Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1895.

Te Aroha News, Volume XII, Issue 1789, 23 November 1895, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1895.

Armenia^ whose cry for relief in its dire distress is now m iking itself lie ird. throughout the wond, is the southernmost pare of Transcaucasia. Once, i was a great kingdom, but iu course of time it has been subjugated by the Arabs, thou conquered by the Mongols, and finally destroyed by the Turks and Persians. -Many of the people then forsook their native land and established themselves in various parts of Europe.-', ■ Early in last century that portion of the nation which had clung to. its ancient home, made a desperate but vain at-em t-to shake off the yoke of Persia. The Armenians are an intelligent and hard-working people, and rival the Jews in their success in trade aud commercial pursuits Their in dnstry and desire for advancement take them into other countries for the' purpose of trade; and a large proportion of the foreign and internal trade of the East is iu their hands. They are, therefore, as a community fairly well-to-do, and this by arousing the cupidity of their neighbours is one of the causos of their persecution. In language and religion the Armenians are peculiar, the latter being an .ancient and independent branch of Christianity. Since the fourth century of our era those people have remained equally , firm against the enticements of Mohammedanism, the religion which prevails on all sides of their land, and also against the persuasion's of the Orthodox Eastern Church with which they cbine in contact in their adopted lands. The head of their church* the Patriarch, is chosen by the Armenian bishops throughout tho world, and a monastery, at the.foot.of the majestic mountain of A rarat, is the meeting-house of their Synod, and the centre of spiritual power. Political unity has never been obtained by the people, for there is no common national feeling to appeal to, nor have they been able to keep out foreign elements .from their isolated table-lands, which are in many placos. the haunts of the nomadic plundering Kurds, The Armenia of to-day:; is divided among three States, all the three divisions meeting in Mount. Ararat; the northern section belongs to Russia, the south-eastern to Persia, and the south-western to Turkey. It is in this last division that .thei© ib lamentation and unutterable woe. Here, then; is a- Christian commnnity in prosperous circumstances, hemmed in oh all sides by Mohammedan fanatic without any settled home, L without anyf cultivations, without any inclination to steady industry, butwith strongly developed desire and also the will to prey on their wealthier but unprotected neighbors. A community, livingin an empire where non-Mohammedans have long remained under the most cruel oppression; where .Christians are .excluded from all official positions; where they have praciically.no redress from their wrongs, for the work of a ’Christian hns no weight against that of a Turk. A commuuity, living under a Government utterly faithless, whoso equal in iniquitous dealing does n.ot ‘exist. It is not surprising then that these people have rebelled,* that they have cried for assistance. Without success their re.volt; without avail their appeal—so far. ; The European powers, held back by jealousy of one another, looked on inactively at the iniquities practised on this ancient people. Some forty years ago, after one of these almost periodic persecutions, the Great Powers intervened, and in 1856, treaties were made which gav.e Eng land. France and Russia authority to march into Armenia and take over the Government; should the rule of the Turk again be fouud wanting. England furthermore has a special right, for, in 1878, the Porte made another treaty,, which gave England the power to take on herself the righting of these wrongs, should occasion require it. Rights conferred impose duties; it is therefore the duty of Eugland to answer the Armenian appeal, an 1 to take such steps .as will put an end, at once and for all time, to that longchapter of plunder, murder, rape and torture, of which, we, Colonists, have had portions made known to us from time to time. •

Should, however, the other Powers view our action with jealousy and protest and in common humanity they should not—then by all means allow a free hand in the ihatterto pur Anglo-Saxon brethren, across the "Atlantic from our Mother ountry.. They, at; any; rate ; cannot possibly have a motive which by - any stretch of imagination can be .termed sinister as far as Asia Minor concerned.-;- Such steps should now be taken as will prevent the public conscience .of Europe ever again being horrified by the ghastly spectacle of the hideous misrule of the Porte.