rebellion. The troops would refuse to be the instrument of the Porte in exacting contributions from their fellow believers. There remains only the ancient resource: the Christian populations are not stripped of all their possessions yet. By intimidation, imprisonment, and murder, the Christians of the southern and coast provinces can be compelled to give up considerable sums. And besides, much money can be obtained from European capitalists in exchange for monopolies. Then, Turkey has a rather numerous class of very wealthy officials, in active service or retired, who have accumulated great riches by the methods of Oriental officialism. It will be an easy thing to convict them of malfeasance, and to confiscate their property. But such devices can surely at best only defer for a little time the end that seems inevitable.

Enforced Conversions.-The destruction of life and property in the district of Harpût is stated to have been: Towns and villages desolated, 138; houses burned, 5,064; persons massacred, 12,708. For a time the Porte prohibited the distribution of relief to the surviving inhabitants, but afterward consented to have the funds and supplies that had been contributed in England and the United States, distributed by a commission of three-one American, one Turk, and one Armenian. A. M. Jewett, United States consul at Sivas, the American commissioner, started for Harput January 1.

All the Protestant Armenians of Abbastan, near Marash, formally embraced Islamism, to save themselves from massacre. The Armenian patriarch complained to the Porte against this enforced conversion; and in reply the grand vizier assured him that an order had been sent to the authorities of the place to abstain from such methods, and even to deny to Protestants desiring readmission to the established religion the opportunity of returning to that fold. This change in the policy of the government would seem to have been brought about by the emphatic condemnation of that policy by certain of the sultan's most trusty advisers. Marshal Fuad Pasha, the famous victor of Elena, a tactician and strategist of distinction, and personally a man of the highest courage, wrote to the sultan a letter in which he resigned all his military and other offices and dignities, declaring that "patriotism" compelled him "not to remain in the service of the actual government of the Porte." tan had always relied absolutely on Fuad, and his confidence in him was never shaken either by the outspoken counsels of the brusque old warrior or by the whisperings

The sul

of Fuad's enemies. Another defection was that of Von Goltz Pasha, for several years an instructor in the military school at Pancaldi, who had helped in reorganizing the Turkish army. In the existing circumstances the service of the Porte was "distasteful to a German officer."

Surrender of Zeitoun.-The offer of mediation between the revolted Armenians in Zeitoun and the Turks who were besieging that place (Vol. 5, p. 814), which offer had been made by the representatives of the European powers, was declined by the Porte in December last; but on January 2 of the present year Sir Philip Currie obtained. the sultan's assent. Delegates of the powers were to mediate on the basis laid down by the Porte, viz., full amnesty upon surrender by the insurgents of their arms and their leaders. Should the negotiations prove successful, the delegates of the powers were to be present at the surrender of the arms and the leaders of the insurrection; but, if the insurgents rejected the conditions, the delegates were to withdraw. It was not believed that the insurgents would accept the sultan's terms; they were reported to have sufficient provisions and ammunition to enable them to withstand the investing force of Turks until July. A Constantinople telegram of January 28 confirmed an earlier report of a battle of the Zeitounlis with the Turks. The Zeitounlis were victorious, and the Turkish loss considerable. Twelve hundred wounded Turkish soldiers had already reached Marash, and the churches of that town had been converted into hospitals. The prisoners taken by the Turks were mostly sent to Marash: in many cases they were "so shockingly maltreated that it is impossible to publish the details.' The Turkish bulletins confessed loss of 650 men in the fight. Many were taken prisoners by the Zeitounlis. The townsmen had in all about 800 Turkish prisoners, of whom about one-half had been taken in the capture of the small Ottoman garrisons and of the garrison of Zeitoun. But the insurgents surrendered on the terms arranged by the delegates of the powers in the middle of February. Five leaders of the Hintchaks, an Armenian revolutionary society, were conducted to the coast for expulsion from the country.

Thus ended the revolt of Zeitoun and the heroic defense of the place. The event proved that the report of abundance of supplies in the town was erroneous. The place held 12,000 refugees from surrounding villages, and they were found to be in a deplorable condition: 4,000 had died from want and sickness during the siege. The gov

ernment undertook to convey the 12,000 to such villages as remained, and some of these were taken to Marash; but they were left naked and starving. A letter from Marash gives this account of the arrival of a convoy of people from Zeitoun and of their treatment by the Turkish soldiery:

"While we were considering what could be done for these people, several natives came in, bringing news of the second convoy. The soldiers who brought them from Zeitoun did their duty pretty well-at least did not abuse them on the way; but when they reached Marash, crowds of Moslems turned out and amused themselves by beating the refugees and pelting them with stones, while Marash soldiers pushed them on with their bayonets. The street was sprinkled with their blood. One little boy was killed by a stone, and this morning his father was weeping over the little dead body, and saying: I brought him unhurt all the way from Zeitoun, only to be killed in Marash.' The second company has been put into an Armenian school. Some of them had some goods with them, but they were all plundered on entering Marash. Now they have absolutely nothing. We do not know how many are going to be brought here, nor what the plan is for them. If they are taken farther, the greater part of them will certainly die. If they are left here, we must care for them. Our means are not at all adequate for any such increase. We are now distributing relief in the smallest driblets to over 6,000 in Marash, besides sending relief to several small villages. But we need thousands of pounds immediately to meet this great and terrible need.

**From all over the country, and especially from Harpût, Marash, and Aintab, comes this plea for money. The need grows greater rather than smaller day by day as the scanty stock of provisions of the survivors is exhausted. Of all the destitute, however, the case of the Zeitounli seems the most desperate. The suffering in that mountain fastness from starvation, cold, and pestilence will probably never be adequately described. There was death in the city and death outside, and in the midst of it all the Zeitounlis fought on with a stubborn courage that has never been excelled. Now that the surrender has come, their condition is almost as pitiable as before. With their crops destroyed, their business ruined, money and stores gone, and husbands and fathers killed in battle, what will be the end of this people? As for the villagers who took refuge in Zeitoun, what can they hope for? Even their villages have been destroyed, the houses burned, and the land seized by Moslem neighbors. The massacres of last November were only the beginning of the tale.”

The Massacres Continued.-The net result of the official correspondence of the British foreign office with the British ambassador at Constantinople and the British consuls in Anatolia, is to show that 25,000 Christians have been slaughtered, and an area larger than Great Britain laid waste. But the slaughter has not been entirely unavenged, witness the gallant defense of Zeitoun, witness also what was done at the Hot Springs near Marash, as reported in a telegram from Constantinople of the date January 22.

Vol. 6.-6.

A letter has been received here (says the telegram) which reports that the Turks have been severely beaten and repulsed near the Hot Springs. The commanding officer of the Turkish soldiers placed the irregular men in the front ranks, and the reserves next. As they were marching against the Armenians, a terrific explosion occurre 1. and many of the soldiers were blown to atoms. It is probable that dynamite was used. The Turks say that flames suddenly burst from the earth. Other accounts affirm the surmise that dynamite was used against the Turks. They were caught in a defile and a large num

ber of them were killed. The Turks afterward succeeded in capturing the bar racks and cutting off the water supply from the Armenians. At Ourfa (see table, Vol. 5, p. 815) there was another outbreak of savage violence December 28 and 29. The London Times correspondent at Constantinople reports that 150 wounded Armenians were thrown down a well, petroleum poured over them, and then set on fire. All the Armenian

clergy in the town are reported massacred. The total number of the slain is put at 3,000 by the British viceconsul, Mr. Fitzmaurice.

The Red Cross Mission.-Steps having been taken, at the end of the old year, for the dispatch to the scene of the massacres in Armenia and Asia Minor of a band of members of the Red Cross Society to minister to the homeless and starving people, the Turkish minister at Washington, January 13, published a circular announcing that his government would not permit "Any distribution among its subjects, in its own territory, by any foreign society or individuals, of money collected abroad." The Red Cross Society is expressly named as of the class of or

ganizations prohibited. The ground of the exclusion of the messengers of humanity was stated as follows:

"The collections are made on the strength of speeches delivered in public meetings by irreconcilable enemies of the Turkish race and religion, and on the basis of false accusations that Turkey repudiates. Besides, the Sublime Porte is mindful of the true interests of its subjects, and, distinguishing between the real state of things and the calumnies and wild exaggerations of interested or fanatical parties, will under its own legitimate control alleviate the wants of all Turkish subjects, irrespective of creed or race.”

The government at Washington then directed Mr. Terrell, American minister at Constantinople, to notify the Porte of the desire of the Red Cross to enter the disturbed districts and carry relief to the suffering people. The reply was a courteous but firm refusal for the reason, as stated, that, first, there was not then, nor had there been, any war in progress; secondly, there was no need warranting the entrance of the Red Cross.

But on January 22 Miss Clara Barton, accompanied by a small staff of assistants, sailed from New York for England en route to Constantinople. Two days later the American minister at Constantinople advised Secretary of State Olney, that the policy of the Porte with regard to the work of the Red Cross had been modified. While permission is refused to members of the Red Cross, as such, to distribute relief in Armenia, nevertheless the Porte permitted, as it said, "any persons whom Mr. Terrell names and approves" to distribute relief in the interior of Turkey, on condition that the Turkish authorities should be kept informed of what they were doing. The insignia of the Red Cross must not be displayed by those who ministered to the sufferers. On the arrival of Miss Barton at Constantinople, Minister Terrell procured for her and her assistants the sultan's safe-conduct, allowing them to visit the six distressed provinces, and personally to distribute relief. Miss Barton fixed the headquarters of her mission of benevolence at Constantinople. The agents of the society were sent to several districts needing relief.

A telegram from Constantinople, March 25, reports a new regulation of the Turkish government regarding the distribution of relief.

The agents of the American Red Cross Society are permitted to distribute relief to the suffering Christians in the cities only. The Turkish authorities in the villages will prepare lists of the needy, and send the destitute inhabitants to the agents in the cities for relief. The Red Cross agents are required to use these lists in performing their work of mercy, and the distribution of relief must be made