'General information on Persia for any future edition, 1895' [‎49v] (89/211)

2
a „-c fkp nuantity of disaffected sentiment is one that may be
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conditions, if it should be only to pass under the yoke of Russia.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Acting Vice-Consul Boyadjian to Consul Lloyd.
Diarbekir, December 6 , 1890.
lr ’ I HAVE the honour to inform you that after protracted examinations and delay
of about two years, the Court of Appeal at this place passed at last judgment upon the
accused involved in the Blaidar case, and I regret to state that with the exception of
two men who have been condemned to fifteen years’ penal servitude, the others,
in number about fifteen, have been acquitted. . n
In the outrage, the details of which were reported by me m a semi-official despatch
dated the 10th August, 1889, four men and three children of from 3 to 9 years o age
were butchered in cold blood, and fifty-one houses were burnt, which have been re mi
by ^The^decisioii 1 is'conSclered 8 here as scandalous, for from the first the accused stood
condemned at the bar of public opinion, and it was expected that they would receive
,l ” TiKS SSSSiKfc jurtcB „ lb. IMM «■ the M„ r i. M hi.
Honour has given it as his opinion that all the accused were guilty, and undei ns
signature has set forth his reasons for differing from the other members of the Court
in the document containing the sentence, which I hope will be sent to the Court o
Cassation for a final decision.
X have &c
(Signed)" ’ THOMAS BOYADJIAN.
No. 2.
Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury —(Received January 26.)
My Lord, Constantinople, January 17, 1891.
J BOB some time back I have been advising the Grand Vizier, unofficially, to
obtain from the Sultan as extensive an amnesty as possible for the numerous
Armenians imprisoned or exiled for political offences. .... i
The Armenian (Gregorian) Patriarch has also been working in this sense an
even the Armenian Catholic Patriarch, though I believe none of the latter denomina
tion have been implicated in the late political agitation.
I hear some few Armenian prisoners are about to be liberated at once, and 1 hope
this may prove to be only an instalment of a more general act of grace.
I have, &c.
(Signed) W. A. WHITE.
No. 3.
Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury.—(Received January 26.)
My Lord, Constantinople, January 19, 1891.
YESTERDAY the Armenians celebrated the feast of the Epiphany, which is one
of their greatest festivals.
On the previous evening, by the Sultan’s orders, seventy-six political prisoners
were set free at Constantinople, mostly individuals whose trial had not been completed,
and they were conducted before the Patriarch, in whose presence they took an oath of
allegiance, and who addressed them recommending obedience and loyalty to the
Sultan.
I am not in possession of reliable information as regards persons who may have
been pardoned in the provinces, or as to the further intentions of the Sultan with
regard to condemned Armenians.
I have, &c.
(Signed) W. A. WHITE.