Photo by Stephen Van R. Trowbridge 



AN ARMENIAN FARMER'S FAMILY 



"The purpose of the massacres seems to have been to reduce the number of Armenians and 

 to take possession of their property" (see text, page 353) 



lems, and governed by Armenian chiefs 

 under the suzerainty of Persia, was con- 

 quered by Russia, so that Armenia is now 

 divided between Persia, Russia, and Tur- 

 key. The Armenians in Persia have been 

 treated well and are content ; the Ar- 

 menians in Turkey were enjoying fair 

 treatment up to 1876. 



But the trouble had begun, for Russia 

 had framed a policy for the protection 

 of the Rayahs of the Ottoman Empire 

 and annoyed Turkey greatly by her in- 

 tervention and demands for "reform." 

 At first it was her coreligionists, the 

 Orthodox Christians, Slav or Greek, 

 whom Russia sought to protect, but later 

 it included the Armenians. 



In 1876 there came to the throne of 

 Turkey one of the most cruel and abom- 

 inable tyrants whom the world has ever 

 known — Abdul Hamid II. Shortly after 

 occurred the Russo-Turkish War. At 



the Treaty of San Stefano, that closed 

 the war, the grievances of the Armenians 

 were definitely put forward, and Russia 

 engaged to carry out reforms "in the 

 provinces inhabited by the Armenians 

 and to guarantee them security against 

 Kurds and Circassians." 



When England forced the substitution 

 of the Treaty of Berlin for that of San 

 Stefano, , she divided the responsibility 

 toward the Armenians and weakened 

 Russia's power to help them. In the 

 Cyprus Convention of the same year, 

 1878, the Sultan promised Great Britain 

 to introduce reforms for the Protestants 

 and other Christian subjects of the Porte. 

 The Armenians at this time got very 

 strongly the impression' that England was 

 their friend and protector. Their disap- 

 pointment was very great when they 

 gradually learned that the policy of Glad- 

 stone was not the steady policy of Great 



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