746 



UNITARIANS. 



Hamidieh, a regiment of Kurdish cavalry lately 

 enrolled, surrounded the Armenian position and 

 closed in upon them, killing all, about 750. When 

 the regular Turkish infantry arrived there was 

 little for them to do except to establish a cordon 

 round the scene of the disturbance. 



The military and police precautions against 

 the transmission of news and complaints from 

 the scene of the disorders gave the Armenian 

 revolutionists a chance to spread through the 

 world extravagant reports. They said that Zeki 

 Pasha had instructions from Constantinople to 

 exterminate the people of the district; that he 

 horrified the Turkish soldiers by ordering women 

 to be violated and, unless they embraced Islam, 

 to be slain, and all the children to be slain ; that 

 individual soldiers were heard to boast of having 

 killed hundreds ; that revolting tortures were 

 practiced, churches desecrated, and villages 

 burned; that the soldiers refused to obey the 

 inhuman orders until they were threatened with 

 punishment ; that infants were thrown into the 

 river; that the Turkish soldiers killed Kurds who 

 refused to help them kill the Christians; that the 

 commanding officer selected female slaves for his 

 own harem ; that Armenian women had defended 

 a town after the men had betaken themselves to 

 the mountains and had finally leaped to their 

 death from the wall to preserve their religion 



and their honor ; that 6,000, afterward that 10,- 

 000, had been massacred. 



The Turkish Government reported that no per- 

 son had been killed except with arms in his hands. 

 When the British consul at Van, Mr. Halward, 

 reported that there was ground for an investiga- 

 tion of the action of the Turks by the powers, the 

 Turkish Government appointed commissioners 

 to go to Kurdistan and investigate the affair on 

 the spot. The British Government had at first 

 entertained the idea of an independent inquiry 

 by the treaty powers, and afterward, when this 

 plan was abandoned, was willing to have an 

 American representative present to control and 

 report upon the proceedings of the Turkish com- 

 mission. President Cleveland would not agree 

 to this. The Porte invited the signatory pow- 

 ers to send delegates to hear the testimony and 

 take part in the investigation. The British, the 

 French, the Russian, and afterward the Italian 

 governments accepted the proposition. The 

 American Government was also invited, and the 

 President instructed Consul Milo Jewett to ac- 

 company the commission and draw up a report 

 on the evidence for the information of his Gov- 

 ernment. But when the Porte refused to allow 

 him to be present as an independent observer, 

 the United States Government declined to take 

 any part with European representatives. 



U 



UNITARIANS. The fifteenth session of the 

 National Conference of Unkarian and Other 

 Christian Churches was held in Saratoga 

 Springs, N. Y., beginning Sept. 24. The Hon. 

 George F. Hoar, chosen to succeed the Hon. 

 George William Curtis, deceased, presided. The 

 report of the council showed that 44 clergymen 

 had been received since the previous meeting 

 into the fellowship of the churches. Measures 

 had been taken for securing a collection of con- 

 temporary Unitarian literature, so far as it ap- 

 pears in the work of the American press. A regu- 

 lar correspondence had been kept up with differ- 

 ent parts of the country, of which the result was a 

 large collection of current publications, carefully 

 arranged and indexed. The increase in the num- 

 ber of Unitarian churches was in a rather larger 

 proportion than the increase in the population 

 of the country ; and it was inferred from the re- 

 turns made to the Sunday School Society that 

 there was also a considerable increase in the 

 number of persons uniting wil.h the Church. 

 During the last three years the divinity school 

 of Harvard University had furnished 21 men to 

 the Unitarian pulpit, the Meadville Theological 

 School 19. Among the suggestions offered by 

 the council for the consideration of the churches 

 was one that it would be desirable if the local 

 conferences or missionary superintendents could 

 arrange some plan by which men and women 

 who wish may join the Unitarian Church of 

 America even though they have no local Uni- 

 tarian congregation near them. It was also 

 suggested that the directors of the local confer- 

 ences should see that every conference meeting 

 has some definite Christian work in hand, such 



as the establishment of churches or congrega- 

 tions of people, few or many, who are willing to 

 work together " for the coming of the kingdom." 

 Special reports were made by the American Uni- 

 tarian Association, of the condition of the Uni- 

 tarian churches in the Middle States and Can- 

 ada, in the Southern States, in the central West, 

 and on the Pacific coast ; of the Western Unita- 

 rian Conference ; and of the National Alliance, 

 or Women's General Association for Missionary 

 and Benevolent Work. A committee had been 

 appointed by order of the preceding conference 

 to consider all the proposals with respect to the 

 preamble and Constitution of the National Con- 

 ference, and publish a report six months before 

 the present meeting. The revised constitution 

 prepared by this committee came before the con- 

 ference on a special report by the committee, and 

 was amended and adopted. The most impor- 

 tant features of the document are the preamble 

 and the first article, which, as amended and 

 adopted, read : 



The Conference of Unitarian and Other Christian 

 Churches was formed in the year 1865 with the pur- 

 pose of strengthening the Churches and societies 

 which should unite in it for more and better work for 

 the kingdom of God. These Churches accept the re- 

 ligion of Jesus, holding, in accordance with his teach- 

 ing, that practical religion is summed up in love to 

 God and love to man. The conference recognizer 

 the fact that its constituency is congregational in tra- 

 dition and polity. Therefore it declares that noth- 

 ing in this constitution is to be considered as an au- 

 thoritative test, and we cordially invite to our work- 

 ing fellowship any who, while differing from us in 

 belief, are in general sympathy with our spirit and 

 our practical aims. 



