A Cry from Armenia.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 23

A Cry from Armenia.

TO THE EDITOR. Bib, — I have been requested by an Armenian lady to appeal to my fellow colonists, on behalf of her countrymen, women, and children, who are wandering in dens and caves in the mountains, destitute and afflicted, without food and clothing.

A relief committee has been started in Constantinople to maet the awful distress that has been produced by Mahometan fanaticism. By the president's letter you will see the committee have appointed Madame Hagopian to act as (heir agent in Cairo. I know Madame and her husband, who are regular oorre»pondents of mine. My object in writing is to 6ecure your advocacy in a humane cause — a cause which must appeal to the loftiest tenements of every one, whether Catholic or Protestant, Jow or Christian. No nationality in the world except the Jews have ever suffered for their faith as the Armenian Christians have done during the last six month*. The bare recital^ of their unutterable griefs and sorrows, to which they have been subjected to by Turkish officials, soldiers, Kurfcs, and Bashi-Bazoukt » appalling. It is enough to break every heart that has heard of the intolerable cruelty and outrage inflicted upon the Innocent and helpless. To-day the mail brings me * paper from Sgypb, ' from which I make the following quotation i— ♦' The Armenian women of Baibourt have presented to the commissioners of inquiry the following petition t The male inhabitants of Baibourt made no resistance to the aggressors ; and yet the Archimandrite ■ Khoren Guiroyan, the profeueii ef out 60.h0.01i, a pub of fch« pupils, and

some hundreds of Armenians of both sexes and of all clasies have been cruelly killed and cab in pieces. Women with child nave been ripped up, .and their young torn from them ; they have flayed youths of 15 and 16 years of age. They have even gone so far as to search the corner* and hiding-places, and to kill those who had been able to conceal themselves, hoping to cave their lives. To sum up all this' affair, we can say in a word that atrocioui crlme3 of a ferocity beyond conception have been perpetrated. " The authorities have let out a very small part of the Armenian prisoners, but the chief men of Baibourt and other innocent persons have 'not left their dungeons. Before ths arrival of the commissioners of inquiry the Turks were inflicting on these prisoners most terrible tortures ; they gave them the bastinado, they poured on their heads water icy cold, and in great amount, they pierced tbwr bodiei with naili, aud they left them without food wh'le days. It is with such doings that the authorities have succeeded in obtaining certain depositions agreeable to their views. Security and tranquility will never be re-eatabluhed here as long as certain officials, civil and military, who have been the instigators of the massacres, continue to be kept in their offices. One of these officials, the commander of the gendarmes of our town, betook himself before tha 14th , October to the village Ke3santa, and got from the Armenian women of this village pieces of gold and jewels amounting in all to a Bum of 500 Turkish pounds, so as to prevent the massacre of the Armenians of the village ; in spite' of all that, under pretence of protecting theaa, he got together later in & field the women and tat children, and ordered the mtgsaore of ths men. This moaster was the chief author of the massacres of the villages of Baibourt. The financial situation of the country is deplorable in. the highest degree. All commoroe has ceased, never to be restored. '" Famine reigut ; if immediate help does not arrive, tbe survivors of the massacres will perish with hanger." Some of your readers will think the present time inopportune to help the oppresssd to far away, when we have the Brunner disaster, at our own door demanding our sympathy. I have not the remotest wish to minimise the calamity that has overtaken so many f amities— they are entitled to our deepest oom«ai«eration, but great as the sufferings of these widows and orphans may be, th«re Otn be no comparison with the greater sufferings of Armenia* mothers and daughters, and, shall I add, their sons of 15 years of age. This is not a o*«» of a single village suffering— it is a nation ef two Bullions ! Canon MaoOoll, who probably knows the Turk better tban any man in Bsglaod, says :■— "Husbands and brothers go out t» cultivate their fields in the moruing, or tend tb*ir flocks on the mountain side, m treMbliag fear that they may find wife and sisters dwhonoured on their return; and wives and d*ught«ri part from the men of the household with Km dread feeling th*t they may never sea them alive again ; and this is retliwsd with terrible frequency. Oue of the correspondents scut cut to Armenia lately — I think the correspondent of Tbe Time* — deokred as the result of o*refol inquiry that he believed it was no exaggeration to «ay that there was scarcely a woman in Armenia who was not outraged before sh* was married." The Dake of Afgyle, writing to the editor of Tbe Times, s*ys C >nsul Graves forwards a, private letter describing the condition of the people at Talvorig : " There arc about 860 of these houseless wanderers now living in the woods and mountains, in caves and hollow trees, half naked, and some, indeed, entirely without covering for their nakedpess. BrMid they have not ta«tod for months, and cardlttd milk 'they only dream of, livi&g, as they do, upon greens and leaves of trees There are two varieties of greens which are preferred, but these are disappearing, as they wither at this season. Living on such food, they have become sickly; their skin has turned yellow, their strength is gone, their bodies ara swollen, and fever is ripe among them." Sir, I could add more, bub surely enough has been said. I appeal to every right-hearted man and woman in this ooloay to listen to that bitter cry that is going up from earth to heaven for deliverance from a bondage that ifl infinitely worse than death. — I am, ba., 3 auks Adam. Bon Accord, Tokomairiro, April 18. P.S.— May I ask you to ree*iv« subscriptions for the Armeaiuns at your offlee. I have already received money from several friends for this object. [We shall be glad to take charge of any contributions that may ba sent to us,— Bs.] ARMENIAN RELIEF FUND. We have received the following subscriptions oa account of the above fund ;~ Hon. S. E. Shrimtki £2 2 0 bympathiser 0 10 6