and absurd school laws, and
even the restrictions on travel, which made it no easy matter for an
Armenian to go from one section of the empire to another, all combined
to prevent any united action or even sentiment.
In general the condition of the rural districts had grown worse.
Kurds, Circassians and Lazes held the greater portion of the plains
of Eastern Turkey, having dispossessed the Armenians, without making
good their place so far as taxpaying was concerned. The result was that
when the collector came around, he found the revenue much diminished,
unless he could squeeze the same amount out of half the people. In the
mountains there was occasionally successful resistance to the raids of
freebooters, but that had grown more difficult since the organization
of the Hamidieh Kurdish cavalry. On the other hand, in the towns and
cities, the Armenians were advancing, at least in material prosperity.
Not merely the trade and banking but the real estate had come very
largely into their hands. They were on the whole wealthier and more
comfortable. With material prosperity, however, there had not come
proportionate intellectual and moral power, and the description given
above was increasingly true.
The bearing of all this upon the question of their autonomy and
independence as a nation is evident. That the Armenians have very many
of the qualities that make a successful nation no one will deny. Their
ability is undoubted. Their race tenacity evidenced in their loyalty to
their faith, even in its weaker form, and the hold that their language
has even upon those with whom it ceased to be vernacular, mark them as
a people of power. Their faculty of adaptation to new circumstances in
the use of any means that come to hand would ensure in marked degree
success in meeting new emergencies. The mutual jealousy and inordinate
self-seeking that have hitherto proved so serious a hindrance to their
general advancement might very likely be overcome were they compelled
by force of circumstances to waive personal feeling or see everything
collapse. Men who could fight together as did the Armenians of Zeitun
must have the best elements of patriotism. For the overcoming of
these obstacles, however, it is essential that there be the pressure
of outside circumstances. In the case of the Armenians that pressure
was absolutely lacking. They were very differently situated from the
Bulgarians, who were in the overwhelming majority in their own country,
which moreover is compact. The Armenians are scattered over the whole
Turkish Empire, and there are wide differences between those of
different sections. The mountaineers of Bitlis can neither understand
the language nor appreciate the ideas of the villager of Harput, much
less those of the merchant of Smyrna or Constantinople. The men of
Aintab and Adana, with their Turkish, can scarcely confer, still less
associate intimately, with those of Marsovan.
Thus the very cosmopolitan character of the nation, its versatility and
ability, all operate to prevent what the Armenian nationalists so much
desire, and these characteristics must be kept in mind if we would form
an approximately correct idea of the nation.
A word should be said about Armenians outside of their own country. As
a rule Armenians do not make a pleasant impression upon the people of
other countries. They are looked upon as tricky, scheming, unreliable.
Where they have formed colonies of some size, as in New England and
California, they are contrasted to their own great disadvantage with
the communities of Scandinavians, Germans, and others. Where they
appear as individuals in the cities, in trade or as artisans, they
suffer from similar comparisons. In all such cases, certain things
must be kept in mind. The colonies are almost entirely made up of
those who come from the poor sections of Asia Minor or Eastern Turkey,
and even then are deprived of the refining influences of home as they
have left their families in their own country. They are entirely
uneducated, accustomed to very different kind of living, have not the
language facility of those who have lived in Constantinople, and find
it extremely difficult to enter into the new life about them. Those who
gather in the cities are as a rule planning for a return to the East.
They purpose to remain here long enough to make some money, or secure
American citizenship, and then to go back to their homes. A few come
expecting to stay and become loyal American citizens. Such as a rule
find a cordial welcome and make a good impression. Two things must be
remembered: the Armenian is essentially Oriental in his character and
the true Oriental does not adapt himself easily or speedily to American
life; those who know the race most widely and most intimately esteem it
the most highly.
No better illustration can be given of the best development of the
Armenian character, that which gives hope of their ultimate success as
a nation, than the position taken by the present Armenian Patriarch
in Constantinople. Mattheos Ismirlian is described by an American
resident in Constantinople, as a man somewhat above medium height,
thin and of dark complexion, but with strong, resolute face, having
the large features characteristic of his race. He was born in 1845, in
Constantinople, and received the name Ismirlian (the man from Smyrna,
Ismir,) from the fact that his grandfather was originally a resident
of that city. He was educated in the Armenian schools, and at the
age of nineteen was made deacon of the Armenian Church in one of the
Bosporus villages. In 1869, he entered the celibate college and was
ordained as arch-priest. His ability and industry brought him to the
front, and he was elected successively secretary to the Patriarch,
member of the assembly of the community and a member of the synod. He
was noted as a preacher and teacher, simple, direct and intense in his
style, and achieved a high reputation throughout the nation. He was
also recognized on every hand as a man of unusual soundness of judgment
and purity of motive. Seven years later, when only thirty-one years of
age, he was ordained as bishop and was promoted rapidly. In 1886, he
was made leader or director of the parish of Egypt, where he instituted
numerous improvements, and his service was so efficient as to bring
for him decorations from King Menelek, of Abyssinia, and the Sultan,
but more than all, the devotion of his own people. After five years of
service he returned to Constantinople and soon after, when there became
necessary the election of a Catholicos, his name was prominent among
the candidates. He refused absolutely to make any effort to secure this
prize, coveted by every Armenian bishop, and yet his name ranked not
only among the first four in the assembly, but on the subsequent ballot
was one of the two sent to the Czar for selection. The choice fell upon
Khrimian, also well and most favorably known throughout the nation, but
it placed Ismirlian in the front rank for further honors.
In December of 1894, at the time when the affairs of the nation were
most critical, as will be understood from the chapter on the condition
in 1894, the one sentiment of all was in favor of him, but the question
arose whether the Sultan would favor his election. He was well known
as a man of great resoluteness and patriotism, and one who would never
yield an iota of what he felt it was right to demand. He was elected,
and contrary to expectation, that election was immediately confirmed by
the Sultan. From that time on the Patriarch has been “in a very real
sense the champion of his people, bearing their griefs and carrying
their sorrows as few have done, in an office that has been filled by
men of conspicuous consecration.” Every legal means in his power has
been used in behalf of his people, and threats of imprisonment or of
death have accomplished nothing. Soon after his installation he sent to
the Minister of Justice a letter asking power to appoint new bishops
in places where the bishops had been imprisoned for varying periods.
The reply came that the statements about those bishops were false, and
their withdrawal was demanded. The Patriarch answered, “The statements
are true, and the truth I cannot withhold.” From that time to this he
has been a thorn in the side of the Turkish Government; neither bribes,
flattery nor deception have availed. Loyal to the Sultan, his loyalty
refuses servility, as is instanced in his statement to the Sultan in
his first audience: “As far as my conscience permits me I will obey
you, but at the same time I must look to the welfare of my people.”
It is scarcely surprising that the Sultan in a rage sent him away and
omitted the customary decoration. A little later, realizing his power
with the people, the Sultan sent for him and offered him the highest
decorations that could be given to a civilian subject in the empire.
The reply came as follows:
“Your majesty, what have I to do with such things? I am a simple
priest. I live on bread and olives, as do my people. I have no place in
my house for such gorgeous things. I pray you, do not ask me to accept
them.”
Another illustration of his boldness and firmness is found in the
following statement, made to his people in the installation service:
“Before God and in presence of this meeting, I swear to remain faithful
to my government and my nation, and to watch over the just and explicit
fulfilment of this constitution (the constitution granted by Abdul
Aziz). My understanding of the word faithful is this: faithfulness
involves on the side of the government protection of life and property.
Without this, faithfulness on the side of the subject is hypocrisy.”
It was not only towards the government, however, that the Patriarch
had occasion to manifest his high courage. Recognizing very clearly
the absurdities of the revolutionist movement, he steadily refused to
give it any countenance whatever, and threats were numerous on the part
of the disappointed Huntchagists that he should be killed. He feared
this no more than the threats of the government, and has steadily
pursued his way, holding to what he felt to be right and best for his
nation. It is scarcely too much to say that such a man deserves the
same rank accorded to the great leaders of the world, and a nation that
can at such a crisis produce such a man and stand by him is a nation
that under proper training, and with favorable circumstances, may be
expected to develop a high national character.
The general situation of the Armenians at the present time is one
that calls for the sympathy of the entire Christian world. They have
lost a large proportion of their best men by massacre; throughout
the empire it has seemed to be the unwavering purpose of the Turkish
Government to cut down the very men who had most influence, and who
most used their influence in behalf of good citizenship and upright
life. The most conservative estimates, endorsed by the British
Ambassador at Constantinople, for the sections where there has been
careful investigation, give the number killed at 25,000, and admit that
the real number is far larger. For a nation numbering not more than
2,000,000 within the borders of the empire, to lose probably not less
than 40,000 or 50,000 of its best men is a terrible thing, and the loss
cannot but have a serious effect upon the future development. This,
however, is not all. Not merely have these lives been blotted out, but
property to an incalculable degree has been destroyed. The Armenian
nation is shorn of a large part of its strength; whether there is
enough left to give it vigor or power for the immediate future remains
to be seen. The outlook is by no means hopeful, and yet seldom in the
history of the world has the effort to blot out a race been successful.
Whatever be the political outcome, as set forth in other chapters of
this book, there can be but one hope for all those interested in the
Armenian people, and that is, that they may by this terrible experience
realize their weakness and unite their strength for a purer and truer
national life than they have had at any time, even than many of them
have dreamed of. This, however, will depend very largely upon the
support accorded to them by the Christian nations of the world. If
that support fails, then the responsibility rests, not alone upon the
Armenians, but to a great degree upon those nations.
[Illustration:
ARMENIAN WOMAN. A good illustration of the Armenian type. The
head-dress is that usually found in the Caucasus. The Armenian women,
as a rule, are fine looking, with intelligent faces and womanly
bearing. This is especially noticeable in the case of old women.
Among the oriental races, as a rule, the old women are not handsome,
but the reverse is true of the Armenian women.]
[Illustration:
AN EVANGELICAL ARMENIAN CHURCH IN CONSTANTINOPLE. For many years the
congregation occupied a building which became unsafe through age and
was taken down. Attempts were made for several years to secure a
permit for a new building, but all failed, and the people in a single
night put up this building for the purpose of having a place where
they could worship.]
[Illustration:
KURDISH MOUNTAIN VILLAGE. A typical scene in the mountains. There is
a group of houses mostly connected by passages half under ground.
The walls are of rough stone. The roof is formed, as seen, by rough
beams, over which branches are stretched and earth over them,
sometimes formed into a dome, in which there is a hole serving as
window and chimney.]
[Illustration:
A TURKISH VILLAGE SHEIKH, probably connected with some one of the
Dervish orders. Many of them are men of great intelligence and
considerable force of character, especially those who are the chiefs
of large communities.]
CHAPTER VII.
THE GREEKS.
Fidelity of the Oriental Churches--The Apostle Andrew--Concessions
by Mohammed II--Gennadios II--Suffering and Misery--Greek
Revolution--Growth of National Spirit--Hellenes or
Romaioi--Bulgarians in their Relation to the Greek Church.
Too much honor cannot be paid to those Christians of the East, whatever
their church connection, who have adhered unswervingly to their faith.
The endurance of the Covenanters and Huguenots and Waldenses casts a
halo, not only upon themselves, but upon the human family. It ennobles
the race that any members of it were capable of such devotion. The
sufferings of the Eastern Christians have been continuous, and may be
traced back by a chain, wherein there are no missing links, to the day
when their remote progenitors were first compelled to bow their necks
under the foot of a Moslem conqueror.
Bondage, inferiority, contempt, are hard and demoralizing teachers.
Rapacity, which renders labor fruitless, and insolent terrorism, which
multiplies devices to make its victims cringe, are not favorable to
the development of the higher, manlier traits, either in an individual
or a community. Ignorant, superstitious, untrustworthy, the Eastern
Christians too often are. Nevertheless, in view of the ceaseless,
wearing ordeal which they have undergone, their steadfastness and the
many other virtues they do possess are all the more memorable and
praiseworthy. Would we, children of the Pilgrim, of the Cavalier, of
the Maryland Catholic and the Pennsylvania Quaker, have endured a like
trial any better? Dare we assert that we should have borne it as well?
In that group of churches the most venerable and the most pathetic
figure of all is the Eastern Orthodox, or, as it is commonly called
in foreign countries, Greek Church. According to a tradition, so
attested as to seem authentic history, the Apostle Andrew preached
Christianity upon the Bosporus within three years of the crucifixion.
Weaving into the Sacred story “the golden woof-thread of romance,”
the Byzantine Christians loved to tell that the Bosporus reminded the
Apostle of his native Galilee, and that the first company which met to
hear him was made up of fishermen like himself. Here he remained two
years and organized a church and consecrated Stachys, the “beloved”
of St. Paul, first Bishop of Byzantium. When Constantine transformed
Byzantium into Nova Roma, and made her, in place of the older Rome,
capital of the world, Metrophanes I, twentieth in Episcopal line from
Stachys, exchanged his humbler title of bishop for the more resounding
appellation of Archbishop of Constantinople, or Ecumenical Patriarch.
The Sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, though reckoned
Apostolic, seemed to the ordinary eye less exalted than the
ecclesiastical thrones on the Bosporus and the Tiber. Between these
two pre-eminent arose unchurchly rivalries and factional dissensions.
Antagonism of East and West, more than subtle differences of creed,
were to tear them asunder. Alternately separated and reunited, in
1053 the definite, final division came. Then was rent in twain what a
Greek historian calls “the hitherto seamless garment of the undivided
church.” The cleavage line was as old as history and by a meridian of
longitude accentuated the alienation. The Latins and the Teutons were
in one party: the Greeks and almost all the Slavs in the other.
Around the Ecumenical Patriarch were grouped his Oriental brethren of
the three Apostolic Sees. Second only to the Orthodox Byzantine Emperor
in power and prominence, and by his spiritual functions even more
exalted than his sovereign, the Patriarch was the most awe-inspiring
personage in the state.
In 1453 the gradual overthrow of the empire was consummated by the
fall of Constantinople under the resistless attack of Sultan Mohammed
II. The childless, wifeless Constantine XIII was killed while leading
the defense. The Patriarch Athanasios II, a faithful, feeble old man,
disappeared and his after fate is a mystery. The former inhabitants
of the city had either been slain in battle or reduced to slavery, or
were endeavoring to save themselves by flight. The Sultan was not only
a mighty warrior, but a sagacious statesman. He realized the necessity
of reassuring the vanquished and calling back the fugitives and
re-populating the deserted town, if his new capital was to be anything
more than a soldier’s camp. So he endeavored to allay the terrors of
the Greeks and to treat with the only national organization which
remained. The empire had been destroyed, but the church still lived.
He ordered the few surviving bishops to at once choose a new patriarch
with all old-time formalities and without change in the manner of
election. The vacant post was as arduous and dangerous as it was
eminent. Doubtless there was no desire on the part of any of the
prelates to be chosen. The suffrages fell upon the austere monk George,
surnamed the Scholarios. The Sultan wished the same ceremonial of
investiture should be observed as in happier days under the emperors.
When Scholarios was sought for, he could nowhere be found. Up to the
conclusion of the siege he had been a familiar figure, always fiercely
declaiming against the Roman Church and inspiring whoever heard him
with his own unyielding fanaticism. Several months of constant search
passed away, during which the church continued without a visible
head. At last he was discovered on the farm of a wealthy Ottoman at
Adrianople. Taken prisoner at the capture, he had been sold and sent
there as a slave. Released and informed of his nomination, the change
in his condition could have appeared to him only as a change in the
form of his slavery. A tradition asserts that the Scholarios in his
youth had been ambitious of church promotion and had always aspired
to the primacy of the East. Now that it was thrust upon him by a
sanguinary and suspicious conqueror, even his stout heart may well have
shrunk from the obligation.
Proceeding to Constantinople, he was received with kindness and honor
by the Sultan. The Cathedral Church of Sancta Sophia had closed its
more than a thousand years of Christian history and been made a mosque.
The church of the Holy Apostles, the Saint Denis of the capital,
where the emperors from the time of Constantine the Great had found a
mausoleum, was left in the possession of the Christians and had been
selected as their chief sanctuary. There the Scholarios was consecrated
with solemn, imposing, but melancholy pomp as Patriarch Gennadios II.
After his enthronement he was entertained by Mohammed II at a
magnificent banquet. The Sultan bestowed on him a richly jewelled
sabre, promised him his protection and friendship and on his departure
accompanied him to the outer door. Riding on one of the Sultan’s
war-horses, wearing one of the Sultan’s robes, attended by the highest
of the Sultan’s officers, he proceeded in state across the city to take
possession of his ecclesiastical residence. To the few Greeks along the
way, who cast furtive glances at their Patriarch and at his cortège,
every detail of his attire and appearance must have emphasized the fact
that the empire was no longer theirs and that their haughty church like
themselves was fettered and enslaved.
Gennadios bore with him the still preserved berat or written promise
of the sovereign, which guaranteed certain immunities and religious
privileges to the Christians. It was therein declared (1) that no
person should in any wise interfere with the ecclesiastical rule of
the Patriarch and of his successors, (2) that the Patriarch and all
the bishops should be exempt from tribute, (3) that the churches, not
already converted into mosques, should be forever retained by the
Christians in peace and safety, (4) that weddings, baptisms, funerals
and all other Christian rites and ceremonies should be solemnized
freely and without molestation, (5) that the Christians should observe
Easter and all other religious festivals and fasts with perfect freedom
and customary splendor. These promises have been often evaded or
restricted, and sometimes enlarged. Still from that day to the present
they have been as well kept as such promises usually are, when made by
a stronger to a weaker and when the weaker has no means of enforcing
their observance.
The responsibilities and trials of his position were beyond the
physical strength of Gennadios. Sympathetic and warmhearted despite his
asceticism, the daily spectacle of the suffering and misery among his
flock overtaxed his endurance. Utterly worn out, in 1459 he laid down
the patriarchal staff and withdrew to a monastery in Servia, where he
died during the following year.
Since then, in the space of 437 years the throne has been occupied by
just 100 different patriarchs. The average duration of each incumbency
has been a little over four years and has been almost invariably filled
with labor and sorrow. The fate of the Patriarch Kyril Loukaris, whose
name is more familiar in the West than that of almost any other Eastern
prelate, differed little from that of others of his brethren. Slandered
and an object of suspicion to the government, deposed by order of
the Sultan and imprisoned in the fortress of Roumeli Hissar upon the
Bosporus, then bowstrung and his remains cast into the strait, he trod
the same path of ignominy and martyrdom as Parthenios II, Parthenios
III, Païsios II and many another of the illustrious line.
The last to meet a violent death at the hand of the Moslems was the
saintly Gregory III, in 1821. The Greek revolution had burst forth
in Moldavia and the Peloponnesus. The Ottomans rose in a frenzy of
rage and terror, furious for victims. The Patriarch and his clergy
at Constantinople had opposed the insurrection and could in no way
be accused of complicity with the Greek revolutionists. But the
sanguinary Ottoman Government and populace were indifferent as to
considerations of political innocence or guilt, and eager only for
blood. On Easter Sunday the Dragoman or Interpreter of the Porte came
to the patriarchate and ordered the Holy Synod to assemble. Then he
communicated the command of Sultan Mahmud II, that the See should be
considered vacant and that they should at once name a new Patriarch.
Meanwhile the aged Gregory was hung to a beam over the great gate in
front of his residence and his shrinking successor, after induction
into his office, was forced to pass in formal procession close to the
still warm remains. The reverent Greeks now point to a black beam in
the archway and in low, awed tones repeat the story of the tragedy.
It was the idea of Mohammed II that Gennadios should not only represent
his coreligionists, but be responsible for their tranquillity and
submission. After each race riot or disturbance, the Patriarch must
exculpate not only the participants of disorder, but himself. Most
perilous was the honor of induction into the patriarchal office to him
who filled it. Nevertheless the system inaugurated by the conqueror
was of ultimate advantage in almost every respect to the non-Moslem
community.
Under Ottoman domination the centre of the Orthodox Eastern Church
remained at the same strategic centre, where for centuries it had
exercised a potent force. Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, were not
acquired by the Ottoman Empire for more than half a century.
When the patriarchs of those cities, whose Sees had endured every
vicissitude under Saracens, Kurds and Crusaders, became in their later
turn subjects of the Sultan, they found that their patriarchal brother
on the Bosporus was already acknowledged by the Greeks all through the
Turkish dominions as not only their spiritual father, but as, next
to the Sultan, their civil head. The time-honored titles of their
sacerdotal rank still existed. There were no changes in the hierarchy
of the changeless Church. Yet to the eye of the Moslem and practically
to that of the Greek, there was henceforth but one Patriarch.
The official recognition of a non-Moslem authority as in a certain
degree representative of a nation and intermediary with the Sultan, has
exercised vast influence in determining the relations of the native
Christians with the Porte. It was based upon religious grounds, but
speedily extended to and included civil affairs. It was a natural
sequence that the course pursued with the Greeks should be followed
in dealing with other subject peoples. When, after the conquest of
the Crimea, the Armenian residents at the capital increased, Bishop
Horaghim was summoned from Brusa and installed Patriarch of the
Armenians. In time a khakham bashi or Grand Rabbi was thus appointed
for the Jews, a patriarch for the subject Roman Catholics and, no
longer ago than 1850, a vekil or representative for the Protestants.
One result, which Mohammed II never dreamed of and would have
deplored, was inevitable from this system. By it every person not
a Moslem was bound in closer intimacy to the fellow-members of his
own distressed community. Each was brought moreover into a closer
identification of himself and his interests with his church. Through
that church was to be obtained not only salvation in the future life,
but whatever alleviation was possible in the present existence. The
Ottomans have always sought to extirpate the spirit of nationality
or of any common feeling among the conquered. They have welcomed
every influence which would apparently foster divisions and produce
antagonistic factions among those whom they ruled. Thus they judged
they could play party against party, interest against interest, and
render each subservient and pliable to their own control. For a
Mussulman to change his faith was, till within half a century, a crime
punishable with death. But they rejoiced at and favored the labors
of foreign missionaries among such of their subjects as were already
Christians, thinking that thus there would be a multiplication of sects
and a larger number of interests to set against each other.
Through the system inaugurated by the Conqueror, unwittingly in each
community the instinct of solidarity was kept alive and developed. The
intensity of a common sentiment among the proscribed was fanned to a
hotter glow. Only during the last century have the rulers recognized
their possible mistake.
The Constitution, craftily devised by the astute Midhat Pasha and
promulgated in the name of Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II in 1876, was designed
to accomplish two results, one foreign and one domestic. The former
result was to be attained in blinding the eyes of Europe to the real
internal condition of the empire. The latter result should be the
gradual but entire sweeping away of a policy of internal administration
which was intrenched in its duration of over four hundred years. The
scheme, so shrewdly contrived and so elaborate in its provisions,
utterly failed. Mussulmans and Christians alike contemned it. Only
for a short time did the Sultan himself observe its conditions. It
accomplished nothing beyond the creation of vexatious questions between
the government and the Greeks. The latter perceived that their scanty
privileges were involved. For a time they were almost delirious with
excitement and ready to resist by every means at their command the
abrogation of the system. The diplomatic skill of the Sultan conjured
the difficulty and the annoying issues were forgotten.
A hundred years ago the feeling of nationality--as we understand the
word--was practically non-existent among the non-Moslems except the
Greeks. With them it was always keenly alive, even when destitute of
outward expression. But among the other peoples a stranger would have
concluded that that sentiment, so mastering to-day, was extinct. Even
forty years ago politics seemed restricted, not only by necessity, but
by common consent and preference, to ecclesiastical questions.
In European Turkey and Asia Minor, almost every non-Moslem, if not an
Armenian or a Jew, was an adherent of the Orthodox Greek Church and
hence, whatever his blood and vernacular, was reckoned and denominated
a Greek. Up to the Greek revolution, every communicant of that church,
whether Servian, Wallachian, Moldavian, Bulgarian, Bosnian or Orthodox
Albanian, spoke of himself as such. Further examination would have
revealed that these foster children of the church founded by Saint
Andrew, these worshippers following the Byzantine ritual, recognized
a broad distinction between themselves and the real Greeks. But a
community of administrative and religious interests dwarfed so small
considerations as those of language and race. Each readily accepted the
label which circumstances had placed upon him.
The Hellenes or Romaioi, in whom the traditional pride and ambition
through all their degrading servitude never slumbered, rejoiced in this
state of things which was to their political advantage, and did their
utmost to expand and intensify it. With a lively appreciation of the
past and an ardent anticipation of the future, they looked forward to
the time when the Moslem domination should be swept away, and all the
various tribes south of the Danube be readily absorbed in a resurrected
Byzantine Empire.
It is a natural fact that the self-assertive sense of ignored
nationality was first manifested in an ecclesiastical phase. The
herald, for example, of the rousing of Bulgaria was the universal
demand among that people that the bishops, sent to the region inhabited
by them between the Danube and the Balkans, should be not Hellenes
but Bulgarians. All should receive appointment and consecration as
before from the Ecumenical Patriarch, but it was fitting that they
should be of the same branch of the human family as the flocks to which
they were sent. Every detail of creed and ceremonial was to remain
unchanged. If the course hitherto pursued was followed, each new bishop
on arrival in his diocese was regarded as an unwelcome foreigner. If
the now longed for innovation was made, he would be hailed as one of
their own kith and kin, from whose lips they would listen to their
own tongue. The Patriarch and Holy Synod obstinately resisted the
demand. If granted, it seemed to shatter every hope of an ultimately
to-be-restored Greek dominion. Every argument, which ingenuity could
suggest or which superstition and ignorance might heed, was devised to
quiet the awakened aspiration. In the gospel there was neither Greek
nor Jew; therefore it made no difference from what nationality a bishop
was chosen; therefore it was appropriate that all the bishops should be
Greeks!
In the peculiar medley of Eastern affairs, the final decision was to
be rendered by no Christian organization, but by the Mussulman Sultan.
After months of delay it was announced and it was favorably to the
Bulgarians. Forthwith the Bulgarians were anathematized by the Holy
Synod, not for any error of doctrine or depravity of life, but on
account of ecclesiastical insubordination. Lo, though Orthodox on every
point, holding in all its minutiæ the Orthodox creed, theirs is in the
eyes of the Greeks a Schismatic Church. It is however in full communion
and paternal fellowship with the Orthodox Church of Russia. The
position of the Bulgarian Church is in other respects anomalous. Its
spiritual head or exarch is confirmed by the Sultan and resides not in
Bulgaria, but in Constantinople, where there are almost no Bulgarians,
and near the palace of the Sultan.
Gradually during the century, territories have been lopped off from
the Ottoman Empire and erected into sovereign states. Such are Greece,
Rumania and Servia. Montenegro might be reckoned in the number, save
that the heroic band of mountaineers, which lives in her restricted
limits, never acknowledged subjection. As political independence was
achieved, there was a galling impropriety in the fact that a people,
politically free, should bow to the ecclesiastical control of a
religious organization over which the Sultan was master. So naturally
and without shock have arisen churches autonomous, but revering the
Ecumenical Patriarch as in rank and functions superior to any other
prelate.
As the Ottoman Empire shrinks and outlying provinces drop away or are
absorbed by neighboring states, the direct jurisdiction of the Orthodox
Church of Constantinople is circumscribed in equal degree, but her
indirect influence knows no diminution or change. Her long-bearded,
black-robed clergy are the most imposing priestly body in the world. An
assembly of her bishops transports the stranger to the early Christian
centuries with their hoary titles of Nice and Nicomedia and Chalkedon
and Ephesus. Her formal worship is the most elaborate rendered in
the name of Christianity. The devotion of her sons and daughters
has grown the stronger in their common humiliation and distress.
The active, tumultuous West may reproach her as unprogressive and
inactive and lifeless. But her children glory in her and the Christian
world may glory in her, as the Apostle of the Gentiles gloried in
the Thessalonian Church, for the patience and the faith in all the
persecutions and the tribulations which she endured.
[Illustration:
THE CITY OF BRUSA. Mount Olympus in the background. In the foreground
is an old khan and just behind it the mosque in which are buried the
two first Sultans of the present dynasty, Othman and Orchan. This
mosque is held in special reverence by the Turks.]
[Illustration:
LAND WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE. They extend for about four miles from
the Marmora to the Golden Horn, and are now to a considerable degree
in a ruined condition. The gardens in the foreground occupy the
ancient moat.]
CHAPTER VIII.
OTHER ORIENTAL CHURCHES.
The Syrian Church Divided into Syrians, Chaldeans,
Nestorians, Jacobites, and some Roman Catholic Bodies--The
Jacobites--Patriarch of Antioch--Condition of Villagers--Jebel
Tur Region--Nestorians--Patriarch of Babylon--Badir Khan
Bey--Chaldeans--The Copts of Egypt--Maronites and Druzes.
In the provinces of Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in Eastern Turkey we
meet with comparatively few Armenians or Greeks, but large communities
of Syrian Christians are numerous. The Church of Syria is the oldest
of all the churches founded among the Gentiles. It was for centuries
renowned for its theologians, its schools of learning, and for its
activity in spreading the Gospel into the remote empires of Asia.
The remnants of it which are found to-day in Eastern Turkey are but
melancholy wrecks of a church once so flourishing and aggressive. Like
battered hulks on an unfriendly shore, they bear witness to the fierce
storms which have overtaken them in the progress of time; storms now of
internal dissensions, now of violent theological controversies, and now
of cruel persecutions and decimating international wars. Here on these
fields of once great ecclesiastical activity have met in protracted
struggle for supremacy Roman and Persian legions; here Mongols and
Tartars have enacted terrible scenes of massacre; Saracens and Kurds
too have swept over the land, leaving wasting and destruction in their
paths, and here now, in later centuries, the Turk has set his terrible
iron heel, as if to crush out the feeble remnant of the Christian name
altogether.
The numerous divisions into which this famous church is now
disintegrated is as much a cause for lament as is its prostrate state
under its conquerors. Syrians, Chaldeans, Nestorians, Jacobites,
Syrian Papists, are names of separate and, in a degree, antagonistic
bodies which the traveler meets at different points as he journeys
from Aleppo to the Persian boundary. Each sect owns allegiance to some
chief bishop or Patriarch of its own, each holding a different creed
or ritual, and there is no intercommunion between any of them. The
Patriarch of the Jacobites is resident at Mardin, of the Chaldeans at
Mosul, of the Nestorians still farther east in the heart of the Kurdish
Mountains. Zealous though these all are for their inherited creed and
ritual, the form of Christianity we meet among them is by no means an
ideal one. The ancestral organization remains. Rites and ceremonies
as handed down from the early fathers are observed with a blind
superstitiousness. There is a staunch grim loyalty to the Christian
name, in the face even of much persecution for the name’s sake. But
traces of genuine spiritual life are rarely to be found among them.
Their ancient missionary zeal, which carried their priests and bishops
throughout Persia, Tartary and into China, has long since given way to
a night of stolid indifference as to the spiritual fate of even their
nearest neighbors. The struggle for self-preservation taxes to its
absolute limit all their present religious ambition. And when we turn
to find, if may be, some evidence that their ancient learning may have
survived the catastrophe that has extinguished all but a name to live,
we discover that, too, has perished with the rest. Their language, once
aglow with devotion and religious thought, is long since dead. Their
clergy are sunk in deepest ignorance. The Syrian fathers were eminent
as authors of commentaries and hymns, grammars and lexicons, but the
highest attainment of a modern scholar among them is to be a good
copyist of the old books and to repeat the vocabularies and grammars
of the mediaeval times with slavish devotion to all their oddities and
errors.
But each of these particular bodies has a history and conditions
peculiar to itself that deserve a separate consideration.
The Jacobites cling proudly to their ancient name of Syrians
(“Syriani”) as we shall see do also the Nestorians. But both have
become better known by the names derived from their great theological
leaders. The Jacobites are so called from Jacobus Baradeus, a monk,
who in the sixth century checked the tide of desolation caused by the
Emperor Justinian’s persecutions, revived their declining church, and,
with almost incredible zeal, spread the faith throughout Syria and
Mesopotamia. He established the Patriarch of Antioch as their supreme
head, who styles himself to this day as the successor of St. Peter.
Their attachment is strong to the belief that theirs is the ancient
Church of Antioch where the followers of Christ were first called
Christians. As there are two other Patriarchs, of the Greek faith, who
make the same claim, there are no less than three prelates who bear
this title, “Patriarch of Antioch.”
The Jacobites hold to what is known as Monophysite doctrine, the
oneness of the divine and human natures in Christ.
They have been estimated as some 250,000 souls in number, but it is
far too large a calculation. Turkish statistics, however, are of no
practical value for correctness. Their chief centres of population are
Mardin, Diarbekir, Aleppo, Urfa, Jezireh, Mosul, and a district in the
western mountains of Kurdistan, named Jebel Tur. In their common speech
they use the Arabic, the language of their Moslem conquerors, but in
their church services they adhere to their much revered ancient Syriac
tongue. The church books are of distinguished origin and of venerable
date.
In the height of their ancient glory the Jacobite Church embraced 159
bishoprics. Now, there are scarcely a score.
It once boasted of twenty-one monasteries. Of these but two are even
occupied so far as is known. It is in one of these, the monastery of
Zafaran, near the city of Mardin, where the Patriarch of the Jacobites
has his residence. Here, perched high upon the rocks in a most
commanding position, surrounded at a distance by lofty and precipitous
crags, and near at hand by hillsides covered with vineyards, orchards
and gardens, has been the patriarchal abode for some eleven centuries,
except for two brief periods when the Kurds have seized it for uses
of their own. The late Patriarch had visited England in recent years
and through assistance received he restored a part of the famous old
monastery and enlarged it, and had established a fine printing press,
which the Turks, however, did not allow him to use.
The support of the monastery, with its score or two of monks, comes
in part from their own fields, in the cultivation of which the clergy
of the church, and the Patriarch himself, take an active share, and
in part from contributions of the villages lying between Mardin and
Jezireh.
The Patriarch is recognized by the Turkish authorities as having
the right to exercise a measure of control in the civil affairs of
his spiritual subjects. His people at least look up to him as their
spokesman in time of trouble from the government, and he is expected
to act as mediator between the two. The bishops of the church in
their respective localities are also allowed something of the same
authority. But they are a broken reed to lean upon as against the
organized oppression practised under Osmanli rule. They are, indeed,
themselves often the victims of the same relentless bondage. The very
manhood of this once noble, energetic race, is well-nigh crushed
out of them by the contumely and oppression to which they have been
subject for centuries. The pity of a Western visitor mantles his face
with a blush as he witnesses the cringing demeanor of these Syrian
dignitaries of the Church in the presence of some Mohammedan lord,
even when for the nonce the Pasha or Agha may treat them with courtesy
and kindness. Yet in the presence of sympathizing Christians from
Europe, it is surprising to note the manly, dignified bearing of these
same men. When we come down to the common villagers, their condition
is, as we might expect, pitiable in the extreme. Their moral and
spiritual apathy is painful to observe, and added to this is their
extreme industrial and financial distress, chargeable to successive
famines and a pitiless government. In their times of greatest want and
desperation, the government never diminishes aught of its exactions.
Pharaoh’s demand of the same tale of bricks without straw is repeated
over and over again. It would seem at times as if the rulers had
entered upon a settled policy to stamp out the entire Christian element
of the population. In evidence of this we might cite the observations
of recent very intelligent travelers through Mesopotamia. One speaks
of passing through a number of ruined villages that showed how the
process of depopulation had been carried on. The large stones in their
buildings, the remains of well-built churches, and the large tracts of
land that had once been terraced for vineyards, gave evidence of former
thrift and prosperity. The legitimate taxes alone are exceedingly
heavy, but they are often duplicated, or back taxes are claimed.
All these additional burdens, with and without the knowledge of the
central authorities, are laid upon the people, driving them almost to
distraction. Abuses through unjust and corrupt assessment, extortion in
collection, farming out the taxes, and the demands of petty landlords
and soldiers, simply defy description. The people are largely in the
hands of Aghas. These are the remnant of the feudal system of Turkey,
descendants of the feudal lords, who became proprietors of the soil by
virtue of a grant from the Sultan. The proprietorship has ceased, but
the Aghas have their retainers, and exercise lordship over the people
by force of arms. Each village is obliged to choose its Agha, and it is
supposed to receive protection from him. But it is like setting a wolf
to guard the sheep.
The Jebel Tur region, of which Midyat is the chief town, has long been
the stronghold of the Jacobite Church. It is now gradually dying out
under the crushing process practised by the Turkish authorities. To
one familiar with the history of the place in the past twenty-five or
thirty years, the change that is going on is distressingly apparent.
Not only are mortgages upon fields and vineyards on the increase,
but there is a decrease of stock with which to work them. The area
of uncultivated land around the villages enlarges, and the number of
unkempt vineyards multiplies. Further marks of the business stagnation
are seen in the dress of the people, and in the declining scale and
style of living among all classes of the population. And if other
evidence is asked for, it is found in the considerable numbers of
families who have been obliged to go elsewhere in search of a living.
The town of Sert furnished striking illustrations of this process, even
before the massacre in 1850.
Thus we find repeated in the social and industrial conditions of this
ancient Jacobite community the same proofs we have seen to prevail
elsewhere throughout the empire, of the utter indifference of the
Turkish Government to the well-being of its Christian subjects, if not
of its covert intentions to gradually efface them from off the land.
Let us turn now to the other large division of the Syrian Church, known
as Nestorians. They are sometimes spoken of as “Chaldeans,” and again
as “Assyrians.” But for neither of these names does there exist any
sufficient warrant either on historical or geographical grounds. They
recognize no appellation for themselves except “Syriani.” Their chief
bishop claims for himself the title of “Patriarch of the East.” But
they will always be best known to the world as “Nestorians.”
When Nestorius, from Antioch, being Bishop of Constantinople, was
condemned by the Council of Ephesus, in the year A. D. 431, for his
alleged heretical opinions regarding the Person of Christ, the “Church
of the East,” with its headquarters at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, warmly
espoused his cause. They were consequently cut off from communion with
the Western Church. Located so far to the East, beyond the reach of the
persecuting acts of the Byzantine powers, they enjoyed unusual liberty,
and used it with enthusiasm to extend their faith at home and in remote
lands. The growth of their church is one of the brightest and most
interesting chapters in the annals of Christianity. By its wonderful
missionary enterprises churches were planted from Egypt to China, and
from north of the Caspian Sea to the southern bounds of India. The
flourishing church in Persia was of their founding. It is admitted that
they were the most numerous body of any of the then existing Christian
churches. Nor were they conspicuous for their missionary zeal alone.
Their schools, where Biblical theology and medicine were taught, were
famed throughout Christendom. And when the Arabs became the patrons
of science and learning, these Nestorian scholars opened to them the
lore of the Greeks, and were allowed positions of honor and influence
at the courts of Haroun Al Rashid and other Caliphs, at Bagdad. Under
the Persian and Mongol rulers, this church, eminent as well for its
liberality of opinion and catholicity of spirit, as its aggressive
efforts, continued to flourish, despite seasons of severe persecution.
But towards the close of the fourteenth century a terrible storm burst
upon it. It was then that Timour, or Tamerlane, emerged from the far
East, and swept the lands occupied by these Syrian churches as with the
besom of destruction. His Mohammedan zeal added fury to his inhuman
efforts to exterminate every trace of the Christian faith. He was far
too successful.
The Patriarchal seat was removed from place to place in quest of a
safe retreat. It is probable that about this time, in consequence of
these desolating conditions, large numbers of these Christians found
refuge from the tempest in the secluded fastnesses of the inhospitable
mountains of Kurdistan, where they still dwell. A considerable portion
of this people are still found in Persia. The whole number in Turkey
and Persia is probably about 100,000.
In the sixteenth century there arose unfortunately a schism in
the church, resulting in the establishment of two Patriarchs, both
holding to the same creed. One of these made Mosul his residence. In
recent years a large body of this section of the Nestorian Church
has conformed to the Roman Catholic Church, and is known as the
“Uniat Chaldean Church,” under a Patriarch, called the “Patriarch of
Babylon.” But in the earlier division mentioned, the larger portion
of the Nestorians living in Kurdistan and Northwest Persia, accepted
the Patriarch Mar Shimun as their head, who established his residence
in an Alpine village, among the Kurdish mountains. His successors
always take the same dynastic name of Mar Shimun, and for nearly
four hundred years have made their home among these lofty crags and
precipitous ravines. Where the valleys broaden out into wilder areas,
the various tribes have built their villages, and through the centuries
have maintained their national existence and their ancient faith at
serious odds as against their neighbors and foes. The most important of
these villages are Tiari, Tkhoma, Jelu, Bas and Dis. These Christian
mountaineers are called “Ashiret,” or _tribal_ Syrians, while those
living outside the mountains proper are called “Rayahs,” or “Rayats,”
_subjects_. The Ashiret are semi-independent, and pay only a nominal
tribute to the Turkish Government. The Rayahs are the prey of Turkish
despoilers and Turkish exactors to a degree that makes life miserable.
That the Turkish Government is either unable or indisposed to afford
them protection from the Kurds is the substantial ground on which
the Ashiret refuse submission to the constitutional authorities. The
practical serfdom of their Rayah brethren is before their eyes every
time they step out on the hills and plains. They are largely in the
hands of the Kurdish landlords, or Aghas, as are the Syrian Christians
of Jebel Tur, already described. They are taxed to the starvation
point. Their houses are miserable quarters for human habitations. They
are mercilessly robbed and even murdered by the Kurds. Appeal to the
government officials is seldom of avail; for these are either Kurds
themselves or are surrounded by Kurdish gentry, once themselves the
rulers of the country, whom it is the government’s policy to placate
now, as much as possible. Quite in contrast is the independence of the
Ashiret, under their Maleks, or chiefs. They always go armed, are bold
and warlike, and no Turkish officials or soldiers enter their tribal
districts except with their consent.
Though possessing only the old-fashioned flint locks, they are often a
match for the Kurds, who are armed generally with Martini-Henry rifles.
Yet it is only by the most fierce defense of themselves that they have
maintained their freedom against the sanguinary Kurds. And it is not
strange that they sometimes betray the same wild traits of character
as their hereditary enemies. But despite their desperate stand for
freedom and the fear in which the Kurds regard them, they have suffered
terrible assaults, which threatened at the time to utterly exterminate
them. Such was the case in the terrible massacres perpetrated on
them by the bloodthirsty Kurdish Chief, Badir Khan Bey, in 1843. By
bringing an overwhelming force successfully against Tiari and Tkhoma he
succeeded in almost annihilating their populations. Layard, the British
explorer of Nineveh, and subsequently Minister and Statesman, who was
in the mountains both before and after these occurrences, has described
the inhuman slaughter of the people of Tiari and Tkhoma in their homes,
and the destruction of their churches and sacred books. In Tiari,
after an indiscriminate slaughter of a crowd of assembled fugitives,
tired of butchering, and knee-deep in blood and mangled carcasses, the
Kurds forced the survivors at the point of the dagger to leap down a
precipice on the rocks below. Not less than a thousand persons here
perished. Mr. Layard visited the fatal spot in 1846 and described,
with graphic pen, the terrible evidences still remaining of the awful
transaction. The patriarchal residence in Dis was also sacked and the
blood of nearly eight hundred, of both sexes, stained its valleys. The
leading men were assassinated at a council to which they were invited
to settle terms of peace. The Patriarch himself had escaped beforehand,
but his aged mother was slain and her mangled body dragged to the river
Zab, her murderers exclaiming as they threw it in, “Go, carry the news
to your accursed son.”
The story of the cruelties of the Kurdish Chiefs of those days will
never perish from the legends of the Nestorians. It should be said,
that under the pressure from the European Government the Turks sent
a force against Badir Khan Bey, and he was captured, but the only
punishment inflicted on him was banishment to the Island of Candia.
There can be little doubt, however, that the Kurds were encouraged by
the Turks in their nefarious job, with a view to the subjugation of
these Independent Christians.
Every few years since these events, there have been reasons to fear
a repetition of the Kurdish atrocities perpetrated by Badir Khan Bey
and his fellow-fiends. In July, 1888, one of the summer encampments of
the Tiarians, occupied chiefly by the women to care for the products
of their flocks, while the men are engaged in their little fields in
the valleys below, was overpowered by a band of Kurds, who killed the
few men at hand and outraged the women. The Christians were desperate
for revenge. But a force of 8,000 Kurds promptly assembling, there
was imminent danger of their falling upon the Christians in a general
massacre. Speedy representations through the English and American
missionaries led to energetic action on the part of the foreign Consuls
which compelled the Turks to force the Kurds to retire.
But in the absence of any such general outbreak of Turkish fanaticism
and outrage, the oppressions of the Christians whenever in the least
exposed to their enemies are of incessant occurrence. The Patriarch,
Mar Shimun, wears a sad, weary countenance, as the tales of wrong
and injustice practised on his people are daily poured into his ear.
Robberies, outrages and murders are on the increase; the bishops
and chiefs, and even the Patriarch and his family, are continually
exposed to insults and indignities at the hands of Kurdish chiefs.
It is no great wonder that he believes, as most of the Kurds confess
to believing, and observant travelers are compelled to the same
conclusion, that the policy of the Porte is to allow the Christians to
be impoverished and exterminated by the Kurds, provided that this is
done so covertly that European nations shall not be aware of it.
The Patriarch’s appeals for some sort of protection for his distressed
people, which come to the ears of American and English friends, are
truly affecting. And yet, even to these he scarcely dares to speak his
mind fully. He receives a stipend from the Porte. The Turkish officials
near him, at Van and Julamerk, keep a sharp watch over all he does. So,
when his most trusted friends from Christian lands visit him, he speaks
to them in bated breath, and glares around in fear lest somehow what
he may say shall reach the ears of his suspicious guardians, and the
charge of treason be brought against him. Can any one imagine a more
pitiable position for the head of this once renowned and widespread
branch of the Christian Church?
The Syrians on the plain of Mosul are known as “Chaldeans,” whether
the larger body of them, who have conformed to the Church of Rome,
and are under the spiritual jurisdiction of the so-called “Patriarch
of Babylon,” or the feebler community under the Bishop Mar Elias
Melus, who have strenuously resisted union with the Romish Church.
The Chaldeans in the city of Mosul are many of them merchants, fairly
prosperous, as things go in that part of Turkey. The Rassam family,
distinguished in the English explorations at Nineveh, are Mosul
Chaldeans. A powerful Roman Catholic establishment in the city affords
considerable protection to its own adherents. But the condition of
the Chaldean villagers is much the same as that of the Jacobites and
Nestorian Rayahs already described. They are often little else than
the serfs of the Kurdish Aghas. And the oppressions are increasing
from year to year. There can be little question that unless a thorough
system of reforms is introduced, the whole region will soon fall into
the hands of the Kurds. Yes, there is one other alternative which
would bring them relief. If they would give up their faith, they might
receive as efficient protection as their Moslem neighbors. But in all
their poverty in things spiritual, as well as temporal, living in
abject terror from day to day, they cling to their Christian faith as
to their ancestral homes with a devotion that should compel admiration
and the assistance of the Christian powers.
The blame that rests upon the Turkish Government for its chronic
inefficiency in regard to these, its dutiful Christian subjects, is
made apparent in the strongest light by two now well-known facts. The
first is, that the Christians in Persia, also a Moslem Government, in
precisely similar conditions, though the victims of much oppression
from Kurds and Mohammedan Aghas, live in greater security and ease
than their brethren in Turkey. The second fact is, that in the recent
outbreaks against the Armenians of Turkey, the Governors of Mosul and
Mardin, under the most imperative orders from Constantinople, repressed
all attempted assaults upon the Christian population of those cities by
the most rigorous measures. It clearly shows what the government might
have done in other towns to protect the Christians if it had wished to
do so.
It is due to say that the Sultan directed the Vali of Mosul to proclaim
that the reforms which had been granted to the Armenians were to
extend to all the Christian nationalities alike. The explanatory
telegram was sent subsequently to say that these promised reforms were
simply those allowed by his grandfather. It would be a joy to all
classes--Jacobites, Nestorians and Chaldeans--if they could indeed go
back to the brighter days of thirty years ago. Every year but envelops
their fate in direr gloom and hopelessness.
Of the other Christian sects in the Turkish Empire the most important
are the various branches of the Greek Church, those connected with
the Roman Catholic Church, and the Copts of Egypt. The various
branches of the Greek Church have already been described in a previous
chapter. The Copts in Egypt are the descendants of the ancient
Egyptians. They number about 500,000. They live almost entirely in
the towns, and furnish the greater part of the clerks, accountants
and general administrative officers in the government. They are also
to a considerable extent farmers and land owners, and have risen
especially under the English administration. They are an intelligent
class, and were it not for the oppression that they have endured from
the past centuries they would be far stronger than they are. They
form one branch of what is known as the Monophysite Church, akin to
the Armenians and Abyssinians. They preserve their old language in
their liturgy, but the language of daily life is entirely Arabic.
The hierarchy with them, as with other Orientals, has been strongly
conservative and oppressive, bitterly opposing every effort to educate
and raise the people. Of late years, under the influence of the
missionaries of the United Presbyterian Board of the United States,
there has been an earnest effort to secure a better condition of
things. This, however, has not succeeded to the extent that was hoped,
and still the bishops and priests are a great obstacle in the way of
intelligent laymen who desire the reformation of the church.
The principal community connected with the Roman Catholic Church is
that of the Maronites. There are also Chaldeans and Armenians in some
considerable numbers, passing under the name of the United Syrian and
Armenian Churches, or Uniats. The Maronites number about 250,000,
and are scattered all over the Lebanon and ante-Lebanon ranges in
Syria. They are found especially in the northern districts, where they
have complete control of local affairs. They also extend south to
Mt. Hermon, in the heart of the Druze country, and they have always
been on hostile relations with the Druzes. They take their name from
their first Patriarch and political leader, John Maron, who lived in
the latter part of the seventh century, and under whose influence at
the time of the various ecclesiastical controversies they declared
themselves Monothelites. They then occupied the plains chiefly, but
afterwards, under the invasion of the Saracens, fled to the mountains,
and there maintained their independence for a long time. At that time
they used Syriac in all their services and in their social life, and
developed a feudal system with a sort of theocratic government, their
head being styled “The Patriarch of Antioch and all the East.” At the
time of the Crusades they were brought to the knowledge of Christendom,
and about the middle of the twelfth century opened communications with
the Pope at Rome. They gradually adopted the Arabic language as their
vernacular, and at the Council of Florence were received into the Roman
Catholic Church. They were, however, allowed to retain their Syriac
liturgy, the celebration of the communion in both kinds, the marriage
of the lower clergy, their own fast days and their own saints. Little
by little the power of the Pope over them was strengthened. A special
college was given them at Rome, and schools for clergy and printing
presses were established in Syria. A Papal legate was sent to Beirut,
and the Maronites became most submissive followers in the Latin Church.
They first came prominently into the notice of the rest of the
Christian world in connection with the famous massacres in 1860, in
which thousands of them were butchered by the Druzes. The result
of this was the redistricting of Syria under European intervention
and the formation of the province of Mt. Lebanon under the rule of
a Christian governor. At present they are a frugal and industrious
people, mostly illiterate, except where schools have been established
under the pressure of the influence of Protestant missions. They have
many monasteries and guard as specially sacred the famous group of
cedars at the head of the gorge of the Holy River, where is the summer
home of their Patriarch. Under the influence of the American missions
the Jesuits and Lazarists have exerted themselves to keep their hold
upon the young men. They have established a fine school for boys and
have a large college at Beirut and fine library with very complete
scientific apparatus. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions commenced work among these people early in the present century
and it is now carried on by the Presbyterian Church. The distinctive
Protestant community is not large, but has a very powerful influence,
and the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, with its medical
department, has done very much to develop a better life among all these
people.
At the same Council of Florence in 1439 that gathered the Maronites
under the care of the Roman Catholic Church, there was formed a United
Armenian Church, consisting of a number of Gregorian Armenians, who
felt that it was best for the interests of their people to cease their
separation from the Western Church. They have, however, not grown
in numbers to any great degree, and are chiefly known through their
monastery at Venice, which has been foremost in the development of
Armenian literature. They are strongest in Constantinople and on the
seaboard, though there are some congregations in the interior. They are
as a rule looked upon by the Gregorian Armenians with more suspicion
even than the Protestants, on account of their political relations with
the French Government.
[Illustration:
BRIDGE OF BOATS ACROSS THE LOWER TIGRIS. Over the boats, which are of
the very simplest construction, are laid poles, and over them rushes,
the whole making a somewhat uncertain platform. In the foreground is
a greyhound, such as are rather common in Eastern Turkey.]
[Illustration:
VILLAGE OF REED HUTS IN LOWER MESOPOTAMIA, together with a group of
Arabs. These are not regular Bedouin Arabs, but belong to another
tribe. These villages are found throughout the region south of Bagdad
and in the neighborhood of Babylon.]
CHAPTER IX.
RISE AND DECLINE OF OTTOMAN POWER.
Capture of Constantinople--Victories of Mohammed II--The Sultans
Assume the Caliphate--Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent--Attack upon
Venice--Constant Strife over the Danubian Principalities--Internal
Disorganization--Weak Sultans and Powerful Viziers--Alliances with
Foreign Powers--Repeated Disasters--Weak Rule in Asia--Revolt in
Egypt and Syria--Condition at Commencement of Present Century.
For a little more than half a century after the foundation of the
Ottoman dynasty, the Ottomans merely formed one of the many bands
of Turks who roamed over Western Asia and Southeastern Europe,
plundering the Christians where they could and fighting each other
in a promiscuous contest for the supremacy; always, however, showing
an upward tendency. Not only were they vigorous on the battle-field,
but shrewd in their policies. The close of the Seljuk dynasty was
the signal for the division of the once famous empire of Rum. One by
one these divisions fell into the hands of the new Sultans; some by
conquest, some by purchase, some by politics, until they were by far
the most powerful element in that whole section. The weakening of the
Byzantine Empire, and its practical loss of power over the Danubian
provinces, tempted these Turks across the Dardanelles, and they
measured swords with the Serbs, Wallachs and others. Under Amurath, the
founder of the Janissaries, they became a terror to all, and the flag,
whose red color was established by himself as token of the blood that
flowed wherever they went, was flaunted in the very face of Christian
Emperors. Then, however, came a check; Timour-Lenk (Timour the Lame,
Tamerlane), who had risen against his Sultan in the small canton of
Trans-Oxiana, gathered to his standard the semi-barbarous tribes of
Turkestan, spread through Khorassan, Persia, Georgia and Southern
Russia; then south through Armenia and Mesopotamia into India. Then he
turned again westward, and, influenced not a little, perhaps, by the
presence in his court of some Turkish princes, deposed by the Ottoman
Sultans, he captured Syria, and just as Bajazet was under the walls
of Constantinople he heard that his own kingdoms were in danger. At
the famous battle of Konieh (Iconium) the Ottoman power was broken;
but with the death of Timour his empire went to pieces and the Ottoman
line again resumed its power. For another half century advance was made
even more rapidly than before, and on either side of the Bosporus and
Dardanelles the arms of the Turks were victorious.
The capture of Constantinople, which followed in 1453, really marked
the beginning of the Turkish Empire. The series of forays, with the
occasional capture of an important city or even of a province in Asia
Minor or the Balkan Peninsula, had become an organized campaign for the
subjugation of the whole of Western Asia and Southeastern Europe. More
than that, an entire change in form of government became necessary.
Hitherto all of government that there had been was that of the army,
and pertained to the immediate Moslem followers of the Sultan. The
various tribes or nations who yielded to his arms, but refused to
accept Islam, really had no relation whatever to his rule. They paid
what tribute was demanded, but there was no such thing as regular civil
government. When, however, Constantinople was captured, this condition
could no longer continue. It was essential that there be some definite
relation arranged between the Sultan and the large class of Greeks who
had come to form so important a part of the empire. He realized that
the whole position was changed; that he was no longer merely a general,
but an emperor, and an emperor over a very heterogeneous empire.
To begin with, there were the Greeks in Constantinople, all through
Western Asia Minor and in Europe; there were the Armenians, scarcely
recognized as a distinct people, with at the time no government
of their own, scarcely more than a race, an ecclesiastical unit,
held together by their church relations, and with a sort of tribal
organization; there was the Syrian Church in its varied forms,
Nestorian and Jacobite; there were the different branches of the Slav
race, all combined under the Greek Church. Undoubtedly Mohammed II,
would have been glad to have made them all Moslem. That, however, he
could not do, and very possibly he realized that while such a course
might flatter his pride, it would not be so advantageous for his
treasury, for he collected taxes from Christians which Moslems would
refuse to pay. Still, there must be some method arranged by which
these different nationalities should not only have their existence
recognized, but should be allowed a certain development with a view to
the strengthening of the empire.
During the century that had elapsed since the Ottoman dynasty began,
the various Sultans had come into contact with the forms of Roman
government. They had taken advantage of it in arranging for Moslems
within the territories of the Greek Emperors, and the Roman system
of one law for the citizen, another for the foreigner, was perfectly
familiar to them. Mohammed adopted this principle, and basing it
upon the idea, which dominates the whole growth of Moslem power, of
absolute union of Church and State, developed the system which has
governed in all that region until the present day, and established a
series of communities centering about the different ecclesiastical
leaders. Although it was not till a later date that the Sultans
assumed the title of Caliph, they had practically ruled as Caliphs
among their Moslem subjects. The same principle Mohammed II applied
to the Christians of his empire. Recognizing the Greek Patriarch at
Constantinople as the centre of authority, he called to that office
the head of the party, which under the last Constantine had opposed
a union with the Latin Church, and thereby, as he thought, had made
his own conquest easier, and confirmed him in the dignity of the
double office, civil and religious, which he was to exercise over
his people. He associated with him the clergy and learned men of
the church, and treated them with marked indulgence. He instituted
a court, giving the rank of Vizier to the Patriarch and granting to
him a guard of Janissaries. He established a system of government by
which all community and social rights and duties were vested in the
Patriarchate, which had sole authority in cases of marriage contracts,
legacies, wills, divorces, and even had absolute authority in criminal
matters, except such as directly involved the Sultan’s authority. Thus
there grew up a distinct community life involving a national life.
The principle of the Moslem being that there could be no legitimate
relations between himself and the non-Moslem, there were accorded to
these all the various community or communal rights. They had their
own quarter of the city, town or village; their own shops, butchers,
bakers, tailors; their own mills as well as their own churches. True,
there was demanded of them a heavy tax, the regular capitation or poll
tax, and the kharadj or military exemption tax, demanded of every
non-Moslem male from the age of three years. These taxes were by no
means light, and it was the general principle of the government to
so administer them as to impress it very clearly upon the unbeliever
that his condition was abject, and that even his life was a mark of
the Sultan’s favor. Still, there was a certain independence, and the
Greeks gathered again to their city, and the wiser of the Sultans that
followed Mohammed II carried out the idea of developing rather than of
fiercely oppressing these communities.
With this granting of communal rights to the Greeks came in due
time the recognition of the same principle in the case of the other
Christians, and each was represented at the Sublime Porte by its
Patriarch, with the various attendants of bishops and clergy.
One marked result of this course was to intensify the separation
between these different nationalities. The communities of Greeks,
Armenians and Syrians being so distinct, there arose more or less of
strife between them as to which should secure the greater privileges
and develop the most of community life. Hence the original hostilities
arising out of the differences of creed and worship were emphasized
rather than lessened, and whether intentionally or not, there grew up
the custom under the Sultans of ruling in a great degree by force of
jealousies between different classes of their subjects.
This general principle adopted in Constantinople was carried out in
minor detail all through the empire. In every city Christians were
organized into their communities and the ecclesiastical head, whatever
he might be, whether bishop or priest or deacon, was recognized by the
local government as the civil head of his community. Appeals could be
made to his higher ecclesiastical authorities, and the whole power of
the Turkish Government was brought to bear to enforce the decrees of
these semi-civil, semi-ecclesiastical rulers.
It was not, however an easy thing to develop any system of this
kind throughout the empire. Among the disturbing influences was the
confiscation of the lands of the great Greek families and their
transformation into fiefs, which were conferred on distinguished
warriors who held them on condition of serving the Sultan with a
certain number of followers, helped to solidify the empire, but
operated very heavily to repress the Christians. It left them at the
mercy of these feudal chiefs, and the situation during the centuries
that followed was one of increasing oppression. This was assisted
by the degradation of their own priesthood. Their position as civil
representatives of their people detracted more and more from their
spiritual teaching, and they became addicted to all sorts of intrigues.
Two notable results followed. One was the formation of bands of
freebooters in the mountain regions, who preyed upon the plain villages
in proportion as the feudal lords were careless or weak; the other
was the gradual dispersion of these Christian communities. This
affected the Armenians more than any others. They wandered here and
there over the empire in search of some place where they should be
left unmolested. It was about this time that they established their
quasi-kingdom at Sis in Cilicia, and spread over the plains of Northern
Syria and of Central Asia Minor. Their kingdom had a short life, and
the effect of their wandering from the ancestral home was to bring them
still more under the oppression of the Turks, so that they even lost
the ordinary use of their language.
Of the events that followed the capture of Constantinople it is
impossible here to do more than to give the very briefest summary, and
emphasize only such points as are most essential to the understanding
of the situation as it is to-day. First came the extending of
conquest, and during the thirty years that followed the capture
of Constantinople, it seemed as if more had been done than at any
time before. Servia yielded; then came Greece, although the famous
Scanderbeg held his own in Albania. More than one historian has
suggested that the effort to subdue him was only half-hearted out of
regard for his bravery and for the memories of his early life with the
Turks. Then Wallachia yielded and the people of Transylvania found the
Moslem no severer ruler than Wlad, called by his subjects Drakul (the
devil). Bosnia yielded its rule next, and war spread on southward and
westward against the Albanians and Venetians. Meanwhile the princes
of Karaman, who for a century and a half had held a varying rule in
Central Asia Minor, were finally subdued and the Sultan’s power over
what is now Asiatic Turkey was practically complete. Again he turned to
Europe, crossed the Dardanelles, took Moldavia and captured the Crimea,
which had for a time been under the Khans of that country, though they
had in turn yielded to a Christian republic, which had maintained
itself for some time with its capital, the most important town of
the northern Black Sea coast. Always, however, there was the outlook
westward, and although Venice checked the advance of the Ottomans,
they still threw themselves upon Transylvania and made incursions into
Hungary and Italy, and Mohammed II closed his reign with an attack upon
Rhodes, which, however, was repulsed.
From the death of Mohammed II, in 1481, to the reign of Suleiman the
Magnificent, in 1520, there were expeditions into Hungary and Moldavia,
and war with Venice and Persia, but no great additions to the Ottoman
domain. This, however, was more than made up by the conquest of Syria
and Egypt. The significance of these conquests was great as mere
territorial enlargement of the empire, but more important still were
the attendant influences which resulted in placing the Turkish Sultans
at the head of the Moslem world. The last Mameluke Sultan, of Egypt,
was hanged at the gate of Cairo in 1517, and Sultan Selim passed a
month longer in that capital presiding at two great Egyptian fêtes--the
opening of the Cairo Canal, and the departure of the annual caravan for
Mecca, and received from the Sherif of Mecca the keys of the Kaaba.
His army, however, became restless and he returned to Constantinople.
To that city he summoned Mohammed XII, the last representative of the
Abbasside Caliphs, to whom the rulers of Egypt had always given the
honorary title. Selim required of him to relinquish the rights and
distinctive ensigns of the Caliphate, the standard, the sword and
the mantle of the prophet, and assumed the political and religious
chieftainship of Islam. This conquest of Egypt and the assumption of
the Caliphate attracted the alarm of European powers and resulted
in treaties with Venice and Hungary. A second attack on Rhodes was
planned, but not carried out, and in 1520 Selim gave place to his son
Suleiman the Magnificent.
The reign of Suleiman from 1520 to 1566, deserves more than a passing
mention. It was the golden age of the Turkish rule, when the empire
reached its greatest extent and achieved its highest success; when
all Europe was either dreading its advance or treating for its
assistance. But it was also noticeable for its internal organization,
which remained until Mahmud II, under the pressure of the altered
circumstances of 250 years later, made changes which have resulted in
the present system.
The relations between Turkey and the European powers, inaugurated
practically during this reign, will be treated of later. Here it is the
purpose to survey the general history of that reign. The first act was
the suppression of a revolt along the Danube, and Belgrade was taken,
its Serb population being transferred to Constantinople in pursuance
of a policy inaugurated by Mohammed II for the building up of that
city. Then the Sultan turned his eyes to Rhodes, and with a fleet of
300 vessels and 100,000 men undertook its capture. For five months the
Grand Master of the Knights held out, but was finally forced to yield,
and betook himself with his men to Malta, where they planned anew the
war against the Koran. Next to Rhodes, Hungary was the great object
of the Sultan’s ambition, and it was only a few years later that he
made vast preparations for an invasion. At the battle of Mohacz, in
1526, the Hungarian kingdom was destroyed, and on the 10th of September
Suleiman entered Budapesth.
Revolts in Asia, however, called back the Sultan, though the war
continued in Hungary, and a second expedition was started three years
later. It was the Turkish theory that any place in which the Sultan
had slept was within the bounds of his empire, and accordingly again
Budapesth was occupied; this time, however, merely as a vantage ground
from which to attack Vienna itself. The history of the defense of
the Austrian capital is one of the most brilliant in the military
history of Central Europe during that century. Notwithstanding the
overwhelming power of the Turks, with their army of 300,000 men and
300 cannon, besides a strong flotilla, the Austrians, reinforced by
the Protestants--so-called since the protest at Spires in the spring
of that year--resolved to defend the place. The city walls were weak
and out of repair, and the Sultan apparently thought conquest easy, for
he sent a message that if the garrison would surrender he would not
even enter the town, but press on in search of the emperor; if they
resisted he would dine in Vienna on the third day, and then he would
not spare even the child in the womb. They, however, would not yield,
and he never entered. The bravery of the troops who gathered from every
part of Germany, assisted by the valor of the citizens, repulsed the
Turks again and again, and, as the season was advancing, the Sultan
returned to Constantinople. A third expedition resulted again in a
most humiliating disgrace; 350,000 Turks, led by the Sultan himself,
were detained more than three weeks by a garrison of about 700 men
at a little town in Styria. Germany amassed all its forces, and now
there came in the influence of Western Europe. France had already made
advances to the Turkish Government, and Venice, seeking protection for
her commerce, had entered into treaty, and both of them through their
ambassadors advised the Sultan, with a weakened army, not to meet the
well-organized troops of Charles V. The expedition, therefore, was
reluctantly withdrawn, to be renewed again later, and again given up
when a general truce was arranged with the German power. Meanwhile,
however, Barbarossa had come in conflict with the Venetian Doria, and
the Italian shore was threatened by the Turkish troops. But no great
gains were made, and at the death of Suleiman, in 1566, no positive
advance had been registered.
The internal history of the empire was in some respects more
important than the external. Suleiman is known among the Ottomans as
the Legislator. He organized the Ulemas, altered the system of fiefs,
and arranged matters of finance, justice, civil and penal law, and
the various departments of his empire. The general principle of land
tenure was based upon the doctrine that the soil belonged to God, and
thus to his representative, the Sultan. It was, however, apart from
that reserved for the Sultan himself, divided into three classes; land
occupied by Mussulmans after the conquest, subject only to the tithes;
land let to conquered populations, especially Rayahs (non-Moslem
subjects), who, aside from the tithe, paid capitation and exemption
taxes; and the domains given by the Sultan as military rewards under
the arrangement inaugurated by Amurath I. In general, the principle of
the collection of taxes had been to make them as onerous as possible.
Suleiman recognized the unwisdom of this, and introduced various
modifications, which had the effect of lessening the harshness, and at
the same time of increasing the revenues. He also looked very closely
after the fiefs, demanding that only the smaller ones should be under
the control of the governors of provinces; that the larger ones must be
referred to Constantinople. This last order had special reference to
the taxes levied by these governors upon the peasants. Notwithstanding
this organized system of revenue, the income was not sufficient, and
additional contributions of one kind and another were laid, especially
upon conquered provinces, such as Hungary and Transylvania, which
resulted in the almost utter destruction of their prosperity. In
the matter of crime, corporal punishment was sparingly inflicted.
Almost every crime could be atoned for by the payment of a fine.
Notwithstanding the brilliant success achieved, it was in this very
reign that the decadence of Moslem rule commenced. The heavy expenses
of the various wars, and of the organization of the empire, had a great
influence in bringing about a condition of venality which rapidly
sapped the strength of the government. Suleiman saw it, but allowed it
to pass, only taking care that it did not interfere with his army. His
power over the army, however, weakened. It had hitherto been the custom
that the Janissaries should never enter war except under the personal
lead of the Sultan. This privilege was withdrawn. Their numbers also
were recruited by adventurers of every kind, and the general discipline
was weakened by allowing them to marry, follow trades, and become
stationary in the garrisons, where they were practically citizens,
merchants, operators, etc. In the general conduct of the government
also, the Sultan no longer presided over the Cabinet Meeting or Divan,
as it was called. He confined himself more and more to his palace, and
came under the effeminating influence of a luxury carried to such an
extent that the surroundings of the Christian princes of Europe paled
before the pomp of the Moslem Court. The formal condemnation by the
Koran of such luxury was passed by entirely, the simplicity of manners
to which the empire owed its advance was greatly corrupted; the use
of wine became quite common, and the use of coffee, just introduced,
was carried to excess. The result was that in every department of the
government there were sown the seeds of the weakness that manifested
itself, with occasional exceptions, in the history of the succeeding
two and one-half centuries.
The history of the following years, aside from the relations with
the European Governments, must be passed over very briefly. They
include expeditions to Arabia, the conquest of Cyprus in 1570, the
battle of Lepanto, when the fleets of Europe--Spanish, Italian and
Venetian--blotted out the Turkish marine, and freed the Mediterranean
coast from the terror of their devastations. This was, however,
somewhat compensated for by the capture of Tunis. There was chronic war
with Hungary and Persia, that with the latter power resulting in the
addition to the Ottoman Power of Georgia and a considerable portion of
Northern and Southeastern Persia. The whole Balkan Peninsula was in a
chronic state of revolt and subjugation. There were powerful Sultans,
such as Amurath I, and great viziers, as the Kuprulis. At times the
Turkish successors threatened again the peace of Europe, but they were
generally used by one and another government, particularly France, as a
check to the encroachments of enemies.
In 1669, “the Ottoman Empire included forty governments and four
tributary countries: in Europe all Greece, Illyria, Maesia, Macedonia,
Pannonia, Thrace and Dacia; the kingdoms of Pyrrhus and Perseus;
the states of Treballi and the Bulgarians: in Africa the kingdom of
the Ptolemies, with the territory of Carthage and Numidia: in Asia
the kingdoms of Mithridates, Antiochus, Attalus, Prusias, Herod and
Tigranes; those of the obscure sovereigns of Cappadocia, Cilicia and
Comagena; the territories of the Iberians and the Scythians, and a
portion of the empire of the Parthians. Without reckoning the Greek
Republics and the Tyrian colony, there were twenty kingdoms included in
these forty governments, from the Syrtes to the Caucasus, and to the
countries watered by the Hydaspes.”
To these territories was added the lower part of Russia, held by the
Cossacks of the Ukraine, who voluntarily submitted to the Sultan’s
rule as protection against the Russians and Poland. This occasioned
the war with Poland, when the Poles were led by John Sobieski. The
famous general, Kara Mustapha, in 1683, sought to rival the conquests
of Suleiman, and with an army more powerful than any the Turks had ever
sent from Constantinople, determined to besiege Vienna. The Austrian
king called for Sobieski’s assistance, and secured it notwithstanding
the intrigues of Louis XIV, who vainly sought to convince the Pole that
his real enemies were in Austria, and in that power of the north whom
the Dutch papers had begun to call “His Russian Majesty.” Loyal to his
religion, however, Sobieski went to the aid of Vienna. His cavalry,
aided by that of the Germans, put the Turks to flight after more than
10,000 of their troops had been left on the field of battle. Then came
a panic, and the Turks fled in disorder, leaving an immense booty to
the victors. Of this the King of Poland received as his share 4,000,000
florins, while arms studded with precious stones, and banners and
treasures to a very heavy amount, were divided among the victors.
The war with Austria developed into the war against the Holy Alliance,
a league against the Turks, under the protection of the Pope, and
formed by the Emperor of Austria, the King of Poland, and the Republic
of Venice, to which also the Czar was invited. This war went on with
varying fortunes until the peace of Carlowitz, in 1699. This period
included the rule of the famous Kupruli Mustapha Pasha, one of the most
successful and most noted of the Macedonian family, which supplied
five viziers to the Ottoman throne. He was probably one of the most
intelligent, courageous and humane statesmen of Turkey, and his death
in battle was regretted alike by Christians and Turks, who named him
Kupruli the Virtuous. The tide, however, had set against Turkey, and
under the influence of William of Orange the intrigues of Louis XIV,
were set aside, and Turkey signed the peace of Carlowitz. By this
Hungary and Transylvania were ceded to Austria, with the exception
only of a small territory. Poland recovered Ukraine and Podolia;
Russia retained Azof; Venice on her part gave up her conquests to the
north of the Gulf of Corinth and almost the whole of Dalmatia, and all
the tributes paid by the Christian powers to the Ottoman courts were
abolished.
This was the first great gap made in the Ottoman Empire, and from this
time it ceased to be an object of dread in Europe. Hitherto it had been
isolated and owed its greatness to that fact in considerable degree.
Now it was dominated by its allies and had to submit to the influence
of ambitious neighbors or interested friends. Its decline could no
longer be hindered, and already there was upon its borders that power
of the north, which, by gaining an entrance to the Black Sea, commenced
really its European life.
The example of Kupruli the Virtuous was followed by Kupruli the
Wise, who immediately set himself about improving the general condition
of the empire. In the European provinces he favored his Christian
subjects in regard to the payment of arrears of taxes, and in Syria he
gave them freedom of pasturage for flocks. The Mussulmans under the
general influences of the time retrograded in their devotion to their
religion, and he strove by every means to recall them to the study and
practice of that religion, but failed to keep a hold even upon the
Moslem leaders, and yielded his life to their intrigues. This was about
the commencement of the eighteenth century, and through that century
the history, so far as the immediate empire itself is concerned, is a
varying one. It commenced with a time of peace, under the diminution of
French influence and a general disregard of the Russian power. That,
however, under Peter the Great, commenced aggressions that soon aroused
Mussulman pride, which, irritated at the appearance of the infidel on
the Black Sea, hitherto regarded as sacred to Islam, declared war. This
resulted in the restoration of Azof to the Ottoman Government and the
shutting out of Russia from the Black Sea. More and more, however, the
influence of European politics (dwelt upon more in detail in another
chapter) was evident in internal disturbances, which had their effect
not merely upon Christians, but upon Moslems, and Russian intrigue
played an increasingly powerful part in the general development of the
empire.
Even throughout Asiatic Turkey the rule of the Sultan was scarcely
more than nominal. The province of Bagdad was practically independent,
furnished no revenues, and, although a certain suzerainty of the
Sultan was acknowledged, even war with a European power brought no
troops, which were held to be necessary as a defense against the
Arabs. Throughout Eastern Turkey there were whole nations or tribes
of people independent of the Sultan and his pashas, and the Pasha of
Trebizond was master of the whole country. Aghas, or independent lords,
maintained armies even up to the borders of Smyrna, and the mountains
throughout Asia Minor and the Lebanon were perfectly independent.
Most of them, aside from the Armenians and Greeks, were Moslems, yet
not a few sectaries, as Kurds and the Metawelis, united religious to
political hostility. On the coast of Syria, only the ports were under
strong Turkish rule, and caravans from Alexandretta to Aleppo dared
not cross the mountains because of the Kurds. At this same time was
developed the power of the Mamelukes in Egypt, under the famous Ali
Bey, who joined with him an Arab chief, and dominated pretty nearly
all of Syria. In 1770 the empire seemed near its dismemberment. The
Russians held the Danube and Azof, Georgia was in rebellion, even
Damascus was threatened, and Ali Pasha, of Janina, was laying the
foundations of his power in Albania. The next step downward was the
treaty of Kainardji in 1774, which gave Crimea to the Czar, accorded
the navigation of the Black Sea to Russia, and ceded a portion of
the Caucasus. True, some of the Danube provinces were regained, but
this was of comparatively little moment. Another peace, that of
Jassy, signalized an additional step in the same downward direction.
Constantly there were increasing disorders in administration. The
Sultans were less and less men of ability, dominated by the Janissaries
or by the ecclesiastics, and Turkey became the football of the various
strifes for predominance in Europe.
The present century opened with another war with Russia, when the
latter invaded the Danubian principalities, taking advantage of a
revolt of the Servians.
[Illustration:
A KHAN OR CARAVANSARY. The alcoves are used by travelers in which
to spread their rugs and store their merchandise in good weather.
What appear to be platforms are the roofs of the stables, half
under ground. In time of storm or in winter, most travelers occupy
platforms in these stables.]
[Illustration:
A DOME VILLAGE IN NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA. On account of the almost
entire lack of timber the villagers are compelled to make their
roofs by using sun-dried brick or adobe in the form of the dome.
In the center of the dome, as a rule, there is a hole which acts
both as chimney and as window. These houses are mostly connected by
semi-underground passages.]
CHAPTER X.
TURKEY AND EUROPE.
First Intercourse--Alliance between Francis I and Suleiman the
Magnificent--Intrigues between France and Austria--The First
Treaty--Nature of Capitulations--Peculiar Favors Granted to the
French--Their Recognition as the Protectors of Christians--Entrance
of Other Powers--Louis XIV and His Ambassador--Influence of De
Brèves--Peace of Carlowitz--Turkey No Longer Dreaded in Europe.
Intercourse between Turkey and the European powers commenced with
the first invasion of the Balkan Peninsula, but there were no formal
relations until a Russian ambassador entered Constantinople in 1495.
That, however, was not followed by important consequences, and Turkey
did not commence its career of European influence until the time of
Francis I, of France, about 1525. The French monarch found himself
in a very difficult situation. The house of Austria had surrounded
him, excluding him from the Mediterranean; not only that, allied
with Venice, she thus controlled the Adriatic, possessed Oran and
theoretically the whole northern coast of Africa; while her relations
with Spain made her mistress of Barcelona, Naples and Sicily. France
seemed to be shut out entirely from Mediterranean power. It was
absolutely necessary for her at any price to find some counterpoise;
to oppose to Austria some other power, which should perhaps by its
own force, perhaps in alliance, enable her to regain her legitimate
influence in the Mediterranean and her commercial relations to the
countries of the Levant. It is scarcely surprising that France
looked with longing eyes to the Turks. Suleiman the Magnificent was
at the height of his power and the foundation of his kingdom seemed
impregnable. His armies were attacking Hungary, his ships held the
Adriatic and the Black Seas; he could by no possibility come into
rivalry with France; each had the same enemies; both were united by the
same needs of commerce, and both had a warlike reputation to sustain.
True, Suleiman was a Moslem and Francis I a Christian, and when the
alliance between them became known there arose a general clamor against
the “impious union of the Lilies with the Crescent.” Whatever Francis
thought, it is scarcely probable that he looked upon the Turkish
power as likely to spread much farther west, and planned to use it
as a weapon, which, after a time, he might lay aside. For some time
messengers had been passing back and forth making full inquiry as to
the condition of the Ottoman rule, and secret negotiations had been
entered into with the Sultan for the protection of French commerce. It
was therefore no matter of surprise that he sent an ambassador, who
was, however, arrested and murdered on the way. A second was sent who
carried a letter purporting to request the furtherance of the attack
upon Hungary and proposing to use counter influence on the other side
of the continent. This second envoy was received with great honors,
and notwithstanding the fact that Francis was then in captivity, the
Sultan expressed his royal determination to enter into alliance with
the French king, the token of which was a letter written in 1526. This
was the commencement of those alliances which for the succeeding 300
years, with differing degrees of fidelity, were kept up, and proved
of great value to France and of no little support to Turkey. Five
years later came the reception of a special ambassador. Extraordinary
honors were accorded to him such as have been given, it is said, to no
Christian ambassador succeeding him. That these should be permitted by
the Sultan’s subjects is attributed by Turkish historians to a report
that made Mohammed II, the Conqueror of Constantinople, the child of
a princess of the royal family of France; intended to be the bride of
Emperor John IV, but who had been taken captive in 1428. Austria at the
same time sent an ambassador, but he could by no means secure the same
treatment as his French associate. He, however, succeeded in securing
the first peace concluded between the two governments, in 1533. The
check given by Charles V to the advance of the Ottoman power along the
African coast made him appear to the world as the liberator of the
Christians and the terror of the infidels, and gave him such prestige
that Francis felt obliged to get all the advantage possible out of his
alliance. Accordingly the official envoy met the Sultan and a treaty
was signed at Constantinople, in 1536. This was in the form of what
is known as a Hatti Sherif, or an order from the Sultan which was the
basis of all the treaties that have been concluded since that period
between Turkey and the European nations. While substantially a treaty,
it took the form of a concession, and from this has arisen the word
“Capitulation” which has become recognized in all Turkish history as
governing the relations between the Turks and Christians. It has always
been contrary to the idea of the Moslem that a treaty can be made with
Christians; concessions (capitulations) can be granted, and this is
what has repeatedly been done in the diplomatic relations between the
empires.
This first treaty is extremely interesting. In it Suleiman gives to
Francis I the title of _Padisha_, looked upon as sacred by the Turks,
and it is said only accredited to one other Christian monarch, the Czar
Paul, of Russia. The first articles were as follows:
1. That as there is peace and concord between the Grand Seignior and
the King of France, their respective subjects and tributaries may
freely navigate and go into their different ports for their commerce,
buy, sell, load, conduct, and transport, by water or by land, from one
country to another, all kinds of merchandise not prohibited, in paying
the ordinary dues, without being subjected to any imposition, tribute,
or other charge.
2. That when the king shall send to Constantinople, or to any other
part of the Ottoman Empire, a consul, in like manner as the one he
keeps at Alexandria, that consul shall be accepted and sustained in his
authority and shall judge according to his faith and law, without that
any judge or cadi shall hear, judge, and pronounce, as well civilly as
criminally, upon the causes, processes, or differences which may arise,
between the subjects of the king only; and that the officers of the
Grand Seignior shall lend assistance for the execution of the judgments
of the consuls, any sentence passed by the cadis between French
merchants to be necessarily null and void.
3. That in case of any civil contestation between the Turks and the
French, the plaint of the first named shall not be received by the
cadis unless they should bring proof in writing of the hand of the
adversary or that of the consul, and that in any case the subjects of
the king shall not be judged without their dragoman being present.
4. That in criminal matters the subjects of the king may not be brought
before the cadi or ordinary judge, nor be judged at once, but be
conducted before the Sublime Porte, and in the absence of the Grand
Vizier, before his substitute, in order that the testimony of the
Turkish subject against the king’s subject may be discussed.
5. That no use shall be made of the merchant ships belonging to the
king’s subjects, nor of their artillery, munitions and equipages
against their will, even for the service of the Grand Seignior.
6. That if any subject of the king quits the States of the Grand
Seignior without having satisfied his debts, neither the consul nor any
other Frenchman shall be responsible for them; but the king shall make
satisfaction to the plaintiff upon the goods or person of the debtor,
should it be in his kingdom.
7. That the French merchants and subjects of the king shall freely make
their wills, and that the goods of those who shall die intestate shall
be remitted to the heir by the care and authority of the consul.
The importance of these articles is very evident. Theoretically there
could be no cordial relations whatever between Christians and Moslems.
The more enlightened judgment, however, that had already recognized
the necessity of a _modus vivendi_ with the Christian subjects of the
Sultan, recognized now also a similar necessity in connection with the
great states to the west with which the Sultan must come into relation,
but which he could not hope to conquer, at least for some time to
come. Thus there was introduced the important innovation in the law of
nations, since developed into the principle of extraterritoriality,
and recognized in all treaties between Christian nations and Moslem
or pagan governments, where the habits of life, the national customs
and general laws are of necessity very different. This treaty gave to
the French the advantage of their national laws and customs even under
foreign rule; recognized that in certain respects they had more rights
and liberties even than the Sultan’s subjects had, by acknowledging the
protection of their national magistrates. As was inevitable, out of
this came the development of small French colonies centered about the
mercantile houses; consuls also lost largely their commercial character
and became civil magistrates and even political agents. It is probably
to this treaty that is due the fact that to-day all foreigners are
classed under the general term of “Franks,” which has also been applied
even to many of the Christian subjects of the Sultan.
But there were other articles of this famous treaty of great
importance. The French were guaranteed the absolutely free exercise
of worship. Their bishops and other priests of this “Frank” religion,
of whatever nation, were to be left undisturbed wherever they dwelt,
provided they kept within the bounds of their condition. Thus, by
an easy extension, France secured the right of protection over all
Catholics in the East, and thus over the holy places in Palestine, as
well as over all the edifices of the Church. More than this, the French
flag became the protection for European merchants of other governments
not allied to the Porte by treaties, and, as a matter of fact, every
Christian nation was obliged to seek the protection of the French king
in its trade with Turkey. A third condition was the liberation of
slaves, and the Sultan, on his side, agreed not to enslave the French,
while the King of France granted the same privilege with regard to
Ottomans. The signing of this treaty was in many respects the most
significant event in Turkish history. Probably without any realization
of its ultimate results, the greatest Sultan that Turkey ever had
voluntarily placed limits upon his relation with Christians, and laid
down the principles which have governed Turkey in her foreign treaties
ever since.
Previous to this time the only treaties between the Ottomans and
European powers had been certain commercial treaties with Venice. These
had dated from the first incursions of the Turks into Europe, and in
them Venice was placed upon the footing of a vassal and tributary of
the Sultan. This was done as early as 1408, and tribute varying from
1,600 to 10,000 ducats was paid at different times until the capture of
Constantinople, when peace was purchased by an annual tribute of 36,000
ducats and the sending of a representative to Constantinople, whom the
Turks regarded and treated as a hostage.
The alliance between Turkey and France went through various stages.
At first Francis I seemed not quite to realize the whole bearing of
his alliance with the Turk, and sought to come to terms with Charles
V. The conditions, however, were not acceptable, and the result was
a new alliance, notwithstanding the fact that the ambassador who was
charged with the duty of securing the alliance was assassinated on
the way. Undoubtedly at times the French king was very anxious, for
his new allies seemed to have as much desire for the French coast
as for that of Spain. Still, they were essential almost to his very
existence, and he maintained terms of harmony. After the middle of
the sixteenth century, however, the alliance was merely political. It
had been entered upon on the part of the French in order to limit the
house of Austria; on the part of Turkey for the purpose of attacking
more easily the countries of Europe. The end of the former was obtained
by a treaty, which suspended the struggle with Austria for nearly a
century; and the latter found itself barred by Hungary, Italy and
Spain. The next was a renewal, on the part of Suleiman’s successor, of
the capitulations already made, but with certain modifications rendered
necessary by the developing hostility of Turks for Christians. New
privileges were also added. Every Frenchman settled in the country
was perpetually exempted from the capitation tax; French officers
were allowed to search for French slaves seized by Mussulmans, and to
demand punishment for those who stole or captured them; the Sultan also
engaging to make restitution for such acts of piracy. French ships
were treated kindly, and given assistance in case of running aground
on the shores of Turkey, and the persons and effects of those who were
ship-wrecked were to be respected. The most important of all, perhaps,
was the fact that the French enjoyed to the full the privileges which
the Venetians secured only through payment of tribute. The result was
that France was mistress of the commerce of the Mediterranean, and
she improved the opportunity, so as to establish Catholic missions
with the consent of the Sultan, and convents were located even in
Constantinople. At about this time (1569) Turkey and Russia first
measured their military strength, and Turkey was driven back from the
Don, and a scheme for a ship canal, which should connect the Black Sea
and the Caspian by the Sea of Azof and the Don and Volga, was stopped.
A few years later, in 1577, these privileges were enlarged, so that
France was acknowledged the protector of very nearly all Europeans who
sought to reach the Levant. Her ambassadors had precedence of those
of other Christian lands, and especially of Spain, while Englishmen,
Portuguese and some others were dependant upon the French flag for
protection. England, however, was unwilling to rest in this situation,
and the first ambassador sent by Elizabeth to the Porte obtained
capitulations analogous to those of France, but limited to commerce. He
also sought Turkish aid against Spain, as France had against Austria,
but with less of success, the Sultan caring less about the Spaniards,
who were far away, than the Austrians, who were near at hand. Russia
also in 1786 sent ambassadors with rich presents, and it was scarcely
surprising that the Ottomans were greatly exalted by their victories.
Poland solicited the arrangement of treaties; Venice congratulated
the Sultan upon his success over the Germans; the English ambassador
accompanied him in person in his campaign, and France reconfirmed her
alliance. It was at the close of the sixteenth century that France
was represented at Constantinople by Savary de Brèves, who did for
France what Lord Stratford de Redcliffe did later for England. By the
shrewdest means he gained such influence that a Turkish historian says:
“It very nearly happened that in the house of Islam a veritable
enthusiasm was declared for France by the secret dealings of its
accursed ambassador.”
That influence was powerful in many ways. It prevented the conversion
of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre into a Mosque; turned aside the
Sultan’s anger from the island of Scio; protected the Christian
churches in Constantinople from the attack of the Janissaries, but
found even then that English influence was not easy to overcome. The
British ambassador had succeeded in persuading the Porte that other
nations, which had hitherto come under French auspices, might enjoy
the same privileges under the English flag. Other powers also gained
advantages: Poland secured capitulations, as also the Republic of
Venice; and the United Provinces of the Low Countries obtained for
the first time, in 1612, a treaty similar to those which France and
England enjoyed. The use they made of this was characteristic. The
Dutch introduced the use of tobacco into the empire. In vain did the
priesthood try to oppose the innovation; the soldiers and common people
rose against them and they were compelled to revoke their decision.
It is interesting to note the defense that De Brèves made of the
alliance between France and Turkey against the scruples of his own
countrymen, and the declamations of others, who made this the basis
of an accusation of treason against Christianity. Not only, he said,
were the commercial advantages very great, and the political prestige
most valuable, but Christianity itself was greatly advanced, inasmuch
as it appropriated every sort of merchandise to be gathered from the
East, and was enriched by the accruing wealth. He also dwelt upon the
preservation of the Christian name and of the “Catholic religion.” This
is stated somewhat more fully in another chapter.
French influence, however, suffered after the time of De Brèves
considerable change. This was due primarily to the fact that the
general policy of the Sublime Porte toward the European Governments was
no longer that of war, but of peace, so that this alliance was open to
all. The entrance of other ambassadors brought other influences, and
nations hostile to France used the ignorance of the Turks to further
their own ends. So also France found Turkey of less use than formerly,
finding surer and less dangerous allies in the Protestants of Germany.
Other reasons were the weakness of the Ottoman Sultans, and also the
weakness of the French ambassadors; the former paid no attention to the
capitulations, claiming that they were under no obligations to keep
their word with Christians; the latter, ignorant of the religion, laws
and customs of the Ottomans, had no knowledge of when to waive their
peculiar prejudices, and when to insist upon the preservation of their
rights. This was especially noticeable during the first half of the
seventeenth century, and had its results in serious losses to the Roman
Catholic Church, and the general cause of Christians in the empire.
The reign of Louis XIV was a continued series of intrigues, demands
for renewals of treaties, recriminations against the bad faith of the
Ottomans, support now of the Venetians and then of the Turks; until, in
1670, a more skilful ambassador than France had sent at any time since
De Brèves, secured special favors. The customs duty was reduced, the
King of France recognized as the unique protector of the Catholics of
the East, and above all, French merchandise coming from India given the
through passage by the Red Sea and across Egypt. The French ambassador
regarded Egypt as the true route to India, and after much negotiation
and many threats, in 1673 the new treaty was signed. True, the question
of through passage to India was not mentioned, but private arrangements
with the Pasha of Egypt secured that favor. The treaty, however, was
not destined to have great results. Henceforward the policy of France
was not to advance in cordial relations with her Turkish ally. She
laid down her arms when Turkey commenced war, and Turkey made peace as
soon as France entered upon a campaign. The result was evident in the
development of the house of Austria, and the establishment of the power
of Russia. In marked contrast to the course of France was that taken
by the Poles. Already reference has been made to the effort of Louis
XIV to secure the alliance of Sobieski and allow the Turkish Government
free course in its effort to overpower Austria, and to the Pole’s noble
defense of Austria as the greatest Christian barrier to the spread of
the Moslem power. One result of this action was the establishment of
the Holy Alliance, when Austria, Poland, and Venice commenced the war
against the Sultan, which ended only in the peace of Carlowitz, which
had this chief result--that Turkey was no longer an isolated power, but
closely bound to the interests of Europe.
CHAPTER XI.
RUSSIA AND TURKEY.
Aggression of Peter the Great--Diminution and Renewal of French
Influence--The Contest over the Holy Places--Victory of Russian
Influence in Favor of the Greek Church--Russia’s Religious
Propaganda Among the Greeks--Rise of Phil-Hellenism--Dismemberment
Talked of--Effect of the French Revolution--The Russian Fleet in
the Dardanelles--The English Fleet at Constantinople--Peace of
Tilsit--Plan for Partition--Accession of Mahmud II.
From the Peace of Carlowitz the history of the Turkish Empire is
involved with that of Europe to a degree hitherto unknown. The varied
schemes of ambitious rulers, the influences of popular movements,
were felt even across the Bosporus, and Turkey becoming no longer an
Asiatic but a European power, found itself in a situation singularly
incongruous. There was all the old Ottoman pride, which had its
sharpest illustration in the custom of throwing European ambassadors
into the prison at the Seven Towers whenever there was danger of
hostilities, and there was also that recognition of commercial
relations and need which militated so sharply against the former as
to inevitably result in the decadence of the following centuries.
The eighteenth century opened with considerable diminution of French
influence and with marked aggression on the part of the Czar.
Unfortunately for Turkey the Porte knew little and cared less about the
entrance of this last element, and paid little attention to the efforts
made by Charles XII to stop the advance of Peter the Great. The battle
of Pultowa had a strange result in the reception of the Swedish King
by the Sultan and the combination of his efforts with those of French
ambassadors to secure an alliance against Russia, which, however, would
have failed, probably, had not the Russian fleet appeared. The embassy
of the Czar to counteract their efforts appeared on a squadron which
entered from the Black Sea and cast anchor before the windows of the
Seraglio.
The following years were a kaleidoscope of war and peace, treaty and
aggression; now with Russia, now with Venice and Austria, resulting
in the peace of Passarowitz, in which Peter pledged himself not to
appropriate any part of Poland or to meddle with the government of
its republic, but to make every effort to prevent the sovereignty
and hereditary succession from being attached to its crown. A second
article was the securing of freedom for Russians and Turks to travel
and traffic in all safety in each empire. Pilgrimages to Jerusalem were
to be subjected to no pecuniary exactions and Russian ecclesiastics
throughout the East were to remain unmolested. Thus was taken the first
step toward the dominating power of Russia in the Holy Land, which has
since had so great an effect. The next step was the alliance between
Austria and Russia to secure the ruin of Turkey notwithstanding the
alliance with France. Again treaty was followed by war and war by
treaty, until by the treaty of Belgrade the desert territory of Azof
was to form the boundary between the two empires; commerce on the Black
Sea was to be free, with the condition, however, that the Russians
should only employ Turkish vessels. For this the credit must chiefly be
given to the French ambassador Villeneuve, who restored the prestige
which had fallen low under the successors of De Brèves.
The Frenchman’s next victory was the developing of a treaty of
friendship and commerce into a treaty of alliance, offensive and
defensive, between the Porte and Sweden, for mutual support against
the aggression of Russia. He also, in 1740, secured a formal treaty
of friendship and commerce between France and the Porte, which has
only been renewed once since, in 1802, and which still regulates the
relations of France with the Ottoman Empire. In this the precedence
previously accorded to the representatives of France was renewed and
new privileges given to the French consuls, merchants and traders. A
special rate of duty was extended to every kind of merchandise and
French protegés, as well as Frenchmen themselves, even when wearing
Oriental dress, were granted free access to the States of the Sultan
without payment of a tax. One effect of this general diplomatic
intrigue was to give to Turkey the idea that its friendship was sought
on account of its power, whereas as a matter of fact she had become
weak and was liable to be overborne at any time by one power or the
other. This influenced her to remain neutral during the war of the
Austrian succession, and rendered her blind to the revelations of the
French ambassador as to the encroachments of Russia. That government
had spread its fortifications into every territory which had been
declared neutral, by this means cutting off communication between
the Turks and the Tartars of Southern Russia, as well as usurping a
considerable territory. But all to no avail. The Ottoman preferred
peace and paid little attention to the steps that were being taken
against his power.
Frequent references have been made to the relation of the European
governments, especially France and Russia, to the Holy Places in
Jerusalem. That question became at this time a very important one,
and a brief survey of the situation will be in place. The possession
of these places was disputed between the Latins, the Greeks and
the Armenians. The Moslem law recognized no one of them as having
exclusive rights, but held that each communion might enter and
observe its ceremonies. To one, however, there was accorded a certain
primacy, involved in the keeping of the keys, repairing the edifices,
maintaining them at their own cost, lighting them, and having general
care for them. This privilege was accorded primarily by the Porte to
the French ambassador, according to the firman given in 1564:
“The keys of the doors of the said place (the grotto in which Jesus
Christ was born) are in the hands of the Franks, and pass successively
from one to the other of those among them who arrive at Jerusalem, and
that, as well before as since the taking of that city by the Sultan
Selim I, up to the present date, without having passed into other hands
than theirs. It is they who open to those of the Mussulmans or of the
Christians who dwell in, or who come to Jerusalem, and who desire to
visit that place (the grotto). There is no record that they have ceased
to possess the said keys, nor that any one has contested with them
for their possession, and has dispossessed them of the keys. They are
in constant and uninterrupted possession of them from the most remote
times up to the day of the date of the present act. Consequently, the
under-mentioned judge has confirmed the possession of the keys of the
said places in the hands of the Frank nation.”
Later, in 1620, another firman has the following:
“The Franks, ancient exclusive possessors of the Great Church of
Bethlehem and the Church of the Tomb of the Virgin, have, of their full
accord, granted to each of the other Christian communions sanctuaries
in the Superior Church; but the inferior portion, the place wherein
Jesus Christ was born (may salvation rest with him!) is the sanctuary
of the Frankish monks; no other nation has any right therein, and it
is forbidden to each and every nation to usurp hereafter the said
place.... We order that no individual be permitted, Armenian or other,
to say mass in the place where Jesus Christ was born, a place situate
underneath the Church of Bethlehem, no more than in the cupola, which
is called the tomb of Jesus Christ; neither in the interior of the tomb
of the Holy Virgin; nor finally in the sanctuaries which, from the old
time, belonged to the Frankish monks.”
In 1633 a still more explicit firman states:
... “To-day the Frankish monks came to produce the titles which are
in their hands. We have examined them, and have recognized that they
were ancient and authentic papers. They prove that all the places above
mentioned, as well as the possession of the three doors of the grotto
of Bethlehem, and the keys of those doors, belonged exclusively to the
Frankish monks since the conquest of Jerusalem by the Calif Omar, and
that at the epoch at which Selim I made himself master of those Holy
Places, that a large number of localities have remained, as before, in
the hands of the same Frankish monks. We order that the Franks have,
as anciently, the possession and enjoyment of the grotto situate at
Bethlehem, and known under the name of the Crib of Jesus Christ, upon
which the Greeks have seized, as it is said, to the detriment of the
Frankish monks, by fraud, and by producing false titles; that they
have the possession and enjoyment of the keys of the three doors,
north, south and west, of the said grotto, and of two small gardens
which belong to it; that they may have again, and in the said manner
which they have had from all time, the enjoyment and possession of the
_stone of unction_, situate in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the
vaults of Calvary, the seven arches situate below Saint Mary, the two
cupolas, great and small, which cover over the tomb of Jesus Christ;
that they may have, besides the enjoyment and possession, whether at
Jerusalem of the tomb of St. Mary or monastery called Deir-al-Amoud,
with its belongings and dependencies, or whether in the village of
Nazareth, of the churches and monasteries; in a word, of all the
places of which, up to the present day, they have had uncontested
possession; that henceforth neither the Greeks nor the Armenians, nor
any other Christian nation, trouble or disquiet them, or cause them to
be troubled or disquieted; ... that always, in the said places, and
chiefly in Calvary, the Frankish monks may exercise their worship at
their will and as in the past; that they may place therein, as before,
candles and torches, without any one hindering them; that in the
exercise of their worship, the prefect of the Frankish monks have, as
in the past, precedence over all the monks of other nations, provided
that they pay the tribute desired by ancient custom (about £800).”
Notwithstanding these, the Greeks succeeded in forcibly taking away
the power from the Latins within a year after this last firman, but
forty years later were obliged to yield. Then followed a series of
intrigues in which the Moslem Governors of Damascus and Jerusalem were
bribed by one party or the other to favor them. This resulted in 1676
in giving to the Greeks the keys, carpets and lamps of the sanctuaries
on condition of paying annually the rent of 1000 piasters for the
income of the mosque of Sultan Ahmet in Constantinople. In 1690,
however, this judgment was reversed, and in 1718, in the treaty of
Belgrade, the only stipulation by Russia was that the Russians should
have the right of making pilgrimages to Palestine without molestation
or payment of ransom. The capitulations of 1740 solemnly confirmed
the rights of France, and peace seemed established. But again, 17
years later, some Greek pilgrims pillaged the Catholic monastery at
Jaffa, assailed the monks and the Catholics in the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, broke the lamps and scattered the ornaments; and, then
having purchased at a heavy price, various affidavits, proclaimed to
the Turkish Government the interruption of their worship by the Latins.
They found means of securing the favor of the Grand Vizier, and a Hatti
Sherif followed, which drove the Latins from the Church of the Virgin,
and from that at Bethlehem, and placed under the special care and
protection of the Greeks the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and several
other sanctuaries.
Russia’s next move was to start a religious propaganda in the Greek
provinces of Turkey. Peter III had sent zealous emissaries among them,
one of whom, a Greek of Thessaly, an artillery officer in the Russian
service, traversed the shores of the Adriatic, Thessaly and the Morea;
another, a monk, went through Servia and Croatia. He said to the
Sultan’s subjects that neither Germany or Hungary could do anything
for them; France was careless, Poland helpless; Russia alone cared for
them, and was willing to help them; she alone belonged to the orthodox
church. Stirred by these harangues, the Christians of Albania, Servia
and Montenegro arose, but too early for Russian movements, and the
insurrection was of no avail. The emissary to the Morea found greater
difficulty. A bishop promised to raise 100,000 Greeks at the approach
of the Russians, but a mountain chief refused to be seduced by flattery
or yield to the threats. He gloried in his chieftainship of a free
people, and said to the Russian that he was still a slave; if Russia
cared to come as an ally, he would take up arms on condition of the
war being pushed until the Turks were driven out. A third emissary
went among the Rumanian provinces, but the Moldo-Wallachians achieved
nothing more by an insurrection than the pillaging of a few Turkish
villages, and the only result of the three movements was to deprive the
Christian merchants of their wealth, which was sent to Constantinople
to insure their loyalty, and to raise a suspicion against all
Christians on the part of the Porte. The intrigues of Russia, however,
continued and there was over the whole empire a sense of uneasiness.
The French ministers did their best to stir the Turks against Russia,
but the ministry were either too weak or too lazy, and held off for
a time. At last war was again declared, and the Empress Catherine
despatched her fleet from the Baltic. The French ambassador called the
Turks’ attention to this and received in reply the expression:
“Tell us how ships can get from St. Petersburg to Constantinople?”
At the same time, 1769, Voltaire was trying to stir the spirit of
Phil-Hellenism, in Germany and Russia. Already he urged the partition
of Turkey and the restoration of the Greeks to independence. Fleets
were fitted out; England approved the project; the Morea arose, but
there was no general plan. The Russians withdrew and the Morea was
terribly devastated. Similar results followed renewed movements in
the Danubian Principalities; but the Turkish fleet was defeated at
Tchesmeh and the army on the Danube, and Russia appeared predominant.
Then came the mediation of Austria, and England offered assistance,
which, however, was refused by the Turks, partly under the influence
of France, who was anxious to use the newly developing disturbances
in America to help her in her opposition to England. There were
leagues and counter-leagues from Austria and Russia, with bargains
for Wallachia, Moldavia, Bosnia and Dalmatia, the Turkish Government
developing its since famous principle of sowing discord among the
European powers that thereby it might gain strength.
The next step of importance was the Congress of Bucharest, when the
Czarina sent in her demands for freedom of navigation in the Black
Sea, in the Archipelago for ships of war and merchant vessels, the
right of protection of the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire, and various
other things, all of which, however, were indignantly rejected by the
Turks, who went to war and gained marked success. This, however, was
followed by the treaty of Kainardji, in 1774, when Russia received
the protectorate over the Danubian Provinces, over the Christians
of Turkey, and was henceforth to be the “oracle of the diplomatic
negotiations pursued by the Porte; the arbiter of peace or war, the
soul of the most important affairs of the empire.” French influence
received a mortal blow in gaining a rival in the protectorate of the
Christians, who by having advantage of position, race and origin, could
be no longer baffled. England, too, had been made a fool of and her
influence was at a low ebb.
The Russians followed up their advantage by intriguing anew in the
Danubian Provinces, but came again in contact with Austria, whom the
French king sought to stir up to extend her territory in proportion
as Russia extended hers. Very little, however, was gained and Russia
secured the sovereignty of the Crimea, fresh rights over the Black
Sea, and seemed in the way to accomplish the project of a new Eastern
Empire, which had already been set forth by Catherine. England
meanwhile had her hands busy with America and paid little attention to
Eastern affairs until her Western task was finished, when she again
entered the lists, endeavoring to drive Turkey to war with Russia.
In this she succeeded and again came talk of dismemberment. Russia’s
advance along the Danube compelled England to act more positively in
aid of Turkey, when the French Revolution broke out and turned every
one’s attention, except that of Russia, away from Turkey. Then came the
treaty of Jassy, in 1792, when the Danubian Principalities ceased to be
recognized as Turkish Provinces.
The first result of the French Revolution was the war of the allied
monarchs to restore the house of Bourbon, and in this as hitherto
entered the question of Turkey. England as well as the rest sought to
induce the Porte to break with France, and to this end endeavored to
secure some concessions from Russia. The Porte, however, preserved its
neutrality and continued to extend its protection to French commercial
interests. Its increasing weakness, however, led Europe to believe
that the empire was fast approaching dissolution. This also was the
opinion of France, and Napoleon, looking forward to taking a part in
dismemberment, planned for the leading part to belong to himself. The
French ambassador at Constantinople advised the renunciation of the
alliance with the Porte and the appropriation of the provinces escaping
from its rule. Accordingly, with this came the invasion of Egypt and
the sudden disillusion on the part of the Turks of the value of the
French alliance. England, Russia and Austria profited by this to arouse
French opposition, and at last war was declared, the result of which
was the ruin of French influence in the Levant and an alliance between
the Porte and Russia, the admission of the Russian fleet into the
Dardanelles and the treaty of Constantinople, by which the two powers
mutually guaranteed each other’s possessions, including Egypt. To this
Great Britain acceded.
In the peace of Amiens England desired to bind the Porte as a
contracting party, but Napoleon persisted in a separate peace with
Turkey, and sought to gain favor by evacuating Egypt and restoring
the original situation. On the other hand, the capitulations of 1740
were renewed with new articles, recognizing the incontestable right
of French vessels in the Black Sea. Napoleon’s ambition for Eastern
conquest continued, and it was not long before the peace of Amiens was
broken through the re-establishment of French relations with Turkey
and the refusal of England to give up Malta and of Russia to give up
the Ionian Islands, where they had placed a garrison. Then followed
various concessions and accessions accompanied by considerable dread
on the part of the Turks of the new French power, until the battle of
Austerlitz made him appear a most desirable ally.
Meanwhile the Turkish Government had so thoroughly left Servia to
the brigands and the Janissaries that in despair they resolved to
strike for independence, and called for the protection and support
of Russia. Similarly Rumania thought to lean upon France for its
independence, and the general result was a rupture of the peace and the
occupation by Russia of Wallachia and Moldavia. Napoleon sent aid to
the Porte and urged the fortification of the Straits. Then the English
ambassador made strong demands, calling for the expulsion of the French
ambassador, the concession of the Danubian Provinces to Russia, the
giving up of the Turkish fleet to England, as well as of the forts and
batteries of the Dardanelles, and threatened an expedition against
Constantinople. Already the Russian fleet was at the island of Tenedos,
when it was joined by the British admiral, who, taking advantage of
a favorable wind and a feast of Bairam, forced the passage of the
Dardanelles, burned the Turkish fleet near Gallipoli and anchored off
the Princes’ Islands.
Sharp conditions were sent demanding the dismissal of the French
ambassador, the renewal of alliance between England and Russia, free
passage of the straits and the surrender of the Turkish navy. The
Frenchman, however, did not lose courage. He pointed out that the wind
was no longer favorable and that it would not be difficult to defend
the city. Encouraging messages came from Napoleon, and meanwhile
the English ambassador, thinking himself secure, occupied himself
with negotiations instead of taking action. The result was that,
notwithstanding summons after summons from the fleet, the Turkish
defense was complete and the English ships had to withdraw through
the Dardanelles. Then came the sudden deposition of Sultan Selim by
a revolution of the Yamaks, which disgusted Napoleon and undoubtedly
influenced him in arranging the peace of Tilsit, which was concluded,
to the complete abandonment of Turkey by France. It was stipulated that
hostilities should cease between Turkey and Russia, after an armistice
concluded in the presence of a French commissioner; but a secret
article made still more apparent the policy of France, in which it was
declared that in case the mediation of France was not accepted she
would make common cause with Russia against the Ottoman Porte, withdraw
all the Turkish provinces, in Europe, from its rule, with the exception
of Constantinople and province of Rumelia. From correspondence it is
gathered that the partition would have been as follows: France to have
Bosnia, Albania, Epirus, all Greece, Thessaly and Macedonia; Austria to
have Servia; Russia to have Wallachia, Moldavia, Bulgaria and Thrace,
as far as the Maritza. The French mediation was accepted, but definite
arrangements could not be secured. English intrigues interrupted, but
before any definite result could be achieved another Sultan had been
deposed and Mahmud II came to the throne.
[Illustration:
GENERAL VIEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE from the heights above Scutari on the
Asiatic shore. Immediately in front is the harbor opening into the
Golden Horn and the Bosporus on the right and into the Sea of Marmora
on the left. The two prominent mosques in the city are, on the left
hand Sultan Achmet, and on the right hand St. Sophia. On the extreme
right is the fire tower. The point of the city is occupied by the
gardens of the Seraglio.]
[Illustration: VIEW OF ADRIANOPLE, IN EUROPEAN TURKEY.]
CHAPTER XII.
MAHMUD II.
A Disintegrating Empire--An Energetic Sultan--Napoleon
and Alexander--Lord Stratford de Redcliffe--Greek War
for Independence--Russia’s Perfidy--Destruction of the
Janissaries--Reforms Attempted--Mehemet Ali of Egypt--Accession of
Abd-ul-Medjid.
The general situation at the commencement of the reign of Mahmud II is
thus clearly described by Sir Stratford Canning:
“The state of Turkey itself was anything but satisfactory in view
of those powers who did not wish the Porte to become the prey either
of Russia or of France. Both morally and materially the empire was
bordering on decrepitude. The old political system of Turkey had worn
itself out. The population was not yet prepared for the new order
of things. A depreciated currency, a disordered revenue, a mutinous
militia, dilapidated fortresses, a decreasing population, a stagnant
industry, and general misrule, were the monuments which time had left
of Ottoman domination in the second capital of the Roman Empire, and
throughout those extensive regions which had been the successive seats
of civilization, ever varying, generally advancing, from the earliest
periods of social settlement and historical tradition. A continual and
often a sanguinary antagonism of creeds, of races, of districts and
authorities within the frontier, and frequent wars of little glory and
much loss with the neighboring powers, had formed of late the normal
condition of the Porte’s dominions.
“Russia, France, Austria, and even Persia, had by turns contracted
the area and drained the resources of the empire. From the corrupt
monotony of his seraglio, the Sultan had to send forth his firmans,
his emissaries, his bands of irregular soldiery, or, it might be,
his naval armaments, against an invading enemy, a rebellious chief,
or an armed insurrection. Several great families, several unsubdued
tribes, and here and there an overpowerful pasha, had succeeded in
braving and circumscribing the imperial authority. The Mamelukes still
prevailed in Egypt. The most important part of Syria was under the
sway of a Christian Emir. Ali Pasha of Janina exercised royal power
in the provinces bordering on Greece, and Greece itself, excited by
Russia, was preparing to burst the fetters which had so long bound
her to the Ottoman throne. Servia, Montenegro, and the Danubian
Principalities were all more or less in league with Russia, and the
Porte, at war with that formidable power, had everything to apprehend
from the Russian forces concentrated upon her northern frontier.
The Sultan’s fleet was manned with Christian Greeks from the island
population of the Archipelago; the Barbary Powers were scarcely even in
nominal dependence on the Porte; and a sect of Mohammedans, called the
Wahhabis, and having a kind of analogy with our Puritans, had hoisted a
separate standard of religious belief in parts of Egypt and Arabia.”
Mahmud II was unquestionably the greatest monarch of the Osmanli
dynasty from Suleiman the Magnificent, 1566, to his enthronement. He
escaped assassination at the dethronement of Mustapha IV by concealment
in an old oven, and was called from dust and ashes to be girded with
the sword of Osman. He was then, by the death of Selim III and Mustapha
IV, the only heir of the throne. The Janissaries killed his faithful
and able grand vizier, who was bent upon reforming them, but Mahmud
was sacred even to them. He then resolved upon their destruction, for
sixteen years was slowly working towards it, and then the stroke fell
upon them like a thunderbolt, and they were no more.
He saw his empire going to ruin in every possible direction, and
enemies multiplying on every hand.
Napoleon and Alexander studied many schemes of dividing up the Turkish
Empire, but in every scheme Russia was to have Constantinople and the
Dardanelles, and to this France would never agree, and the whole scheme
of division fell through. In a few years Moscow was in flames to drive
out Napoleon, and France had twice been occupied by foreign armies,
while Constantinople remained intact.
Mahmud had plans of reform in all departments of government, and he,
first of all the Sultans of his dynasty, saw not merely the political
necessity of friendly relations with the Christian nations, but the
advantage to his own government of modeling his army and navy after
them. In 1809 he made a treaty with England to the disgust of the other
powers. In 1810 he had many bloody battles with the Russians on the
Danube, in which he lost Silistria and other valuable positions. But
the plans of Napoleon troubled Russia, and she was glad to make peace
with Turkey and withdraw her forces for other uses, giving up Silistria
and other places.
By the treaty of Bucharest, 1812, Moldavia and Wallachia were given
back to the Sultan. Servia, also, after a most devoted struggle
for freedom, was coldly surrendered to the Turks, who occupied the
fortresses and renewed their tyranny. A Servian historian accuses
Russia of this base abandonment for the purpose of finding, at some
future time, an occasion for intervention.
In the treaty of Bucharest, Sir Stratford Canning (quoted above), a
young man of twenty-three, first displayed that remarkable insight
and skill which made him during his long career the greatest diplomat
England has produced. France was earnestly seeking an alliance with
Turkey. Russia was disposed to peace because she had 22,000 of her
choicest troops on the Danube, which a favorable peace would enable her
to withdraw. Canning showed the Turks clearly the dangers they would
incur by mingling in the contests of France and Russia. All parties
acknowledged the consummate skill with which he cleared away objections
and effected a treaty useful to Turkey, Russia and England.
The embarrassment of the Sultan increased on every side, and his
reign became a struggle for existence rather than for reform. The
rebellious Janissaries were always a thorn in his side, but in Egypt
the Mamelukes were far worse than the Janissaries. The Wahabites had
raised a powerful insurrection in Arabia and would dominate the sacred
cities. Greece was also threatening rebellion, but, worst of all,
England, France, Austria and Russia were pressing upon him conflicting
claims which might result in war. The Ulema, the whole power of the
Mosques, were against all reforms, all innovations, and they backed
up the Janissaries in their rebellions. He faced all his enemies with
unflinching resolution. He committed to Mehemet Ali of Egypt the work
of subduing the Mamelukes and Wahabites. He performed his work with an
energy and success that amazed the world. The Sultan soon understood
that if two enemies had been destroyed, one had come forward more
powerful and dangerous than the two, one who was destined to wreck the
empire but for the intervention of Europe.
It was about this time that the famous _hetæria_ arose, an association
destined to have great influence among the Greeks, and to play an
important part in Greek independence. The Greeks, like most of the
Christians under Turkish rule, accepted that authority so long as
it did not affect their religion and general customs. Certain ones,
however, proved recalcitrant. Some mountaineers took refuge in the
rough country back from the coast of the Archipelago, and rivaled the
bandits of Macedonia, Servia and Sicily. Others turning to commerce,
sought to get the better of their Moslem rulers by shrewdness of
intellect. They profited by the struggle in the Mediterranean between
France and England, and under cover of the Turkish flag acquired great
commercial strength, owning, in 1815, 600 vessels. They sent their
children abroad, and established schools everywhere on the Islands of
the Archipelago, in Asia Minor and even in Constantinople. A few of
these men joined in a company called the _hetæria_, or association,
founded for the purpose of propagating religious instruction and the
publication of religious books. They claimed to have the support of
the Prime Minister of Russia, and secured the alliance of the chief
brigands of the Pindus, the head men of the interior Greek communities,
the merchants of the Archipelago and the heads of the Mainotes of the
Morea who had proved impervious to Russian advances. Their one object
was the independence of Greece, and they seized the opportunity offered
by the revolt of the famous Ali Pasha of Janina to make a strike for
that independence.
Ali Pasha, who had long had more or less intimate relations with
these Greeks, summoned them to his aid and proclaimed himself
their protector. They hesitated, but influenced by the report that
the Turkish Government had decided upon the extermination of the
Christians, joined hands with the Albanians, and Marco Bozzaris became
the ally of the “Lion of Janina.” In 1826 came the outrages at Patras
and Seres, and soon there was insurrection from the Danube to the Gulf
of Corinth. Russia again failed the very people who relied upon her,
the Sultan’s Government decreed the disarmament and massacre of the
Greeks, hung the Patriarch at the door of his palace in Constantinople,
and on Easter Day three archbishops, and eighty bishops, exarchs
and archimandrites shared his fate. Through Thrace, Macedonia and
Thessaly the massacre spread, peaceable and defenseless Greeks were
pillaged or slain, churches were destroyed, and women and children
were dragged into slavery. In Greece, however, and in Albania, Ali
Pasha and Ypsilanti held the Turks in check, captured several places,
and retorted upon the Moslems the terrors of massacre. Then came
treason, and Ali Pasha fell, but Greece refused to yield. The Turks
in fury avenged themselves on Scio, which had taken no part in the
insurrection, and out of 100,000 inhabitants scarcely 900 were left. It
was scarcely surprising that reprisals followed such a massacre, but
the utmost done by them was little in comparison with the atrocities
which the Christians of the whole empire had endured.
The insurrection went on. Appeals were made to the Christian nations
of Europe, and delegates sent to a Congress which met at Verona.
The great purpose of that Congress being, however, to stifle the
insurrections of Italy and Spain, it could hardly be expected to help
Greece. They even invited the Sultan to membership in the Congress.
Everywhere, however, there was popular enthusiasm. In France, England,
and Germany, societies of Phil-hellenes were formed, and America
lifted her voice in support of this effort for freedom. Many arms
and munitions were sent to the aid of the Greeks, and many men came
to share their fortunes, Lord Byron, Colonel Fabvier, Count Rosa and
others. The Greeks, however, could not agree among themselves, and
internal dissensions, including even war, prevented their securing the
results of their victories. The Turks profited by their misfortunes,
and weakened the power of the Greeks till Missolonghi fell and Athens
and Nauplia alone remained. The Greeks were almost disheartened, and
turned to England for help. What Sir Stratford Canning felt is evident
from the following extract from his Memoirs.
“In the port of Ipsera we gathered cruel evidence of what war is when
kindled by the antipathies of race and creed. It was little more than
dawn when we anchored before the town. The houses had every appearance
of undisturbed repose, and the early hour sufficed to account for the
want of movement in the streets. The admiral’s steward went ashore
with the full expectation of finding a market well stocked with all
the objects he required. Imagine his surprise when the truth broke
upon him. A death-silence indoors as well as without, not a voice, not
a footstep, not an inhabitant; the town was a mere shell, plausible
to the eye, but utterly void of life. Later in the day a party of us
landed with our guns and strayed among the vineyards in search of game.
At one spot near the coast we came upon a piteous sight, the bones of
many who had preferred a voluntary death to captivity, when their homes
became the prey of a Turkish squadron. Mothers in horror and despair
had slaughtered their children on the cliff, and thrown themselves
over on their bodies which had already found a resting-place below.
Scarcely less horrible than this scene of death was the apparition of
two survivors from the interior of the island. Worn nearly to skeletons
by fear and anguish and famine, the very types of hopeless misery,
with haggard eyes and loathsome beards, and tattered rags by way of
clothing, they told without language the history of their sufferings.
Heavens! how I longed to be the instrument of repairing such calamities
by carrying my mission of peace and deliverance to a successful issue!”
He, however, could not do much, as Russia refused to join heartily.
Mahmud persisted in forcing subjugation. Athens fell and at last a
sort of agreement was reached by which the Greeks gained somewhat.
Then came the battle of Navarino, when the Allied fleets under the
lead of the British Admiral repelled an attack by the Turks which
resulted in the destruction of the Turkish fleet. The responsibility
perhaps rested with the turbulent Ibrahim Pasha, but the inevitable
result was war with Russia which ended in the Treaty of Adrianople, by
which the independence of Greece was assured, although the completely
organized kingdom was not established for a few years. During the
negotiations between the five powers, which resulted in the coronation
of King Otho, Russian influence was predominant, but had to submit
to much of hostility from the people, who could not forget the way
in which they had been now encouraged, then left in the lurch by the
Monarch of the North. In the meantime the Sultan was training under
European drill-masters a body of 14,000 artillery for the destruction
of the Janissaries. When his arrangements were complete and he felt he
could trust the commander of the artillery, “Black Hell,” he obtained
from the Grand Council of State an order sanctioned by a fetva of the
Sheik-ul-Islam, requiring each company of the Janissaries to furnish
so many of their number to the artillery. It was rejected with scorn.
They turned their soup kettles upside down and beat upon them in sign
of rebellion. The palace gates were shut and they could not get at the
Sultan. The batteries were ready in barges on the Asiatic side and soon
to the consternation of the Janissaries every street leading from the
barracks was swept by shot and shell as soon as they appeared. They
made desperate rallies, but grape cut them down. The remnant retired
to their barracks to defend themselves to the last. “Black Hell” had
no intention to give them any chance to fight. He shelled the barracks
till he set them on fire and not a man escaped. The joy of the people
was unbounded. The Janissaries had become a terror to Moslems as well
as Christians. Their robberies and murders knew no law. The smaller
bodies scattered through the cities were hunted down like wild beasts,
the corps abolished and all its standards and emblems destroyed.
Mahmud was now, 1826, free to institute reforms. He resolved to have
a cabinet of prominent ministers, each of whom should be responsible
for his department, and to model his government after that of England.
He felt keenly the loss of Greece and the destruction of his fleet,
but did not abate one jot of his eagerness for reform. He had 40,000
soldiers under the discipline of the young Moltke, afterwards so
distinguished in German history. Russia caring little for Greece, but
never losing sight of Constantinople, saw her opportunity, came down
upon him with demands that stirred his wrath, but he was powerless
and she forced upon him the treaty of Akkerman with many stipulations
injurious to Turkey, such as increased privileges for the Danubian
Principalities and free passage of the straits.
After the destruction of the Janissaries and of the Turkish fleet
and the loss of Greece, Russia regarded Turkey as an easy prey, and
the next step by the Czar was to send into Bulgaria in 1828 an army
which he believed would march triumphantly across the Balkans, through
Eastern Rumelia to Constantinople. But the Turks fought with such
enthusiasm that the campaign of 1828 was a failure.
In 1829 Diebitsch crossed the Balkan with some hard fighting and came
down upon Adrianople, which he took with ease. A most destructive
cholera or plague was decimating his army, and if the Turks had only
maintained their positions two weeks longer Diebitsch would have had no
force left. He played a high game of bluff, declared he had 50,000 men
and that he would march immediately upon the city. The ambassadors all
joined in beseeching the Sultan to save his capital, which he did by an
indemnity of £5,000,000. When he found out the deception, and that the
Russian army was chiefly beneath the soil, his chagrin was so bitter
that he shut himself up, and for a whole week his officers could not
see him. The result was the Treaty of Adrianople, which added to the
previous agreements the demand for a heavy war indemnity to Russia.
The indemnity, which was manfully paid, swept off the gold and silver
of the empire, and Mahmud substituted a base coin of the same numerical
value, a kind of “fiat money” which was thought at first to be a grand
invention, but which played the mischief with commerce and with the
finances generally.
Undaunted by all these reverses he rebuilt his navy, employing one
American, Mr. Eckford, and his foreman, Mr. Rhodes, who produced some
of the most noble vessels of war then afloat.
He introduced reforms in the civil administration which were welcomed
by the people; the rajahs were treated with a justice and consideration
that was new to them. Many Armenians were introduced into offices never
before given to rajahs. One Armenian was at the head of the mint,
another was the Sultan’s architect and another chief of his powder
works and most of the construction of arms, and another was collector
of the port. The latter was a man of remarkable capacity, a friend
of learning and a good friend of the first American missionaries.
Could Mahmud have had a decade of peace after the destruction of the
Janissaries and the peace with Greece, with his iron will and wonderful
energy he might have brought up the old empire into some degree of
health and vigor. England had begun to favor his reforms; France was
friendly; but Russia and Austria were bent upon his ruin.
Another danger threatened the Sultan. Among the men sent to join
the Turkish contingent in Egypt in their contest with the French in
1801 was a young Albanian named Mehemet Ali. During the two years
that followed he gained increasing influence among the Albanians and
when soon there came a conflict between them and the Turks he took
the position of leader, and at last succeeded in securing a firman
of investiture as Pasha of Egypt. He was ambitious and successful,
advancing his arms until he secured the west coast of Arabia, and
although acknowledging the Sultan as Suzerain became, with his son
Ibrahim, a cause of much anxiety. It was Ibrahim who brought on the
battle of Navarino, and once feeling his power he did not hesitate
to use it, and the next step was to claim independence. The Egyptian
forces conquered Syria, Mahmud’s forces were defeated at Konieh and
there seemed nothing to prevent his march to Constantinople. Mahmud
sought in vain the intervention of England. He had next to turn to his
great enemy, Russia, who immediately landed an army on the Asiatic
shore of the Bosporus. England bit her lips too late. Russia had
eagerly seized the opportunity which England had slighted.
Thus Ibrahim’s course was stopped and he had to turn back. The treaty
of Hunkiar Iskelessi, July 8, 1833, was an offensive and defensive
alliance between Turkey and Russia, which closed the Dardanelles to
other powers and gave the right of intervening against the interior and
exterior enemies of the Porte. Some places of importance were yielded
to Mehemet Ali, who became an increasingly important factor even in
European politics. He had his eye on Bagdad and an arrangement by which
he should at least be Grand Vizier, perhaps Sultan.
With all these difficulties, Mahmud, unsubdued, continued his reforms,
and began to lean more upon England as opposed to Russia. He had
again a fleet and a disciplined army when again the great Viceroy of
Egypt rebelled. Mahmud was dying of consumption. One who saw him two
weeks before his death said that he had the looks of a caged eagle,
his spirit unsubdued. He sent his fleet against Alexandria, and his
army against Ibrahim. The fleet was basely betrayed into the hands
of Mehemet Ali, and the army was badly beaten at Nezib, near the
Euphrates. Mahmud died before the terrible news reached the capital.
Abd-ul-Medjid was girded with the sword of Osman, July, 1839. A
convention between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia and Turkey
settled the affairs of Egypt and the Porte; in 1840 Mehemet Ali became
the hereditary viceroy, and was compelled to give up all the places he
had won. Indeed, the English navy had driven him out of all the ports
on the Syrian coast. He was to pay one-fourth of his revenue to the
Porte and acknowledge the suzerainty of the Sultan.
The young Sultan was inducted into his high office with unexampled
splendor. He had fully imbibed from his father the spirit of reform,
and a set of young men of marked ability had been educated in England
and France to co-operate with him. He had nothing of the lion-like
character of his father, but he had what his father never had, able and
faithful coadjutors. Fuad, Aali, Midhat, Ahmed Vefyk Pashas did honor
to his reign, and in part to his successors. His commander-in-chief,
Omar Pasha, was a man of great military skill and genius, and of
sound judgment. He kept European Turkey quiet in spite of Russian
revolutionists. But from 1842 to 1856 the controlling power was
unquestionably the English Ambassador, Sir Stratford Canning, better
known as Lord Stratford De Redcliffe.
Russia was having her own way, and the English Ambassador, Ponsonby,
was merely a nobleman of vast wealth. He could make a splendid show.
He had the finest “turn out” of any ambassador; beyond that he had
nothing. Canning had been three times at the Ottoman court, and he knew
the ropes when he came in 1842. The Czar hated and feared him, and he
feared if he did not hate the Czar. There were now to be fourteen years
of the most indefatigable labor to regenerate the Turkish Empire, and
equal effort on the Russian side to prevent and upset all Canning’s
plans. But the Czar had no man of such mighty personality to match him.
He recalled De Boutineff and sent Litoff.
Lord Stratford interested himself in everything that pertained to
the general welfare of the empire, especially in the betterment of
the situation of the Christians. He was greatly pleased with the
promulgation of the Hatti Sherif of Gulhané (described in the chapter
on the condition of the Christians), and was a cordial friend to the
missionaries. He also was interested in archæology. He obtained for
young Layard (Sir Austen Henry Layard) a firman for those researches
in Nineveh which gave him the name of Nineveh Layard. This was done at
Canning’s personal expense. He obtained from the Sultan the personal
gift of the frieze of the Mausoleum of Artemisia, at Budrum, and
presented the seventeen slabs, weighing twenty tons, to the British
Museum. One of his great diplomatic triumphs was obtained against the
united power of Austria and Russia, when the Hungarian Revolution
failed, and Kossuth and his three hundred companions fled to Turkey.
Every house, native and foreign, was opened to them. Russia and Austria
demanded that they be surrendered. It was an anxious time until the
Sultan’s reply came, that he would sooner surrender his throne than
give up any one who had fled to him for shelter. Both embassies
declared this equivalent to a declaration of war, pulled down their
flags, covered with black the national signs and monograms on the
ambassadorial buildings, and departed in a rout of warlike pomp.
England and France assured the Sultan of their support, and the proud
ambassadors had to come back and be laughed at. Russia and Austria
would not meet England, France and Turkey in a new war for the pleasure
and privilege of housing those few refugees.
The returned ambassadors tried every means to persecute the brave men,
but Canning met them at every point and baffled them. It is not strange
that Russian newspapers lavished ink upon Sir Stratford Canning, or
that they regarded him as the Arch Fiend of diplomacy.
CHAPTER XIII.
REFORMS AND PROGRESS.
Reign of Abd-ul-Medjid--Influence of Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe--English Policy in Turkey--Haiti Sherif of Gulhané--A
Remarkable Document--Equal Rights for all Subjects of the
Sultan--Land Tax and Judicial Reform--General Situation of the
Country--Application of the Reforms.
Abd-ul-Medjid was a man of entirely different type from his father.
He had little of that clear foresight and determined will which made
Mahmud throw aside turban and kaftan, and assume the European dress,
retaining only the fez as the distinguishing mark of his Turkish race;
study a French book of tactics and learn to ride his horse like an
English dragoon instead of a Tartar courier. He had, however, what
Mahmud lacked, able assistants. Under the general instruction of Mahmud
there had grown up some young men who realized as he did the absolute
necessity of change in the conduct of the Turkish Government, if it
was to hope for strength in comparison with the European forces, and
Abd-ul-Medjid had the judgment and tact to call them into his councils.
He was fortunate, too, in having through a considerable part of his
reign, the presence and counsel of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, and
the famous Englishman threw himself heart and soul into the effort to
establish the Turkish Empire upon such a basis of reform as should
make it an efficient ally of Western Europe in its effort to resist
the aggressions of the tremendous power of Russia, which was not only
menacing more and more the peace of Europe, but threatening to spread
over it the pall of its own barbarism.
Lord Stratford recognized very clearly the nature of the men he had
to deal with and the problem which faced him. In a private letter he
wrote: “Very false notions are entertained in England of the Turkish
nation. You know much better than I do the mighty resources and native
wealth which this enormous empire possesses. I am myself a daily
witness of the personal qualities of the inhabitants, qualities which
if properly directed are capable of sustaining them against a world of
enemies. But the government is radically bad, and its members, who are
all alive to its defects, have neither the wisdom nor the courage to
reform it. The few who have courage equal to the task know not how to
reconcile reformation with the prejudices of the people. And without
this, nothing can be effected.” Therefore he set himself, with all his
skill and energy, to the work of reconciling the needed reformation
with the prejudices of the people. The diplomatic course of England has
been singularly ill-advised, even though perfectly natural. Realizing
the nature of the terrible oppression of the Turkish Government,
especially as manifested in the condition of the Greeks, but blind
to the scarcely, if any, less terrible oppression of the Russian
Government, as manifested in those interior provinces, which were
later to be photographed to the world by Eugene Schuyler, Macdonald
and George Kennan, she and France joined hands with Russia in such a
way as to give Russian influence an enormous prestige. The result was
that the genuine enthusiasm for reform which filled Mahmud’s mind was
chilled, and more than that, he was discredited among his own people.
Another blunder was the yielding to French influence in permitting
the power of Mehemet Ali to increase in Egypt, so that he could
overrun Syria and Asia Minor. Against both of them Lord Stratford had
protested; not because he lacked sympathy for the Greeks, but because
he saw more clearly than others that to weaken Mahmud was to weaken the
only available means of checking that Russian aggression and tyranny
which threatened to crush out all idea of development. Turkish tyranny
was bad, but Russian tyranny was worse in his eyes; because in the
Sultan he saw indications of a real sympathy with the best life of the
nation, while in the Czar he found nothing but a fierce, unalterable
determination to secure personal aggrandizement at whatever cost to
anybody else. In accordance with this he outlined the foundation of his
policy as early as 1832, in a despatch to Lord Palmerston, as follows:
“The great question to be resolved is this: How far is it possible to
introduce into the present system of administration those improvements
without which the army and finances of the country must be equally
inefficient? * * * More than five years have elapsed since the
Janissaries were destroyed, and, although some regulations of a better
kind have been adopted, and the Sultan’s policy is in general of a
milder and more protecting character, no beneficial results, except
that of a diminished animosity between Turks and Christians, are yet
visible. The regular army is not more numerous now, and scarcely
better disciplined, than it was before the war with Russia. The
financial embarrassments increase, and commerce is still depressed by
a pernicious system of monopoly. * * * I think the time is near at
hand, or perhaps already come, when it is necessary that a decided line
of policy should be adopted and steadily pursued with respect to this
country. The Turkish Empire is evidently hastening to its dissolution,
and an approach to the civilization of Christendom affords the only
chance of keeping it together for any length of time. That chance is
a very precarious one at best, and should it unfortunately not be
realized, the dismemberment which would ensue could hardly fail of
disturbing the peace of Europe through a long series of years.”
Here we have the germ of Lord Stratford’s policy, and just in
proportion as that policy was carried out by the Turkish Government
was there peace in Europe and prosperity in the Turkish Empire. It
is to the neglect of that policy by Abd-ul-Aziz, and its reversal
by Abd-ul-Hamid, combined with the inertness of Lord Stratford’s
successors in the English Embassy at Constantinople, and the determined
hostility of Russia, that have been due the terrible events of the past
two years. It was most unfortunate that for ten years, 1832-1841, Lord
Stratford had no voice in Turkish matters. During that period came
the treaty of Hunkiar Iskellessi, when the Russian fleet, anchored
in the Bosporus, made the Sultan a vassal of the Czar, and the great
advance of Mehemet Ali, all resulting in the discouragement of the most
courageous and progressive Sultan Turkey has ever had, and a situation
at his death which would have appalled an ordinary man.
Abd-ul-Medjid’s first step was one which presaged good. Scarcely had
he ascended his throne when he promulgated the Hatti Sherif of Gulhané.
In some respects this is one of the most remarkable documents in
history. In a sense it is surpassed by the more famous Hatti Humayoun
issued by the same Sultan some years later, but that was after he had
been under Lord Stratford’s influence, and was in the flush of victory
in the Crimean War. This was at a time when discouragement was on every
side, and all European ideas were looked upon as thoroughly anti-Islam.
In view of its historical value, we give the text in full.
HATTI SHERIF OF GULHANÉ.
“All the world knows that, in the first days of the Ottoman monarchy,
the glorious precepts of the Koran and the laws of the empire were
always honored.
“The empire in consequence increased in strength and greatness,
and all its subjects, without exception, had risen in the highest
degree to ease and prosperity. In the last one hundred and fifty
years a succession of accidents and divers causes have arisen which
have brought about a disregard for the sacred code of laws and the
regulations flowing therefrom, and the former strength and prosperity
have changed into weakness and poverty; an empire in fact loses all
its stability so soon as it ceases to observe its laws.
“These considerations are ever present to our mind, and ever since
the day of our advent to the throne the thought of the public weal,
of the improvement of the state of the provinces, and of relief to
the (subject) peoples, has not ceased to engage it. If, therefore,
the geographical position of the Ottoman provinces, the fertility
of the soil, the aptitude and intelligence of the inhabitants, are
considered, the conviction will remain that by striving to find
efficacious means, the result, which by the help of God we hope to
attain, can be obtained within a few years. Full of confidence,
therefore, in the help of the Most High, and certain of the support
of our Prophet, we deem it right to try by new institutions to give
to the provinces composing the Ottoman Empire the benefit of a good
administration.
“These institutions must be principally carried out under three
heads, which are:
“1. The guaranteeing and insuring to our subjects perfect security
for life, honor, and fortune.
“2. A regular system of assessing and levying taxes.
“3. An equally regular system for the levying of troops and the
duration of their service.
“And, in fact, are not life and honor the most precious gifts
to mankind? What man, however much his character may be against
violence, can prevent himself from having recourse to it, and thereby
injure the government and the country, if his life and honor are
endangered? If, on the contrary, he enjoys in that respect perfect
security, he will not depart from the ways of loyalty, and all his
actions will contribute to the good of the government and of his
brothers.
“If there is an absence of security as to one’s fortune, everyone
remains insensible to the voice of the Prince and the country; no
one interests himself in the progress of public good, absorbed as
he is in his own troubles. If, on the contrary, the citizen keeps
possession in all confidence of all his goods, then, full of ardor
in his affairs, which he seeks to enlarge in order to increase his
comforts, he feels daily growing and doubling in his heart not only
his love for the Prince and country, but also his devotion to his
native land.
“These feelings become in him the source of the most praiseworthy
actions.
“As to the regular and fixed assessment of the taxes, it is very
important that it be regulated; for the state which is forced to
incur many expenses for the defense of its territory cannot obtain
the money necessary for its armies and other services except by
means of contributions levied on its subjects. Although, thanks be
to God, our empire has for some time past been delivered from the
scourge of monopolies, falsely considered in times of war as a source
of revenue, a fatal custom still exists, although it can only have
disastrous consequences; it is that of venal cessions, known under
the name of ‘Iltizam.’
“Under that name the civil and financial administration of a locality
is delivered over to the passions of a single man; that is to say,
sometimes to the iron grasp of the most violent and avaricious
passions; for if that contractor is not a good man, he will only look
to his own advantage.
“It is therefore necessary that henceforth each member of Ottoman
society should be taxed for a quota of a fixed tax according to his
fortune and means, and that it should be impossible that anything
more could be exacted from him. It is also necessary that special
laws should fix and limit the expenses of our land and sea forces.
“Although, as we have said, the defense of the country is an
important matter, and it is the duty of all the inhabitants to
furnish soldiers for that object, it has become necessary to
establish laws to regulate the contingent to be furnished by each
locality according to the necessity of the time, and to reduce the
term of military service to four or five years. For it is at the
same time doing an injustice and giving a mortal blow to agriculture
and to industry to take, without consideration to the respective
population of the localities, in the one more, in the other less, men
than they can furnish; it is also reducing the soldiers to despair
and contributing to the depopulation of the country by keeping them
all their lives in the service.
“In short, without the several laws, the necessity for which has
just been described, there can be neither strength, nor riches, nor
happiness, nor tranquillity for the empire; it must, on the contrary,
look for them in the existence of these new laws.
“From henceforth, therefore, the cause of every accused person shall
be publicly judged, as the divine law requires, after inquiry and
examination, and so long as a regular judgment shall not have been
pronounced, no one can secretly or publicly put another to death by
poison or in any other manner.
“No one shall be allowed to attach the honor of any other person
whatever.
“Each one shall possess his property of every kind, and shall dispose
of it in all freedom, without let or hindrance from any person
whatever; thus, for example, the innocent heirs of a criminal shall
not be deprived of their legal rights, and the property of the
criminal shall not be confiscated. These imperial concessions shall
extend to all our subjects, of whatever religion or sect they may be;
they shall enjoy them without exception. We therefore grant perfect
security to the inhabitants of our empire in their lives, their
honor, and their fortunes, as they are secured to them by the sacred
text of the law.
“As for the other points, as they must be settled with the assistance
of enlightened opinions, our council of justice (increased by new
members as shall be found necessary), to whom shall be joined,
on certain days which we shall determine, our ministers and the
notabilities of the empire, shall assemble in order to frame laws
regulating the security of life and fortune and the assessment of the
taxes. Each one in those assemblies shall freely express his ideas
and give his advice.
“The laws regulating the military service shall be discussed by a
military council holding its sittings at the palace of Seraskier. As
soon as a law shall be passed, in order to be forever valid, it shall
be presented to us; we shall give it our approval, which we will
write with our imperial sign-manual.
“As the object of these institutions is solely to revivify religion,
government, the nation, and the empire, we engage not to do anything
which is contrary thereto.
“In testimony of our promise we will, after having deposited these
presents in the hall containing the glorious mantle of the prophet,
in the presence of all the ulemas and the grandees of the empire,
make oath thereto in the name of God, and shall afterwards cause the
oath to be taken by the ulemas and the grandees of the empire.
“After that, those from among the ulemas and the grandees of the
empire, or any other persons whatsoever, who shall infringe these
institutions, shall undergo, without respect of rank, position, and
influence, the punishment corresponding to his crime, after having
been well authenticated.
“A penal code shall be compiled to that effect. As all the public
servants of the empire receive a suitable salary, and as the
salaries of those whose duties have not up to the present time been
sufficiently remunerated are to be fixed, a rigorous law shall be
passed against the traffic of favoritism and bribery, which the
Divine law reprobates, and which is one of the principal causes of
the decay of the empire.
“The above dispositions being a thorough alliteration and renewal
of ancient customs, this imperial rescript shall be published
at Constantinople and in all places of our empire, and shall be
officially communicated to all the ambassadors of the friendly
powers resident at Constantinople, that they may be witnesses to the
granting of these institutions, which, should it please God, shall
last forever. Wherein may the Most High have us in His holy keeping.
May those who shall commit an act contrary to the present regulations
be the object of Divine malediction, and be deprived forever of every
kind of (protection) happiness.
“Read at Gulhané, November 3, 1839.”
Through the peculiar Oriental verbiage it will be seen that this
famous charter (1) Guaranteed to all subjects of the empire,
without distinction, their life, their honor and their fortune; (2)
Re-established a uniform and regular mode of assessing and subsequently
levying the taxes; (3) Regulated, by legal powers, the levy of soldiers
and the duration of military service; (4) Suppressed monopolies; (5)
Ordered that the taxes should be levied in proportion to the fortune of
each; (6) Promised laws that should fix the expenses of the land and
sea forces with the contingent of each locality; (7) Ordered that every
cause should be tried publicly according to the civil and religious
laws; (8) that every subject should possess his property with all the
rights of ownership, and might sell it; and finally, (9) that the heirs
of a criminal should not be deprived of their claims to his estate.
Such reforms were far-reaching and it is scarcely surprising that their
promulgation stirred a dangerous reaction, or that for a time the
government was practically in the hands of the reactionary party, which
aimed at a return to the system overturned by Mahmud, or at least to
weaken the force of the privileges granted to the Christians as much
as possible. In this they were assisted by the general conditions of
the country, already referred to as disorganized, but more completely
described by Lord Stratford’s biographer as follows:
“The general state of the empire was such as might be expected after
the late troubles and under the existing rulers. Disorder reigned in
the provinces. The misgovernment of Wallachia offered an opportunity
for Russian intrigues; Bulgaria had caught the fever of disquiet,
Albania soon broke into revolt, and in 1843 Servia rose against her
prince. The local pashas did as they pleased. At Scutari, three
Christian peasants were executed without trial; at Trebizond, the pasha
cut the throats of two criminals in the public street; the governor of
Mosul rushed out one night, mad with drink, to murder at pleasure; two
towns were razed to the ground by the troops in Albania; the soldiers
mutinied for their pay at Salonica, tried to kill their colonel, and
then burnt the stores in a caravanserai, while the pasha looked on;
unequal and cruel taxation was driving the people to despair; the
ministers of the Porte used their official authority in favor of their
private trading, and invited presents of hush-money from offending
pashas. Fanaticism against Christians was increasing, and Pera was
placarded with threats of burning the Frank quarter. ‘There is no such
thing as system in Turkey,’ wrote the ambassador. ‘Every man according
to his means and opportunities gets what he can, commands what he
dares, and submits when he must.’ Financial embarrassment, public and
individual, prevailed to an alarming extent. The only active trade was
the traffic in lucrative posts in the public service; but salaries were
in arrears; commerce languished; the currency was ruinously debased;
forests and mines and other resources were neglected; communications
were bad--no roads or mere tracks; good land on the coast within
50 miles of Constantinople was to be bought for two shillings an
acre, while Russian grain was sold at a comfortable profit hard by.
Ignorance and corruption prevailed in every department of the state;
brutal violence and torture were employed in the law courts; Christian
evidence was not accepted against Moslems; Christians were annoyed
if they entered the Turkish quarters of the capital; constant cases
occurred of fraud and outrage against them; yet in spite of these
disabilities the rayahs were slowly advancing in wealth, education and
independence, whilst the Turks were losing ground.”
Into this condition of things Lord Stratford injected his own fierce
zeal, determined to carry through his point if possible, and, as is so
often the case, his very indomitableness was the occasion for a large
degree of success. One of his chief points was the carrying out of
reforms with regard to the Christians, not because he wanted to help
the Christians at the expense of the Moslems, for he appreciated the
situation of the latter thoroughly, but because he recognized that the
development of the empire rested more with the Christians than with
the Turks, and also that that development could not be hoped for until
there was political equality. Hence it was fully as much with a desire
to help the Turks themselves as the Christians that he set himself
to oppose the reign of fanaticism which threatened to swamp the best
efforts of the Sultan. Among the various points which he carried were
the abolition of religious executions and of the use of torture in
trials. Several instances occurred of the former, one of an Armenian
and another of a Greek, both of whom had accepted Mohammedanism and
then sought to return to their Christian faith, which second apostasy
the Moslem ferocity had visited with death. This he carried by his own
personal influence with the Sultan. In other reforms he had the cordial
support of the famous Reshid Pasha, one of the noblest men that Turkey
had ever produced. Lord Stratford also carried in 1845 a long-contested
point, the right to establish a Protestant Church at Jerusalem for the
British and Prussian subjects, and in 1846 mediated in behalf of the
Protestant Armenians, exposed both to the persecution of the Porte and
the hostility of their former ecclesiastical leaders. A few years later
came the imperial firman recognizing Protestants as a distinct civil
community.
Aside from these the Sultan pressed forward in the general elevation
of his empire. He sought to organize public instruction, declared the
Ottoman University an institution of the state and inaugurated the
division of the general education into the primary, secondary and
superior grades. The first of these had already existed in a measure,
but in the most primitive form, being scarcely more than instruction in
the reading of the Koran; the secondary and superior grades had to be
created entirely. Then came the publication of an administrative code
regulating the duties and obligations of officers of the government and
the institution of mixed tribunals of commerce. The first trial was
held at Constantinople, in 1846, the different legations nominating
ten prominent merchants to fill in turn the office of judge, while the
Porte in turn nominated ten noted Mussulmans. There was an earnest
effort to reform the system of taxation, and a decree in 1850 ordered
that the personal tax should be collected in each province by the
recognized head men of the communities, and they were to forward the
money thus received to their patriarchate, from which it was to be
passed over into the imperial treasury. Thus the whole system of these
laws was applied little by little to every province of the empire
in succession. In some it met with reasonable success; in others it
called out the bitterest opposition. Mehemet Ali, of Egypt, died in
1849, and was succeeded by Abbas Pasha, one of the worst princes that
Egypt ever knew. Order came to him to apply the same system of reforms
in Egypt. He was shrewd enough not to make positive refusal, but
disputed over its details, and especially over the clause which took
from him the right to pronounce sentence of death. At last, however,
he yielded and the reforms were enforced. In 1851 another innovation
was made. Commissioners were appointed to visit different provinces of
the empire, examine carefully into the condition of each, collect any
complaints of the authorities or of the inhabitants and transmit them
to the Sultan. Hitherto the government had scarcely allowed the right
even of petition, and while this was carried out in no very effective
way, and in not a few respects it seemed very weak, still the fact that
commissions were sent at all marked a great advance in the conduct of
the empire for the comfort and interest of the people. In the same year
there was another step forward taken in education, and an academy of
sciences and letters was established at Constantinople. In all this the
moving spirit was Reshid Pasha. He made no attempt to secure absolute
success at first, but steadily persevered in the course of reform
wherever an opportunity offered.
CHAPTER XIV.
TREATIES OF PARIS AND BERLIN.
Influence of Lord Stratford--The Holy Places--Crimean War--Treaty of
Paris--Abd-ul-Aziz--Extravagance--Influx of Europeans--Provincial
Government--Accession of Abd-ul-Hamid II--Russo-Turkish War--Treaty
of San Stephano--Treaty of Berlin--Cyprus Convention.
The success of Lord Stratford in establishing reforms in Turkey, and
more than that in securing the cordial endorsement of the Sultan and
of Reshid Pasha, occasioned great uneasiness in Russia. During the
whole of Abd-ul-Medjid’s reign there had been continuous intrigue,
especially in the Danubian Provinces and in Servia. This latter had
been practically independent since 1830, but its independence was by
no means a peaceable one. Its prince, the founder of the Obrenowitch
line, was a tyrant who took advantage of every opportunity to fill his
own private purse. There were risings of the people followed by firmans
from Constantinople, which limited his rights, but still the general
suzerainty of the Porte was acknowledged, and Servia was recognized
as a Moslem State. Along the Danube there were similar occurrences
following on the revolutions of 1848. The prince of Wallachia
accepted a constitution and then fled, a provisional government being
established. The movement spread to Moldavia and Russian troops
occupied the provinces, resulting in an agreement between the Porte
and Russia for a sort of mutual supervision. Similarly in Syria there
had been trouble which called for the intervention of Europe for the
protection of the Maronites against the Druzes. It was again, however,
about the Holy Places in Jerusalem that the disturbance centered.
During the reign of Mahmud II the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been
devastated by fire and the Greeks made the repairs, taking advantage
of that to lay claim to the church, and consequently to all the Holy
Places, thus superseding the French, who had the general primacy since
the time of the Crusades. In 1851, the government of Louis Napoleon
demanded and obtained from the Porte, on the basis of the capitulations
of 1740, the formation of a mixed commission to look into the question
of the possession of the Holy Places. France claimed (1) the monument
of the Holy Sepulchre in the church of that name at Jerusalem; (2) the
great cupola built above the Holy Sepulchre; (3) the stone of unction
(this was not an exclusive claim); (4) the site of the tombs of the
French kings in Adam’s Chapel under Calvary; (5) the seven arched
vaults of the Virgin; (6) the Church of Gethsemane and the tomb of
the Virgin; (7) the upper Church of Bethlehem with the gardens and
sanctuaries dependent upon it; (8) the mixed possession of the altar of
Calvary. While making these general claims for the Latins, she declared
that particular concessions would be made to the other communions, but
they must be renewed annually. To these claims Russia objected very
strenuously. After considerable discussion the commission recognized
the rights of France, but proposed that the situation remain as it was,
except the admission of the Latins into the Sanctuary of the Virgin and
the right of Greeks to enter that of the Ascension. France accepted
this, but Russia objected, and this was followed by a special embassy
to Constantinople to demand by virtue of the treaty of Kainardji the
exclusive protection of all members of the Greek Church in Turkey, and
the settlement of the question as to the Holy Places on terms granting
the supremacy to the Greeks. This was in 1853. The Porte replied with
moderation, stating its desire not to injure in any way the privileges
of the various Christian subjects, and its wish to satisfy the demands
of the Greek pilgrims and the Russian churches, but affirming that to
accept the demands of Russia would be practically to destroy its own
independence. The Russian ambassador, Menshikoff, renewed his demands,
and said that further refusal would impose on his government the
necessity of seeking it in its own power.
At this time Lord Stratford was absent. Ten years before he had met a
somewhat similar difficulty by suggesting to the Porte that they make
the repairs themselves, but now such a solution was no longer possible.
It became evident that a crisis was at hand, and he was immediately
ordered back from England. This was Lord Stratford’s fifth embassy to
Constantinople, and marked a new phase in his policy. When first there,
he had had a long struggle with France, in which at the close he found
himself in alliance with Russia; in the second and third he had united
with France and Russia in seeking the pacification of Greece; in the
fourth, which covered the early part of Abd-ul-Medjid’s reign, there
was no great difference between the Powers, and although his actions
were looked upon with suspicion by Russia, he met with practically no
interference in pressing for reform. Now, however, he found that the
aggression of Russia was becoming threatening. In private interviews
between the Czar and the British ambassador at St. Petersburg in the
early part of 1853, the Russians had made known a definite proposal to
England to join in winding up the bankrupt estate of the “sick man.”
Servia, the Danubian Principalities and Bulgaria were to be independent
under Russian protection; if circumstances obliged the Czar to occupy
Constantinople, it would be as trustee and not as proprietor, and
England might be free to appropriate territories as she chose, provided
she did not undertake to hold the capital. All this he thought might
be accomplished by the two Powers, and if they agreed, it made very
little difference what France and Austria thought. This, however, was
strongly opposed to the whole British policy, and Lord Stratford,
immediately upon the decisive action of Prince Menshikoff, called the
other representatives of the great Powers and laid the foundation for
the European alliance, which was from that time steadily opposed to
Russian aggression.
Russia announced in May her proposal to enter the Danubian Provinces,
and France and England answered by despatching their fleets to the
Island of Tenedos at the mouth of the Dardanelles. A conference was
proposed at Vienna, but Turkey took the initiative by attacking the
Russians in the principalities. Russia retorted by the destruction of a
Turkish fleet at Sinop. The English and French fleets entered the Black
Sea and obliged the Russians to withdraw to their own ports. A last
attempt at peace was made by France, but the publication of the English
ambassador’s despatches at St. Petersburg stirred the indignation of
France, Austria and Prussia, and the result was a general alliance
of the four kingdoms with Turkey. To this afterwards Sardinia was
admitted, and Italy first appeared in the general European concert.
The story of the Crimean War it is not necessary to repeat here. The
mismanagement of the British army at its commencement and that of the
French at its close amazed the world. At last England’s forces were
well in hand and the possession of the Crimea was practically secured.
Then France grew again suspicious of England’s power and sought to
hold a balance between her and Russia. Sevastopol fell in September of
1855, but the Czar had just died in chagrin at the complete failure of
his plans and the terrible injuries and sufferings inflicted upon his
people. His army had failed to take Silistria, and although Kars had
fallen, the general rout of the Russian arms was so complete as to have
made it possible to have carried the day completely. Alexander II was
willing to treat, and a Congress met at Paris on the 25th of February,
1856. In this, France, England, Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, Turkey and
Russia appeared. Peace was signed on the 30th of March on the following
basis:
1. Russia renounced her exclusive right of protection over the
Danubian Principalities, and all interference with their internal
affairs. 2. The free navigation of the Danube was to be effectually
secured by the establishment of a commission, in which all the
contracting parties should be represented. Each of them should have
the right to station two sloops-of-war at the mouth of the river.
Russia consented to a rectification of frontiers which should leave
to Turkey and the Rumanian Principalities all the Danubian delta. 3.
The Black Sea was made neutral; its waters, open to merchant ships of
all nations, were forbidden to men-of-war, whether of the Powers on
the coasts or any others. No military or maritime arsenals were to be
created there. Turkey and Russia could only maintain ten lightships to
watch the coasts. 4. The _Hatti Sherif_ by which Sultan Abd-ul-Medjid
renewed the privileges of his non-Mussulman subjects was inserted in
the treaty, but with the clause that the Powers could not quote this
insertion as authorizing them to interfere between the Sultan and his
subjects.
Russia thus lost both the domination of the Black Sea and the
protectorate of the Eastern Christians; lost her fleets and naval
arsenals on the Black Sea and the fortresses of the Crimea. The
imprudent policy of Nicholas had destroyed the advantages gained by all
the previous treaties. One clause, however, in the treaty was worth
to her almost as much as these, and that was the one which prohibited
the Powers from interfering between the Sultan and his subjects. Count
Orloff with the aid of France proved more than a match for the rest.
Something, however, was gained, and the treaty was scarcely signed
when preparations were made, and soon after came the publication of
the Hatti Humayoun, described in another chapter. Lord Stratford, when
he heard of the treaty of Paris, said, “I would rather have cut off my
right hand than have signed that treaty.” In a letter written about
that time he said:
“How are the Sultan’s reforms to be carried through; the allied troops
all gone and no power of foreign interference reserved? How is the
country to be kept quiet if hopes and fears, equally excited in adverse
quarters, have to find their own level? What means shall we possess of
allaying the discordant elements if our credit is to decline and our
influence to be overlaid by the persevering artifices of a jealous and
artful ally? How can we hope to supply the usefulness derivable from
our command of the Contingent and Irregulars, if they are to be given
up? In short, when I hear the politicians of the country remark that
the troubles of Europe with respect to this empire are only beginning,
I know not how to reply.”
Lord Stratford soon returned to England, but visited Constantinople
again, only to realize in the presence there of his successor, Sir
Henry Bulwer, that his great work for Turkey was finished, and that
much that he had striven for and obtained would be abandoned. Sir
Henry Bulwer was a man of great diplomatic craft, but of the vilest
moral character. He commanded the respect of nobody. The best English
families in the city refused to receive him into their houses. He was
a giver and receiver of bribes, and it became notorious that whenever
the Turkish Government, or indeed anybody else, wished to carry through
a scheme that might be supposed to be hostile to English interests,
all they had to do was to send a sum of money to the English palace
or a pair of fine horses to its stables. He was at last recalled for
receiving a bribe of $50,000. He did everything in his power to undo
the work that Lord Stratford had done and to prejudice the Turks
against the reforms which he had been instrumental in inaugurating.
With this appointment of Sir Henry Bulwer commenced the decadence of
English influence at Constantinople and that long series of diplomatic
blunders that have resulted in the feeling on the part of every class
of people in the Turkish Empire that England is a synonym for treachery
and disgrace. There have been fine men in the English embassy: Lord
Lyons, so well known in the diplomatic circles in Washington, was
there for a time, and had he remained, it is probable that much of the
lost ground would have been regained, but he was promoted to Paris;
Lord Dufferin was there for a time and his well-known high character
and great ability accomplished much, but his term was very short;
Sir William White had a period of most successful conduct of English
interests, but he was removed by death. Since 1857, the English
embassy at Constantinople has been occupied the greater portion of the
time by Sir Henry Bulwer, a man of great ability, but of the lowest
character; Sir Henry Elliot, a man of high personal character, but of
no diplomatic ability; Sir Austen Layard, not dissimilar to Sir Henry
Elliott, and of late years by Sir Philip Currie, a man of ability and
force of character, but hampered by his relations and not equipped by
diplomatic tact and skill to meet the wiles of Russian diplomacy.
The next most important event after the treaty of Paris was the
atrocities in Syria, where vast numbers of the Maronites were massacred
by the Druzes. All Europe was filled with horror, and France sprang to
the front to reassert her former supremacy. The French fleet anchored
in front of Beirut; French troops held the road to Damascus, and Syria
became for the time being a French colony. The influence of other
powers, however, prevented her securing occupation and Fuad Pasha
represented the Turkish Government with such success in the quieting
of the Moslem turmoil that the Sultan succeeded in preserving his
hold upon that portion of his empire. This much, however, was gained;
a reorganization of the government was secured and the province of
Lebanon was established under a Christian governor, to be appointed
with and not to be removed without the consent of European Powers. This
proved a great boon, and Syria was at peace as she had not been for
centuries.
In 1861, Abd-ul-Medjid died and his brother Abd-ul-Aziz came to the
throne. The new Sultan was a man of entirely different type from
either of his predecessors; low-browed, coarse, sensual, given up to
the gratification of personal passions and personal pique; caring
for nothing except his personal comfort and the gratification of his
personal pride; a coward, a tyrant, the tool of designing men, utterly
weak for any good. At times strong men, like Fuad and Ali and Midhat
and Ahmed Vefyk Pashas, succeeded in gaining a temporary power, but
they could accomplish comparatively little for good, and the Turkish
court from 1871 to 1876 was the scene of unbounded extravagance and
corruption.
Outwardly the reign was one of great progress. The navy was built
up and put on a footing which brought the Turkish Government on a
reasonable par with the other Mediterranean Governments; the army was
developed and its organization was brought into better shape than at
any time previous; palaces and public buildings were erected. Up to the
reign of Abd-ul-Medjid the Sultans had occupied the famous old palace
of the Seraglio, but it was becoming out of date, and furthermore,
there were so many traditions of violence and crime connected with it
that there was a pall of superstition hanging over it. Abd-ul-Medjid
built the palace of Dolma-Bagtche, which contains one of the finest
throne-rooms in the world. It was sumptuously furnished and most
beautifully decorated. When Abd-ul-Aziz came to the throne this was
not sufficient and he put up the palace at Tcheragan, just above,
with adornments even surpassing in beauty, in some respects, those of
Dolma-Bagtche. Other old palaces were torn down and beautiful buildings
erected in their place. There were new roads built and efforts to
improve the general condition of the city. Constantinople itself has
always suffered from fires; the crowded wooden buildings furnished the
best possible food for conflagration, and the absolutely worthless
fire department seemed to help on rather than hinder the flames. One
great fire occurred in the latter part of the reign, and it was common
report that under the Sultan’s special orders no efforts were made to
stop it. It spread right through the city from the Golden Horn to the
Marmora, and was checked only as it came up against the high walls
of the Armenian Patriarchate. The generally understood reason for
the action of the government was that it might build up this section
again in more approved modern style. At any rate this was done, and
the whole of that region to-day bears a far different appearance from
other sections of the city. Wide streets took the place of the narrow
lanes, and brick and stone houses replaced the wooden fire-traps. At
the same time concessions were granted on every hand for improvements
of all sorts. European speculators thronged in crowds around the
offices of the Sublime Porte and the gateways of the palace. They paid
heavy bribes and secured the most valuable subventions. Among the most
notorious, and one which yet was a fair illustration of many others,
was that for the railway extending from Constantinople to Adrianople.
An Austrian financier secured the concession, and the contract awarded
him so much for each kilometer. The result was that the road, by
taking advantage of every possible turn, avoiding grades and bridges
so far as possible, nearly doubled the distance in a straight line
between the two cities. Care was taken also to have the different
stations at sufficient distance from the principal places on the
route, apparently in order to provide additional income to those who
wished to connect the cities with the railroad. The whole matter was a
“job” of the most stupendous character, and was a simple illustration
of what was done all over the empire. The government borrowed money
with absolute recklessness. Engagements were entered into without the
slightest careful investigation as to the resources of the empire and
extravagance ran riot.
At the same time there were more favorable features. It was during
this period that Robert College in Constantinople, the Syrian
Protestant College in Beirut, the Bible House in Constantinople
and various other educational and philanthropic institutions were
started. So long as the immediate interests of the more avaricious
Turks were not interfered with, there was in a degree free hand for
those who sought to improve the general condition of the people.
Foreign influence was at its height and many a native, not merely
Christian, but Turk, rejoiced in the support of those who sought not
any sectarian advantage, but the general improvement of the country.
In the administration of the government the offices were filled to
a degree as had never before been known with Christians. There were
large number of Europeans--English, German and French; and with all the
bribery and extortion there was more of business enterprise than had
been known during any of the preceding reigns. Armenians and Greeks
also were pushed to the front. Their abilities were recognized by the
heads of departments, and the pressure on every hand for the rapid
accomplishment of enterprises, which called for more of energy than the
average Turk was willing to exert, resulted in great opportunities for
those who were willing to work--and laziness has never been a general
vice of any of the Christian populations of the Levant. This had its
effect in ameliorating the condition of the Christians; at the same
time, as is noticed in other chapters, this rapid improvement brought
with it increasing information and still higher ideas. All of the
Christian subjects of the Sultan began to feel still more restive under
the Moslem tyranny, for that tyranny still existed. The absence of
any genuine conception of reform or of good government in the Sultans
inevitably affected the whole management of the empire, and taxation
was scarcely less severe than it had been in the past, the chief
improvement being in the freedom from certain other influences that
worked heavily against the Christians. Thus it came about that there
was perhaps more restiveness throughout the empire than there had been
previously.
Soon after the disturbances in Syria, the Grand Vizier, Ali Pasha,
made public a new system of provincial government in which each
province was to have a Christian vice-governor and advisory council
composed of Moslems and Christians, an independent judiciary and
a complete police force. The first application of this was to the
province of the Danube, including Bulgaria, which was placed under
Mithad Pasha, perhaps the most aggressive of all the officials that
Turkey has ever had. He carried it out there with great success, and in
a year and a half brigandage was practically extinct in the province;
several hundreds of miles of road had been built, and schools, city
hospitals, banks and steam navigation companies had been established.
In 1867 the system was ordered to be applied throughout the empire, and
the foreign Powers acted as if they thought that the reorganization was
really going to be carried out. It seems scarcely possible that they
should have been thoroughly deceived in this, for they knew perfectly
well that the intricacy of the system offered abundant facility for
corruption, and that the contempt felt by all Moslems for any laws not
based upon the Koran would effectually check the application of the
European code. As a matter of fact the whole system was lifeless from
the beginning, and with the death of Ali Pasha all pretense of carrying
it out disappeared. He, however, accomplished this much, that he warded
off active interference on the part of Europe for fifteen years. He
was followed by Mahmud Nedim Pasha, a man of strong individuality, who
claimed that the Sultan could brook no interference of Europe in the
internal affairs of Turkey, and announced his determination to govern
upon the principle that Western civilization is inherently unfit for
the needs of Eastern races. In this he had the cordial support of
the Turks, and more significant still, of the Russian Ambassador at
Constantinople, General Ignatief, probably the shrewdest representative
that Russia ever had at the Sublime Porte, and one to whom perhaps more
than to any one else has been due the policy which Russia has followed
out unwaveringly, of opposing any active interference on the part of
Europe in the internal management of the Ottoman Government. That this
was prompted by any interest in Turkey no one will believe. It was
simply the plan by which the situation was to grow worse and worse
until it became inevitable for Russia herself to intervene and take
what she desired.
The results of this were soon manifest. In the summer of 1875
commenced revolt in Herzegovina, extending to Bosnia. Already there had
been disturbance in the Danubian Provinces resulting in an increased
independency; then came the famous Andrassy note, in which Austria
demanded reforms in the Balkan Peninsula, opposed by the Turks as
derogatory to their honor. Meanwhile Russian embassies were at work
throughout the Balkan Peninsula, and Bulgarians on every hand were
being roused to a pitch of intense hostility to Turkish rule. Then
came Russian proposals skilfully arranged in such form as to arouse
hostility rather than the support of the other Powers and also
the fanaticism of the Turks. The result was a series of arbitrary
arrests of Bulgarians, the sending of troops into Bulgaria and the
providing of Moslems with arms for use in case of the arising of the
Christians. Then came an outbreak in Salonica, when the European
consuls were beaten to death by a fanatic mob, followed by a general
movement throughout Bulgaria attended by an outbreak of Softas in
Constantinople. The utter incapacity of Abd-ul-Aziz was more and more
evident, and there was a revolt under the lead of Mithad Pasha. A
fetvah was secured from the Sheik-ul-Islam, Abd-ul-Aziz was dethroned,
and notwithstanding the intrigues that had been going on for several
years in favor of his own son, the legal heir, Murad, his nephew and
the son of Abd-ul-Medjid, became Sultan. Meanwhile the atrocities
in Bulgaria continued and it became evident that Murad was unequal
to the task. Abd-ul-Aziz had been assassinated, as was generally
understood, as were also some of the ministers. The whole situation in
Constantinople was chaos when Abd-ul-Hamid II came to the throne. At
this time Servia declared war, and the situation throughout the empire
became more and more serious. Abd-ul-Hamid banished Mithad Pasha and
convened the first Turkish Parliament. For a while it seemed as if
something were going to be done, but negotiations were followed by
protocols, protocols by protests, and in April, 1887, Russia declared
war, feeling that there would be no great opposition to the advance
of her army which she had been massing in Bessarabia. The story of
the war that followed, both in Eastern Turkey and on the Danube, is
familiar. The determined opposition of the Turkish troops, the defense
of Plevna, the storming of the Shipka Pass and the final advance
through Bulgaria, until the Russian army had captured Adrianople and
was massed on the very outskirts of Constantinople, formed a panorama
of intense interest. All this was watched with great interest and
some solicitude by Europe, which came to realize that Russia was on
the point of securing the end that she had had in view for so long.
England was the only power to act and her fleet was anchored in Besika
Bay, just outside of the Dardanelles. The armistice and terms of peace
between Turkey and Russia, forming the basis of the treaty of San
Stephano, were signed at Adrianople January 31st; the treaty itself
at San Stephano, within sight of Constantinople, March 3d, 1878. The
conditions comprised the establishment of a principality of Bulgaria,
the payment of a war indemnity or a territorial compensation; the
independence of Rumania, Servia and Montenegro, with an increase of
territory for each of the principalities, the introduction of reforms
in Bosnia and Herzegovina and ulterior understanding between the Sultan
and the Czar in regard to the Straits and the evacuation by the Turks
of the fortresses of the Danube. As soon as this became known England
was alarmed and the fleet was sent through the Dardanelles, and for the
second time in history anchored at the Princes’ Islands.
It has been a subject of much discussion, why Russia did not improve
her opportunity, and seize Constantinople when it was in her power.
She could have done this with comparative ease, at least so many
think. Others claim that the Turks were in condition to offer
considerable resistance still, and that Russia knew very well that
Europe, especially England, would not permit her to carry out the
plan without war. For this certainly she was not prepared. So also
there were many questions in regard to partition of the empire which
may well have made her hesitate, and of which mention will be made
in a later chapter on the general question of the partition of the
empire. Whatever were the reasons, a halt was called. Then came the
field of diplomacy. England and Austria, through their Ambassadors at
St. Petersburg and Constantinople, announced that they would refuse
to recognize conditions of peace in contravention of the terms of the
Treaty of Paris, except as Europe had an opportunity to consider them.
Russia declared that all such terms would be submitted to a review by
the Powers. Finally a Conference of the Powers was called, first at
Vienna, then at Baden-Baden, and finally at Berlin. A difficulty arose
in regard to the submission to the Conference of the entire treaty of
San Stephano. This was demanded by England and refused by Russia. For a
time it seemed as if war was imminent, but at last a general agreement
having been reached by mutual conference between Russia, England and
Austria, the representatives of England, Austria, Russia, France,
Italy and Turkey met at Berlin in June, 1878, and remained one month,
the Treaty being signed upon the 13th of July. Its main points may be
summarized as follows:
1. Bulgaria, including Sophia, to be constituted a tributary
principality of the Sultan, ruled by a prince and an elected assembly,
and to be organized under a Russian Commissary General assisted by
delegates from the European Powers. The period of organization not to
exceed nine months.
2. A province called Eastern Rumelia to be formed on the south of the
Balkans, and to be governed by a Christian under the orders of the
Sultan. The organization of this province to be under control of a
commission appointed by the European Powers. Russian troops, not to
exceed 50,000 in number, to occupy Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia during
nine months, and to fully evacuate both provinces within three months
after this period.
3. Administrative modifications promised in 1868 to be introduced in
the island of Crete. Similar modifications to be introduced in the
administration of all the provinces of European Turkey which are not
otherwise provided for. These details of this reorganization to be
submitted to the European Commission charged with the organization of
Eastern Rumelia.
4. If Greece and Turkey fail to agree upon the ratification of the
frontier indicated in the proceedings of the Congress, the Powers
reserve the right to offer mediation to the two parties.
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina to be occupied by Austria.
6. Montenegro to be constituted an independent principality, with
enlargement of territory (equal in amount to its whole previous area),
including the seaport of Antivari, but not to be allowed to hold either
ships or flags of war, and its ports to be controlled by Austrian
revenue cutters.
7. Servia to be constituted an independent principality, with large
additions of territory on the south and east.
8. Rumania to be constituted an independent principality, to cede to
Russia the portion of Bessarabia taken from Russia by the Treaty of
Paris of 1856, and to receive in exchange the district of the Dobruja.
9. Kars, Ardahan and Batum to be ceded by Turkey to Russia, and Katour
to Persia.
10. The Turkish Government to introduce without delay suitable measures
of reform in all districts inhabited by Armenians.
11. Absolute religious liberty to exist in all the territories referred
to above, including the whole Turkish Empire.
The gain of Turkey, by the substitution of the treaty of Berlin
for that of San Stephano, was in the territories cut by this new
treaty from the principalities erected by the older one, and in the
substitution of a European supervision for a Russian supervision of the
execution of the treaty.
Meanwhile other negotiations had been going on, and just before the
close of the Congress the British Government announced a treaty
concluded with the Porte consisting of the following Articles:
“Article I. If Batum, Ardahan, Kars, or any of them, shall be retained
by Russia, and if any attempt shall be made at any future time by
Russia to take possession of any further territories of his Imperial
Majesty the Sultan in Asia, as fixed by the definitive treaty of peace,
England engages to join his Imperial Majesty the Sultan in defending
them by force of arms.
“In return, his Imperial Majesty the Sultan promises to England to
introduce necessary reforms, to be agreed upon later between the two
Powers, into the government, and for the protection of the Christian
and other subjects of the Porte in these territories; and in order
to enable England to make necessary provision for executing her
engagement, his Imperial Majesty the Sultan further consents to assign
the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by England.
“Article II. The present convention shall be ratified, and the
ratifications thereof shall be exchanged, within the space of one
month, or sooner if possible.”
To all appearance England had triumphed. Not only had the treaty of
San Stephano been set aside, but the Sultan had practically recognized
her as his most potent and most influential ally. The prestige lost
during twenty years of mismanagement had suddenly by a master stroke
been regained, and all the Christians of Turkey were jubilant. The
new Sultan was looked upon as a mild man thoroughly desirous of the
good of his people, and there were the brightest anticipations of
genuine reform. At this point it will be advantageous to look at the
constitution of the Turkish Government.
[Illustration:
GROUP OF ARMENIAN YOUNG MEN, students at the Euphrates College at
Harput. This is a good representative of the type of young men from
that section. They are mostly from sixteen to twenty-five years of
age, though occasionally one is found among them of advanced years
taking the course in order to fit himself for special teaching or
preaching.]
[Illustration:
THE CITY OF MARSOVAN IN ASIA MINOR. The white houses are the
buildings occupied by the American missionaries, also Anatolia
College. The roofs of the houses are chiefly of curved tiles. The
background furnishes a good idea of the general hill region of the
country. Marsovan was the seat of some disturbances early in 1893.]
CHAPTER XV.
CONDITION OF THE CHRISTIANS.
The Christians under Early Moslem Rule--Mohammed II--General
Oppression--Protection by French Government--Russian Intrigue--Power
of the Greek Church--Reforms under Mahmud II and Abd-ul-Medjid--The
Hatti Humayoun--General Improvement Throughout the Empire.
Up to the time of the capture of Constantinople, the relations of
the Moslem Sultans to the Christians were simply those of tyrants,
who collected what they could and recognized no rights of any kind
on the part of those who refused to accept Islam. The fact, however,
that there was scarcely any organized government of any kind made
matters worse, and soon after the establishment of the dynasty, even
as far back as 1360, just after the death of Orchan, it is said that
some Armenian refugees came to Edward III, at Reading, made complaint
that the Mussulmans were trying to exterminate their people, and
asked leave to live in England and collect subscriptions for their
fellow-sufferers. The king granted the petition, took the Armenians
under his protection, but only so long as the protected should do
nothing injurious to his realm, and should “bear themselves in true
faith and honesty.” But it was not only the Armenians who suffered.
On both sides of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles the Greeks felt the
pressure of Ottoman power, and the situation all through southeastern
Europe was one of terror.
Among the greatest causes for suffering was the organization of the
Janissaries. So long as Christian captives were constantly being taken,
every fifth captive was claimed for the Sultan’s service. The most
robust and handsome were trained for the regular military service, and
formed the basis of the famous body of Janissaries. Later, when the
extension of dominion put a stop to this source of supply, a tax was
laid by which every fifth male child of the Christian population of
the empire was converted by force and added to this company, until it
has been estimated that in the course of three centuries not less than
five million Christian children were sacrificed to this policy of the
Sultans. The effect was twofold; it kept the Christian peoples in a
constant state of subjection and terror, and it served as a heavy tax
upon their actual strength by removing the most virile portion of the
population.
With the conquest of Constantinople there was a measure of relief
in the situation. Yet in one aspect it became even worse. Under the
policy of Mohammed II, by which he sought to strengthen his capital,
there was formed a group of Greeks associated with the Patriarchs,
to whom was granted a special section of the city called then and
still the Phanar or Fanar. These Fanariotes became notorious for
their intrigues and unreliability. Their relations with the Ottomans
seemed to develop the very worst elements of the Greek character, and
there commenced under them that style of life which has done more to
degrade the Christians of the Levant than almost anything else. One
illustration of this is seen in the fact of the very great number of
Turkish officials of Christian origin. Under Mohammed, of five grand
viziers four were Christians--two Greeks and two Illyrians; under
Suleiman the Magnificent, of nine grand viziers eight were of Christian
origin. With such opportunities opened for advancement and wealth, the
great surprise is, not that there were so many defections, but that
there were so few. The recognition of the overpowering tyranny of the
government, the realization that that tyranny could be averted only by
catering to the passions or the cupidity of the ruling class, developed
a servility and treachery that has been the bane of the Christian races
of the Ottoman Empire. The same result was assisted by the peculiar
ecclesiastical rule which was established. The worst features of the
union of Church and State were manifest, and the priests became even
more political leaders than spiritual guides.
The various revolutions noticed in the preceding chapters operated
also to bind still more closely the chains of oppression upon the
Christian populations. Were it possible to learn the detailed history
of those centuries, undoubtedly instance after instance would be given
of heroic defense and of loyalty to their faith on the part of every
class and every church. On the other hand, the barbarism of the age
had its effects upon the Christian chiefs, and both in Europe and in
Asia, though especially in Europe, the Christians of Hungary, Moldavia,
Bosnia and Dalmatia were allied to Turkish Pashas in ferocity.
The commencement of treaty relations between Turkey and the European
powers was the first gleam of light that came to the Christian subjects
of the Sultans. The simple fact that there were Christians recognized
as having rights, in itself gave some encouragement, even to those who
did not share in the immediate benefits accorded to those connected
with the Roman Catholic Church. The appearance of Catholic missions
and convents in the various Turkish States, the protection of Roman
Catholic Christians, especially in Syria, in their pilgrimages to
Jerusalem, gave to all classes--Greeks, Armenians, and others--a degree
of hope that the time might come when their load should be lightened.
In the main, however, the interest of Europe was political rather than
religious, and for the most part the Christians were so thoroughly
left to themselves that almost their only hope lay in securing the
friendship, by whatever means were available, of their Moslem rulers.
When by chance there came a milder governor, especially in the European
provinces, the subject Christians would be found willing to sustain the
cause of the Turks, and in more than one instance the primates were
found to have intrigued in favor of the Porte. The French Ambassador,
De Brèves, rendered noble service when, in Constantinople, he threw
himself between the infuriated Janissaries and the churches of Galata,
declaring that he would defend at the peril of his life the exercise of
the Christian religion; so also when he averted an initial massacre at
Scio and preserved the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Christian
faith. It was no vain boast he made when he claimed to have given
liberty to from one thousand to twelve hundred men who had been made
slaves at different times.
A picture of the condition of the Christians a century after the
capture of Constantinople is given by a traveler, who describes them
in 1571 as so depraved and degraded that they hardly dared look a Turk
in the face; the only care of their listless existence being to raise
enough for their maintenance and pay the kharadj and poll tax--all
beyond would be seized by the Turks. In Constantinople only was there
any security, and here at the end of the sixteenth century it is said
that there were not less than 100,000 of them, many of whom acquired
wealth either by trade or farming the revenues. One such was reported
to have the fate of whole provinces in his hands, and the splendor of
his palace rivalled that of the Sultan.
It was perhaps in view of this condition that the French ambassador,
De Brèves, in presenting his defense of the Franco-Turkish alliance
dwelt to a considerable extent on the advantage accruing to the
Christian population from the French influence. He dwelt upon the
number of monasteries permitted by the Sultan in Constantinople,
colleges established by the Jesuits, the number of bishops in the
different Turkish States and the honor coming to the French name by
the securing of the protection of the Holy Places. But it was not
only the Roman Catholics that he felt would be benefited. Reference
was specially made to the Greek and Armenian Christians and to the
Copts of Egypt, all of whom in their pressing necessities and terrible
oppression were glad to have recourse to the powerful support of the
French kings. In connection with this French influence commenced
Jesuit intrigues, and the priests already conceived great projects for
the re-establishment of Roman Catholicism in the East. The English
ambassador denounced them as spies of Spain and alarmed the Turkish
Government; so they were arrested and imprisoned. Their release was
immediately secured, but the Ottoman Government did not hesitate to
declare that it preferred to see ten ordinary priests rather than one
Jesuit in Constantinople. So much did this prejudice increase that
a few years later, notwithstanding the utmost efforts of the French
Ambassador, the Jesuits were banished from Constantinople for the
period of twelve years. At about this same time, the early part of the
seventeenth century, we find the Armenians developing considerable
influence. They had spread throughout Asia Minor and had increased
their colony in Jerusalem to such a degree that they had forced the
Catholic monks from the Holy Places at Bethlehem and taken possession
of them themselves, only in turn to be removed on appeal to the French
Government. Perhaps on account partly of the aggressive action of some
of the French ambassadors, at about the same time, free reins seem
to have been given to the fanatical fury of the Ottomans against the
Christians in different parts of the empire, and even in Constantinople
itself the churches were closed and terror reigned everywhere. Sultan
Ibrahim I gave way to such furious anger in consequence of some
European successes, that he resolved to exterminate all the Christians
in the empire. This, however, was limited, on the representation of
the Moslem Mufti to Europeans only, and next, under the protest of his
ministers, to the Roman Catholic priests. The order for these massacres
was given, and for several days the Franks dwelling in Constantinople
believed themselves doomed to certain death. It was, however, revoked
after much diplomatic pressure.
The general effect of all this was to stir the Catholic world and
arouse the religious zeal even in France for war against the infidels,
and this had no slight influence upon the strange vicissitudes of
Turco-European diplomacy, all of which accomplished practically little
for the general welfare of the Christians. The war in Hungary resulted
in the carrying of nearly 80,000 Christians into slavery and the
general condition was most deplorable. Occasionally there was a little
relief when such men as the Kuprulis held sway and introduced certain
modifications of the bitterness of Moslem rule for the benefit of the
Christian subjects of the Sultan, but in the main fanaticism ruled and
the Christian was looked upon in the typical Moslem style, as a mere
slave who had no rights of any kind, simply duties.
With the peace of Carlowitz came into prominence the power of the
Greek Church. Already there had been more or less of conflict, but
now that assumed very great proportions. Not that there was much of
Christianity in it. The belief professed by the people and even by the
priests was probably the most superstitious form of the faith that had
ever been set forth. The church, however, was led by men and women of
great power, and their Christianity, even though largely destitute of
moral power, was available for some mitigation of the sufferings of
those at least whom they recognized as akin in Christian faith. As
early as 1670 an English historian calls attention to fact that the
Greeks throughout the empire turned to the Russian as their protector
and claimed that according to all their prophecies, ancient and modern,
he was destined to be the restorer of their church and their freedom.
This feeling was industriously strengthened by Russian emissaries.
The Czar issued a proclamation guaranteeing to the Moldo-Wallachians
the exclusive exercise of the Greek religion. A bishop was seen at
Jerusalem circulating a report that the Turks would be driven out of
Europe by the Russian nation, and Peter evidently hoped for a revolt of
all the adherents of the Greek religion. This mingling of politics with
religion, however, accomplished very little for the general welfare of
the people. Indeed in some respects it seems to have made it worse.
It roused the suspicions of the Turkish rulers, and wherever they
were naturally under the influence of fanaticism it assisted rather
than hindered the practice of outrageous oppression. Especially was
this true in the interior provinces. Whatever of relief came was upon
the borders. In Constantinople, Smyrna and in Syria there was some
pretence of protection. But inland this disappeared entirely, and the
description given in previous chapters of the general demoralization
of the Turkish Empire emphasizes the terrible condition of the
Christian population. That they retained their faith and even their
national unity is a marvelous tribute to their character and to the
genuineness--if ignorant and superstitious--of their religious belief.
Still there was growth and the treaty of Kainardji in 1774, as it
opened a wide door for Russian usurpation, opened also a wide door
of hope for the Christian population. The promise of the Porte to
protect the Christian religion and its churches, although vague, really
accomplished something, and even those who refused any association
with the Greek Church reaped, perhaps to a slightly better degree, the
benefits of their fellows. The most, however, that can be said is very
little, and the general condition of the Christian population of the
Turkish Empire at the close of the last century and the commencement of
the reign of Mahmud was one of intense suffering.
About this time the Christians were distributed in the main as at
present. The Greeks occupied the coast both of the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean, extending somewhat inland from Smyrna and Adana and
occupying villages in Central Asia Minor; the Armenians in largest
numbers in their ancestral country, Erzrum, extended from the eastern
end of the Black Sea south to the region of Van. They were also found
in increasing numbers throughout Asia Minor and Northern Syria.
The Syrians of Mesopotamia had fled to a considerable extent to
the mountains where they led a sort of feudal life, scarcely to be
distinguished from the Kurds surrounding them; those on the Mesopotamia
plain, Syrians or Chaldeans, were constantly subject to the oppression
of the Pashas; the Maronites of Syria occupied the Lebanon heights and
the Copts were in the towns of the Nile valley. In European Turkey
attention was mostly drawn to the Servians and Wallachians; the
Bulgarians had as yet not attained any such national power as to bring
them particularly into prominence.
The early part of the reign of Mahmud II accomplished very little
for the Christians. Attention was directed more especially to the
Greeks and their efforts for independence, and foreign nations were
too absorbed in their international politics to pay much attention
to the general condition of the Sultan’s Christian subjects. The
Greek insurrection brought heavy loss upon their communities, and
the massacre at Scio, which left scarce 900 out of 100,000, startled
the whole Christian world and operated strongly to bring about the
independence of Greece, just as, later, the Bulgarian massacres
resulted in an independent Bulgaria. Mahmud’s ideas were tolerant. He
realized the value to the state of the ability and shrewdness of his
Christian subjects, as is shown by his calling numbers of Armenians to
hold positions of influence in the government, and had he been free
to act as he desired, undoubtedly their condition would have been
very much ameliorated. As it was, it improved. One influence that
worked in this direction was the arrival of the American missionaries
at Constantinople in 1831 and their subsequent rapid spread over the
empire. The first effect indeed seemed unfortunate. The preaching of
evangelical ideas aroused the bitterest hostility of the Armenian and
Greek ecclesiastics, and appeared to increase the difficulties. This
very fact, however, aroused attention, and the persecution of the
Evangelicals called out the sympathies of Lord Stratford, who, though
always holding an impartial position, never allowing himself to appear
as the special defender of the missionaries, was able to bring to bear
considerable influence in favor of religious liberty and thus improve
the general condition of the people. The war with Mehemet Ali and his
son, Ibrahim Pasha, was felt very severely by the interior Christian
communities, and when Mahmud II died, in 1839, there seemed little hope
of great improvement.
The reign of Abd-ul-Medjid, 1839-1861, was, at least, so far as
the Christians were concerned, the golden era of the Ottoman Sultans.
He inherited his father’s liberal ideas, and furthermore had the
good sense to call to his aid some of the best statesmen that Turkey
has known, men who cordially endorsed his schemes for the general
improvement of the situation in the empire. Almost his first act was
the promulgation of the Hatti Sherif of Gulhané, a charter of equal
rights for all subjects of the Sultan. This was chiefly political in
its scope, having regard to the relations between the subject and the
government, and is noticed somewhat at length in the chapter on Reforms
and Progress. It was noticeable chiefly, so far as the Christians were
concerned, for its recognition of their right to the same protection
and justice which was accorded to Moslems. The difficulty of carrying
out any such scheme as this was made evident by the terrible massacres
which occurred in Eastern Turkey, when the Nestorians and Jacobites
suffered at the hands of Badir Khan Bey and his Turkish hordes (see
chapter on the Nestorians). In general, however, there was peace, and
on every hand the condition of the Christian population improved.
In 1853 appeared a firman recognizing the Protestant community and
giving them all the rights belonging to any other Christian race. This
was a great advance in the recognition of the principle of religious
liberty, and paved the way for the next step.
In 1856 appeared the most notable proclamation ever issued by a Moslem
ruler, the Hatti Humayoun. This was specially for the Christian races,
and on account of its great importance as well as general interest, is
given below in full.
HATTI HUMAYOUN.
“Let it be done as herein set forth.[1]
“To you, my Grand Vizier, Mohammed Emin Ali Pasha, decorated with
my imperial order of the medjidieh of the first class, and with the
order of personal merit; may God grant to you greatness and increase
your power.
“It has always been my most earnest desire to insure the happiness of
all classes of the subjects whom Divine Providence has placed under
my imperial sceptre, and since my accession to the throne I have not
ceased to direct all my efforts to the attainment of that end.
“Thanks to the Almighty, these unceasing efforts have already been
productive of numerous useful results. From day to day the happiness
of the nation and the wealth of my dominions go on augmenting.
“It being now my desire to renew and enlarge still more the new
institutions ordained with a view of establishing a state of things
conformable with the dignity of my empire and the position which
it occupies among civilized nations, and the rights of my empire
having, by the fidelity and praiseworthy efforts of all my subjects,
and by the kind and friendly assistance of the great powers, my
noble allies, received from abroad a confirmation which will be the
commencement of a new era, it is my desire to augment its well-being
and prosperity, to effect the happiness of all my subjects, who in my
sight are all equal, and equally dear to me, and who are united to
each other by the cordial ties of patriotism, and to insure the means
of daily increasing the prosperity of my empire.
“I have therefore resolved upon, and I order the execution of the
following measures:
“The guarantees promised on our part by the Hatti Humayoun of Gulhané
(No. 188), and in conformity with the Tanzimat (scheme of reform),
to all the subjects of my empire, without distinction of classes or
of religion, for the security of their persons and property, and the
preservation of their honor, are to-day confirmed and consolidated,
and efficacious measures shall be taken in order that they may have
their full, entire effect.
“All the privileges and spiritual immunities granted by my ancestors
_ab antiquo_, and at subsequent dates, to all Christian communities
or other non-Mussulman persuasions established in my empire, under my
protection, shall be confirmed and maintained.
“Every Christian or other non-Mussulman community shall be bound
within a fixed period, and with the concurrence of a commission
composed _ad hoc_ of members of its own body, to proceed, with my
high approbation and under the inspection of my Sublime Porte, to
examine into its actual immunities and privileges, and to discuss
and submit to my Sublime Porte the reforms required by the progress
of civilization and of the age. The powers conceded to the Christian
patriarchs and bishops by the Sultan Mohammed II, and by his
successors, shall be made to harmonize with the new position which my
generous and beneficent intentions insure to those communities.
“The principle of nominating the patriarchs for life, after the
revision of the rule of election now in force, shall be exactly
carried out, conformably to the tenor of their firmans of investiture.
“The patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops and rabbins
shall take an oath on their entrance into office, according to a form
agreed upon in common by my Sublime Porte and the spiritual heads
of the different religious communities. The ecclesiastical dues, of
whatever sort or nature they be, shall be abolished and replaced by
fixed revenues of the patriarchs and heads of communities, and by the
allocations of allowances and salaries equitably proportioned to the
importance, the rank, and the dignity of the different members of the
clergy.
“The property, real or personal, of the different Christian
ecclesiastics shall remain intact; the temporal administration of
the Christian or other non-Mussulman communities shall, however, be
placed under the safeguard of an assembly to be chosen from among the
members, both ecclesiastics and laymen, of the said communities.
“In the towns, small boroughs, and villages where the whole
population is of the same religion, no obstacle shall be offered to
the repair, according to their original plan, of buildings set apart
for religious worship, for schools, for hospitals and for cemeteries.
“The plans of these different buildings in case of their new
erection, must, after having been approved by the patriarchs or heads
of communities, be submitted to my Sublime Porte, which will approve
of them by my imperial order, or make known its observations upon
them within a certain time. Each sect, in localities where there are
no other religious denominations, shall be free from every species of
restraint as regards the public exercise of its religion.
“In the towns, small boroughs, and villages where different sects
are mingled together, each community inhabiting a distinct quarter,
shall, by conforming to the above-mentioned ordinances, have equal
power to repair and improve its churches, its hospitals, its schools,
and its cemeteries. When there is question of their erection of new
buildings, the necessary authority must be asked for, through the
medium of the patriarchs and heads of communities from my Sublime
Porte, which will pronounce a sovereign decision according that
authority, except in the case of administrative obstacles.
“The intervention of the administrative authority in all measures of
this nature will be entirely gratuitous. My Sublime Porte will take
energetic measures to insure to each sect, whatever be the number
of its adherents, entire freedom in the exercise of its religion.
Every distinction or designation tending to make any class whatever
of the subjects of my empire inferior to another class, on account
of their religion, language, or race, shall be forever effaced from
administrative protocol. The laws shall be put in force against
the use of any injurious or offensive term, either among private
individuals or on the part of the authorities.
“As all forms of religion are and shall be freely professed in my
dominions, no subject of my empire shall be hindered in the exercise
of the religion that he professes, nor shall he be in any way annoyed
on this account. No one shall be compelled to change his religion.
“The nomination and choice of all functionaries and other employes
of my empire being wholly dependent upon my sovereign will, all the
subjects of my empire, without distinction of nationality, shall
be admissible to public employments, and qualified to fill them
according to their capacity and merit, and conformably with the rules
to be generally applied.
“All the subjects of my empire, without distinction, shall be
received into the civil and military schools of the government, if
they otherwise satisfy the conditions as to age and examination
which are specified in the organic regulations of the said schools.
Moreover, every community is authorized to establish public schools
of science, art, and industry. Only the method of instruction and
the choice of professors in schools of this class shall be under the
control of a mixed council of public instruction, the members of
which shall be named by my sovereign command.
“All commercial, correctional, and criminal suits between Mussulmans
and Christians, or other non-Mussulman subjects, or between Christian
or other non-Mussulmans of different sects, shall be referred to
mixed tribunals.
“The proceedings of these tribunals shall be public; the parties
shall be confronted and shall produce their witnesses, whose
testimony shall be received without distinction, upon an oath taken
according to the religious law of each sect.
“Suits relating to civil affairs shall continue to be publicly tried,
according to the laws and regulations, before the mixed provincial
councils, in the presence of the governor and judge of the place.
“Special civil proceedings, such as those relating to successions or
others of that kind, between subjects of the same Christian or other
non-Mussulman faith, may, at the request of the parties, be sent
before the councils of the patriarchs or of the communities.
“Penal, correctional, and commercial laws, and rules of procedure
for the mixed tribunals, shall be drawn up as soon as possible and
formed into a code. Translations of them shall be published in all
the languages current in the empire.
“Proceedings shall be taken with as little delay as possible,
for the reform of the penitentiary system as applied to houses of
detention, punishment, or correction, and other establishments of
like nature, so as to reconcile the rights of humanity with those
of justice. Corporal punishment shall not be administered, even in
the prisons, except in conformity with the disciplinary regulations
established by my Sublime Porte; and everything that resembles
torture shall be entirely abolished.
“Infractions of the law in this particular shall be severely
repressed, and shall besides entail, as of right, the punishment, in
comformity with the civil code, of the authorities who may order and
of the agents who may commit them.
“The organization of the police in the capital, in the provincial
towns and in the rural districts, shall be revised in such a manner
as to give to all the peaceable subjects of my empire the strongest
guarantees for the safety both of their persons and property.
“The equality of taxes entailing equality of burdens, as equality
of duties entails that of rights, Christian subjects and those of
other non-Mussulman sects, as it has been already decided, shall,
as well as Mussulmans, be subject to the obligations of the law of
recruitment.
“The principle of obtaining substitutes, or of purchasing, shall be
admitted. A complete law shall be published, with as little delay as
possible, respecting the admission into and service in the army of
Christian and other non-Mussulman subjects.
“Proceedings shall be taken for a reform in the constitution of the
provincial and communal councils in order to insure fairness in
the choice of the deputies of the Mussulman, Christian, and other
communities, and freedom of voting in the councils.
“My Sublime Porte will take into consideration the adoption of the
most effectual means for ascertaining exactly and for controlling the
result of the deliberations and of the decisions arrived at.
“As the laws regulating the purchase, sale, and disposal of real
property are common to all the subjects of my empire, it shall be
lawful for foreigners to possess landed property in my dominions,
conforming themselves to the laws and police regulations, and bearing
the same charges as the native inhabitants, and after arrangements
have been come to with foreign powers.[2]
“The taxes are to be levied under the same denomination from all the
subjects of my empire, without distinction of class or religion.
The most prompt and energetic means for remedying the abuses in
collecting the taxes, and especially the tithes, shall be considered.
“The system of direct collections shall gradually, and as soon as
possible, be substituted for the plan of farming, in all the branches
of the revenues of state. As long as the present system remains in
force, all agents of the government and all members of the medjlis
shall be forbidden, under the severest penalties, to become lessees
of any farming contracts which are announced for public competition,
or to have any beneficial interest in carrying them out. The local
taxes shall, as far as possible, be so imposed as not to affect the
sources of production or to hinder the progress of internal commerce.
“Works of public utility shall receive a suitable endowment, part of
which shall be raised from private and special taxes levied in the
provinces, which shall have the benefit of the advantages arising
from the establishment of ways of communication by land and sea.
“A special law having been already passed, which declares that
the budget of the revenues and the expenditure of the state shall
be drawn up and made known every year, the said law shall be most
scrupulously observed. Proceedings shall be taken for revising the
emoluments attached to each office.
“The heads of each community and a delegate, designated by my Sublime
Porte, shall be summoned to take part in the deliberations of the
supreme council of justice on all occasions which might interest
the generality of the subjects of my empire. They shall be summoned
specially for this purpose by my Grand Vizier. The delegates shall
hold office for one year; they shall be sworn on entering upon
their duties. All the members of the council, at the ordinary and
extraordinary meetings, shall freely give their opinions and their
votes, and no one shall ever annoy them on this account.
“The laws against corruption, extortion or malversation shall apply,
according to the legal forms, to all the subjects of my empire,
whatever may be their class and the nature of their duties.
“Steps shall be taken for the formation of banks and other similar
institutions, so as to effect a reform in the monetary and financial
system, as well as to create funds to be employed in augmenting
the sources of the material wealth of my empire. Steps shall also
be taken for the formation of roads and canals to increase the
facilities of communication and increase the sources of the wealth of
the country.
“Everything that can impede commerce or agriculture shall be
abolished. To accomplish these objects, means shall be sought to
profit by the science, the art, and the funds of Europe, and thus
gradually to execute them.
“Such being my wishes and my commands, you, who are my Grand Vizier,
will, according to custom, cause this imperial firman to be published
in my capital and in all parts of my empire; and you will watch
attentively and take all the necessary measures that all the orders
which it contains be henceforth carried out with the most rigorous
punctuality.
“10 DZEMAZIUL, 1272 (February 18, 1856).”[3]
[1] These words, written by the Sultan’s own hand, constitute the
decree a Hatti Humayoun.
[2] On the 18th of January, 1867, a law was passed granting to
foreigners the right to hold real property in the Ottoman Empire, and
on the 28th of July, 1868, a protocol was signed between the British
and Turkish Governments relative to the admission of British subjects
to the right of holding real property in Turkey.
[3] This document, as also the Hatti Sherif, has been taken from Van
Dyck’s report on the Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire, published at
Washington, D. C., 1881.
During the remainder of the reign of Abd-ul-Medjid, and that of
Abd-ul-Aziz (1861-1876), the condition of the Christians throughout
the empire generally improved. Outbreaks were not wanting. There was
the massacre of Maronites by the Druzes in 1860, and the intrigues
of Russia resulted in the Bulgarian atrocities, which, in turn,
resulted in the Russo-Turkish war and Bulgarian independence. For
the most part, however, the situation was far better than it had
been at any time. This, not merely in general prosperity, but in
the relation between Christians and Moslems. Terms of reproach were
heard less. There was greater freedom of worship and education, and
it began to be possible for a Christian to secure some justice in
the Turkish courts. Christians became numerous in administrative
offices, and in the councils in the interior provinces. Taxation,
while heavy, was less unevenly divided, and it became not unusual for
a Christian to acquire property without attracting the notice of the
Turkish authorities, and losing it all through the machinations of
some jealous official. Appeals, also, were more frequently made to
the higher courts, and local magnates learned that there was a power
higher than their own which they must respect. In this, the presence
of the American Missionaries assisted greatly. While not interfering
in the administration of the government, they frequently protested
to the local governors against manifest injustice and assisted in
the forwarding of complaints to Constantinople. The Patriarchs found
cordial support at the hands of the foreign ambassadors, and not
infrequently Turks looked on with envy, saying to the Armenians,
“When an official treats you unjustly, you have some redress. You can
send to your bishop and he to the Patriarch, and he can get the great
Ambassador from Europe to support his plea. The result is, you get
justice. We have nobody to go to. The official is one of us. He will
forward no petitions, and we must simply accept his decision, whatever
it may be.”
This amelioration of their condition was assisted not a little by the
political necessities of the times, and the fact that Abd-ul-Aziz was
so absorbed with his plans for aggrandizement that he thought chiefly
of using every means that came to his hand. He found the Christians
very useful, and advanced them so that they became a great power in
the land. Governors hesitated before they incurred their hostility,
and they were able to do much for their fellow-subjects. This sort of
prosperity, however, had its dangers. Intrigue increased on every hand,
and the coming in contact with the new ideas of the West operated in
some respects quite unfavorably (see chapter on the Armenians).
It must not be supposed, however, that there was no oppression. There
was, and the suffering in many places was intense. It would have been
impossible for even the most enlightened government to thoroughly carry
out such radical reforms as those of the Hatti Humayoun without great
difficulty, and in Turkey this was greatly increased by the fact that
they were bitterly opposed by the entire Moslem population. Turkish
pashas, sheiks, beys, and aghas were not slow to see that their power
was on the wane, and Turkish peasants realized that the Christians were
outstripping them in many of the elements of prosperity. Officials
thus used their power when they could, and Turkish citizens made
their hostility manifest in the most unpleasant ways. The incursions
of Kurds, Circassians, Lozes, and others were also frequent, and the
suffering was intense in many places. Peace and prosperity had by no
means come. Yet, on the whole, the situation of the Christians was far
better when Abd-ul-Hamid II came to the throne in 1876, than it had
been at any time since the establishment of the Ottoman dynasty.
[Illustration:
SULTAN OF TURKEY. Sultan Abdul Hamid II is now fifty-four years old.
Personally, he is a man with whom intercourse is extremely pleasant.
His position has been a very difficult one, and he by identifying
himself with the reactionary party has made himself responsible for
the terrible outrages in his empire.]
[Illustration:
AUDIENCE AT THE PALACE. The Sultan and his Grand Vizier are giving
audience to Sir Phillip Currie, and his secretary. The room is in
the palace of Dolma Baghtche, one of the most beautiful and richly
ornamented in the world. The attendant standing is an interpreter or
palace official.]
CHAPTER XVI.
THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT.
True Moslem State Theocratic--Dual Form of the Present
Government--The Sublime Porte--Army and Navy--Internal
Administration--Financial Management--General
Corruption--Administration of Justice--Treatment of Christians--The
Ulema--The Palace Party--The Sultan.
There can be no proper understanding of the situation in Turkey
without a knowledge of the peculiar character of the Turkish
Government. That government is in reality dual in form. So far as
the outside world is concerned it is on the basis of an absolute
monarchy or despotism. The Sultan is the autocrat of his empire,
but has under him a complete organization of departments conducted
by the appropriate chiefs who form his cabinet. To the Moslem,
however, the same government bears another aspect, and side by side
with this organization that is apparent to the Western eye there is
another, which to the true Turk takes precedence of it. The original
Moslem State was distinctly theocratic in its nature, and its entire
organization was based upon the idea that religion was the controlling
element in the conduct of all affairs, national, municipal and family.
Both forms, however, centre in the Sultan himself, and under the
peculiar conditions of his life there has grown up a third element,
often distinct from and even antagonistic to the others--the palace
element. Each one of these three play an important part in the affairs
of the empire.
The Turkish Government as it stands before the world at large is
organized like any other government. The Sultan is the supreme head;
under him is the Council of Ministers, called Medjliss-i-Hass.
This consists of the following members: the Grand Vizier, the
Sheik-ul-Islam, and the Ministers of the Interior, of Foreign Affairs,
of War, of Finance, of Marine, of Commerce, of Public Instruction and
of Evkaf, together with the President of the Council of State and the
Grand Master of Artillery. These different departments constitute
what is known as the Sublime Porte, and are carried on in much the
same way as the corresponding departments in this country or in any
European country, and most of them require no special description. The
Grand Vizier, as president of the Council, holds much the same power
as the Premier in England. Theoretically he has the power to decide
matters in any department on his own judgment, and his endorsement
of an undertaking is almost sure to insure its success whether the
rest of the Cabinet approve it or not. Of the other members there
are only three whose office needs any special description. These are
the Sheik-ul-Islam, the Minister of Evkaf and the Minister of Public
Instruction.
The Sheik-ul-Islam is popularly supposed to be the head of the Moslem
religion. This, however, is not true. He is merely the representative
in this Council of the Moslem Hierarchy. Theoretically he is nominated
by the Sultan with the approval of the Ulemas, or general body of
Moslem Doctors of Law. Practically he is the choice, as are the other
members of the Council, of the Grand Vizier, who has the privilege
usually of making up his own Cabinet, as has the English Premier.
His membership in the Council is in most cases honorary rather than
important. Only under rare instances does he come into position to
exercise any positive influence upon affairs. On the occasion of the
death of Sultan Abdul Aziz, the conspirators applied to the Ulema, who
made a statement that the Sultan was not fit to govern, and as their
mouthpiece the Sheik-ul-Islam issued a decree of _fetva_, which made
his deposition lawful. So also when it became necessary politically to
replace Murad by his brother Abdul Hamid, the Sheik-ul-Islam was called
upon, and, agreeably to the influences brought to bear, issued the
order. There have been similar instances at other times, but since the
reorganization of the empire by Sultan Mahmud II the office has been as
a rule honorary rather than practical.
The Minister of Public Instruction is a Cabinet Minister by virtue of
the peculiar relations existing between the government and the Mosque
schools, and the necessity, under a despotic government, of watching
that nothing shall be taught in one school that shall antagonize what
is taught in another, or be in the slightest degree derogatory to
the general government. The important duty in regard to the schools
connected with the Mosques, has to do not so much with the education
itself as with the control of that very large portion of the revenues
of the country which is applied to their support. Another department
under the same head is that of the censorship. How important a
department this is will be manifest later on, illustrations of it
being given in the chapter on the condition of the empire in 1894. The
countries where this department occupies a somewhat parallel position
are Russia, Austria and Spain, where the censorship is very rigid and
the oversight by the government of all departments of instruction is
very complete.
The Minister of Evkaf has duties entirely unlike those of any cabinet
minister in European countries. They arise from the inevitable mingling
of the two characteristics of the Turkish Government. The term _vakouf_
is applied to property which in one form or another is directed to
religious uses and generally indicates that belonging to the Mosques.
It is acquired in two ways; the property of any man who dies intestate
reverts under Turkish law not to the State itself, but to the nearest
Mosque. In addition to this, if any man desires to secure special
divine favor, such as is awarded particularly to the charitable,
according to Moslem teaching, he may transfer during his lifetime or
deed after his death any portion of his property to any particular
Mosque. He, however, has the privilege of securing an annuity based
upon this property to some member of his own family or some one whom
he desires especially to favor. The result is that a very large
amount, estimated at from one-third to one-half, of the real estate in
the Turkish Empire is owned by the Mosques in this way; the income,
however, not by any means being entirely under the control of the
Mosques themselves. It is evident that the direction of this involves a
very extended organization, and the elevation of it into a department
whose head shall be in the Cabinet was perfectly natural. It will be
easily seen that the style of questions arising in such a case is very
varied. Where a person wishes to buy real estate the first thing he has
to do is to find out whether it, or any portion of it, is _vakouf_. If
so, he must, in making his contract, bind himself to pay the regular
tax directly to the Mosque or to the holder of the annuity. This can
be done without great difficulty. But in case he should die and the
property be divided according to law among his heirs, and one of those
heirs should die, then the portion of that heir goes to the Mosque.
Various methods have been devised to overcome such difficulties. Two
are provided for by Turkish law: (1) A lump sum may be paid to the
Mosque, securing complete quittal of all claims; (2) The purchaser
may find some unencumbered property, and, by payment to its owners of
a consideration, secure its acceptance by the Mosque in lieu of the
property that he wishes.
The military departments of the government are organized and officered
very much as in other governments. The army is divided into the
Nizam, or regular army; the Redif, or reserves, and the Mustahfiz, or
veterans. Military service is compulsory on all able-bodied Mohammedans
for six years in the regular army, eight years in the reserve, and six
in the veteran service. There are, however, the following exceptions:
(1) All Turks residing in Constantinople and its suburbs are released;
(2) Those who are infirm, are the sole support of their families, or
for any special reason may claim exception, are required to go through
from six to nine months’ drill in the regular battalion in the first
year of their service, and thirty days’ drill at their homes in every
subsequent year, and are also liable on emergency to be called to
join the regular army. Non-Moslems are prohibited from entering the
military service, but instead pay an exemption tax, which is levied
alike on males of all ages. The effect of this has been to create a
heavy strain upon the Moslem population throughout the empire, while
the Christians have found it to their advantage to pay the tax rather
than to endure the conscription. In the apportionment of the troops it
has been the rule never to allow soldiers to serve in the districts
near their homes. Thus the troops employed in the garrisons in the
north are levied from among the Moslems of Syria and Mesopotamia, while
those accustomed to the snows and high altitudes of Asia Minor are sent
into the heated plains of the south. Whatever advantage might result
from this separation from their homes is more than counterbalanced
by the strain upon the physical constitution. The total effective
force of the regular Turkish army in times of peace is estimated at
about 150,000 men and 9,800 officers, divided into 264 battalions of
infantry, 189 squadrons of cavalry, 104 batteries of field artillery,
36 batteries of mountain and 29 battalions of garrison artillery, 4
battalions of infantry train, 14 battalions of artificers, 3 battalions
of fire brigade, 22 companies of engineers, 2 sanitary companies and 1
telegraph company. The total force that it is estimated might be put
into the field under the present system is said to be about 800,000
men. The rank and file is of excellent material. There are no better
soldiers in the world than the Turks. They are faithful, obedient,
fearless, and accustomed to the utmost frugality of life. The same,
however, cannot be said of the officers. There are brave, efficient men
among them; but for the most part they show the same defects as other
Turks in official position, and their weakness affects very seriously
the whole army.
The Turkish navy is the laughing stock of all who know anything about
it. In numbers it is strong, and probably, if it were kept in repair
and sufficiently well manned, it might be available for warfare. As a
matter of fact, its principal use for the last few years has been to
make annual trips from the inner harbor to the Bosporus and back again,
in which trips it has to pass the two bridges that span the Golden
Horn, and if it gets through without really damaging the bridges,
it is matter of public comment and congratulation in the press. The
present navy owes its origin to the ambition and extravagance of Sultan
Abdul Aziz, who, having found that money was to be had in Europe for
the asking, paid little attention to the conditions of the payment
of interest, and borrowed right and left for the purpose of building
palaces, public works of various kinds, and a navy. He had, however,
to import engineers and officers; for seamen he relied in some degree
upon Dalmatians, but they could not supply the demand, and he fell back
upon the Turks. The Turks are as poor sailors as most Orientals, and as
a matter of fact the fleet has been and is worth next to nothing for
offensive or even for defensive purposes. The general collapse of the
finances of the empire has made it difficult to pay the engineers; the
ships have not been well cared for, and are practically of no account
in estimating the strength of the nation. There are 15 armor-clad ships
of considerable power, and 42 others, some of them of very little
value. Its nominal strength is 6 vice-admirals, 11 rear admirals, 208
captains, 704 under officers, 30,000 sailors, and 9,460 marines.
The department which at present attracts most attention is that
of the Interior. For administrative purposes the empire is divided
into vilayets (provinces), which are subdivided into sanjaks or livas
(governments or arrondissements), these again into kazas (counties),
and these into nahies (communes). The governors of these divisions are
styled Valis, or Walis, Mutessarifs, Kaimakams and Mudirs. The first
two officers, who have the title of Pasha, and the third, are appointed
by the Council of State at Constantinople, the fourth by the Valis.
The last is generally some local magistrate; the others are usually
from places at some distance from where they hold office. Their duties
are both judicial and executive, and each is practically autocrat
within his own jurisdiction, subject only to his immediate superior.
There is a council connected with each of these offices, composed of
prominent members of the different communities, Moslem and Christian,
whose business it is to advise the governor in the many details of his
office. The different communities have a loose organization called the
medjliss, which meets on occasion to discuss local matters, and which
is represented in a sort of council associated with the governor. The
general character of the provincial government is largely dependent
upon the Governor-General, or Vali. If he is a man who seeks to deal
justly by the people, and who has a pretty firm hand, there is order
and quiet, for the people are usually peaceable. If he is an avaricious
man, that characteristic, always existent to a greater or less degree,
pervades the whole administration, and the shrewdest politicians
come out best. If he is easy-going, caring more for his comfort, or
_kef_, his subordinates do much as they please, and that pleasure
is, as a rule, to fleece the people to the best of their ability.
Occasionally, though it must be said rarely, the governor is a man of
marked brutality, and then woe betide any in city or country who for
any reason incur his hostility. When it is remembered that appointments
to provincial offices are seldom made with any reference to the welfare
of the province, but usually as a matter of favor to some one who
desires to recover wasted fortune, or whom revenge seeks to remove
from Constantinople, it will be readily seen that the chances are all
in favor of poor rather than good government. Taking into account also
the fact of the absolute autocracy of the governor, and the utter lack
of supervision, the wonder is not that the provinces are governed so
badly, but that they are not governed worse.
The financial management of the government is probably the worst
in existence. Properly speaking, Turkey has no finance. There are
revenues, but no regular way of collecting them. There are salaries,
but no regular way of paying them. The result is chaos. From the Sultan
down to the lowest grade in the public service it is a scramble for
money, each one getting all he can and giving up as little as possible.
Many of the revenues are mortgaged to pay the loans contracted, chiefly
during the extravagant reign of Abdul Aziz, and are under the absolute
control of a commission of foreigners. The tithes are farmed out to
the highest bidders, who have the whole power of the government at
their disposal to enable them to collect all they can, on the general
principle of a division of any profits between the collectors and
the authorities. Tax receipts are repeatedly refused, so that when
subsequent collectors come they can take advantage of their absence to
collect back taxes to the very limit of possibility. Enumerators for
personal taxes make their lists small so as to lessen the amount for
which they are held responsible, while in view of this they levy on the
community as high as the community will give. Importers try to secure
undervaluation of their goods, land-owners undervaluation of their
land, peasants hide their grain, and men will often bear imprisonment,
and even the severest beating, rather than reveal their deposits.
In case of special need at Constantinople, requisition is made upon
some province for a certain sum. Forthwith all the efforts of every
member of the administration of that province are directed to two
things: (1) to lessen if possible the amount demanded; (2) to secure
for themselves a portion of the money that must be collected. Spies and
informers abound on every hand, and exceptional harvests, fortunate
investments, fat legacies, are made the pretexts of all sorts of
pressure. Salaries are always in arrears for months, and sometimes
years. The announcement that the treasury is to pay a month’s salary to
the clerks of the departments, or to the army and navy, is a matter of
public comment and advertisements in the newspapers. But people must
live. Hence bribery and extortion rule everywhere. Judges, officials
of every grade, even heads of departments, rely for their support, not
upon the government itself, but upon what influence they can exert on
the lives and fortunes of others, and upon appropriating at least a
little of what passes through their hands.
The general conduct of the various departments is thus inevitably
the poorest. There is not the faintest pretense of civil service. All
appointments go by favor, and, with rare exceptions, the amount of work
accomplished is lamentably, even ludicrously, small. It is absolutely
impossible to get anything done in any of the departments except by
one of two means: constant pressure combined with the endorsement of
a superior official, or the most unblushing bribery. Fees abound on
every hand, and are given openly without any apparent idea that there
is anything derogatory to the officials in taking them. In the Custom
House there is a regular scale of fees; so much to the porter who
takes things out of the lighter; so much to the inspector; so much
to the clerk, and so on from the bottom up. The inevitable result is
that there is false swearing on every hand, and the dues supposed to
be received seldom reach intact the treasuries of the government.
When it comes to the question of securing concessions, the matter is
still worse. Some ten years ago a small book, called “Minor Memoirs
of Turkey,” was published, full of curious details. Among them was
a list of bribes received by dignitaries of the Ottoman Government;
they included 75,000 Turkish pounds paid by a railway company to
two secretaries, a chamberlain at the palace, a minister in the
cabinet, etc. A tobacco monopoly company paid 12,000 pounds to various
officials; the directors of a bank in Galata remitted 125,000 pounds
as an agent for some enterprise. The court chamberlain received 60,000
pounds from Baron ----, through a certain effendi, for a concession.
Whether these particular instances are absolutely correct or not, makes
very little difference. It is perfectly notorious, and has been for
years, that every concession of any kind for public works has to pass
the gauntlet of bribes from the lowest official at the Sublime Porte to
the palace itself. It is true that some enterprises are carried through
without bribes, but they owe their success to personal favor. One who
was well posted in Turkish Government dealings has said, that “strong
as Baksheesh Pasha is, Khatir Pasha is still stronger.” (Khatir is what
is done out of courtesy. If a Turk is asked to do a thing as a personal
favor, it lays a heavier obligation upon him than even the presentation
of a bribe, if the personal relations are at all intimate.) To give in
anything like full detail a description of the methods adopted in the
different departments of the Turkish Government, would require several
chapters of itself, and would reveal an amount of trickery, deception
and fraud which would be almost incredible. In the administration
of justice there is a system of laws and of courts based upon the
Napoleon code. There is a certain amount of regular law practiced.
Here, however, the Moslem organization comes into such close relation
with what we may call the European organization, that special reference
is reserved for a later paragraph. The policing of the country is in
the hands of the military, although the police force is a different
organization from that of the regular army.
The personnel of the different departments is almost entirely Moslem,
except where Turks are simply incapable of performing the duties.
To Mahmud II must be given the credit of recognizing the superior
ability of his Christian subjects, and of employing them in the
various departments of the government. His practice was enlarged upon
by Sultans Abdul Medjid and Abdul Aziz. When the present Sultan came
to the throne, Armenians and Greeks were quite numerous as clerks in
the various departments. Some rose to high position and were greatly
honored. During the present reign, however, the number of these has
been steadily diminishing, and their places have been taken by Turks.
The Turk, not being well adapted to bureaucratic work, the general
conduct of the empire has suffered proportionately. It is to be noted
that the diplomatic service of the Turkish Empire is chiefly in the
hands of the Greeks. There are few, if any, Armenians. In the local
administrative service the Armenians outnumber the Greeks. The presence
of these men in the service is referred to as indicative of the kindly
feeling of the government for the Christian subjects. This does not
by any means follow. Their presence is due, not to any favor on the
part of the Sultan or his ministers, but to the fact that they are
absolutely essential for the efficient conduct of the government.
Turning now to the Moslem organization, we find that originally it
was not dissimilar in form to the other. It is based, however, upon an
entirely different idea. In it the Sultan is not an executive, but is
the caliph; primarily the defender of the faith, and only incidentally
the governor of the people. He has associated with him the different
prefects, practically ministers, who are his subordinates, and yet
autocrats each in his own department under his general authority. So
far as relations to foreign governments are concerned, there is not
so much of difference. In the conduct of home affairs the difference
is very marked, especially in the Department of Justice. There the
whole principle of judgment is based upon the Moslem law, including
both the Koran and the traditions. Those traditions recognize as the
fundamental principle of law the faith and declaration of belief in the
unity of God. Every person who denies that is an idolater, and unworthy
of position equal to that of the true Moslem. Thus no Christian
testimony is available in a court of law, and in any difference between
himself and a Moslem, his interest is entirely a secondary matter.
The fact that the traditions were very inchoate and uncertain left
an enormous amount of room for all kinds of legal quibbles. So long
as the conduct of the courts was on this basis pure and simple, the
absolute subordination of the Christians was very plain. They had no
rights of any kind, and when, by virtue of a sort of rude justice, they
occasionally were treated honorably, it was so much clear gain. When,
however, the new organization was brought side by side with the old,
and the Napoleon code was made of equal importance with the law of the
Cheri, then there was a constant strife as to which should get the
better of the other, and between the two, even less of justice was done
than was accomplished by the former, except where there were influences
at work to compel, through diplomatic pressure, the granting of just
dues.
An illustration will give an idea of the situation better than any
general description. A foreigner purchased a house in an interior city
of Turkey which had been offered for open sale by the government, which
had sequestered it in lieu of taxes due from its owner, an Armenian. A
thorough government title was given, and possession seemed absolutely
sure. After a few years the original owner died, leaving a son who had
not yet attained his majority. Meanwhile the foreigner had improved
the property so much that it had doubled, perhaps tripled, in value.
The son, on coming of age, wanted to get back his ancestral property,
and applied to the courts, claiming that the original seizure by the
government was unjust, inasmuch as according to the Moslem law the
rights of a minor could not be prejudiced by the debts of the father.
The thing was brought before the local cadi, and for a consideration he
decided in favor of the young man, and the foreigner was immediately
ordered to leave. There had been no opportunity for his case to be
presented; simply the instructions came from the courts that he was
to withdraw, and a platoon of soldiers was sent to enforce the order.
Being a foreigner, however, he had the right to refuse entrance to the
Turkish troops, and the matter was referred to Constantinople. There
it was brought before the regular court, and the representatives of
the foreigner said, “If the man has been defrauded, why, that is not
our business. The government gave us a good title and took our money;
we have improved the property. Now, if the house belongs to this young
man, we shall bring suit against the government for the money paid, the
interest paid upon that money, and for the value of the improvements.”
They utterly refused to go into the question of the original
sequestration. This put the government in a difficult position. They
were entirely unwilling to pay the money, and at the same time there
was the decision of their courts. So an experienced Moslem jurist was
called in, and he found that by some other precept of Moslem law the
minor had lost his rights through not having presented his claim on
a certain date. The result of the whole thing was that the property
remained in the hands of the foreigner.
Two other points deserve special mention: the position of Christians
in the courts, and the general relation of the government as a
protector. According to the true Moslem position, as stated above, no
infidel (and all non-Moslems are infidels) has any standing before
the law. His word is of no value, and his testimony is worthless in
comparison with that of the true believer. Under the general reforms
inaugurated by Sultan Mahmud and carried on by his successor, this was
changed in theory, and, by the Hatti Humayoun, the Christian’s witness
was accepted on a par with that of the Moslem. Had the new code been
the only one in force, or had it been possible to institute courts all
over the country, it would have been comparatively easy to accomplish
the change; but the continuance of the old system throughout the rural
districts, and in many matters, notably real estate transfers in the
cities, occasioned great confusion, which worked constantly to delay
and hamper the development of the Christians. As a matter of fact, the
local courts throughout the empire, in matters affecting Moslems and
Christians, have been and still are conducted on the general basis of
the distinctively Moslem law, and not on that of the Napoleon code.
The same thing is true of the general relations of the Christians
to the government in all matters regarding his protection. The old
formula was, “Islam, tribute, or the sword,” with an at least implied
pledge of protection for those who accepted the tribute. This was
assured to the Christians by various edicts, notably the Hatti
Humayoun. Yet repeatedly it has been manifest that the old Moslem law
is practically in force, according to which the moment a Christian
becomes in any way an element of uneasiness in the community, or of
hostility to the government, he may be suppressed. A doctor of Moslem
law, when questioned on this point, frankly acknowledged the truth
of the statement, and went on to say that even if the Christian had
done nothing, he might be incited to some overt act which would give a
pretext for suppressing him. This fact throws a flood of light on the
claim of the Turkish Government that it has been suppressing rebellion.
This distinctively Moslem idea is represented in the actual government
of Turkey in many ways. The Sheik-ul-Islam is its formal representative
in the cabinet, but it has absolute control over the Board of Censors,
in the Department of Public Instruction, as will be seen in the chapter
on the situation in 1894. It is also dominant in the Department of
Evkaf, and practically, though not theoretically so, in the Department
of Justice. In the interior provinces, however, with rare exceptions,
it rules everywhere. The exponents are chiefly the cadis in the
villages and towns, who look with marked disfavor on the new-fangled
judges who have usurped their privileges, and who strive by every means
to arrest their supremacy. In close sympathy with them are the Moslem
priests, especially the Ulema, or Doctors of Moslem law, the Softas, or
students of law. All of these are bitterly opposed to the introduction
of what they consider the infidel code, and do not scruple to do all
in their power to make it of no effect. When their numbers and their
wide distribution are taken into account, it will be readily seen that
while the paraphernalia of the Turkish Government is to all appearances
in accord with modern and European ideas, there is an influence not so
visible, but very powerful, which renders it of extremely little value
in the actual conduct of the affairs of the empire.
No one can live in Constantinople for any length of time, least
of all have much dealing with the government, without learning the
meaning of the term, “The Palace.” Theoretically it means the Sultan,
with his environments of police officials and attendants; practically
it means in most cases those officials themselves, the Sultan being
considered apart. Those officials include the officers of the palace,
the chamberlain, chief eunuch and private secretaries. There is also
the introducer of ambassadors; and aside from these there is generally
a small coterie of men in whom the Sultan has personal confidence.
They hold no definite official position, but live near the palace and
are summoned at any time that the Sultan desires their counsel. In
addition to these there is usually a small company of ecclesiastics or
of Dervishes, who have varying influence with the Sultan. The power
of these different officials varies greatly at different times, and
also as one subject or another comes up. Under some previous reigns,
when the personal comfort of the Sultan was predominant in his plans,
the chief eunuch was often practically the ruler of the empire. It was
said that he had considerable influence in the reign of Abdul Aziz.
Under the present Sultan it is generally understood that he is purely a
palace official, with no relation to outside matters. The introducer of
ambassadors is generally a man personally agreeable to the Sultan, and
who, by virtue of his acquaintance with the different representatives
of the foreign governments, is able, in quiet, unofficial ways, to
exert considerable influence. One man who has for a long time been
quite prominent is the well-known General Osman Pasha. His heroic
defense of Plevna made him quite a hero in Turkish eyes, and his
influence in many things has been quite noticeable. With regard to the
Dervishes, it is difficult to speak with any degree of certainty. They
are men gathered from different parts of the empire, who for one reason
or another, perhaps personal, perhaps due to the locality from which
they came, have made themselves agreeable to the Sultan or have made
themselves useful. In general they represent to him the distinctively
Moslem feeling of his empire and of the general Moslem world. There
have been many reports as to their overpowering influence, and names
have been given of one and another who seemed to dominate the Sultan
absolutely. These reports must be taken with large allowance. While
undoubtedly they have manifested considerable power on different
occasions, it may be questioned whether that power has been at any time
prominent or predominant, whether they have not more often been the
tools of the Sultan rather than his masters.
One other department should be mentioned, the Council of State or
Privy Council. This is a large body, made up of most of those who have
been prominent in public affairs. They may have been members of the
Cabinet or not. Their duties are advisory rather than official. The
only one among them having a definite position is the president, who
is also a member of the Porte or Cabinet. In ordinary times they do
not appear before the public to any great degree. On some occasions,
however, they form a very influential element in the management of
affairs. Reference has been also made to the Ulema. Of these there is
no definite organization. It is a general body including the prominent
instructors in Moslem law connected with the different Mosques.
They appear in the regular government only in the person of the
Sheik-ul-Islam, who is a member of the Cabinet or Sublime Porte.
Dominating all these departments is the Sultan himself. His word is
law, and no official order of the Porte, the Council of State, or
connected with the Palace, can stand against his personal displeasure.
At the same time, as in all autocratic governments, he is by no
means an absolutely independent ruler. He is compelled by force of
circumstances to recognize the very diverse interests about him; to
realize that he must on the one hand keep on good terms with the
nations of Europe, and not less carefully guard against offending those
who have a great hold upon his Moslem subjects, and who may influence
very seriously his position as Caliph of the Moslem world. It is thus
that the personality of the Sultan is, after all, the most important
element in the Turkish Government. In cases like the Conqueror of
Constantinople, Mahmud II, and others, that influence is positive;
in the case of others it is negative, and the positive influence has
rested with one or another branch of the government. Under the present
reign the positive influence of the Sultan himself is a most important
factor, recognized as such by all who have come into personal contact
with him. And no one who has followed the course of his reign can fail
to recognize the great degree to which Abdul Hamid III has impressed
his individuality upon the Turkish Government.
[Illustration:
ROBERT COLLEGE, situated on the heights of Rumeli Hissar, about six
miles up the Bosporus from the city of Constantinople. Just below is
the place where Darius crossed the Bosporus and where Mohammed II.
built his famous castles.]
[Illustration:
THE BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL IN SMYRNA. It is under the care of the American
missionaries. The students are of all nationalities, Armenian, Greek,
English, and other Europeans. The house is a good illustration of the
style of building. There are no chimneys, their place being taken by
stovepipes, as seen in the picture.]
CHAPTER XVII.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN TURKEY.
Early History--Opposition of Ecclesiastics in the Oriental
Churches--Attitude of the Turkish Government--Work Among
Moslems--Development of Education--Societies at Work--The
American Board--Presbyterian Boards--American and British Bible
Societies--English Societies--General Statistics--Relations to the
Turkish Government--Character of the Missionaries.
No statement of Turkey is complete without an account of the rise
and development of Protestant mission work. The first effort of this
kind in modern times was put forth by the British and Foreign Bible
Society. Soon after its organization in 1804 colporteurs were sent
inland from Smyrna, and subsequent missionaries found to a considerable
degree traces of their work. There was also an attempt on the part of
English societies to reach the country from Malta, but there was no
organized effort until that of the missionaries of the American Board,
at that time representing the Congregational, Presbyterian and Reformed
Churches of the United States. In 1819 two missionaries left Boston
appointed to work in Palestine. They stopped at Malta and conferred
with the representatives of the Church Missionary and London Missionary
Societies of England, and then went to Smyrna. It did not take long for
them to realize that there was little opportunity for successful work
in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and they turned their attention to the
Oriental Churches with which they came in contact. They were joined
during the following years by a number of others, and aside from Smyrna
there were stations occupied at Beirut and at Constantinople; this last
in 1832.
Without entering into any detailed account of the occupation of the
different cities by individual missionaries, a general statement as to
their relations to the different races and religions and the progress
of their influence among them will furnish what is most essential for
the present purpose. This may be done under two heads; the Oriental
Churches, and Moslems. The work among the Jews has been carried on
to a limited degree chiefly by Scotch Presbyterians and members of
the Church of England, but it has not been of such general success
as to materially affect the empire. Other work has entered into the
development of the empire in a most noticeable degree.
We take up first work among the Oriental Churches. These include the
Armenian, Greek, Bulgarian, Jacobite, Nestorian, Chaldean and Maronite.
For the general statement of these see a preceding chapter. It is
sufficient here to speak of the relations that Protestant missions have
held towards them all. The first missionaries entered upon their work
with no thought whatever of proselyting. They recognized the essential
Christian character of the churches, and their object was to set before
them not a new creed or a different form of church government, but
simply a higher conception of what constituted Christian life. They
found almost absolute ignorance of the Bible; complete domination by
an ignorant and superstitious hierarchy, and a general feeling that
their church life was so thoroughly identified with national life that
to leave the church was to leave the nation, and that every heretic
was also a traitor. Combined with all of these was the peculiar civil
organization by which the ecclesiastics were the practical rulers in
every community and were enabled to exercise a pressure, the extent
and severity of which it is almost impossible for us to understand
at this time. Excommunication from the church meant far more than
ecclesiastical disability; it involved the absolute loss of any civil
status. An Armenian or a Greek who incurred the hostility of his bishop
and was placed under the ban had no rights that any one was bound to
respect. He could neither be baptized nor be buried; he could neither
marry nor purchase; no baker would furnish him with bread and no
butcher with meat; no one would employ him and no court recognized his
existence so as to give him the most ordinary protection.
The full extent of this situation did not appear at first. The early
missionaries sought merely to explain the Bible doctrine of a purer,
truer life dependent upon the atoning work of Christ. As always, they
met with some who seemed to be looking for just such truth, and not a
few welcomed very gladly the teaching. The moment this became apparent,
however, the priests began to realize that their power was in danger.
Undoubtedly in some cases their hostility was perfectly sincere. They
really thought that it was dangerous for these people to read the
Bible for themselves. Fortified by the traditions and education of
centuries they felt that the complete acceptance of certain formulas
was absolutely essential to eternal life. There were others, however,
who feared far more the loss of political influence. There was just
beginning to dawn upon Western Asia the light of European civilization.
Its influence was felt on every hand, as yet very vaguely in most
cases, but perhaps all the more forcibly. The Greeks and Armenians
had been trained to look upon the Western churches as heretics or at
least schismatics. The remembrance of the strife that preceded the
final break between the Roman Catholic and the Greek Churches has been
handed down until the bitterness of hostility which rules is scarcely
conceivable. The predominant feeling was that whatever of weakness or
of poverty there was, was due entirely to the tyranny of the Turkish
Government which had held them in thrall for nearly four centuries.
They saw that government perceptibly changing. Mahmud II was manifestly
recognizing that old-time methods were incompatible with the changing
situation, and was introducing customs which to the traditional Turk
savored of revolution if not of denial of the faith.
The ecclesiastics of the Christian churches in a certain dim way
probably thought that if at this time they could hold their own
positively, and even aggressively, there would come to them a share of
the improvement all expected in the future. It is therefore from every
standpoint scarcely surprising that they failed to recognize the true
character of the work commenced among them by these representatives of
a, to them, despised church. The strife that followed was exceedingly
bitter. On the one hand there was the all-engrossing power of the
hierarchy, on the other the irresistible force which the reception of
new ideas in an old established community always betrays. Persecution
merely fanned the flame of eager desire to learn what it was that so
aroused the ire of the priests, whose power indeed had been recognized,
but who, in the degenerate condition of the church, had largely lost
their personal influence over the people. Man after man, women even,
came, openly at times, usually secretly, to the homes of missionaries,
not themselves with any thought of leaving the old church, simply
anxious to understand more perfectly what they had been taught from
childhood. Over both, watching with a curious and somewhat nonchalant
eye, was the Turkish Government. It cared not a straw what particular
form of worship the “infidel dogs” preferred. On the whole its officers
were rather pleased at the newly offered opportunity for carrying out
their traditional policy of ruling through the disunion of either their
subjects, their allies, or their enemies.
It was not long before matters came to a crisis. The priests issued
their bulls of excommunication and those thus excommunicated naturally
came to the missionaries for assistance. They were indeed in a
pitiable condition, some of them persons of wealth and education, all
of intellectual ability, and keenly sensitive to the charges brought
against them. Common humanity compelled the missionaries to interest
themselves in their welfare, and they appealed to the representatives
of the Protestant Powers at Constantinople. They in turn carried the
matter before the Turkish Government, and the Turkish Government in its
semi-lordly, semi-contemptuous way, reached out a hand of protection
to the unfortunate objects of ecclesiastical persecution. They
granted a quasi-civil organization to these Evangelical or Protestant
Armenians, as they were called, and recognized them as a distinct
body, notwithstanding the bitter opposition of the Armenian and Greek
Patriarchs. They, however took care not to give this new body so much
of power, or rather so much of prestige, as to materially affect the
standing of the older communities. They used it as a foil to ward
off dangers which they conceived might come rather than as a means
of doing justice to a portion of their subjects. One instance will
furnish an illustration of the situation. One of the honored members of
the Evangelical community died. The question arose where he should be
buried. To bury him in the regular Armenian burying-ground, consecrated
by the bishops, was out of the question. The Turkish Government granted
a separate plot, but the Armenians were bound that he should not be
buried at all. Every effort was made to preserve secrecy. The time
of the service became known and a great mob collected. The Turkish
Government was appealed to and the military was drawn out. And this
simple Evangelical Armenian was buried amid a pomp of military display
and a manifestation of racial and ecclesiastical hatred which was a fit
symbol of the conflict that was to signalize the whole century.
If special description is given of the work among the Armenians, it is
merely because they attracted the most of public attention. There were
missionaries who sought to reach the Greeks, but their efforts met with
very little of success. Their national and ecclesiastical pride was
too strong, and their nearer relations to Western life made the new
teaching appear less attractive than to those to whom it was in great
degree a revelation. In Syria also a work had been commenced, chiefly
among the Maronites of Mount Lebanon, and carried to a great degree of
success, so also among the Nestorians and Jacobites of Eastern Turkey
and the mountains along the Persian border. It was among the Armenians,
however, that the greatest efforts were put forth and the greatest
success achieved. The general methods of work were the same with all
and whatever was done for one race was done with varying degrees of
success for all the Christian peoples of the empire.
Of work among the Moslems there has been very little. Various attempts
have been made to reach them with special work, but aside from the
experiments of the Reformed Church in America at Busrah and the Free
Church of Scotland at Sheikh Othman in Arabia, all have failed. There
have been several converts from Mohammedanism in different parts of the
empire, especially in Egypt, but no general movement. Large numbers of
Bibles in Turkish and Arabic are bought by Moslems and it is evident
that there are a number who would accept Christianity, but for the fact
that the penalty is absolute loss of property, if not of life. So long
as the Turkish Government holds absolute power it cannot be expected
that much impression will be made on the Moslem population.
Within twenty-five years after the establishment of the work at
Constantinople, the mission influences had spread throughout the
empire. There were missionaries at Trebizond, Erzrum, Diabekir, Aintab,
Brusa and Sivas. There were also smaller communities in the different
villages within reach of these central stations and the Evangelicals or
Protestant Armenians had come to be recognized on every hand as a power
in the land. With the practical victory of Turkey and her allies over
Russia and the promulgation of the treaty of Paris referred to above,
there came increasing demand upon the Christian powers for recognition
and protection of those who accepted the Evangelical ideas and forms.
The Hatti Humayoun was issued, the charter of religious liberty. With
this commenced in a certain sense a new phase of missionary work.
Hitherto it had been almost entirely evangelistic. The effort had been
to reach the consciences of the people and set before them the Gospel
demand for a pure and true life. There was comparatively little of
general education. With the growth, however, of the communities and
the recognition of the fact that a community life was before them such
as had neither been expected nor planned, it became evident to all
that emphasis must be placed upon those same principles of community
development which had done so much for England and America. It was not
sufficient to put the Bible into men’s hands nor to develop within them
the idea of their relation to God. They must learn to interpret the
Bible and apply it to their daily life; must learn the principles that
governed social and civil organizations. Hence education in its broader
sense became essential.
Education in the primary sense had always been carried on by the
missionaries. A certain amount was needed in order to enable the people
to read, for there was widespread ignorance in that respect. It was
essential in some degree for those who were under training to be the
spiritual guides of their people. Now it became evident that something
more was necessary. At first there was considerable difference of
opinion. Many of the missionaries themselves felt that they were
simply heralds of spiritual truth. They could not admit that they had
anything to do with secular education. Others realized that secular
education has a fundamentally important place in the development of
national life; that it is essential that that should be under religious
influence if the general life is to be in accord with true religious
development. Moreover the demand for this was increasing. Young men of
intellectual attainments sought instruction. They found opening before
them a constantly widening sphere of thought and of investigation which
they must enter. They would rather enter it under the lead of Christian
thought, but enter it they would, and if the missionaries refused their
counsel they would go to what were then almost purely infidel schools
in Europe. Thus there was started, in minor form at first, afterwards
more fully developed, a system of education that has grown until,
taking into consideration the obstacles and perplexities attending it,
it is surpassed in its widespread and high influence by no educational
system even in far more favored lands.
As in regard to the spread of the Evangelistic work, so here it is not
the purpose to describe in detail the growth of this school system. It
is sufficient to say that five years later, in 1861, Robert College
was started on the shores of the Bosporus by one who had been from the
very beginning an earnest supporter of the idea that evangelism and
education must go hand in hand if there is to be any Christian national
life. He had had experience in the work of training preachers, and he
realized that preachers need preparatory instruction. The story of
the years during which he battled the influence of Armenian and Greek
priests, of Papal representatives, and even of French and Russian
ambassadors, is one of the most interesting on record. Robert College
was followed within two years by the Syrian Protestant College of
Beirut. Then commenced the development of the primary, intermediate
and higher schools that had already been formed throughout the empire
into larger institutions, until there are to-day in the Turkish Empire
seven colleges all under Christian influence, though not all directly
connected with missionary enterprise. There are also hospitals,
orphanages and a variety of institutions which owe their inception to
the influence of the missions, even in cases where they are entirely
under native control.
A general survey of missions in the Turkish Empire at the present time
shows that there are the following societies at work:
From this country there are the American Board, representing the
Congregational Churches; the Boards of Missions of the Presbyterian
Church (North), the United Presbyterian Church, the Reformed
Presbyterian Church (Covenanter), and the Reformed (Dutch) Church; the
Foreign Christian Missionary Society of the Disciples of Christ; the
American Bible Society, and several independent workers connected with
other organizations. There are also a number of English societies;
the Church Missionary Society, the Presbyterian Board of Ireland, the
Free and Established Churches of Scotland, the British and Foreign
Bible Society, and several societies for special work among the Jews.
The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church has work in
Bulgaria, which, however, hardly comes under review as a part of the
Turkish Empire.
Of all these the largest work is that done by the American Board.
It covers the whole of Asia Minor and Eastern Turkey together with
Macedonia and a portion of Bulgaria. The latest statistics show that
there are 176 American missionaries, including 56 ordained ministers
and 68 unmarried women, most of them engaged in teaching. There are
also 869 native laborers, including 100 ordained ministers and 128
other preachers, the remainder being chiefly teachers. They occupy 19
principal stations and have work in 306 important out-stations. (The
term out-station is given to a town or city where there are preaching
services and educational work and sometimes a missionary resident, but
not the full organization of a mission station.) These are all divided
into four missions, called: The European Turkey Mission, covering
Macedonia and Bulgaria; the Western Turkey Mission, covering Western
Asia Minor; the Eastern Turkey Mission, covering Eastern Turkey; and
the Central Turkey Mission, covering Northern Syria south of the Taurus
Mountains. Constantinople is the general headquarters for all four
missions, and has a large staff of missionaries engaged in the general
conduct of the work, the preparation of literature and evangelistic
work to a limited degree. The important stations aside from this are
as follows: In the European Turkey Mission, Samakov and Philippopolis
in Bulgaria, and Salonica and Monastir in Macedonia; Western Turkey
Mission: Brusa, Smyrna, Marsovan, Cesarea, Sivas and Trebizond, this
last being associated with this mission because of easy access by sea;
Eastern Turkey Mission: Erzrum, Harput, Bitlis, Van and Mardin; Central
Turkey Mission: Aintab, Marash, Adana and Hajin. Aside from these
there are many important cities occupied, such as Nicomedia, on the
gulf of that name; Angora, Yuzgat, Amasia, Tokat, in Western Turkey;
Arabkir, Malatia, Palu, Diarbekir, in Eastern Turkey; Urfa, Birejik,
Albistan and Tarsus, in Central Turkey. The city of Aleppo, just south
of Aintab, has been occupied at times by the American Board, but the
language being Arabic, association with the work at Aintab has been
somewhat difficult, and hence it has not been developed.
In all of this great field the chief work has been carried on in Europe
among the Bulgarians, and in Asia among the Armenians, though from the
city of Mardin considerable work has been done among the Jacobites of
Northern Mesopotamia. The result of this work is seen in the following
statements:
In European Turkey the number of places for stated preaching is
42; the average congregations number 2,278; the number of organized
churches is 14, and of church members 952, while 2,713 are ordinarily
classed as belonging to the Evangelical community. There is one
theological school with 8 students; one training school for boys
with 65 students; two boarding schools for girls with 92 pupils,
while there are 17 common schools with 450 pupils. In this field the
Bulgarian Government has established an excellent system of schools,
so that the missionaries have not been compelled to do as much work
in that line. There are also a large number of Bulgarian students
in Robert College at Constantinople. In Western Turkey the result
of these years shows 122 places for stated preaching, with average
congregations of 10,336; 35 organized churches with a membership of
3,604 and a Protestant community numbering over 14,000. There is a
theological seminary with 6 pupils; schools for higher education with
528 boys and 686 girls, while there are 122 common schools with a
membership of 5,027. These figures do not include Robert College at
Constantinople, which is on an entirely independent basis, and has a
staff of 21 professors and instructors and about 200 students. They
do, however, include the American College for Girls in Constantinople
with its 23 teachers and 161 pupils. In Eastern Turkey there are 111
places for stated preaching, with average congregations of 11,639;
42 churches with a membership of 3,107 and a Protestant community of
nearly 17,000. The two theological classes have been seriously broken
up by the disturbances, but only a short time ago had 11 members. There
are 364 boys and 220 girls in schools for higher education, and 6,232
pupils in the 130 common schools. In Central Turkey there are 52 places
for stated preaching with an average congregation of over 10,000; 34
churches with a membership of 5,124, a Protestant community of 15,374,
a theological class of 9 students, and the pupils in the schools
for higher education number 321 boys and 300 girls; while in the 98
common schools there are 4,326 pupils. These statistics, however, give
but a very partial conception of the work done. As has already been
intimated, the schools established by the missionaries have been in
many cases duplicated by the Gregorian Armenians themselves, and the
influences that have gone forth from these preaching places have been
most effective in raising the general tone of community life throughout
the empire. In many places the preaching in the Gregorian churches is
of a most thoroughly evangelical type. There are Bible classes formed
in many places and the general spiritual as well as moral effect of the
mission work is by no means to be gauged by the figures of statistics.
One of the most important branches of work carried on by the American
Board is that of furnishing literature for the people. There are
conducted in Constantinople four weeklies and four monthlies, in the
Bulgarian, Armenian and Turkish languages, there being two Turkish
papers, one printed in Armenian characters for those Armenians who
use chiefly the Turkish language, and one in Greek characters for the
Greeks who also use the Turkish language. Aside from these there are
school books and books of general character, predominantly religious,
though also scientific and literary, issued by the committee of the
mission from the Bible House in Constantinople. There is also not a
little medical work carried on. There are medical missionaries in
several of the interior stations, especially Cesarea, Van and Mardin.
The fact that a large number of Armenians have studied medicine in this
country and have returned has lessened the demand for American medical
missionaries. At Aintab there is a hospital under the care of Americans
connected with the Aintab College, but not under the immediate control
of the mission.
The Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church (North) occupies
Syria and Mesopotamia. In Syria there are 14 ordained missionaries,
2 medical missionaries, including one woman, and 9 unmarried lady
missionaries, making the total American force 39. There are 6 native
pastors, 26 organized churches with a membership of 2,048. In the
Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, which is in harmony with, though
not under the direct control of the mission, there are 266 pupils;
there are also boarding schools for boys with 213 pupils and for
girls with 270 pupils; 8 high schools with 478 pupils, and 130 common
schools with 6,387 pupils. The stations occupied are Beirut, Abieh
on Mount Lebanon, Tripoli and Sidon on the seacoast, and Zahleh on
the eastern coast of Mount Lebanon. The work of this mission has been
chiefly among the Maronites, though to some degree among the other
races. The influence of the mission, however, is by no means to be
measured by its size. It was here in Beirut that the Arabic version
of the Scriptures was prepared, the foundation being laid by Dr. Eli
Smith, and the completion being under the guidance of Dr. C. V. A. Van
Dyck, both men famous as among the finest orientalists in the world.
The version prepared by them is unsurpassed by versions of the Bible
anywhere, and has perhaps the widest use of any except the English. It
is in the vernacular not only of Syria and Arabia, but of Northern and
Central Africa; is used with facility in India, China and Malaysia, and
everywhere where the Arabic language has spread. Its influence for good
cannot be measured. The same should be said of the college, with its
medical as well as academical department. Its graduates are found all
over the East.
The Mesopotamia mission of this Board has its headquarters at Mosul.
This was formerly occupied by the American Board, but because of its
close connection with the Western Persia mission of the Presbyterian
Board it was passed over to that Board. The work is chiefly among the
Nestorians of the mountains and to a degree among the Jacobites and
Chaldeans of the city itself. It has schools for boys and girls fully
attended in the city itself, and Syriac village schools in the field.
During the past year (1895), owing to the disturbance in the mountains,
there has been much difficulty in securing full attendance.
The mission of the United Presbyterian Board of this country is located
in Egypt and shows a very marked degree of success. The principal
stations occupied are Alexandria, Cairo, Mansurieh, Fayum and Osiut.
At the latter place there is a large and successful college with a
department for girls. The work of the mission is among the Copts,
though, there has been something accomplished among the Moslems.
The mission of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) Church is located
in Northern Syria and occupies the stations of Latakia and Mersine.
There are six missionaries in the different stations, including two
physicians. Their work is chiefly educational among the Nusairyieh, the
evangelistic work among that class of people being extremely difficult.
The Board of Missions of the Reformed (Dutch) Church is carrying
on an interesting work in Arabia. It was started as an independent
enterprise, but more lately has been taken up by the Board. Its
headquarters are at Busrah on the Persian Gulf, but it extends all
along the coast, working solely among the Arabs. The mission staff is
still very small, and the establishment of schools has not yet been
effected.
The Disciples of Christ have a few missionaries, all Armenians who
have become naturalized Americans, in Constantinople and vicinity, and
at some stations in the interior. The same is true of some Baptist
work carried on chiefly by the same class of workers and supported by
independent organizations in this country.
The work of the American Bible Society covers the whole empire. There
are two agents resident in Constantinople with sub-agents in Beirut and
Alexandria. A large staff of colporteurs is employed, numbering during
the past year over 100, some of them directly under the control of the
agency, others under the supervision of missions and assisted by the
agency. The agency does most of its own publishing, including printing
and binding, in the Bible House at Constantinople and at the mission
press of the Presbyterian Board in Beirut. The languages are: Turkish
in the Arabic, Armenian and Greek characters; Armenian both ancient and
modern, Bulgarian, Kurdish and Arabic. It also purchases Scriptures
in other languages from the British and Foreign Bible Society, which
has an agency also in the same places. The total distributions during
the year 1894 from the depots at Constantinople and Beirut, were
52,895 in 32 different languages and dialects, including most of the
European as well as the different Oriental languages. Of this total
8,674 were Bibles, 13,826 New Testaments and 30,395 were portions.
By the direct agency of the society through the colporteurs and in
their depots, the total distribution was 31,678, while 21,107 were
through correspondents, the largest number being in Egypt, 14,258.
It is interesting to note that of the sales from the Syrian depot 6
Bibles went to Zanzibar on the west coast of Africa, and 51 Bibles and
500 Testaments to Tangiers in Africa. The total issues for 37 years
amounted to 1,376,798, and of the distribution for the past year it is
estimated that 12,000 at least went to non-Christian nationalities.
Of the English societies, the Church Missionary Society of England
occupies a few stations in Syria and Palestine, the principal ones
being Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza and Nablus. There are also a number
of out-stations. The missionaries number 11 ordained clergy, 4 lay
workers and 20 women. The native clergy number 9 ordained and 71 lay
workers. The total number of communicants is about 500. There are also
42 schools; seminaries with 1,752 students. Medical work is carried
on to a considerable extent, there being 284 in-patients and 32,810
out-patients under the care of the physicians. The work is among Jews
and also among the Maronites. There is more work accomplished by this
society than by others among the Moslems.
The Scotch missions have stations at Constantinople, Smyrna and
different points in Syria and Palestine. Their work is chiefly
educational and almost entirely confined to the Jews. There are some
very fine schools in Syria carried on under different organizations,
English and Scotch, intended primarily for the education of girls. They
have accomplished an excellent work.
The British and Foreign Bible Society conducts its work on much the
same general plan as the American Bible Society, but confines its
efforts more to the coast. Its chief work is in Bulgaria, among the
Greek islands and along the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. It has also
agencies in Syria and Egypt. Arrangements are made between the two
Bible societies so that they shall not crowd or interfere with each
other. The Turkish agency reports a circulation of 31,548; the Egypt
agency of 15,191; Syria and Palestine 4,741, making a total of 51,480,
which with the circulation of the American Bible Society makes a grand
total of about 104,000 copies.
This survey of missions in the Turkish Empire is necessarily very
meagre. To go into it in full would require far more space than can be
given. If fuller details are given with regard to the American Board
it is simply because that Board occupies the territory which is more
especially under notice at this time.
The question is frequently asked, What are the relations between the
missionaries and the Turkish Government? Repeatedly the statement is
made by that government that the influence of the missionaries is
antagonistic, disturbing, and that they are the enemies of the present
rule. This is in no sense true. American missionaries have invariably
ranked themselves on the side of law. They have taken the position that
the Turkish Government is the government of the land and its laws must
be obeyed. If those laws are oppressive they will do their best to
secure a change, but so long as the law is law it must be obeyed. In
all the various attempts to stir up revolutionary feelings among the
people, they have opposed with all their influence such movements. It
is undoubtedly the fact that the general result of their instruction by
stirring intellectual development, has been to make men restive under
oppression. Undoubtedly their preaching has created an intense desire
for true religious liberty. Undoubtedly they have brought light into
the empire, and light is always a disturbing element where there is
corruption; it creates fermentation, and such fermentation as is not
pleasant to oppressors. As has already been indicated, they have found
some of their most bitter opponents among the clergy of the Christian
Churches, even more bitter than the Turkish rulers themselves. But as
the better class of that clergy have come to recognize the value of
their instruction and their preaching, so the better class of Turkish
officials have realized that there are no more loyal subjects, no
more honest citizens than those who are under the guidance of the
American missionaries. Wherever their course has been objected to their
objectors have been men who sought to cover up their evil deeds and
hide from the world the story of their outrageous conduct.
Individually there is no question but that the missionaries represent
the very highest grade of ability and personal character. The record
of their achievements in literature, in research, in education, is not
surpassed by that of any other class of men or women in the world.
Ambassadors, and travelers of high character, who have come among them,
have uniformly borne testimony to their nobility, and the high position
that they deservedly hold in the world. Not infrequently the diplomatic
representatives of this country and England have come to their post at
Constantinople with the feeling that these missionaries were a set of
honest fanatics, well intentioned, but incapable of judging accurately
and wisely as to the work which they were to do. In not one single case
has any such man returned from his post, without putting on record his
high estimate of these men and women. Whether it be Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe, Lord Dufferin or Sir Philip Currie from England, Admiral
Porter, General Williams, E. Joy Morris, Gen. Lew. Wallace or Oscar
Straus, from America, their testimony has been one of unvarying praise
for the conduct of the mission work, and those who have had longest
experience have been slow to condemn, even where their judgment could
not coincide with that of the missionaries. Such remarks as have
been made by occasional travelers, who have seen only the outskirts
of mission work, to the effect that they are a “bad lot;” that they
are well meaning, but ignorant enthusiasts, have simply served to
rank those who uttered them with the class of people who talk about
what they know nothing of. The words of Sir Philip Currie, uttered in
private conversation in connection with the recent events in Turkey,
will stand as a perpetual refutal of any such charges. He said:
“The one bright spot in all the darkness that has covered Asiatic
Turkey, has been the heroism, the prudence and the common-sense of the
American missionaries.”
[Illustration:
CIRCASSIAN OFFICER IN THE SULTAN’S ARMY. After the defeat of Schamyl,
the famous Circassian leader, multitudes of his people came into
Turkey and spread over the whole of Asia Minor. They are powerful,
fearless men, and committed widespread depredations among the
villages. They are bolder than the Kurds and much braver; are all
bigoted Moslems.]
[Illustration:
SLAUGHTER OF ARMENIANS AT SASSUN. This is a fair illustration of the
slaughter of innocents that the bloody Kurds and infuriated soldiers
have visited upon the unarmed and unoffending Armenians, resulting
in the murder of some 50,000 or more, and through pillage and fire
rendering homeless and destitute hundreds of thousands.]
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ARMENIAN QUESTION.
A Progressive Grand Vizier--Victory of the Reactionary
Party--Egypt and the Mahdi--Rise of the Armenian Question--Russian
Intrigue--Articles of the Berlin Treaty--Autonomy Desired--The
Huntchagist Committee--Placards in Asia Minor--Burning of American
Building at Marsovan--Numerous Arrests--Armenians Exiled--Coercive
Measures of the Government--American Citizens--Threats--Huntchagists
Disowned by the Nation--Young Turkey Party--Absolute Failure of the
Huntchagist Movement.
The close of the Russo-Turkish war and the Treaty of Berlin left
Abd-ul-Hamid II with the task before him of building up an empire
which had almost fallen to pieces. On the one hand he was faced by the
demands made upon him by England; he was under obligations to make
special reforms in Asia Minor, also in Macedonia, Thessaly and Epirus,
besides granting a liberal form of administration to Crete. On the
other hand he was faced by an internal condition which was enough to
daunt the bravest man. The financial condition of the empire was in
a state of collapse; in fact there were no finances of any sort. The
regular expenditures more than doubled the regular income; the currency
was in a hopelessly disorganized condition; gold, silver, copper and
paper were in circulation. The silver, however, had several different
values. There were alloys of silver and copper of varying degrees of
purity, each with its own value; the paper currency also was never
worth the same two days in succession. The whole business of the
empire was disorganized. Various attempts, some of them honest, some
thoroughly dishonest, almost all ludicrous, were made to bring order
out of chaos. The Sultan entered upon his task with unquestionably
a sincere desire for the welfare of his country, as is shown by his
choice, within six months after the signing of the treaty of Berlin,
of a Grand Vizier who had never been identified with Constantinople
intrigue. Haireddin Pasha, a Circassian by birth, had had some years
of experience in the control of matters in Tunis. He was known as
a man of education, strictly honest and with a sense of duty very
rarely to be found in the East. He was a thorough Moslem, believing
heart and soul in the Mohammedan faith; believing also that it was
thoroughly adaptable to all needs of civilization, and that it could be
made equal in beneficent results to Christianity as set forth in the
life of Europe. His access to power was looked upon as a good omen.
On every hand the people expected him to restore in Turkey all the
ancient usages of Islam. He found a task before him which demanded all
his energies. He found officials in power in the provinces who, when
ordered to report the number of able-bodied Moslems in their districts
and draw rifles for distribution among them to check a revolt, added
10 or 20 per cent. to the actual number, drew the arms and then sold
those not required for the Turks to the Christians. Others manifested
the most atrocious lack of fidelity to their duty or of common sense in
the conduct of their office. But this was not all; in the Porte itself
the management was sincerely opposed to all real reform. The very
clerks managed by all sorts of devices to misrepresent the orders that
were given, or to so tamper with the despatches that they were made
of no avail. Orders to provincial governors sent out from the Palace
frequently set aside previous orders of the ministry; the intrigues of
the Palace clique permeated every department of the public service and
the attendants upon the Sultan succeeded in blinding him constantly to
the real situation. The first thing that Haireddin Pasha did was to
send away from Constantinople to different interior provinces nearly
all the pashas who had previously held the office of grand vizier.
This, of course, made them all his enemies and the result was that
he found himself involved in a struggle for his very existence. More
than this, he made it manifest that his idea of justice included the
Christians just as much as the Moslems, and that Moslem oppression of
Christian subjects met with no favor at his hands. All these elements,
combined with the financial stress, for which in the popular mind he
was held responsible, helped on the struggle. At last he presented an
ultimatum to the Sultan, in which he demanded his freedom, within the
limits of responsibility, from the interference of the clerks and from
intervention in the appointment of officials. The Sultan hesitated for
some time, but at last refused to give this on the ground of its being
a limitation of his royal prerogatives. Haireddin Pasha resigned, and
his place was taken by the very men whom he had sent away.
Immediately following on this experience came the trouble in Egypt.
Mehemet Ali had been followed by Abbas, a brutal voluptuary, and he by
Ismail, a man of great ability, but of no conscience, who had pushed
the country forward in some respects, but had so enslaved it by his
personal extortion as almost to ruin it. Ismail was deposed by the
demands of the European Powers interested in the conduct of the Suez
Canal and the securing of the bonds that had been placed there, and
was followed by Tewfik, a good-natured, well-disposed, but weak man,
incompetent to meet the difficulties that encompassed him on every
hand. Here again the financial question came to the front. The interest
on the bonds must be paid whether the army officials were paid or not.
Thus arose the demand for the national party and the revolt headed by
Arabi Pasha, which resulted in the bombardment of Alexandria, the war
in lower Egypt and the military occupation of the country by Great
Britain. Another important element in this was the desire of the
Sultan to regain his hold upon the country. By the firman given to
Mehemet Ali, the Sultan was really no more than suzerain. He felt that
this was derogatory to his honor and wished to reduce the Khedive to
the position of Vali. The whole story of English, French and Turkish
diplomacy here is beyond the limits as well as the scope of this book.
It is sufficient to say that it furnished an additional influence
in determining the policy of the following years, carried out by
Abd-ul-Hamid II.
Immediately consequent on the trouble in Egypt itself came the rise
of the Mahdi in the Sudan. References have already been made to the
peculiar jealousy on the part of the Arabs as to the position held
by the Sultans as caliphs of the Moslem world. That existed to a
considerable degree not merely in Arabia, but throughout Africa. It
was assisted by the terrible oppression of the Egyptian Government
under the Khedive Ismail. All through upper Egypt, and especially
in the Sudan, there was the bitterest feeling, and when in 1880 a
certain Mohammed Ahmet, a boat-builder of Dongola and belonging to the
Sennussi tribe, proclaimed himself as the Mahdi, he almost immediately
secured quite a following. The Mahdi, or last high priest, or Imam, of
the family of Ali, according to Moslem tradition, entered a cave and
henceforward disappeared from the world. The Shiite Moslems believe
that he still exists, and look forward to his issuing from it again
in pomp to rule the world. The Sunnites believe that he will appear
only at the end of the world, when he will convert all mankind to
Islam and reign as vicar of Jesus Christ. This boat-builder rapidly
won veneration from the Arabs of his section by the learning he had
acquired in the schools at Khartum and Berber, and his apparent piety.
He also manifested considerable ability and gathered a large force
of Arabs, making considerable advance, notwithstanding the fact that
the Sherif of Mecca branded him as an impostor and the ecclesiastical
Ottoman world refused to believe that he had any claim worthy of
recognition. He set forth to conquer Egypt, defeated four expeditions
sent against him by the Egyptian Government, annihilated the Egyptian
army, composed of 10,000 soldiers, with 40 European officers, and
captured Khartum, killing General Gordon Pasha, the famous English
leader. Further than this, however, his power could not go, and English
troops kept him within the region of his own Sudan.
Insignificant in a certain way in itself, this Mahdi movement exerted
considerable influence throughout the empire. It assisted to focus
attention upon the distinctively Moslem character of the Ottoman
Government and furnished quite a factor in the decision which became
manifest ere long on the part of the Sultan to conduct his empire on
different bases from those accepted by his father, Abd-ul-Medjid, or
his grandfather, Mahmud II. In truth the Sultan seemed shut up to one
of two courses. He must either enter with his whole soul into the
line marked out by Haireddin Pasha, or he must identify himself still
more closely with the distinctively Moslem element in his empire. He
found himself unable, even if he had been desirous, to do the former,
and undoubtedly seemed to himself to be shut up to the latter. His
principle, therefore, of government, as made manifest by the subsequent
history of his reign and illustrated very fully in a later chapter,
was to satisfy the Moslem element in his empire, whether the Christian
element was satisfied or not. Accordingly he commenced a systematic
course of developing the Moslem power and prestige at the expense of
the Christians. Little by little he replaced Christians by Moslems in
the administrative offices of the government; he indorsed increasingly
restrictive laws, by which the Christian communities were deprived of
very much of the advance that had been made manifest during the three
preceding reigns. At first this policy was not altogether apparent,
and it is possible that it was not definitely decided upon. Those
who know the Turkish Empire, know how many things go by default; how
one movement leads to another, and the result is a situation not
recognized and not planned for at the beginning, but which becomes,
as a matter of fact, a settled, definite policy. In this it is not
necessary to suppose that the Sultan himself laid down the definite
rules. Unquestionably a large part of it was due to the same influences
that deposed Haireddin, the local officials both in Constantinople and
the provinces. That this was true was evident in many ways. Decisions
would be secured from the officers of the Porte, orders would be
sent to the provinces with regard to various matters, and the reply
would come after awhile that the orders had not been carried out, and
investigation would make manifest the fact that at the same time that
these orders had been given, counter orders had been sent to the same
official in a private way, absolutely annulling the general orders. The
situation thus became increasingly difficult, when, after ten years or
so, the Armenian question began to assume special prominence.
The Armenian question, as such, began with the treaty of Berlin.
Previous to that there had been other questions: the Greek question,
the Bulgarian question--the former resulting in the independence of
Greece, and the latter in the independence of Bulgaria. Throughout
Asiatic Turkey there had been no distinctive question of any sort;
Armenians, Greeks, Jacobites, all had suffered alike under the
general oppression. With the treaty of Paris, however, there began an
increasing manifestation of the power of Russia in the protection of
Greeks throughout the empire. The Armenians had had no special patron,
but as they increased in wealth and in general prosperity, and also
in education, learning more of their ancient history, it was natural
that there should develop among them the idea of a renewed national
life. The growth of this has already been described in general in
the chapter on the Armenians; so also reference has been made to the
various influences that were at work in forming this national movement.
Here we dwell more especially upon the political side of that movement.
Those who have followed the very brief summary that has been given
in the preceding chapters of the political intrigues and influences,
operating throughout the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth
centuries, will see how constant was the influence of Russia, exercised
first among the Greeks on the shores of the Mediterranean, then in the
various Danubian Provinces and finally in Bulgaria; always they had for
their purpose the stirring of hostility between Turks and Christians,
and the enkindling of a feeling of dependence upon Russia as the only
Power that could secure for them such national development as they
desired. The same thing became manifest after a few years among the
Armenians. The Pan-Slavist committee that had really fanned into flame
the embers of hostility to the Turks in the Balkan Peninsula, with
a view to the incorporation of those Slavic races with the Russians
into a great Slavic empire, hardly found a congenial field among the
Armenians. These latter are of different race and schismatics in
religion and are looked upon by the Slavs everywhere as having no
particular relations to themselves. They could form no integral part
of the grand scheme, and there was no such feeling of sympathy for
them as was distinctly manifest toward the Bulgarians, Servians, and
others. Still the Russians never gave up their idea of an empire that
should take in the whole of the Eastern Roman world, and replace the
crescent by the cross on the dome of St. Sophia. Crippled even by their
victory in the Russo-Turkish war, with great problems of internal
administration staring them in the face, with opportunities opening
in the far East and on the very borders of India, Turkey assumed
for the time being a somewhat minor position in Russian diplomatic
plans. At the same time it was never entirely out of sight, and there
became manifest, before many years had passed by, the indications
of another current of influence spreading from the Armenians of the
Caucasus throughout the whole of Turkey. Whether these embassies were
directly in the employ of a Russian organization or not, it is probably
impossible to say; it may be that they were simply in sympathy with the
desire referred to in a previous chapter of establishing an Armenia
again in the ancestral region extending from Ararat on the north to Van
on the south. But whatever the immediate connection may have been, the
fact remains that Russian-Armenian influences began to make themselves
manifest within not many years after the signing of the treaty of
Berlin, especially in certain sections. They found indeed very fertile
soil in which to work. The two clauses of the treaty of Berlin to which
the Armenians looked as furnishing them the hope of a better national
life were the 61st and 62d articles, which read as follows:
“Art. 61. The Sublime Porte engages to realize without delay those
ameliorations and reforms which local needs require in the provinces
inhabited by the Armenians, and guarantees their security against the
Circassians and the Kurds. It undertakes to make known, from time to
time, the measures taken with this object to the Powers, who will watch
over their application.
“Art. 62. The Sublime Porte having expressed its willingness to
maintain the principle of religious liberty, and to give it the widest
sphere, the contracting parties take cognizance of this spontaneous
declaration. In every part of the Ottoman Empire difference of religion
should not be held as a motive of exclusion or unfitness in anything
that relates to the use of civil and political rights, admission
to public offices, duties, and honors, and the exercise of all
professions and industries, in whatever locality it may be. All should
be admitted before the tribunals, the exercise and external practice
of all religions should be entirely free, and no impediment should
be offered either to the hierarchical organization of the different
communions or to their spiritual chiefs; ecclesiastics, pilgrims, and
monks of all nationalities traveling in European and Asiatic Turkey
shall enjoy the same rights, advantages, and privileges. The right of
official protection is accorded to the diplomatic and consular agents
of the Powers in Turkey, no less with regard to the persons above
mentioned, with their religious and charitable establishments, than
to others in the Holy Places and elsewhere. The rights conceded to
France are expressly reserved, it being well understood that the status
quo with respect to the Holy Places shall not be seriously affected
in any way. The monks of Mount Athos, whatever their nationality,
shall be maintained in possession of their possessions and previous
advantages, and shall enjoy without exception full equality of rights
and prerogatives.”
The most cursory reading of these in the light of the succeeding years
shows how completely the Turkish Government had failed to carry out any
one of the different promises made in these articles, especially in
that with regard to the Armenians. It was, perhaps, not unnatural that
the first idea of those who plead the Armenian cause at Berlin should
have been to secure an autonomous province. They had seen Bulgaria
developed; they had seen also the growth of Rumania, of Greece and of
Servia into kingdoms, and many of them could not understand why there
might not be an Armenia. They looked upon the whole section extending
south from the east end of the Black Sea, and including Van, as their
ancestral property. Whatever there was there of Kurdish or Turkish
occupation was really usurpation, and they felt that if the Powers
of Europe would simply support them, they could assert their right
and overpower these intruders. But even if there were not a distinct
national province, they had seen the success of the plan developed
in Syria. In the province of the Lebanon there were Moslems in great
numbers; nevertheless a Christian governor had been granted, and there
had been for fifteen years such peace and prosperity as had not been
known for centuries. At least this much might be secured to them. They,
however, took the position that they would get in proportion as they
asked; hence they asked for the greatest that could be given, with the
expectation probably, at least on the part of the better informed, of
securing not that, but something less, which should be after all a
great advance on the condition at that time.
As, however, the general discussion of the question came up more and
more prominently, the Armenian leaders began to see that there was
a very widespread feeling that the Armenian nation was not equal to
the position which they claimed for themselves. To begin with, they
were a distinct minority in the very country that they desired to
own; moreover the inhabitants of that section were in a considerable
degree of the more ignorant classes. They were rude in their speech,
uncultured in their manners, ignorant of almost all that pertains
to national life. True, this was not their fault; it was rather a
misfortune due to centuries of oppression. Still, there was the fact.
Moreover, there was no organization that bound all the Armenians
together. They were scattered communities with no bond of union, except
their language and their church creed. These communities were ignorant
of each other and jealous of each others’ prosperity. The first thing,
therefore, apparently that presented itself to the minds of the leaders
was a general propaganda throughout the Armenians of the Turkish
Empire, with a view to developing the national idea, and also with a
view toward some form of organization, so that when the time for action
came, they would be in a degree united. This was undoubtedly the chief
purpose of such men as Minas Tcheraz, who was at Berlin, and of the
wisest men among the leaders. They understood the situation, and set
themselves to accomplishing what they could. Had the movement remained
in their hands, there is little probability but that the ultimate
result, if not in accord with their highest ambition, would have been
a better condition than the present. Here, however, appeared another
phase.
There is in every nation a certain element of the heedless and
reckless, seeing only the end to be gained, and impatient of the best
means of reaching that end. Scattered throughout Europe were a number
of Armenians who, having imbibed the free-thought ideas developed in
the French Revolution, and fired by the experiences of 1848, were
utterly impatient of the slower process of education. They were
hot-headed and ambitious rather for themselves than for the nation,
and they pointed to the experiences of Bulgaria and of the Greeks.
They claimed that this slower process of education was all very well,
but it would accomplish nothing. It might go on for generations
without securing any definite national life. They pointed out that the
European nations would never interfere except for their own interests;
that England, France, and Europe generally, had cared nothing for
the Bulgarian troubles until the massacres compelled interference in
order to prevent Russia from overpowering themselves. From this the
argument was easy that the Armenians could accomplish nothing unless
the European Governments saw that there was such a state of anarchy
throughout Asiatic Turkey as would compel their interference in order
to prevent the general collapse, which every one feared would be the
result of a widespread European war. Their argument was simply, “These
European Governments, especially England, will never help Armenians
practically until they see that they have got to help them in order
to save themselves from great danger; the only way to secure this is
to stir the Turkish Government just as it was stirred in Bulgaria,
and secure some kind of atrocities that shall focus the attention of
the Christian world upon the Turkish Empire.” This general argument
was reinforced by the presence among the Armenians of the Nihilistic
tendencies developed in Russia.
The result was the formation of a revolutionary society called the
Huntchagists. Just where it was formed, just who were its members,
and just where and how it operated, is not yet definitely evident.
Contemporary history is seldom if ever complete. It is sufficient
to say that in Athens, Marseilles and London there were coteries of
Armenians who made it their business to stir strife throughout the
nation. They sent emissaries through the length and breadth of the
Turkish Empire. These met with the younger, more adventurous and
less scrupulous element to be found in every nation, and commenced a
general propaganda. Where there was oppression, that oppression was
made the most of in public prints; stories of the most atrocious type
were told. The Turkish rule was bad enough, but it was made to appear
infinitely worse than it was by these men. But they found that this was
not sufficient. They became apparently exasperated by their failure to
rouse their own people to the pitch of excitement which they deemed
essential in order to accomplish their purpose. Hence they commenced
attacks of one kind and another, not merely upon the Moslems, but upon
their fellow-countrymen who did not support them. Threats were allowed
to be heard of what the Armenians would do to anybody and everybody
they did not like. It was inevitable that these should be heard; it
was intended that they should be heard. Turkish governors were on the
watch. One of the shrewdest of the provincial governors, a man whose
general conduct of his office was by no means of the harshest, had
the cannon of his capital trained upon an Armenian church because of
the stories that came to him of the threats of these men. Then came
the widespread use of revolutionary placards. Apparently they were
posted by the Turks themselves, but whether this was true or not
seemed uncertain. Naturally the Turkish officials began to exercise
harshness. They felt that they were fighting some unseen foe and the
results appeared in the form of arbitrary arrests and the most cruel
punishments. Just when this general work commenced it seems to be
impossible to say. Within ten years after the treaty of Berlin there
were signs of the existence of this influence, but the most marked
indications were manifest in 1892, coming to a head in the early part
of 1893.
About this time the revolutionists, whether members of the Huntchagist
party or not, seemed to have come to the conviction that there must
be some overt act that should accomplish what they had in view--the
focusing of the attention of Europe upon themselves. They seemed at
first to be at somewhat of a loss as to the best method of doing this.
Finally, under just what influences is not evident, they gathered,
especially in the region of Marsovan and Yuzgat, and placards began
to appear, sometimes on public buildings, sometimes on the walls of
houses. On the night of the 5th of January, 1893, scores, even hundreds
of these placards, were posted in many places, all of a seditious
character, rousing opposition against the government. Two were found
affixed to the outer gate of the premises of the American Board
missionaries at Marsovan, but before the paste upon them was dry they
were pulled down by persons belonging to the college, who were passing
through the gates. These placards were addressed to the Turks and
full of denunciation of the government for its oppression and general
corruption. Within ten days arrests began to be made. The chief of
police was given full authority to investigate the matter, but his
previous record and subsequent conduct showed him to be utterly unfit
for the work. He was brutal, utterly regardless of law and simply bent
upon wreaking personal vengeance wherever possible.
Just what the object was in endeavoring to identify the American
buildings with this movement, it is not difficult to see. Americans are
almost the only foreigners dwelling in the interior of Turkey. They are
under peculiar protection by treaty rights. They are well known over
the world, and throughout the whole period of their residence in Turkey
have identified themselves very closely with the efforts to ameliorate
the condition of the people. Anything that could identify them with
anti-government manifestations would call down upon them the hostility
of the government. That would result in damage of some sort, and this
would call the attention of the foreign governments, which it was hoped
would accomplish the end in view. With this it is entirely possible
that there may have been personal bitter feeling. Not a few Armenians
have felt that the missionaries were undermining their national life
by their opposition to ecclesiastical formalism, and in their attacks
on atheism and infidelity they were charged by many with hindering the
progress of free thought. Whatever the immediate purpose, this much was
accomplished, that the attention of the Turkish Government was directed
very forcibly to the missionaries. The chief of police, who perhaps had
his own reasons for hostilities to the Americans, took advantage of the
opportunity to threaten both the college and its teachers, charging
the institution with being a source of sedition and affirming that the
placards were issued from Anatolia College, since they were written
by a cyclostyle such as the missionaries used. It was also reported
throughout the city that the buildings were to be burned, and that high
officials had declared that the college site should be a plowed field.
In less than two weeks the senior Armenian professor of the college,
Mr. Thoumaian, and a little later another member of the faculty,
Professor Kayayan, were arrested and imprisoned, and every request
to see them or to give bail for them was refused. There was not the
slightest evidence that they had had anything to do with the issuing
of the placards, and the whole charge seems to have been made for the
purpose of furnishing a basis for an attack upon the college.
On the night of February 1st, one of the buildings which was in
process of erection for the girls’ school was set on fire. The presence
of soldiers and officials near the building before alarm could possibly
have been given, indicated their connection with it, but the charge
was immediately made that the college authorities themselves had
fired the building either to excite revolt among the Armenians or
conceal the presence of arms and ammunition. These charges were sent
on to Constantinople and the animus of the government is shown in its
appointment of the same local officials, notoriously corrupt, and who
were known to have threatened the college, for the conduct of the
examination. There was general disturbance throughout the whole region,
with outbreaks in a number of places: Yuzgat, Gemerek, Cesarea, and
elsewhere. Large numbers of arrests were made until certainly between
two and three hundred Armenians, against whom no charge could be found,
were imprisoned. The professors were not released even on bail and
there was great excitement throughout the region.
Throughout the summer of 1893 the excitement continued to increase.
Commissions were appointed to try these men in prison. At the trials,
torture of the most atrocious kind was used to extort confession of
guilt and charges against prominent men. Very little, however, was
learned, and at last most of those arrested were released, though many
were transferred to the different fortresses at the Island of Rhodes,
near Mersine, and at St. Jean d’Acre in Syria. Among these were some
Protestant pastors who had had no share whatever in the disturbance,
but were looked upon with suspicion by the Turkish Government for their
liberal ideas. The professors were put on trial. No proof whatever was
found against them, and at last, on special protest by the English
Government, they were released on condition of leaving the country.
One feature in the investigations was the presence of a large number
of documents, apparently in the hand-writing of some of the arrested
men. It appeared, however, on investigation, that there were a large
number of forgeries, one of the American missionaries finding his
own name signed to some papers. The question of the burning of the
school building was taken up earnestly by the American Government and
indemnity was secured from Turkey, together with a permit to rebuild.
In one sense the revolutionists had achieved their purpose. They had
attracted attention, and it had become very evident to Europe that
matters in Turkey were going from bad to worse. The great activity of
the Turkish Government, however, made their position in Turkey quite
difficult. They appeared less and less in the country itself for some
time, but took their station outside, and through Europe and even in
this country they made general charges against the Turkish Government
and gathered funds to continue from a safe position the general
propaganda which had been started in Turkey. At this point a new phase
of their work appeared. For some time there had been considerable
effort on the part of Armenians to secure American citizenship, return
to Turkey and demand the same protection at the hands of the Turkish
Government that was accorded to native-born American citizens. The
diplomatic relations of this will be referred to in another chapter on
the relations between America and Turkey. In some respects they were
able thus to accomplish a good deal, but some serious difficulties
arose. Individuals claiming American protection were charged by the
Turkish Government with exerting seditious influence, and complaints
were made to the United States Government with regard to it. The
position was taken by this government that it could not force upon the
Turkish Government the continued presence of its own citizens who were
not desired by that government. This aroused a great cry and increasing
efforts were made to secure at the hands of this government complete
protection. The chief effect, however, was to direct attention more
than ever to their work, and letters appeared from different parts of
Turkey protesting against the influences that went forth from these
revolutionary committees, taking the ground that they were having
simply the effect of arousing the hostility of the Turkish officials,
while they were accomplishing no good purpose.
As has already been said, the extent of this revolutionary movement
it is impossible to state accurately. The members of the committees
are not known; how widely their movement had received, if not the
absolute indorsement, at least the sympathy of their own people, is
also very uncertain. This much, however, is unquestionable, that while
individuals in various parts of the empire did have this sympathy with
the revolutionary idea, there were very few indeed who carried it to
the extreme favored by the committee. Occasionally a man would be found
who would say, as one did to one of the missionaries, “If I had my way
I would kill you immediately. That would bring the whole matter to a
crisis, and it would be the best thing for us.” But this was entirely
repugnant to most of those who favored overt action, and the great
majority of Armenians in every portion of the empire not only had no
share in the plans, but where they knew of them, bitterly opposed
them. As a matter of fact the revolutionary movement has never been
a national movement. It has represented individual ideas, and while
those individuals were to a degree numerous, especially in certain
sections, they have never represented the great mass of the people. The
influence of the American missionaries, the influence of the Armenian
ecclesiastics and of the better informed in the nation, was strongly
against any such attempt. All knew that it was madness. The facts, that
the Armenians were so scattered throughout the empire, that they were
untrained in the use of arms, that so little organization was possible
among them, all combined to make the movement a most atrocious wrong
to the people. At the same time it had its effect upon the Turks, both
government and people. The appearance of the placards was attended to a
considerable degree by talk among the people, which spread until there
became a widely extended feeling that there was a revolution impending,
and the Turks in many places really felt afraid of the influence that
might be exerted through the Christian population. In some places this
amounted to panic, and there were not a few cases during 1893 and in
the early part of 1894, when Turkish officials had all they could do to
restrain the hostile manifestations of the Moslem communities. Another
effect was that it gave force to the arguments of the reactionary
Turks, who claimed that all this yielding to the desires of the
Christians was nonsense, and that the only thing for the Sultan to do
was to set himself deliberately against them and to make it very clear
that in Turkey the Turk ruled and Islam would brook no rival.
In this immediate connection mention should be made of an undoubted
fact. The elements among the Turks represented by Haireddin Pasha,
called variously the Party of Progress, or the Young Turkey Party,
were at the same time carrying on a certain propaganda, to what extent
it is impossible to say. Their leaders, among them Midhat Pasha, and
those who had been associated with him, had been exiled and put to
death. They themselves had been scattered in one way or another over
the empire. Constantinople, and indeed all Europe, was aroused by the
story of a number of young Turks who came from an interior city to
Constantinople, were seen upon the steamer, and then disappeared from
view. Whither they went no one could tell. Afterwards individuals
appeared claiming to be members of that company and saying that they
had been arrested and sent into exile only to return with great
difficulty. There was a general feeling that revolution was in the air.
The Huntchagists represented the Armenian phase of it; the Young Turkey
Party the Moslem phase of it. Each probably helped the other; each
laid upon the other the responsibility for certain acts aimed against
the government. The Armenians said that the placards at Marsovan,
etc., were posted by the Turks; the Turks retorted the charge upon the
Armenians. Just where the truth is, it will probably be some years
before it is possible to state with accuracy.
In the events that followed the massacres at Sassun, Constantinople,
Erzrum, etc., the traces of Huntchagists are apparent in some;
absolutely wanting in others. Since then the party seems to have
disappeared from view. Nothing is heard of it; nothing said about
it. If it exists, it is hiding itself, partly, it is to be hoped, in
shame and remorse for the cruelties that have at least in good measure
resulted from its folly, partly because its schemes have been brought
absolutely to naught by the dominating power of Russia. They started
out for an autonomous Armenia. They failed absolutely of securing
even a moderate reform in the condition of their people. Conceived in
conceit, in treachery and in falsehood, its fruit has been ruin and
misery of the worst type.
CHAPTER XIX.
GENERAL SITUATION IN 1894.
Terrible Oppression--Exaggerated Reports--Truth Stranger Than
Fiction--Religious Liberty Infringed Upon--Oppressive School
Laws--Rigorous Censorship--General Effort of the Government to
Suppress Christian Development.
The situation in the summer of 1894 throughout the empire was one
bordering on anarchy. From every section of the country came word of
the most atrocious treatment by the Turkish Government of its Christian
subjects. Taxes were imposed in a way that in the already impoverished
condition of the country was simply ruinous. The effect of the action
of the revolutionists in Marsovan had been to arouse very bitter
feeling against them on every hand and to create an impression, even
among those favorable to the nation, that they were chiefly responsible
for the situation. At the same time reports were sent to the European
papers of the most thrilling type. Some of these were true, most were
based upon truth, but there was not a little exaggeration in details.
Great excitement was aroused by the publication in the English
papers of a detailed statement furnished by the Vienna correspondent
of the _Daily News_ as to the treatment of Armenian prisoners in
Central Asia Minor. According to this, hundreds of them were cast into
prison, stripped of their clothes and tortured in the most diabolical
manner. While men were beaten, women were outraged in the presence
of their husbands and fathers, and general atrocities committed that
surpassed in horror those of the invasions of the Goths and Huns.
Careful investigation showed that while these charges were in some
sense correct, the impression made by them in general was often false.
In one case the hundreds dwindled to twenty-eight, and while there was
outrage enough to stir the indignation of every righteous man, there
was exaggeration enough to enable the Turkish Government to represent
that these stories were based upon a general desire to create trouble.
Instances innumerable might be given of the methods adopted with regard
to individuals. A few must suffice. An intelligent Armenian physician
had been practicing for some years in one of the cities in Central Asia
Minor. He had a good reputation, and both Greeks and Turks as well as
Armenians patronized him and urged him to accept the office of city
physician. With some reluctance he yielded. A petition was sent to
Constantinople and he was appointed. He found the drinking water of the
city polluted by the proximity of slaughter-houses and water closets
to the water course. He reported the case to the local government in
accordance with his duty as health officer. As nothing was done by
them he appealed to the Governor-General of the province, but without
any result. Then, following out strict orders from Constantinople
with regard to the prevention of cholera, he reported to the health
department at Constantinople and the headquarters of the army corps
of the district. The Governor-General thereupon received a reprimand,
and in great anger summoned the physician to the capital of the
province. A request to go to his home for warmer clothing, for it was
in mid-winter, was met with stern refusal, and a police force of twenty
men with an officer at their head dragged him through the markets and
the streets for more than half a mile, to the outskirts of the city,
where he lay for half an hour unconscious. When he recovered he was
placed upon a horse, but he could not sit up, and was tied to his back.
The governor, in great rage, said that he should not be allowed to live
in the province at all. Requests of people from another city that he
come there, were not granted.
As another illustration, a photographer of one city presented the usual
charge for some pictures made on the order of an official. The governor
summoned him, and roared out, “Are not you one of those local Armenians
that I can make rot?” So terrified was the poor man that he was glad to
slink away and say nothing about pay.
These are but illustrations of what was done over the whole empire by
the order of high officials, until there became a veritable reign of
terror, and no man felt his life or property, or the honor of his wife
and daughter safe, in any interior city, town or village. Perhaps,
however, the most forcible setting forth of the situation is found in a
statement not in regard to the ordinary brutality of officials, or the
rapacity of Kurds. It had become more and more evident that there was a
general plan of the government to intensify by its oppression, as much
as possible, the recognition on the part of the Christians of their
absolute subordination to Moslems. In response to a special request
from the British ambassador, a statement was drawn up by persons
thoroughly well-posted in regard to the general condition, and from
that statement are taken in considerable degree the facts that follow.
One of the glories of the administration of Abdul Medjid was the Hatti
Humayoun of 1856, the charter of liberty and equality to the Christians
of Turkey. This has already been referred to in preceding chapters,
and needs no further description here, except to recall the statement
that its aim was the carrying into effect of the principle of equality
between the Mussulmans and non-Mussulmans of the empire. During the
remainder of the reign of Abdul Medjid, and to a considerable extent
during that of Abdul Aziz, this principle had been followed.
Soon after the treaty of Berlin, however, there became manifest a
tendency to displace Christians by Moslems in responsible posts in
every department of government in Asiatic Turkey. Some still remained,
for the reason that there were practically no Moslems competent to fill
the positions. Administrative offices were even still to some extent
occupied by Armenians or Greeks, but their number had been increasingly
small. At the time of which we are speaking, 1894, there was in the
Council of State, to which the administration of the interior provinces
belongs, but one Christian member, notwithstanding the fact that
measures affecting the vital interests of the Christian population
were daily subjects for consideration. So also the High Council of
the Ministry of Public Instruction, specially directed by the Hatti
Humayoun to be a mixed council, had but one non-Moslem member, although
it decided upon the interests of all Christian schools in the country.
The Superior Council of Censorship had also a very insignificant
proportion of non-Moslem members, notwithstanding the fact that by far
the greatest number of books for Christians either published in Turkey
or imported from without were by Protestants. Although the proportion
of readers of books in the Protestant communities was far greater
than in any other, there was not a single Protestant on this council,
or indeed in any high council or responsible position under the
government. One result of this was seen in the absurd laws passed by
the Board of Censors with regard to the introduction and publication of
books. Instances of this kind could be given in numbers; thus the word
_Armenia_ was stricken out of every book. A translation of the hymn--
“The children are gathering from near and from far,
The trumpet is sounding the call for the war,”
was forbidden as being revolutionary, and even a number of English hymn
books were detained for weeks and months by the Board of Censors, in
the search for the English version of this same hymn.
One of the special points in the Hatti Humayoun was the suppression
of the ancient custom of making the police agents collectors of taxes.
This had given rise to grave abuses. Little by little the usage was
restored and finally, in the summer of this year, an imperial edict set
aside the work of that charter, by appointing the police throughout
the country to be tax-collecting agents, with a system of rewards to
those officers who should succeed best in collecting money. Torture and
capital punishment were absolutely forbidden by this same charter, yet
in the trials in regard to the disturbances at Angora, in 1893, and at
Yuzgat, in 1894, torture of the most inhuman character was extensively
used in order to force men to testify according to the orders of the
officials. An Armenian at Marsovan was flogged until his back was raw
flesh, to force him to sign a declaration that certain Americans were
plotting with Armenians an insurrection. An Armenian blacksmith, in the
province of Angora, was made insane by the torture inflicted on him in
prison.
Residents in Constantinople and throughout the empire in the early
years of the century had been accustomed to hear the most opprobrious
epithets used to them by Turks of every grade. Under the influence of
Abdul Medjid and the Hatti Humayoun this diminished greatly, and as a
consequence the social relations grew more and more friendly. During
the five years previous to 1894, however, a marked change was noticed
everywhere throughout the empire. There was far more of brutality in
the treatment of individuals; there was an increasing lack of regard
for the customs of the Christians. The governor of Nicomedia, only
sixty miles from Constantinople, ordered a leading Christian merchant
of that place to open his shop for business on Sunday. On his refusal
to do that which his religion forbade, this same officer publicly and
abominably reviled the religion that taught him such a thing. He then
struck the merchant in the face and tried by fierce threats to compel
him to “obey the orders of an officer of the Sultan.” In the province
of Erzrum some soldiers came to a village on Sunday and demanded sacks
to carry grain. They were requested to wait until the close of the
service when the sacks would be furnished. They however entered the
church, bawled out to the preacher to stop the service, and even drew
their swords upon the men who sought to quiet this interruption. An
officer of a Christian community in another city had occasion to go
to police headquarters for a document. He was met with a torrent of
unspeakably vile abuse of himself and the most sacred things of his
religion. There were a large number of officers and privates of the
police present, but not one remonstrated. In no case was there any
possibility of redress, although twenty years before, punishment would
have been accorded promptly to the offending officers.
With regard to the general treatment of the Christian peasants in the
districts of Eastern Turkey, it is impossible to give anything like an
adequate conception of the situation. Not merely were the villagers
subject to open robbery by the Kurds, but to the scarcely less ruinous
extortion carried on by the lower government officials. The outrages
carried on by Kurds under their new semi-military organization, had
given occasion to petition after petition to the Central Government.
No attention, however, was paid to them, and in 1893 orders were sent
from Constantinople forbidding the transmission of any more petitions
against these regiments. But it was not merely the Kurds that the
people had to fear. Reference has already been made to the Circassians
that were brought in in such numbers from the Caucasus. They had spread
themselves over Western Asia Minor, and while at first less bold
became, during the five years under special survey, so arrogant that no
Christian farmer could hope to hold his property if it pleased the eye
of one of these men. A general survey of the whole situation leaves the
inevitable impression of a plan officially adopted to wage an indirect
war upon the whole Christian population by crushing them, reducing them
to poverty, and to clear them off from the face of the land in order to
replace them by a Moslem population.
That this plan was a general one against all non-Moslems is evidenced
by the fact that the oppression and the injustice was by no means
confined to the Armenian villages and towns. The Greek villages
suffered only in a secondary measure, while the Christian population of
Mesopotamia suffered fully as much. In _The Independent_ of New York,
in the issue of January 17th, 1895, was published a long statement as
to the exactions made upon the various villages by the Kurdish chiefs
and also by the government officials. The following is an illustration
of the latter. During the summer of 1894 the government demanded back
taxes from a certain village to a large amount, which according to
the villagers had no foundation in justice. They had already been
impoverished and had no means of paying the tax. Under very heavy
pressure from the government, however, they raised a part of the sum
by mortgaging their fields and future crops, leaving a balance which
they absolutely could not pay. Driven to desperation by the soldiers,
who insisted upon collecting the taxes, they entirely deserted their
village and fled to the mountains. After some months the government
endeavored to induce them to return, and promised redress for their
wrongs. When however they did return, still increased pressure was
brought to bear upon them to secure money. In a number of villages
the people were literally bought as slaves. In some cases the food
supply, beds, household utensils, farmers’ implements were seized by
the collectors in lieu of taxes. These collectors then made false
returns of taxes received, and when the new officials came, using the
incomplete reports of their predecessors they again collected the
taxes, entailing much suffering.
In still further proof of the statement that the situation was the
result of a general plan for the suppressing of the Christians,
attention should be called to a series of facts with regard to
aggressions upon specific religious liberty. Before 1856, an imperial
firman (permit) had been required for all Christian churches, and
worship in any others than those indorsed by the Imperial Government
was absolutely forbidden. After that date the Hatti Humayoun recognized
the right of all people to worship as they saw fit; and while the
construction of churches was especially referred for authorization
by imperial firman, the right to read the Testament, as worship was
called, in private dwellings was fully acknowledged.
From that time until 1891, this liberty was enjoyed throughout the
country. When it became a question of the erection of a large church
to be consecrated for divine service, the imperial permit was always
secured. But there were many cases in smaller villages and towns, and
even in cities, where the community was not large enough to warrant
an expensive building, where the people gathered in a room in a
private house. This served for service on Sunday and sometimes on week
days; also for private schools, and meantime was in many instances
a dwelling place for the family of the preacher or teacher. It was
not until 1891 that the Sublime Porte questioned for the first time
officially the right of Christians to conduct worship in this way in
private houses. In the following year an edict was issued which took
advantage of the fact that in certain cases worship was conducted
in the same room as private schools, and basing its claim upon the
recognized law that schools were under general imperial supervision,
decreed the suppression of worship in schools not formally authorized
and found to be without permits after a stipulated time. When objection
was made to this, the reply was that this was a technical measure,
bringing existing places of worship under regular forms, and promising
that permits would be issued promptly on application. As a matter of
fact several permits were thus issued. But two years later a new move
was made in this same direction and a number of places of Protestant
worship throughout Asiatic Turkey were suppressed, under the claim
that no worship at all could be carried on in any building that had
not received specific authorization by imperial firman. The situation
was explained by a provincial official as follows: “Every place where
a Christian says his prayers is reckoned as a church, and a church
cannot exist without an imperial firman.” The result of this was that
there were numerous cases all over the country, not merely in the
interior, but in Constantinople and in Syria, where the Protestants
were prohibited from worship.
One case deserves special note. For many years the Protestant
community in Stamboul, or the city proper of Constantinople, had
worshipped in a private house under the general permit accorded in
1856. That building became unsafe through age and a new one was
desired. Petition after petition was made, and every conceivable
pretext, and many that seemed absolutely inconceivable, was brought
forward to prevent their securing the right to worship. Similar
instances occurred in Sidon, in Syria, others in the provinces of
Trebizond, Harput, Angora and Adana. In the city of Ordu, not far from
Trebizond, where there was a large Protestant community, effort after
effort was made to secure a building, and one was at last obtained
after repeated applications. Objections, however, were made by local
Greek priests, and the Turkish Government took advantage of this and
stopped the worship. It thus became notorious that the government would
take advantage of every pretext of whatever kind, whether of hostility
on the part of local magnates or of what they considered general
welfare, to check so far as possible the spread of Christian worship.
Of course the regularly authorized churches were not disturbed, whether
belonging to Armenians, Greeks, Jacobites or Protestants.
What is perhaps a still more marked instance of this is found in the
action with regard to schools. According to the Hatti Humayoun the
various communities were authorized to open schools and in the circular
that attended the promulgation of the edict it was said:
“In regard to schools created and erected by the communities, the
most absolute liberty is left to them by the Imperial Government,
which never intervenes save to prevent in cases of necessity the
confiding of the direction of these schools to persons whose
principles are notoriously hostile to the authority of the Imperial
Government or contrary to public order.”
For twenty-eight years this liberty was fully enjoyed by the various
Christian communities. The result was the springing up of a system of
education over the whole country that changed in many respects the
character of the various communities. The dominant cause for this is
set forth in another chapter, that on mission work, and need not be
explained here further than to say that the impulse was given by the
American and English missionaries, but was cordially followed out by
Armenian, Greek, Maronite, Bulgarian and other Christian communities,
and had its effect even upon the Moslems themselves. In Syria in 1882,
and throughout the empire in 1884, the government suddenly commenced
to suppress Christian schools on the ground of lack of conformity to
the school law of 1867. This was news to all. But on examination it
was found that in an obscure paragraph preceded and followed by matter
relating solely to the organization of a governmental system, there was
a single clause touching what are known as private schools. According
to this these are permitted on condition that the course of study,
the books used, and the diplomas of the teachers be submitted for the
approval of the local authorities. For fifteen years this had been
held in abeyance, and was absolutely unknown until some thirty schools
were closed in Syria for disobedience of it. Then followed a series of
negotiations, which resulted in a declaration by the Minister of Public
Instruction that existing Christian schools would not be molested if
they submitted to control in the three points mentioned. Throughout
the country there was general submission to this control, but on
application for permits, the statement was uniformly made that they
could be given to none but new schools.
This again blocked the way. Three years later a large number were
closed for lack of permits. Then followed renewed negotiations; and
a vizerial order was issued in 1889, confirming the declaration of
the Minister of Public Instruction. Again three years later the edict
referred to was issued, ordering the closing of all schools and places
of worship which did not obtain formal permits within a specified time,
though it was left to the will of the officials to issue or refuse the
permits. The situation was then somewhat alleviated, but the next year
a new difficulty arose. The local authorities claimed that the permits
required were not those of the Department of Public Instruction but
an imperial firman, and in 1894, the Sublime Porte declared that no
school of any kind could exist without an imperial firman. Stringent
orders were issued laying heavy penalties upon officials who neglected
to close schools without permits. Teachers were forbidden to allow
addresses to be made to scholars or to have essays read by scholars
at public festivals without first submitting both to the censorship.
No private house occupied by an authorized Christian school was to
be repaired except by special order from Constantinople; houses or
building lots could not be purchased by English, American or French
subjects without a bond promising that the buildings should be razed to
the ground if worship or schools were at any time established in them.
The inevitable result of this was to fill the provincial authorities
with the idea that the Ottoman Government was hostile to Christian
educational institutions.
Another illustration was the requirement by a decree issued in this
same year that all Christian schools were to give considerable
instruction in the Turkish language. Such an edict inevitably closed
the schools in Damascus, in Mesopotamia and in certain portions of
Asia Minor, where neither teachers nor scholars knew that language.
About the same time there came to light the influence of a law issued
in 1892, organizing an Imperial Civil Service school, which forbade
the employment in government bureaus of any one graduating from other
than government schools. Thus again a blow was struck at the higher
education in Christian schools throughout the country.
In the same line with this was the action of the government with
regard to censorship of the press and of books, whether those printed
in the country or imported from abroad. Immediately following 1856,
there was considerable freedom of action in this particular. While
there was a general supervision of everything that was either printed
or imported into the empire, there was manifest an inclination to trust
to the honor of reputable publishers and importers. Occasionally there
was transgression, but as a rule by private individuals. The large
societies or printing houses invariably sought to accord absolutely to
the law, even where they found it extremely irksome. With the advent
of the present Sultan, however, a change became manifest. Constantly
increasing restrictions were placed. Law after law regulating the
sale and publishing of books was issued, each more stringent than its
predecessor. No book was allowed to be printed without carrying on
its title page the permit of the Bureau of Censors, and no book was
allowed to be imported without the stamp of the censors. Considerable
negotiation in this regard resulted in a plan, which while irksome was
not really injurious, and it was thought that everything would move
rightly.
Soon, however, it became evident that still more restrictions were
to be enforced. The existing law was interpreted in the most absurd
ways. As an illustration; a colporteur started out from the city of
Erzrum to carry his books through the villages. He was stopped at the
gate of the city by the police. He showed his traveling passport and
stated that all his books had the permit of the official board of
censors. The officer would accept nothing and insisted upon his going
to the government house. There his books were placed in a room and he
was told to come after a few days. He came but there was no reply;
there had been no time to examine the case. He came again, and at last
by persistence secured the examination by the proper officer. This
examination showed conclusively that everything was according to law,
and the colporteur was permitted to go. He started again to the gate of
the city, and found a new officer on duty. He was again arrested and
sent back to the government house. Again there was a delay, until the
same officer’s attention could be secured. This thing happened several
times and several weeks passed before the man could go on his way.
Instances innumerable of this kind could be given from all over the
country.
The last law gave a list of subjects on which all publications were
absolutely prohibited, so broad that any official might if he chose,
exclude from this province all Christian literature. Any censor in the
capital or in the interior provinces might reject a book if a single
sentence in it appeared of doubtful meaning, and severe penalties upon
the importation, sale, distribution or even transportation of any book
which had not received the censors’ approval, were applied not merely
to dealers but to private owners. The result of this was that again and
again individuals were severely punished for having in their possession
technically unauthorized books; that is, such as had been published
before the existence of these later laws. The effect of this is seen
in the fact that throughout the interior provinces of the empire it
has been of late almost impossible to find any books at all, and the
children of fairly educated parents are growing up in ignorance.
But the animus of the law was seen not only in its application to the
interior provinces, but to the private libraries of foreigners, and
to the local press in the border cities. In few countries has there
been a greater newspaper development than in certain parts of Turkey.
In Constantinople, there are a large number of daily papers in every
language, Turkish, Armenian, Greek, French, English, Italian, Spanish,
Judæo-Spanish (for the large number of Spanish Jews), Bulgarian, Arabic
and others. Over every one of these papers there was exercised the
most rigid censorship; not merely local news, but foreign news was
subjected to the most careful examination, and any item of any kind,
that did not meet with the approval of the officers, was remorselessly
stricken out. More than that, every paper was compelled under penalty
of instant suppression, to publish every item that the government saw
fit to issue to it. The effect of this is seen in the statements in
connection with the massacres. No statement of any kind with regard to
these massacres was allowed, until they became so notorious that it
was simply impossible to absolutely prevent them. Then the government
issued official statements so utterly false, that not even the Turks
themselves would believe them. The following paragraphs, from the paper
referred to above, illustrate very fully the nature of many of these
restrictions:
“The censorship of foreign religious and literary works is so
stringent as to deprive the Christians in Turkey of the ordinary
means of keeping in touch with the advancement of knowledge among
their co-religionists abroad. Such classics of English literature,
for instance, as Shakespeare, Byron, Milton, Scott, are refused
authorization. So with the higher literature of any language. No
standard History, no Encyclopedia, no treatise on metaphysics of any
extended character, no full and extended theology or commentary on the
Bible, can pass the censorship for introduction into the interior of
Turkey. And if any minister or teacher, anxious to fill well his place,
ventures to smuggle such books through or to possess the rudiments of
a library, he is certain sooner or later to fall under the notice of
the paid spy, and then must submit to the condemnation for the crime
which the authorities choose to consider to be ‘incited’ by the history
or theological work concerned. The effect of the refusal to admit the
standard works of Christendom, in keeping teachers of Christian schools
in Turkey down to the level of the primary school, need not be enlarged
upon.
“The censorship of books published within the empire is still more
rigorous, no longer professing to confine itself to politics or to
polemics in religion, but taking hold of and mutilating books designed
for the religious instruction and encouragement of Christians. It is
conceivable that here Mohammedan censors might defend their right
to prohibit, as they do, the publication in Turkish, where Moslems
might see them, of the noble works which have been the inspiration
and the comfort of Christians in all ages. But it is not conceivable
that justification can be found in the case of interference with the
publication of such books, printed, not in Arabic letters that Moslems
use, but in the Christian alphabets which no Mohammedan can read. Yet
the Christian, anxious to aid his fellow-Christians to lead noble and
useful lives, may not publish articles in his own religious newspapers,
which contain, for instance, the quotation of texts of Scripture.
These are commonly prohibited either on the plea that the texts are
not suitable for the common people, or because they contain words
which are forbidden, and cannot be altered by the publisher because
they are the words of the Bible. For instance, a text which alludes to
rising from the dead may not be used because the verb ‘to rise’ in some
other context might mean something else. Any passage from the Bible
is prohibited which contains any of the following words: Persecution,
courage, liberty, strength, rights, union, equality, star (in astronomy
one has to use the word ‘luminary’ instead), king, palace, arms,
bloodshed, tyranny, hero, etc., etc. In fact these words are prohibited
in religious articles in any context whatever. A Christian religious
newspaper may not place before its readers a hymn or other poetry, and
from the hymn books used in Christian worship many of the grand old
hymns of the Church have been expunged, and the suppression sustained
after appeal to the highest authority of the Porte. A Christian
writer addressing Christians who know only Turkish, in the Turkish
language, is constantly forbidden to use words of purely religious
signification which are the words used in the Bible and the only ones
known to the people to express a given idea, because the idea is held
by the censor to belong to Mohammedanism alone. Of such are ‘the
guiding grace of God;’ forbidden, because Moslems do not admit that
Christians can have this grace. ‘Good news,’ the literal translation
used in the Bible of the Greek word ‘Evangelion,’ commonly rendered
in English as the Gospel. The use of this word is prohibited, because
Moslems do not admit that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is ‘good news.’
‘Apostle’ (resoul) is a word found in everyday Turkish law in its
sense of messenger. It is prohibited in the Christian newspaper press,
because it implies that the Apostles of Jesus Christ were sent of God,
which Moslems deny. The same prohibition, for Mohammedan religious
reasons, lies upon the use, in Christian religious books or religious
newspapers, of references to our Saviour as ‘the Saviour of the world’
or to his shedding his blood for the cleansing from sin.
“But aside from these interferences, the censors refuse to allow
certain subjects of religious discourse to be presented to Christians.
Thus the virtues of manliness, of moral courage, or resignation under
affliction, of hope in God under adversity, are all subjects concerning
which Christian religious books may not speak to Christians. The same
is true of exhortations to benevolence, of practical suggestions to
Christians as to means of copying Jesus Christ in doing good to others,
of suggestions of Christian evangelistic work among the ignorant and
degraded of the Christian communities, and of reference to Christian
missions and their operations in other parts of the world.
“Besides all this, Protestant ministers are molested in their
services when they preach upon these normal themes of their religion.
The Protestant pastor of Yuzgat was expelled from the place for no
other offence. The Protestant pastor at Sungurlu was compelled to
leave that town for preaching on the resurrection from the dead. The
Protestant pastor from Gemerek is undergoing imprisonment in the
fortress of St. Jean d’Acre for no other offence, to judge from the
evidence produced at his trial. The Protestant pastor at Chakmak, near
Cesarea, has just been thrown into prison; and those who know his
law-abiding and sterling character, assure us that his efforts to lead
his flock into closer adherence to Bible Christianity are his only
crime. Protestant pastors everywhere declare that they are compelled,
in choosing texts from the Bible, and in framing their exhortations
upon them, to hesitate, and paraphrase, and weigh words, through fear
that if they speak of the consolations of Christianity, they will
be charged with encouraging discontent; if they urge resistance to
sin, they will be condemned for suggesting resistance to the Turkish
Government; or if they speak of the demand of Christianity for pure and
noble character, they will be charged with inciting men to unlawful
aspirations. On complaint being made of such restrictions upon the
legitimate instruction of Christians, officials in high position
have answered that while provincial governors are constantly sending
extracts from the Bible to prove the necessity of suppressing that
book, Christians should be grateful for the privilege of being allowed
to have the Bible, instead of complaining at being restricted in
making or publishing comments upon it. Yet when there has been removed
from the instruction of Christians all reference to the requirements
of Christianity for practical benevolent living and to its abundance
of assurances of the Divine aid in adversity and of the rewards of
resignation, and to the proofs of its power which are found in the
experiences of the Church universal in different parts of the world,
much has been done to prevent Christians from knowing the worth or
experiencing the effects of their own religion in their own hearts.”
It might be said that this whole question of restriction of worship,
schools and the press, is looked at from the distinctively Turkish
standpoint, and the claim made that the government legitimately sought
to protect the Moslems from being infected with Christian ideas. The
answer to this is found in the fact that the restrictions did not by
any means apply merely to publications in the Arabic character, such as
is used by all Moslems, but to publications which no Moslem ever could
or would read, in the Armenian or Greek characters, or even in foreign
languages. In the same line is the fact that attacks upon Christianity
were freely allowed by the Turkish Government, while replies from
Christians were distinctly forbidden. These Moslem attacks were full
of the most scurrilous statements and contemptuous epithets, and were
so maliciously false as to almost overshoot their mark. Still the
authors of these works were decorated by the Sultan himself, and every
effort was made to give to them the widest possible circulation. So,
also, in the Turkish newspapers, attacks after attacks were made upon
the Christian subjects of the Sultan, to which absolutely no reply was
allowed. The paper closes with the following summary:--
“To review the case, we find an increasing stringency in Turkey
directed against Christian education, an increasing tendency to
hinder Christian worship, an increasing hostility to the use of books
by the Christians of Turkey, which result in actually crippling the
intellectual powers of men who would carry their culture along the
lines of the best thought of Christendom. We find an increasing
vigilance to prevent Christians from exercising the injunctions of
their religion in practical benevolence and beneficence among their
own people. And in these later years we find this tendency reaching
a climax of intensity in the rough hands laid upon the exposition of
the Christian faith in a way to prevent Christians from learning the
full value of their religion and to prevent the Christian religion
from producing its full fruit among its followers. In answer to
inquiry as to the meaning of this rapid trend of different lines
of policy converging to one point, we are told that the trouble is
that Christianity tends to make men grow into a better manhood. This
statement is made in various forms of paraphrase by officials of all
grades from Bagdad to the Bosporus, and in answer to all objections,
to the closing of schools, to the suppression of worship, to the
restrictions put upon the use of books, to the elision of words and
subjects from manuscripts in the press, and to the silencing of
Christian ministers. To this declaration we make answer that the
deliberate purpose of the founder of Christianity and of the religion
which He taught is the purpose to take the debased and ignorant, and
to make them men, self-controlled, honest and useful; that the purpose
to elevate man is not a disloyal or seditious purpose; and that any
far-reaching scheme to restrain Christianity from accomplishing its
full fruit in purifying and quickening the lives of its followers, is
war upon the Christian religion itself.”
[Illustration:
GATEWAY INTO THE WAR DEPARTMENT AT CONSTANTINOPLE. The fire tower on
the right. The horses are those used by persons wishing to go about
the city, many of the streets being almost impassable for carriages.
The wagons are what are called “emigrant” wagons, used for cartage by
peasants, who have brought them from European Turkey.]
[Illustration:
THE CITY OF TREBIZOND, on the northern coast of Asia Minor. In the
background is the Black Sea, and in the foreground the only harbor
that there is. This is open to the northeast, so that there is really
very little protection. Trebizond was one of the first cities to
suffer from massacre in the fall of 1895.]
CHAPTER XX.
THE SASSUN MASSACRE.
A Deliberate Plan of The Turkish Government--Kurdish Raids--Armenians
Defend Themselves--Kurds Reinforced by Regular Troops--Terrible
Scenes of Slaughter--Stories of Survivors.
In view of the situation set forth in the preceding chapter the
European powers emphasized more earnestly than before their demand for
reforms, and the Turkish Government became convinced that another step
was necessary in order to avert what they feared would be the complete
destruction of their power. What that step was it is the object of this
chapter to describe, leaving the inference as to the plan to come later.
Among the different plains of Eastern Turkey there is none more fertile
than the plain of Mush, about forty miles west of Lake Van. From the
earliest times it has been noted for its harvests and for the general
prosperity of its people, who partook, to a greater degree than was
true of many other sections, of the vigor of the mountaineers. Bordered
with high mountains on every side it was always an object of envy to
the Kurdish tribes. Incursions had been repeatedly made and some result
was manifest in the increase of Moslem villages here and there over the
plain. Still, however, it was the center of Armenian influence in that
section; even Bitlis and Van were scarcely more intensely Armenian than
Mush.
It was natural also that some of the revolutionists should turn
their eyes to this section. Here if anywhere must be the center of
the new Armenia, and an effort was undoubtedly made to stir some of
the people to a revolution in opposition to the Turkish Government.
The plain villagers, however, furnished very little encouragement for
anything of this kind. They realized perhaps even more clearly than
the mountaineers did that opposition to the combined force of the
Turkish Government and the Kurdish tribes was worse than useless, and
the agitators found themselves turned aside after accomplishing but
very little. They then turned their attention to the mountain villages
where the spirit of independence was more strongly manifest. In the
summer of 1893 one of these men was captured near the city of Mush,
and the government had suspicion that friends of his were gathering
in the mountains on the east. They accordingly sent word to certain
Kurdish chiefs whose men had been enrolled in the Hamidieh cavalry to
make a raid. Knowing the character of the mountaineers, these chiefs
made their preparations somewhat carefully. They gathered their men
from every side, and it became evident to the Armenians that there was
to be trouble. For a time there were simply ordinary raids; animals
were carried off, occasionally a man was killed--sometimes Armenian,
sometimes Kurd. Ordinarily when a Kurd was slain his body was secured
for burial before his people could come to claim it.
At last there was a pitched battle in which the villagers were able to
do considerable execution without heavy loss of life to themselves. The
Kurdish chiefs finding themselves worsted withdrew, and no sufficient
pressure could be brought to bear upon them to make them renew the
contest. The Governor-General of the province, however, with troops and
field pieces, infested the mountains but made no attack, preferring
apparently to come into parley with the Armenians. He asked them why
they did not submit to the government and pay taxes. Their reply was
that they were not at all disloyal to the government, but could not pay
taxes twice, to Kurds and to the government. If the Turkish authorities
would give protection, they were perfectly willing to pay the taxes.
During the winter several of their leaders were invited to Mush but
declined to accept.
With the advent of the spring of 1894, the situation became worse. The
government decided to make the advance and reiterated its instructions
to the Kurdish chiefs to attack the whole section, west of the Mush
plain and known now as Sassun, which included about forty villages.
They came on every side and practically besieged the whole province.
They stole animals, and the result was occasional contests in which
one or more on either side fell. On one occasion the Kurds succeeded
in securing the bodies of two of their comrades who had been killed,
and carried them to the government at the city of Mush, reporting that
the whole region was filled with armed men, who were defying the power
of the government. Then followed a general attack upon the different
villages. The Armenians had the better situation, and defended
themselves with considerable success. The Kurds appeared to be unequal
to the task of subduing them. The government reinforced them with
soldiers, regular troops, but generally in disguise so as to retain
as far as possible the appearance of the ordinary contests that had
been going on for years between the villagers and the Kurdish chiefs.
Reinforced by these men, the Kurdish chiefs spread on every hand. They
were assisted by the Turkish troops, not only in positive attack, but
in stratagems the most outrageous. Companies of troops would enter a
village, telling the Armenians that they had come for their protection.
They were received and quartered in the different houses; then in the
night they rose and slew the villagers, men, women, and children.
Realizing now the evident intent, the Armenians resolved to fight
and sell their lives as dearly as possible. The result was that for
nearly three weeks from the latter part of August there was a general
campaign of butchery. So bitter was the contest, that the Governor of
Mush, fearing that he had not sufficient force at hand, sent word to
the general commander of the Turkish forces in Eastern Turkey, whose
headquarters were at Erzingan, west of Erzrum, to gather what troops
he could, to join with the troops already there, and the Kurds, in the
fight.
Word meanwhile had been sent to Constantinople, that all Eastern
Turkey was in rebellion, and the Sultan had issued a firman, calling
upon his loyal subjects to put down the rebellion at all hazards. This
firman was in the hands of the Commander Marshal Zekki Pasha as he
came to Mush. He read it before the troops, then placed it upon his
breast, and exhorted the men to do their duty. Especially on the last
day of August, which was the anniversary of the Sultan’s accession
to the throne, was this exhortation read, and by every means in his
power he roused the troops to the bitterest attack. At this time all
pretense of complaint of revolution was thrown aside. Villages against
which no charge of disloyalty had ever been made, where there had been
no trouble of any sort, suffered equally with those where there had
been contests. The receipt of taxes amounted to absolutely nothing. On
every hand it was proclaimed that there must be a clean sweep; that
the whole population of the Armenian district must be exterminated. In
one village the priest, and some of the leading men, went out to meet
the Turkish officer, declaring their loyalty, and begging for mercy.
It was all to no avail. The village was surrounded and every man put
to death. The stories of individual outrages were such as scarcely can
be believed. Private letters, from persons well qualified to know the
truth, many of which are quoted in full in “The Armenian Crisis in
Turkey,” by the Rev. F. D. Greene, give instances almost too terrible
for belief. We quote a few:
“A number of able-bodied young Armenians were captured, bound, covered
with brushwood and burned alive. A number of Armenians, variously
estimated, but less than a hundred, surrendered themselves and pled for
mercy. Many of them were shot down on the spot and the remainder were
dispatched with sword and bayonet.
“A lot of women, variously estimated from 60 to 160 in number, were
shut up in a church, and the soldiers were ‘let loose’ among them. Many
of them were outraged to death and the remainder dispatched with sword
and bayonet. A lot of young women were collected as spoils of war.
Two stories are told. 1. That they were carried off to the harems of
their Moslem captors. 2. That they were offered Islam and the harems of
their Moslem captors; refusing, they were slaughtered. Children were
placed in a row, one behind another, and a bullet fired down the line,
apparently to see how many could be despatched with one bullet. Infants
and small children were piled one on the other and their heads struck
off. Houses were surrounded by soldiers, set on fire, and the inmates
forced back into the flames at the point of the bayonet as they tried
to escape.
“At Geligozan many young men were tied hand and foot, laid in a row,
covered with brushwood and burned alive. Others were seized and hacked
to death piecemeal. At another village a priest and several leading men
were captured, and promised release if they would tell where others had
fled, but, after telling, all but the priest were killed. A chain was
put around the priest’s neck, and pulled from opposite sides till he
was several times choked and revived, after which several bayonets were
planted upright, and he raised in the air and let fall upon them.
“The men of one village, when fleeing, took the women and children,
some 500 in number, and placed them in a sort of grotto in a ravine.
After several days the soldiers found them, and butchered those who had
not died of hunger.
“Sixty young women and girls were selected from one village, and placed
in a church, when the soldiers were ordered to do with them as they
liked, after which they were butchered.
“In another village fifty choice women were set aside and urged to
change their faith and become _hanums_ in Turkish harems, but they
indignantly refused to deny Christ, preferring the fate of their
fathers and husbands. People were crowded into houses which were then
set on fire. In one instance a little boy ran out of the flames, but
was caught on a bayonet and thrown back.”
The following stories from survivors of the massacre will give a more
vivid picture than any general description:
STORY OF A SURVIVOR OF THE SASSUN MASSACRE.
“My name is Asdadur Giragosian. My home was on the sunny side of
a high mountain, in the central village of the beautiful valley of
Geligozan. This valley presents a charming scene when viewed from the
top of one of the surrounding mountains, with many villages scattered
here and there, and clumps of huge walnut trees between, giving the
valley its name, ‘Valley of Walnuts.’
“Up to 1894 my family was a prosperous one, as were most of the
families of Sassun. The Kurds who lived about us were, on the whole,
friendly, though they frequently practiced their habitual business of
stealing cattle and sheep, but we were generally able to re-take our
own, or others in their place. Our family consisted of twelve members,
and we had many cattle and sheep. In the whole village were two hundred
families, who possessed in the aggregate more than 15,000 sheep. Of
course each of the sixty Armenian villages in the Sassun district (of
which 42 are now ruined) had many cattle and sheep.
“In the spring of 1894 the Kurds began to drive away our sheep more
boldly than usual. At the same time the government, suspecting that
there were many armed revolutionists in Sassun, sent to search for
them, but failed to find them. They then wished to arrest some of
our notables and take them to Mush as revolutionists, saying, ‘You
have revolutionary societies here.’ We resisted and prevented their
taking our men. As I said, the Kurds made several attacks that spring,
carrying off our animals, and we pursued them and rescued the animals,
killing one or two men, whom we buried so they could not find them.
Twice they attacked with this result, but the third time we were not
able to bury the two Kurds we killed, and they carried them to Mush
and showed them to the government. A great tumult resulted, and it was
reported, ‘The Armenians of Sassun have rebelled and massacred the
Moslem inhabitants.’ Also, ‘They are armed with rifles and cannon.’
The Turkish Government availed itself of the excuse, and instigated
the Kurds to attack the Armenian villagers and massacre them. This
they attempted to do, a large number attacking us, aided by many
soldiers in disguise. But though the Kurds had been well armed by
the government, we were able, owing to our superior position, to
withstand them successfully for fifteen days. The Kurds were constantly
repulsed, leaving many dead and wounded. During this time the Turkish
soldiers were being rapidly collected in Mergé-mozan. About twenty-five
battalions of soldiers were gathered there. In these fights with the
Kurds we lost only seven persons, but three Armenian villages were
burned.
“The assembled soldiers now began to attack. One day we heard the
sound of their bugles, and for a whole day they continued to advance
with great tumult and besieged Geligozan on the sides. The road to
a very high mountain named Andok was left open, and we were able to
carry our families and animals there, but this in a hasty manner, while
fighting with Turkish soldiers. Then the army divided, one part going
toward Andok, the other coming toward us. We had already left the
village and taken refuge among the rocks above it. Our position enabled
us to withstand them all day, but we could see that they had burned the
village of Husentsik, near our own. Toward evening they made a fiercer
attack and got nearer us. Our ammunition was nearly exhausted, and
we began to retreat. They now set fire to our village too, and from
a distance, in the dark, we could see it burning. We fled to Andok,
where our families and animals had been carried, but seeing that it was
not a safe place to stay, we left it, and after a day’s journey over
rocks and mountains, towards evening reached a ruined church. Here we
passed the night, but in the morning soldiers appeared and we hastened
our flight. All our goods and most of our animals we left there. Near
evening we reached a mountain named Gala-rash (Black Castle). We were
very tired and hungry, but had nothing to eat, so we killed a sheep and
ate it. But few of the villagers were to be found, the greater part
having fled to other places. From this place we fled in the dark to the
neighboring Kurdish village, where our Aghas (chiefs) lived. Before
morning we learned that Aghpig was also burned. Our Kurdish Aghas came
out from the village to defend us against the soldiers, but did not
succeed, and returned to the village, and we were obliged to continue
our journey, though tired and thirsty.
“When it was possible to stop, our first care was to find water
and kill a sheep for food. The following day we learned that Hedink
also was burned. Hearing this we fled to Heghgat, and then to a near
mountain. The next morning we heard that Heghgat was burned. We
descended from the mountain into a valley up which we slowly retreated,
changing our position every day. But on the third day our pursuers
appeared, and we left all our sheep and fled with our cattle. Soon we
left the cattle too. One of my brothers, Atam, fled with the family,
while my other brother, his fifteen-year-old daughter, and I, lagged
behind and entered a forest, but when they saw my brother, two soldiers
fired and he fell dead. Hearing the noise, the girl cried out and they
saw her and shot her dead also. Me they did not find, and towards
evening I came out of the forest, and hurrying forward, reached the
family and told them of my brother’s and his daughter’s death. We
wept aloud and spent the night disheartened, tired and hungry. In
the morning, thinking the soldiers had turned back, we returned to a
village to obtain food. I found my brother’s body and buried it, but
before I had time to bury the girl, the soldiers appeared. My remaining
brother fled with the family, but I entered the forest. In the morning
I found another refugee in the forest, who was seeking his family. He
told me he had killed an ox, but had been obliged to leave it because
the soldiers appeared. We were so hungry and faint that we could hardly
walk, but we sought the ox and were about cooking some meat when
soldiers again appeared.
“So we left the fire, climbed up the mountain, and hid behind some
rocks. The soldiers saw us and two of them came to find us. We waited
there for a few moments all trembling with terror. Suddenly a soldier
appeared, aimed his gun at me and fired, the bullet piercing my leg.
The other soldier also fired and pierced my thigh. Then they came up
and severely wounded me with their short swords, in the shoulder and
thigh. I shut my eyes and they thought me dead, and were about to
depart when they saw my companion behind a rock; they fired at him with
true aim, and I heard his horrible cry as he fell. Before leaving us,
one of the soldiers suspecting I was still living, proposed to cut my
body to pieces, but his companion rejected the proposition, objecting
that there was no water to wash the swords. So they merely threw some
large stones at me, which fortunately did no special harm. When the
soldiers were far enough away I spoke to my companion to see if he was
living, and he answered very feebly saying he could neither walk nor
move, and I was in the same condition. Oh! our distress then! Tired,
hungry, thirsty, severely wounded, we should die in torture, or be the
prey of wild beasts. I cried to the soldiers, ‘We are still alive, come
and put an end to our misery.’ I cried but they did not hear me.
“After a while two Armenian fugitives passed by and saw us, and we
besought them to carry us to a ruined sheep-cote near by. They were
so hungry and weak they could hardly walk, and said they were not
able to carry us, but yielding to our entreaties, they made a great
effort and carried us there, gave us some water and fresh cheese and
departed. We remained there three days, these friends coming to us at
night and going away in the morning. We soon saw that this was too
dangerous a place to stay, as we constantly heard the sound of guns
and bullets passing over our heads. So they transferred us to another
ruin, where we were tortured by the heat by day and the cold by night,
naked and wounded. Our friends did not do much for us, not believing
we could live. After three days my companion’s mother came, bringing
some millet to cook for us, but going out to get some water, she
heard the sound of bugles and fled, but soon returned and cooked it.
The next day our brothers came with the woman and tried to cook some
wheat, but were again frightened by the sound of the bugles and fled,
my brother wishing to carry me with him, but I said, ‘It is better for
you and the family to escape. I must die.’ Toward evening they came
back and carried us on their shoulders to another place, where some
other families had already taken refuge. Soon they were obliged to
leave this place also, fleeing in haste, and left me there. I remained
in this dreary place eight days alone with my suffering save that they
sometimes brought me a little food. After the eight days we heard that
a firman had come ordering the massacre to cease. The soldiers then
drove any fugitives they met, wounded or not, to the ruined villages.
I remained thus among the ruins for two months, till my wounds were
healed. As soon as I was strong enough, I left the ruins and slowly
made my way to Vartenis (an Armenian village on the Mush plain). There
I found my wife, but of the rest of the family I know nothing.”
With the man whose story is told above was a lad of seventeen years,
named Serope Asdadurian, from the village of Mushakhshen, not far from
Mush city. His statement shows the state of the region before the date
of the massacre.
STORY OF SEROPE ASDADURIAN.
“Our family consisted of fifteen members, of whom four are now living,
the others having died by the hands of the Kurds and Turks.
“Before the year 1893 the brother of the celebrated robber chief,
Mousa Bey, had abducted the daughter of the head man of our village.
After a while the girl was rescued from his hands and married to a
young man of Vartenis. In the spring of 1893 she visited her father’s
house, after which her father wished to send her, under safe escort,
to her husband at Vartenis. He besought my father to carry her, and
he accepted the charge. On the way fifteen Kurds attacked the party
and attempted to carry off the woman, but my father and his companions
resisted, and delivered the woman safely to her husband, two of the
Kurds being killed in the affray. My father fled to Russia, but soon
returned, and for a month or so remained so concealed that no one saw
him. After a while, however, it became known that he had returned, and
suddenly one day the Mudir (Turkish petty governor) of the neighboring
village surrounded our house with a band of zabtiehs (gendarmes) to
seize my father. He knew that to be taken was probably to be killed
with tortures, and determined to sell his life as dearly as possible.
So when the zabtiehs burst open the door and came in my father killed
one of them and rushed out with his rifle. But in his haste he struck
his head violently against the frame of the door and fell, nearly dead.
One of the zabtiehs fired and killed him. They then killed my mother,
my two sisters, my uncle and four cousins. They carried away our cattle
and sheep, robbed the house and burned it.”
So the crimson storm of carnage rolled on, until not less than thirty
villages had been laid waste, so completely destroyed that even the
names had been erased from the official records. As to the number of
killed it is almost impossible to give accurate estimate. It must have
been not less than five or six thousand, many put it much higher.
Some soldiers said that a hundred fell to each one of them to dispose
of, while others wept because the Kurds did more execution than they.
Some, however, claimed to have been unwilling actors in the scene and
suffered great mental torments. The wife of one noticed that he failed
to pray, as had been his invariable custom. She spoke of it to him and
he answered, “God will not hear me. If there is a God he will take
vengeance for these awful deeds. Is there any use to pray?” It is also
told of other soldiers that on reaching their homes they inquired of
Armenian acquaintances, “Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? The Sassun
women were constantly calling out to Him.”
At last the carnage stopped. The commander-in-chief of the fourth army
corps at Erzingan reached the field in time to save a few prisoners
alive and to prevent the extermination of four more villages that were
on the list to be destroyed. He then sent a telegram to Constantinople
that rebellion had been overcome and that order had been restored in
the province. For this he received a medal and the thanks of the Sultan.
[Illustration:
THE CITY OF HARPUT IN EASTERN TURKEY. This is the eastern portion
of the city, somewhat distant from the site occupied by Euphrates
College and the mission house. The hill is several hundred feet
higher than the plain. Immediately in front with the dome is an
Armenian Church. The city of Harput suffered very severely in the
massacres.]
[Illustration:
THE CITY OF AINTAB, NORTHERN SYRIA. In the background is the old
citadel. In the center is the Girls’ School of the American mission.
The building in the foreground gives a very good idea of the way in
which the roofs are made. The stone roller is used especially when,
after a period of drought, the rain moistens the mud surface of the
roofs.]
CHAPTER XXI.
POLITICS AND MASSACRE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
Investigation at Sassun--Mr. Gladstone on the Situation--Disturbances
in Constantinople--Joint Notes by the Embassies--Plan of Reforms--New
English Government--Massacre in Constantinople--Decisive Action
of the Embassies--Signing of the Reforms--Subsequent Acts of
Defiance--Breach Between England and Russia--Collapse of English
Influence.
The report of the massacres in Sassun aroused a storm of indignation
throughout Europe. The British Consul at Van made investigation,
confirmed the report of the massacres, which was again confirmed by the
local military commander. The British Ambassador at Constantinople sent
special officials to make public inquiries, with the result finally
that the Turkish Government was informed that prompt, efficient steps
must be taken to secure better government in Eastern Turkey, or she
would join with European Powers in such intervention as would secure
peace and justice for the Armenians. Meanwhile Czar Nicholas had come
to the throne, and just what course would be taken by him was not yet
evident. There were indications that he would pursue a different policy
from his father, more in the line of general liberty and toleration,
and there was a widespread feeling that the English demand was
practically supported by Russia. A Turkish investigating commission
was appointed, but its personnel was such as to make it open to grave
suspicion, and the British Consuls at Erzrum and Van were instructed
to watch its course carefully. This suspicion was increased by the
fact that the Turkish commander was decorated, and notwithstanding the
repeated efforts of the Turkish Government to prevent the spread of
news, the worst reports as to the massacres were confirmed all over the
empire. At the same time the Turkish Government invited an American
representative to attend the commission. President Cleveland declined
to do this, but after negotiations with England decided to send, as an
independent investigator, Consul Jewett, of Sivas. To this, however,
the Turkish Government objected, and refused to give him the traveling
papers.
As matters became more clearly understood, reports were spread of a
separate commission to represent England, Russia, Austria, France and
probably Germany, entirely apart from the commission appointed by the
Turkish Government. This general intensity of feeling on the part of
Europe aroused considerable anxiety among the Turks, and the result was
that a commission was at last appointed with regular representatives
of the different European Powers to attend it and insure that its
investigations were carried on in an impartial and thorough manner.
The anxiety, however, was by no means confined to the government.
Throughout the empire word had been spread among the Moslems that the
Christians, backed by the European Governments, were planning the
overthrow of the Sultan. At the same time the Huntchagists redoubled
their efforts. They evidently felt that a point had been reached at
which they might make a strike. The result was that disturbances were
reported from the whole region of Western Turkey, especially in the
vicinity of Zeitun, Marash and Adana. Destructive fires were started
in several cities. The Moslems charged it upon the Armenians, the
Armenians retorted the charge upon the Moslems, and the situation
rapidly grew more intense even than it had been before. The next step
of the Turkish Government was to announce that a new plan of government
had been adopted for the districts of Erzrum, Van, Bitlis and Mush.
These four were to be made a single province with a Mussulman governor
appointed for five years, to be succeeded by Christians, who, however,
were not to be Armenians. The gendarmerie were to be recruited from the
district and commanded by a general named by the Sultan; local revenues
were to be retained by the provinces except one annual contribution to
the Porte; judges were to be elected and local ministries of education
and public works were to be formed. This was largely as the result
of the intense feeling roused in England, which was expressed by Mr.
Gladstone in response to a deputation of Armenians from Paris and
London on his eighty-fifth birthday, December 29, 1894.
“The history of Turkey has been a sad and painful history. That
race has not been without remarkable, and even in some cases, fine
qualities, but from too many points of view it has been a scourge to
the world, made use of, no doubt, by a wise Providence for the sins of
the world. If these tales of murder, violation and outrage be true,
then it will follow that they cannot be overlooked, and they cannot
be made light of. I have lived to see the Empire of Turkey in Europe
reduced to less than one-half of what it was when I was born, and why?
Simply because of its misdeeds--a great record written by the hand of
Almighty God, in whom the Turk, as a Mohammedan, believes, and believes
firmly--written by the hand of Almighty God against injustice, against
lust, against the most abominable cruelty; and if--and I hope, and I
feel sure, that the government of the Queen will do everything that
can be done to pierce to the bottom of this mystery, and to make the
facts known to the world--if, happily--I speak hoping against hope--if
the reports we have read are to be disproved or to be mitigated, then
let us thank God; but if, on the other hand, they be established,
then I say it will more than ever stand before the world that there
is no lesson, however severe, that can teach certain people the duty,
the prudence, the necessity of observing in some degree the laws of
decency, and of humanity, and of justice, and that if allegations such
as these are established, it will stand as if it were written with
letters of iron on the records of the world, that such a government as
that which can countenance and cover the perpetration of such outrages
is a disgrace in the first place to Mohammed, the Prophet whom it
professes to follow, that it is a disgrace to civilization at large,
and that it is a curse to mankind. Now, that is strong language.
“Strong language ought to be used when facts are strong, and ought
not to be used without strength of facts. I have counselled you still
to retain and to keep your judgment in suspense, but as the evidence
grows and the case darkens, my hopes dwindle and decline; and as long
as I have a voice, I hope that voice, upon occasion, will be uttered on
behalf of humanity and truth.”
Soon after came the formation of a commission, which was, however,
so constituted as not to inspire the greatest confidence, the foreign
representatives not being of high rank. However, it was better than
nothing, and the general feeling was that its report would be awaited
with interest. Meanwhile there came notices of disturbance elsewhere.
There was a rising of the Christians in Albania, and considerable
trouble in Bulgaria, where the Russian power was made manifest by the
appearance upon the scene of Mr. Zankoff, who had been practically an
exile for some time. The commission had started, and by the middle of
February was thoroughly established in its work in Mush. On its way
to that place it made some interesting discoveries. At the village of
Bulanik some of the Armenian villagers came to the European members
and reported that Turkish soldiers were at that time engaged in
extorting money from villagers by threats of reporting them as rebels.
The commission sent a polite invitation to the commander, asking him
to come and answer a few questions. Instantly the whole body fled in
every direction, evidently supposing that they would not be interfered
with. This was a fair illustration of the kind of extortion carried on
through the whole of Eastern Turkey. Those who made any difficulty were
imprisoned, until it was said that there was scarcely a single Armenian
of prominence in the city of Bitlis who was not in prison, while
Armenian ecclesiastics of every grade were arrested. This fact also
illustrates the nature of the charges of the government with regard to
insurrection among the Armenians. At Khnus the commission found some
genuine refugees whom they took along with them to Mush.
At the same time attention was diverted to the region of Marash, so
far as appears, there was no special charge of insurrection, but a
general uprising. The houses of the American missionaries were entered
by force and searched for arms, which naturally they did not find.
Complaint was sent to Constantinople and demands were made through
the American Legation for protection. Similarly at Nicomedia a French
Catholic complained that his domicile had been violated and that he
himself had been arrested by the Turks. The French ambassador, standing
firm upon the capitulations accorded to his government, demanded the
removal of the governor, the punishment of the officers and a public
apology to the priest. The Turks objected, but finally yielded. Even
Constantinople was not safe. An American citizen passing through the
streets, only a short distance from the Sultan’s palace, was stabbed
and killed by a Turkish soldier, who had also seriously wounded sixteen
others. A day or two later another Turk in a theatre got into a quarrel
with an Englishman and endeavored to kill him. The Englishman escaped,
but a student friend who rose to defend him, was struck down with a
single blow of the Turk’s knife. The chief value of these incidents
was that the government made every effort to excuse the criminals, and
would give no punishment except under pressure. The official statement
as to the man who murdered the American was, that the soldier had got
into a quarrel with one of his comrades and merely stabbed the sixteen
Christians on the supposition that they were trying to catch him. The
absurdity of this is evident from the fact that one of them was an
Armenian girl, standing on the steps of her own home; another was a
milkman, whom the soldier asked, “Are you a Christian or a Moslem?” and
on being told that he was a Moslem let him go.
For some weeks there was no special change in the situation,
though the relations between Turks and Christians were constantly
more serious, so that the council of the Armenian Patriarchate at
Constantinople presented a memorial to the Sultan, urging him to cease
the constant ill treatment which the Armenians suffered at the hands
of the Turkish officers. It was not surprising that the memorial was
returned with a request that it be modified in form. How needful it
was, however, was manifest from the following facts reported from a
city a short distance from Constantinople. An Armenian pastor and
teacher were arrested and imprisoned on the charge of having seditious
letters, which letters, when read, were shown to be simply private
correspondence. One man was imprisoned for two weeks because his name
suggested a similarity to an address to which a telegram was sent
saying, “Come at once.” An Armenian was forced to sell his house at
only a trifle over half value, because a pasha wanted it for one of his
wives. A traveler happening to meet an official on the road was turned
back and imprisoned for a week on no charge whatever, and released only
on the payment of three Turkish pounds. These are but illustrations of
what was going on near Constantinople. In the region of Dersim, north
of Sivas and Harput, the Kurds seemed to have made special effort
to search for proofs of sedition. In two villages papers were found
stating that a certain order for arms had been filled and forwarded.
No weapons were discovered, however, and subsequently a Turk confessed
that he had himself forged the papers. Notwithstanding this, fifty
people, thirty from one village, were imprisoned, of whom a number
died. Everywhere throughout Asia Minor the Christians were in constant
fear of the Turks, who were stirred by their priests to provide
themselves with arms in order to be ready for any emergency, which the
priests assured them would come as the result of the efforts of the
Christians, supported by European powers, to overthrow the Turkish
Government. For a time there seemed to be hope of better things. The
Turkish Government revoked some of its appointments of notoriously
unfit men, and the commission at Mush were making increasing reports of
the situation, which aroused repeated and indignant protests throughout
Europe. It became apparent that the moral sense of the Christian Powers
was awake, and the Porte understood very well that that could not be
ignored. The British Government had definitely announced its intention
to secure protection for Christians throughout the empire. At the same
time United States cruisers arrived on the coast, and in interviews
with the Turkish governors made it very apparent that protection
to Americans must be secured. The immediate result of this was the
release of a large number of ecclesiastics who had been confined in
various fortresses, and who, though for some time under surveillance
in Constantinople, were practically at liberty. The summer thus passed
by with a generally better condition and there were strong hopes that
reforms would actually be instituted, especially as reports came that
Great Britain, France and Russia had united in a joint note to the
Porte, stating the reforms which they insisted upon for the better
conduct of the government in the interior. A complete statement of
these reforms is hardly necessary here. In the main they followed the
line of the different promises that had been made previously. Among the
most important provisions were the following:
“A High Commissioner, appointed with the assent of the Powers, is to
have general supervision over the whole empire, with the assistance
of a commission sitting in Constantinople; the provinces of Eastern
Turkey are to have Mohammedan or Christian governors, according to the
preponderance of population, the vice-governor to be of different faith
from the governor; taxes are to be collected by local and municipal
agents instead of by soldiers or treasury agents, and the provinces
are to retain enough funds for their own administration, and send the
balance to Constantinople; there is to be a general amnesty for crimes
and offences other than those against the common law; pending political
trials are to stop and the prisoners are to be released; imprisonment
without special warrant is forbidden and speedy trial assured, together
with release in case of acquittal; the number of Christian judges is to
be increased in proportion to the Christian population; Christians are
to serve equally with Moslems in the gendarmerie; conversion to Islam
by force is forbidden, and general freedom of religious confession is
to be secured; the powers of magistrates are to be extended, and the
local courts are to be under the supervision of a delegation from the
Court of Appeals.”
The position taken by the Ottoman Government with regard to these
reforms was not such as to inspire much of hope. Answer was long
delayed; furthermore, there was a change of ministry, the new Grand
Vizier being one well known as anti-English in his policy and warmly
supporting Russia. The one selected as Minister of Foreign Affairs was
also president of the commission to investigate the Sassun massacre.
Meanwhile trouble had arisen in Arabia, there being attacks upon the
English, French and Russian Consuls at Jeddah. The whole Moslem world
seemed to be on the verge of an outbreak. The British Government was
strengthening its garrisons in the Mediterranean and in Egypt, and
there was a very general belief that it was ready to take extreme
steps, even to the extent of occupying the Dardanelles, and perhaps
the Bosporus in case of necessity. At last the reply of the Turkish
Government came, acceding to the general principle of control by the
Powers of the plan of reforms, but asking that the period be limited to
three years. As if, however, to complicate matters still more, reports
came of an uprising in Macedonia. Bulgarian emissaries had apparently
been at work among their brethren under Turkish rule, exciting revolt
and urging annexation. The result was manifest in incursions across
the mountains, and notice was given by the Bulgarian Government that
it might be compelled to take decisive action with regard to the
disturbances. Underneath all this there was generally recognized to be
Russian, and perhaps Austrian influence, so that the general situation
was uncertain in the extreme.
Just at this time, in July, came the overthrow of the liberal
government in England, and the return of the conservatives to power.
Hitherto the conservative policy toward Turkey had always been
aggressive, and every one expected that tradition would be respected.
In anticipation of this, the Sultan’s Government sent conciliatory
answers in regard to reforms, stating that they proposed to apply them
to the entire empire; appoint Christian assessors to assist provincial
governors; make the selection of under-officials from both Mussulmans
and Christians, improve prisons, check the excesses of Kurds, etc.
In Tarsus a mob attacked the building of St. Paul’s Institute, and
in other portions of the country there was manifest a great deal of
tension of feeling. The Huntchagists again stirred themselves, and in
Marsovan murdered two prominent Armenians, one a Protestant, the other
a Gregorian. They also committed various murders in Constantinople,
and threatened the life of the Patriarch because he refused to endorse
their scheme for absolute independence. About this time also became
increasingly manifest the bitter feeling on the part of the Turks
themselves against their own government. Reports spread for the past
year by the Moslem priests that the Sultan’s rule was in danger,
and that the Christians were planning to overcome the Moslem power,
combined with the increasing taxation and the great injustice from
which in many sections of the empire Moslems suffered not less than
Christians, stirred the Young Turkey Party to an increasing degree of
bitterness. Just to what extent this party was organized it has never
been possible to learn; that remains for the future historian. It
is, however, a fact that everywhere throughout the empire there was
hostility not merely against the Christians, but against the Turkish
Government for its failure to do justice to the Moslems even at the
expense of Christians. Just at this time came Mr. Gladstone’s famous
address at Chester, in which he summed up very clearly the situation;
under the treaty of 1856 the Powers of Europe had a right, clear and
indisputable, to march into the country and take the government of
it out of the hands of the Turks; England had a special right under
the treaty of 1878 (the Cyprus Convention) and a special duty, from
the fact that the making of promises in treaties carries with it the
obligation to compel the keeping of the promises; the whole situation,
therefore, he summed up in the three words: _coercion_, _must_ and
_ought_. The last he claimed had absolutely no meaning; _must_, he
said, is fairly understood, but the first is the one that is thoroughly
appreciated.
One of the first manifestations of spirit of the new English
Government was the sending of an English fleet to the vicinity of the
Dardanelles and there was a general feeling that aggressive action
would be taken. Here, however, appeared a new phase. Having practically
accepted the principle of European control, the Sultan now denounced
it, saying that it was derogatory to his dignity and that it would
endanger his own control over his empire. In this connection also he
made complaint to France and Russia of the position taken by England.
They indeed did not give him encouragement, but from this time it
became questionable whether the concert of the three Powers which had
been supposed to be firm was really so. Meanwhile relief work had been
going on and a special commission had been sent into Eastern Turkey
to manage the question of relief. This will be referred to later, but
reference must be made to it here to show the peculiar situation in
which England was placed. She was manifesting her deepest sympathy
with the Armenians, was apparently taking steps to coerce the Sultan
and had made, or was on the point of making, propositions for his
deposition. So far as appears, she was doing all that could possibly
be expected. The next step was equally strong. It was asserted that,
in an interview with the Turkish ambassador at London, Lord Salisbury
had announced that the refusal on the part of the Turkish Government
to execute Article 61 of the Treaty of Berlin would be the signal of
the dismemberment of the empire. This was indeed denied the next day,
but it was generally believed to be virtually true, and the immediate
issuing by the Sultan of a note stating the concessions he was willing
to make with regard to the administration of the eastern provinces
of his empire indicated that some extra pressure had been brought to
bear upon him. Those concessions were not of remarkable character,
merely in the line of what had repeatedly been said and repeatedly
promised. It was evident, however, that there was increasing uneasiness
throughout the empire. Next came reports that Russia and France had
intimated their acceptance of the Sultan’s proposals, while Great
Britain insisted that they were incomplete. Fresh outrages were said
to have started up throughout the empire. Despatches from the region
of Erzingan spoke of a band of brigands attacking a company of Turkish
soldiers, whereupon the authorities decided that the assailants were
Armenian revolutionaries, and sent a force of 1,000 Turks to the
Armenian village of Kemakh, the result being that five villages were
pillaged, several thousand persons rendered homeless, men tortured,
women and children assaulted and four monasteries attacked. There were
also reports of an organization among the Turkish minor officials to
attack the Christians on every hand if the government should definitely
accept the scheme of reforms. For a couple of weeks there was apparent
quiet, when the civilized world was astounded by the report of a
massacre in Constantinople itself.
The long delay in effecting any result favorable to good order
in Turkey from the negotiations respecting reform gave opportunity
for the Huntchagists. At the same time the Turks were exasperated by
the long continuance of the English fleet near the Dardanelles. The
Armenians said that England and Russia had quarrelled. The Turks were
inclined to believe also that there was weakness and fear on the part
of the English, else the passage of the Dardanelles would be risked.
Then came reports of all sorts. The Huntchagists circulated a story
that the English Ambassador desired to have a few Armenians killed in
the streets of Constantinople in order to have an excuse for bringing
in the fleet. On Monday, October 1st, a procession of Armenians was
formed, including perhaps 200, some armed with revolvers, but the
greater part entirely peaceable men, and even those who were armed
were for the most part ignorant of the use of their weapons. They
started to the offices of the Sublime Porte to present their petition
for relief from the terrible oppression under which their nation was
suffering. Such petition was entirely in accord with the time-honored
customs of Turkey. It was, however, not difficult to give it an
illegal appearance, and taken in connection with various threats,
it is scarcely surprising that the Turkish Government was alarmed.
The police were drawn up hastily and the Armenians were ordered to
disperse. In some way or other firing commenced, the Turks say by the
Armenians, the Armenians charge it upon the Turks. There was an attack
upon the men by the police and a number of persons were killed before
the procession was broken up. Once started, however, the disturbance
was not easily stopped. It spread through different parts of the
city. The Softas gathered from their Mosques and started on a riot
through the streets armed with clubs. They attacked any Armenians they
could find, knocking them down, wounding them severely and sometimes
killing them; even attacking those who were already prisoners in the
hands of the police. Through all that day and night and the next day
this situation continued. During Tuesday night a number of attacks on
Armenians in their lodging-places were made and from 70 to 80 were
thus killed in cold blood. The whole number of killed is estimated at
about 200 and most of them absolutely innocent of any action hostile
to the government. The Turks, however, were thirsting for Christian
blood and the Armenians were in a panic. The government sent for the
Armenian Patriarch, but told him that none of his followers would be
permitted to accompany him. He therefore declined the invitation and
remained at his palace, where he was practically imprisoned, together
with a large number of Armenians. In the main streets for two or
three days there was apparently no difficulty, but on a side street
it was not safe for an Armenian to be seen. The panic spread into the
European quarter and 21 Armenian laborers at the glass works in Pera
were killed. Multitudes took refuge in the churches, and in one case
an effort was made to break through the walls, apparently to allow the
Moslems free entrance to the church. Under the lead of the British
Ambassador the foreign representatives acted promptly. The Dragoman
of the English Embassy, under orders from Sir Philip Currie, visited
the patriarchate to express sympathy with the Armenians. Sir Philip
insisted upon the prompt acceptance of the scheme of reforms and
demanded that every effort be made to restore order. For several days,
however, it was impossible to persuade the terror-stricken Armenians to
leave the churches where they were taking refuge, and it was not until
the ambassadors sent their own officials to the churches, giving their
personal pledges for safety, that the churches were cleared and quiet
was re-established in the city. Just at this time there came a change
in the government and Said Pasha gave place to Kiamil Pasha, one of the
ablest statesmen Turkey has ever known, and who was identified with
the best interests of the empire. This, however, was attended by the
sending to the Softas from the Sultan’s palace of several hundred sheep
and a quantity of delicacies as a reward for their loyalty. The flame
once started in Constantinople, spread rapidly throughout the empire.
The record of the massacres is contained in the following chapters.
We confine ourselves here to a general survey of the political events
following, until March, 1896.
The immediate result of the disturbance at Constantinople politically
was the approval and signing by the Sultan of the scheme approved by
the embassies for reforms in Turkey by the Sultan. This aroused great
opposition among the Moslems in Constantinople and corresponding
delight throughout the empire. It was not certain, however, what the
general result would be. The Sultan claimed that it was done under
compulsion and evidently cared very little about the reforms being
carried out. At the same time came threats of the assassination of
the Sultan on the part of the Albanian guards in the palace, and the
general situation in the capital being serious, the embassies made
a demand for additional guardships for their own protection and the
protection of the foreign residents. Further than this there was no
indication of positive action on the part of the European Powers, and
the conviction grew rapidly that a breach had formed between Russia and
England and that nothing practical would be done. With the constantly
repeated reports of massacres throughout the empire and the increased
demands of the foreign Powers came another change in the ministry.
Kiamil Pasha was summarily and very harshly dismissed and ordered to
Aleppo. He appealed for protection to the ambassadors and receiving
some support was sent to Aldin, a more favorable post.
The most significant item in the early part of November was a speech
by Lord Salisbury, at the Lord Mayor’s banquet, in which he expressed
the hope that the Sultan would grant justice to the Armenians and
secure their prosperity, peace and safety, but intimated very clearly
that if he did not, it would be the ruin of his empire. The fact that
this was coincident with the sending of the French Mediterranean
squadron to the Levant and the massing of the Russian troops through
the Caucasus, gave an impression that positive intervention was nearer
than at any time before. It was asserted in the English papers that
a joint ultimatum would be presented to the Sultan transferring the
internal government to persons trusted by the Powers, and that in case
of refusal the combined squadrons would advance on Constantinople.
On the other hand, the Sultan was reported as terrified at the
increasing bitterness against him on the part of the Turks; as
improving every opportunity to decorate and advance men who had been
identified with the outrages, and in general as holding an attitude
of defiance. The time passed by, however, with no positive action.
News came of massacres at Harput, Marash, Aintab and elsewhere, with
increasing proofs of the complicity, to say the least, of the Turkish
authorities. The man who was more than any other identified with the
worst oppression in the province of Van was made governor of Aleppo,
and there seemed to be on every side a condition of chaos. Some
defended the Sultan, claiming that while he would be glad to stop the
disturbances, he was powerless, the movement having become a popular
movement and having gone clear beyond any ability of his to check it.
The next phase was the discussion in regard to the admission of the
guardships. The demand was entirely within the rights of the embassies,
but the Sultan hesitated on the ground that it would exasperate the
Moslem communities, and the European Governments hesitated to press
the point. The result was, that more and more it became evident that
there was on the one hand no cordial, united action between the
European Governments, and on the other that the disturbances throughout
the empire were under the direct orders of the Turkish Government. A
significant event was the fleeing of the ex-Grand Vizier, Said Pasha,
to the British Embassy for protection, on the ground that his life was
in danger. He was kept there for some time and only left on specific
assurance from the Sultan himself. Meanwhile on every hand reports
of the situation in the interior increased in seriousness, but the
government persistently denied them and spread the most atrocious lies
with regard to the whole state of the country; declared that in every
case the Armenians had risen in defiance of the Turkish Government,
and that where massacre had been reported there was simply a little
disturbance.
The close of the year 1895 found everything in the empire in a state
of uncertainty. The fleets had withdrawn, and there seemed to be no
plan of action on the part of the various Powers, while the Turkish
Government was doing its best by repeated falsehoods to arouse the
Moslem populace to a high pitch of exasperation. At the same time the
Turkish army was suffering from lack of pay, soldiers not receiving
their wages and having no clothing or adequate food. A revolt of the
Druzes in Syria called a large number of troops to the south, but it
was difficult to secure military discipline among them. Meanwhile the
widespread destitution resulting upon the massacres had called the
earnest attention of Europe and of America, and appeals were made for
assistance. This was at first refused by the Turkish Government, which
would not even permit the Red Cross to enter the country, claiming
that there was no war and no necessity; that the story of sufferings
had been greatly exaggerated, and that the whole thing was the direct
result of Armenian revolution. The month of January passed without
any special change. The guardships were admitted, but the long delay
had deprived the matter of any great significance. Then came reports
of the secret treaty between Russia and Turkey, by which Russia would
guarantee the Sultan’s Government and in turn receive free passage
for her fleets through the straits, which would be closed by Turkey
to other nations. These reports were officially denied, but it was
generally believed that there was basis for them. Early in February
the report of the commission investigating the massacre at Sassun was
issued. The actual statements confirmed the story of the outrages,
showed that no steps were taken by troops to stop the Kurds, that in
fact the soldiers and Kurds alike were the authors of the burning of
entire villages; they also showed that there was no proof of revolt
on the part of the Armenians. In the middle of February, Parliament
assembled, and in the speech from the throne, which sets forth the
general policy of the government, was the following clause in reference
to Turkey:
“The Sultan of Turkey has sanctioned the principal reforms in the
government of the Armenian provinces, for which, jointly with the
Emperor of Russia and the President of the French Republic, I have felt
it to be my duty to press. I deeply regret the fanatical outbreak on
the part of a section of the Turkish population which has resulted in a
series of massacres which have caused the deepest indignation in this
country.”
This clause aroused very strong criticism by the liberals, but Lord
Salisbury claimed that it was impossible for the government to have
done more, and intimated distinctly that Russia and France had refused
to co-operate, and had distinctly said that they would resist any
attack on the part of England to bring coercion to bear on the Turkish
Empire.
[Illustration:
THE CITY OF GUMUSHKHANE, on the road from Trebizond to Erzrum in
Eastern Turkey. The city derives its name from the silver (gumush)
mines, from which ore is taken for the artisans in Trebizond and
Constantinople. The buildings are of a much better class than are
usually to be found in Eastern Turkey, and indicate the prosperity of
the place.]
[Illustration:
VIEW IN THE CITY OF TABRIZ, NORTHERN PERSIA; in some respects as
typical a Turkish city as any in Turkey. It gives a good illustration
of the style of building. A Moslem procession is passing in the
street and the women and children are gathered on the roofs looking
over the parapets. In summer the people bring their beds upon the
roofs to sleep on account of the extreme heat.]
CHAPTER XXII.
MASSACRES AT TREBIZOND AND ERZRUM.
Importance and General Prosperity of Both Cities--Threats by the
Turks--Terror Among the Armenians--Suddenness of the Attacks--Murder
and Pillage by Regular Soldiers, Under the Eye of Foreign
Consuls--Ferocity of the Turks--Testimony of Eye-Witnesses--Terrible
Scenes at the Burial of the Victims.
The city of Trebizond is one of the most beautifully situated in the
Turkish Empire. On the eastern end of the Black Sea, occupying the
southern slope of a picturesque range of mountains, which extends all
the way from Constantinople to the Persian border, it has been since
the time of Xenophon one of the most important places of the region.
For centuries it was the starting-point of caravans to Persia, and all
the Persian trade passed through its harbor, notwithstanding that that
scarcely deserved the name, being little more than an open roadstead.
The city itself has grown far beyond the original bounds, and there has
seemed to be less of that fear which compelled the crowding together
of the houses. Up the valleys of the mountains, and along the coast on
either side, there extend gardens and vineyards, with many pleasant
residences. Its population of about 45,000 is divided between Turks,
Armenians and Greeks, the Turks being in a bare majority, and the
Armenians somewhat outnumbering the Greeks. There are also consular
representatives of the principal European countries, as well as of the
United States. Up till within a few years trade has been brisk and
the people acquired a reputation throughout the East for shrewdness
of dealing. After the treaty of Berlin, and the occupation of Batum
by the Russians, considerable trade that had formerly passed through
Trebizond was diverted to Batum, and the wagons of the Circassians
took the place of the mule and horse caravans of the overland route by
way of Erzrum and Van. An effort was made to relieve the situation by
the building of a very good carriage road over the mountain, south to
Erzrum, a distance of about 180 miles. But the increasing disturbances
in the region of Van, and over the mountains to Khoi and Tabriz proved
more than an offset for the building of the road, and trade once
diverted could to only a limited degree be brought back again into the
old channel. Thus Trebizond has lost not a little of its importance.
It is still, however, a city of considerable influence and its people
are looked upon with more or less suspicion by the Turkish Government.
Its proximity to Russia brought it within reach of the Russian Armenian
agitators, and although the general tone of the Armenian community was
thoroughly conservative there was sufficient noise made to create an
impression of disturbance. The events in Constantinople narrated in the
previous chapter created excitement all over the empire, and it was
natural that in Trebizond the feeling should be quite intense.
About October 2d, two days after the disturbance in Constantinople,
an Armenian, supposed to be a revolutionist, made a personal attack
upon Bahri Pasha, the former governor of Van, who had been dismissed in
consequence of the pressure brought to bear by the English Government
after the disturbances at Sassun. It was said that the attack was
purely a personal matter, the man seeking vengeance for injustice done
to himself and his family in the city of Van. The Turks, however,
took for granted that it was another move in the same line as that at
Constantinople and the disturbances early in the year at Marsovan.
Coincident with this was the arrival of the news from Constantinople
and the excitement on every hand was greatly increased. The Turks
seemed to believe that all the Armenians were banded together and in
armed rebellion against the government, represented that they were
afraid of an attack from the Armenians, and even in some cases took
measures to put their families in places of safety.
On Friday night, October 4th, there were extensive movements of armed
men on the streets. At about 11 o’clock they seemed to disperse and
nothing specially worthy of mention occurred through the night. On
Saturday night, Oct. 5th, the excitement in town was very intense.
The European Consuls had a consultation and going in a body to the
governor, earnestly pressed him to arrest those who were exciting the
people to acts of outrage. This he declined to do, but promised in his
own way to do the right thing. Until Monday, Oct. 7th, matters seemed
to be quieting down when an incident stirred up the excitement anew. On
the previous Friday night, the son of a leading Turk of the town was
wounded on the street, some say by one of his companions, others that
he was shot by an Armenian whom he was trying to arrest. On Monday he
died and the funeral revived the excitement in an intensified form, and
loud and many were the threats of massacre that night, and hundreds of
the Armenians rushed to places of safety. Nothing occurred, perhaps,
on account of rain. The next morning, October 8th, all dispersed in
the hope that the danger was past. Men went to their shops, and were
encouraged to open them as they had not done for two or three previous
days. Suddenly, like a clap of thunder in a clear sky, the blow fell
at about 11 A. M., Oct. 8th. Unsuspecting people walking along the
streets were shot ruthlessly down. Men standing or sitting quietly at
their shop doors were instantly dropped with a bullet through their
heads or hearts. Their aim was deadly and there were few, if any,
wounded men. Some were slashed with swords until life was extinct. They
passed through the quarters where only old men, women and children
remained, killing the men and large boys, generally permitting the
women and younger children to live. For five hours this horrid work
of inhuman butchery went on, the cracking of musketry, sometimes like
a volley from a platoon of soldiers, but more often single shots from
near and distant points, the crashing in of doors, and the thud, thud,
of sword blows sounded on the ear.
Then the sound of musketry died away and the work of looting began.
Every shop of an Armenian in the market was gutted, and the victors in
this cowardly and brutal war loaded themselves with the spoils. For
hours bales of broadcloth, cotton goods and every conceivable kind
of merchandise passed along without molestation to the houses of the
spoilers. The intention evidently was to impoverish, and as near as
possible to blot out the Armenians of the city. So far as appearances
went the police and soldiers distinctly aided in this savage work.
They were mingled with the armed men, and so far as could be seen,
made not the least effort to check them. Apparently they took care to
see that the right ones--that is, Armenians, were killed; also that an
offer of surrender might be made to all that were found unarmed. To any
found with arms no quarter was given, but large numbers were shot down
without any proffer of this kind. This talk of surrender would seem to
be on the supposition that all were in an attitude of resistance. One
poor fellow when called on to surrender, thought he was called on to
give up his religion, and when he refused he was hacked to pieces in
the presence of his wife and children. The next day the city was in a
great stir because news had come that the village Armenians, thoroughly
armed, were on their way to attack the town. The real fact, however,
seemed to be that the massacre was extending to the villages, though
the constant effort was to show that this affair was only the quelling
of an insurrection--like Sassun. Not one of the perpetrators of these
outrages was arrested or disarmed, but all moved about with the utmost
freedom to accomplish their nefarious purposes. On the other hand many
of the Armenians were in prison.
The following account of the experience of an agent of the American
Bible Society, who had been in the service for many years, and was a
most valued man, will give an idea of the situation.
Krikor was at the government building, getting his passport to
return, when the massacre began. He was with three others, and when
the soldiers endeavored to put them out into the street, he refused
to go, showing his special passport from Constantinople as a reason
why he should not go. Two of his companions were instantly killed;
the third was saved by Greeks who hid him two days in a trough of
bread. But Krikor was able to delay a little by showing his passport.
He then remonstrated with the guard, giving him at the same time a
lira ($4.40). This did not conquer the guard, who still continued
to threaten him. But a second lira was more effective, and Krikor
remained. He demanded to see the Pasha, but was told he was busy at the
telegraph office, where, in fact, he remained in constant communication
with Constantinople during the entire massacre.
Another guard ordered him off, and was bought off like the first, but
he took Krikor into the court near the prison. Here were soldiers
who were threatening him when a Turk appeared who, though he did not
know him, was influenced by mercy and immediately took charge of him.
This Turk, an official in the prison, went with him to the “Bekje,” a
doorkeeper, saying to him, “This man is a friend of mine, a Turk, but
he resembles an Armenian so much that he is afraid to go on the street
lest he may be killed; you look after him.” This the “Bekje” did, and
although through the afternoon many Turks came and glared at him, he
was unmolested. Finally a clerk who knew him came by and said, “This is
an infidel; why do you allow him to remain here?” Krikor had presence
of mind to say, “No, it is you who are an infidel; get out of here,”
and the man slunk away. After dusk the friendly Turk came again to
him, and took him into the prison, where he found a number of other
Armenians, most of them officials in the Government House. Here he
guarded them for two days--false alarms of death coming often, keeping
them in constant fear.
Finally, at night, the friendly Turk came in and took him out with
him, going by a roundabout way to Mr. Parmelee’s house, where he was
safe under the American flag. Here he remained with some 150 others,
for 10 days. At last his Turkish friend succeeded in getting him a
passport to return to Constantinople, and when he first reached home
he could not speak a word for joy. Some of the richest Armenians in
Trebizond reached Constantinople in rags and poverty--so wretched that
even their own friends did not recognize them at first.
From Trebizond the wave of excitement spread southward, following the
line of the road to Erzrum. The first place reached was the city of
Gumushkhané, famous for the silver mines from which it received its
name, and which furnished the ore for the silversmiths of Trebizond
and Constantinople. As in most mining districts the population was
turbulent, and easily aroused. Details of the strife are wanting, at
least such as furnish the basis of a reliable statement, but in general
it is known that the Christian quarter of the city was practically
destroyed.
From Gumushkhané the tide swept on to Baiburt, a thriving city of
perhaps 15,000 inhabitants, Turks and Armenians. At Baiburt the road
to Erzingan, the military headquarters for the whole region, branches
off from that to Erzrum, and another gathers the trade of the Valley
of Chorok. The Baiburt Armenians were noted for their intense national
feeling and a vigor of character that frequently held the Turks
in check. They were also regarded as among the shrewdest and most
unscrupulous of their race. It was therefore to be expected that the
Turks should take advantage of the general excitement to put down
the men whom they hated and feared. The outbreak at Gumushkhané had
occurred three days after the massacre at Trebizond, and two days later
still the blow fell upon Baiburt. Here again there are few details
available, but the Constantinople correspondent of the London _Times_,
who had the best sources of information, estimated the number of killed
at 1,000.
After the disturbances at Trebizond and these two places, all eyes
turned to Erzrum, about eighty miles southeast of Baiburt. The city of
Erzrum has been throughout the rule of the Turks the most important and
influential city of Eastern Turkey. It has been a trade center, being
the meeting-place of the various routes from the eastern end of the
Black Sea to Persia, Bagdad and Central Asia Minor. It has also been
the seat of the Governor-General of the Province, though the largest
military force is at Erzingan, about ninety miles west, largely on
account of the necessity of keeping the mountainous section occupied
by the Dersim Kurds in order. It was thus the seat of consulates of
the different European Powers interested in Eastern Turkey, chiefly
England, Russia and France. Situated on a high plateau about 6,000
feet above the sea and surrounded by high mountains, the climate is
very severe and the winters’ cold and summers’ heat are intense. Its
proximity to the Russian border has made it the object of attack in
the different Russo-Turkish wars and twice, in 1829 and 1878, it fell
into Russian hands, being released only by special treaty stipulations.
In the Crimean war it was saved by General Williams’s heroic defense
of Kars. Of its population, estimated at 40,000, the Turks formed the
great majority, though the Armenian community was strong, both in
numbers, wealth and character.
Next to Van, Erzrum has been looked upon by the Armenians as belonging
peculiarly to them, and as was natural the revolutionary party sought
to exert their influence in it. That they so signally failed is but
another proof of the inherent weakness of the movement and the general
conservatism of the nation in regard to aggressive action against the
Turkish Government. There was, however, much anxiety, and the tension
of feeling between the two races had increased greatly. Only a spark
was needed to start the Turks, while some Armenians were doubtless
ready to begin, though in a city where they number 10,000 and the
Mussulmans 30,000, including a large number of soldiers, it was sure
to turn against the 10,000, who were, besides, almost all unarmed.
For some days the Turks had been threatening to kill the Christians.
Heroes from the Trebizond massacre, from the pillaging at Baiburt, from
Erzingan and Kemakh, and from other places had come to Erzrum as the
most likely place for another similar game. These men had boasted how
much they had got, and all had the gold fever.
The time had been set several times, but nothing had been done and the
Armenians had been induced to think that much of the threatening was
mere words. The police patrol was very strong and apparently every
means was used to preserve peace. Consequently the Armenians were all
in their places when suddenly, shortly after noon on Wednesday, October
30th, the cry was raised, “They have commenced firing in the market.”
A mob of Turks including many soldiers was seen running towards the
market, firing right and left into the houses, from a few of which the
fire was returned. The resident American missionary, Mr. Chambers, had
been to the post-office to send a telegram to Bitlis to the Americans
to say that all was right in Erzrum, and to inquire how they were. On
his way back through the long, straggling market he noticed a general
uneasiness. Then he passed an Armenian who was running from one shop to
the other telling his brethren to close their shops and run, for the
firing would soon commence. But he had heard such words as these so
many times that he paid no particular attention to them. Farther down
in the markets he saw some shops already closed and some being locked
up as he passed. But this had been done before, and several merchants
had moved a large part of their best goods up to the mission building
to be stored, until every corner was full. He passed on, walking
rapidly, and before the Archbishop’s house he saw a certain Murad
having some trouble with a young and excited Turk. Evidently Murad had
just taken away a dagger from him and given it back after some words.
Mr. Chambers overheard an Armenian say, “He’s given it back to him.”
This Murad, it was said on very good authority, had killed a number
of Christians in the riots of 1890 in Erzrum. He was a police officer
who watched every stranger that came to Erzrum; but on this occasion
he behaved well, for in his quarter, which was thronged with Armenian
shops, the mob was unable to commit any violence.
Mr. Chambers walked on for five minutes from the spot where he had
seen Murad, when he heard shots behind him. The people began to run,
and he followed suit. Some friends told him afterward that the Turks
had fired at him, but he did not know whether it was the mob or the
soldiers. He met one of the patrols of 20 soldiers, under command of an
officer, who were supposed to keep the peace. These men had drawn their
revolvers and were shooting right and left down the street and into the
windows. The bullets whistled unpleasantly near to Mr. Chambers, who
walked on until he was safe at his home in the mission building. All
this time a perfect fusilade was going on, mostly in the direction of
the bazaar. In the extreme western part of the city a large fire had
broken out, the smoke of which drifted across the large barracks that
are situated in that part of the city. There seven Armenians resisted
the attack of the soldiers, who fired on them, riddled the house with
bullets, and then set fire to it, and it continued to burn for 20 hours.
The attack was simultaneous on different sections of the city where
Armenians resided. Whenever an Armenian appeared and the soldiers
(who did by far the most of the killing, as well as plundering) could
get a shot at him or cut him down with sword or dagger, they did so.
The doors of the houses were broken open by force and the contents
of the houses carried off. Everything that could not be carried off
was destroyed. Boxes and furniture were broken to pieces. Pepper and
pickles were mixed with flour that could not be removed, and the bread,
often the provision for a week, was thrown on the floor and stamped to
dust. As if to be sure that it would not be eaten by the hungry, a jar
of pickled cabbage, or something of that kind, would be broken over it
and trampled into it. As if the soldiers could not carry off all they
wanted, a number of women attended them and carried off the plunder.
An eye-witness reports that in one street he saw some officers lead a
detachment of soldiers to two Armenian houses; the commanding officers
themselves broke open the doors, entered and looted the whole house,
stripping it completely. All through the afternoon and evening the
suspense was intense. In the beautiful moonlight the Turks could be
seen carrying away the plunder, while occasionally a volley of shots
rang out on the night air.
All day Thursday the disturbance continued, though in somewhat less
degree. An Armenian, speaking of his experience on that day, said that
in the morning the soldiers entered his house. He and his family were
driven out. The soldiers rifled the old man’s pockets, took his watch
and chain, but did not harm him. A soldier on the roof told the son to
stand still or he would shoot him. But he dodged quickly under the lee
of the wall and ran for the British Consulate, which he succeeded in
reaching. Later he saw the same soldier, who had threatened to shoot
him if he moved, acting as a special guard at the Italian Consulate.
One of the guard before the English Consulate asked him sarcastically,
“Which Consulate is this?” “The British,” was the reply. “And this?”
“The Italian.” “Well, where’s the Armenian Consulate? You were going to
have a kingdom (beylik); you got a ‘beylik’ yesterday.” In rifling the
village of Purnagaban, a prominent Armenian, after being seized by the
soldiers, with the naked sword at his breast, was asked, “You wanted a
‘beylik;’ here’s your ‘beylik.’” Another Armenian told how the soldiers
on Thursday morning had taken his watch and rifled his pockets. The
“dragoman” of the British Consulate, who had gone up to the Government
House just before the massacre began, told his experience. He was with
one of the “cavasses.” On their way he heard an officer speak roughly
to an unruly Turk as follows:--“Can’t you keep quiet now; wait until it
begins and then you can do what you like.” In many places on the long
way up he saw the soldiers all drawn up ready for the massacre. At the
Serai he found not an official, which was very remarkable as this was
a very busy time. All the lower officials were away. Both he and the
“cavass” saw the storm brewing and hastened to return. They were about
half-way, near an open market where fruit and grain and wood are sold,
when the soldiers began to fire on the defenseless people. He relates
that he saw one Armenian run up to a Turkish officer, throw his arms
round him and beseech him to save him, but the officer pushed him away
from him with both hands, drew his revolver, and shot him. Another, a
blacksmith, they beat over the head with clubs as he ran until he fell,
and then three soldiers standing within a few feet of him fired three
bullets into him. One of them who looked at the body a moment saw the
convulsive movements, and said to his companions, “Look, the dog isn’t
dead yet; look, look.” For two hours the dragoman saw this from a safe
place. The soldiers did the work, shooting every Christian they could
see.
In the afternoon Mr. Chambers, with the English and Italian Consuls,
and Tewfik Bey, of Shakir Pasha’s suite, made a tour of the Armenian
quarter between Gümrük street and the limits of the city on the east.
What they saw there beggars description. A long large barracks with a
parade ground in front is situated on the eastern side of the street.
When the massacre began these soldiers fired volley after volley into
the houses, and then looted them. Those who had not escaped were
murdered in their houses by the soldiers. In one house they saw two
young brides brutally murdered lying on carpets bespattered with blood,
disfigured, and almost naked. In another house were two men butchered
in a barbarous way, splinters of broken boxes and doors, windows
shattered to pieces, the plastering torn and broken, everything in ruin.
In very many cases Armenians came to the guard-houses for protection,
and almost invariably they were first examined, and then shot down in
cold blood. Sometimes this was done to single individuals, sometimes
they were shot down in groups. During that awful four hours, the
military gave no quarter to men found in the shops and streets, and in
very many cases not even to men found in the houses. The wounds of the
dead bodies were awful beyond description. Even the wounded had awful
wounds. Mr. Chambers helped to dress the wounds, which included the
amputation of the right hand and left thumb, of a man who had sixteen.
Ten of them were on his head, all of them horrible gashes. Another he
helped to dress, had three horrible gashes on his head, two dagger
wounds in his back, and a bullet through his left hand. Coal oil had
been poured on him preparatory to burning. A little nine-year old
boy had his arm amputated. But this is enough to give an idea of the
determined onslaught. One soldier declared that he used ten packages of
ammunition, each package containing twelve rounds, making in all 120
rounds of ammunition shot away by one man in four hours.
There was one redeeming feature. Many Turks (civilians) rescued
Armenians who appealed to them. They kept them in their houses or in
their shops, till it was safe to send them home. In one instance a Turk
hid an Armenian under a pile of wool in the Armenian’s own shop. When
the shop was attacked, the Turk went in and helped to distribute the
goods, trying in the meantime to turn the attention of the soldiers
from the wool. However, they demanded the wool, which he was forced to
give. Soon the Armenian began to appear. The soldiers were for shooting
him at once. The Turk protested and prevented that. Then they insisted
on searching his person and taking his purse and watch. Then the Turk
said, “I am a Moslem. I have had no share in this plunder; the purse
and watch must fall to me.” The soldiers again demanded to kill him.
The Turk whispered something to the officer in command, and they said
that as the man was such a bad Armenian, he should be kept for hanging.
After much persuasion the soldiers consented to this, so the Turk
marched off the Armenian as if to the Government House, to be kept for
hanging. However he got him to a place of safety, and later, restoring
his purse and watch, sent him home. A large number of Armenians were
saved by the good will of Turkish friends. This is all the more
remarkable as the threats of slaughter against the Armenians seemed to
be quite universal on the part of the Turks, and generally Turks joined
with the soldiers in plundering the shops of their Christian neighbors.
By noon on Thursday, all was quiet again. The soldiers were bringing
Armenians, who had managed to escape the slaughter by hiding in all
sorts of places, to their homes. Many were brought to the Mission House
first, where they again saw their kinsfolk. One was a sick and poor
woman whose house had been entered by the soldiers. She fell at their
feet and besought them to leave the few things she had in her home.
One of the soldiers seized a “kalian” and struck her on the forehead,
knocking her senseless. Quiet continued all day long, but the people
could not be induced to return to their homes. Some went there to find
everything cleaned out.
Thursday night passed much as the previous night had, and Friday
morning came. This was the Moslem Sunday, and the terror of the
Armenians was renewed. They had no confidence in the soldiers at
all, and the Turks, as well as the soldiers, told them that the
killing would begin again. Especially were the Bishop’s house and the
Sanassarian school threatened. The women with babies, girls, and more
men flocked to the mission building until the building and enclosed
garden held little short of 500 frightened people, who could not be
induced to return to their homes. But gradually they ventured to go to
their homes, and night found the crowd reduced to 200. The Turks made
preposterous statements about the number of revolutionists, and arms
and ammunition hidden in the Armenian church and Sanassarian school.
Apparently they had been too cowardly to attack the place with their
rifles, and now they threatened to bombard it from the forts. The
English Consul here lent his good services as mediator. The places
were searched quietly by the Turkish officials, and, of course, not a
weapon or a revolutionist was found, for there are no more law-abiding
citizens in the Ottoman Empire than the gentlemen in charge of the
Sanassarian school. They are fine, cultured men, who desire nothing
more than peace to conduct their educational enterprise. In 1890, at
the time of the riot, this same charge, equally unfounded, was made
against them. But the affair in that year was really a riot, for a mob
and not soldiers paraded the streets, looting and spoiling. In that
year the English Consul lived in the mission building, where every
glass was smashed in with stones.
It was natural that there should be the wildest statements as to the
number of killed. Some put it at 2,000. The best estimate available
makes it 800 to 1,000. Nearly all were men. Not a single dead Turk
was reported or seen. A dragoman of one of the Consulates, who saw
the firing for two hours in the bazaars, said that all the soldiers
were out, fully armed, to the number of 3,000. They were not content
with shooting a man once, but they fired at each one three and four
times. He boldly declared that the government officials had ordered
the soldiers to begin to kill. The patrol who held the foot of the
street occupied by the American Mission House and several Consulates,
deliberately squatted behind a pile of newly-chopped wood in front of
the French Consulate and put the entrance to the Health Office under
fire to prevent the Armenians from seeking refuge there. The English
Consul stopped this, threatening to fire on them if they continued.
Both the English and French Consuls, whose houses adjoin each other,
were on their housetops when the attack began, and found the bullets
whistling so unpleasantly near that they deemed it advisable to go
below.
An eye-witness describes the scene on Friday afternoon as most
horrible. He went with one of the cavasses of the English Legation, a
soldier, his interpreter, and a photographer (Armenian) to the Armenian
Gregorian Cemetery. The municipality had sent down a number of bodies,
friends had brought more, and a horrible sight met his eyes. Along the
wall on the north, in a row 20 feet wide and 150 feet long, lay 321
dead bodies of the massacred Armenians. Many were fearfully mangled and
mutilated. He saw one with his face completely smashed in with a blow
of some heavy weapon after he was killed: some with their necks almost
severed by a sword cut; one whose whole chest had been skinned and his
forearms cut off, while the upper arm was skinned of flesh. He asked
if the dogs had done this. “No, the Turks did it with their knives.”
A dozen bodies were half burned. All the corpses had been rifled of
all their clothes except a cotton under-garment or two. These white
under-clothes were stained with the blood of the dead, presenting a
fearful sight. The faces of many were disfigured beyond recognition,
and all had been thrown down, face foremost, in the dust of the streets
and mud of the gutters, so that all were black with clotted blood and
dust. Some were stark naked, and every body seemed to have at least two
wounds, and some a dozen. In this list of dead there were only three
women, two babies, a number of young children, and about thirty young
men of 15 to 20.
A crowd of a thousand people, mostly Armenians, watched him taking
photographs of their dead. Many were weeping beside their dead fathers
or husbands. The Armenian photographer saw two children, relatives of
his, among the dead. Some Armenian workmen were engaged excavating a
deep trench twenty feet square, close by, to bury the corpses. Here,
too, was a peculiar scene. The space of this trench contained many
graves, and on one side were a number of skulls, perhaps twenty in all,
and a pile of bones found in the excavating. He left the sad sight sick
at heart. Apart from the rest was the horribly mutilated corpse of an
Armenian priest, with whom a story is connected. He came from a village
in the plain, Tevnik, where he had been attacked a few days before and
his house looted. At the same time, to save his life, he signed a paper
promising to pay the robbers 100 liras. As soon as he was free, he made
for Erzrum to make complaint. This man, it was said, was the first
Armenian killed. He was in the Serai, on his business, when he was shot
dead in the premises with several other defenseless Armenians. This is
the way it began at the deserted Serai, and is the other side of the
story.
The news of the massacre at Erzrum created a great shock everywhere.
That in such a city, in the very presence of English, French and
Russian Consuls, with high dignitaries of the Turkish Government
in command, such scenes should occur was in itself a matter of
great moment. That the killing and pillaging should be carried on
by the soldiers under the direct command of their officers, showed
conclusively that it was no mere mob outbreak. Of course, there were
various stories told. Among them was one to the effect that seven
Armenians had run into the Government House and made directly for the
audience rooms of Raouf Pasha. These had fired their revolvers right
in the faces of those they met, but two of them were killed and five
taken prisoners before they had done any harm. This was pretty hard to
believe, for at the outside entrance of the Serai were always stationed
at least two soldiers, and generally a dozen or more were strolling
about fully armed.
More than that, assurance upon assurance had been given that if the
Armenians would be quiet there would be no trouble. The commanding
officers claimed to be very indignant that the soldiers had been guilty
of looting and it was said that they had done their best to stem the
torrent. To those, however, who know Turkish officers and soldiers,
this statement will carry little weight. Nine days after the massacre
there was still great anxiety. Then commenced an outbreak of sickness,
the result of the terrible nervous strain, of insufficient food and
the general privation. Then, too, stragglers came in from the villages
on the Passen, Khanus and Alashgerd plains, with their own stories of
horrors, until it seemed as if the cup of suffering was more than full.
[Illustration:
Lord Ashbourne. Marquis of Lansdowne.
Lord James. Sir M. W. Ridley. Mr. Chaplin. Lord Balfour. C. T. Ritchie.
A. J. Balfour. Lord Halsbury. M. H. Beach. Mr. Goschen.
Joseph Chamberlain. Lord Hamilton. Duke of Devonshire. Lord Cross. Earl Cadogan.
Lord Salisbury.
COUNCIL OF THE GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN REGARDING THE ARMENIAN
QUESTION.]
[Illustration:
SQUARE OF THE ATMEIDAN AND MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA, IN CONSTANTINOPLE.
On the left is an obelisk from Luxor, Egypt, and on the right is the
column of serpents whose three heads formed the tripod in which the
priestess sat who uttered the famous oracles in Delphi, Greece. The
mosque is the most interesting building in Constantinople, famous for
its mosaics and pillars, many of which came from the temple of Diana
at Ephesus.]
CHAPTER XXIII.
MASSACRES IN HARPUT DISTRICT.
American Residences--First Indications--Specious Promises--Riot,
Murder and Pillage--A Dangerous Journey--Attempts at Defense--List
of Villages and Details of Massacres--Statement of a Turkish
Official--Armenians not Responsible--Turkish Dread of Reform--Tabular
Statement.
The city of Harput stands on a hill in a plain to the east of the
Euphrates. It is a city of 30,000 inhabitants, of whom less than
one-half are Armenians, the others being Turks. The plain stretches
out in rolling country, except to the north, where lies a hilly and
even mountainous region. The Harput plain has long been noted as one of
the most fertile in Asia Minor or Eastern Turkey. The inhabitants are
quiet, peaceful folk, both Armenians and Turks. The different villages
are prosperous, and there has been a good degree of intelligence and
of self-restraint among this people. The wave of revolutionary feeling
that extended over the region of Marsovan and Yuzgat scarcely seemed
to touch Harput, and up to the close of 1895 there were no indications
of any trouble. The city is the centre of a large mission work and the
seat of the Euphrates College, together with a theological seminary and
a flourishing girls’ school. The students are gathered from the whole
of Eastern Turkey, and represent the better element of the Armenian
nation throughout that section of the empire. From the very beginning
of the Armenian question, strong influence was exerted in favor of
entirely peaceful action in the effort to secure reform, and all overt
opposition to the government was strongly discountenanced. Turkish
officials were always welcomed at the exercises in the college and
repeatedly expressed their pleasure at its conduct. The missionaries
had always been on excellent terms with the officials, especially with
the governors of the province, who were located at the town of Mezereh,
about four miles below the city on the plains. So far as was apparent,
not a sign of revolutionary influence was manifest anywhere in the
region, and friends of the missionaries located there felt that they
at least were in no danger from the disturbances. The first indication
of danger was the appearance on the plain of bands of Kurds from the
regions north and east. Villages were attacked, looted and burned,
while the villagers were killed or scattered. For a time the marauders
seemed to hold aloof from the city itself, but as they kept on their
course of pillage their appetite for plunder was whetted, and they
looked with avaricious eyes at the city on the hill. They were joined,
too, by the Turkish rabble, both in the city and villages, and it
became evident that there was danger, even for the Americans. Dr. H. N.
Barnum went to the city officials and was assured that nothing should
happen to them; that no Kurds would be allowed to enter the city. What
followed is best told in the words of an eye-witness.
“We were surrounded for a week or ten days by a cordon of burning
villages on the plain. Gradually the cordon of fire and fiendish
savages drew nearer the city. The attack in the city was planned for
Sunday, November 10th, and some of the city rabble began to make
demonstrations; but the soldiers drove them back. The invading Kurds,
Redifs (Turkish soldiers in disguise as Kurds), were not ready for
the onset. On Monday, November 11th, the attack began on Husenik (a
village of the plains only a short distance from the city), where 200
were killed and as many more wounded, then up the gorge to Sinamood (a
rocky hill on which stands the ruins of an old fortress) and the east
part of the city. Then a body of men appeared in the Turkish cemetery
below the city. They came near a body of soldiers posted on the hill
with a cannon. Big Turks came down to them from the city; a conference
seemed to be held. Apparently the invaders were forbidden to touch
the markets (from which, of course, they knew that both Christians
and Turks had removed their goods to their houses). Then the soldiers
withdrew and were posted on the road higher up, apparently to better
defend the empty markets. Then the invaders, with a great cry of
‘_Ash! ash!_’ began to fire their guns. The soldiers also began to
fire. It was soon apparent that this was only a little sham fight; but
it was too thin to cover the nefarious design of the men who planned
this thing. Then began the attack on the houses in this quarter. (The
American houses are in the western part of the city, quite a distance
from the markets.) The soldiers protected the raiders, and not a finger
was lifted by the military officers on the ground to protect the
people or us from the plundering, murderous mob. There were hundreds
of plunderers. Scarcely a house in this quarter escaped, and a large
number were set on fire. A crowd of refugees were in our court and
house and girls’ school.
“Soon our outside gate was attacked, and the crowd of fugitives
fled for their lives. One company pressing through a narrow passage
were fired upon; the bullets fell like hail around them; four were
wounded. A cannon-ball went through the same passage-way. This
company fled to the hill and were taken into the city (twenty-seven
school-girls in the crowd; they suffered untold misery in a khan
that night; delivered next day, and brought away under an escort of
soldiers). The rest of the refugees took refuge in the yard of the
girls’ school, surrounded by a high wall. At the last moment I ran out
to see if our heavy front gate was standing. I saw a hole a foot wide
made, and instantly the loud report of a rifle warned me to retreat.
We had been in the yard but a few moments when the marauders were at
the door of the yard inside the school buildings. We made another start
and hurried out from the gate, and this time for the College (boys’)
building as our last refuge. I was on the outside of the fleeing crowd,
our invalids, Mr. W. and Mrs. A., borne in strong arms. Suddenly a
savage-looking Turk appeared at the corner of the building outside. I
instinctively raised my hand to prevent his coming toward the fleeing
crowd. Instantly he drew and flourished a revolver and deliberately
pointed at me. I thought for an instant it was only to frighten us and
make us hasten our flight, but two shots from his pistol convinced me
that his purpose was to murder. Some thirty or more had been shot down
in the houses just below us. Again, before we were all through the
gate, he aimed at Mr. Gates and Miss Wheeler and fired a third time;
but no one was hit. We breathed more freely as we pressed into the
three-story stone building with the more than four hundred fugitives.
Soon the smoke began to rise from the front of my house and Mr.
Brown’s; some say the house was set on fire by bombshells. Soon the
whole of the houses connected with the Girls’ College were on fire,
and the large college building was no doubt set on fire; also fifty to
seventy houses were burning below ours. Then the chapel close to us
was set on fire, and the intense heat would have set fire to the large
high-school building between the college and chapel; but with our new
fire engine and a plentiful supply of water, Mr. Gates was able to save
it from taking fire. Here in the college building, with 450 persons, we
spent the night, with little bedding and only dry crusts of bread to
eat.
“The plan was evidently to destroy all the buildings, and thus render
our stay here impossible. One of the houses was fired in three places,
but the fire went out. A bombshell was fired into Mr. Barnum’s study,
and burst in the room from which they had fled only a little before.
Mr. Gates’ house would have been burned--oil was poured in two
places--but happily was left unburned. Three nights we remained in
the college building, then went into a room in the Gates’ house; the
Barnums also went to theirs.
“The next morning after the attack, the Turkish military commander
advised and urged leaving the college building, saying: ‘I can’t
protect you here.’ Mr. Barnum replied: ‘The time has come for plain
talk. I saw you standing on the hill there yesterday when our houses
were plundered and burned, and you did nothing to prevent it. If you
wish to protect us, you can do it better here than anywhere else.’
The same officer had said two days before that he would be cut in
pieces before he would allow a Kurd to enter the city. He now brazenly
replied: ‘What could I do against 15,000 Kurds?’ They wanted to get the
people scattered in the city, and us out of the buildings, and then
they would have been burned. But I must not write more, although there
is much to tell. We write to Constantinople, but can’t be sure of our
letters getting through. We have telegraphed a good many times, but
telegrams can’t tell all. The pressure on the villages to become Moslem
is terrible; large numbers have been instantly shot down or butchered
who would not instantly abjure their Christian faith. We have already
heard of the murder of seven of our pastors and six preachers. But I
have not time to enter on these horrible details. If I can get letters
sent on, perhaps I will send again; 45 killed in the west quarter, 100
in the whole city. Husenik, 200 killed, 200 wounded. Official reports
will represent Turks killed. There has not been a single one killed or
wounded.”
Northwest of Harput is the city of Arabkir, one of the most prosperous
in the whole region. The Armenians are enterprising and thrifty, and
for the most part have been on good terms with the Mohammedans. The
American Missionaries have had considerable influence there and at the
time of the massacres two of the ladies were in the city. The time had
come for them to return to Harput, but every possible difficulty was
put in their way. There was intense excitement on every side and the
Armenians were in terror. At last, by giving a heavy present the ladies
secured a muleteer and a guard and started on their journey home. One
of them has written of the journey as follows:
“Our journey was through a country infested with robber bands. Twice
they stopped our zaptieh and demanded permission to rob us. We had the
hardest time to get away from Arabkir, for the governor declared that
he had no zaptieh, and we finally had to go to him in person to insist
upon his furnishing one. Then we did not find a muleteer for nearly a
week; he was a Kurd, and his animals were so lazy and slow! We traveled
as if all was as safe and pleasant as possible. The first band of
robbers who insisted upon the satisfaction of ‘cutting us to pieces’
numbered seven fierce Kurds. I sat up straight on my horse and passed
them quickly without looking, as if nothing was going on at all, and
after me came the rest of our caravan, in the same spirit. The second
band numbered 20, all fully armed. Again we pushed past and left our
zaptieh to parley. The latter band had one man who took a fancy to my
horse, and he proposed to shoot me and take Nejib for himself! There
were many other robbers to be seen. We stayed the following night in a
lonely khan, where we were in great danger.
“This khan was on the other bank of the Euphrates, which was crossed
early the next morning. Our zaptieh was to be changed at the town of
Maden, just there. Again the governor would give us none. I was obliged
to go to him myself, whereupon he gave orders that the one who brought
us to Maden should take us on. What a fierce and cruel-looking man that
governor was! But he had a little pity in his heart, for, when he saw
our servant loading up in the market, he said: ‘Make haste, Yavroom (a
term of endearment used for animals), go quickly.’ He must have known
what was coming. Our zaptieh took us on for a big price. I would have
given him anything that he had asked. He was, to us, kind and good. How
more than glad we were to get out of Maden. All were in fear, and the
very next day the blow fell. It was a very worldly place, and all were
busy, trying alone to hide their worldly goods. Oh, the pale faces and
long-drawn sighs!”
At Arabkir and at Malatia, another large and prosperous city farther
south, the Armenians undertook to defend themselves. They, however,
succeeded merely in stirring the greater anger of the Turks, with the
result that they suffered terribly, while comparatively few Turks
were killed. Estimates made soon after the massacre put the number of
Armenians killed in Malatia at 5,000 and at Arabkir at 2,000, while
in all probably not over 500 Turks suffered. In Malatia, all the
Armenians, Gregorians, Roman Catholics and Protestants gathered in two
churches and fought for their lives until compelled to surrender. One
churchful first gave up their arms on condition of being protected, but
after that they were surrounded and many of them were killed. Space
does not permit complete statements, but the following table and notes,
prepared in regard to the Harput region, will give an idea of the
terrible work. The list embraces only a single month, commencing with
the latter part of October, 1895. The items have been gathered with
great care, and may be relied upon as within the truth rather than as
exaggerated. The number of houses is given rather than the population,
because that method is far more reliable. The number of people to a
house varies from 5 to 30. Probably 8 to 10 would be a reasonably fair
average.
_Names._ _Houses._ _Burned._ _Killed._ _Wounded._
1. Adish 310 310 244 men ..
13 women
2. Aivose .. .. 70 ..
3. Aghansi 47 1 12 10
4. Arabkir 3,000 Armenians. 2,750 2,000 ..
5,000 Turks.
350 shops. 325
5. Bizmishen 270 190 23 5
Partly 40
6. Chemishgesek .. .. .. ..
7. Momsa .. .. 10 ..
8. Kutturbul 100 100 .. ..
9. Chunkush 1,000 Ar. 103 680 ..
480 T.
10. Chermuk 400 Ar. most. .. ..
700 T.
11. Diarbekir .. .. 2,000 ..
12. Egin 1,000 Ar. .. .. ..
1,000 T.
13. Gamirgab 90 32 7 ..
14. Garmuri .. .. .. ..
15. Hokh 125 Ar. 30 62 10
150 T.
16. Huelu 300 Ar. 263 30 ..
15 T.
17. Habusi 180 90 75 50
18. Hulakegh 150 11 16 ..
19. Havah 280 260 110 ..
20. Husenik 650 Ar. 9 260 200
120 T.
21. Ichmeh 200 Ar. .. 60 ..
60 T.
22. Konk 300 .. .. ..
23. Malatia 1,500 Ar. .. 5,000 ..
24. Ozunonah 100 Ar. .. 65 ..
25. Peri 400 Ar. .. 8 12
and 63 villages. 90 T.
89. Palu 400 Ar. .. 1,580 ..
90. Kapu Achmaz 90 Ar. 75 .. ..
91. Khoshmat 160 Ar. 80 .. ..
92. Nurkhi 100 Ar. 90 .. ..
93. Shenaz 80 Ar. 45 .. ..
and 40 villages.
134. Severek 350 Ar. .. 750 ..
135. Saru Kamish 80 Ar. .. 6 ..
136. Sheikhaji .. .. .. ..
137. Tadem 300 Ar. 250 270 100
4 T.
138. Upper Mezreh 20 11 .. ..
------ ----- ------ ---
Total 19,851 5,064 12,708 387
REMARKS.
1. _Adish_ is a mountain village, and many had gone away to earn a
living. Many females carried off by Turks and Kurds.
2. _Aivose._--This place “wiped out.” Women and girls carried off.
Priest was forced to sound the “call to prayer,” then shot. He blessed
the man who shot him and said, “Shoot me again.”
4. _Arabkir._--Began Tuesday, November 6th, continued till Saturday.
After that the Protestant pastor and many leading men were imprisoned.
Pastor and others killed in prison. Plunder complete. Even the richest
are destitute.
5. _Bizmishen._--Eight miles from Harput. All who remained in the
village were killed by Kurds. Most of them were old or sick and could
not flee. The rest fled to Mezreh (the seat of the governor of the
province) where they were robbed by soldiers under pretense of search
for arms.
6. _Chemishgesek._--Up to within a few days the city had escaped, but
the villages being near the region occupied by the Dersim Kurds had
been ravaged and in part burned.
8. _Kutturbul._--Karabash, Kahe, Cherokeeya were burned with much loss
of life. Only four men escaped from Kutturbul. Two Protestants pastors,
men, women and children killed.
9. _Chunkush._--November 4th, Kurds plundered the market and withdrew,
but returned at night and burned 83 houses. Christians taken to mosque
and forced to accept Islam. Gave up weapons. November 8th, Kaimakam
(local governor) came. November 11th, soldiers. November 14th, Kurds
returned; soldiers fired on Christians, and Kurds then raided the town,
all armed with Martini rifles. Protestant church, school and parsonage
burned.
10. _Chermuk._--Few males escaped.
11. _Diarbekir._--November 1st-3d. Began by Moslems issuing from mosque
and burning the market. Christians defended themselves. Do not know how
many Turks were slain.
12. _Egin._--Paid £. T. 1,500 ($6,600) to Mahmud Agha, a Kurdish chief,
to secure immunity.
13. _Gamirgab._--A suburb of Egin.
14. _Garmuri._--Chiefs took Christians to their houses while Kurds
plundered. Then they told them, “Unless you accept Islam we cannot
protect you.” At the edge of the sword they accepted Islam and were
circumcised. Protestant chapel and parsonage burned. Armenian church
now a mosque.
15. _Hokh._--Armenian church, Protestant chapel and parsonage burned.
Those killed had kneeled to receive circumcision. Fifty-five women and
children taken to harems and Turkish villages. Women and girls outraged.
16. _Huelu._--All but thirty-seven poor houses burned. Seventy-five
Protestant houses and their fine new church burned. Two priests
killed. The last houses burned were kindled with kerosene sent by the
government. Survivors accepted Islam or are fugitives.
17. _Habusi._--Dead unburied. Church, chapel and parsonage burned.
18. _Hulakegh._--Plundered by Turks. Preacher tortured and killed in
city. His wife killed.
19. _Havah._--Being considered a centre of nationalism, Turks said
they would make this village “a field.” Attacked by Kurds October 29th.
Villagers held them off for two days and sent to government for help,
which was refused. Then villagers fled, Kurds plundered the village.
Killed 10 or 15. Thursday, October 31st, soldiers came. Fugitives
heard the bugle and returned, expecting protection. Soldiers killed 50
of them; the rest fled to Ibraham Bey, at Socrat. After two or three
days he sent them to barracks at Palu. There the women were separated,
and sent to city; men sent back to Socrat. Ibraham Bey sent Kurds to
meet them, who fired, killing 50 more. Survivors returned to barracks.
Since then they have lived here and there as they could, pulling up the
sprouting grain to get the seed, eating grass, etc. Government gave a
little grain, Kurds took it.
20. _Husenik._--Many of the dead were shot by soldiers. List of killed
still increasing. Priests killed with great indignity.
21. _Ichmeh._--Survivors are considered Moslems. Males are assembled in
church, led out, and made to choose Islam or death. Protestant pastor
killed. Church a mosque, chapel a sheepfold.
22. _Konk._--“Worse than Habusi.” No details.
23. _Malatia._--November 4th-7th. Began by sudden raid of Turks and
Kurds upon the market. Kurds armed with Martini rifles. Four hundred
killed in the market, 30 or 40 at government headquarters. Armenians
defended themselves. Five thousand Armenians, 500 Turks and Kurds
killed. Small rations given for a few days and then ceased.
24. _Ozunonah._--Agha took people to his house for “protection,” while
Kurds plundered the village; then he sent them back, gathered leading
men to take them to Palu for circumcision. Outside the village 10 were
shot. Under the lead of a Christian woman, 55 men, women and children
threw themselves into the river.
25. _Peri._--Seventy villages--20,000 souls in that region
(Christians). Seven villages spared, rest plundered. In Peri Kurds
attacked November 6th. Soldiers guided them to Christian houses.
Plunder largely by Turks of the town. Kurds, dissatisfied with their
share of the plunder, returned November 9th to plunder Turks, but two
Kurds were shot and they withdrew. Agha had 20 to 30 Kurds in his house
and secured much plunder. Four hundred and fifty Christians were made
Moslems. A colonel came a few days later with soldiers. He reproached
the Turks for the small number slain, and said: “You should have killed
at least 100.”
89. _Palu._--November 5th. The market and 50 or 60 houses were
plundered by soldiers and Kurds. Afterward a government _telal_
(broker) ordered people to open shops on penalty of three _medjidies_
(silver dollars) fine. Said everything had passed and no more danger.
Kurds came again, but were driven off to the villages, which they
plundered. A sheik and his son preached a crusade against Christians.
An attempt was made to involve Armenians, but failed. Sheik’s son
said he thirsted for the blood of Armenians, and they were foolish to
wait for them to start a disturbance. He is said to have killed 43
himself. November 11th Kurds suddenly appeared and began to kill. Only
two Armenians resisted. The dead are estimated from 1,200 to 2,000.
Chapel ruined, parsonage and school turned into barracks. Survivors
dying of hunger. No relief allowed. Forty-four villages around Palu
all plundered badly; seven more or less burned. From Khoshmat 20 or 30
women came to the barracks stark naked. Many outraged.
134. _Severek._--Attack began by rush of Turks and Kurds upon the
market; lasted three days. Of 80 Chunkush families in city, only seven
heads of families remain.
136. _Sheikhaji._--November 5th and 6th. Saved by Agha on payment
of twenty liras. All became Moslems. Two priests killed, one with
great indignity. Hadji Beyo and his son, Mustapha, were foremost in
destroying the village. Now Agha gives a woman to each soldier and
zaptieh on guard every night. He has given two married women to his son
and two to two renegade Armenians.
138. _Upper Mezreh._--Much plunder from the city taken to Ahmed Agha’s
house. His son is a zaptieh and his stepson a collector.
These are only the places in regard to which figures were available
at the time. No one counted the wounded in most places. The number
of deaths increased daily. From the villages which have been counted
around Peri and Palu there were no particulars. The sum total must be
dreadful in the extreme. No attempt has been made to keep count of the
outrages upon women. They came from every quarter and hardly attracted
notice.
If any one is inclined to doubt the reality of these chapters of
horrors, they may be convinced by a table of statistics given below and
prepared by an intelligent Turkish official, whose heart was greatly
moved by the recent outrages in the region of Harput. He devoted
much time to it, although secretly, for obvious reasons; and as he
had had unusual facilities for securing information, this table is
the most complete that has been made. As it is impossible to secure
exact information in such cases, and as there is always a tendency to
exaggerate, some of the items are probably an overstatement. Along with
this was a document of which the following is a translation. Coming as
it does from a Mohammedan, who has a title and who is in the public
service, it is a document of no small interest and importance, for it
is a testimony independent of other testimony that has been given, but
which in every essential confirms what has been previously related.
This statement is as follows:
“A petition in behalf of the Armenians was given to the Powers in the
hope of improving their condition. An Imperial Firman was issued for
carrying out the Reforms suggested by the Powers. On this account the
Turkish population was much excited by the thought that an Armenian
Principality was to be established here; and they began to show great
hostility to the poor Armenians, who had been obedient to them and
with whom they had lived in peace for more than six hundred years.
In addition to their anger was added the permission and help of the
government, by which, before the Reforms were undertaken, the whole
Turkish population was aroused with the evil intent of obliterating the
Armenian name: and behold the Turks of the district, joining with the
neighboring Kurdish tribes, by the thousand, armed with weapons which
are allowed only to the army, and with the help and guidance of Turkish
officials, in an open manner in the daytime attacked the Armenian
shops, stores, monasteries, churches and schools, and committed the
fearful atrocities which are set forth in the accompanying table. They
killed bishops, priests, teachers and common people, with every kind of
torture; and they showed special spite toward ecclesiastics by treating
their bodies with extra indignity, and in many cases they did not allow
their bodies to be buried. Some they burned and some they gave as
food to dogs and wild beasts. They plundered churches and monasteries
and they took all the property of the common people, their flocks and
herds, their ornaments and their money, their house-furnishings, their
food, and even the clothing of the men and women in their flight.
“Then, after plundering them, they burned many houses, churches,
monasteries, schools and markets, with the petroleum they had brought
with them, and the large stone churches, which they could not burn,
they ruined in other ways. Some churches were converted into mosques
and devoted to Moslem worship; other churches suffered all sorts of
defilement; and their sacred books were torn in pieces and cast on the
dunghills, and even the priestly garments, used in the celebration of
the Mass, were put upon harlots. Besides this, priests, laymen, women
and even small children, were made Moslems by force. They put white
turbans on the men and circumcised them in a cruel manner. They cut the
hair of the women in bangs--like that of Moslem women--and made them
go through the Moslem prayers. Married women and girls were defiled
against the sacred law, and some were married by force and are still
detained in Turkish houses. Especially in Palu, Severek, Malatia,
Arabkir, and Chunkush, many women and girls were taken to the soldiers’
barracks and dishonored there. Many to escape such dishonor, threw
themselves into the Euphrates, and some committed suicide in other
ways. It is very clear that the majority of those killed in Harput,
Kesirik, Malatia and Arabkir were killed by the soldiers; and also that
the churches and schools of the missionaries and Gregorians in the
upper quarter of Harput city, together with the houses, were set on
fire by cannon-balls. Merchants, bankers and others of the principal
Armenians are obliged to beg their food. If immediate aid is not sent,
multitudes of the sufferers will perish from hunger and cold during the
severe winter.” (See the table on next page.)
STATISTICS OF THE RECENT OUTRAGES IN THE HARPUT VILAYET.
============++=======+=======+=============+======+======+=====+=======+========+=======+==========+=====+===========+========+==========
|| | | | | DIED | | | | | | | | |
|| | | | DIED | IN | | | | | | | | | NUMBER
|| | | | FROM |FIELDS| | | | | | | CHURCHES, | MARRIED| OF
|| | |ECCLESIASTICS|HUNGER|AND ON|DIED | | | | FORCIBLE | |MONASTERIES|BY FORCE|DESTITUTE
|| | | AND TEACHERS| AND | THE |FROM | TOTAL | |HOUSES |CONVERSION| |AND SCHOOLS| TO | AND
||KILLED.|BURNED.| KILLED. |COLD. |ROAD. |FEAR.|DEATHS.|WOUNDED.|BURNED.|TO ISLAM. |RAPE.|DESTROYED. |TURKS. | NEEDY.
------------++-------+-------+-------------+------+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----------+--------+----------
Harput and || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
its 59 || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Villages || 5,523 | 340 | 14 | 990| 450| 106 | 7,423 | 1,987 | 9,890| 4,643 | 973| 108 | 345 | 29,804
------------++-------+-------+-------------+------+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----------+--------+-----------
Arabkir and || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
its Village || 7,550 | 440 | 6 | 590| 960| 130 | 9,676| 1,390 | 5,960| 1,540 | 913| 19 | 216 | 17,970
------------++-------+-------+-------------+------+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----------+--------+-----------
Egin, || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Pingan, and || | | | | | | | | | | |
Villages || 2,670 | 70 | 4 | 130| 170| 31 | 3,075| 1,195 | 1,860| 2,320 | 552| 38 | 193 | 9,511
------------++-------+-------+-------------+------+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----------+--------+-----------
Keban Maden,|| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Kaimakamluk || 11 | .... | .... | 6| ....| 6 | 23| 7 | ....| 113 | ....| 6 | .... | 460
------------++-------+-------+-------------+------+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----------+--------|-----------
Malatia and || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
District || 6,540 | 213 | 7 | 495| 1,960| 203 | 9,418| 1,721 | 5,602| 3,450 |1,120| 13 | 195 | 11,650
------------++-------+-------+-------------+------+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----------+--------+-----------
Dersim || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Mutesariflik|| 2,450 | 75 | 9 | 260| 320| 72 | 3,186| 710 | 2,350| 1,573 | 192| 27 | 156 | 13,850
------------++-------+-------+-------------+------+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----------+--------+-----------
Palu & its || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Villages || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
(bel. to || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Diarbekir) || 4,800 | 245 | 11 | 795| 470| 112 | 6,433| 990 | 2,900| 1,440 |1,780| 16 | 427 | 11,625
------------++-------+-------+-------------+------+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----------+--------+-----------
TOTALS ||29,544 | 1,383 | 51 | 3,266| 4,330| 760 | 39,234| 8,000 | 28,562| 15,179 |5,530| 227 | 1,532 | 94,870
============++=======+=======+=============+======+======+=====+=======+========+=======+==========+=====+===========+========+===========
The government makes little effort to provide for the security of the
people and unless special protection is provided, the survivors will
perish also.
“It is impossible to state the amount of the pecuniary loss. The single
city of Egin has given twelve hundred liras ($5,280) as a ransom. (It
is said by others to have been fifteen hundred liras.)
“These events have occurred for the reasons which I have mentioned.
I wish to show by this report, which I have written from love to
humanity, that the Armenians gave no occasion for these attacks.”
Strong as these statements are, they are not overdrawn. There may be
exaggerations in the figures by hundreds and thousands, but the facts
it is impossible to exaggerate. Every place has its own tale of horror,
and when individual cases are examined the record is too vast for the
human imagination. Only God and the angels can take it in.
[Illustration:
BRITISH FLOTILLA. The gigantic gunboats of the British Mediterranean
fleet nearing Constantinople after the most terrible massacres.]
[Illustration:
MASSACRES OF ARMENIANS. This is a sketch by an eye-witness of the
terrible massacre of Armenians by Softas (fanatical Moslem Students)
near St. Sofia.]
CHAPTER XXIV.
AINTAB, MARASH AND URFA.
The Situation in Northern Syria--No Revolutionary Movement--Massacre
at Aintab--Kurdish Women--A Turkish Captain Helps the Pillage--A
Colonel Checks it--Caring for the Wounded--Two Attacks at
Marash--Destruction of American Houses--Brave Men in Zeitun--Story of
Massacres at Urfa.
South of the Taurus Mountains, in what is called Northern Syria, are
a number of large cities, the most important being Aleppo, Antioch,
Aintab, Birejik and Urfa. On the very edge of the mountains is the
city of Marash, while in the midst of the range are Zeitun, Albistan,
Behesni, Adiaman and some other places of more or less note. Aleppo is
a distinctively Moslem city, and, more noticeable still, purely Arabic.
Its inhabitants are only to a limited degree Turks, the great majority,
whether Moslem or Christian, being of Syrian race. Antioch has less
of the Arab element, but all the rest are distinctively Turkish and
Armenian. The Turks are very largely of Turcoman rather than Ottoman
or Seljuk descent. The Armenians not only lose almost entirely their
own language, adopting the Turkish, but differ in some respects
from the Armenians of Asia Minor. Whether this is because they are
somewhat shut off by the mountains, or because they were more bitterly
oppressed, or because they more thoroughly accepted the inevitable,
it is impossible to say. In any case they have been noted for their
general sturdiness of character, their general prosperity, and a large
degree of liberality for new ideas. Protestant missions have advanced
greatly among them, and their system of schools established in the
cities is probably the best in the empire. In general, they have always
been peaceable, though in the mountains they have not been slow to
assert their independence. Few Turks cared to enter Zeitun against
the will of its people, and in Aintab their representatives in the
local city council were always found self-assertive, though always
diplomatic and not aggressive in their manner. As a natural result of
their interest in education, it came about that a college for young men
was established in Aintab, and one for young women in Marash, and the
students in both cities showed marked ability and progressive ideas.
For the most part their relations with the Moslems were friendly,
though in Marash, where apparently the close proximity of the mountain
sections seemed to roughen all, there was considerable jealousy and
antagonism.
The Armenian Revolutionists apparently made little effort, certainly
met with no success, to embroil these communities, and when the storm
burst in the north there was a general feeling that these places would
be spared. One exception might be made in regard to Marash, and the
well-known jealousy of the Turkish Government in regard to colleges
made some fear for Aintab. The mutterings preceding the storm were
heard, however, as soon as the word of the massacre at Constantinople
had reached the Turkish population of the region. There was trouble in
the smaller places first, an attack in Urfa on November 3d; and then,
less than two weeks later, the blow fell at Aintab. The following
description by an eye-witness will give the story better than any one
else can. The letter is written from the college, which is situated on
a hill quite a distance from the city.
“AINTAB, Monday, November 18th, 1895.
“We have been congratulating ourselves that our city had escaped the
outbreak of Moslem fanaticism which has lately swept the neighboring
cities with the besom of destruction. But Saturday morning, without
the slightest warning, while we were at breakfast, a great noise of
shouting and firing of guns came to us from the city, telling us
that the work of blood and plunder had begun here, also. My first
thought was for the ladies and girls at the seminary and hospital.
So, seizing my revolver, I sprang upon my horse and hurried over
there. I met and passed many armed Kurds, who live in the suburb just
about the hospital and seminary, but they did not interfere with me.
Upon nearing the city, the confused sound that had reached us at the
college became resolved into its elements; and I could distinguish
the hoarse cries of fighting men, the screams of women and children,
and, most terrible of all, the shrill, exultant _lu-lu-lu-lu_ of the
Kurdish and Turkish women, cheering on their men to the attack. I
found the girls’ school and hospital had not, as yet, been attacked.
Dr. Hamilton and Miss Trowbridge preferred to remain at their post of
duty rather than to join the ladies at the seminary, which decision I
could not oppose. Upon my return to the seminary, which is separated
from the hospital yard by a narrow street only, I found Brother
Sanders there, and shortly our nearest neighbor, Hadji Hussein Agha,
came in and said that at the outbreak which occurred at the Bazar,
he had hastened at the top of his speed--not great at best, for he
is a very fat man--to protect the hospital and girls’ school. As I
had saved his brother’s life by a desperate surgical operation some
years ago, and always been on friendly terms with him, I felt we
could trust him to do his best. But when, a few minutes later, some
200 soldiers in uniform, with fixed bayonets, filed out of the street
below and marched into the open just beyond the seminary, I felt a
great relief; for that meant that the government intended to protect
the Americans at least. From the upper veranda of the seminary we
could plainly see the crowd of plunderers breaking into Christian
houses and carrying off household goods. We could see the brave
defense made by some of the Christians from the housetops with stones
and firearms, where they had them, and still the horrid _lu-lu-lu_
of the Kurdish women rent the air, mingled with the screams of the
conquered, wounded and the dying, the hoarse cries of the men and
the frequent reports of the firearms. An attack was made upon the
hospital gate, but Hadji Hussein held the assailants in check until
the soldiers arrived and drove them off. Clouds of smoke from a
fire in the lower part of the city added to the terror of the women
servants at the hospital, some of whom lived in that neighborhood.
But the girls at the school behaved very well indeed. About noon,
seeing that there was no immediate danger of an attack upon the
seminary or hospital, I left Brother Sanders there and returned to
the college. Here I found some thirty or forty refugees, mostly
stonecutters, who had been out on the hills at work, and a few women
and children.
“Not long after noon the disturbance in the part of the city near
us had mostly ceased, although the occasional sound of guns and the
smoke of burning houses from the central part of the city showed that
the fiendish work still went on; and a continual passing of villagers
with bundles of plunder on their backs, and some with donkey loads
and camel loads, showed too plainly that the looted area must have
been considerable. Although not anticipating a night attack, we
thought it wise to make preparations for one, and so barricaded the
most defensible of the buildings on the campus for a rendezvous, set
a watch and retired. But there was not much sleep. Nothing occurred
during the night, and a cloudy morning broke above the city. At
sunrise the villagers had already begun to enter the city; but soon
after that the soldiers began to stop them, in a half-hearted sort of
way, allowing them to congregate in large numbers a short distance
away from the line of soldiers. About eleven o’clock I saw through
my field-glass a captain on a white horse (I recognized both the
man and the horse) approach a crowd of the plunderers, about two
hundred strong, who had been driven away from the city, upon the
hill, a quarter of a mile or so to the south, and make a harangue to
them. Then he turned back toward the city with the soldiers who had
been holding back the mob; and before they had reached the city the
whole crowd had swarmed past them and entered the streets; then I
knew the scenes of the day before were to be repeated, so taking my
field-glass I mounted to the college tower as offering a better view.
I did not have long to wait before the head of the crowd appeared,
coming up through Pasha Street, which had been completely looted the
day before. They poured out of the street, a motley crowd of Turkish
villagers, city Kurds, and roughs to the number of fifteen hundred or
so, and turning to the right made a rush for the Christian quarter of
Haik. That quarter has a strong gate across its entrance, and thirty
or forty Christians were gathered upon the housetops, commanding the
approach to this gate, armed with stones and two or three guns; and
with the advantage afforded by their position on the flat roofs they
held the mob at bay for three-fourths of an hour, and finally drove
them off. Meantime, on the north side of the city, I saw the same
Yûzbashi on the white horse. Here there were, perhaps, one thousand
plunderers held in check by thirty or forty soldiers. Not long after
the Yûzbashi made his appearance in that quarter, a part of their
mob made a break, and some two or three hundred of them rushed into
a small Christian quarter just under the seminary wall, and in a
very few minutes were to be seen running off with their plunder.
In the case of both these attacks there were plenty of soldiers
standing about with loaded guns and fixed bayonets, who made not
the slightest attempt to prevent the attack, or to scatter the mob;
and the conclusion was irresistible that the Yûzbashi on the white
horse had planned the attack in each case, or at least had signified
to the mob that it could work its will. But his plans did not work
altogether to his taste, for while the plunder was going on upon the
north side, a Bimbashi (colonel) appeared upon the scene, and very
soon the soldiers were firing over the heads of the mob to frighten
them, and they were flying pellmell out of the city. I wondered at
the time that they should be so much frightened by a few guns fired
into the air; but from a perfectly reliable source we learned that
the Bimbashi shot four of the mob with his own hand, which would
account for the celerity with which they dispersed. I attempted to
go to the hospital yesterday morning and again this morning, but
was not allowed to do so. Mr. Sanders brought word that the wounded
of the north side attack yesterday, had been taken to the hospital,
and one of them had died in the night, others being in a bad way.
Dr. Hamilton had cared for them with the help of Miss Trowbridge and
Solomon, our surgical assistant. We are as yet unable to form any
idea of the number of the killed and wounded, or of the extent of
the plundering, although we know of four outlying Christian quarters
that have been entirely looted. The main part of the Christians live
in the two quarters of Haik and Kyajuk, which have so far escaped.
The women and children of two quarters that were entirely looted are
confined in the mosques of the quarters, with the choice of ‘Islam
or death;’ but if not murdered before that time will, of course, be
liberated as soon as the government gets control of the city again.
To-day the plunderers from outside have been kept out of the city,
but villagers have been freely allowed to go out of the city with
their booty, until just now as I write this, at 2 P.M., a company
of mounted gendarmes from Aleppo, which arrived this morning, has
been sent out into the roads leading out of the city, to arrest
plunderers and take their booty from them.
“This, I take it, means that the trouble is nearly over. How I
wish that I could get into the city to look after the wounded. We
have made application to the governor for permission to go to the
hospital, but have as yet received no reply; yesterday he refused a
similar request, and as there is a large body of soldiers between
here and there, it is impossible to go.
“Sunday Evening, November 24th.
“It seems at least a month since I wrote the first part of this
letter. Tuesday morning I was allowed to go into the city to see the
Kaimakam and the ‘Alai Pasha’--military commander--in whose company
I found most of the notables of the Moslem community. I appealed to
them for safe conduct for the wounded to be brought to the hospital
and for burial of the dead. Both of which requests they granted; and
I had not been back at the hospital more than half an hour when Dr.
Habib, with an escort of soldiers, brought in some fifty or sixty
patients. We were soon at work, and a ghastly set they were. They had
been wounded upon the Saturday before, and had lain either exposed
to the weather or crowded into a dirty stable all that time. Those
who had escaped the ministration of the native hakim were fortunate;
for all the wounded which he had touched were in a terribly septic
state. The wounds were mostly made by knives or swords upon the
heads, or hands and arms raised to ward off the head blows; and very
few of the poor fellows had escaped without several, and some of
them had ten or a dozen cuts. There were a few bayonet and gunshot
wounds inflicted by the soldiers. In the middle of the afternoon,
just as we began to congratulate ourselves that we were getting
through with them, a batch of twenty-one more arrived, which kept us
busy until dark. Among those brought in that day there were four or
five fractured skulls, and two arms that I had to amputate, besides
several other very severe cases. Three of them have since died. Each
day since there have been some new cases brought in, until the number
of wounded that we have treated at the hospital now exceeds 150. We
have as yet no means of knowing the number of the dead; for while
they readily promised protection for the burial, that promise was not
carried out. Most of the Christian dead were dragged to the outskirts
of the city with every imaginable indignity and either burned or cast
into the old quarries that abound upon the edge of the city, and left
for the dogs and vultures to eat. Some of them, after being thrown
into these pits, were covered out of sight by casting stones upon
them. The best estimate obtainable puts the number of the killed at
between 300 and 400 for the Christians and 10 or 12 from the Moslems.
The massacre began in the market without the slightest warning, and
the poor unarmed Christians were scattered like sheep before their
well-armed assailants, who outnumbered them three to one. The carnage
soon spread from the bazars and markets to the outlying Christian
quarters of the city. All the Christian shops were plundered, and
four outlying wards, mostly occupied by the poorest classes. When the
mob reached the more compact Christian quarters of the city, they met
with some vigorous resistance; and many of the streets have heavy
gates which were closed, and some of them well defended; so their
progress was checked, until night came down and put an end to the
scene. So far as I can learn there was no attempt made by either the
government or the Moslem beys and effendis during the whole of that
terrible Saturday to stop the killing and looting, except that they
hurried a large force of soldiers out for the defense of the foreign
residents. The soldiers took part in the pillage and did nothing to
prevent the butchery, although not doing a large part of the latter
themselves. The following day they began to repress the populace,
as I have already narrated in the earlier part of this letter, and
up to the present have succeeded in preventing any further general
outbreak; but the poor Christians are terror-stricken, and all of
them await their death in their houses or the churches. Yesterday
there was a determined attempt upon the part of a large mob to attack
the Christian part of the city, but the military quelled it without
much difficulty. This took place upon the southern side of the city;
and while the soldiers were mostly withdrawn to that side, two or
three houses were looted upon the northern side of the city, but no
one killed.
“December 8th, 1895.
“The time drags on, with no great change in the situation. There
has been no further outbreak since my last writing, and the strain
seems somewhat relaxed; but the Christians dare not stir out of
their houses yet, and all business is at a standstill. The college
is still shut off from the city by a cordon of soldiers; and I am
the only one allowed to go back and forth without obtaining special
permission each time from the captain of the guard, and I am not
allowed to enter the city except with a guard of two soldiers.
This is ostensibly for my protection, but practically restricts
my intercourse with the people very much, and debars me from much
information that I might otherwise obtain. We had from Judge Terrell
a telegraphic offer of an armed escort to the coast, where a United
States cruiser awaited us; but we could not entertain the thought of
leaving these poor people in their terror and distress, although we
were in a good deal of anxiety for our women and children. There are
now between 3,000 and 4,000 soldiers in the city, and so long as they
remain under the control of the authorities there is no danger of
another massacre. There are rumors among the Moslems of a commission
coming here this week to investigate the massacre, and they are in a
good deal of apprehension.
“Yesterday the Kaimakam asked me if I were willing to go to Zeitun
on behalf of the government to negotiate for peace. I, of course,
expressed myself as willing and glad to do so if the government
would offer such terms as these Zeitunlis might probably accept, and
he proceeded to communicate with higher officials. I have not yet
had any further advice from him. I have managed to get a half-day’s
rest to-day for the first time in three Sabbaths. Our patients are
all doing well, except one, who may very likely die from thrombosis
of the cerebral sinuses. The best information I can get leads me
to place the killed at not less than 400. The attack was wholly
unprovoked, and the fact that not more than ten Moslems were killed,
shows for itself that it was a mere butchery. Women and girls were
not molested except in a few cases, when they attempted to defend
their husbands or sons; but little boys were killed as ruthlessly
as the men. It has been a terrible time, and I have not written the
horrible details that you must have before you in order to realize
the fiendish brutality of the affair. One thing which has made it
particularly hard to bear has been the impossibility of communicating
with the outside world, either to learn what is going on there or
to acquaint others with the state of things here. Our letters have
been intercepted in the mails, no newspapers allowed to reach us,
our telegrams not sent, etc.; and when we have attempted to send
special messengers, they have been arrested and treated as spies,
imprisoned, and we think in two cases killed. Letters are not now
interfered with to the same extent as before, and if things continue
to improve I shall try to send this by next post. We have felt that
the Everlasting Arm was underneath us through it all, and it has been
a great pleasure to me personally to be able to help the sick and
wounded. What is to become of the thousands of homeless widows and
orphans during the coming winter? Aintab has escaped with little loss
as compared with many places; and still in Aintab there are at least
2,000 people who must be _wholly_ supported by charity during this
winter.”
Three days after the attack at Aintab came the massacre at Marash.
There had already been one outbreak on November 13th, and for four
weeks there had been increasing disturbance, but the chief massacre
occurred on the 18th. As to the first, an eye-witness wrote:
“Thus far at least fifty have been killed, and perhaps 300 have been
wounded, some of them fatally. The affair is attributed to a quarrel
between a Mussulman and an Armenian, in which the Mussulman was fatally
injured. This was on the 24th of October. The next day, after the man
was buried, the attack began. According to a Turkish official the
outbreak would have occurred in any case, even had not this fatal
altercation precipitated it. The disorder commenced on Friday, the
25th. Word came around that the plan had been to have it on Sunday,
when the Armenian population would have been in the churches. We do
not certainly know this. But nothing could be more apparent than that
it was, at least, a permitted massacre. The worst occurred after the
Mutessarif had sent a crier around three times to order the Armenians
to open their shops on pain of fine. Those who obeyed had their shops
pillaged. This is only too significant. Not a Moslem has been arrested
for injuries to Christians. A few who aided the Christians have been
arrested. The order of the day now is gradually to arrest the Armenians
who are prominent in influence or position. Two days ago the pastor of
the Third Protestant Church was imprisoned. He is as innocent of any
political crime as I am.”
As to the second attack, the following letter gives an interesting
account. It was written from the Girls’ College, on the mountain just
outside of the city:
“MARASH, Nov. 26th.
“We survived the massacre of Nov. 18th, though we had given up all
hope for hours. For four weeks previously Christians had been shot at
sight in the streets, houses plundered, men’s heads put on pikes, and
two cases in my knowledge where little girls had been disemboweled.
It was a reign of terror, culminating in the butchery of the 18th.
Early that morning the three church quarters were fired, and the
steady report of the guns told us of the work of annihilation.
“We took the girls (of the college) and crossed the seminary yard
into the one occupied by the Lees and McCalloms. It was not a moment
too soon, as the houses overlooking their walls were then being
plundered, and we plainly saw what was in progress. It was about
9 o’clock. The Arab soldiers had been turned loose on the city. A
number of regiments were drawn up west of the city ready to lend
assistance if there should be any opposition. A company was on a
hill near us, not regulars, but still in uniform, to see that no one
interfered here, and the Arab fiends had possession. I cannot now
describe the scenes we witnessed. The raiding of the houses in the
seminary yard, the killing of our two men and a third riddled with
bullets. Finally they were held up and chopped and hacked with the
sword as mercilessly and with as little purpose as a child attacks
a mullein head. After the soldiers had left to carry away a load of
our academy stores, the old women and children came in to carry away
what was left. It seemed the plan that everything must go. I had
said, ‘There will be a larger and better organized force come here,
for they may think we can resist.’ There were 290 people in the two
houses, chiefly women and children, and as still as death; and our
girls, our sweet-faced girls, who tortured us with no wailing, but
looking, in a heart-rendering manner, into our faces for the comfort
and assurance that had never failed before. Everything was given
over. The smoke and dusk were closing in around us. The seminary yard
was nearly finished. A lull of perhaps a moment. We peeped through
the curtains (Miss B. and I), and turning to each other, quietly
said, ‘They’ve come.’
“A large force of Arabs was in the street, drawn up in order, each
with his gun ready for firing, I thought, and started to go below
to our girls, to be with them to the last. Someone was pounding on
the street door, and we heard friendly calls. Mr. McCallom gave a
glance at his wife and babies and said, ‘I must go,’ and he went.
The calling continued and we were puzzled. But the gate, on being
opened, let in some of our people and a colonel who had come with a
guard--the first in all that day. We had seen the man on horseback
in the afternoon, riding among the soldiers and playfully hitting
them on the shoulders as if pretending to drive them away. This only
made us feel sure that the government had doomed us and wanted a
pretext for trying to protect us. Fortunately for me, the two wounded
theologues were brought in, and I had my hands full till midnight,
when one of them died. The other was shot and hacked up terribly,
but I dressed his wounds and he is still alive. The condition in
the city is beyond description. Starvation on every hand; the best
of our people gone. The soldiers estimate as their day’s work 4,700
dead, but it is too much. They were occupied with plunder. One young
man was given the alternative of death or becoming a Moslem. He
chose death and they struck his head off. His poor body was taken
to his mother, who, taking his hand and kissing it, said: ‘Rather
so, my son, than living to deny our Lord and Saviour.’ He is one of
thousands to sacrifice his life rather than deny Christ.”
This, however, was not all. At Zeitun, not far away, the Turkish
troops had made an effort to attack the Armenians. They in their turn
arose, made the Turks prisoners, fortified their position and defied
the government. The effect was manifest in Marash, which was made the
headquarters for the troops that soon came pouring in to put down this
sole instance of real insurrection in the whole empire. From that
time on, riot in greater or less degree was continuous, and every
Christian in the city, foreigner and native, lived in constant terror.
For more than three months the brave Zeitun men held out, trusting
in their own pluck, skill and knowledge of the country, and at last,
late in February, 1896, the Turkish Government was forced to give them
honorable terms of peace.
For a month attention was specially directed to Zeitun and the mountain
cities, including Adiaman, but by the middle of December there were
indications that trouble was to break out again in Urfa. That city
was for a long time identified with Ur of the Chaldees, not merely by
Moslem tradition, but in Christian books. It was, too, the seat of
government of Abgar, the Armenian king, to whom, according to Armenian
historians, Thaddeus preached, and who had the unique honor of a
letter from the Saviour. Here, too, was the home of Ephrem Syrus, the
famous ecclesiastic of the earlier Syrian Church. Moslem and Christian
interest and pride centered alike about the place, and in some respects
there was exceptional Moslem fanaticism. In the city was a single
American missionary lady. Anxious for her safety, the missionaries
at Aintab had made efforts to bring her there, but she remained. Her
account of the scenes at that time is given below:
LETTER FROM A MISSIONARY.
“We had often heard that the Moslems were dissatisfied with the
attempt of two months ago which resulted in the destruction of only
40 lives and about £150,000 worth of goods, the plunder of 600
shops and 289 houses. After this the Christians were all completely
disarmed by the government. Some 80 men had been imprisoned, and we
feared another scene of terror. It came at last with great suddenness.
“On Saturday, December 28th, the firing of a few guns in the Moslem
quarter south of us proved the signal. Immediately an immense
multitude gathered on the hill back of our house. The guards in the
street east of us went to meet the people, fired a few shots over
their heads, and then allowed the mass of wild humanity, thirsty for
blood, to pass into the city and begin their work. The horrid work
continued until dark. Three soldiers kept the mob from entering our
street, constantly proclaiming: ‘It is the house of a foreigner, and
it is forbidden to touch her.’ We find by count that our ‘shadow’
covered 17 houses and 240 people. The mob came as far as to enter
our girls’ schoolrooms in the churchyard, and they broke open the
third door below us on the street and plundered the house. I saw one
man beaten and then thrown down on the roof just opposite to me on
the other side of the street. The Syrians and Roman Catholics were
also spared. All other Christians suffered complete loss of all home
furnishings, and some houses were burned. The number of killed cannot
be less than 3,500 and may reach 4,000. Of these it is estimated
that 1,500 perished in the great Gregorian church. On Saturday
that portion of the city was hardly touched, and great numbers of
Armenians flocked to the church for safety that night. Sunday morning
the work began again at daybreak, and when the people reached the
church the soldiers broke open the doors. Then entering, they began
a butchery which became a great holocaust. It was participated
in by many classes of Moslems. For two days the air of the city
was unendurable; then began the clearing up. During two days we
saw constantly men lugging sacks filled with bones and ashes. The
dragging off of 1,500 bodies for burial in trenches was more quickly
completed, some being taken on animals. The last work of all has
been the clearing of the wells. From one very large well it is said
that 60 bodies were taken. It is well authenticated that 20 bodies
were taken from another well. About 300 persons escaped from the
church by way of the roof, which was reached by a narrow staircase
on the inside. Shortly after noon on Sunday, some fifteen or more of
the prominent citizens and government officials (not including the
Mutessarif, or the military commander), preceded by a military band
and mounted guard, made a grand parade of the city. They entered our
yard, and, speaking with me from the veranda, they assured me of
perfect safety and begged me not to be alarmed, as it was ‘nothing
that pertained to me.’ I very quickly went into my room.
“The work did not cease until dark on Sunday, the 29th. On Monday
the Kurds and Arabs were prevented from entering the city, the firing
beginning about dawn. All day Sunday a strong guard was about our
premises. A captain of the army sat on his horse for hours at our
northwest corner, just outside of the church premises. Repeatedly I
received salutations and assurances of perfect safety from government
officials during that longest day I ever knew. It was evident that
the utmost was done to protect _me_. How willingly I would have died,
that the thousands of _parents_ might be spared for their children!
“The work of plunder is complete. Literally naught remains. By actual
count only ten Protestant houses remain untouched, and five of these
are in the district which I have spoken of as my shadow.
“Our loss of life is 105, all but nine being men. These nine include
two women and seven children, who were in the Gregorian Church
when it was sacked. Our wounded are many. I have eighteen under my
immediate care. Most of these have several severe wounds. One has 11;
one has 18; ghastly sword and axe cuts on head and neck. There are
a few gunshot wounds. There is only one doctor for the whole city.
He has 350, and cannot care for more, nor for these but in part.
He came at my call to see one who we supposed must lose his hand,
dressed the arm and committed the case to my care. Thus far, thank
God, all are doing well. I have found three persons who, like myself,
are inexperienced in such matters; but they are proving careful,
sensible workers with me. We dress most of the wounds in the church.
Our schoolrooms (all but one, used as headquarters of our guard) are
crowded with some 250 or 300 of the most forlorn and needy. Our home
is also full. Those who are spared to their families are in great
fear, and wish to be near me. We cannot receive all, and it is hard
to daily turn away so many. Some have a little food, found in their
houses, and some nothing. One of the several great men who have
called to express sympathy, and to say, Turkish style, ‘It was from
God,’ has sent provisions, for which I am exceedingly grateful.
“The government provides about 200 loaves of bread per day for the
poor. But all this kindness will soon come to an end, and utter
poverty will be the lot of most. The Protestant pastor, the Rev. H.
Abouhayatian, and several efficient members of the church, are among
the dead. I tried to secure the body of the pastor, but failed. His
children--six--they immediately granted to me.
“The custom in these affairs, so general in Turkey, seems to be for
one party to rush ahead and kill. This is followed by another party
which hurries off the women and children to some mosque, khan or
some Moslem home temporarily open for their reception. Lastly, this
operation is followed by the stripping of the house. Children often
get separated from their parents and are late in being found. One of
the earliest offers made to me was to undertake finding any lost if
I would send in the full name. My own guards, twenty in number since
Sunday, do my every bidding as if I were a queen. I use them for help
in all sorts of ways.
“Markets are closed, and it is very difficult to get some things much
needed. We have had but forty-five beds given back to us of those
plundered, and a few pieces of copper; as yet I fail to secure more,
or instructions as to method of procedure for individuals to secure
stolen goods. The government has large numbers of beds and much
copper ware stored for return to the owners, but all fear to stir
lest the end has not yet come.
“The aged Bishop of the Gregorians was spared, but only one, or
possibly two priests.
“Our own teacher of the Boys’ High School and several Gregorian
teachers were killed. I believe the Gregorians are in greater
suffering than the Protestants, having no foreigner to do for them,
and any efficient ones spared are afraid to venture out.
“To-day the long-expected soldiers have arrived--eight or nine
hundred. Our city has been guarded (?) by resident soldiers. We must
have your prayers and your pecuniary aid. How are the people to live
through this winter?
“URFA, January 7th, 1896.”
[Illustration:
SCENE OF SLAUGHTER. Showing how the unarmed Armenians were clubbed
and shot to death by the fanatical and bloodthirsty Moslems.]
[Illustration:
IMPRISONING ARMENIANS. This is from a sketch by an eye-witness of the
brutal seizure of Armenians, and either murdering them or forcing
them into the Prison or Death-house at Stamboul.]
CHAPTER XXV.
CHARACTER OF THE MASSACRES.
Massacres at Sivas, Cesarea, Birejik, Bitlis, and the Region
of Mardin--Protection by the Turkish Government for the
Jacobites--General Survey--Place and Time of the Massacres--Victims
Exclusively Armenians--Effort to Destroy the Strength of the
Nation--Motive--Responsibility of the Turkish Government and of the
Sultan.
The massacres at Sassun, Trebizond, Erzrum, Harput, Aintab, Marash
and Urfa were in some respects the most important, though there were
others where the loss of life was greater. Those included Diarbekir,
where nearly if not quite 2,500 were slain; Gurun, in the mountainous
region of the Taurus, where the number reached 3,000, and several where
over 1,000 perished. With regard to most of these, full and accurate
reports, however, are as yet wanting. This chapter includes briefer
accounts of certain places, together with a brief survey of the general
characteristics of all.
In Central Asia Minor, the most important city is that of Sivas. It is
the capital of the province and the trade centre of a large section.
Its population is Turkish and Armenian, the Turks being largely in the
majority. There is also a considerable Kurdish element both in the
city itself and in the mountainous section to the south. The following
account of the outbreak was received from a perfectly reliable source:
“The outbreak began on the 12th (November) and was ‘permitted’
to continue for seven days; during this ‘bloody week’ about 1,200
Armenians and 10 Turks were killed. Suddenly at noon, as if at a given
signal, the Turkish laborers seized their tools, clubs, or whatever was
at hand; soldiers, Circassians and police with their arms, all under
command of officers--aided by the Moslem women and children, rushed
to the market to begin their dreadful work of killing, stripping the
dead and looting the houses. No resistance was made by the Armenians,
who seemed overpowered in the suddenness of the onslaught, the number
of their armed assailants and the relentless ferocity with which they
were pursued to their death. The shops of the Armenian merchants,
whether wholesale or retail, were looted by the rioters and soldiers.
Many of the merchants and their clerks were killed; thus at one blow
the Armenian element was eliminated from the trade at Sivas. As the
importing business had been in their hands almost exclusively, it
is difficult to foresee anything to avert the impending financial
disaster. The Armenian villagers in that vicinity have been robbed
of everything, and the people are left to beg and die. A gentleman
in high official standing, who has had unusual opportunities for
information, uses the following language with regard to this affair:
‘Don’t be deceived by any of the silly government statements which
attribute all these massacres to Armenians. It was a deliberate plan
on the part of the government to punish the Armenians. The Sultan was
irritated because he was forced to give them reforms, so he has had
7,000 Armenians killed to show his power, since he signed the scheme of
reforms. The government has smashed some Turkish shop windows to show
that the Armenians did it.’ Food was scarce; everything was carried off
from the Armenian shops. There will be an immense amount of suffering
all over the country. It is said to be a fact, that the Kaimakim
(Governor) of Gurun telegraphed to the Vali (Governor-General of the
Province) at Sivas, saying in effect, ‘You may rest assured that there
is not an Armenian left in Gurun.’ The Armenians at Gurun made some
resistance to being butchered and suffered worse for it. (Gurun is a
large village about twenty-four hours from Sivas. It has a population
of 10,000, one-half Armenians.)
“As the fury of this storm of blood and greed subsided, the stricken
Armenians of Sivas slowly gathered the mangled and naked bodies of
their kinsmen to their cemetery, where a great trench had been dug to
hold the horrid harvest of death. A single priest read a short service
over the long and ghastly rank; and thus was closed another chapter in
the yet unfinished story of cruelty, lust and fanaticism.”
West of Sivas, in the ancient province of Cappadocia, is the city
of Cesarea. It has a large Moslem population, chiefly Turkish of
pure blood, as is the greater part of the race in that section. The
Christian population is both Armenian and Greek, the former being
largely predominant in the city, though there are a number of Greek
villages in the plain. The Armenians here, as in the region south
of the Taurus, use Turkish chiefly and are noted for their general
sturdiness of character, and furnished very little support for the
Huntchagist movement. For the most part, their relations with the
Turks have been friendly, and the governors of the city, which is in
the province of Angora, have frequently been men of character who have
endeavored to deal justly by all classes. Cesarea being outside of the
six provinces mentioned in the general plan of reforms, there was hope
that it would escape, but the following, from a letter by a resident,
will tell the story of the scenes that followed close upon the news
that came from other places.
“CESAREA, December 2d, 1895.
“At last the storm has struck us and the horror of the past three
days is beyond description. On Saturday, at about 2 P. M., one
of our school boys rushed into my room crying: ‘The destruction
has begun!’ I hastened to our roof and saw the scene which has so
often been enacted of late. Turks beating and killing every Armenian
on whom they could lay their hands. Much of the fiendish work was
carried on from the roofs of the houses, for here in Cesarea a large
portion of the houses have flat mud roofs, and one can go nearly
everywhere on the roofs, they being practically continuous.
“Turks swarmed over the houses, breaking in doors and windows,
stoning, beating, cutting, shooting whoever opposed them, and many
who did not. I succeeded several times in turning back the crowd from
the roofs immediately adjoining our house, but beyond that I could
do nothing. They evidently had strict orders to let us alone.... No
special guard was sent to our house, but by calling upon passing
soldiers I got temporary men stationed near our door, but they
would stay but a few minutes, then were off to have their share in
the business. However, we suffered no harm, but on the contrary,
succeeded in protecting many whose houses were attacked. They came
rushing over the roofs and up the ladder which I placed for them,
until we had over sixty people under our narrow roof. (Later they had
109.) The strain was terrible for three hours, but after sundown it
gradually quieted.
“Firing on the mob by the troops was absolutely forbidden until
special orders to fire were received from Constantinople. This order
was delayed till about sunset. I have this direct from soldiers and
believe it to be true. From sunset on I give the government credit
for making honest attempts to restore quiet. On Sunday A. M. there
was considerable disturbance, quieted by noon. I then succeeded in
getting two soldiers to accompany me to the governor--he gave me six
men for a guard. This morning again there was disturbance, and a
house near was attacked, but my men drove them away. The worst was at
evening, and seems to be past, but what has been passes description.
To-day I have been about looking up some persons and seeing some of
the wounded. Men and women were literally hacked to pieces; certainly
several hundred, and some Turks say 1,000 were killed.
“Saturday, 7 P. M. Women as well as men were fearfully handled.
Several thousand fierce fellows came from the neighboring Turkish
villages to help on the diabolical work, and many women were carried
away. This morning I was told that a bride and a young girl had been
taken from a neighboring house to the house of a Turk near by. The
husband who was in the market at the time, came and begged me to
help him get them back. On going to the Turkish house with two of
my soldiers I found that the girls had not been ill treated and the
house owner readily gave them up. In order to save their lives they
had said, ‘We are Moslems.’ I know of other Turkish families where
Christians were sheltered. These are about the only bright spots in
a very dark picture. To add to the horror, many houses were burned
and some perished in the flames. Dr. Avedis Effendi (an influential
preacher for many years), with wife and oldest son, were killed.
“I think the attack here was a concession to the thirsty mob, who
could not see why they should not have their fling as well as those
in Sivas and elsewhere.
“Our hearts are sick. We are so powerless to aid and comfort. Our
school boys are all safe.
“December 3d. We breathe easier this morning, but I cannot be sure
all danger is past. The method taken with the women was to demand
that they proclaim themselves Moslems. If they refused, as many did,
even girls from twelve to fifteen years of age, they were cut down
mercilessly. This fact can be substantiated with the utmost ease.
Should the troops withdraw, worse destruction is sure to follow.
Neighboring villages have suffered still worse, many of them stripped
once, and twice, and thrice, till nothing is left.”
The city of Birejik is on the Euphrates, between Urfa and Aintab. It
is a prosperous place, with a population of perhaps 10,000 to 12,000,
overwhelmingly Moslem, partly Turkish, partly Arab in origin.
“After the massacre at Urfa, on the twenty-seventh of October, 1895,
the authorities at Birejik told the Armenians that the Moslems were
afraid of them, and that therefore they (the Armenians) must surrender
to the government any arms that they possessed. This was done, the most
rigid search being instituted to assure the authorities that nothing
whatever in the way of arms remained in the hands of the Armenians.
This disarmament caused no little anxiety to the Armenians, since the
Moslem population was very generally armed, and was constantly adding
to its arms. In fact, during the months of November and December the
Christians have been kept within their houses because the danger of
appearing upon the streets was very great.
“Troops were called out by the government to protect the people. Since
the soldiers had come to protect the Christians, the Christians were
required to furnish animals for them to carry their goods. Then they
were required to furnish them with beds and carpets, to make them more
comfortable. Finally, they were required to furnish the soldiers with
food, and they were reduced to a state bordering on destitution by
these increasing demands.
“The end came on the first of January, 1896, when the news of the
massacre of several thousands of Christians at Urfa by the soldiers
appointed to guard them incited the troops at Birejik to imitate this
crime. The assault on the Christian houses commenced about nine o’clock
in the morning, and lasted until nightfall. The soldiers were aided
by the Moslems of the city in the terrible work. The object at first
seemed to be mainly plunder; but after the plunder had been secured,
the soldiers seemed to make a systematic search for men, to kill those
who were unwilling to accept Mohammedanism. The cruelty used to force
men to become Moslems was terrible. In one case the soldiers found some
twenty people, men, women and children, who had taken refuge in a sort
of cave. They dragged them out and killed all the men and boys because
they would not become Moslems. After cutting down one old man, who had
thus refused, they put live coals upon his body, and as he was writhing
in torture they held a Bible before him and mockingly asked him to read
them some of the promises in which he had trusted. Others were thrown
into the river while still alive, after having been cruelly wounded.
The women and children of this party were loaded up like goods upon the
backs of porters and carried off to the houses of Moslems. Christian
girls were eagerly sought after, and much quarreling occurred over the
question of their division among their captors. Every Christian home
except two, claimed to be owned by Turks, was plundered. Ninety-six men
are known to have been killed, or about half of the adult Christian
men. The other half have become Mussulmans to save their lives, so that
there is not a single Christian left in Birejik to-day. The Armenian
church has been made into a mosque and the Protestant church into a
mosque school.”
It was natural that after the Sassun massacre attention should be
turned to that section of country, including the cities of Mush,
Bitlis and Van. In Van the Armenians are very strong, probably not
outnumbering the Moslems, who are chiefly Kurds, but so important an
element that in a strife they would be able to defend themselves with
considerable success. They are also of a generally higher grade of
intelligence and force of character than most of the race, and have
always been held somewhat in awe by the Turks. Their villages in the
vicinity, however, have been subject to constant raids by the Kurds,
and have suffered terribly. Bitlis is one of the most picturesque
cities in Turkey; surrounded by high mountains and divided among the
valleys so that it is impossible to get a general view of it. It is
almost entirely cut off from the surrounding country by the snow during
a considerable part of the winter, and is at all times difficult of
access. The population, both Kurdish and Armenian--there are very few
Turks--is rough and uncouth in manners and appearance. It has always
been a turbulent city, and it was inevitable that it should feel the
pressure of the prevailing uneasiness throughout the empire. The
situation is thus graphically described by a letter written early in
December, 1895:
“The summer just past has been a quiet one, interest chiefly
centering in the work of distribution at Sassun, where the gentlemen
have been laboring five months, annoyed by every sort of opposition
and insult on the part of the Turkish officials, and any success in
their efforts is due entirely to the presence and vigorous support
of the British Consul for Bitlis. Proof of the quietness of the
region and of the confidence all felt in that future which was to be
so wisely provided for by the ambassadors of the Christian nations
of Europe, is found in the fact that the writer made, without
apprehension, the four days’ journey from Bitlis to Van, with the
intention of staying a few weeks in the latter city. Three weeks
later the storm broke. The Sultan accepted the scheme of reforms.
The Moslems of Bitlis, forming a large majority of the population,
and more fanatical than their co-religionists in other cities, had
told the Armenians that in case of such acceptance the Turks would
see to it that no Christian survived to be benefited by a new regime.
The Armenians behaved most prudently--knew so vaguely, in fact, how
much or how little the reforms promised, that they manifested neither
elation nor anger.
“On Friday, Oct. 25th, the Moslems closed their shops and went to
prayer in the mosques. Soon, at a given signal--the cry that the
Armenians were attacking the mosques--the Turks rushed forth, closed
the entrances to the bazars, and each man killed every Christian
he could find. The Armenians made no resistance; they had no arms
and were taken by surprise, for the governor had given assurance of
safety but the day before. The barracks were close by, the troops
should have been on the spot on the instant, but some time elapsed
before they set out for the scene of slaughter, and when they arrived
the soldiers dispersed into out-of-the-way places and themselves
took part in the butchery. Repeated bugle calls had preceded the
attack; after three hours the bugles ‘called off,’ the slaughter
ceased, and the work of plundering began; and in this the troops took
a very active part. Men, women and children joined in carrying off
everything of the slightest value; goods, materials, instruments used
in the trades, and what was of no use to them was burned, till the
markets were swept absolutely bare.
“The number of slain accounted for was about 500, but the actual
number must far exceed that. The Turks themselves buried fifty
Armenians in order that it might be supposed that so many Moslems
had perished. In reality, only one was known to have been killed.
The governor soon after imprisoned forty leading Armenians, and with
threats of still more fearful massacre tried to make them sign a
paper which laid the blame of the affair on the Armenians. This they
would not do, but so great was the pressure that not a few signed
the following statement to be telegraphed to the Sublime Porte and
patriarchate: ‘Several ignorant and low fellows from our community,
induced by evil designs, were the cause of this trouble, and got
their punishment in being killed. We that are left are loyal to the
Sultan and grateful for his gracious government.’”
On the northern edge of the great Mesopotamia plains, fully 1,000
feet above the plain, is the city of Mardin. It is the centre of the
Jacobite community, who are found not merely on the plain, but in
the rough and mountainous country through which the Tigris runs, and
extending nearly to Bitlis. There are few Armenians, but the Kurds are
very powerful and very hostile to all Christians, as has already been
described in certain chapters of this book. It was inevitable that they
should look with considerable jealousy upon their more favored comrades
glutted with Armenian plunder. They could see no difference between one
Christian and another. All were alike infidels, all under the ban of
the Prophet, all alike proper booty for them. They therefore gathered
in numbers in the mountains, attacked whatever villages they could with
reasonable safety and came up to the borders of Mardin. The following
is from an eye-witness:
“The beginning of trouble for us here at Mardin was determined by
the outbreak which began in Diarbekir after the midday prayer on
Friday, November 1st. The riot continued for three days; Kurds from
without riding in, looting and firing shops and houses adjacent to
the market. When the Kurds were expelled from the city and the gates
closed against them, they turned their attention to the villages.
These one after another were taken, plundered, and in many instances
burned; the massacres being generally in proportion to the degree of
resistance made by the villages. A district about ninety miles long
and fifty broad, east of Diarbekir and up to the borders of Sert, in
the province of Bitlis, was swept by this hurricane of destruction
wherever Christian villages nestled among the billows of this rolling
country. We are not yet in position to estimate the number of killed
and wounded in cities, towns and villages.
“The first intimation that the wave of wanton wreckage was moving
southward was given in the attack upon Tel Ermin, Wednesday, November
6th. This papal Armenian town of 200 houses and 60 shops, five hours
(20 miles) west of Mardin, was taken on the following day, plundered
and burned. The next day Goeli, a Syrian village south of Mardin,
and only two hours (8 miles) off, shared the same fate. At about the
same time three other villages fell into the hands of the Kurds,
and only one, 20 minutes north of the city, remained intact. This
they tried to capture, but were driven back. The Kurdish tribes on
every side were determined to attack Mardin after finishing their
destruction of the villages. Meanwhile the local government was
actively preparing for defense and the leading men of the city, both
Moslems and Christians, in a most fraternal spirit, joined their
efforts to those of the government to prevent a repetition of what
had occurred at Diarbekir. On Saturday and Sunday, November 9th and
10th, three serious attempts were made by the Kurds to enter the
city, in the hope that they would be aided from within. In this they
were disappointed, especially when they were fiercely attacked by
the very parties on whom they were relying to let them in. They were
obliged to draw off with severe loss. The Kurds persistently asserted
that a firman for the slaughter of the Christians had been given, but
that the Christians of Mardin had bribed the government to conceal it
and defend them. When the Kurds realized that the government and city
were a unit for the common defense, they drew off and the tide of
attack swept farther east, taking Nisibin and some twenty Christian
villages in its way. Many of the latter were also burned. Midyat,
like Mardin, resisted all attacks.
“The result of all this is that already some 3,500 refugees are
collected here with a prospect of more to follow. In the village of
Kulleth, nine hours (36 miles) east, 300 refugees from the Diarbekir
plain are begging food and clothing. The entire Christian population
remaining in Sert have been stripped of everything. Large measures of
relief will need to be instituted before winter is over, or thousands
will die from exposure and hunger.”
Similar scenes occurred in other places. There was, in general,
however, considerable effort on the part of the government to protect
these Jacobite Christians. In the city of Mosul, the governor’s orders
were very positive that there be no trouble at all, and in numerous
villages the soldiers not merely drove off the Kurds, but escorted the
villagers to places of safety.
A general survey of the massacres brings out certain very distinct
facts, which should be kept in mind in considering their nature and
their effect.
1. With only five exceptions of consequence, the massacres were
confined to the territory of the six provinces in Eastern Turkey where
reforms were to be instituted. These places were Trebizond, Marash,
Aintab, Urfa and Cesarea. Every other massacre of any prominence
occurred within the very provinces for which the reforms were promised.
In those four places the Moslems were excited by the nearness of the
scenes of massacre and by the reports of the plunder which the other
Moslems were securing.
2. The massacre in Trebizond occurred just before the Sultan, after
months of every kind of opposition, was compelled to give his assent to
the scheme of reforms, and from there the wave spread over the whole
empire.
3. The victims were almost exclusively Armenians. The large Greek
population in Trebizond and also in the vicinity of Cesarea, suffered
scarcely at all, and the Jacobite population in the region of Mardin
not more than would necessarily be expected from the incursions of
the Kurds. Special care was taken to avoid injury to the subjects
of foreign nations, apparently with the idea of escaping foreign
complications and the payment of indemnities. The damage done to
American buildings in Harput and in Marash was apparently in direct
disobedience to special orders sent, and in those places, as well as
in Aintab, Urfa, Cesarea, Bitlis, Marsovan, and indeed in every place
where there were foreigners, the strictest orders were given that no
harm whatever should come to them. A notable instance of this was in
the city of Urfa, where an American lady missionary was protected by
troops from the fanatical Moslem populace even at considerable risk to
themselves.
4. With slight exceptions, the method was to kill within a limited
period the largest number possible of Armenian men, especially those
of capacity, intelligence and wealth, and to ruin their families
by looting their property. Thus, in the city of Ak-Hissar, not far
from Nicomedia, the order was distinctly given, “Kill the men; the
women and children will then fall to us.” In several places the most
explicit promises had been given that there would be no danger to
those who opened their shops, and yet in almost every place a sudden
and simultaneous attack on the market-place was made just at noon
when shop-keepers and clerks were in their shops and unable to flee.
The perpetrators were also in almost every place the resident Moslem
population, reinforced by Lazes, Kurds and Circassians. Exception must
be made of certain cities, as Erzrum, Erzingan and Harput, and to a
degree, Aintab, where the soldiers of the regular army took a part
in the work, and in two instances commenced and closed the massacre
itself at the signal of the bugle. In a few instances, as at Diarbekir,
Arabkir, Malatia and Gurun, the Armenians undertook to defend
themselves, and in those places the slaughter was terrible, reaching
not less than 2,000, and in some cases 3,000. The plunder was complete.
The shops were absolutely gutted, even the doors and windows of the
houses were carried away, and in the market-places not a single article
of merchandise could be found. In many places even the clothing worn by
men, women and children was stripped from them and they were obliged to
flee naked.
5. The motive, so far as it has to deal with their religious
fanaticism, is dwelt upon in a succeeding chapter. So far as the
political element was concerned, it was evidently a firm resolve to
crush out the only element of the Christian population which appeared
to have any chance of asserting itself against the Moslem Government.
The Moslems everywhere felt that their supremacy was at stake, and that
unless these Armenians were thoroughly suppressed, they would, with
the support of Europe, gain the upper hand. Only thus can be explained
the apparent destruction of the best of the taxpaying element in the
empire. The thought was to make sure of their political supremacy, and
no other way of securing this could be conceived than by diminishing
the number of the Armenians and utterly destroying the power of the
survivors.
6. The responsibility for this whole movement must rest with the
Central Government at Constantinople. A brief survey of the events
in their chronological order will make this apparent. The trouble
in the Sassun region commenced in 1893 with contests between the
Armenian villagers and the Kurds, in which the Kurds were worsted.
They appealed to the Turkish Government, which supported them with
regular troops. Officials went to the Armenians, charging them with
revolution. This charge was denied; absolute loyalty to the Sultan was
avowed, and subsequent investigations of the commission proved that
this avowal was genuine. The fact of the appearance of an occasional
member of the revolutionary party by no means involved the endorsement
of that party by the entire community. During 1894 the pressure from
Europe became more and more strong, and through various sections of
the country went the statement by officials and by priests that there
was an organized effort to make the Armenians supreme and to destroy
the Turkish power. The massacres at Sassun in the fall of 1894 were
absolutely unprovoked, as has been shown above. The statements of the
Turkish Government with regard to them were proven to be absolutely
false. The men who were directly responsible for them were honored
by the Sultan himself with decoration and promotion. Then followed
the summer of 1895, during which repeated pressure from the European
powers was brought to bear upon the Turkish Government for reform,
and as persistently refused by that government. If it be granted that
the disturbance in Constantinople was occasioned by unwise action of
Armenian revolutionists, the riot by the Softas, which was not checked
by the Turkish Government, was allowed as an indication of what might
happen. The massacre at Trebizond commenced in the courtyard of the
government house, and the governor himself was in direct telegraphic
communication with Constantinople throughout the whole massacre. From
Trebizond the wave spread southward and then in every direction over
the empire. In every case promises made by officials of the Turkish
Government were not only not kept, but were ostentatiously disregarded.
In every case the police or soldiers of the regular army either looked
on and did nothing to hinder the massacre and pillage, or took a direct
share in it. The conduct of the Turkish Government throughout the whole
and since, in absolutely denying statements that were perfectly well
known to be true; in making misrepresentation upon misrepresentation;
in throwing obstacle after obstacle in the way of those who would bring
relief to the people, and in its methods of treatment with the foreign
Powers, makes it very evident that it understood the situation, but did
not wish it known.
To suppose that all this could happen through a series of years
and months without the immediate knowledge of the government, is to
assume that the government is entirely ignorant of the most important
details of its administration, and no one who has followed the course
of Turkish history for the past three years will admit that this is
possible. The officials in Constantinople knew just exactly what was
going on over their empire and did absolutely nothing to hinder it.
Whether direct orders were sent from Constantinople to the local
officials instructing them as to the day and hour of commencing and
closing the massacres, it is probably impossible to say. There are
many things that point in that direction, but it will require later
and more full investigation to establish that fact. As to the personal
responsibility of the Sultan, various positions have been taken. He
has been described as so kindly and cordial, so sympathetic with his
people, as to be utterly incapable of having anything to do with such
wholesale destruction in his empire. The secrets of the Palace are not
yet known. It is sufficient, however, to say that, with possibly the
exception of Mahmud II, no Sultan has ever lived who gave such minute
attention to the administration of the internal affairs of his empire.
To suppose that he was ignorant is to belie his whole past history;
to suppose that he knew, but could not prevent, is to credit him with
a weakness that would be indignantly repudiated by every Turk in the
empire.
[Illustration:
LOOTING IN STAMBOUL. Scene of the Riots. Breaking open stores and
houses and stealing the goods of Armenians.]
[Illustration:
MASSACRE IN STAMBOUL. This is a sketch drawn by an eye-witness of the
murder of Armenians by officers, Softas and Kurds in the streets of
Stamboul.]
CHAPTER XXVI.
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.
Motive of the Massacres--Primarily Political, then Religious--The
Religious Element Overpowering the Political--Dread of Christian
Domination--False Statements by the Turkish Government--Instances
of Persecution and Enforced Conversion to Islam--A Tremendous Moral
Disaster--Efforts of the Government to Suppress Reports.
The previous chapters have been confined chiefly to the physical
aspects of the massacres. There has been, however, another side that
is even more appalling, and that is the moral and religious disaster.
The question is often asked whether this is a religious persecution.
The question is not an altogether easy one to answer. From one point of
view it is purely religious, from another, purely political. The truth
probably is, that in the East the two are so inseparably associated
that it is impossible to distinguish accurately between them. To the
Moslem, every Christian is either a slave or an enemy, to be taxed for
service or to be destroyed. So long as the Armenians made no effort for
political power, they were slaves; the moment they showed hostility
to or impatience with Moslem rule, they became enemies. It made no
difference whether that hostility was actual or not; if it had any
existence in the minds of the Turks the result was the same. It is
unquestionable that there was a widespread belief among the Turks that
Moslem rule was in danger, not merely from the revolt of the Armenians,
but from the assistance assured, as they believed, to the Armenians by
the European Powers. Hence, first of all, their hostility was directed
against them, and so far it was distinctively political. They began
to realize, however, that murder, pure and simple, was not going to
accomplish their purpose. How was it to be done? There was only one
other method--forced conversion. What this means, no one who has not
had some personal knowledge of Mohammedan lands can fully imagine. To
the political hate and savage desire for plunder was added the ferocity
of Moslem propaganda. Any one who has read in history the record of
religious persecutions can form a faint conception of what that means,
but to understand to the full is given to few people. At the risk of
occasional repetition we give some instances of the manifestation of
this destructive religious character of the massacres. It will be
noticed that parallel with forced conversion has gone the outraging
of women. So long as the chief idea seemed to be the suppression of a
supposed political revolt, or the looting of property, this was not
so noticeable. The moment, however, that religious fanaticism came to
the front, the most brutal sensuality was made manifest. A significant
comment on Mohammedanism.
“At Chunkush, in the province of Diarbekir, there were 6,000 Armenian
Christians. On the 4th of November, the first attack was made and the
town was partially pillaged. On the 8th, 11th and 14th of November,
these attacks on the Christian houses were repeated. The Protestant
church, school and parsonage, and many other buildings were burned by
the Turks. 880 Armenians were butchered, and the remainder were forced
to accept Mohammedanism at the point of the sword.
“In Palu, in the same province, in the month of August, the governor
called upon the Christian notables and told them that he had received
orders to tell them that the Sultan had decided to introduce reforms,
but that the reforms would be with the sword. This speech reported to
the British Embassy at the time, led to the removal of the governor. On
the 5th of November, this town was plundered by the Kurds and Turkish
troops with but little shedding of blood. On the 11th of November,
the attacking force returned, and out of a total Christian population
of 2,400 they slaughtered 1,580 souls. The Protestant chapel was
demolished, and the school and parsonage were taken as barracks for the
troops. On the 10th of December, but 300 Christians were left in Palu,
and they were at the point of perishing with hunger. The government
issued bread to keep them alive, but the public ovens refused to sell
to Christians. The policy seemed to be to keep the people at the point
of deepest misery, in order to force them to become Mohammedans. The
distribution of bread by the government consisted of the filling of
several baskets with pieces of bread and emptying the baskets into
the street for the people to scramble for the bread. A number of
Christian families, driven by hunger, fled to the city of Harput, about
thirty-five miles away, where there is a Governor-General. They hoped
that this high Turkish official would at least give them protection and
bread to eat, since it had been announced that the government intended
to feed all the suffering ones. On arrival at Harput, however, they
were bitterly disappointed. They were simply put under arrest and sent
back to starve at Palu. At Severek, in the province of Diarbekir, out
of a Christian population of 2,900, nearly all of the males, in all
750 persons, were killed. This left the authorities free to regard all
the women and children as Moslems, and they were distributed among the
Mohammedan populace to be taken into their houses.
“At Urfa, after the massacre and pillage which took place on the 27th
and 28th of October, the police went around from house to house in the
Christian quarter announcing that the people must accept Mohammedanism.
They carried axes to break open the doors. All who refused they killed
on the spot. Those who accepted the offer were required to put white
turbans on their heads and to hang white flags on their houses. The
number of white flags displayed seemed innumerable after three days
of this sort of work. Shortly after this a storm arose which carried
away many of the white flags. They were not renewed, since the people
understood that the government would not recognize these forced
conversions. But on the 28th and 29th of December, these people were
attacked by the Turks and over 1,500 of them were killed as apostates
from Islamism. At Albistan, in the same province, after the massacre
began, the people were overpersuaded by the assurance that all the
Christians in the empire were being killed, and nearly the whole
Christian population accepted Mohammedanism on this representation.
“At Adiaman, in the province of Harput, on the other hand, the same
story was used without effect, and out of the Christian population of
800, only 20 were left alive. At Husenik, in the province of Harput,
the Armenian priest was tortured to force him to become a Mohammedan.
On his persistent refusal, and while he was still living, his body was
obscenely mutilated, and at last the poor man found rest in death. The
Protestant preacher in this village and a large number of the people
accepted Mohammedanism in order to escape the fate inflicted upon
this martyred priest. At Gamirgab, in the same province, after the
Turks and Kurds had pillaged all the Christian houses, they burned 70
houses which could be fired without endangering the Turkish houses,
and removed doors and windows from the remainder so as to render
them uninhabitable. The head master of the government school in the
place, one Ali Effendi, then called the Christians together, and told
them he would order them massacred at once if they did not accept
Mohammedanism. The people accepted the new religion, but appealed for
relief to their bishop at Egin. On demand of the bishop, the governor
ordered that these new converts should be released from their promise
of conversion, and now the people live in hourly fear of massacre as
apostates from the Mohammedan faith.
“At Arabkir, in the province of Harput, on the 6th of November,
Turkish civilians aided by soldiers suddenly made an attack upon the
Armenian shops in the market. Arabkir had an Armenian population of
about 18,000, and a Turkish population of about 30,000. When the
Turks began to attack the Armenian houses, the Armenians resisted.
Then the authorities called in Kurds from the surrounding region and
made a systematic destruction of the Christian quarters of the city.
The horrible work lasted six days, and at the end of that time 4,000
Christians had been killed, and 2,750 Christian houses had been burned.
Many of the survivors accepted Islamism in order to escape. All alike,
however, were stripped of everything they had in the world, and in some
cases even of their clothing. The narrative of one of the survivors, an
entirely trustworthy woman, gives a vivid impression of the horror of
the experience: “On the 5th of November, our Turkish neighbors, with
whom we have always been on good terms, came to tell us that orders
had come to kill the Christians, but that seeing our house was next to
theirs they would like to help us, and that if we would pay them for
it they would defend us. After some bargaining it was agreed that we
should pay them $25.00 for the service. This was not easy to find, but
we gathered all the money that we had and what jewels we possessed, and
so satisfied them. On Tuesday the massacre began by an attack upon the
market and then upon the houses. The roar of the firing and the shrieks
of the women were awful, but our friends defended us. That night there
was no sleep for us, for the attacks on the houses and the firing kept
up all night. The next morning our Turkish friends said to us: ‘We have
fulfilled our promise, but the massacre is still going on, and we can
defend you no longer unless you become Moslems. Otherwise you will all
be killed.’ The firing was going on all the time and houses were being
set on fire, and the smoke made it seem as if the end of the world had
come. I fell on my knees before my father, who was the only man in our
household of nine people, and begged him not to swerve from his faith
in Jesus Christ. He rebuked me for thinking such a thing of him. We all
prayed for help and waited to see what would come. That day my father
was killed, but they did not kill us because we were only women. But
they made us go for three days into a house with a great many other
women, while they robbed our house of everything. They did not burn
the house because their own house would have burned also. After they
had taken everything from our house, they let us go back into it, and
thought themselves very kind for doing so. Crowds of our friends who
were left without shelter came to the house, and we have about 50
people in every room, all without bedding and all without food. What is
to become of us?”
“At Tadem, in the same province, out of 1,800 Armenians 270 were
killed. The survivors escaped only by accepting Mohammedanism. Two
Armenian priests were killed, one after shameful mutilation. Of the
outrages on women there is no use in trying to keep account. They are
universal and hardly attract attention. At Tadem, a Turkish notable was
selling Christian women to Turks and Kurds in exchange for horses and
donkeys, as long as a month after the massacre. He also kept a certain
number of Christian women whom he presented for the night to any police
or soldiers who passed through the village on their rounds. The same
atrocious practice is reported from other places also.
“In the provinces of Harput and Diarbekir alone, over 8,000 Armenian
houses have been burned, and more than 15,000 Christians are known
to have been killed, while every day adds to the list. Fifty or more
Armenian ecclesiastics are known to have been killed for refusing to
accept Mohammedanism, and the list of martyrs among the Protestant
pastors has risen to twenty. Some of these are among the best and most
influential men in the Protestant community. In connection with this
subject one incident may be mentioned. At Cesarea, in the province
of Angora, on the 30th of November, 600 Christians were murdered by
the Turks of the city. In one of the Protestant houses of the city a
father and his little daughter, twelve years of age, were alone, the
mother having gone to visit a married daughter before the massacre
began. A fierce-looking Turk suddenly burst into the room where the
little girl was sitting. He spoke to the child in as kind a voice as
he could command. ‘My child,’ said he, ‘your father is dead because
he would not accept the religion of Islam. Now I shall have to make
you a Mohammedan, and if you will agree to it I will take you to my
house and you will have everything that you want, just as if you were
my daughter. Will you become a Mohammedan?’ The little girl replied:
‘I believe in Jesus Christ. He is my Saviour. I love him. I cannot do
as you wish, even if you kill me.’ Then the ruffian fell upon the poor
child with his sword and slashed and stabbed her in twelve different
places. What followed no one knows. The house was pillaged and burned
and the body of the father was burned in it. But that evening a cart
was brought by a Turkish neighbor to the house in another part of
the city where the mother of the little girl was staying. The Turk
said to her, ‘I have brought you the body of your little girl. You
are my friend and I could not leave it. I am very sorry for what has
happened.’ The mother took the body of the little girl into the house,
and found that there was still life in it. A surgeon was summoned.
He restored the child to her senses, and she is now in a fair way to
recovery.
“Another indirect method of destroying the Christian communities
in these provinces must be referred to. As if for the purpose of
destroying self-respect and the grounds of religious hope, a systematic
course of debauching Christian women has been kept up in some of these
provinces. At Tamzara, in the district of Sharka Kara Hissar, in the
province of Sivasall, the men were killed in the massacres early in
November. From a well-to-do Armenian population of 1,500, all that
remain are about 300 starving and half-naked women and children.
Trustworthy information from this place, dated the twenty-fourth of
January, says that the most horrible feature of the situation of these
women is, that passing Mohammedan soldiery or civilian travelers attack
them and outrage them in their houses without hesitation and without
restraint. This license has been observed toward these wretched women
during all of the three months since the massacres.
“Information from Mezreh, the seat of government in the Province of
Harput, dated the twenty-seventh of January, says that the same license
to abuse Christian women exists in that province also. Within sight
and hearing of the Governor-General’s palace, Mohammedan young men
have broken into Christian houses by night and worked their infernal
pleasure upon the women of the houses. It is not once or twice that
this thing has happened, but it is week after week, until the women are
reduced to the condition of public prostitutes without will of their
own.”
In view of such facts, it is scarcely surprising that a missionary
wrote as follows:
“The world will have heard of the physical side of the disasters which
have come upon this country. The moral aspect is still more deplorable.
When the Saracens conquered these lands, they offered the people the
alternatives of the Koran, tribute or the sword. These Moslems first
strip the people of everything, commit other nameless outrages, and
then the only alternative presented is Islam or death; and this in the
nineteenth century. Hundreds of people have accepted martyrdom rather
than deny their faith. Many more, some from fear of death, and others
to save their families from a fate worse than death, have formally
accepted Mohammedanism. In most of the villages and towns in this
region, the majority of the survivors who were not able to flee, are
now professed Moslems. Throughout all this wide Harput mission field,
there is probably scarcely a Christian service held among Gregorians or
Protestants outside of this quarter of the city. Although the church
here was burned, our Sunday services have been maintained in the
college. Churches have become mosques, and the trembling Christians
are taught to pray after the Mohammedan form. Schools, of course, are
disbanded, although we are gathering together the boys of our male
department at the college; and we hope to do the same for girls if we
can secure rooms outside, as the girls’ college is a complete ruin.
“Every day, from morning till night, our hearts are torn by the
recital of the most horrible tales of bloodshed and outrage and
heartless persecution. Some of our best and worthiest men tell of
the agony which they suffer from the position which they hold as
Mohammedans in form, while their whole being revolts against it.
They say: ‘We would welcome martyrdom with cruel torture, if only
our wives and children could be saved from the clutches of these
men by death or by some sort of freedom. We have gladly surrendered
our homes to the flames and our property to plunder; but we cannot
sacrifice our families.’ Here is a very serious problem. Of course we
cannot justify this position; and yet, when we see the fate of many of
these helpless families, bereft of their protectors, it is not in our
hearts to reproach those who have saved their lives by this hypocrisy.
Either alternative is dreadful; and to stand in the presence of such
calamities so utterly helpless, except to cry to God in the agony of
our hearts, is a trial which we never expected to experience.
“Of course, we cannot tell what the outcome will be. We believe that
God has a people here, and that in some way, out of all this ruin,
he will rebuild his Church; but at present the outlook is dark in
the extreme. Many of the churches, parsonages and schools have been
destroyed, how many we do not know, for the country is in such a state
that traveling is very unsafe and reports come in slowly. We know
that seven of our pastors and six preachers have been killed, and we
may hear of still others. Few of the preachers remain at their posts.
Not only would they be put under a pressure to accept Islam, but they
are hated because they are understood to be promoters of freedom
of thought. Then, too, where their congregations are recognized as
Mohammedans, their presence among them would not be tolerated.”
As these facts have been spread abroad, a storm of indignation has
arisen over the entire Christian world, such that even the Turks
dared not disregard it, and accordingly, “early in January the local
officials of the provinces of Harput and Diarbekir sent orders to the
recently ‘converted’ villages, on no account to admit, in case they are
asked, that they were forced to become Mohammedans. The people were
informed that death would be the penalty for any complaint respecting
the compulsion used to force them to accept Mohammedanism. There are
15,000 of these forced converts in the province of Harput alone, and
about 40,000 of them in the whole region devastated by the massacres.
If the European Powers would send a commission through the provinces to
learn the real facts, they could easily verify these statements, and if
they could let the people know that they would not be betrayed to the
Turks, they would find that these people are pleading for relief from
the servitude to a hated religion into which they have been forced.
If the Powers could demand of the Ottoman Government the issue of a
proclamation condemning these military conversions, and giving the
victims of them liberty to return to their own faith without incurring
the death penalty which has now been pronounced against them, the mass
of the people would gladly return to the Armenian Church.
“Information from several points in the provinces of Sivas, Harput,
Diarbekir, Bitlis and Van, shows that the process of forcing
Christians to become Mohammedans is still actively used. Week by week
the Christian population is warned that all who have not accepted
Mohammedanism are to be massacred. Every Friday is a day of terror
for the Christians in all of these provinces. Constant pressure is
exerted to induce people in despair to deny their faith. In the country
districts neither priest nor pastor dare venture out of their hiding,
for they would be instantly killed as men who would interfere with
the conversion of the people. In the villages, Christian worship is
generally prohibited throughout the six provinces of the reform scheme.
In twenty-eight villages in the district of Harput, there had been, at
last accounts (January 30, 1896), no Christian worship since the first
of November. This abolition of Christian worship among a Christian
people is simply a part of the purpose to abolish Christianity.”
We close this chapter with a few illustrations drawn from places well
known, and in regard to which there can be no possible question:
“Saturday evening, November 2d, the inhabitants of Kutturbul, just
across the Tigris, east of Diarbekir, took refuge from the Kurds in the
large stone church of the Jacobite Syrians, to which they had already
moved their household goods. Fugitives from three other villages, which
had been attacked the day before, had also taken refuge here, so the
church was packed with goods and people. That night the Kurds, with
some men from Diarbekir, surrounded the church and began to shoot into
the high, narrow windows by which it is lighted. Aboshe Jacob, pastor
of the Protestant church of the village, was the first one struck,
but his wound was not serious, and he kept on his feet, giving such
comfort as he could to his distressed companions. Seeing little effect
from their efforts to dislodge the people and get at the booty, about
midnight the Kurds tore up part of the vaulted roof, and first throwing
in firebrands through the opening, then poured kerosene down upon the
blaze, at the same time firing their guns into the defenseless crowd of
men, women and children. A frantic rush was made for the door; but it
was locked, and could be opened only with the key from the outside. As
is the case with most of the old churches, in order to prevent their
desecration by being used as stables for horses, the door was very
small, only some four and a half feet high by two and a half feet wide.
After much effort it was finally broken open, and the smoke-stifled,
flame-scorched, terror-stricken crowd poured out from the narrow
egress, only to meet a deadly shower of bullets from the surrounding
Kurds.
“Among the crowd was Pastor Jurjis Khudhershaw Anteshalian, a graduate
from our Theological Seminary in 1868; for some years pastor of the
church in Mosul, later engaged in evangelical work in Egypt, whence he
had but recently come to visit relatives. As he came out he was at once
recognized by his beard and intelligent face as one of the clergy, and
was seized, thrown down and clubbed. One of the books which had been
scattered about by the marauders was thrust into his mouth, and he was
mockingly called upon to read the church service. Firebrands were then
thrown upon him, and as, restored to partial consciousness by the pain,
he began to crawl away, he was clubbed again, drawn back and burned to
ashes.
“The next to suffer was Pastor Hanoosh Melki, of Karabash, three hours
east of Kutturbul; a classmate of Pastor Jurjis, an earnest worker, and
especially efficient as an evangelist. He was ordained and installed
pastor of the Karabash church at the time of its organization, but
had resigned, and was expecting a call to the church in Sert, which
was then on the way to him. Kurds attacked the village Saturday
afternoon, November 2d, but were repulsed; and that night most of
the unarmed villagers took refuge in the large buildings erected
around the outskirts of the village for dovecots. Having received
large reinforcements during the night, the Kurds renewed the attack
at daybreak Sunday, in spite of a cold, driving rain which had set
in, and, getting possession of the village toward noon, began their
horrible work of pillage, burning and slaughter. As soon as Pastor
Hanoosh, in the dovecot where his family and many others had taken
refuge, knew that the village had been taken, he tried to open the
small door opposite one at which the Kurds were already trying to force
an entrance. Before he could get it open they broke in, and he was
the first to meet them. Judging from his beard that he was the priest
of the village, they supposed he, of course, would have a large sum
of money with him, He only had some bread, and taking a loaf from his
bosom he gave it to one of them. They were enraged at this, yet would
have spared him had he but raised one finger in token of acceptance of
Islam. Refusing to do this, he was struck down by a sword and killed
before the eyes of his wife and children. His body was then stripped
and his family plundered.
“The third to fall was Hanna Sehda, son of one of the first pastors, a
member of our last theological class, and a preacher of much promise.
After graduating in 1890, he ministered for a time to the Sert Church,
of which his father had formerly been for a long time pastor. He
refused its urgent and oft-repeated call to become its pastor, and
had been for only a few months with the Karabash church, which liked
him much and had just built a parsonage for him. That Sabbath morning
he led his wife, a graduate of our Girls’ High School, and their
three little children out of the dovecot, where, with many others,
they had taken refuge the night before, and fled to a village half an
hour away, which had already been plundered, and where they thought,
for a time at least, they might be safe. Benumbed with the cold and
rain, they were glad to find in one of the vacant houses a supply of
fuel--cowdung mixed with straw, and made up into large cakes--and soon
had a comfortable fire. Here they were joined by Pastor Hanoosh’s widow
and children and others. Toward sunset a roving band of Kurds came upon
them as they were grouped around the fire, and stripped them of most
of what was still left them. Later, another band came, and, enraged
at finding nothing left for them to plunder, turned upon the men.
These, seeing that the Kurds meant to kill them, rushed out, and made
their escape in the darkness, though fired upon. Hanna had taken his
two little boys out with him, but finding he could not get away with
them, he let go their hands and made off. Already faint with hunger
and stiff with cold, he could make but slow progress. So he was soon
overtaken by the Kurds, to whom he refused to yield by accepting Islam
to save his life. The last seen of him by one of his church-members as
he looked back in his flight, he was extending his arms to ward off
the sword-blow which hewed him down, after which a gun was discharged
into his body. A few days after, one of his congregation, compelled by
Moslems to go to the village where he was killed, saw that his body
had been burned. His baby girl and youngest boy died that night from
exposure, while the elder boy and his fair-looking mother were led away
into captivity, from which, however, they were recovered later and are
now at her father’s house.
“The fourth victim was Pastor Aboshe, of Kutturbul, already mentioned
as the first one wounded in the church Saturday night before the
roof was broken in. He escaped through the broken door, and though
thrust with daggers as he passed out, made off in the darkness and
climbed a tree in which he stayed till near morning. Then he got down
stealthily, and made his way to a house in which cut straw was stored,
where he stayed hidden until Monday noon, when he felt sufficiently
revived to go out in search of his scattered family. He found them in
a deserted bath not far from their own house, his wife uninjured, one
child killed, a married daughter lying in a corner fatally wounded,
in attempting to protect her husband who was killed, the eldest son
severely wounded, while a younger daughter had been carried away
captive. They passed Monday night caring tenderly for the wounded
daughter, mourning over the captivity of the younger one, and praying
for deliverance from further woes. Tuesday a roving band of Kurds went
through the village to see if anything were still left to plunder,
and, finally coming to the yard of the bath-house, began to abuse some
of the pastor’s congregation who had gathered there, as it was a more
protected place than most. The pastor, overhearing them, went out to
try to persuade them to cease from further barbarities toward those
who had already suffered so much. Perceiving that he was a ‘spiritual
head,’ as the clergy are called, the Kurds at once called on him to
renounce his faith and embrace Islam. He fixed a steady gaze on them,
but said nothing. ‘Ha!’ said one, ‘see how the _kafir_ (infidel)
still holds stoutly to his faith.’ Another said to him: ‘Just raise
_one finger_ (this is accepted by them as a confession of _one God_:
Mohammed His prophet), and you will not be harmed.’ Instantly he calmly
replied: ‘I shall never raise my finger.’ Immediately a Kurd near him
made a thrust at him with a straight dagger, while another a little
farther away put a bullet through him, right in the presence of several
of his flock. His firm faith and bold confession of it in the presence
of death was the weightiest sermon they had ever heard from his lips.
He was the most scholarly and refined among all our native helpers.
He came of an educated, priestly family, and his grandfather was the
author of a grammatical work in ancient Syriac. Mr. Andrus’ first
sermon in Kutturbul years ago from the text, ‘Son, go work to-day in my
vineyard,’ was the means of his conversion and of bringing him later
into the ministry. Soon after graduating from the theological seminary
he became pastor of the church in his native village, Kutturbul, and
during his pastorate had erected a beautiful little chapel, the finest
in our field; now, alas! used as a sheepfold, while the adjoining
school building has been burned. Out of his congregation of 161 souls,
98 went with him into eternity, and of the 63 remaining, 18 of them are
wounded; most are scattered abroad--some of them we know not where.
Half of our pastors have fallen, ‘not accepting deliverance;’ half our
churches are scattered; one-third of our stations are destroyed. But
God _still reigns_ (Ps. 2). He is faithful and true, and His promises
_sure_. Pray with us that the desolate places may speedily be rebuilt;
that His Church, purified and quickened by this tempest of persecution,
may apply itself with fresh faith and zeal to His work; and that He
will shortly accomplish His purpose of grace for this land.”
[Illustration:
AFTER THE SLAUGHTER. Scene from an actual Photograph, showing how the
able-bodied defenseless Armenians were butchered in great numbers and
left where they fell.]
[Illustration:
BURYING THE ARMENIANS. A view of how thousands of the murdered
Armenians were buried in great trenches after the massacres.]
CHAPTER XXVII.
RELIEF WORK.
The General Situation--Absolute Destitution--Appeals to America and
England--Work in the Sassun Region--Van and Dr. Kimball--Appeals
following the Greater Massacres--Clara Barton and the Red
Cross--Opposition of the Turks--Letter from Van--After the Massacre
in Harput--Suffering in the Villages--Appeal for Help.
No one can fully understand what these massacres have meant to the
Armenian people who does not understand their manner of life; and no
one can understand that manner of life by mere description. It must
be seen and experienced. A few general remarks, however, will assist.
In the first place it must be remembered that there is absolutely
no system anywhere in Turkey of banking by which savings can be put
aside. Whatever of money is accumulated is immediately invested in
land or business, is loaned out or is hoarded. As a matter of fact
there is comparatively little of either done by the great mass of the
peasantry. The tax-gatherers understand perfectly how much each man’s
property is worth, how much the harvest will bring, how much clothing
and house furniture he has, and for centuries have made it their
particular business to see that it will not so develop as to give him
exceptional power. The fact that the general communities have been as
prosperous as they have been is, in view of all the circumstances, a
marvelous tribute to their industry and thrift. For the most part,
however, all have lived a hand to mouth existence, managing through
the summer and autumn to secure enough provision to keep body and
soul together through the winter, and starting in on the spring with
almost no supplies. Their clothing is of the very simplest; heavy,
coarse cloth and cloaks of sheep’s wool. The house-furniture is almost
nothing; a few quilts, an occasional mattress, a small table or two, a
few pots and kettles, sum up the entire property of the great mass of
the peasantry in the villages. In the towns and cities proportionately
it is scarcely better. True, the Armenians have had the trade of the
entire empire practically in their hands, yet it was rare that they
could secure more than a bare living. The collection of debts was
almost impossible, especially from Moslems. They were subject to all
manner of injustice. On the slightest pretext the municipal authorities
would enter in and confiscate anything they chose. In the towns there
was possible a certain amount of investment in the way of loans, but
most usurious rates of interest were charged, all the way from twelve
per cent. per annum to five per cent. per month. The risk, however,
was proportionate and many a man was happy if he secured enough of
his principal, and enough of his interest together to give him a very
slight income. The house-furnishing was more elaborate than in the
villages, but by no means such as would be considered even comfortable
in this country. A few merchants lived well, but the great mass of
artisans and tradesmen were poor with a poverty that is scarcely known
even in the slums of our great cities. Under such circumstances, to
destroy the homes and furniture, the shops and their merchandise, was
in itself a most terrible loss. It left the people without capital
or trade, without the means of everyday life. When to this was added
the wholesale massacre of men--the bread-winners, the employers, the
laborers--the situation was something terrible. Families without number
were left absolutely destitute, with no food to eat, with scarcely any
clothing, and in some cases with no clothing, with no homes to live
in, and with absolutely no hope of any support except as it should
come from sympathizing friends. Add to this the general demoralization
referred to in the preceding chapter; the utter despair as the
result of the bitter cruelties of the Turks and Kurds; the terrible
outraging of women, destroying the very essence of true womanhood,
leaving perfectly blank horror to take the place of home life--and the
situation is something which in this country cannot by the most vivid
picture be absolutely understood.
It has always been to the honor of America and England that they have
been in the forefront to relieve destitution, and no sooner did the cry
of these sorrowing and destitute ones come up from every portion of the
Turkish Empire than it met with a hearty response in both countries.
After the Sassun massacre and through the summer of 1895 repeated
efforts were made to bring relief to that comparatively small section.
Many were provided with food, and a commission of relief was sent by
the English to assist in the distribution and help on the general work.
A Turkish commission was also appointed, with what result will be seen
below. It would appear as if this was something that would appeal to
all; and yet the distributers, some of them American missionaries,
some of them English consular officials, found themselves constantly
hampered by the opposition of the Turkish officials and, most of all,
the Turkish Relief Commission. Objection was made to the distribution
of relief, and when relief was given, the tax-gatherer came around to
see that the proceeds of relief came back, first in their own pockets
and then in driblets into the imperial treasury. A few paragraphs from
letters written in that summer by an American will give an idea of the
situation:
“Dr. R. joined me at Bitlis and we talked with the Governor, who, of
course, was very smooth, though I felt he had other things in mind. The
promised letter was not quite as I expected, though the Mush Mutessarif
seemed to meet us and Mr. S. (an Englishman), pretty cordially,
and supplied us with a guard. Promised tents for the sick were not
forthcoming, while people from Dalvorsig were in trepidation from
fear of the Kurds and were being pressed to sign petitions of thanks
to the Sultan, or, as a condition of relief at the hands of the local
Mutessarif, who ended his words by saying that if they did not sign
such a paper, he would set the ruffians upon them to extermination. So,
with Mr. S., I went down to see the Mush Governor, having in mind also
to hasten on the supplies for the sick.
“But, as might be expected, jealousy of the government, local and
general--at Mush and Constantinople--leads to throwing about us all
possible hindrances. The guard supplied, two men, speak Armenian. One
of them is chief secretary of the Mush police, and boasts that he is
sent with us to spy out and report all our doings. Of course, we are
doing nothing we are ashamed to have him know, only we had put in our
protest against two men nominally being supplied when but one, came and
he with no gun and deputized from his government to serve as a spy for
its purpose, while our men have to feed and serve him.
“We reached here the 12th inst., and soon put ourselves in
communication with the Turkish Relief Commission, composed of five
members, two of them Christians--calling on them the day we came. They
returned our call the next morning and seemed provoked to good works,
as we hoped, claiming to be on the way to hunt out lumber for the
buildings, in forests controlled by Kurds. The next day they assigned
all of 44 ‘godes’ of millet to this village of more than 70 houses,
making a gode to about 28 persons. When I was at Mush on the 23d ult.,
though I did not succeed in getting into the province, I pushed on a
scheme of relief through other hands and inaugurated the sowing of some
65 kilehs (the kileh is 20 to 25 bushels) of millet, the near villages
loaning two hundred oxen to help on the enterprise. The time set for
the oxen was ten days, but the owners have been patient now for 30
days. The day after our arrival we got a few men at work in a small
way on the old desolate walls, though there is but one person left
alive in this village, and in Sennik, near by, not one. The commission
has been sitting here these three months and, so far as appears, has
done nothing, save to give out less than £400 of the reported £2,000
($8,800) in its hands and distribute 185 godes of millet; not a sound
of hammer has been heard towards rebuilding the devastated houses. The
members of the commission draw 40 piasters, $1.60, a day (in a country
where 25 cents a day is high wages). We have come to give free service
for humanity, and they now act the part of the dog in the manger. On
Monday I was at Mush and with Mr. S. called on the Governor, arranging
matters satisfactorily so far as words go, but, alas for empty words
and lack of good deeds in this justice-lacking land!
“They make their declaration that nothing is to go direct through our
hands, though we may oversee--they are the accredited Commission to
do the work, and why should we take the trouble? To this we replied
that we had come for work, not ease, and we alone must be responsible
for the funds in our hands, just as they are for the funds in their
hands, though we will cheerfully consult with them as friends and are
willing to show them account of every expenditure, and they may do the
same toward us. But they were implacable, boasting of written orders
as to how work for all must go on through their hands. At first they
suggested, and we accepted the apportionment of their choice, that
they get up the lumber while we work at building, as well as feeding
the multitude. This time Dr. R. takes his turn at the wheel, and has
gone down to see the Mutessarif in company with the Consul (English),
most likely to see what the fates are to evolve. There is hope the new
Consul may arrive today, and Mr. S. had news by telegraph he could
leave. This seems to indicate a bit of progress in the reform line,
though the flying in the face of our efforts for humanity by the local
government, backed, of course, from Constantinople, looks in the
opposite direction.”
More encouraging was the report given by the Van Armenian Industrial
Relief Bureau of its work during that same summer, under circumstances
where the Turkish Government were unable to hinder as much as in the
more isolated villages of the Sassun region. We give a few extracts,
not merely to show what the work was and how it was done, but to give
an idea of the need:
“This province would be--if common safety prevailed--a great
wool-producing country; while abundant cotton is brought from our
near neighbor, Persia. This suggested a simple solution of the work
problem. In response to appeals made in anticipation of certain future
demands, some small sums of money had, as early as June, come to us
for our distressed people. And on the strength of this money, and the
increasingly urgent demands for help, a tentative and very simple
beginning was made. A bag of wool was bought, weighed out into pound
portions, and whenever a woman came begging for help or work, her
case was investigated, her name registered, and she was given wool to
card and spin. On return of the thread, it was weighed and examined
as to quality: the woman was paid at a rate that it was estimated
would supply her with bread, and she was given another lot of wool.
The giving of two or three lots in this way was enough to bring down
on us a crowd, and speedily we found a large business flooding in
upon us--one demanding good organization and a corps of distributers.
Cotton was added to our supplies, and all the processes and tricks of
the two trades were quickly investigated, and every attempt was made
to put the enterprise on a sound business basis. Infinite watchfulness
was necessary in guarding against impostors, and in preventing petty
thieving and unfaithfulness on the part of those who took work. The
medical work had given us acquaintance with the people, and from our
ex-patients we were able to select at once those whom our hearts had
ached to help to gain a living--those whom sickness had forced to
sell everything--and a good corps of helpers was soon organized. Men
to keep the door--and it often took three men to do this against the
clamoring crowd; men to receive and weigh the wool, cotton, and thread;
men for the various demands of the Central Bureau. For the first two
months the work was accommodated in our house, in the rooms used as a
dispensary, and we were in a state of siege from morning to night. The
long lower hall was devoted to a row of cotton-carders, the twang of
whose primitive cards, and the dust of whose work, filled the house
from early morning till dark, while a crowd of wretched men and women
were never absent.
“The accumulation of thread brought the necessity for weavers and all
the processes of weaving had to be studied with their peculiar tricks
and merits. The demand was met at once by weavers who were out of work
and in dire poverty. The thread was given them by weight, and the woven
goods received by weight; and they, in turn, were paid with due regard
to the needs of their families. Then to the children and some who were
too weak and sick to do the heavier work, yarn was given to be knitted
into socks.
“Shortly, we found ourselves in possession of a good stock of cotton
cloth, woolen goods for the loose trousers worn here, and huge piles of
coarse socks. And the question what to do with them came to the front.
The suggestion was made that this work might help and be helped by the
Sassun relief work, by our supplying materials for distribution there.
The proposition was submitted to Messrs. Raynolds and Cole and gladly
accepted by them, and this arrangement has been the means whereby our
Bureau could double its efficiency, thanks to having an assured market
for all its produce, without affecting the said industries here, which,
on the contrary, it should help.
“Our goods are done up in bales here, loaded on donkeys or ox-carts
and carried down to the lake harbor. There they are received by the
miserable little sail-boats that ply the lake and taken--with prayers
for insurance--to the opposite side of Van Lake, a distance of some
sixty miles. Thence they are transported by horses or carts to Mush,
the headquarters of the Sassun Commission. The journey takes from
ten days to two or three weeks, according to the weather and other
exigencies of travel in this land. The entire distance is only about
one hundred and twenty miles.
“In this way we have already sent some 2,000 pairs of socks, and 1,400
webs of cloth, to the value of £ T. 216 ($950). A good market can be
had here in Van for all our products, and, indeed, we have sold enough
here to bring our total sales up to £ T. 258 ($1,156). But selling here
has the disadvantage of bringing down the price of goods and injuring
the poor producers, while, on the contrary, our trade with Sassun has
had the incidental advantage of advancing the price and thus helping
the community by so much.”
The total number of workers is as follows:
Spinners of Cotton and Wool 373
Weavers of Cotton Goods 49
Weavers of Woolen Goods 22
Weavers of Carpets 5
Carders 9
Spindle Rillers 9
Sizers 4
Weighers, Door-tenders, etc. 5
---
Total 476
With the greater massacres that followed the disturbance in
Constantinople and Trebizond, there broke upon the Christian world
a revelation of horror and of terror that was even greater than
any previous. From every side came the most piteous appeals to the
Christian world. Language itself seemed to fail in telling of the
situation, and many a sturdy man and high-hearted woman felt absolutely
helpless as they looked out over the plains, into the villages and
along the streets of the most prosperous cities, and saw starvation
and death staring hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children in
the face. Some conception can be gathered from the paragraphs in the
preceding chapters. Those need not be repeated here. It is sufficient
here to say that everywhere throughout England and America there was
a prompt and cordial response. We have to do especially with the work
in this country. Committees were formed in a great many cities and
Armenian relief associations of one kind and another were organized.
Armenian Sundays were observed by many churches; collections were taken
in churches, Sunday-schools, colleges, societies and mass-meetings;
journals opened their columns for relief subscriptions; individuals
collected funds privately; Armenians throughout the country contributed
from their slender resources; and the money was forwarded promptly to
the field.
The question immediately arose as to how this money should
be distributed. The first thought of everyone was the American
missionaries. They were known to be disinterested, to be wise, to be
impartial and thoroughly in sympathy with the need. But they were in a
very difficult position. They were looked upon with suspicion by the
Turkish Government, and to a large degree by the Turks themselves,
many of whom felt that their influence was political and that their
work was directed to the ultimate subverting of the whole Ottoman
Empire. At the same time there was no one else. The absolute lack of
banking facilities throughout the empire made them practically the only
persons through whom relief could come. A single illustration of the
situation is furnished by the statement that the Armenian Patriarch
in Constantinople when he wished to send money to his own people in
Eastern Turkey was obliged to come to the Bible House and secure
the drafts of the treasurer of the American Missions. Money sent by
mail was never sure of reaching its destination. The Turkish postal
arrangements were all at odds, and more than that, the reception of
money in any interior city by any except foreigners was merely the
pretext for the appearance of Turkish officials who sought to deprive
the people of what little they had. Moreover, there were many sections
that the missionaries themselves could not reach. They were under
suspicion in their homes and traveling was almost impossible. For a
time there seemed to be hesitancy on the part of many lest the money
that was contributed should not reach the people who needed it. The
proposition then was made most naturally that the great Red Cross
Society should furnish its aid. Its record, not merely in war but in
famine, was most noble. In Russia and in this country it has done
yeoman service. The appeal came first from the field and from those
who, ready and willing to do all they could, felt that the burden was
heavier than they could bear. The appeal met with a cordial response
and Clara Barton, notwithstanding her advanced years, rose immediately
to the emergency and gathered her forces to join with those already
on the field for the relief of the thousands of suffering ones. It
was at this time that an effort was made to combine the different
relief committees in this country, and the organization was effected
of a National Armenian Relief Committee, with Justice Brewer of the
United States Supreme Court as its president and Brown Brothers, the
well-known bankers at 59 Wall Street, New York City, as treasurers.
Other organizations were invited, not to sink their own individuality
in this general committee, but simply to co-operate with it. For a
time it seemed as if everything was going favorably and Miss Barton
was on the point of starting. Then came the well-known objection of
the Turkish Government. Word was sent that the Sultan absolutely
refused to allow the Red Cross to do the work. In the first place
he denied that there was any work needed; affirmed that the stories
of suffering were false, gotten up purely for political effect; and
that whatever work was needed was already being done through Turkish
officials and could be carried out by the corresponding organization
in his own empire called the Red Crescent. Miss Barton, however, and
those in charge of the committees, were not discouraged. Appeals were
sent through Congress and the President and in an unofficial way
pressure was brought to bear by Minister Terrell in Constantinople.
The result was that at last objections were overborne and Clara Barton
and her associates reached Constantinople. From there they have spread
throughout the empire using the means already at hand of assisting
those who are overborne, and are bringing relief to the sufferers in
all the empire.
To give that work in all its details would require a volume by itself.
Erzrum, Trebizond, Bitlis, Van, Mardin, Harput, Sivas, Cesarea,
Marsovan, Urfa, Aintab, Marash, are the centres. To them from every
direction come in the anxious suffering victims of the most barbaric
cruelty the world has ever known. From them go forth the streams of
life to the thousands of poor unfortunates unable to leave even the
miserable shells of homes left to them. Engaged in this work are noble
men and women of high education and the greatest refinement. It is no
easy task for them to meet the scenes that face them on every side.
Regardless of threats, fearless of disease, anxious only to do for the
poor people, whose sole return can be a “God bless you,” spoken out of
depths such as are unknown in more favored lands, they stand at their
posts clothing the naked, washing the wounded, binding up broken limbs
and soothing broken hearts. Well did Sir Philip Currie, the British
Ambassador, say of them, that in the great cloud of disaster and ruin,
the one bright thing that stood out before the world was the courage,
devotion and common sense of the American Missionaries. And now they
are joined by Clara Barton, representing altogether that highest reach
of American help for the needy. A grand company, an object lesson to
the world of American Christianity.
We can do no better than to give extracts from letters from Van and
Harput, describing the relief work in those places. The following was
written in Van in December, 1895:
“Dr. Kimball now employs over nine hundred persons, who represent
over forty-five hundred souls who are kept from starving and freezing
this winter through her efforts and the contributions of friends. Yet
she has to turn away hundreds of applicants who crowd around her daily
with such desperate persistance that she cannot walk from her workshop
here without being fairly pulled to pieces by the famishing crowd. It
can readily be imagined that this turning away of applicants is the
hardest part of her work. Of this nine hundred the greater part are
spinners and weavers, and are paid off by a native employe; eighty-six
are sizers, carders, cutters and weighers, whom she personally pays
off. On one Saturday evening she paid off these men and opened a new
account with each between half-past four and half-past six. But since
the beginning of the massacres of the last two months, her work has
been trebled.
“Some of the villagers, many in fact, were forcibly kept within their
own boundaries, to starve. Thousands of others, in the scanty rags
left them, toiled, hungry and half frozen, through the snows to the
city. Dr. Kimball immediately undertook, single-handed, to relieve
them. Immense crowds of the miserable creatures throng her court daily.
She has the case of each investigated, thoroughly and with despatch,
then registers him, gives him a ticket on the two bread ovens she has
rented and runs herself, and gives him clothing--clothing which has
been manufactured by her own workers, from the raw cotton and wool. To
avoid being cheated and to give work to more needy people, she has a
department which cuts and sews garments for these poor, which she gives
out instead of piece goods. She has just started another department
which is making bedding for the same poor. Thus in these weeks she
has fed and clothed over 4,800. Every detail of the work requires her
personal supervision, so you may understand why she is so busy. She
has, besides, several surgical cases. Her workpeople beg to be paid in
bread instead of money, so she wishes to open another oven. But just
now funds seem to be gathering slowly in England, and fearful of debt,
she has resolved to register no new cases till the next mail comes
at least, with, we hope, more encouraging financial news. One great
difficulty is the scarcity of money in the city. The governor gave out
that he would open an oven for the poor, and several thousand were
registered, but no oven has been opened by him nor ever will be, though
he will get the full credit of such a proceeding in Constantinople and
Europe.”
The following was written to friends in this country by one of the
missionary company at Harput, and gives a very vivid picture of the
scenes in that city, one of the great centers of relief work:
“I never shall forget the moment when I first realized (after the
massacre) that the clothes I wore and the change which I had in a shawl
bag with me were all my earthly possessions. It was a good feeling, not
only because there seemed to be just so much less to separate me from
Christ and heaven, but because, surrounded as we were in that college,
by 400 of our people who were stripped of every comfort, we could feel
that not one of them could turn and say, ‘You cannot understand our
sorrows.’ That first night and the next morning after the attack, when
to each of us was given a small piece of bread for our meal, again
there was a feeling of fellowship which I doubt not did us all good.
“All honor to the brave cook who first dared to go out to the market
and bring us something a little more relishing. It seemed to us a deed
almost worthy of being mentioned with David’s brave men who brought
him water from the well at Bethlehem. To be sure, every mouthful half
choked us, at first, because of the mental strain upon us, but soon
we appreciated the fact that it was our duty to try to live. We were,
many of us, sleeping on the floor on hard mattresses, five feet long
and three and a half wide. Imagine three of us occupying one, with half
of the body resting on the bare floor. But sleep was good. It was the
awaking each morning to a realization of the horror of our situation
which seemed an evil.
“When the mixtures of feathers, molasses, straw, papers, flour
and canned fruits was cleaned from the two homes remaining to us
missionaries, there commenced the work of making bedding and a very
little necessary clothing, and gathering together household utensils.
At first it was a grave question where we should get any money. The
safes of the station had proved no barrier whatever to the greed of
the plunderers. Few of us had had enough fear of an attack to try to
save money or valuables, or, if we had, the fear was so desperate as
to leave no heart to care for worldly possessions. The other world
seemed too near for us to have any ‘thought for the morrow.’ But it
was remarkable how, little by little, the market furnished us, not
only with money, but with supplies for all our immediate wants. I need
not tell you how delightful it seemed the first time we sat on a whole
chair, at a table, with a cloth and napkins and with a knife and fork
and spoon apiece! Nor what sleep was, the first time we stretched
ourselves upon our beds!
“As soon as it seemed safe for the people to leave the College and
scatter to their homes, we who had been the touring missionaries, Miss
Seymour and myself, hired one room where we commenced to have bedding
made for the boys in the school. Soon it seemed evident that this was
the beginning of a widespread work of relief for the sorely stricken
people in all this region. The work has naturally divided itself up
among those who were freest to take it in charge.
“Dr. Barnum and Mr. Gates have stood at the head of the Relief Work.
God bless them for their undaunted courage in the time of fear, attack
and fire. God bless them for the inspiration of their faith and trust
in Him and for their skill and wisdom in dealing with the difficulties
of our situation. Day after day, for many weeks, their rooms have been
crowded with people of all classes. Sometimes there is a procession
of ragged villagers shivering with the cold; then again five or six
Armenians of influence, now humbled and anxious; later, two or three
Turkish officers whose present state of mind and heart we will not
pretend to fathom. All sorts of things are wanted, from ‘Akkul’
(wisdom) down to five paras (half a cent). One man tells how a neighbor
has gained possession of his bed and won’t give it up; another of how
a Turkish Bey wishes him to sign a receipt for eighty pounds which the
former never has paid, and, if he does not sign, the Bey will burn
his father’s house! Another comes to plead that money may be given
to release one of our school-girls, still held in possession by the
Kurds. A Turk comes to say that two or three of our horses have been
found and he can get them, for a suitable compensation. Another comes
to say that he knows where our lamps are. One man wants to rent us a
safe, another wishes to get money and another to give that scarcest
of all articles. During a quiet evening of rest at home, in comes a
Protestant, full of deep anxiety for his sister in a near village. She
and all her relatives have become Moslems in name through fear, and now
the Turks insist that she shall marry her brother-in-law who has one
wife already! A living death is existence on this earth, to such as
these.
“In the midst of all these questions which truly belong to ‘Relief,’
come long consultations about letters, telegrams, College work and
funds. Dr. Barnum maybe said to possess three tongues, English, Turkish
and Armenian, which he uses at will. To Mr. Ellis falls the work of
giving out tickets for bread. He now has some 1,500 hungry people on
his list. He also superintends workmen in tearing down or building up
walls.
“Miss Seymour and I found the one room far too small for our work. The
latter has grown, until we have taken the whole house. Immediately
after breakfast Miss Seymour goes there to find the front room packed
full of women and girls who have come to bring back the suit of
underclothes each took the day before, receive her pay, the small sum
of two piasters (nine cents), and take home a new suit to sew. Or,
it may be wool for a pair of stockings, for knitting which she will
receive nearly sixteen cents. Miss Seymour commences the work of the
day by a brief reading from the Scriptures, a few words of comfort, and
prayer.
“Later I came from my Bible class in the Male Department of the College
and we worked together at the Relief Rooms the rest of the day. Three
other rooms in the house are filled with women who are cutting out
garments, and bedding; sewing these; filling ticks with straw and
quilts with wool; spinning thread with which to sew and carding the
wool for stockings. We also buy cotton and send out to near villages,
to furnish the poverty-stricken people with spinning and weaving. At
first, it was a grave question how many whole spinning wheels and looms
had been left by the vandals who had broken everything they could not
carry away or burn. From these rooms have gone out over 2,505 suits of
underclothes, 104 pairs of stockings, 220 mattresses, 302 comfortables,
besides money and native calico for outside wear.
“We have various kinds of helpers in the work; one, our Rebecca, a
graduate of the College, patiently sits by us all day long, to write
down the names of those who are to take suits and cross off the names
when they are returned and paid for. Then there is the energetic
Vartar, superintendent of all the cutting and sewing; she leaves at
home each day a little son and daughter, both wounded in the massacre
here; the little boy has been a great sufferer, and has longed to go
and be with Christ. There is Caspar, our touring servant, who now buys
our thread and straw and runs on errands generally. Then Asdur, who was
the first to brave the dangers of a ride to Mezreh to send telegrams
to Minister Terrell, informing him of our condition, and who has ever
since gone hither and yon to hunt up cloth and money, dive into Turkish
houses after bedding and stolen goods, and carry and bring telegrams
and registered letters. Then Giragos from Hoh, across the plain. His
home, shop and fields he has been obliged to leave to their fate and
flee here to save his life, or, worse than death, to save himself from
being made a Moslem by force. His face lights up with joy at every good
deed we call upon him to undertake. He found fifty-three refugees from
the plundered village of Geoljuk, the other day, and was made happy by
the privilege of dealing out a bit of money to each and one hundred and
fifty suits of clothes to take back to the village. It is he who buys
cotton for us, weighs it and gives it out to villagers and gives us the
account. Then come Sitrag, Mardiros and Hohannes. The first fled from
the village of Hoh, where he was preaching, just in time to escape the
attack there. The second was one of our colporteurs. He was away at a
village and was robbed of all his books and most of his clothing and
came here bare-footed and bare-headed. The last is a preacher who, the
past winter, was sorely discouraged over his work in a near village
and became really ill over it, but is now well and glad to work for
others. These three are constantly examining into cases needing relief
and entering their homes to see whether the need warrants our incurring
expense for them. We are often in sore perplexity over these cases.
We are constantly in danger of running on the Scylla and Charybdis of
severity and too large mercifulness. It needs the wisdom of the serpent
and the harmlessness of the dove to do just right and then we have to
run the risk of some criticism, but we know that this must be expected,
and we do seek to walk carefully and to obtain wisdom from on high.
“It would require volumes to tell you the touching incidents of this
relief work. How many of those dear boys and girls in the College,
whose bedding was freshly and nicely arranged for this term by a kind
mother’s hands, were soon to mourn with her, she in some distant city
and they here, the massacre of husband and father. The father and
two of the brothers of two of our girls were slain in the massacre
at Chermuk, which was one of the most severe and horrible of any
place. About 650 men were killed in that small town where are only 400
Christian houses. Anna, the mother of these girls, was three times
stripped of all but two pieces of underclothing. Finally a kind Turk
told his wife that she would be much to blame if she did not clothe and
feed that poor widow and her children. But, fearing worse evils, in
spite of all the dangers from robbers and the journey in winter, she
made her way here, where we have given her clothing, bedding, bread and
work, and I trust, some comfort for her wounded heart. Her husband and
sons were not even given burial. Our devoted Churkush pastor perished
nobly testifying for Christ, and his wife also braved the dangers of
the mountain journey rather than be separated longer from her eldest
son who is in college here. We look into the sad eyes of these women
and do not need to ask them what they have seen. Oh! the depths of
anguish which only one look reveals and yet they are so patient. God
comfort them.
“Another day comes word of an arrival from Malatia, a beautiful woman,
with five young children. Last year she was inconsolable over the death
of her husband from cholera. Now she tells in the most tragic style of
those awful days of fighting; of the surrender of the church in which
the Christians had sought refuge; of her discovery of some relatives
after having wandered about alone in her flight to the church; of
passing out through files of soldiers; of God’s wonderful protection so
that not a Turk or Kurd looked at her or her children for evil; then,
with home and property all gone, finally comes the dangerous journey
here and a shelter with her poor old mother-in-law, and our supply for
her immediate wants.
“A company of women from Palu came in, who fled from that place of
horrors, because defenseless women and girls are constantly being
carried off by Turks and Kurds and men are turning Moslem from fear.
One poor woman, thin and white, her face almost covered with her veil,
in true Palu style, but shivering with cold and nervousness, told of
the death of her two-weeks-old baby on the road. The little thing was
frozen!
“A woman from a village on the opposite side of the plain is brought,
just rescued from the house of a Kurd, where she had been held captive
during the three weeks since the assault. She now works in our rooms
and we have tried to do all we can to comfort her for her murdered
husband and that awful three weeks, but never a smile lights up her
face. More pitiful still was the case of two little girls, sisters, who
had been carried off in the same way. A brother, fearfully wounded,
their only protector, and he was not able to save them from the bitter
experience so common in these days of lawlessness. More than one mother
has brought her daughter to this city to be under our protection as far
as possible, fearing greater evils than death.
“An Oriental woman thinks more of her head-covering than of any other
part of her attire. What rags of black kerchiefs now cover the heads
which bend low before us until they kiss our feet to beg for charity.
Other city women who clothed themselves in silk dresses and sheets, now
appear in coarse, loose Turkish trousers and on their heads a common
old cloth. They dare not do otherwise, for, if they appear in a shawl,
some Turk is sure to say in passing, with a look of hatred, ‘Ha! you
still wear shawls, do you?’ The family comb, even, has gone in many
cases, and for many days there was an indiscriminate borrowing of this
useful article!
“Very many priests were slain in the massacres and those who have
escaped have been to us, from far and near, for bedding and clothing.
They are exiles from their homes at present, not daring to return, lest
they should be killed. To such we seek to deal most liberally, for we
hope to show the true spirit of gospel love and to break down the wall
of partition which has so long separated them from us. Henceforth we
wish the names Protestant and Gregorian to be merged in the one holy
title of Christian.
“One man from a village where we have long tried to find entrance, but
encountered bitter and unconquered opposition, pleaded for help most
persistently. Finally I said, ‘Brother, I do not know you; how can I
tell if you are really needy? If you were a Hulakeghli, (a native of a
village near, where we have had a flourishing church), I should be able
to tell your name and your circumstances and to trust your word. Now I
want to help you, but am puzzled; see what you have lost.’ I am glad
to say that we found a safe way of helping even that dark village, and
Mr. Gates was much pleased with the way money was distributed there by
their own people.
“Many have been the wonderful deliverances of our Protestant pastors
and preachers. The preacher at Palu was separated from his wife and
both were in the greatest peril. He was in hiding in a stable with his
wife at first, when the Kurds came in and attacked and killed the men
there. Baron Asdur, this preacher, was saved by clinging to two women
to prevent their separating enough from each other so that he could be
seen. Finally, during another attack there, they were all driven from
that spot and he received what was supposed to be his death-blow. His
poor little wife sat and wept over him awhile, then fled, alone, for
her life, from one spot to another. A Kurd seized her in the street
and said, ‘Now you are to be my wife!’ He dragged her off a little way
when she saw two soldiers. She pulled away from the Kurd, crying out,
‘I won’t go with this man!’ and placed herself under their protection
(?), half crazed with fear as she was. A well-known Turk in the city
saw her, picked up her shoes and veil and put them on, and took her
to his house with the assurance that she was to be his wife! Poor
child, she was joined there by many refugees and one of them who knew
her soon said, ‘Do you know that your husband is down stairs?’ She
hastened down to find him, pale and ghastly, standing in the hall of
the Turk’s house. The story of how they were ejected from that shelter,
as the Turk’s life was in danger if he protected them longer, of their
appeal to the Governor of Palu, of another kind Turk’s lending them
money to escape to Ichme (the wife’s native village, on this plain,
and a journey of eight hours), and of his flight from there here, clad
in coarse, old village clothes which he had picked up, is too long
to relate in detail. He was not safe in Ichme, since our pastor, the
priest, and many of the chief men had become martyrs and others left
alive had become Moslems. The sequel was that Sara followed him here;
we gave them clothing and bedding, and a small salary was continued.
A babe was born to them soon after they were nicely settled, but Sara
lived only a few days, and one of the works of relief done by willing,
sympathizing hands, was to buy cloth for the burial dress, and for the
lining to the outside and inside of the plain wooden box in which her
tired body was laid to rest. In a couple more days he buried his old
mother, who had fled from the fearful attack on Hueli, another village
on the plain.
“There is a famine of the Word of God in our field, for thousands of
Bibles and Testaments in cities and villages have been trodden under
foot, torn to shreds, or thrown into the fire to burn; and one of the
most touching questions asked us in our Relief Rooms is, ‘Haven’t you a
Bible to give me? We long for a Bible.’ We have to tell them that all
the great store we had of God’s precious word is gone and even Miss
Seymour and I have no English or Armenian Bible of our own, only each
a little Testament. So Miss Wheeler is superintending the printing by
hand of packages of texts of Scripture, which are distributed with the
work each day, and by Dr. Barnum and Mr. Gates to men who come to them.
The boys of the school do this printing to earn their schooling.
“I have said that we examined the cases carefully, to see if we were
warranted in giving relief. It is true that there are thousands of
cases we can never reach. It is also true that there is scarcely an
Armenian family anywhere that does not need help, for with merchandise
and tools plundered, with roads too dangerous for travel and public
confidence all gone, what is there in the present or future to awaken
hope? How are those who are in these circumstances to live? Another
grave problem is the difficulty of getting money as fast as it is
wanted. There is no credit. People cannot get their debts paid, or
drafts cashed. In Malatia, where 4,000 Armenians and perhaps 1,000
Turks were killed, the £50 we first sent was divided up among the most
needy and about 3½ piasters, or 14 cents, was given to each person,
or 22½ piasters to a family of six persons--that is, about 90 cents.
Remember that everything is gone, houses, bedding, clothing, stores of
food, shops and merchandise. It is said that widows and orphans wander
about the streets begging, even going into the market-place in their
desperation, and there the Turks often stand and throw out handfuls of
nuts, or crumbs of bread, and laugh to see the poor creatures scramble
after them.
“A party of travelers coming from Palu saw a company of people
coming down from a mountain toward them. They proved to be plundered
Christians, driven out of their homes into hiding-places in the
mountains, where they were subsisting on green stalks of wheat and
such herbs as they could find. They begged piteously for bread. Who
can describe the anguish of this land! ‘O Lord, how long!’ we cry.
May God, in His mercy, move multitudes of hearts to give with rare
liberality for these suffering ones. If we get these poor widows and
orphans through the winter, what means of living have they for the
future? Can we be too bold in our pleading that, for Christ’s sake, all
who enjoy the comforts and luxuries of life will give until they feel
it, for so pitiful a case? Do you wonder, as we think of the blighted
hopes for our homes and work, that we say, ‘Is the past a dream, or, is
it the present which is the dream, and shall we wake to find the dear
old rooms, the mementoes, conveniences, and old, loved paths of duty?’
Whichever it is, I tell you that we are content, and only know, more
and more surely, that ‘for us to live is Christ and to die is gain.’”
This story is simple fact, told by a woman whom the author knows well.
He has been a guest in those Harput homes, and in the villages, has
traveled over those roads, has shared with those pastors the services
of God’s house. Let his own most earnest testimony emphasize every word
of this record of devotion and of suffering, and add what force he can
to the plea for help--help ere it be too late.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
PARTITION OF TURKEY.
Factors in the Problem--Turkey and Europe--Topography of the
Country--Distribution of Population--Countries Interested--Russia,
England, France, Austria, Italy, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria--Desire
for Territorial Aggrandizement--Mutual Jealousies--Possible
Solution--Turkish Factor Often Overlooked--Great Difficulties to be
Met.
The subject of the partition of Turkey has been prominent before the
countries of the world for fully a century. At repeated intervals
the different journals, as well as the statesmen of this country
and of Europe, have given considerable space to plans for such a
partition. That partition has not, however, as yet taken place, and
its possibility depends upon a large number of factors which are
often overlooked. It is the purpose of this chapter to set forth the
situation as it is, as clearly as may be, not with a view to making any
prophecy of any kind--simply to furnish the basis for private judgment.
In any question of the partition of an empire, two factors are
prominent: 1st. The country to be divided, and 2d. The people among
whom it is to be divided. The first factor is the Turkish Empire; the
second, the nations of Europe.
The Turkish Empire has already in the first chapters of this book
been described in general. It is proposed here not to repeat those
statements, but to gather some of the facts and place them in their
relation to this particular topic. The first factor again is a double
one, (1) the country itself, and (2) its population.
Topographically the Turkish Empire may be divided into five sections:
1. European Turkey. 2. Asia Minor, extending from the Bosporus and
the Aegean Sea east to a somewhat irregular line drawn from Samsun
on the Black Sea south to Alexandretta. 3. Eastern Turkey, including
the section between Asia Minor and Persia, and extending south along
the borders of Persia and the Tigris as far as somewhat below Mosul.
4. Syria, including the section east of the Mediterranean as far as
Aleppo on the north and the Hauran on the east; and 5. Mesopotamia.
Arabia and Egypt practically do not enter in. Of these different
sections, European Turkey is a very irregular country, including the
eastern coast of the Adriatic, Macedonia and the southeastern part
of the Balkan Peninsula to Constantinople. It is a very diversified
section, with really no distinctive physical characteristics. Albania
is mountainous, as is also Macedonia to a certain degree, but the
mountains are by no means forbidding, and the different valleys furnish
comparatively easy access in every direction. Topographically, European
Turkey offers no particular difficulties to the progress of any
conquering Powers, the Balkans being eliminated. As we cross into Asia,
however, the situation is very different. Asia Minor consists chiefly
of a series of high plateaus averaging about 4,000 feet above the level
of the sea, separated from each other by rough rather than mountainous
sections, but all separated from the coast, north, south and west, by
mountain ranges of no very great height indeed, but extremely rugged
and difficult of passage. Eastern Turkey is entirely mountainous, with
numerous valleys, some of them of considerable extent, so that they
may fairly be called plateaus. Such are the plains of Erzrum and those
that branch off from it into the east, the plain of Mush and the plain
of Van. The mountains are, many of them, very severe, not merely of
considerable height, but extremely difficult of passage.
Passing south, Syria is divided by the Lebanon range of mountains
into the narrow coast-line occupied by the cities of Tripoli, Beirut,
Sidon, etc., and the Hauran. North of this, however, is a somewhat
extended plain or rolling country, whose chief cities are Aleppo, Urfa
and Aintab. On the north, where the Taurus Mountains form the division
between Syria and Asia Minor, there are quite a number of cities, such
as Marash, Albistan and others. Mesopotamia is pure plain, extending
from the sharply defined range that borders the southern part of Asia
Minor, and extends to a little degree into Eastern Turkey, clear to
the Persian Gulf. Often this is looked upon as desert, but there is
comparatively very little of real desert, and even the unoccupied land,
with a little irrigation, becomes fertile. The Mesopotamian plain
proper is as beautifully fertile as any section of the world.
Of these different sections the only two that are not separated from
each other are Asia Minor and Eastern Turkey. The line between them
is very vague. They are both separated very distinctly from Syria and
Mesopotamia on the south, and Syria and Mesopotamia are practically set
apart from each other by a wide extent of uninhabited land where there
is little to be found except roaming tribes of Bedouin Arabs. These
intervening ranges of mountains and tracts of uninhabited country are
traversed by almost no roads. On the Black Sea border there are really
but four roads that can be said to be available, penetrating into the
interior: Trebizond to Erzrum; Samsun to Sivas and Harput; Kerasun
to Sivas, and Ineboli to Castamuni. Only one, that from Trebizond
to Erzrum, can really be said to be a good road. That from Samsun
to Sivas was at one time fairly good, but is now in much disrepair.
Both pass over such sharp mountain ranges that they are very easily
defended in case of attack, and a comparatively small force could
hold them against a considerable invading army. The third road, from
Ineboli to Castamuni, passes over less rugged mountains, but through
a rough country, where defense is easy. On the west, the roads from
Constantinople by way of Nicomedia to Angora and from Smyrna in two
directions, on the north to Angora and on the south to Konieh, pass
over a very rough country, easily defended. On the south, from the
seaboard at Adana there is a very rough road to Cesarea; also one
extremely difficult of passage, certainly for armies, from Aleppo to
Sivas and Harput. From Mosul and Mardin to Diarbekir and on to Harput
there is a fairly good road, but that is also over a considerable
mountain pass. East of these there are really no roads at all, and the
passage from Eastern Turkey into Persia is confined to mountain paths.
Topographically thus, Asia Minor and Eastern Turkey are one country,
separated from all the countries around and from access by sea, by
mountain ranges of difficult passage.
Another thing that must be kept in mind is the general condition of
the country. Normally Asiatic Turkey is extremely fertile, not merely
the Mesopotamia plain already referred to, but the plateaus and valleys
to the north produce the most wonderful crops. Under the administration
of the past century, or the past centuries, however, this condition
has diminished marvelously, so that there are wide sections of country
practically deserted, with no cities, towns or villages, and not a sign
of cultivation, and even where there is cultivation, that is carried on
in as limited a degree as possible, because under the oppression of the
Turkish Government there is no incentive to increased production. The
most noticeable result of this condition, from the present standpoint,
is that a foreign army would find comparatively little upon which to
subsist. It would be compelled in great degree to carry its provisions
with it, especially in the face of the opposition of the people.
The second element in the first factor is the population. The general
characteristics of that population have already been stated and there
needs to be no repetition. Here it is sufficient to indicate the
general distribution. From Constantinople and the Aegean Sea through
Asia Minor and through a certain part of Eastern Turkey, the Turkish
population is in a considerable majority over all others. It occupies
the great plains of Central Asia Minor in strong force. It is found not
to so great an extent in the mountainous regions, but even there it
is the predominant element, not merely by virtue of being the ruling
class and identified with the government, but because of its force
of character. In the extreme eastern part the Kurds are in the great
majority, and they are to be found in considerable numbers through
all the mountain sections as far west even as Adana on the south,
and Samsun on the north. Through Western Asia Minor, in addition to
the Turks, there are numbers of Circassians and the tribes known as
Xeibecks, Avshars, etc. Armenians are found in very nearly equal
numbers throughout the whole section, though there is not one section
in which they predominate. They are strong in the cities of Van,
Erzrum, Harput, Sivas, Cesarea, Marsovan and the surrounding plains;
also in the mountain sections of Bitlis, Mush, Zeitun and Hajin. The
Greeks are found chiefly along the seaboard. All the way from Trebizond
on the Black Sea to Constantinople, then south through Smyrna, Adalia
to Adana, they are in large numbers, chiefly in the vicinity of Smyrna,
but they form a considerable element in Central Asia Minor. Armenians
are found to some extent all through Western Asia Minor. In no one
section, however, are the Christians even in a numerical majority over
the Moslems, and when account is taken of their general condition, the
fact that they have no arms, have not been allowed to have arms during
all these centuries, have had no training in organization, and have had
their mutual jealousies and hostilities constantly developed by the
peculiar system of government, and by their ecclesiastical differences,
it will be readily seen that it is impossible to expect of them any
organized resistance to Moslem government, or any effective assistance
to an invading army.
Passing south into Syria and Mesopotamia, very much the same condition
of things is seen. There are numerous Armenians in Northern Syria,
Marash, Aintab and Urfa. In Aleppo and Syria proper, the Syrians,
Jacobites and Maronites are the ruling Christian sects, and in
Mesopotamia the Jacobites, Chaldeans and Nestorians. The Moslems,
however, are everywhere the dominant class. Along the eastern bank
of the Tigris to a considerable distance below Mosul, the Kurds are
powerful, not merely by numbers, but in character, being of a higher
grade than their fellows to the north. Between them and the Syrian
coast, the whole country is dominated by the Arabs, all thoroughly,
even where they are not intensely, Moslem.
We come now to consider the second general factor in the question
of partition, the different countries which may be supposed to be
interested in taking their share. These countries are Russia, France,
Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, England and Germany, named in the
order of their apparent interest in the acquisition of territory.
Russia’s idea has been made sufficiently clear in the preceding pages
of this book. It may be briefly stated as follows: She needs free
passage for her merchant marine into the Mediterranean, in order to
the best development of her provinces, and also for her navy, in order
that it may be kept in good condition. At the best her egress through
the Baltic is uncertain, the harbors being closed by ice through a
considerable part of the winter, and the entrance to the Baltic is too
easily defended by other nations for her to be confident of securing
an always open passage. That is the immediate necessity. Beyond that
there is the great Russian idea of an empire that shall eclipse all
previous achievements of Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, French
and English. The future of the Slavic race is to her bound up in her
political supremacy, and ever since the time of Peter the Great, she
has pressed toward that point with unwavering fidelity, not always
with uniform energy, frequently allowing lapses, yet always with this
ultimate idea in mind. For that the entire Turkish Empire is essential
to her. She claims herself the successor of the Byzantine Empire
through the marriage of the daughter of the last Byzantine Emperor
to Ivan III, and she looks upon every inch of territory held by that
empire as legitimately hers, and proposes to claim it in due time. More
than that, as the defender of the Orthodox Greek Church, she claims the
primacy in the Holy Places and has put forth every effort to secure
her recognition there. With Russia thus, there is practically no such
thing as partition possible. She means to have the whole. She may
indeed waive a portion of it for the time, feeling herself unequal to
accomplishing her entire purpose, but the whole she claims, and the
whole she is determined to have at some time in the future.
France has no very great designs upon Ottoman territory. Undoubtedly
Napoleon had dreams of an Eastern Empire, but it may be questioned
whether his dreams have come down to the present Republic. Still,
France stands to-day as the patron of the Roman Catholic Church and
holds hereditary primacy in the Holy Places in Palestine. More than
that, the Roman Catholic Church has extended its influence throughout
Mesopotamia in a great degree, and French commercial interests,
increasing in the far East, have not been blind to the opportunities
furnished, first, by the Suez Canal; second, by the waterways of
Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. Her prompt action in 1860 secured for
her troops the occupancy of Syria and a general diplomatic precedence
in Damascus and Beirut. That she has never waived, but has rather
increased by numerous means. For Constantinople itself, it is probable
she cares comparatively little, but she does assert her claim to Syria
and her interest at least in Mesopotamia.
Austria comes next, as the Power most closely interested in a share
as residuary legatee of the Sultan’s domain. The Austrian Empire is
curiously heterogeneous in its character, embracing as it does Germans,
Czechs, Magyars, and the mountaineers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She
has the same need that Russia has, an outlet to the sea. At present she
holds only Trieste and Fiume, but has for some time looked with longing
eyes upon the rich valley of the Vardar, with its outlet at Salonica,
which she considers a legitimate addition to Bosnia. Whatever others
may gain, it is generally conceded that Austria would look for this at
least.
Next to Austria comes Greece. Her ambitions are well known and her
desires perfectly natural. She wishes Epirus and Thessaly, and it is
generally conceded that, in any division, a portion at least of those
sections should belong to her.
On the other hand, Bulgaria longs for Macedonia, and Bulgaria and
Greece together would scarcely look with approval upon a slice of
Austrian territory right between them. Bulgaria has already added
Eastern Rumelia, and the Uskup region and the upper valley of the
Vardar would almost inevitably fall to her unless Austria should come
down and claim the whole.
Italy’s interest lies less in the Sultan’s domain than in Austria. She
has long felt aggrieved by the loss of Trieste, and were Austria to
enlarge her borders south along the Adriatic coast and across to the
Aegean at Salonica, Italy might claim that her ancient port should be
restored to her.
England is ordinarily placed among the first of those interested in
the division of the Sultan’s domains. It is evident, however, that her
interests are not for the acquisition of territory, certainly beyond
the Island of Cyprus, which she now holds. Whether her occupation
of Egypt will be permanent or not, is a mooted question. There is
an increasing feeling in England that if only there can be some
international guarantee for the inviolability of the Suez Canal, it is
far better for England to withdraw her troops, and to content herself
with developing other possessions more thoroughly and entirely her own.
As a positive factor then with regard to the absorption of territory,
England does not stand in the front rank of those who look with eager
eyes upon the distribution of the spoils.
Germany comes last, because she really, so far as it appears, has no
desire whatever for territorial aggrandizement in that region, and is
mentioned merely because of her presence as a factor in the general
question.
The question of partition, however, is not by any means merely one of
special aggrandizement of the different empires. Even deeper interests
are involved in the mutual jealousies of the Powers, and the influence
that they seek to exert in preventive form, are in some respects the
most potent. While England, for instance, cares little or nothing
for territorial enlargement at the expense of the Sultan, she does
care very much that Russia should not overpower the Suez Canal. While
Germany has no designs upon Macedonia or Asia Minor, it is to her of
great importance that her nearest neighbor should not practically
surround her, by extending his domains even through to the Atlantic.
Italy cares nothing about the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, but
she does care about protecting her own borders against the incursions
of a powerful fleet exercised and trained in the Black Sea as an inland
lake. Greece may have no great desire beyond Thessaly and Epirus,
but she has no ambition to be swallowed up by the great Power of the
north. Bulgaria has fought too earnestly for independence to be willing
to lose all the ground gained during these past years. France will
scarcely be willing to see her traditional influence in Jerusalem
entirely set aside. How are these various ambitions to be gratified,
and these jealousies to be avoided? That, so far as the European Powers
are concerned, is the problem involved in the partition of Turkey.
Various solutions have been offered. The most plausible is one
outlined in a prominent English journal toward the close of 1895, which
is substantially as follows. Commencing with European Turkey: Bulgaria
to have the remainder of the southeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula
up to within a few miles of Constantinople; Austria to have the valley
of the Vardar, with the port of Salonica, and probably the Adriatic
shore, nearly to the Ionian Islands, Greece taking the remainder;
Constantinople, with the Bosporus, the littoral of the Sea of Marmora,
and the Dardanelles, to be made a Free State, with some sort of
guarantee by the European Powers, not unlike that by which Belgium
secures her independence. In Asia: Russia to be given full possession
of Eastern Turkey, including the cities of Trebizond, Erzrum, Harput,
Van, Bitlis, Diarbekir and Mardin, and, if she desires, the entire
Mesopotamia plain to Mosul, Bagdad and Bassorah, thus securing an
outlet to the Persian Gulf; France to have Syria, including the coast
cities of Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli and Alexandretta, and Damascus,
Aleppo, Aintab and Urfa; Jerusalem and the immediately surrounding
country to be made independent, under international protection, much
as Constantinople; England to be allowed Cyprus and Egypt, the Suez
Canal being under international guaranties; Greece to have Crete,
Rhodes and the other islands of the Archipelago, and Austria to yield
to Italy Trieste. Three sections remain, Arabia, Tripoli in Africa
and Asia Minor. The first would be left to itself, and Tripoli might
be divided between Italy and France; as to Asia Minor, there is more
of doubt. Until the time of the recent massacres, there was a very
general feeling that this might be left to the Sultan, with his capital
at Brusa, where his line began its reign, or at Konieh (Iconium), the
capital of the first Turkish (Seljuk) dynasty. Since the massacres,
there has arisen a popular demand that the rule of the Sultans should
cease, and two propositions have appeared: one that France should add
Asia Minor to Syria, the other that Russia should be allowed to extend
her borders west to the Aegean Sea and the vicinity of Constantinople.
In this and in all similar plans, there is an element that is
practically left out of sight, and that is the first factor mentioned
above, Turkey itself, the country and its people. There seems to be a
general impression that about all that the European Powers have to do
is to arrange among themselves, and then carry out any plan that they
may see fit. The difficulty of doing this will, however, be apparent.
To begin with, there is the country itself, difficult of access from
the outside, with such topographical characteristics as would render
it easy to carry on a guerilla warfare for a long time, necessitating
a large army of occupation, and so generally destitute that the
troops would require a considerable commissariat. There is also the
population. There are at least 6,000,000 Turks, and those who have read
the chapter on the Turks will readily see that they are by no means to
be overlooked. They are not at all the effete race they are sometimes
described, but in the interior provinces are sturdy, powerful men, of
great physical endurance, simple habits, and able to live where foreign
troops would scarcely find sustenance. Personally they are brave,
as the Russians who met them at Plevna and Shipka can testify; they
have no fear of death; indeed, under the influence of their priests,
they would throw themselves into the defense of their country with a
vigor and a recklessness that would tax the best troops of Europe. The
Turkish army may be, probably, is disorganized, yet the material for
a powerful army is ready at hand and needs only circumstances to call
it into being, and make it an engine of destructiveness whose power it
would be difficult to estimate. Account must also be taken of the other
Moslem tribes. The Kurds are, it is true, cowardly and easily subdued
in regular combat. They are, however, at home in the mountains and it
would require a pretty strong occupying force to keep them in absolute
subjection. Two and a half to three millions of such men are an element
which an occupying army can scarcely ignore. There are, too, the
Circassians and Lazes, far bolder and braver than the Kurds, cherishing
bitter resentment for their expulsion from the Caucasus, and eager to
take vengeance on any Christian within reach; the Xeibecks, Yoruks
and Avshars, of Western Asia Minor, who will not readily yield their
opportunities for plunder; the Druzes, of Syria; the Bedouins of the
desert and the milder, but by no means cowardly, Arabs of Mesopotamia.
To suppose that the entire Moslem world of Asiatic Turkey would quietly
stand by and see the European Powers apportion among themselves the
domains that have belonged to the house of Osman for six centuries,
is scarcely within the bounds of reason. It must be remembered too
that the Christians could offer little resistance to the Moslems or
be of great help to the invaders. A few, perhaps, like the Armenians
of Zeitun, or the Nestorians of Tiari, might hold their own in their
mountain fortresses for a time, but even then they would accomplish
little. Were the word to go from the minarets of the Mosques, from
Constantinople to Bagdad, that the Cross was threatening to destroy the
Crescent, there would commence a slaughter not unlike the one Kingsley
describes in “Hypatia,” when the Goths entrapped the Alexandrines and
piled the corpses in the center, keeping time to the weird notes of
their leader’s flute. In time, the succoring troops might come but they
would find the land one vast charnel house, with bones and tresses of
hair alone left to tell the story of the races that for the centuries
have kept true to their Christian faith.
It is easy, in well carpeted and luxuriously furnished drawing-rooms
and newspaper offices in Europe and America, to demand the destruction
of the Turkish Government, to lay down plans for the apportionment
of the empire, and then to deride statesmen as cowardly because they
hesitate to carry out those plans. The Cabinets of London, Paris,
Vienna and Berlin understand the situation perfectly, and they, far
better than newspaper correspondents and chance travelers, know the
real meaning of the term, “Partition of Turkey.” They know that it
means war, if not among themselves, at least with a race that has
never yet tamely submitted to the conqueror, and war in a country
difficult of access, and easily defended. War means heavy expense,
and the treasuries of Europe are by no means full. Already the cry of
the Socialists of Germany, the Nihilists of Russia, the overburdened
farmers of Italy and the peasants of Austria, is loud against increased
taxation, and partition means taxation. The object of this chapter will
have been secured if it is made clear what partition of the Turkish
Empire involves.
CHAPTER XXIX.
AMERICA AND TURKEY.
Early Treaties--Some Prominent Ambassadors--American
Missionaries--Obedience to the Laws--Treaty Rights--Questions
of Importance--Indemnity at Harput and Marash--More Consuls
Needed--Naturalized Americans--Right of Domicile Threatened--Positive
Action Needed--Duty of America.
The question will naturally arise, What are America’s relations to
the general situation in Turkey? So far as benevolent, religious and
philanthropic works are concerned, they are set forth in the chapters
on Missions and Relief Work. A few things should be said in regard to
the relations between the two governments. The first treaty between
the United States and Turkey was negotiated in 1830, but not completed
until a year later, by Commodore David Porter, as Charge-d’Affaires. It
included “the most favored nation” clause and placed this country on a
footing of perfect equality with all the European Powers. Subsequently
ambassadors were sent, and their number has included many men of
eminence, Geo. P. Marsh, Gen. James Williams, E. Joy Morris, Horace
Maynard, Geo. H. Boker, Gen. Lew Wallace, Oscar S. Straus, and, at
present, A. W. Terrell. All of these men have been on terms of most
cordial intimacy with the Porte and the Sultans, and have exerted a
strong influence in favor of the best good of the empire. Especially
since the Crimean War, on account of the peculiar relations existing
between Turkey and the great Powers of Europe, it has been the custom
of the Sultans and their Ministers to hold more informal intercourse
with some ambassador, not so closely connected with the diplomatic
questions of Europe. Thus the Ministers of Belgium and Holland have
at times been peculiarly intimate with the Turkish administration,
but probably no country has, on the whole, been more favored in this
respect than the United States. Mr. Maynard, Gen. Wallace and Mr.
Straus, each for different reasons, personal and political, have been
specially prominent, and each received marked tokens of the friendship
of the Sultan.
It was natural that their care should be especially exercised for
the missionaries who formed almost the entire American community in
the empire. It was inevitable also that the most perplexing questions
should arise in connection with their work. The character of that
work has already been described in general, and it will be readily
seen that friction between them and the Turkish Government was very
easily produced. That there has been so little of it, is due both
to the patience and common sense of the missionaries and the wise
conduct of the American Embassy. On the one hand, the missionaries
realized that so long as they were residents of the empire they were
under obligation to obey its laws. If those laws were unjust they
might seek to secure their modification, but until that was secured,
the laws were obeyed. Every statute as to the censorship of books,
the erection of buildings, the conduct of public service, traveling
from one place to another, was observed most scrupulously. On the
other hand, the ambassadors made it clear that they were there purely
to safeguard American rights, and that their protection of American
citizens was dependent upon the right conduct of those citizens; they,
as government officials, had nothing to do with their special work as
teachers, preachers or philanthropists, more than with the work of
merchants, lawyers, doctors, mining engineers, or travelers. When,
however, the natural rights of those citizens were affected in any
way, they acted promptly and effectively. Three American missionaries,
Mr. Merriam, of Philippopolis; Mr. Parsons, of Nicomedia, and Mr.
Coffin, of Hajin, were murdered by bandits, and in two cases execution
of the murderers was secured. At one time Turkish officers entered
and searched the Bible House at Constantinople, without observing the
regular forms of treaty law, and apology and indemnity were given. When
books were seized by local censors of a province in spite of their
having the regular permit of the Central Bureau, apology and indemnity
were secured, but in one case the State Department at Washington most
unfortunately overruled the Ambassador, and waived the indemnity,
thereby giving encouragement for repetition of the offense. When Dr.
Raynolds and Mr. Cole were attacked and almost murdered by a Kurdish
chief in the vicinity of Bitlis, he was arrested, tried and convicted,
on the urgent demand of the Ambassador. He proved too powerful for
severe punishment to be inflicted, yet good was done. So also in the
case of Kurds who attacked Miss Melton near Amadieh in 1894.
In general, it may be said that they have been successful in securing
from the Turkish Government punishment of offenders and indemnity
for injuries whenever they have had the cordial support of the home
government. Unfortunately there have been times when the State
Department has not seemed to wholly understand the case, and to
imagine that the difficulties which have arisen have been due to the
religious character of the work of the missionaries, and that therefore
they cannot claim the same protection which would be accorded to any
traveler or merchant. This has been a most serious mistake. Those who
will read the pages in Chapter X, on Turkey and Europe, in which the
first treaty between Suleiman the Magnificent and Francis I of France
is described, and which furnished the basis for all succeeding treaties
with foreign governments, will readily see that the Turkish Government
has always recognized the _right_ of foreigners to conduct public
worship, open schools, publish books, etc., and their claims to the
protection of their own governments and of the Turkish Government, so
long as they do not transgress against the laws of the empire. Only as
they do transgress those laws do they forfeit the claim to protection.
Each case then should be judged on its merits in the same way that
similar judgment would be passed in this country. Men innocent of crime
should be protected to the full extent of the power of this government,
and for all injury, indemnity should be paid.
There are certain cases of great importance now pending. The
burning of the school building at Marsovan in 1893 has already been
made good by the payment of indemnity and the granting of a permit
for rebuilding. There are to be considered the questions as to the
destruction of American property at Harput and Marash, and the injury
to American citizens in both places. The responsibility of the Turkish
Government is easily recognized from the statements in Chapters XXIII
and XXIV, giving account of those massacres. There was military force
enough on hand in each place for full protection, and in Harput, the
finding of a bomb from the cannon of the regular Turkish artillery is
proof sufficient of the complicity of Turkish officials. The American
Government should press the claim for full reparation, including cash
indemnity for loss, permits for rebuilding and punishment of the
officials who were responsible. Only thus can there be any security
for other property or comfort for American lives. The question has
been raised as to the return of American citizens from Turkey. It has
been urged that all leave the interior cities, as it is impossible to
protect them there. The immediate answer is, that it is possible to
protect them there, as is evident from the experience of Miss Shattuck
at Urfa, and of others at Mosul. The Turkish Government has the power,
and will exercise it if it finds it must. The missionaries decline to
abandon to the ferocity of brutal Kurds and Turks people whom they
love, and large property entrusted to their care, or to sacrifice the
commanding influence in the moral and spiritual development of the
people gained during sixty years of labor. So long as they are at their
posts, the actions of the Turks must be known. Should they leave,
massacre, pillage and outrage would be continued with impunity. For
every reason, not merely of property, but of humanity, they should be
protected in their position.
In one respect America is weak in Turkey, and that is in the matter
of diplomatic and consular representation. At Constantinople there
is an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, a Secretary
of Legation, a Consul General and Vice-Consul; at Smyrna, Beirut and
Jerusalem, Consuls General; at Trebizond, Alexandretta and Mersine,
Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents at some other places. The only Consul
in an interior city is at Sivas, though an unpaid Vice-Consul is
located at Aleppo. When the protocol permitting American citizens to
hold property in the empire was adopted, it was evident that increased
Consular representation throughout the empire would be necessary in
view of the large amount of property held and the number of persons
resident in places entirely beyond the reach of Consular authority.
Nothing, however, was done by Congress, chiefly on the score of
economy, and Americans were dependent upon the good offices of the
English Consuls at Erzrum, Van, Diarbekir, Mosul, etc. When the Sassun
massacre opened the eyes of the world to the situation in Turkey,
special effort was made in Congress, resulting in the establishment
of two additional Consulates at Erzrum and Harput. The Consuls were
appointed and sent to Turkey, but the Turkish Government refused the
necessary exequaturs, and they returned to this country, practically no
pressure being brought to bear by the State Department in the matter.
This was most unfortunate. Had there been a Consul at Harput, the
destruction of property would not have occurred, and probably not a
little of the horror of massacre would have been mitigated.
The question which, however, has been the most difficult to settle
between the two governments has been that in regard to naturalized
citizens. The peculiar privileges granted to foreigners under the
treaties have always occasioned much hostility on the part of Moslems
and been greatly desired by the Christians. The English rule in regard
to natives of other countries who secure English citizenship is, that
that citizenship is void on their return for residence to their native
countries. This principle has been recognized by this country wherever
naturalization treaties have been made, as with Germany and other
countries. It is an evidently correct principle, as otherwise American
citizenship could be made use of to avoid military service and many
other duties. Soon after the establishment of diplomatic relations
between the United States and Turkey, a number of Armenians came to
this country for purposes of education or business, became American
citizens and afterwards returned to Turkey to live. Among them were
some who studied medicine and served in the civil war as surgeons.
There was no naturalization treaty, and they claimed and received the
full protection and privileges of American citizens. So long as they
were few in number there was no difficulty raised, but others of their
nation and of other nations looked on with envious eyes, and within the
past twenty years their example has been followed, until a large number
of Armenian-Americans were to be found scattered over the country. In
general, they did not make their American citizenship known until they
got into trouble of some sort, but then not infrequently they were the
occasion of considerable friction between the governments. The Turkish
Government claimed them as Armenians and Turkish subjects; the American
Government claimed them as Americans. Ordinarily matters were arranged
by some diplomacy, but it became evident that some understanding must
be secured. Accordingly a naturalization treaty was drawn up. In it,
however, the Turks insisted that it should be retroactive and include
all those who were already in Turkey, even those who had served in the
American army. This the Senate at Washington refused to allow, and
the result was, failure of the negotiations. Since the commencement
of disturbances the situation has been much aggravated. The Turkish
Government has insisted that certain Armenian-Americans were taking
advantage of their American citizenship to disseminate revolutionary
ideas, and have sought to secure their arrest and punishment. This
was undoubtedly assisted by the fact that several Armenians in this
country made addresses in many places, in which they used the bitterest
expressions of hostility to the Turkish Government. In view of this,
President Cleveland, in an annual message, gave expression to the
principle that no government can force the presence of its own subjects
upon another government, and that the Turkish Government has a perfect
right to exclude from its territory those whom it deems hostile to its
interests. While undoubtedly correct as a general principle, it was
incorrect in view of the treaties, according to which foreigners have
the recognized right to live in Turkey and pursue their business so
long as they observe the laws of the empire. In case of transgression
of those laws, they are to be tried by their own Consular authorities,
the Turkish courts having no jurisdiction except in cases of real
estate and in certain matters when a Consular officer is not within
reach.
At present the most serious question between the two countries is in
regard to the right of domicile of American citizens. The American
missionaries stand as the sole witnesses accredited before the world,
of the atrocities committed by the Turkish Government, therefore that
government is putting forth its best efforts to secure their ejection
from the country. They also represent the progress of religious liberty
and civilization, both of which are opposed by Russia, who, looking
forward to the time when Turkey shall be part of her own empire, and
dreading the results of American colleges and schools, sympathizes
in the wish of Turkey to eliminate the whole influence of American
missions from that land. Unfortunately, working in harmony with these,
though from an entirely different motive, are some Americans, who feel
that there is no advantage in the missionaries remaining there, and
think that to press for their protection may involve this country in
complications with Europe.
This is not the place to discuss the general policy of this government
towards foreign nations. It may, however, be said that so far as
complications with Europe are concerned, there need be no fear of them.
There is no need of more than the protection of American citizens in
their right to stay in a country where they have clear and well defined
treaty rights. That is all that is needed, and that surely no American
refuse. If the question be asked, how that protection can be assured,
the answer simply is, by firm, decided pressure from the American
Government. There will be no need of war, or anything approaching it.
It may be advantageous to send some ships to the Mediterranean to
give ocular demonstration to the Turks that America exists. It may be
advantageous to do at Rhodes or Mitylene what England did at Corinto,
but even that will not be necessary. Those who have had dealings with
the Turkish Government know well that it will always do what it has to.
There is no need of bullying, but there must be decided action.
We have said that all that is needed is the protection of American
citizens, that is, so far as the executive branch of the Government
can go, but surely the people may go farther. They can give expression
to their protest against the atrocities that have stirred the whole
world. There is a power in the voice of a nation, and if that voice
is uttered in clear, unmistakable tones from every city, town and
village in the country; by every church, society and organization of
any kind, it will have its effect. The Sultan must respect the repeated
protest of Christendom. But that is not all. England, Germany, France,
even Russia, will not refuse to heed the words of America. Along with
this, however, should go prompt relief. The situation is appalling.
Not a tithe of the awful story can be told in these pages. We have
told enough, however, to make it clear that the need is overwhelming.
Let associations for relief be formed all over the country. The
Rev. Frederick D. Greene, Secretary of the National Armenian Relief
Committee, 45 William Street, New York City, who has been on the field
and knows the situation thoroughly, will give all needed information,
and Brown Brothers, the great bankers, 59 Wall Street, New York City,
will forward all funds to Americans on the field. Clara Barton and her
Red Cross associates and the missionaries are at their posts. Great
efforts are being made to force them to leave. America should stand
behind them and support them. Humanity and duty demand it.
CHAPTER XXX.
GENERAL SURVEY.
Statistics of Massacre and Pillage--Where Does the Responsibility
Rest?--The Turks; Fear, Ferocity, Outrage--The Armenians; Ambition,
Lack of Preparation, Unwisdom of Huntchagists--The European Powers;
Jealousy, Ambition, Cowardice--The Sultan; Alliance with Reactionary
Party, Difficult Position, Individual Care of Minutiæ--Latest
Development of Most Terrible Persecution.
Any complete statement as to number of victims of the massacres is
at present impossible, and indeed, will probably never be made. This
partly for the same reasons that make an exact census impracticable,
partly because of the general scattering of the people, resulting
in the destruction of their homes. It must also be remembered that
comparatively few people even in this country can be relied upon
to make a correct estimate as to numbers, and inaccuracy in this
respect is even more characteristic of the East. When to these general
statements is added the terror that fell upon all, it will be readily
apparent that exact figures are unattainable, even in regard to places
where there were intelligent observers. But absolutely no account
can be taken of the number killed in the villages remote from the
cities. The following table has been made up from the best returns
available, and in all probability represents the facts in regard to
the places noted, which are all well known. The figures in regard to
the interior cities include also the figures for the villages in the
immediate vicinity, but not those for the remote sections. Some of them
were quite large districts. Thus, Van city has not suffered, but the
villages suffered terribly. Massacres were also reported from a large
number of places, such as Tokat, Amasia, Gemerek, Adiaman, Argana,
Severek, etc., but no reliable statistics, or even estimates, were
furnished.
Constantinople Sept. 30, 1895, 172
Trebizond Oct. 8, ” 1,100
Ak-Hissar ” 9, ” 45
Gumushkhane ” 11, ” 350
Baiburt ” 13, ” 800
Erzingan ” 21, ” 1,900
Bitlis ” 25, ” 1,500
Palu ” 25, ” 650
Diarbekir ” 25, ” 3,000
Kara Hissar ” 25, ” 800
Erzrum ” 30, ” 1,200
Boulanik and Khnus ” 30, ” 700
Urfa Oct. 27 and Dec. 30, ” 6,000
Malatia Nov. 6, ” 5,000
Arabkir ” 6, ” 4,000
Harput ” 11, ” 1,900
Sivas ” 12, ” 1,300
Gurun ” 10, ” 2,000
Mush ” 15, ” 340
Marsovan ” 15, ” 125
Aintab ” 15, ” 400
Marash ” 18, ” 1,000
Zillè ” 26, ” 200
Cesarea ” 30, ” 350
Birejik Jan. 1, 1896, 200
------
Total 35,032
Taking this sum, 35,000, as a basis, those who are on the field and
best qualified to judge make a general estimate of the entire loss
of life at not less than 50,000, and this has the endorsement of the
English and French Ambassadors at Constantinople. This, however,
is by no means all that is to be taken into account. There is the
number of those who have been forced, sometimes on pain of death,
sometimes on pain of outrage and suffering worse than death, to accept
Mohammedanism. As to those, reports vary, but a conservative estimate
puts the whole number at about 40,000. Reference must also be made to
the destruction of houses and shops. With regard to these, estimates
are more easily made and the sum total given of 12,600 burned and
47,000 plundered, is probably reasonably correct. There remains to
be considered the number of destitute. This can only be estimated
something as follows. If the number of killed was 40,000, inasmuch as
they were almost entirely men who would each represent a family of at
least five persons, this would give 200,000. Add to this those who were
dependent upon the murdered men for employment, those whose shops and
houses were burned and those who were imprisoned, and the estimate of
350,000 to 500,000 it will be easily seen is not unreasonable. It is
evident that statistics as to the number of women and girls outraged
are absolutely unattainable. We may then, in the most conservative way,
summarize the whole as follows:
Number of persons killed (almost entirely men) 50,000
” ” houses and shops burned 12,600
” ” ” ” ” plundered 47,000
” ” persons forced to accept Mohammedanism 40,000
” ” persons destitute 400,000
These figures are certainly within the truth, and it requires but
little effort to imagine what they mean.
The question is forced upon the mind, Where does the responsibility
for all this loss of life and property, this terrible suffering, rest?
The answer is by no means simple, though its general features will
be easily recognized by those who have read the preceding chapters
carefully. The present situation is the result of the mutual action
of four chief factors, some of them having various subdivisions. The
Turks, the Armenians, the European Powers and the Sultan. We will take
up each one of these in turn and state as clearly as may be, in what is
necessarily brief space, the relations sustained by them to the others
and to the general result.
_The Turks._ The feeling among the Turks is very easily understood.
For half a century they have seen the general situation of the
Christians steadily improving, and their own situation, if not actually
growing worse, at least not improving in equal degree. They have
been taught by their priests to look upon the Christians as “dogs,”
utterly unworthy of any regard. True, under force of circumstances,
and in consequence of certain natural characteristics they have not
always treated them as “dogs,” still the belief has been there, and
only needed the occasion of some kind to call it into exercise. They
could not see the slightest necessity of any reforms for those whom
they looked upon as slaves, and the repeated statements issued by
the Sultans, and the Constitutions and Charters, of equal rights and
religious liberty, seemed to them treason to their religion and their
empire. They also realized that the time of their advance had ceased.
One after another their choicest provinces were taken from them, in
Europe, Asia and Africa. The more intelligent among them began to
think that there was some power in the world besides their Padishah.
The names of Bismarck, Gladstone, Gortschakoff, Andrassy, not to speak
of the Emperors, were heard all over the land and occasioned much
uneasiness. Turks returned to their country homes from Constantinople
with stories of the grandeur of the foreign ambassadors and the honors
paid them by Turkish dignitaries, even by the Sultan. There thus
developed an increasing fear among the whole Moslem population for
everything and everybody that was Christian. This was taken advantage
of by shrewd Moslem priests and plotters, who carefully spread the
report that the time might be near when Islam would have to defend
itself, and talk of the Jehad, or Holy War, began to be heard. When
the placards to which reference has been made were scattered broadcast
throughout Asia Minor, the whole Turkish community was aroused. In an
ignorant community news travels exceptionally fast and loses nothing as
it goes. It was not long before everywhere, in the Turkish villages and
even in the Turkish quarters of the cities, there was general fear of
an uprising of the Christians, probably to be supported by the European
Governments. It was absurd, for not one Christian in a hundred,
scarcely one in a thousand, had a weapon, while comparatively few
Turks were unarmed. It is also true that this condition existed only
in a limited section of the country. The greater part of the Moslem
population, Turkish, Kurdish, Circassian, etc., had absolutely no sense
of fear. Still its existence in some places served the purpose of the
leaders, a purpose that will be stated later on, and helped to swell
the tide of anti-Christian feeling which was growing on every side.
The outbreak in Sassun served two purposes. It whetted the appetite
for plunder and also showed that that appetite could be gratified with
no evil results to the plunderers. The fact that no one was punished
and that the leaders were rewarded, was well known throughout the
empire. Longing eyes were cast upon Christian shops and houses and upon
Christian women, and threatening glances turned upon the owners of the
former and the protectors of the latter. If they could be got rid of
safely, property and sex could be appropriated without danger.
The massacre at Trebizond, following on that at Constantinople, lighted
the torch, and for three months the Moslem fury, held in comparative
check ever since the capture of Constantinople, had full scope. There
had indeed been massacres, at Scio, in the Lebanon, in Kurdistan, but
never was such free rein given to the most outrageous cruelty. It is
well known that passions grow on what they feed on. Ingrained in the
Turkish character, with some noble elements, exist also some of the
vilest. Absolute freedom for the vile simply overwhelmed the noble. The
fury of the early centuries of Moslem advance broke forth, with the
added ferocity gathered by its period of restraint and the fear lest
its last opportunity had come. It must be said that many Turks have
protested against this whole matter, feeling it an outrage on humanity
and a most impolitic thing, but their protest has been as nothing. They
have succored a few individuals, but that is all. The great mass have
joined heart and soul in murder, pillage and outrage. This motive has
undoubtedly been mixed. Political fear, religious fanaticism, lust for
booty, have all entered in varying proportions in different places.
_The Armenians._ It is frequently said that the Huntchagist movement
is largely responsible for the atrocities, at least as furnishing the
pretext for the charges of revolution made by the Turkish Government.
How much of truth there is in this, it is very difficult to say. It is
undoubted fact that in certain sections, notably Central Asia Minor,
that movement operated very strongly to arouse the bitterest feeling
on the part of the Turks. On the other hand it is also undoubted
fact, that in not one single instance can it be fairly said that
the great massacres, as at Erzrum, Harput, Diarbekir, etc., had any
excuse in the presence of Armenian revolution. Granted, however, that
the Huntchagist movement did harm, and it certainly did, it must be
remembered that it was an almost inevitable development. The Armenian
nation was growing in intellectual and moral power. The heavy yoke
of Turkish oppression was becoming more and more galling. The young
men of the nation had before their eyes freed Bulgaria, freed Servia,
freed Rumania, freed Greece. They had not read unmoved their early
national history, and the stories of the revolutions of the close of
the eighteenth and the middle of the nineteenth centuries. It was most
natural that they should arise in determination to make a break for
freedom, or at least for an improvement of their condition. Europe
had made Bulgaria, why should it not make Armenia? This was fostered
by Russian intrigue, just to what extent will only be known later, if
at all, but certainly to some extent. It was foolish undoubtedly, for
the circumstances were very different. Armenia as a territory had no
existence. It was scarcely more than a historical name. Boundaries
might be drawn, but to make the enclosed space an Armenia would require
the importation of Armenians and the deportation of Kurds to an extent
almost inconceivable. Moreover, the nation at large was not ready
for the movement. It was not unified in purpose any more than it was
concentrated in location. The plans of the Huntchagists were absurd;
their threats issued not merely against Turks, but against their own
people and friends who would not work with them, were criminal. The
great mass of the people, however, had no part nor lot in those plans
or threats, and the charges of sedition are even more outrageous and
criminal than their own worst acts. The question is often asked why the
Armenians were singled out, and why the Greeks were left unmolested.
The answer is: (1) that for the time being the Turks realized that the
Armenian movement was the more dangerous; (2) that there was no danger
of the Greeks joining them on account of the traditional, racial and
ecclesiastical hatred between the two races, and their subjugation
might be left to some other time; (3) that while the Greeks had a well
recognized protector in the Czar and his powerful government, the
Armenians relied upon England, which was always a negligeable quantity.
The Greeks also have as a rule been far more politic in their dealings
with the Turks, less apt to rouse antagonisms than the Armenians. The
Armenians thus, while undoubtedly making mistakes, and serious ones,
were almost the sole victims because they furnished the most available
field for pillage.
_The European Powers._ The relation of the governments of Europe,
in which are included England, Russia, France, Germany, Austria and
Italy, to the subject of partition of the empire has been stated in a
preceding chapter. It remains here simply to note their relation to
the massacres. How far were they responsible for them? Could they have
prevented them, and if they could, why did they not? The contemporary
observer of political history is very apt to greatly misapprehend a
particular situation, especially if it be somewhat complex. Time is a
most important element in correct judgment on such matters. Certain
things, however, are clear. The Powers might, if they had taken the
right steps, have prevented the massacres, at least those of 1895. The
Turkish Government, especially of late years, has always yielded to the
inevitable. The course adopted has generally been as follows: A demand
on the part of the Powers is followed by a general protest on the part
of the Porte, which, however, promises to take the matter into careful
consideration; then comes a counter-proposal which either absolutely
neutralizes the demand or materially modifies it, according to what
seems to the Cabinet practicable: this is rejected and the demand
is reiterated; with many protestations it is received, considered,
and a new counter-proposal presented, to be again rejected by the
Ambassadors. How long this continues depends upon the circumstances;
sometimes it covers months, rarely a few weeks. At last the demand
of the Powers is presented as an ultimatum. To this comes a flat
refusal. The Sultan appears upon the scene and declines to accept of
any abridgment of his sovereign rights. The negotiations continue
but on a slightly different basis. After there has been time to have
the Sultan’s refusal reported over the empire, there is a change of
ministry, the new regime is instructed to accept the demand and Europe
has gained its point, at least in appearance, while over the empire the
Sultan has the reputation of having thwarted the sovereigns of Europe.
To accomplish this, however, it is absolutely essential that there be
united, unintermitted pressure on the part of the Powers interested.
Any divergence between them of feeling or judgment will be quickly
seen and used by the astute Turkish politicians, who are wonderfully
skilful in fomenting jealousies and in creating disturbance generally.
The recent diplomatic history, so far as it relates to the massacres,
may be briefly summarized as follows: The Treaty of Berlin and the
Cyprus Convention placed England in the lead in diplomatic influence
in Constantinople. That lead, however, was soon lost largely through
the Egyptian question. Russia was busy with other matters, internal
and Central Asian, but kept up a constant intrigue not merely in
Constantinople, but throughout the empire, seeking to repair the damage
done to the Treaty of San Stephano, especially to regain her hold upon
Bulgaria. Austria was occupied with the Czechs and Magyars, and gave
her outside attention chiefly to strengthening her hold upon Bosnia,
but found time to see that Servia did not become Russianized. France
kept a jealous eye upon Egypt and to that purpose watched also the
English movements at Constantinople, offering little hindrance, but
refusing positive help. Italy had her hands full with her national
development, as also had Germany, each being chiefly anxious to keep
the peace in general without giving prestige to any one of her rivals.
Bismarck’s famous dictum, “The whole Bulgarian nation is not worth the
bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier,” expressed the general feeling
of all Europe except England, and that England shared in it to some
extent is evident from the fast-and-loose policy she pursued during the
greater part of Abd-ul-Hamid’s reign.
The constant agitation of the Armenians, however, had its effect,
and certain prominent Englishmen, notably Mr. James Bryce, exerted
considerable influence upon the government to push the question of
reforms. Mr. Gladstone also, who had retired from office, joined
heartily in the movement, speaking and writing in favor of it. This
pressure the English Government transferred to Constantinople, and
secured a general endorsement from Russia and France; Germany, Austria
and Italy holding aloof from positive action, leaving matters to the
other three Powers as the ones most immediately concerned. While the
general discussion was going on, the trouble in Sassun broke out,
and all Europe saw that there might easily be very serious results.
Were there to be general revolution and massacre, intervention might
be forced upon them, with a renewal of the former war, except that
now it would scarcely be possible to localize the trouble. Military
occupation might be necessary, and what would result from that no one
could tell. War was the last thing any government wanted, therefore,
for once, Russia and France joined heartily with England, and the other
Powers gave moral support. The plan of reforms was prepared, and the
usual procedure, described above, commenced. After a time, however,
the zeal of Russia and France grew cool; difficulties were raised and
modifications suggested. United action ceased and the quick eye of
the Turk saw the opportunity, and he did his best to foster distrust
of England. Meanwhile the situation was growing worse on every hand.
Constantinople was in turmoil, which resulted in the massacre of
September 30th. Then all united in strong pressure, and the scheme of
reforms was signed, only to be attended by the massacre at Trebizond,
followed by bloodshed and pillage all over the empire. The Ambassadors
were apparently uncertain what to do. The Sultan, in abject terror--to
all appearances--told them that he was powerless; that to give reforms
to Christians meant the uprising of the Moslem people, and he was
helpless. England indignantly repudiated his claim, it is said, raised
the question of his deposition, and sent her fleet to the Dardanelles.
Russia and France, however, would not support England, and Emperor
William of Germany entered the lists in favor of the Sultan, claiming
that he meant well; all he wanted was a little time. The result was
absolute collapse of any modifying influence upon the Sultan, and the
Turks were free to do as they liked.
A gentlemen well versed in Oriental matters has said that, in his
judgment, England held the key to the situation in June, and, by
forcing the Dardanelles with her fleet, could have prevented the
massacres, and at the same time have avoided a European war; also, that
even in October or November, had she acted positively and aggressively,
Russia and France would have been forced to accept her action. Lord
Salisbury, however, has stated that this was impossible; that Russia
asserted positively that the entrance of the fleet would mean war.
It is evident that responsibility for the massacres rests largely
upon the European Powers. Upon England for her delay in enforcing the
stipulations of the Cyprus Convention--and perhaps for her cowardice
at the close, in refusing to act alone, and run the risk of war. Upon
Russia for her absolute refusal to support England, and probably
for her encouragement of the intrigues among the Armenians to stir
revolutionary sentiment, and with the Turkish Government to gain her
end of dominant influence; upon France for her alliance with Russia in
her course; upon Germany for the Emperor’s refusal to support the cause
of justice and right. Austria and Italy can scarcely be blamed, as they
were not in position to antagonize Russia, France and Germany; their
sympathy was unquestionably with England. Why were all so unwilling
to act? Primarily, because each feared damage to her own interests;
secondly, because no one except England had the slightest interest in
the Armenians. The worst stories of the massacres have never moved
the heart of Europe. Even the support given at one time by France and
Russia was not from desire to help the oppressed, but to watch England
and see that she did not get too much advantage to herself. Humanity
availed not a jot with either.
_The Sultan._ Probably over no one factor in this whole problem
has there been so much discussion as over the responsibility of
Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II. On the one hand, those who have had personal
intercourse with him, laud his mildness and benignity, and affirm that
it is utterly impossible that he should have had any share in the
immediate execution of such atrocious outrages. On the other hand,
many who know the empire thoroughly, and understand how completely the
personality of the Sultan, if he is a man of marked individuality,
dominates every part of his government, even to the remote provinces,
claim that it is simply impossible that the atrocities should have
occurred without his knowledge, and that he must either have ordered
them or have permitted them.
As has already been said, the Sultan has been in a very difficult
position. When he ascended the throne, or to speak more correctly, was
girded with the sword of Osman, he found himself surrounded by a number
of forces. There was the old orthodox Moslem element, constituting by
far the great majority of his Turkish subjects, utterly disapproving
of the changes of the past three reigns, and calling for a return to
traditional Moslem customs; there was the Young Turkey Party, not so
large in numbers, but clamorous that the advance made should not merely
be preserved, but increased; there was also the great outside Moslem
world, jealous of the Tartar usurpation of the Caliphate, and ready to
join hands in any effort that promised success for restoring the honor
to the tribe of Koreish; there were the Armenians, calling for Europe
to make them independent of Turkish rule; there was Europe watching to
see that he helped one power no more than another, and anxious lest his
internal troubles affect the adjoining empires. His various efforts
have already been set forth in detail. Hence it is only necessary
to say that, from the time of the dismissal of Haireddin Pasha, he
apparently gave up all idea of progress and allied himself more and
more with the reactionary party, identifying himself with the effort
to restore the historic austerity and vigor of Islam. A systematic
course of restriction of Christian privileges was commenced, with the
result set forth in Chapter XIX, on the Condition of the Empire in
1894. There was thus very apparent an absolute reversal of the policy
inaugurated by his grandfather, endorsed by his father, and allowed
by his uncle. Instead of seeking out for use the best available men
for the general welfare of the empire, he gave prominence to those who
would emphasize the Moslem interest at the expense of everything else.
The natural result was that favoritism and incompetence, bribery and
extortion reigned. The industrial, commercial and financial condition
of the empire rapidly deteriorated. Coincident with this was increased
complaint on the part of everybody. Orthodox Moslems, the Young Turkey
element, Armenians, Europeans, all were dissatisfied, all laid the
blame at the doors of the government, and for them the government
meant the Sultan. If this appears unjust, it must be said that, with
the possible exception of Mahmud II, no Sultan has ever held such
minute control over the internal administration of his government as
has Abd-ul-Hamid II. Not merely the appointment of the most minor
officials, but the granting of the most insignificant permits are
subject to his approval. He is a man of marvelous industry and great
ability, and nothing in his empire, and comparatively little outside
of it, escapes his notice. It soon became evident that a crisis was
approaching. The pressure from Europe for reforms and the pressure from
Turkey against reforms were increasing. If he yielded to the former he
endangered his Caliphate, if to the latter, his empire.
Somewhere, or to some one, the suggestion was apparently made that the
dilemma might be avoided if the reforms were granted, but rendered of
no practical effect by reducing the proportion of Armenians to Turks
and consequent representation in the government. Whether this was
formulated before the Sassun massacre is doubtful. The experience in
connection with that probably gave substance to the idea that Moslem
fanaticism might be utilized in the form of a general crusade against
the Armenians in defense of the Ottoman Empire and Mohammedanism.
At any rate that is just what was done. The impulse was given under
government direction and aid was furnished by government troops. Once
started, the conflagration spread. At first it was probably intended
merely to cover the six provinces specially mentioned in the scheme of
reforms. This, however, proved impracticable. The Turks and Kurds of
Cesarea, Aintab, Marash, etc., were not disposed to stay quiet while
those of Harput, Diarbekir, Erzrum and Bitlis were gorging themselves
with Christian booty and enriching their harems with Christian women.
They demanded their share and, willingly or unwillingly, the government
yielded. In Mesopotamia it succeeded in keeping the peace in good
measure and so far outbreaks in Western Asia Minor have been avoided,
but that was due probably chiefly to the different character of the
Moslem populace or the preponderance of the Greeks, whom, being under
the protection of the Czar, even the Turks dared not touch.
Whether the Sultan directly advised the massacres in the different
cities, is immaterial. These facts stand out clear and unmistakable:
The massacres occurred; it was the repeated statement of Turkish
officials and citizens that they were ordered from Constantinople;
there was absolutely no effort on the part of the government, except
in some cases as noted above, to prevent them; they were stopped in
every case when in the judgment of the officials they had gone far
enough; the most ardent admirers of the Sultan have claimed for him
the most minute supervision of his empire. The reader can draw his own
conclusions.
As this closing chapter is written there come in additional statements
of the suffering throughout the empire. Massacre has been followed
by persistent persecution, less prominent, perhaps, but not less
effective. Appeals have come from one section of the country to stir
the interest of the Christian nations, but we can scarcely do better
than to close with the following letter from one of the largest cities
in the empire:
“As to the whole circle of Christian nations that are standing as
idle spectators of these infernal orgies, I wonder if they have looked
upon the Gorgon’s head, or do they not yet comprehend what is being
done before their eyes? Do they know that horrible and revolting as was
the savagery of the recent massacres, they have been narrow in effect
and tame in cruel barbarity compared with the deliberate, malicious
and unrelenting, crushing and grinding process to which the remnant
of the Armenian people are being subjected? Do these Christian Powers
comprehend that it is the _settled purpose_ of this government to
prevent these poor people from being properly clothed and fed, and
so to make famine and pestilence their executioners in place of the
assassins heretofore employed? It is a sharp stroke of business on
the part of the Turk to suspend his work of butchery for a time, and
allow his victims, by their unspeakable wretchedness, to draw a few
thousand pounds from the charitable people of England and America,
while he looks on complacently, sure of so much more plunder whenever
it pleases him to finish his bloody work? In ---- 12,000 Christians,
after having more than 800 of their shops and 450 of their houses
looted, and more than $500,000 worth of property stolen or destroyed,
have been kept for over three months in daily and agonizing terror for
their lives, and utterly unable to do anything to earn a livelihood;
4,000 of their number are wholly dependent on charity for daily bread.
In this condition government has repeatedly demanded of them large sums
of money for special purposes, and these demands have been accompanied
with foul abuse and the most ferocious threats. Do the Christian Powers
understand the purpose of the _plan_ everywhere being carried out of
removing first the principal men from each Christian community? In
---- sixty-four of the most influential and wealthy Christians are
now languishing in Turkish prisons, arrested on purely fictitious
charges. The Protestant preacher of ---- has been condemned to _ten
years_ in a Turkish fortress simply for having in his possession a
copy of Lord Salisbury’s speech at the opening of Parliament. Are the
Christian Powers aware that, in these prisons, deeds rivalling the
worst barbarities of the dark ages are being enacted? Overcrowded
dungeons, unfit for men to stay in, the most violent and offensive
insults, beatings and torture till the victim faints, are not uncommon;
live coals put upon the naked bodies of men, sodomy forced upon an
Armenian priest, are among the amusements in which Turkish jailers have
been freely indulging. These are only _specimens of classes of facts_
of which I have the most unimpeachable evidence; and what is more,
these things are part of a _plan_ which is being carried out in the end
of this nineteenth century by a government in treaty with Christian
nations, and under the most solemn pledges and obligations to secure
special privileges to its Christian subjects.”
“Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.”
INDEX.
Abd-ul-Aziz, 246, 233, 277, 282, 286
Abd-ul-Hamid II, 118, 228, 253, 282, 301, 324, 564
Abd-ul-Medjid, 117, 222, 246, 268, 347
Abyssinians, 159
Adana, 122, 386
Adiaman, 487
Adrianople, Treaty of, 217
Aintab, 122, 402, 448, 451, 476
Aintab College, 317
Ak-Hissar, 477
Albania, 233, 388, 529
Albanians, 170
Albistan, 487
Aleppo, 148, 447
Ali Pasha, of Janina, 182, 211, 215
American Ambassadors, 543
American Bible Society, 319
American Board of Missions, 163, 313
American Consuls, 547
American Missionaries, 41, 115, 268, 278, 342, 388, 511
Anatolia College, 339
Andrassy Note, 253
Angora, 349
Antioch, 447
Arabia, 318, 392
Arabic Version of the Scriptures, 317
Arabi Pasha, 327
Arabkir, 435, 488
Arabs, 98
Ararat, 23
Armenia, 117, 369, 558
Armenian Americans, 341, 548
Armenian Autonomy, 333
Armenian Patriarch, 400
Armenian Question, 330
Armenian Revolutionists. See Huntchagists.
Armenians, 108, 166, 220, 293, 532, 557
Austria, 183, 534
Avshars, 39, 101
Bagdad, 23, 181
Baiburt, 412
Barbarossa, 174
Barnum, Dr. H. N., 428
Barton, Clara, 512, 551
Bedouin Arabs, 39, 99
Beirut, 163, 303
Berlin, Treaty of, 117, 255, 332, 561
Bible House in Constantinople, 248, 319, 512
Bibles Destroyed, 525
Birejik, 470
Bismarck’s Famous Dictum, 561
Bitlis, 122, 368, 386, 472
Bosnia, 250, 256
Brewer, Justice David J., 512
British and Foreign Bible Society, 302, 320
Bryce, Mr. James, 561
Bucharest, Congress of, 205, 212
Bulgaria, 233, 249, 255, 388, 393, 534
Bulgarian Church, 141
Bulgarian Massacres, 267
Bulgarian Question, 330
Byron, Lord, 216
Byzantine Empire, 67, 164
Caliphate Assumed by Turkish Sultan, 171
Capitulations, 185
Carlowitz, Peace of, 178, 194
Catholic Mission Convents, 262
Catholic Missions Established, 190
Catholicos, 119
Censorship, 282, 357
Cesarea, 340, 466, 476, 490
Chaldeans, 40, 146, 157, 318, 533
Charles V, 185
Chosroes, 109
Christian Sects, 64
Christian Worship Prohibited, 495
Church Missionary Society, 320
Circassians, 39, 100, 120, 407, 532
Cleveland, President, 385, 549
Communal Rights, 168
Constantinople, Capture of, 165
Copts, 158, 267
Crete, 256
Crimean War, 242, 415, 542
Churches Become Mosques, 493
Cyprus, 176, 258
Cyprus Convention, 257, 561, 563
Czar Nicholas, 384
Damascus, 245, 357
Death Penalty for Apostasy, 63
Dersim Kurds, 390, 415
Dervishes, 95
Diarbekir, 148, 464, 490
Disciples of Christ, 319
Divan, The, 175
Dolma-Bagtche, 246
Doria, 174
Druzes, 39, 104, 245, 403
Eastern Rumelia, 256
Eastern Turkey, 529
Edward III, 259
Egypt, 193, 220, 326
English Influence. (See also Stratford de Redcliffe.) 192, 397, 534,
561, 563
Erzingan, 371, 398
Erzrum, 94, 114, 350, 358, 386, 415
Etchmiadzine, 119
Euphrates College, 427
European Turkey, 529
First Treaty Between Turkey and Europe, 186
First Turkish Parliament, 253
Forced Conversion, 483
Foreigners in Turkey, 41
France, First Treaty with Turkey, 186
France Supports Russia, 562
Francis I, 183
Franks, 188
Free Thought, 335
French Revolution, 206
Georgia, 118, 176
Gladstone on Turkey, 386, 394
Greene, Rev. F. D., 372, 551
Golden Age of Turkish Rule, 172
Greece, 534
Greek Church, 131, 265
Greek Independence, 214
Greek Insurrection, 267
Greek Question, 330
Greeks, 130, 293, 533
Gregory, the Illuminator, 110
Gumushkhand, 412
Gurun, 464
Haireddin Pasha, 325, 565
Hamidieh, Kurdish Cavalry, 97, 121, 369
Harput, 122, 402, 427, 477, 490, 516, 545
Hatti Humayoun, 228, 243, 271, 279, 297, 310, 347
Hatti Sherif of Gulhané, 228, 243, 268
Herzegovina, 256
Holy Alliance, 177, 194
Holy Places in Jerusalem, 200, 239
Holy War, 556
Hungary, 172
Hunkiar Iskellessi, Treaty of, 221, 228
Huntchagists, 336, 344, 385, 393, 398, 448, 557
Italy, 534
Jacobites, 39, 147, 309, 318, 474, 477, 533
Janissaries, 165, 192, 218
Jassy, Treaty of, 206
Jebel Tur, 148, 154
Jeddah, 392
Jerusalem. See Holy Places, also 538
Jesuits, 163, 264
Jews, 40
Kainardji, Treaty of, 182, 205, 240, 266
Kars, 257
Kayayan (Prof.), 339
Kiamil Pasha, 400
Kimball, Dr. Grace, 514
Konieh, 68, 165
Koran, 55, 294
Kurdistan, 557
Kurds, 39, 85, 146, 351, 474
Kutturbul, 496
Layard, Sir Henry, 154, 223, 245
Lazes, 39, 106, 120
Lebanon, 557
Levantines, 42
Louis XIV, 178, 193
Macedonia, 529
Mahdi, The, 62, 328
Mahmud II, 115, 172, 209, 222, 267, 293, 300, 307, 565
Malatia, 435, 522
Marash, 386, 402, 448, 457, 476, 545
Marco Bozzaris, 215
Mardin, 22, 146, 474
Maronites, 39, 159, 245, 277, 309, 533
Marsovan, 122, 337, 345, 349, 545
Maynard, Horace, 542
Mehemet Ali, 213, 220, 236, 268, 326
Mesopotamia, 530
Metawileh, 39
Midyat, 150
Mohammed, 51
Mohammed II, 166, 260
Mohammedanism, 51, 81
Mongols, 145
Montenegro, 256
Mosque Schools, 282
Mosul, 148, 318, 546
Murad, Sultan, 253, 282
Mush, 368, 386, 472, 505
Napoleon, 207, 535
Napoleon Code, 293
National Armenian Relief Committee, 512, 551
Naturalization Treaty, 548
Nestorian Scholars, 152
Nestorians, 40, 45, 146, 151, 309, 318, 533
Nicomedia, 350, 389
Nusairiyeh, 39, 101, 318
Osman Pasha, 299
Othman, 69
Ottoman University, 236
Palace Intrigues, 326
Palu, 484, 522
Pan-Slavist Committee, 119, 331
Paris, Treaty of, 242, 310
Passarowitz, Treaty of, 196
Patriarch of Antioch, 147
Patriarch of Babylon, 157
Patriarch of Constantinople, 123
Persia, 152, 158, 176
Peter the Great, 189
Phil-Hellenism, 204, 216
Poland, 192
Polygamy, 73
Porte. See Sublime Porte.
Presbyterian Board of Missions (North), 163, 317
Rayahs, 153, 174
Red Cross Society, 512, 551
Reformed (Dutch) Church Missions, 318
Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) Mission, 318
Robert College, 248, 312, 315
Roman Government, 166
Rumania, 257
Russian Aggression, 207, 227, 241, 267
Russian Ambassador in Constantinople, 1495, 183
Russian Armenia, 118
Russian Armenian Agitators, 407
Russian Intrigues, 181, 203, 233, 277
Saladin, 93
Salisbury, Lord, 397, 401, 405
San Stephano, Treaty of, 254, 257
Sancta Sophia, 133
Saracens, 146
Sassun, 384, 404, 479, 504, 556, 566
Scio, Island of, 191, 215, 267, 547
Scanderbeg, 170
Scotch Missions, 320
Seraglio, 246
Sert, 151, 476
Servia, 170, 233, 256, 267
Sheik-ul-Islam, 281, 297, 300
Sherif of Mecca, 171
Shiahs, 62, 88
Sivas, 464
Sis, 111
Softas, 298, 399, 480
Sobieski, 177, 194
Smyrna, 303
Statistics of Massacres, 553
Straus, Oscar S., 542
Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord, 191, 210, 225, 234, 238, 240, 268
Sublime Porte, 281, 300, 399
Suleiman the Magnificent, 171
Sultans as Caliphs, 167, 294
Sunnis, 62, 88
Suez Canal, 327
Sweden, Treaty with, 199
Syria, 245, 530
Syrian Protestant College, 163, 248, 312, 317
Syrians, 145, 267
Tamerlane, 152, 165
Tarsus, 393
Tartars, 145
Terrell, A. W., 513, 520
Thoumaian (Mr.), 339
Tilsit, Peace of, 208
Trebizond, 406, 476
Turcomans, 39, 447
Turkish Relief Commission, 504
Turkish Version of the Bible, 76
Ulemas, 174, 213, 281, 298
Uniat Chaldean Church, 153
Uniats, 159
United Armenian Church, 163
United Presbyterian Board, 159,318
Urfa, 109, 148, 460, 476, 487, 546
Vakouf, 283
Van, 22, 368, 386, 415, 472, 514
Venetians, 170, 189
Vienna, 173, 177
Wallace, Gen. Lew, 542
Wallachia, 164, 170, 267
William of Orange, 178
Yezidis, 102
Young Turkey Party, 60, 343, 394, 564
Yuzgat, 337, 340, 349, 365
Xeibecks, 39, 101
Zeitun, 45, 122, 386, 448, 456, 459
Transcriber’s Notes
Illustrations have been moved to the end of each chapter.
Errors in punctuation have been fixed.
Spelling has been retained as printed in the original publication,
except as follows:
Page xi: “Peculian Favors” changed to “Peculiar Favors”
Page xiv: Corrected page number for Chapter XXV. from 474 to 464
Page 17: “Hamadieh Mosque” changed to “Hamidieh Mosque”
Page 27: “carrried” changed to “carried”
Page 39: “almost entire” changed to “almost entirely”
Page 44: “hestitate” changed to “hesitate”
Page 61: “past centurie” changed to “past centuries”
Page 68: “during his region” changed to “during his reign”
Page 71: “lelt” changed to “felt”
Page 80: “fasehood” changed to “falsehood”
Page 84: “order, the the most” changed to “order, the most”
Page 88: “Kuran” changed to “Koran”
Page 102: “religious rights” changed to “religious rites”
Page 104: “Moselm” changed to “Moslem”
Page 109: “chieftians” changed to “chieftains”
Page 141: “hand of mountaineers” changed to “band of mountaineers”
Page 141: “minutiae” changed to “minutiæ”
Page 161: “Eastern Turkev” changed to “Eastern Turkey”
Page 163: “even that” changed to “even than”
Page 181: “keep a a hold” changed to “keep a hold”
Page 203: “monastry” changed to “monastery”
Page 206: “made a tool of” changed to “made a fool of”
Page 206: “bu” changed to “but”
Page 239: “devasted” changed to “devastated”
Page 254: “San Stefano” changed to “San Stephano”
Page 259: “as for back” changed to “as far back”
Page 276: “provvinces” changed to “provinces”
Page 287: “Posporus” changed to “Bosporus”
Page 340: “St. Jean d’ Acre” changed to “St. Jean d’Acre”
Page 355: “missonaries” changed to “missionaries”
Page 404: “were issued” changed to “was issued”
Page 412: “Paiburt” changed to “Baiburt”
Page 435: “zeptieh” changed to “zaptieh”
Page 472: “Ninty” changed to “Ninety”
Page 483: “knowlege” changed to “knowledge”
Page 504: “to lives in” changed to “to live in”
Page 514: “It is is no easy” changed to “It is no easy”
Page 535: “pratically” changed to “practically”
Page 536: “Whavever” changed to “Whatever”
Page 561: “at it relates” changed to “as it relates”
Page 566: “probbably” changed to “probably”
Index entry for “Reformed (Dutch) Church Missions”
has been moved to alphabetical position
Enclosed italics font in _underscores_
Smallcaps font represented as ALL CAPS
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