'General information on Persia for any future edition, 1895' [‎62v] (115/211)

that upon volunteering for the mooted Kurdish military organization, their conduct
would be overlooked or forgotten. No Armenian was concerned in this affair.
I have, &c.
(Signed) GEORGE POLLARD DEVEY.
p g rphg villages are Chakir Bey and Hassan Avdor, situated, I think, in Zilan-
Dereh. x> ta
No. 28.
Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury.—{Received April 3.)
Mv Lord Constantinople, March 27, 1891.
I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith copy of a despatch which I have
received from Her Majesty’s Consul at Aleppo, transmitting Petitions addressed to
him by Armenian political prisoners at Marash, and, in doing so, I would beg to call
attention to the opinion expressed by Mr. Jago, that the complaints made in general
terms by the petitioners of ill-treatment in prison are exaggerated, and that their ow n
follv in irritating and alarming the authorities, without the least prospect of success,
is chiefly to blame for their present position.
I have, &c.
(Signed) W. A. WHITE.
Inclosure in No. 28.
Consul Jago to Sir W. White.
(Extract.) Aleppo, March 14, 1891.
WITH reference to complaints made by Armenians at Pyass and Marash, ol
arbitrary imprisonment and oppressive conduct by the Turkish authorities on account
of alleged revolutionary tendencies, I have the honour to transmit to your Excellency,
at the request of the writers, Petitions addressed to me with regard to the political
prisoners at Marash. . . ,,
Since the above were written, the prisoners, forty-three in number, including the
Archbishop and two priests, all of Zeitoun, have arrived here (on the 8 th instant)
from Marash, and are now confined in the debtors’ quarter of the prison of A.eppo,
pending the investigation of their cases before the local Tribunals, the dossier
having been sent from Marash by orders of the Porte. Eifteen horses and mules were
employed in bringing them here. They were not in irons, but bound by cords in the
usual way to prevent escape; those on foot having their arms bound, and those on
horseback their legs tied. They are receiving, besides prison rations, food from their
co-religionists. . . .
The native Protestant and Catholic American communities in the vilayets ot
Aleppo and Adana have carefully held aloof from participation in the matters which
form the accusations brought against those of the ancient Armenian Church.
It is not possible for me to verify personally the statements of ill-treatment in
prison which are made, but, as your Excellency may observe, such are invariably made
in general terms, and I am inclined to think, from all I can learn, that they are
exaggerated.
I shall refrain in future from transmitting to your Excellency repetitions of
similar Petitions wdiich I may receive, and will confine myself, when the time comes,
to reporting the result of the pending trials in Aleppo. I ought not, however, perhaps
to refrain from reporting to your Excellency the impression I have received, after
diligent inquiry, and much communication wdth those acting on behalf of the prisoners,
which is that the latter have themselves alone to thank for the trouble in which they
find themselves, having acted most senselessly and childishly throughout this business;
irritating and alarming the Turkish authorities without the slightest chance of success.
Could the robber families of Zeitoun, about forty in number, be properly transferred
to other regions, I believe that the tranquillity of these mountain ranges would not
in future be disturbed, even by the fresh advent of emissaries from the Secret
Committees.