THE CRY OF ARMENIA.

Hastings Standard, Issue 109, 1 September 1896, Page 2

THE CRY OF ARMENIA.

Our cablegrams yesterday told of more carnage and more bloodshed in the land of the Unspeakable Turk. The Armenians have at last risen as a rebuke against the acts of the Sultan and against the attitude of the Great Powers in not attempting to put a stop to the rivers of blood that have been flowing for so many months. At the beginning of the year England held up her hands in horror at the atrocities perpetrated on the Armenians, and threatened to intervene at any cost; but when the affair quietened down a little she simply folded her arms and looked on. . Other nations took up the same attitude, and nothing has been done to blot out the most diabolical crimes of the century. Seeing that the Powers are not anxious to cope with the atrocities the Armenians have risen, and their actions will .again bring the question prominently before the civilised world. The acts performed under the sanction of the Sultan and Turkish Government during the past few months are not a new mh> of tragedy on the stage of nations. In 1882 the Turks slew 50,000 anti-Moslems, and in 1850 they killed 10,000; in 1860 the numbers went up to 11,000, and in 1876 10,000 more were added to the list. In 1878, at the memorable Treaty of Berlin, Turkey promised religious liberty to all her subjects in the Ottoman Empire, and the promise was broken. So far from any improvement, the condition of the Armenians has become worse and worse year by year, and 1896 has witnessed some of the most diabolical outrages ever perpetrated. After all the national lying on the part of the Turkish Government, why do not the warships of Europe put a stop once and for all to those atrocities ? Only a month or two ago it was announced that Mr Gladstone intended to re-enter the political arena for the one purpose of seeing the Armenian question settled. Lord Salisbury has been waiting to see how the other Powers will act, and in waiting has allowed hundreds of butcheries to take place. Now that the question is again before the world, surely he will make a move to drive the Unspeakable Turk to forego his persecution of the Armenians.