Syria From the Saddle #230299

In December, 1893, foreign consuls throughout Asia Minor were directed officially to enforce a decree order ing the expulsion from the Sultan's domains, within ten days, of all who, once Turkish subjects, had become naturalized citizens of other countries. English and American residents in Jerusalem, Beirut, Damascus, and other Syrian towns, at once took alarm and predicted serious trouble in Armenia. It was said; once and again, in my careless hearing, that the imperial man date could mean but one thing it was aimed directly at Armenian Christians. The Turkish government hoped to avoid complications with Christian nations by ridding the land of those who, in the event of a move ment against the doomed race, would be, nominally at least, under the protection of foreign flags. The order was not a despotic caprice, but the pro logue to the bloodiest tragedy that has been enacted within five centuries. Calling to mind what has hap pened since the ominous decree, it seems incredible that neither England nor the United States protested against, or so much as instituted formal inquiry into the meaning of, an act that was clearly either arbitrary in cruelty, or else a useless display of authority. It is of course too late to speculate as to what would have been the result of such prompt and humane action. Yet, with the facts in the case before them, the sadly enlightened public will murmur, and the private Chris tian citizen will draw his own conclusions.