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improve the prisons, to recruit gendarmerie and police from Mohammedans and Christians in proportion to their numbers, and to prevent the Kurds from committing excesses or encroachments. This reply was declared by the ambassadors to be unsatisfactory. On Sept. 7 the Porte offered, as further concessions, to grant to the dragomans of the embassies the privilege of communicating directly with the Turkish Committee of Control, to admit Christian officers to the gendarmerie, to establish a rural constabulary, to allow the mudirs to be elected by the councils of elders, and, while no Christian vali or mutessarif should be appointed, to select the other administrative officers from Mohammedans or Christians in proportion to the population. This did not go far enough to satisfy the British Government, which now began to threaten coercion, but the Russian Government was unwilling to proceed to extreme measures. The Porte complained at Paris and St. Petersburg of the discourteous attitude of Great Britain, declaring that it was derogatory to the Sultan's prestige, but the replies made to this protest gave no encouragement to Turkey. Lord Salisbury went beyond the first demand for a European control over the application of the reforms, suggesting that the three powers should be represented on the permanent Committee of Control, and that the high commissioner charged with the execution of the reforms should be a Christian selected by the powers. The Russian Government declined to support this supplementary demand, and France took the same view as Russia. A British squadron, which had gone to Salonica, was moved on Sept. 28 to Lemnos, at the entrance of the Dardanelles. The attitude of the British Government encouraged the Armenian revolutionists throughout Turkey. Their desperate designs had been shown hitherto chiefly by assassination and terrorism practiced upon their compatriots, who opposed or betrayed them. Garabed, the head of the Protestant community in Marsovan, was murdered on July 1, and the American missionaries were threatened. The American mission school at Tarsus was attacked early in August by a mob of Mussulmans, who maltreated some of the students and threatened the professors. In Constantinople several Armenians suspected of being police spies were murdered at different times. A band of Armenian brigands robbed a Turkish officer near Erzinghian. Kurds who plundered Armenian villagers in the Mush district were driven off by the Turkish gendarmerie. In eastern Armenia, especially in Bitlis, Erzerum, and about Lake Van, thousands of rifles were hidden away by the revolutionists. In Constantinople the Armenians prepared for an extensive demonstration, and when the patriarch was asked by the Porte to forbid it, he declared he was powerless to restrain his countrymen. Nearly 3,000 assembled at the cathedral on Sept. 30, and, in spite of the warning of the patriarch, who told them that they were breaking the laws, attempted to march in procession to the Sublime Porte to present a petition. The police broke up the procession and arrested many, but they gathered at another point. There Servet Bey, at the head of a body of gendarmes, commanded them to disperse and leave

their petition with him. They pressed forward nevertheless, and some fired pistols, killing Servet Bey and another officer. In the evening, after the police had driven back the rioters, and again in the following evening, Softas marched through the streets with bludgeons, attacking Armenians, of whom 172 were killed by police and Softas. The Armenians took refuge in the churches, which they would not leave by day or night. Many who were arrested carried revolvers and knives of uniform pattern, showing that the affair was organized by the revolutionary society, while the clubs carried by the Softas were also of one form, indicating that they too, were armed beforehand. Hundreds of Armenians were arrested.

Immediately after the Stamboul riots the Sultan dismissed Said Pasha, and made Kiamil Pasha Grand Vizier on Oct. 2. Said Pasha became Minister of Foreign Affairs. The persistence of the Armenians of Stamboul in remaining in their churches prolonged the excitement and spread alarm in the provinces. The police, therefore, on Oct. 9, drove them out and closed the churches. Sir Philip Currie, the British ambassador, urged on the new Grand Vizier the necessity of promptly accepting the whole scheme of reform. Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy joined the other three signatory powers in an identical note demanding provisions for public safety.

The Moslem population in Asia Minor were stirred to fury by stories of the Constantinople riots. Turks, Circassians, Kurds, and Lazes, whether living in the country districts or in towns, hate the Armenians, because they are the successful merchants and farmers of the country, almost the only possessors of wealth and education. When a mob in Trebizond murdered and pillaged the Armenians without restraint on Oct. 8, the imperial soldiery joining in the work, the Moslems of other places easily worked themselves up to the point of attacking the Armenians, whose lands, goods, and money were a tempting booty. In Trebizond the mob began to sack the shops of the Armenians, and when the latter resisted a general massacre followed. The Turkish officials reported that Armenian revolutionists started the riots by firing upon а party of imperial officers. Though the better class of Turks shielded and sheltered the victims, 800 were killed. Villages in the vicinity were burned and pillaged also. On Oct. 9 Moslem villagers killed 45 Armenians at Ak Hissar. On Oct. 11 a massacre occurred at Gumushane, and on Oct. 13 one at Baiburt, in which 1,000 lives were taken by Lazes and Turks; at Albistan 300 persons were killed. On Oct. 21 at Erzinghian and in the neighborhood 1,000 persons were slaughtered on Oct. 21. In outbreaks that occurred on Oct. 25 there were 2,500 killed at Diarbekir, 900 at Bitlis, and 450 at Palu, Kurds and Turks combining to murder and pillage, and many regular soldiers taking part. On the same day Circassians and Turks killed 500 Armenians of Kara Hissar.

The Sultan sanctioned the reforms demanded in the note of May 11, and issued an irade to that effect on Oct. 20, but this did not cause the cessation of the massacres, which in the rural districts seemed to have the utter extermination

and in the towns the complete spoliation of the Armenians for their object. A revolutionary party that sprang up among the Turks added to the anarchy and terror. Threats were uttered against the Sultan and against Hassan Pasha, Minister of Marine, who was the chief representative of the Old Turkish party. In the provinces where the Armenians were most numerous, and where they were provided with arms smuggled in from Persia and Russia, they did something to provoke the attacks. At least the Turks accused them of killing a Moslem priest at Erzinghian, of assaulting worshipers in the mosques of Bitlis, and of beginning the disturbance at Baiburt by firing upon the Mussulmans. At Marash and Zeitun also they were said to have attempted a revolu

ness of the metropolis was thrown into confùsion, and dishonored notes and drafts accumulated in such numbers at the end of two weeks that on Nov. 2 the Porte, in order to prevent a financial crash, proclaimed a moratorium for four months. To precipitate a panic Armenians had organized a run on the Imperial Ottoman Bank, but that bank and some other strong institutions refused to take advantage of the moratorium.

A commission was appointed for the execution of the reforms in Armenia, of which Shefik Effendi was made president. The six powers renewed their demand for the restoration of order throughout the empire. After the Trebizond massacre the reserves were called out, and now the members of the Redif were summoned

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tion. They were accused of attacking the palace of the Vali, and were certainly prepared to fight in Erzerum, where riots occurred on Oct. 30, in which 800 Armenians lost their lives. There most of the plundering and shooting was done by mutinous Turkish soldiers, though Shakir Pasha and Raouf Pasha, the Vali, and his officers did all that they could to preserve order. The authorities of Diarbekir reported that they had almost succeeded in suppressing the disturbance, and driving out the Kurds who began the massacre, when the Armenians assumed the offensive, throwing bombs and firing at muezzins who were calling the Mohammedans to prayThe Armenians were all armed, and in the fight they killed 1,500 Mussulmans.

ers.

The Armenian revolutionists in Constantinople compelled all the merchants and shopkeepers of their nationality to close their places of busiWhoever attempted any dealings was stopped and made to pay a heavy fine into the revolutionary fund. All the commercial busi

ness.

also. In the remote districts the massacres continued, and in some places Greeks and Maronites were attacked as well as Armenians. The excitement extended into all parts of Anatolia and into Syria and Mesopotamia. The belief gained ground among Moslems that the Sultan had sanctioned the extermination of the Armenians, when Kiamil Pasha, who had been appointed Grand Vizier in deference to the powers, was summarily dismissed on Nov. 6, and sent away to Aleppo, and Halil Rifa Pasha was appointed to succeed him. Tevfik Pasha was made Minister of Foreign Affairs; Said Pasha, Minister of Justice; Memduh Pasha, Minister of President of the Council; Abdurrahman Pasha, Zuhdi Pasha, Minister of Education; Mehmed the Interior; Gareid Pasha, Minister of Worship; Djelal Eddin Raba, Minister of Commerce and Works; Sabri Bey, Minister of Finance; and Aarifi Pasha, a minister without a portfolio. This was regarded as a reactionary Cabinet, formed to please the part of the Mohammedan

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population that was opposed to reforms. The Government was so helpless and disorganized that the ministers no longer possessed authority or control. The Sultan distrusted his official advisers and was guided only by the advice of officials of the palace, who played upon his fears and intrigued one against another. Revolution was rife among the Moslems as well as among the Armenians. Spies and informers were everywhere. Citizens suddenly disappeared, and officials were arrested or disgraced without a warning. One officer of the palace presented a memorial to the Sultan pointing out the evils and dangers of his capricious autocracy, but he was dismissed and tried by court-martial as a traitor. Many Softas and religious men were filled with the spirit of revolution, and these were the most dangerous enemies of the men in power, for they plotted the deposition of the Sultan and the cleansing of the public service. The Young Turkey party was not ready for revolution, because it was not agreed on principles and aims. Faithful Mohammedans wanted a new Sultan and a thorough purification of the Government in accordance with the religious laws, and hoped thereby to deliver Turkey from the military, political, and financial domination of Europe. But an equally strong element appealed to Moslems and Christians to join to gether to limit the autocracy of the Sultan and the powers of provincial administrators and advance toward a representative system of government. Seditious placards threatening the deposition of the Sultan were posted in the capital, and revolutionary circulars were distributed in the streets and houses and even in the Yildiz Kiosk. The police had begun, after the riot of Sept. 30, to deport suspected Armenians to the provinces. After revolutionary ideas manifested themselves among Mohammedans, Softas and others were arrested and sent away without publicity, and many were believed to have been secretly executed.

In the customary speech at Guildhall on Nov. 9 the English Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lord Salisbury, declared that the accord of the powers was complete, and warned the Sultan that he could not look for dissensions to give him an excuse for evading the execution of the promised reforms, but would invite the inevitable doom of persistent misgovernment. Abdul Hamid was so pained at this expression of mistrust that he wrote to the English Premier, say, ing: "I will execute the reforms. I will keep the document before my eyes to see that every article is put in force. This is my earnest determination, and I give my word of honor."

In the district of Zeitun the Armenians rose in open revolt against the Government. They captured the strong position of Chikur Hissar, compelling a battalion of regular troops to surrender, but were afterward expelled. The Kurds and Turks fell upon the defenseless Armenian communities of the neighboring regions with more relentless fury. On Nov. 6 they killed 2,000 at Arabkir; 250 were slain in Malatia, and massacres occurred at Tokat, Amasia, Gemerek, Egin, Zileh, and Selert. On Nov. 10 they butchered 3,000 at Gurun. Soldiers joined in the sacking of the Armenian quarter in Harput on Nov. 11, when 1,000 were killed, also in the

massacre of 1,200 Armenians at Swas on Nov. 12. On Nov. 15 the Kurds invaded Mush, which was saved by the courageous firmness of the Mutessarif, who threw himself in front of their rifles. Oh the same day the Turks started a riot at Marash, where 125 Armenians were killed. In Harput the houses of American missionaries were looted and buildings burned, and in Marash the schools of the American mission were destroyed. Before the end of the month the Turkish troops had restored order, or the Armenians had been wiped out in most of the places peopled by them in Armenia and Kurdistan. On Nov. 30 the Circassians and Turks killed 1,000 Armenians at Kaisarieh. As many as 2,500 Armenian villages are supposed to have been destroyed and a majority of the male population killed, while in the towns the victims were estimated at 20,000. A great number of women and some of the men embraced Mohammedanism to escape death. There were believed to be 275,000, half of the agricultural population, left starving, half naked, and shelterless, and of these two thirds were women and children. In the towns 75,000 were left destitute. The authorities accused the Armenian revolutionists of beginning the disturbance in Swas, Arabkir, and other places, and reported that a large number of explosive bombs were found in their houses. No revolutionary attempt was made, however, until the Kurds had raided the country districts, driving off the sheep and cattle, and were beginning to pillage the towns. From the beginning of October Mohammedans in all the six provinces of Armenia threatened a general massacre of the Armenians, who sent piteous messages imploring protection to the governors, to the Porte, to the patriarch, and to the foreign embassies. Syrians and other Christians, besides the Gregorian Armenians, were not threatened and were seldom molested, and in every district Mohammedans nians from destruction. After the ravages had been stopped, the Government fed the survivors in the cities with bread; in the desolated farming districts they lived in caves and temporary huts, with nothing but roots and leaves to stay their hunger. Although order was preserved in the vilayets of the Armenian plateau, except for occasional lawless acts of desperate Armenians, the Kurds of the southern mountains were not subdued nor checked in their depredations. In Van, Bitlis, and Aleppo the devastation of Armenian villages continued till the end of the year. A massacre was reported from Orfah, where Kurdish Hamadiehs and Bedouins were said to have slaughtered 3,000 Armenian and Chaldean Christians on Dec. 28 and 29.

of the better class endeavored to save the Arme

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The powers could not agree upon any form of active intervention to stop the massacres. The Russian Government was convinced by the reports of its consular officers that the Armenians by their revolutionary conspiracies and tempted uprisings had provoked the vengeance of the Mohammedans. The six powers assembled an enormous fleet of war ships in the waters of the Levant, as if to coerce Turkey, but their concerted action was restricted to each asking permission to have a second vessel at Constantinople, which for three weeks the Sultan refused,

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but finally granted on Dec. 10. During this time the situation was complicated by the flight of Said Pasha, who, after declining to accept the Grand Vizierate again, took refuge at the British embassy, and would not obey the summons of the Sultan, as though he feared death or imprisonment. For five days he persisted in his determination to leave the country, but was persuaded on Dec. 9 to return to his residence, having received assurances of his safety from the Sultan.

The Armenian insurgents of Zeitun plundered and burned the villages of Bechau, Gukasdurtet, Ghudji, Oequeatur, Kerim, Demerel, Sarikeuchurk, Chukur Hissar, and Keban, and the town of Denderine. They killed 266 Mohammedans. On Nov. 13 a force of Armenians, commanded by a Russian Armenian, captured the fort held by Turkish troops at Zeitun, using dynamite in the attack with great effect. The Turkish military authorities ordered 20,000 troops to advance upon Zeitun from the nearest posts. Amnesty and protection were offered to the rebels if they would surrender their arms and their leaders. The people of Zeitun, who are the most warlike of the Armenians, brigands by profession, had always maintained their independence until the Turkish fort was built in 1878. Notables were sent from Aleppo to persuade the rebels to surrender. The Turks threatened to bombard and destroy the town. On Dec. 24 the besieging forces advanced, and, when the insurgents had answered with defiance a final summons to surrender, attacked the place, but were worsted and compelled to retreat. The combatants, however, subsequently evacuated the town after the women and children had escaped to the mountains. They removed their guns to a higher point that dominated the Turkish position and protected the villages of the valley. The ambassadors intervened to save the Zeitunlis from the destruction that was threatened when the Turks overcame their resistance. By arrangement with the Porte European consular officers were sent to Zeitun to negotiate terms of capitulation.

Revolt of the Druses.-On Dec. 1 a Turkish force of 1,500 men encountered a body of Druses of Mejdel-esh-Shams who were carrying on war with the Circassians settled in their vicinity and with a neighboring Arab tribe. The Arabs had

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UNITARIANS. The Yearbook of the Unitarian Congregational Churches" for 1896 gives lists of 519 ministers and 455 societies of this denomination in the United States. The number of members is given in the tables of the Independent as 68,500. The churches are represented in general bodies by the National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches, which meets every three years; the American Unitarian Association, whose purpose is to promote union, sympathy, and co-operation among liberal Christians, collect and diffuse information, supply missionaries and books, and aid in sustenance of ministers and in Church extension; the church building loan fund; 9 district conferences; 9 State conferences and

U

lured the Druses into an ambuscade set for them by the Circassians, and they were already losing, when the Turkish troops arrived and put them to flight. The Circassians burned 20 of their villages, killing women and children. The Druses lost 150 killed. Their brothers of the Lebanon set out to go to their aid, but were stopped by Turkish troops that were sent in force into the district to put a stop to the fighting, and also to compel the Druses to accept military service and to pay the taxes that were in arrears for sixteen years. There was a severe encounter on Dec. 21, in which the Turkish artillery and infantry swept away the Druses by hundreds.

Outrage at Jiddah.-On May 30 William S. Richards, British consul; Abdur Razzak, British vice-consul and consul for Sweden and Norway; C. Brandt, Russian consul; and E. Dorville, French consular secretary, were attacked outside of Jiddah, the port of Mecca, by 8 Bedouins, who killed the British vice-consul and dangerously wounded the others. The ambas sadors demanded an indemnity and the punishment of the guilty parties, and the English. French, and Russian governments sent war ships to Jiddah. The Shereef of Mecca and the Vali of the Hedjaz held an inquiry. The Bedouins were angered by the quarantine measures adopted for the Mecca pilgrimage, especially the fencing and guarding of the wells reserved for pilgrims. They destroyed the cholera hospital at Jiddah and expressed general satisfaction at the murderous attack on the consular representatives. The ambassadors demanded that the Bedouins be disarmed, but the Porte knew of no way to do that.

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Revolt in Muscat.-Insurgent Bedouins under Shaik Syed Sule captured in February the town of Muscat and the palace of the Sultan, who fled to the forts and opened fire upon town, demolishing many buildings. The Sultan's forces invested the town, but could not recapture it, for the rebels, though numbering only 350 men, were armed with Martini-Henry rifles, while the Sultan's troops, numbering 2,500, had obsolete weapons. The Sultan finally offered a ransom of $16,000, and the rebels evacuated the place in the middle of March, after first sacking the palace and the shops.

associations; local conferences; the National Alliance of Unitarian and other Christian Women, and its local branches; the Unitarian Sunday-school Society and local societies of similar character; and 3 ministerial associa tions. Unitarian theology is represented in the Divinity School of Harvard University, and the Meadville Theological Seminary, Meadville, Pa., is a Unitarian institution. Four academies are named in the "Yearbook," and numerous Unitarian clubs and special societies.

The British Unitarians have 279 churches in England, 33 in Wales, 8 in Scotland, and 36 in Ireland. They are represented in the British and Foreign Unitarian Association and the National Conference, which meets every three years.

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The 60,000 Unitarians in Hungary have more than 100 churches with settled pastors, and 50 or more filial churches, with a bishop, Joseph Ferencz, 8 rural deans, and an ecclesiastical council of 350 members.

Unitarian or Liberal Christian principles are represented in the Protestanten Verein of Germany, the Protestanten Bond of Holland, by a minority of Protestants in France, in the liberal congregations of the Spanish Evangelical Church, by a number of societies and by liberal Christians in the State Church of Sweden, in the Free Christian Association of Switzerland, and at several places in India and in Japan, where considerable missionary work has been done.

The sixteenth triennial Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches met in Washington, D. C., Oct. 23. In the absence of the president, Hon. G. F. Hoar, Mr. Dorman B. Eaton, of New York, presided. The following revision of the resolutions on Christian unity was adopted:

Resolved, That this Church accepts the religion of Jesus, holding, in accordance with his teaching, that practical religion is summed up in love to God and love to man; and we cordially invite to our working fellowship any who, while differing from us in belief, are in general sympathy with our spirit and our practice.

Resolved. That the National Council give the above declaration the widest possible publicity, as a sufficient basis not only for "Christian unity," but also for the religious unity of the world.

A feature of the proceedings was the presentation of the Unitarian position on certain religious and theological questions from the various points of view of the several speakers. The Rev. George Bachelder, having presented in the opening address a survey of the history of the organization, said that Unitarians are not agnostics, but believe in the doctrine that righteousness is salvation, and that all the law is summed up in love to God and love to man. The Rev. Dr. Furness, of Philadelphia, declared that miracles are but violations of natural laws, out of harmony with all known or probable truths, and believed in by no one of education. The Rev. Charles C. Dean, of Harvard Theological School, affirmed that Unitarians who accept part or all of the New Testament stories of the miraculous see in them manifestations of higher laws instead of a breaking through of all laws. Unitarians like to speak of God as the Father revealing himself in the order of beauty of the universe, and believe that in the future life there will open to every soul the highest possibilities for which it is fitted. The Rev. Mary A. Safford interpreted the "doctrine of forgiveness" as not setting aside the law of consequences, but as making us feel that in spite of sin God loves us still. The Rev. William C. Gannett held that God had appeared to man in many lands and many forms, of which the Christian incarnation marked the culmination. Resolutions were adopted declaring the need of the purification of politics, condemning the liquor traffic, and expressing sympathy with the Armenians and invoking the intervention of the powers to secure better Government in Turkey.

The meeting of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association, held in London in May, was

attended by 2 delegates from the United States. The Rev. S. J. Barrows, of Boston, mentioned the curious fact that the American and the British Associations were both founded on the same day of the same year, and spoke of the great number of conspicuous names in literature, science, and Government that have rendered illustrious the seventy years of American Unitarianism. A fraternal resolution was adopted with reference to the Hungarian Unitarians, with whom this association keeps up a friendly intercourse. It is so arranged that a student from Hungary is constantly found in the classes of the Unitarian College at Manchester, and several of the alumni of that institution are engaged in Hungarian pastorates. The institution is contemplated of similar scholarships for Unitarian students from India and Japan. At the home-mission meeting reports were received from the Manchester district, from Wales, and from the Northumberland district. The subject of "The Social Implications of our Faith" was discussed at one of the conferences. A meeting was held in behalf of the Sunday-school Association.

UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.

"The

United Brethren Yearbook" for 1896 gives statistics of this Church, of which the following is a summary: Number of organized churches, 4,242; of bishops, 5; of itinerant preachers, 1,669; of local preachers, 435; of members, 233,204; of Young People's Christian Union Societies, 1,419, with 56,405 members; of Sunday schools, 3,573, with 35,160 officers and teachers and 246,268 pupils. Amount of contributions: For preachers' salaries, $569,514; for Church expenses, $384,339; for support of bishops, $8,376; for preachers' aid, $4,207; for general missions, $46,051; for thank offerings and special contributions, $8,202; for woman's missions, $15,162; total for missions, $69,916; for Church erection, $6,351; for Sunday-school general fund and Children's Day, $2,838; for beneficiary education, $1,594; for colleges, etc., $18,491; local Sunday-school collections, $75,821; number of Church houses, 3,223, valued at $5,197.420; number of parsonages, 612, valued at $512,040.

The Board of Education had during the year ending April 30, 1895, 40 beneficiaries, to whom aid had been given to the amount of $2,832, an average of about $71 to each. The year's receipts of the Educational Beneficiary fund were $3,864, about half of which was from the repayment of loans by beneficiaries.

The Board of Church Erection received $4,680, of which $2,589 were from loans returned and $2,091 from collections by conferences. The amount loaned to churches was $3,800. Numerous urgent applications had been received which the board could not grant for want of funds.

The forty-second annual meeting of the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society was held at Fort Wayne, Ind., May 10. The total receipts for the year had been $98,115, and the expenditures were $874 in excess of this amount. In its foreign work the society had 20 churches with 863 members in Germany and 398 preaching places with 5.638 members in Africa. The addition of a medical department to the Rufus Clark and Wife Training School in Africa and

the establishment of a sanitarium at Mount Lei

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