'General information on Persia for any future edition, 1895' [‎72r] (134/211)

47
Inclosure 2 in No. 10.
Acting Vice-Consul Boyadjian to Acting Consul Hampson.
Sir,
Diarbekir, April 13, 1891.
I HAVE the honour to communicate to you what has been lately reported to me
with reference to a dangerous movement among the Armenians in the districts of
Kharput and Pain, and I cannot do better than quote from a letter I have received :—
“ I have been much in the villages this winter, and I find that in this (Kharput)
plain and in Palu and the plain there is a great state of expectancy; Armenians are
procuring arms to a considerable extent, and talk of the need of spilling blood that
they may obtain freedom. They are confident that England, or Prance, or Russia,
they do not know which, is coming to their aid this spring. They affirm that over
100,000 Armenians under foreign officers are fully armed and drilled, and ready for
an advance upon the Turks this spring; they are not sure whether these troops are
in Persia or Russia. I fear that a few hot-headed men are exciting the Armenians of
this country with false reports, and the Armenians, acting upon these and talking
about them, are greatly injuring their relations with the Mahommedans. In many, if
not all, of these villages there is a spirit of doubt and distrust between the two races;
in some places, as Ashuntsik and Itchme, the Moslims openly threatened to arise and
slay the Christians; the Turks of Itchme have attempted to excite the Kurds against
the Christians, and, failing in this, two w r eeks ago they gathered in large numbers in
their quarter, and shouted to the Moslims to come and unite in killing all the
Armenians; they tell me they fired guns and carried on to such extent, that the
Christians fully expected that their time had come; they armed themselves and
waited, but nothing came of it. There is certainly danger that in the present excited
state of these tw r o classes a small matter may lead to dire results.”
I have only to remark that information of a similar nature has been received by
me from time to time from other sources. Armenians in disguise from Russia or other
countries are actively engaged in exciting the deluded Armenians in this country to a
seditious rising, and I need hardly state that it would be extremely foolish in them to
take such a step, for it would serve no purpose, but only expose them to a danger
the seriousness of which no one is able to calculate.
I have, &c.
(Signed) THOMAS BOYAHJIAN.
No. 41.
Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury.—(Received May 1 5.)
Constantinople, May 11, 1891.
My Lord,
I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith to your Lordship a copy of a despatch
addressed to me by Mr. A.cting Consul Hampson, in which he points out the difference
of treatment extended by officials to Armenians and Mussulmans, very much to the
advantage of the latter.
It does not, however, appear to me that the charges are of a sufficiently specific
character to admit of my bringing them, in this instance, to the notice of the Grand
Vizier.
I have, &c.
(Signed) W. A. WHITE.
Inclosure in No. 41.
Acting Consul Hampson to Sir W. White.
Erzeroum, May 2, 1891.
Sir,
I BEG to call your Excellency’s attention to a fev r points in regard tn which the
Christian subjects of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan in this district are evidently not
treated on an equal footing with the Mussulmans, in spite of all Regulations to the
contrary. The instances which I now submit to your Excellency are simple matters
of fact, and not open to discussion, like the question of the justice which Christians
receive in the Lav r Courts, and other matters of the same nature, and are not
mentioned in the late Consul Lloyd’s Minute of the 2nd October, 1890:—