From Our Special Correspondent.

Otago Witness, Issue 2151, 16 May 1895, Page 13

From Our Special Correspondent.

London, March 1. Tfc mast be confessed that the Daily Telegraph has scored for once. You will remember my telling you how The Times had sent cut a very special "special" to Armenia, who was fco gefe all the inform&tioa before the Atrocities Commission started work, nnd how that great *pec : al was coolly informed by the Tu-kish authorities that there wa3 "no adcnilfc.nce except on business " other than hi 3. Well, the TTelegrapn man has succeeded in rushing in wbere tho t hundcrer'B man failed t j trc&d, aud on ■Wedoeeday appeared in the columus of his paper the fist of his reports. Now, this is really a big hit, for his information is of a most iecßitional, not to s*y horrifying, ch*r«cter, and the " Unspeakable Turk" will have all hie ■work cut out to disprove or explain away his Statements. It is a 6hockirg tale of oppression, injustice, and cruelty that he tells. So far as can at pressnt te judged all the worst allegations that have b. ea nude agtiusfc Turkish miaru'e and tyranny in Armenia ra'her fall short of tha truth than excited it. His story is ono of organised mifsacres by Turkish troops and bribed assistant Kurda, of horrible tortures, of hideous outrages on women, of imprisonment under conditions of rigour and suffering that make it far worse than death, of npftcious exftcfoas in the form o? blackmaU and excessive Jtaxation, enforced by deith, toture, or imprisonment — in bhor'o, of every horror that infuriated the whole civilised world, turned out an English Ministry and brought on a great European war, in the case of Bulgaria, with many new infamies Buperad^e J ! Should these charges be even partially substantiated before the commission, Europe and England vnitt act. They are compelled by the Berlin Treaty to interfere. If the Conservatives are wise, they will not dream of importing ■any party considerations into a question which c*n hardly fail to influence the righteous indignation of England now ai it did before. SBeaide, it was Lords Beaoonsfield and Salisbury ■who arranged that famous Btrlin Treaty, which virtually bound England inter alia to protect the Armenian Chris' Una frcm Mahometan ©j>pi\ e&ion. The time seems to have come •when England will ba called on to fulfil those treaty oblig'.tiofcs by calling cternly upon to fulfil her pirt in those same obligations. And what this may involve in its outcome Heiven only can tell ! Is this horrible Extern question to form the cclsus belli for which the next great Eun-peau wat has waited to long? Heaven forftnd ! Ytt there is no question more dangerous— Jicna fraught with more critical possibilities as regards the worlu'a peace. Eng'aud, Russia, and France all are deeply involved in this formidable trouble. It will need all the skill of those in power to steer clear of the rock of war. Immense exertions, according to the D.T. correspondent, are being made to destroy the evidence of past atrocities. Witnesses are Joeing bribed or intimidated wholesale. Ctr'.ain rascally monks who had succeeded in getting jtheir superior, the bishop of the diosese, reruoved and imprisoned ou a false charge because lie h*d resolved to expel them from tha monastery for misconduct have readily accepted pay from the Turkish authorities for promising fcuourable testimony. But their statements bave proved contradictory and utterly untrustworthy, their exculpatory evidence breaking down whtrtver tested. Ou tbe other hand, it eeems cleirly proved that a fr'ghtful ma^acre was carried out in one inttauce with almost Incredible deliberation and preparation. The inhabitants of one village discovered that an approaching Turkish force had orders to massacre them. They fled to a cave, but induced foolishly to surrender on a projni*« of pardon. They were hospitably entertained at supper by their captors, and then tf«re escorted out of the camp. Suddenly the trord was given and every man, woman, aud

child was pat to death, thoJt corpses boSng flung iuto a large pit close by. No fewer than ZGO poreona perished in tbis cold-blood massacre. Ifc was the evidence Of that butchery that the Turk tried to coEo3al. They poured petroleum on the festering manses of corpses, and tried to burn the mangled fle?h and bonos together. This attempt failed. Next a stream wa3 d&mmcd up and then lei loose in order to sweep away the mass of human remains. This too proved futile. Lastly (he troope h\d to bo employed in oarrying array the horrible mass, pieoe by picca, and in burying ib at a distanca. It was supposed that any witEeqs who could depose to this atrocity had le;n silenced either by de&th, by secret impriaonmsnt, or by exile. But "to make assurance doubly gure " a Turkish commission was cent, headed by Abdullah Pu^ha, and the Armenians were inviicd by the Sultan's grace to state all their grievances, with a view f 0 the punishment of any TurLi^h f o'.diers or Kurds proved guilty of outrage. This brought out numerous unsuspected survivors, who came from hidiogplnrej and stnt3d what they knew. Rash beings to place confidence in Tu:kish good faith. Their experience was exactly thai: of the fcopelcsa Nftherlands, who Were similarly iuduc-.d to rely on the lenionoy of Alva and his Spanish trojpa. All were in- ; stantly arrest ad, imprisoned, and eukequeutly were conveyed to a tufe distance and placed there under close restraint and supervision. Some, however, succeeded in effecting their escape, aud have now oome forward to give evidence before tbe European delegates. It is still uncertain whether they will not ba prevented,