ent. In the massacre of 1896, 15,000 were killed in
Constantinople itself, and 300,000 in the Vilayets.

Armenians were also killed in the Vilayet of Adana, some months after
the proclamation of the Constitution, but this slaughter did not extend
beyond the two Vilayets of Adana and Aleppo, where the influence of
Abdul-Hamid was paramount till the year 1909. I do not, however, find
any detailed account of this massacre, or any information as to the
numbers killed.

The goods and cattle of the Armenians were plundered, and their houses
wrecked, more especially in the slaughter of 1896, but many of their
countrymen[A] protected them and concealed them in their houses from the
officials of the Government.

The Government consistently inflamed the Moslem Kurds and Turks against
them, making use of the Faith of Islam as a means to attain their object
in view of the ignorance of the Mohammedans as to the true laws of their
religion.

[Footnote A: Presumably amongst the Turks and Kurds.--TRANSLATOR.]

DECLARATION OF THE OTTOMAN GOVERNMENT.--"Inasmuch as the Armenians are
committing acts opposed to the laws and taking advantage of all
occasions to disturb the Government; as they have been found in
possession of prohibited arms, bombs, and explosive materials, prepared
with the object of internal revolt; as they have killed Moslems in Van,
and have aided the Russian armies at a time when the Government is in a
state of war with England, France, and Russia; and in the apprehension
that the Armenians may, as is their habit, lend themselves to seditious
tumult and revolt; the Government have decreed that all the Armenians
shall be collected and despatched to the Vilayets of Mosul, Syria, and
Deir-el-Zur, their persons, goods and honour being safeguarded. The
necessary orders have been given for ensuring their comfort, and for
their residence in those territories until the termination of the war."

Such is the official declaration of the Ottoman Government in regard to
the Armenians. But the secret resolution was that companies of militia
should be formed to assist the gendarmes in the slaughter of the
Armenians, that these should be killed to the last man, and that the
work of murder and destruction should take place under the supervision
of trusty agents of the Unionists, who were known for their brutality.
Reshid Bey was appointed to the Vilayet of Diarbekir and invested with
extensive powers, having at his disposal a gang