THE ARMENIAN ATROCITIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 161, 8 July 1895, Page 5

THE ARMENIAN ATROCITIES.

A NATIONAL PROTEST.

Great Meeting '-■ in -St. James's ' Ha'i,t«

'To protest sgain&b the fiendish alirocitiea perpetrated in Turkish Armenia,; and to insist upon the speedy fulfilment of the 61sb Article of the Berlin Treaty /and of the AngJo-Turkißh: Convention1 of 1878,', a great publicmeebmg was held on M?^ 7abSt' James's Hall, under the presidency of the Ddke of ArgyQ, K.G., K.T. Admission was strictly limited to ticket holders, and there was nob a eeab vacanb. Xndeed, the greab ballapparentiy might have been filled twice ov«r, so large , was the number of people who were necessarily'excluded because of the-insufficiency of room.

Tho Duke;of Argyll, upon making his appearance, received an ovation. He opened the proceedings by reading a letter from MrGladsbone.and ata ted: "It would be almost enough £or me to say thitt I associate myself with, him in every word of that letter. (Cheers.) But Mr 'Gladstone's letter, assumed one main point on which I shall nddress you to-night. He aayß that.ibishis dnty incumbent on. all Europe to place no reliance upon mera words, but to prevent by effectual measures any further jrecurfence of such dreadful delinquencies. That seems clear enough to you and to me, and ib seems clear enough to tho large majority of the people of this country. (Cheera.) Bat remember thab there are a groat number of persona in this country who do not fully understand whab the responsibility of this1 countrj/ is in regard to these atrocities in the TCurkish Empire, and I have mainly come here to-night to impress upon you this conviction; which is doubly impressed .on my ow.ll mind, that we, the people of this country, the people of England as a nation, are directly responsible for the governmenb oir the misgovernment of Turkey. (Loud cjheers.) I can conceive that many men '/rill say this is rather ;• strong proposal, / and may ask what authority! havefhrjb. I have no authority in,the proper aenjjta of the word; except, the authority of fact. (Hoar, hear.) I came here more as a witness toeome ofthesefacts to-nighb than lis an advocate. I stynd 'before you here, as 'the only surrivor;' with my friend, Mrf Gladstone, of tho Cabinet) which waged the Crimean War. (Hear, hear). . . . We were content, at that time with accepting ;from Turkey assurances and promises which have never been fulfilled. Buli iaoughb to be remembered in our'excuse tbiab the Crimean ;War; did nob originate ' otab of any excesses of, the Turkish Govern bent. The Crimean War arose out of qusorels between the various Christian bodies as to the keeping qf the Holy Places'in/ Syria. The Turks had nothing to do with ib, and were the victims ot the jealousir is of the other Powers, and we intervened to protect them from Russia and from an' exclusive treaty which would have placed them entirely in the hands of Russia; The real truth is thab ourresppnsibiliby with, regard to Turkey does nob depend upon the words of any treaty. (Hear, hear.) Ib 'depends on the broad fact thab we did actually intervene and. did save Turkey from complete' defeab and rain by Russia, for the destruction of bhe Turkish fleet at/ Sinope placed her practically in the hands of Russia.' Wr»ateppsd in-and saved her, and jrave her a n.ew lease of life, and in doing so we undertook a responsibility from which we cannot escape. The nexb stage in the transaction was the great war of 1876. The war arose directly out of tho crimes of Turkey. 'Theßulgarian atrocities excited all Europe- They naturally excited Russia especially,, and as the other Powers did not seem willing 'to come forward, Russia undertook bhe duty which she bad always assumed of protecting the Christiana of Tnrkey. The Turks were overcome by Russia, ami the. Russians were at the gates of Constantinople. But the Treaty of San Stefano, Russia would again have had the right of an exclusive protectorate over Turkey, and would .have been able to Serve herself from the rich and glorious in herir bance of the East. At thU moment'our Governmenb intervened, I do nob say wrongly, I am nob expressing any opinion on that, bub we stepped in and said to' Russia, ' No, you shall not have this treaty./ .Ib is true you overcame tho Turks, you have wrung thia treaty from them at the gates of Constantinople/-, but we shall not allow you to have it. We will take it oub of your hands, and will insist that Turkey shall give these promises to all of us whi.ch you intended that she should give to you alone.' That was our course; at the time, and again we saved Turkey, and in those circumstances ib becomes °ur duty in the mosb Bolenan manner to. defend tho Christians of the Turkish, Empire. (Cheers.) Bub after,,, the 'Treaty of Berlin we rested on our bars and did not enfojece the terms of thejireaby; which bound the Porte bo periodically mwke known to bhe Powers bhe reforms made, and bound the Powers to superintend tbeirapplication. The Turks have never fulfilled their promises, and I am sorry to say,we have never fulfilled our part of the obligation to the Christians of Turkey. When terms like thoso,of the Treaty of Berlin are exacted and not fulfilled by a Government, and that Government is not frircod to fulfil them, you make matters ten thousand times worse than they were before. On the one hand you give hopes'to the Christians of Turkey which they are entitled to" rely upon, and which more or leas may affect their language and even their conduct, which may be more or less provocative to the Turkish authorities. On the other hand you inspired the Turks with-a deadly hatred against their ■Christian fellow-countrymen, and their disposition is to cay, 'You appealed to foreign Powers bub we will show you that foreign Powers will not" intervene between us and you.' The TurkH are a very cunning people. They know the international jealousies that exist with regard to What is called the Eastern Question, and that governors and sub-governors -say to themselves, ' The Western Powers may talk as they please, but theydare nob upset the Turkish Empire, because they would only, quarrel and get ab each other's throats over it. 1 say then, that, having imposed these obligations on Turkey, and having undertaken these obligations upon ourselves, <,w : esjhaye m,ijde

the position of the unforbnnate Christians of Turkey .'a thousand-times worse than it was before, and it is how/our absolute duty to undertake thab active and executive protectorate which alone; will be sufficient for the Turks. (Loud cheers.)

V Strong resolutions were adopted by the meeting,'calling upon the Governmentto adopt measures which'would secure justice for; 4he oppressed Christian subjects of Turkey. / -■ ■. .. -. '■ '• .v..,' .':'\ v :',