There is some fear that the Powers may be too
late. So far from the danger of the Christians being exaggerated, every account which reaches the Ambassadors is worse than those which reach the public. There is reason to believe that the Armenians have been attacked everywhere ; that in whole districts their villages have been sacked and burned ; and that the slain already number tens of thousands. The Turks assert that the Armenians are in insurrection ; but this appears to be true only at Zeitun, where, under unknown circum- stances, "a battalion of Turkish soldiers" has surrendered to a body of Armenian insurgents. That does not sound probable, unless armed Russian Armenians have crossed the frontier, or unless the battalion is disaffected ; but we shall not hear the facts for some days. It is believed on all hands that the Palace clique issue the instructions to massacre, and that the idea of exterminating the Armenians is seriously entertained. The troops are unwilling to fire on Mussulman mobs, and in Syria, at all events, the Reserves have refused to obey the summons. The Administration, in fact, has gone to pieces, and no one can act effectively except the Sultan, who is incapacitated by tenor.
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