6 JANUARY 1877, Page 10

The discontent among Turkish Armenians is said to be very

strong. The editor of one of their journals, summoned to a conference with the late Grand Vizier, was set upon by the police, and so severely beaten that he has since died. Van was recently plundered and partly burnt by its Turkish garrison, and the Armenians complain that they are hardly better off than Bulgarians. Hitherto the Tusks have been more lenient to them than any other Christians, but now they are letting the Koords loose on them. The Russian Govern- ment has always courted the Armenians, who are probably the ablest of the Asiatic tribes, and are influential in every com- mercial city of the world. The Czars have even allowed them high military commands. General Bagrathion, who defeated Napoleon, was, we believe, an Armenian ; and Mr. J. Curtin mentions in the Times that Prince Bebutoff, Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus, is another. So are Prince Argutinsky Dolgoronki, a General well known in the Caucasus ; Prince Melikoff, Chief of the province of Daghestan, and Loris Melikoff, Commander-in- Chief of the force destined to invade Armenia. The Armenians, like the Jews, have great social ambition, and even in Calcutta, where they have amassed great fortunes, complain that there is no road under the Indian Government to political distinction.