Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

Wales and Armenia. Cymru Unllais. No. SEPTEMBER 17TH, 1896. PRICE id. EDITORIAL. The public meeting at Rhyl has been fixed for Tuesday, September 22nd. It has also been decided to hold a public meeting at Llandudno. Meetings at Cardiff, Bangor, and Swansea have been already announced ; and we have reason to think that Wrexham and Aberystwyth will soon follow suit. If Lord Hugh Cecil is an authority, these meetings are useless. " Until the feeling abroad at least approximates to the excitement in our own," he writes, " there is no hope for the Armenians. England alone cannot save them." This opinion is, however, opposed to that of Lord Salisbury himself last year, to the effect that English public opinion alone might force him to act. We have to-day also an official Turkish version of the recent occurences, in which Turkish soldiers appear as merely performing their duty in putting down an Anarchist riot. This is, of course, a direct negation of the report signed by all the Ambassadors, according to which the Turks knew beforehand of the attack upon the Ottoman Bank, and deliberately allowed it to proceed, that they might have an excuse for carrying out a wholesale massacre. Now, as in every issue, there is a conflict of evidence and opinion : it is right that both sides should be heard, but not that we should endlessly hesitate as to our verdict. The temperament of a Hamlet, in a nation as in an individual, leads to failure. We hope that the first series of Welsh meetings will be distinct in their meaning. The resolutions now being passed are not resolutions of confidence in the Government; they are resolutions expressive of the willingness of the people to make sacrifices in a certain cause, and their desire to see the Government effectively maintain that cause. To pass to the question of the continued issue of these papers. We hope they have already served a purpose in shewing that Wales is not without interest in this question. Experience gained in connection with the Armenian Relief Fund seems to shew that it is not possible to obtain united action in a country so scattered as Wales without an organ¬ ization more elaborate than is needed in a single large town, and in particular without the use of the printing press. The work of the Relief Fund shewed that a very active interest was felt in the Armenian Question, in particular by the jpoorer classes, although many persons living in the midst of this feeling were unconscious of it. Our view has been that not only in the interest of the Armenians (though that is predominant), but also in the interest of Wales, it is desir¬ able that this feeling should find active expression. In issuing these first three papers we have tried to con¬ tribute one element towards a general Welsh movement, the machinery of the press. To carry on this effort we need help. We need the necessary funds, estimated at ^35- We need definite expressions of opinion from our readers, which may serve as a guide to many who does not see their way clearly. We need arrangements in various localities by which these circulars shall be distributed, either gratuitously or for payment as may be thought best. We propose now to suspend our issue till after Monday next, when the meet¬ ings at Bangor and Cardiff will have taken place, and it will become clear whether this support will be forthcoming. Much has been said about the success of the Relief Fund in Wales, and probably many are of opinion that the same results could have been obtained with less talk, less printing, and less organization. Let us look on the other hand to the failure of this Fund. In hundreds of villages, and in one half of the towns of Wales, the Fund was never brought to the people at all. It is within the mark to say that four times the amount could have been collected if agents could have been found. One of the Secretaries writes to us " In our Monthly Meeting a resolution was passed commending this fund to all the congregations, but I do not think a penny was collected." Another writes " most of my Committee think that by allowing their names to appear on the Committee they have done all that can be expected of them." One important meeting would have nothing to do with the fund, because no one of its members was on the Committee. The excuses for doing nothing are indeed astounding in their multiplicity and ingenuity. " If we acted like men in earnest ..." writes a member to us. How few do at present ! Is this chance too to pass by? But it is not the common people, but their leaders that fail. The Relief Funds more than ever need support. Whilst we have enough and to spare, others starve and perish of horrible diseases. The widow still gives her mite willingly, but the Treasury is now seldom open to receive it. We appeal once more for liberal contributions, especially at this harvest season ; and ask that the Rescue Funds, which give the hunted Armenian the chance of escape from his perse¬ cutors, should not be forgotten. WHICH WAY? At this time it is not enough to feel : it is necessary to think. To feel deeply, to think clearly is the duty of the people ; to act that of the Government. The feeling around us is not nearly as deep as it should be ; but it is better than the disgraceful apathy which has so long possessed us. Every good citizen has something to do to make those with whom he is associated realize what the events are that are daily taking place, and for which he has a responsibility. For this reason we reprint some of the tales of horror of the last year. We dare not yet put them out of sight, for they may be, indeed they are likely to be repeated in the next few weeks. We see that everyone is careful to avoid exaggera¬ tion, but we do not see the same care to avoid the opposite error. To say that 100,000 Armenians have perished this last year is certainly to underestimate largely the truth. And we have the most trustworthy information from private sources at Constantinople that the newspapers greatly understate the real horror of the events of each day. But we need not dwell on this point; there will always be those whom no evidence will convince, because their ears are closed to it 1 but for those who have open minds the evidence presses in on every side. _ We desire to call the attention of our readers to the realities of our present position and of our power to act For from a hundred sources the parrot-cry comes "It is impossible for England to act without the other powers !" Let us ask wherein this impossibility rests. Every European power at the present day, England included, is intensely averse to war: and every war has risks that cannot be limited. It is another thing to say that war is impossible. The ambassadors of all Europe have solemnly warned us that we have next to fear a massacre of European