[19] _Le Sémaphore de Marseille_, November 20, 1915.
[20] I am indebted to my friend Mr. H. N. Mosditchian for the following
account of an incident which throws some light on the ways of the Turk--
"The massacres of Sassoon in 1893-1894, first described at the time by
Dr. Dillon in _The Daily Telegraph_, and the first of the series that
drenched Armenia with the blood of over 200,000 of her sons and
daughters, raised such a cry of horror and indignation throughout the
civilised world that Great Britain, France and Russia, through their
Embassies at Constantinople, prepared a Scheme of Reforms, known as the
Scheme of the 11th of May 1895, and after much difficulty and long
negotiations obtained thereto the approval of Abd-ul-Hamid, 'the Red
Sultan.'
"I was with the Patriarch when the Hon. M. H. Herbert, Secretary to the
British Embassy, brought to the Patriarchate the good tidings of the
Sultan's acceptance of the Scheme. Upon his special advice, the
Patriarch sent there and then telegraphic instructions to all the
Armenian Bishoprics in the provinces to chant Te Deums in the churches
and to offer up prayers for the benign and magnanimous Padishah!
"I was again with the Patriarch a day or two after when telegrams began
to pour in from the provinces announcing a fresh outbreak of massacres
throughout the country. I hastened to the Embassies of the Six Great
Powers to give them the appalling news and to ask for their immediate
assistance. As is well known, they did or could do nothing, and the
massacres went on, unchecked and unbridled, assuming every day larger
dimensions and a better organised thoroughness...."
I called on Judge Terrell, the American Ambassador, also. "I am not at
all surprised," said he, "at these fresh massacres. I knew they would be
coming, so much so that the moment I heard that the Sultan was about to
affix his signature to the Scheme of Reforms, I hastened to the Grand
Vezir and insisted upon his sending telegraphic orders to all the Valis
to take good care that no American subject was hurt. The Grand Vezir
protested of course that there was no necessity for such orders inasmuch
as peace and security reigned supreme in all the Vilayets, but I told
him that I knew what was going to happen shortly as well as he did, and
refused to leave until he had despatched the telegrams in my presence."
Judge Terrell then told me that it had long been known to him that the
Valis of all the Vilayets had received standing orders from the Sultan
to massacre the Armenians (_a_) whenever they should discover any
revolutionary movement among them, (_b_) whenever they should hear of a
British, French or Russian invasion of Turkish territory, and (_c_)
_whenever they should hear that the Sultan had agreed to and signed a
Scheme of Reforms_.