THE ARMENIAN QUESTION.

Hastings Standard, Issue 151, 21 October 1896, Page 3

THE ARMENIAN QUESTION.

AN IMPORTANT MOVEMENT.

1 )•'!. 20. Sir W. Vernon Harcourt declares that the letter publish* >1 said to have been been written by him and referring to Lord 1!..-. b. ry i» a forgery. Sip*¥#(tion had a *_:r»-a! at St. James's Hall, and promoted the establishment of an Anirio-Armenian association. One hundr-d and nine Mayors were present. K -i-l> - several peers and th«" Bishop- of < hieesur, Aberdeen ai d Winchester. The Puke* of Argyle, We.^tminister. ami Kiiiaberley, 2M bishops, and I)r. Parker wrote letters of sympathy.

Mr Gladstone wrote that it. would be unwise to abridge Lord SalisburyV discretion, and while it would in- paradoxical to allege that Great Britain's enforcement of treaty rights would

provoke the Powers to war, the limitation of British action and co-operation,

to extend which the most backward Power considers sufficient, would be equivalent to an abandonment of duty anil prudence.

The letter was received with tremendous cn t h tj.-in- 1 :i. Earl Kimberley wrote that the nation should support any steps short of a Eiiropein war. The I 1 p uf Rochester, v. ho presided, prot t 1 that Great Britain was ostentation U heathing th>> sword. Mr Arnold Arthur, the Bishop of Hereford, Doctor- Welldon. Clifford, and Kane, and the Rev. Charles Berry, were the chief speaker-. The Bishop of Hereford in a fiery speech protested against being tied to the tail of Europe, and thought the nation should prefer any risk rather than dishonor.

A resolution was carried denouncing the action of the Sultan of Turkey and appealing to the Powers to use every means possible in insisting on reforms.

Lord Salisbury in a letter says that Great Britain will take no isolated action with regard to the Armenian trouble. He regrets that he is unable to speak freely to remove a mistaken impression regarding the inaction of the Powers.