the blackest page of modern history. events in armenian in 1915 (hervert adams gibbons) 1916

8/13/2019 The Blackest Page of Modern History. Events in Armenian in 1915 (Hervert Adams Gibbons) 1916

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THE BLACKEST PAGE OFMODERNHISTORYARMENIAN EVENTS OF 1915

THE FACTS AND THE RESPONSIBILITIES

BYHERBERT ADAMS GIBBONS. Ph.D.

Author of The Foundation of the Ottoman Elmpire, The NewMap of Europe, etc.Second Impression

IT is because the Armenian massacres in Turkey* are clearly established, because responsibilitiescan be definitely fixed, and because an appeal tohumanity can be made on behalf of the remnantof the Armenian race in the Ottoman Empirewithout the slightest suspicion of political interest,that the author deems it advisable and imperative atthis moment to call attention to what is undoubtedlythe blackest page in modem history, to set forth thefacts, and to point out the responsibilities. ^


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The Blackest PageofModern History

Events in Armenia in 1915The Facts and the Responsibilities

ByHerbert Adams Gibbons, Ph.D.

Author ofThe FouDdation of the Ottoman Empire, TheNew Map of Europe, etc.

G. P. Putnam's SonsNew York and Londontlbe ffmicFierbocfter press

1916


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Copyright, 1916BY

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

Second Impression

Ube tknicliecbocfiet pcess, mew l^och


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And the Lord said unto Cain, Where isAbel thy brother? And he said, I know not:am I my brother's keeper?

Genesis iv., 9.


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Of Modern History 7hopelessly selfish. The world at heart isnot deaf to the appeal of the innocent andhelpless. Else we should have reasonindeed to believe in the complete disappear-ance of our twentieth-century Christiancivilization. If some issues are debat-able, if some events are obscure, if somecharges and counter-charges cannot bedetermined, there are others that can bedetermined.

It is because the Armenian massacresin Turkey are clearly established, becauseresponsibilities can be definitely fixed, andbecause an appeal to humanity can be madeon behalf of the remnant of the Armenianrace in the Ottoman Empire without theslightest suspicion of political interest, thatI feel it advisable and imperative at thismoment to call attention to what is undoubt-edly the blackest page in modern history, to


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CONTENTSPAGE

Foreword ...... 5Introductory . . . . .11

CHAPTER IIn April, 19 15, the Ottoman Govern-ment Began to Put into Execution

throughout Turkey a SystematicAND Carefully-Prepared Plan toExterminate the Armenian Race.In Six Months Nearly a MillionArmenians have been Killed. TheNumber of the Victims and theManner of their Destruction areWITHOUT Parallel in Modern History i 7

CHAPTER IIThe Armenians, as a Race, have never

BEEN, and are NOT, A MENACE TO THESecurity of Turkey. They areBlameless of the Charge of Dis-loyalty, WHICH HAS BEEN THE ExCUSEFOR THEIR Massacre and Deportation 30

9


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INTRODUCTORYIN the summer of 1908, when the

Young Turks compelled Abdul Ha-mid to re-establish the constitutionhe had granted, and almost immedi-ately suppressed, at the beginning ofhis reign thirty years before, they hada good press throughout the civilizedworld. Writers of all nations lauded theYoung Turks, and described in glowingterms the wonderful future of the Otto-man Empire under the regime of Liberty,Equality, and Fraternity. The goodwillof Europe and America, and practicalencouragement as well, was given to thereformers of Turkey in every possibleway. Especially among the Powers,


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Of Modern History 13actual suggestio falsi. Occidental diplo-macy was just as loyal to Young Turkeyas was Occidental journalism . SuccessiveGrand Viziers assured me that the loyalco-operation of London and Paris, throughwillingness to forbear criticism and toleave much unsaid, had made possiblethe maintenance of the newly-establishedconstitution throughout the first difficultwinter, and the weathering of the stormof Abdul Hamid's attempted counter-revolution.

It was my fortune to go to Turkey dur-ing the first month of the new regime, andto live in Asia Minor and Constantino-ple until after the disastrous war withthe Balkan States. From 1908 to 1913,I enjoyed exceptional opportunities oftravelling in European and AsiaticTurkey, of becoming acquainted with the


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14 The Blackest Pagemen who were guiding the destinies ofthe Ottoman Empire, and of witnessingthe fatal events that changed in fiveyears the hope of regeneration into thedespair of dissolution. At Smyrna, atConstantinople, and at Beirut, I tookpart in the fetes to celebrate the birthof the new regime, and saw the ostensiblereconciliation of Christian, Moslem, andJewish elements. Christian priests andMoslem ulema embraced each other anddrove through the streets in triumphalprocession in the same carriages.Above all, from the very beginning, I

was in a position to become intimatelyacquainted with the Armenians of Turkeyand to find out their real sentimentstowards the Young Turks and the newregime. I was in Adana, in April, 1909,when their enthusiastic loyalty was re-

'


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Of Modern History 15warded by a massacre of thirty thou-sand of them in CiHcia and northernSyria. I was able to observe the attitudeof the Armenians before the massacre.Their blood was spilled before my eyesin Adana. I was with them in differentplaces after the fury of the massacre hadpassed.

This preamble in the first person isreluctantly written. But I feel that itmust be given, in order that I may antici-pate exception to my statements on theground that I am not acquainted withthe problem, and that it is impossiblefor an outsider to form a judgment onthese matters. For I have alwaysfound that the Turk and his friends, whenyou speak to them on the Armenianquestion, flatly deny your facts andchallenge the competency of your judg-


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CHAPTER IIn April, 191 5, the Ottoman Govern-

ment Began to Put into Executionthroughout Turkey a SystematicAND Carefully-prepared Plan toExterminate the Armenian Race.In Six Months Nearly a MillionArmenians have been Killed.The Number of the Victims andthe Manner of their Destruc-tion are without Parallel inModern History.

IN the autumn of 19 14, the Turks beganto mobihze Christians as well asMoslems for the army. For six

months, in every part of Turkey, they2 17


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i8 The Blackest Pagecalled upon the Armenians for militaryservice. Exemption money was acceptedfrom those who could pay. A few weekslater the exemption certificates were dis-regarded, and their holders enrolled.The younger classes of Armenians, whodid not live too far from Constantinople,were placed, as in the Balkan wars, in theactive army. The older ones, and all theArmenians enrolled in the more distantregions, were utilized for road, railway,and fortification building. Whereverthey were called, and to whatever taskthey were put, the Armenians did theirduty, and worked for the defence ofTurkey. They proved themselves bravesoldiers and intelligent and industriouslabourers.

In April, 19 15, orders were sent outfrom Constantinople to the local author-


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Of Modern History 19ities in Asia Minor to take whatevermeasures were deemed best to paralysein advance an attempt at rebellion on thepart of the Armenians. The orders im-pressed upon the local authorities thatthe Armenians were an extreme dan-ger to the safety of the empire, and sug-gested that national defence demandedimperatively anticipatory severity inorder that the Armenians might berendered harmless.

In some places, the local authoritiesreplied that they had observed no sus-picious activity on the part of the Arme-nians and reminded the Government thattheArmenians were harmless because theypossessed no arms and because the mostvigorous masculine element had alreadybeen taken for the army. There aresome Tiurks who have a sense of pity


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20 The Blackest Pageand a sense of shame But the majorityof the Turkish officials responded withalacrity to the hint from Constantinople,and those who did not were very soonreplaced.A new era of Armenian massacres

began.At first, in order that the task might be

accomplished with the least possible risk,the virile masculine Armenian populationstill left in the cities and villages wassummoned to assemble at a convenientplace, generally outside the town, andgendarmes and police saw to it that thesummons was obeyed. None was over-looked. When they had rounded up theArmenian men, they butchered them.This method of procedure was generallyfeasible in small places. In larger cities,it was not always possible to fulfil the


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Of Modern History 21orders from Constantinople so simply andpromptly. The Armenian notables wereassassinated in the streets or in theirhomes. If it was an interior city, themen were sent off under guard to ' ' anothertown. In a few hours the guard wouldreturn without their prisoners. If itwas a coast city, the Armenians weretaken away in boats outside the har-bour to another port. The boatsreturned astonishingly soon without thepassengers.

Then, in order to prevent the possibil-ity of trouble from Armenians mobilizedfor railway and road construction, theywere divided in companies of from threehundred to five hundred and put to workat intervals of several miles. Regimentsof the Turkish regular army were sentto put down the Armenian revolution,


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22 The Blackest Pageand came suddenly upon the little groupsof workers plying pickaxe, crowbar, andshovel. The rebels were riddled withbullets before they knew what washappening. The few who managed toflee were followed by mounted men, andshot or sabred.

Telegrams began to pour in uponTalaat bey at Constantinople, announc-ing that here, there, and everyivhereArmenian uprisings had been put down,and telegrams were returned, congratu-lating the local officials upon the successof their prompt measures. To neutralnewspaper men at Constantinople, toneutral diplomats, who had heard vaguelyof a recurrence of Armenian massacres,this telegraphic correspondence was shownas proof that an imminent danger hadbeen averted. We have not been cruel,


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Of Modern History 23but we admit having been severe, de-clared Talaat bey. This is war time.Having thus rid themselves of the

active manhood of the Armenian race,the Turkish Government still felt uneasy.The old men and boys, the women andchildren, were an element of dangerto the Ottoman Empire. The Armeni-ans must be rooted out of Turkey. Buthow accomplish this in such a way thatthe Turkish Ambassador at Washingtonand the German newspapers might beable to say, as they have said and are stillsaying, All those who have been killedwere of that rebellious element caughtred-handed or while otherwise commit-ting traitorous acts against the TurkishGovernment, and not women and children^as some of these fabricated reports wouldhave the Americans believe? Talaat


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24 The Blackest Pagebey was ready with his plan. Deporta-tiona regrettable measure, a militarynecessitybut perfectly htimane.From May until October the Ottoman

Government pursued methodically a planof extermination far more hellish than theworst possible massacre. Orders for de-portation of the entire Armenian popu-lation to Mesopotamia were despatchedto every province of Asia Minor. Theseorders were explicit and detailed. Nohamlet was too insignificant to be missed.The news was given by town criers thatevery Armenian was to be ready to leaveat a certain hour for an unknown desti-nation. There were no exceptions forthe aged, the ill, the women in pregnancy.Only rich merchants and bankers andgood-looking women and girls were al-lowed to escape by professing Islam,


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Of Modern History 25and let it be said to their everlastinghonour that few availed themselves ofthis means of escape. The time givenvaried from two days to six hours. Nohousehold goods, no animals, no extraclothing could be taken along. Foodsupply and bedding was limited to whata person could carry. And they had togo on foot under the burning sun throughparched valleys and over snow-coveredmountain passes, a journey of from threeto eight weeks.When they passed through Christian

villages where the deportation orderhad not yet been received, the travellerswere not allowed to receive food orministrations of any sort. The sick andthe aged and the wee children fell by theroadside, and did not rise again. Womenin childbirth were urged along by bayo-


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26 The Blackest Pagenets and whips until the moment of de-liverance came, and were left to bleedto death. The likely girls were seizedfor harems, or raped day after day by theguards until death came as a mercifulrelease. Those who could committedsuicide. Mothers went crazy, and threwtheir children into the river to end theirsufferings. Hundreds of thousands ofwomen and children died of himger, ofthirst, of exposure, of shame.The pitiful caravans thinned out, first

daily, and later hourly. Death be-came the one thing to be longed for: forhow can hope live, how can strengthremain, even to the fittest, in a journeythat has no end? And if they turnedto right or left from that road to hell,they were shot or speared. Kurds andmounted peasants hunted down those


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Of Modern History 27who succeeded in escaping the roadsideguards.They are still putting down the Arme-

nian revolution out there in Asia Minor.I had just written the above paragraphwhen an English woman whom I haveknown for many years came to my home.She left Adana, in Cilicia, only a monthago. Her story is the same as that ofa hundred others. I have the identicalfacts, one eye-witness testimony corrobo-rating the other, from American, English,German, and Swiss sources. This Englishwoman said to me, The deportation isstill going on. From the interior alongthe Bagdad Railway they are still beingsent through Adana on the journey ofdeath. As far as the railway exists, it isbeing used to hurry the work of extermin-ation faster than the caravans from the


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28 The Blackest Pageregions where there are no railways.Oh if they would only massacre them,and be done with it, as in theHamidian days I stood there atthe Adana railway station, and fromthe carriages the women would holdup their children, and cry for water.They had got beyond a desire forbread. Only water There was apump. I went down on my knees tobeg the Turkish guard to let me givethem a drink. But the train moved on,and the last I heard was the cry of thoselost souls. That was not once. It wasalmost every day the same thing. DidLord Bryce say eight hundred thou-sand? Well, it must be a million now.Could you conceive of human beingsallowing vv^ild animals to die a deathlike that?


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Of Modern History 29But the Turkish Ambassador in Wash-

ington declares that these stories arefabrications, and that no women andchildren have been killed.


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CHAPTER IIThe Armenians, as a Race, have

never been, and are not, a men-ACE TO THE Security of Turkey.TheyARE Blameless of the Chargeof Disloyalty, which has beenthe Excuse for their Massacreand Deportation.

IN commenting upon the report of theAmerican Committee, on ArmenianAtrocities, Djelal Munif bey, the

Turkish Consul-General in New York,declared: However much to be deploredmay be these harrowing events in thelast analysis, we can but say the Arme-nians have only themselves to blame.

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Blackest Page of Modern History 31Djelal Munif bey went on to explain thatthe Armenians had been planning arevolution, and were killed by the Turkishsoldiers only after they had been caught .red-handed with arms in their hands,resisting lawful authority.

This has been the invariable explan-ation for the massacre of Armenians inTurkey. We heard it in 1 895-1896 andin 1909. We have been hearing it againin 191 5. But facts to substantiate ithave never been given. On the otherhand, there exists overwhelming evi-dence of the most convincing characterto show how inadmissible it is as an ex-planation, how baseless it is as a charge.

I have talked personally with, or haveseen letters and reports from, Americanmissionaries and consular officials of allnations, who were witnesses of the massa-


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32 The Blackest Pagecres of 1895 and 1896. At that time, asa result of unendurable persecution andinjustice, certain organizations of youngmen, of the type the French call exaltes,banded together in secret societies, animitation of internal organizations inRussia, agitated, within the OttomanEmpire and abroad, for a more favour-able treatment of Armenians and otherChristians. Some of these exaltes cer-tainly advocated, and tried to work for,the independence of Armenia. But thepropaganda never gained favour inecclesiastical circles, nor ground amongthe great mass of the Armenian popula-tion in Turkey. Except in the vilayetof Van, the Armenians no longer formedthe majority of the population. Theywere too scattered throughout the empireto have serious hope of winning independ-


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Of Modern History 33ence, such as the Greeks, Bulgarians,Servians, and Rumanians had succeededin obtaining in the Balkan peninsula.'

In the 1909 massacre, I was on theground at the time, and studied thesecharges. I demonstrated to my ownsatisfaction (and to that of a number ofnewspaper men, including Germans) the

' I do not mean by this statement to deny that the edu-cated Armenians, just as every other people under theyoke of another race, have not longed, in their most inti-mate sentiments, for the day when national aspirationswould be realized. But, the Armenians are above all apractical people, and they did not look for what they knewwas impossible of realization. In the correspondenceconcerning Armenian people in the Chancelleries of theGreat Powers and in the archives of the Sublime Porte,the question has always been to obtain reforms that wouldsecure for the A rmenians only those privileges and only thatmeasure of security and freedom, to which they had the rightas Ottoman subjects to aspire. In 19 13, the Powers, amongwhom was Germany, proposed to the Turkish Governmenta plan for reforms in Asia Minor, which was accepted anddecreed by Turkey, but which was not put into execution.Up to the time of this terrible crime of the past few months,the Armenians demanded, and were glad to have obtainedin Turkey, only those reforms that Turkey had agreedherself to put into effect.

3


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34 The Blackest Pagetotal lack of foundation of this chargeagainst the Armenians of Cilicia . Not oneArmenian out of a hundred had anjrthingto do with the revolutionary societies.The lower classes were too ignorant tobe affected by such a propaganda. TheArmenian Church denounced the follyof the visionaries. College professorsspoke and wrote against it. The wealthycity classes frankly let the agitators knowthat they were not only passively, butalso actively, opposed to the propaganda.The Turks had nothing whatever to

fear from Armenian revolutionaries. Theyknew this. More than that, they knewjust who the exaltes were. The TurkishGovernment was well able to assure itselfthat the propagandists were not to befeared. If they had feared them, theycould easily have laid their hands on


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Of Modern History 35them any time they wanted to. InAdana, the arrest of from thirty to fortyyoung men would have gathered into thenet all the agitators. Instead of that,six thousand were massacred there, andhalf the city burned. Then the Arme-nian revolution was trumped up as anexcuseThe hideous miscarriage of justice of

the court martial after the Adana mas-sacre was the beginning of the downfallof the Young Turk regime. It was ademonstration of the mockery of theYoung Turk assertion that the OttomanEmpire was to be reconstructed on theprinciples of Liberty, Equality, and Fra-ternity. From that day to this, their everyact has given the lie to their profession.I say hideous miscarriage of justice, be-cause no element in the empire had wel-


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36 The Blackest Pagecorned more heartily the advent of theconstitutional regime, no element hadsupported the Young Turks more loyallythan the Armenians. If they erred at allduring those first nine months of theconstitutional era, it was in showing soopenlyand so joyouslytheir touchingfaith in the men of Salonika. Theyaccepted the revolution as sincere. Theirsupport of the new regime was sponta-neous and enthusiastic. They believedin the Young Turks^until they wereundeceived by the Young Turks them-selves.

After the massacre had stopped, onwordfrom Constantinople, I heard a YoungTurk officer address the survivors in thecourtyard of the American Mission atTarsus. He assured them that the dangerwas over, that it had been due to the


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Of Modern History 39in the Russian army. As a result of thewar of 1877, Turkey was compelled tocede a portion of Armenia to Russia.The Armenians of these territories andof the Caucasus have been for nearlyforty years under Russian rule, andare naturally, as Russian subjects,fighting against Turkey. In giving thefact that there are Armenians in theRussian armies as a reason for doubt-ing the loyalty of the Armenians inTurkey, the Turks and their Germanapologists have traded upon Europeanand American imperfect knowledge of thehistory and geography of the regionsbeyond Van. The formation of corps ofArmenian volunteers in the Allied armies,and the open support of the cause of theAllies on the part of Armenian commu-nities in France and Great Britain have


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40 The Blackest Pagebeen unfortunate. As individuals whohave left Turkey, these exiled Armenianshave a right to do as they choose, ascommunities, it would have beenit isnowbetter for them to keep quiet.Although they have no justification fordoing so, the Turks and Germans havebeen using the manifestations made bythese small communities outside of Tur-key as reflecting the spirit and intentionsof the Armenians in Turkey, and havesucceeded in confusing many neutralsabout the real facts of the Armeniansituation.

If the Armenians, during the presentmassacres and forcible deportations, havein some places, as they did in Adana in1909, defended, arms in hand, their homesand their loved ones, it has been onlywhen the Ottoman Government failed


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Of Modern History 41them, and when they were convinced thattheir extermination had been decidedupon. Even in these cases, as at Adana,when they received assurances of pro-tection against local Moslem fanaticismfrom the Government at Constantinople,they trusted once more. In every in-stance of this kindagain let me re-mind my readers that I have authenticeye-witness testimonytheir faith wasbetrayed. The Ottoman Governmentofficials broke their word, and butcheredthe Armenians after they had laid downtheir arms.With the possible exception of Van,

there was no place where the Turks hadthe slightest ground for suspicion thatthe local attempt of the Armenians todefend their wives and children was inconnivance with the enemy. And Van


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CHAPTER IIIThe Preservation of the Armenian

Element is Absolutely Indispens-able TO THE Well-being andProsperity of the Ottoman Em-pire. It has been Proved throughCenturies that Christians andMoslems are Able to Live inPeace and Amity in Turkey, whichis Equally the Country of Both.

ONE hesitates, on general principles,to attempt to advise, or to ad-monish, as to its best interests,

a nation at war. In a life and deathstruggle such as this war has become,it would be naturally supposed that a

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44 The Blackest Pagenation and its rulers are the best judgesof what it is to their interest to do.Advice from outside sources is open to thesuspicion of being not disinterested. Anddoes not admonition, if not sheer imperti-nence, betray impotence on the part ofthe admonisher?But in the Ottoman Empire, the situ-

ation is different from that of any othercountry in Europe. There is not asufficient number of educated men amongthe non-Christian elements of the Otto-man Empire to form, let alone to guide,public opinion. Consequently, there isno public opinion. The governing powerhas always been in the hands of a smalland corrupt circle, and the Ottomannation has not developed in self-govern-ment, in popular institutions, as have theother nations of Europe.


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Of Modern History 45The new regime was hailed with joy

by the outside world, and by the non-Moslem elements inside the empire aswell, because the Constitution of 1908 wasregarded as the starting point in a struggleof the people of the empire, irrespectiveof religion and race, against an absolutismthat had in practice proved equally inju-rious, if not equally oppressive, to all theraces subjected to the tyranny of YildizKiosk.

It was very soon seen, however, thatLiberty, Equality, and Fraternity had nopart whatever in the Young Turk con-ception of a constitutional state. Itwas simply the replacing of one cliqueby another. The honest, sincere YoungTurks, with motives above suspicion, whoactually meant what they said, were sofew in number that they could not prevail


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46 The Blackest Pageagainst the type in the Committee ofUnion and Progress, personified by suchmen as Talaat, Enver, Djavid, Djemal,Hairi, Ahmed Riza, Dr. Nazim, HadjiAdil, Bedri, and Hussein Djahid. TheMoslem population of the empire, beingintensely ignorant, could not be lookedto by the few enthusiasts to supportconstitutional principles. The Christianpopulation, much better educated andhaving much more reason to appreciatethe newly-proclaimed liberty, were theonly elements upon which a politicallyregenerated Turkey could stand. Forthis reason alone did the Armenian elementbecome immediately a source of danger tothe new clique that had replaced AbdulHamid. These so-called Young Turksturned upon the Armenians just asAbdul Hamid had turned upon themto


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Of Modern History 47prevent their becoming the leaven in theregeneration of Turkey. The Constitu-tion, hailed by the Armenians as thebeginning of their political emancipation,became almost immediatelyand inevi-tably^their death-warrant.One does not need to study deeply, one

has simply to read the history of theOttoman Empire since Great Britain andFrance saved the Turks by the CrimeanWar, to realize that the Armenians, fromthe moment the question of reformswas introduced by the Powers in theirdealings with the Sublime Porte, havebeen the unwitting victims of thecause of civilization in the Near East.The Congress of Berlin fully recognizedthis fact.The trans-Caucasian policy of Russia,

and the Balkan policy of all the Great


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48 The Blackest PagePowers first awakened, and has sincebeen the exciting cause of, the fanaticismof the Moslems of Turkey against theArmenians. Before there was an acuteQuestion of the Orient, did we everhave great Armenian massacres? Andyet, Christian Europe never made a con-certed effort to save this unhappy racefrom the results of Europe's own dealingswith the Turks.The Armenians, of course, always suf-

fered to a certain extent from their socialand political disabilities under Moslemrule. But they have lived for centuriesin comparative security, and certainlywith a large measure of prosperity, asOttoman subjects. Personal relations be-tween Turks and Armenians have beennot at all bad. I have had opportunityto observe this fact in different parts of


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50 The Blackest Pagethe Armenians are well-to-do, but havealways taken place in exactly the sameway and in exactly the same degree incommunities where the Armenians areboth ignorant and poverty-stricken.

Nothing is more stupid, nothing moreagainst nature and history, than advocat-ing that the solution of the Armenianquestion and salvation of the Armenianrace is in emigration en masse to Americaor some other country. The Armeniansare an indigenous element in AsiaticTurkey. Their wholesale emigrationmight save the lives of several hundredthousand individuals. But it wouldbreak the hearts of most of those whowere thus saved, and it would mark thedisappearance of the Armenians as arace and a nation, just as certainly asif their extermination by massacre were


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Of Modern History 51completed. What has the Armenian racedone that it should disappear? Andis not jtis soli as strong as the jus patrisespecially in lands where there is sim-shine?

The preservation of the Armenianelement in Asia Minor is indispensableto the well-being and prosperity of theTurks themselves. Politically, as well aseconomically, it is impossible for theTurks to continue to exist as an inde-pendent, and in any measure at all self-supporting, nation without the help of theArmenians. The Armenian massacresillustrate the old story of killing the goosethat laid the golden egg. In their pitifulignorance, in their frenzy of blood-lust,the Turks are turning upon and destroy-ing those whose existence is precious andvital to their community and national


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52 The Blackest Pagelife. Travel where you will throughTurkey, from one end of the great empireto the other, and you find no communitythat is prosperous without Armenians.Along the seacoast, the Greeks play animportant part in the economic life ofTurkey. But in the interior the Arme-nians are a sine qua non to the Turks.

Of the Armenians in Turkey one mighthave said without fear of contradictionbefore the terrible events of the past sixmonths, that they were in no placenumerically strong enough to jeopardizethe political independence of the OttomanEmpire, but that they were everywherein sufficient number to guarantee itseconomic independence.

Intelligent and patriotic Turks mustcertainly see that the attempt to exter-minate the Armenians, or to banish the


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Of Modern History 53remnant of them from Asia Minor, is amortal blow to Turkish independence,political as well as economic. The exter-mination of the Armenians is to theinterest of a certain nationbut thatnation is not Turkey


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CHAPTER IVThe German Government could have

Prevented this Effort at Exter-minating THE Armenian Race, buthas Chosen not to Do so. There isGrave Reason to Believe the Ger-man Government has Welcomed, ifNOT Encouraged, the Disappear-ance OF THE Armenians from AsiaMinor, for the Furtherance ofGerman Political and CommercialDesigns on the Ottoman Empire.

A PATRIOTIC German woman wrotefrom Marash on June 4, 19 15,to the Sonnenaufgang, organ of

the Deutscher Huljshund fur christUches54


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56 The Blackest Pageout the direct command and incitementof the authorities and without the helpof the soldiery and gendarmery, Turkshave never massacred Armenians. Since,then, this effort to exterminate the Arme-nian race, made everywhere in AsiaticTurkey at the same moment, has beendue to a systematic scheme, organized anddirected from Constantinople, we mustseek the responsibility among the officialsof the Turkish Government at Constanti-nople. The deliberate, minutely-plannedArmenian massacres and deportations,carried on without interruption fromApril to November, 1915, must have beenconceived by someone, ordered by some-one, and perpetrated for some purpose.

Conceived by whom? Ordered bywhom? Perpetrated for what purpose?

The conception is not new. It has been


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Of Modern History 57explained above that the Armeniansdrew upon themselves the distrust andthe hatred of the Young Turks becausethey took the Young Turks seriously,and believed that the Constitution wasto be a real constitution. The Adanamassacre was the first effort on the partof those who usurped Abdul Hamid'spolicy and methods when they usurpedhis authority, to destroy the Armenians.Back in those days I heard more than oneprominent Young Turk give hearty assentto the hon mot that was then going therounds, The only way to get rid ofthe Armenian question is to get rid of theArmenians To finish the work begunat Adana has been a political ideal for sixyears. The opportunity for realizationcame. It was seized immediately.When the attack of the Allies against the


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58 The Blackest PageDardanelles was begun, it was commonknowledge at Constantinople that the death-warrant of the Armenian race, long agosigned and put aside in the pigeon-holesof the Sublime Porte and the Seraskerat,would be brought out and put into execution.Is it possible to believe that the GermanEmbassy was ignorant of this, and thatTalaat bey gave the orders without hav-ing informed Baron von Wangenheim?Is it possible that the German Govern-ment at Berlin did not know of the plan,even if their representative at Con-stantinople failed to inform them? Hereare the facts.The extermination of a million and ahalf innocent, loyal to a fault, Christiansubjects of the Sultan of Turkey wasplanned at, and ordered from, Con-stantinople.


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Of Modern History 59At Constantinople, the one man whose

word, supported by his Government,would have prevented the orders fromgoing out, was the German Ambassador.Although he may not have known dur-

ing the first week or two, the GermanAmbassador was pled with, long before itwas too late, to use the influence of Ger-many to put a stop to what was to provethe blackest page of modern history.

Since Germany refused to intervenebefore the extermination of the Arme-nians started, is she not accessory beforethe fact to the murder by sword, bystarvation and thirst, by exposure, bybeating, by rape, of nearly a millionhuman beings, whose fault was that theywere in the way, and whose vulner-ability and defencelessness lay in the solefact that they were Christians?


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6o The Blackest PageSince Germany has persisted in refus-

ing to intervene during the process of ex-termination, is she not particeps criminis ?Ambassador von Wangenheim declared

to Ambassador Morgenthau at Constan-tinople that Germany could not, uponrequest of the United States, intervene inthe internal affairs of Turkey. Ambas-sador von Bernstorff at Washington,when he saw what a painful impressionthe newspaper accounts of the Armenianatrocities were producing on the Ameri-can public, at first denied that there hadbeen massacres, and, later, when it wasimpossible to maintain his denial in faceof established facts, declared that whathad happened in Turkey was a perfectlyjustifiable suppression of Armenian re-bellions.

In one large city of Asiatic Turkey, an


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Of Modern History 6iAmerican missionary, a man whom Iknow personally and whose word can betrusted implicitly, saw a German officerdirecting the artillery fire of the Turksupon the Armenian civilian popula-tion. In two other places, at least,German consuls defended the Ottomanpolicy both of massacre and of deport-ation.On the broader and more general moral

ground of responsibility as brother'skeeper, the German, who alone of allEuropean nations have had, and still havethe power to stop these massacres, standcondemned. It is going to be difficultfor their writers, who have been foremostin extolling the Armenian race, its virtues,and its contributions to civilization, todefend to the satisfaction of posterity theinertia of the German Government in the


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62 The Blackest Pageface of the extermination of the Armeniannation.That they kept quiet, and refused to

act, when they alone could have savedthe Armenians from destruction, is thefirst count in the case against the Germans.It is serious. The second count is sinister.When we try to find the purpose

behind the Armenian massacres, we areconfronted with what is, under the circum-stances, an eloquent accusation againstthe German Government and the Germanpeople. The Germans, and the Germansalone, will benefit hy the extermination ofthe Armenians. I have pointed out abovehow the Armenians are the essentialfactor, the guarantee indeed, of Turkisheconomic and political independence inAsia Minor. By the same token, theyappear to be a stumbling-block to German


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64 Blackest Page of Modern History-unfair to Germans as individuals, or toinsinuate what can not reasonably beproved to be in the German mind.Enlightened nations, however, are cer-tainly responsible for the acts of their

Governments. The Germans have as-sumed the responsibility for many terriblethings in this war. They may hope,when passions have died down and bothsides are known, to clear themselves ofsome charges. But there is no hope inregard to the charge of allowing theextermination of the Armeniansa crimeby which they alone could hope to benefit.


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66 The Blackest PageWould history be able to record a singlealtruistic deed to a nation's credit?Would slavery ever have been abolished?The other type is composed of thosewho believe that man does not live bybread alone, or for himself alone, and thatnations, as well as individuals, have re-sponsibilities towards othersespeciallyif those others are weak and oppressed.

Let us leave wholly to one side theargument of higher morality, this abstract,intangible argument, which, when urged,causes many to shrug their shoulders andsmile. Let us come to the concretereason for the direct responsibility of twonations to intervene on behalf of theArmenians. Among neutral and passiveonlookers, who have been silent while thedarkest page of modern history is beingwritten, the Americans and Swiss should


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SOURCES1 Report of American Committee on Arme-

nian Atrocities. New York, October, 1915.The report contains thirty-five extracts from the testi-

mony of eye-witnesses, covering the period April 27 toAugust 3, 19 1 5, from all parts of Asia Minor. Twenty-five representative Americans (including Hon. Oscar S*Strauss, twice American Ambassador to Turkey, CardinalJames Gibbons, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and formerPresident Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University), signedthis report, which states that each bit of testimony hasbeen subjected to careful and extensive investigation,and that the sources are unquestioned as to the veracity,integrity, and authority of the writers.

2. Official report of the Parliamentary De-bate in the House of Lords, on Wednesday,October 6, 1915. London, Parliamentary De-bates, H. of L., volume xix., 67.

Interpellation of the Earl of Cromer, speech of ViscountBryce, axid comments of the Marquess of Crewe.

3. Lord Bryce's revision and enlargement ofthe official report of his speech, as given inArmenian Atrocities : The Murder of a Nation,

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70 The Blackest Pageby Arnold J. Toynbee. London, November,1915.

4. German missionaries' letters to the Son-nenaufgang, published by Deutscher Hiilfsbundfiir christliches Liebeswerk im Orient.

5. Narrative of Dikran Andreasian, trans-lated by Rev. Stephen Trowbridge, and pub-lished in The Star of the East. London, November,1915.

6. Testimony of eye-witnesses, published inthe Boulogne-sur-Mer Telegramme, September17; Paris Temps, September 15; LimogesCourrier du Centre, September 15; Tribune deGeneve, September 4 and 24, October 14; Journalde Genbve, October 13 and 24; Gazette de Lausanne,October 24; New York Evening Post, October 18.Resumes and editorial comments in ManchesterGuardian, August 16 and October 26; LondonTimes, October 8; Frankfurter Zeitung, October9; Paris-Midi, October 17. All these dates, ofcourse, are in 19 15.

7. Circular letters of various dates from July6 to October 22, 1915, sent out by the AmericanBoard of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,Boston, Mass., which are signed by James L.Barton.


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Of Modern History 718. A number of as yet unpublished personal

letters. For obvious reasons, I cannot give thenames of the writers, and the places from whichthey were written.

9. Personal conversations with persons ofunimpeachable integrity and unquestioned au-thority, who have returned between September15 and November 20 from Constantinople andAsia Minor. Their names must of necessity bewithheld at this moment.


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the blackest page of modern history. events in armenian in 1915 (hervert adams gibbons) 1916

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