688 



UNITARIANS. 



demnity long overdue on account of the destruc- 

 tion of missionary property during the Armenian 

 disturbances, made an urgent demand for satis- 

 faction in April. On June 23 an immediate reply 

 fb the demand of the United States Government 

 was requested. After further correspondence the 

 Sultan renewed his personal promise to pay the 

 indemnities claimed, amounting to nearly $100,000, 

 and evinced his good disposition by ordering the 

 rebuilding of the American college at Harput. 



The Russian Government secured an trade 

 granting to Kussian subjects the exclusive right 

 to build railroads in the districts of Asia Minor 

 fronting on the Black Sea. The Kussian ambassa- 

 dor called attention to serious conditions existing 

 in Armenia. A renewal of the oppression of Ar- 

 menian Christians by officials and of acts of vio- 

 lence on ihe part of the Kurds led to the resigna- 

 tion of the Armenian Patriarch in March when he 

 could obtain no satisfaction. The difficulty that 

 led to his resignation was in connection with the 

 election of the Catholicos of Sis. His first protest 

 extracted an inidc ordering the cessation of the 

 difficulties exceptionally created in regard to the 

 Armi-nians; the preservation of the rights of the 

 patriarchate over all the Armenians in Turkey, 

 including the election of the Catholicos of Sis; and 

 the remission of the military tax arrears in the 

 case of Armenians who have suffered misfortunes, 

 and the granting of facilities for the payment of 

 the tax in future. A note from the Kussian am- 

 bassador called attention to persecutions in certain 

 districts which drove Armenians to emigrate to 

 Kussia, and he informed the Porte of the decision 

 of the Russian Government to insist upon the 

 repatriation of those Armenians having a trade 

 or profession who took refuge in Russian territory 

 at the time of the great Armenian exodus, their 

 number being estimated at 2,000. In July some of 

 the inhabitants of the Armenian village of Spag- 

 hank, in the Sassun district, were massacred and in 

 adjacent villages persons were killed. The French 

 vice-consul at Van, and shortly afterward the Eng- 

 lish vice-consul also, were attacked by Kurdish 

 robbers. The Military Governor of Bitlis was dis- 

 missed, and in response to representations of the 

 powers the Sultan ordered a commission to inves- 

 tigate the Spaghank affair. 



In February the Sultan ordered a clause to be 

 added to the mining law restricting or prohibiting 

 the acquisition by foreigners of further interests in 

 Turkish mines. To this the ambassadors collect- 

 ively objected, declaring that it contravened exist- 

 ing treaties. In July a project of law was ap- 

 proved reserving to the Crown an option on all 



newly discovered mines and prohibiting conces- 

 sions until that option is declared. Difficulties 

 that arose over the conclusion of a consular con- 

 vention with Greece the Greek Government pro- 

 posed to refer to the ambassadors for arbitration, 

 appealing to the stipulations of the treaty of peace 

 between Greece and Turkey. In negotiating new 

 commercial treaties the Porte desired to secure the 

 right for Ottoman subjects to enjoy the same treat- 

 ment abroad that is obtained for the subjects of 

 other powers in Turkey. To this both France and 

 Kussia objected, basing their contention on the 

 capitulations, and hence negotiations with those 

 powers were interrupted in July. The period of 

 two years assigned to the conclusion of a treaty 

 of commerce with Greece expired on Jan. 14, 1900, 

 and the provisional state of affairs was prolonged 

 for six months. When that period expired the 

 Porte imposed differential tariffs on imports from 

 Greece and also from Roumania, Servia, Monte- 

 negro, and Bulgaria, raising the duties on certain 

 articles 30 or 40 per cent. The object of these 

 prohibitory provisional rates was to force the Bal- 

 kan countries to conclude new commercial rates 

 favorable to Turkey. The Greek Government ap- 

 pealed to the three protecting powers, calling at- 

 tention to an article in the London protocol of 

 Feb. 3, 1830, which assures to Greek and Turkish 

 subjects reciprocally the commercial rights ac- 

 corded by either nation to the subjects of other 

 powers. The Balkan states also protested, but 

 could not lay claim to rights under the capitula- 

 tions. Greece and Roumania refused to open nego- 

 tiations for commercial treaties unless the differen- 

 tial tariff was repealed. A commercial treaty with 

 Germany was already concluded before the begin- 

 ning of 1900. This and the other new treaties that 

 were under consideration substituted specific for 

 ad valorem duties, and were calculated to yield 

 an increase of T. 750,000 in the customs revenue. 

 The financial embarrassments of the Govern- 

 ment led to the imposition of a supplementary tax 

 of 6 per cent, on the Mohammedan peasantry. 

 which the arbitrary methods of the farmers of the 

 revenue made unendurable in some of the most 

 productive provinces of the empire. The discon- 

 tent of the farming population drew forth siu 

 tions and demands for thoroughgoing reforms, not 

 from the Young Turkish party alone, but from 

 officials in the diplomatic and civil service. Mo- 

 hammedan peasants were leaving tlieir lands un- 

 cultivated, cutting down their vines and trees, and 

 even emigrating in great numbers beyond the seas. 

 Of 100,000 Syrian emigrants to the United States, 

 fully a third were Mussulmans. 



U 



UNITARIANS. The annual report of the 

 American Unitarian Association for 1900 gives the 

 number of churches of this denomination as 457, 

 while in 1850 it was 251. The average increase 

 in the number of churches in fifty years had there- 

 fore been about 4 a year, or the total increase 

 in fifty years nearly' 90 per cent. Fifty-two 

 ( hurdics that were on the list in 1850, or on;'' fifth 

 of the whole number, had disappeared from it in 

 1900. 



The association had $631,936 of property and 

 more than $400.000 of invested funds, yielding an 

 income of $10,015. It had. further,' a Church 

 Building Loan fund of $14s.s-Jl. Kighty-three 

 churches wore on the beneficiary list, receiving 

 "04 in all, or an averago of more than *::tiO 

 each. For the home mission purposes of the as- 



sociation $11,602 W2ve required, and for the fore: 

 missions $4,! C>(). 



American Unitarian Association. The sev- 

 enty-fifth annual meeting of the American l_~ni- 

 tarian Association was held in Uoston. Mass.. May 

 22. President Samuel Eliot, of Harvard Univer- 

 sity, Cambridge, Mass., was chosen president. The 

 report of the secretary showed that the number 

 of churches contributing to the association had 

 risen from 319 to 343. and the number of delegate 

 societies from 233 to 304. The gifts of churches 

 and individuals for current expenses had aggre- 

 gated $75.329, against *57.513 in the previous year. 

 and the "it'ts and bequests for capital account had 

 amounted to $:>9.552. again-1 $39,592 in 1S99. The 

 development of nc\v sources of income, such as 

 Sunday schools and Young People's Unions, had 



