dans; they state that all the inhabitants of ten
villages near Van, in Armenia, Asiatic Turkey, have been killed.

April 27--An appeal for relief of Armenian Christians in Turkey is made
to the Turkish Government by the United States; a plot is discovered to
blow up the council chamber in the Ministry of War at Constantinople
during a session of the War Council.

April 29--The War Minister has called all available men to arms; Kurds
are massacring Christians in Armenia.

UNITED STATES.

April 1--Secretary Bryan orders an inquiry into the circumstances of the
arrest by the authorities in Paris of Raymond Rolfe Swoboda, stated to
be an American citizen, held in connection with the recent fire on the
French liner La Touraine in mid-ocean; the State Department is
investigating the death of Leon Chester Thrasher of Hardwick, Mass., who
was lost when the British steamer Falaba was sunk by a German submarine;
information is being sought as to whether Thrasher was an American
citizen at the time of his death.

April 2--The Government is informed by the British Government, through
Ambassador Page, that no trade messages can be sent over British cables
if they refer to transactions in which the enemies of Britain are
interested.

April 5--Text is made public of the United States note to Germany,
recently presented by Ambassador Gerard, demanding payment by the
German Government of $228,059.54, with interest from Jan. 28, for the
destruction of the American sailing ship William P. Frye by the German
converted cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich; Secretary Bryan makes public
the text of the identic notes recently sent by the United States to the
British and French Governments protesting against invasion of neutral
rights involved in the recent British Order in Council, establishing a
long-range blockade of European waters; the note insists on the right of
innocent shipments "to be freely transported to and from the United
States through neutral countries to belligerent territory, without being
subjected to the penalties of contraband traffic or breach of blockade,
much less to detention, requisition, or confiscation"; it is reported
from Washington that the reason for the order, issued a few days ago,
for the recall of the five American Army officers who have been acting
as military observers in Germany, is due to the growing feeling of
hostility to Americans in Germany, and the belief that it is wise to
withdraw the officers be