Chapter VIII: Conclusion

And now, in conclusion, let me pose frankly this question: _Have neutral nations any responsibility in regard to the Armenians?_

For neutral nations in general, the answer depends upon whether the influence and action of a nation ought to be confined wholly to internal affairs. Those who give to their own conscience and to God the answer of Cain, say frankly: “No, we are not our brother’s keeper. We have all that we can do to look after ourselves.” If this type of mentality had controlled the councils of the nations throughout the past twenty centuries, would there be a Christian civilization? Would history be able to record a single altruistic deed to a nation’s credit? Would slavery ever have been abolished? The other type is composed of those who believe that man does not live by bread alone, or for himself alone, and that nations, as well as individuals, have responsibilities towards others--especially if those others are weak and oppressed.

Let us leave wholly to one side the argument of higher morality, this abstract, intangible argument, which, when urged, causes many to shrug their shoulders and smile. Let us come to the concrete reason for the direct responsibility of two nations to intervene on behalf of the Armenians. Among neutral and passive onlookers, who have been silent while the darkest page of modern history is being written, the Americans and Swiss should not forget that their money and their representatives have been working for two generations in Turkey to elevate the Armenians. Together with French, British, Germans, and Italians, the Americans and Swiss have helped to reawaken the national spirit of the Armenian nation. They have infused new life into the Armenian Church. They have made researches into Armenian history and have given to the world the results of those researches. They have taught the Armenians European languages, and have imparted to a race that had become ignorant and backward, because separated from Europe, the spirit of Occidental civilization. _Were they seeking out victims to deck with garlands for the sacrifice? Were they fatting the calf for the slaughter?_ Do not say no! For the practical result of their efforts to elevate the Armenian race is that long journey from home to the Valley of the Euphrates--now become the Valley of Death.

Let us think hard. And then, for God’s sake, let us act!

SOURCES

1. Report of American Committee on Armenian Atrocities. New York, October, 1915.

The report contains thirty-five extracts from the testimony of
eye-witnesses, covering the period April 27 to August 3, 1915,
from all parts of Asia Minor. Twenty-five representative Americans
(including Hon. Oscar S. Strauss, twice American Ambassador to
Turkey, Cardinal James Gibbons, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and former
President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University), signed this
report, which states that each bit of testimony has been subjected
to careful and extensive investigation, and that “the sources are
unquestioned as to the veracity, integrity, and authority of the
writers.”

2. Official report of the Parliamentary Debate in the House of Lords, on Wednesday, October 6, 1915. London, Parliamentary Debates, H. of L., volume xix., 67.

Interpellation of the Earl of Cromer, speech of Viscount Bryce, and
comments of the Marquess of Crewe.

3. Lord Bryce’s revision and enlargement of the official report of his speech, as given in “Armenian Atrocities: The Murder of a Nation,” by Arnold J. Toynbee. London, November, 1915.

4. German missionaries’ letters to the _Sonnenaufgang_, published by Deutscher Hülfsbund für christliches Liebeswerk im Orient.

5. Narrative of Dikran Andreasian, translated by Rev. Stephen Trowbridge, and published in _The Star of the East_. London, November, 1915.

6. Testimony of eye-witnesses, published in the Boulogne-sur-Mer _Telegramme_, September 17; Paris _Temps_, September 15; Limoges _Courrier du Centre_, September 15; _Tribune de Genève_, September 4 and 24, October 14; _Journal de Genève_, October 13 and 24; _Gazette de Lausanne_, October 24; New York _Evening Post_, October 18. Résumés and editorial comments in Manchester _Guardian_, August 16 and October 26; London _Times_, October 8; _Frankfurter Zeitung_, October 9; _Paris-Midi_, October 17. All these dates, of course, are in 1915.

7. Circular letters of various dates from July 6 to October 22, 1915, sent out by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Boston, Mass., which are signed by James L. Barton.

8. A number of as yet unpublished personal letters. For obvious reasons, I cannot give the names of the writers, and the places from which they were written.

9. Personal conversations with persons of unimpeachable integrity and unquestioned authority, who have returned between September 15 and November 20 from Constantinople and Asia Minor. Their names must of necessity be withheld at this moment.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] I do not mean by this statement to deny that the educated Armenians, just as every other people under the yoke of another race, have not longed, in their most intimate sentiments, for the day when national aspirations would be realized. But, the Armenians are above all a practical people, and they did not look for what they knew was impossible of realization. In the correspondence concerning Armenian people in the Chancelleries of the Great Powers and in the archives of the Sublime Porte, _the question has always been to obtain reforms that would secure for the Armenians only those privileges and only that measure of security and freedom, to which they had the right as Ottoman subjects to aspire_. In 1913, the Powers, _among whom was Germany_, proposed to the Turkish Government a plan for reforms in Asia Minor, which was accepted and decreed by Turkey, but which was not put into execution. Up to the time of this terrible crime of the past few months, the Armenians demanded, and were glad to have obtained in Turkey, only those reforms that Turkey had agreed herself to put into effect.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

Underlined text is surrounded by equals signs: =underline=.

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.