LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
HELP FOR THE ARMENIANS.
[TO TEE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,-I heartily sympathise with the spirit of " Edna Lyall's " letter in the Spectator of October 26th. The reason which you give for the smallness of the subscriptions is doubtless the main reason. Unfortunately the Armenians cannot fight, for they have no arms, except a revolver or gun which they occasionally smuggle across the frontier. It is forbidden by Islamic law for the Christians to possess any arms. The Sultan promised, in the Hatti-humayoun of 1856, to put the Christians, in this as in other respects, on a footing of equality with his Mussulman subjects ; but of course the promise has not been kept, and never was intended to be kept. When the dragomans of the European Embassies escorted the Armenian refugees home from the churches in Constantinople the other day, I observe that they deprived of their arms such of them as had any arms about their persons. Not content with mocking the Armenians with a sham scheme of reforms, the great Powers have determined to deprive them utterly of what Burke calls "the sacred right of uncovenanted man, the right of self-defence." They leave the Mussulmans armed to the teeth, and without any check or control, and they deprive the Christians of any weapons which they may conceal about their persons for self - defence, although the possession of arms was guaranteed to them by the Hatti-humayoun. Would it not be better if the Christian Powers honestly gave up the farce of pretending to protect the Christians of Turkey ? Prac- tically, their interference almost invariably ends in making the condition of the Christians worse. I was glad not to notice the name of the dragoman of the British Embassy in this cruel disarming of the Christians.
But is " Edna Lyall " sure that Mrs. Cole has the means of guaranteeing the safe despatch of subscriptions sent to her P The Committee of the Armenian Relief Fund were obliged to secure the co-operation of the British Ambassador at Con- stantinople before they could get the money safe into the hands of the Armenians. Besides, it is always a mistake to divide the agencies in such business. I should advise all subscriptions to be sent to the Duke of Westminster, Gros- venor House, London, W. We have already sent £5,000, and hope to double that sum at least. The need is most pressing.
The Residence, Ripon, October 28th.
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