'General information on Persia for any future edition, 1895' [‎82v] (155/211)

suspicious circumstances, and found to be the bearer of a large number of seditious
tracts and newspapers emanating from Marseilles, evidently designed to work up any
existing discontent to the point of revolt, by distribution in the villages.
The outcome of this fresh distressing event will be the fomentation of rancour
between Armenian and Kurd (both Zaptiehs were Kurds of Bashkaleh), and to render
the work of maintaining order, and harmony and justice, between the different sections
of the population, upon which the Local Government has been and is so strenuously
exerting itself, yet more difficult,
The Kurd is ignorant and violent, suspicious and cunning. Perhaps in at least
half, or it may be a much larger percentage of crime or disorder taking place among
themselves, no recourse is had to the authorities, judicial or administrative. At the
same time they begin to perceive that the Government are no longer suffering outrage
committed by them upon Rayahs to pass with impunity, as of yore. Sometimes
even they accuse local functionaries, their co-religionists, of partiality in favour of the
Christians.
As to the Armenians the less said the better; but I trust and believe that in the
sedition above narrated, no Armenian of respectable station will be found to be impli
cated or guilty of connivance. Probably only the handful of malcontent youth, of
whom some half-dozen were got rid of last winter by imprisonment, will have been
concerned.
I have, &c.
(Signed) GEORGE POLLARD DEVEY.
No. 64.
Vice-Consul Devey to Acting Consul Hampson.—(Received at the Foreign Office,
August 21.)
Sir, ^ ' Van, July 28, 1891.
WITH reference to my last letter, most of the Armenians placed under arrest
are already at liberty; only three or four are detained, among whom is a man
named Penirian Caspar, and, I believe, one or two others whom the zaptiehs wounded
are said to have recognized as their assailants. It is now understood that neither
zaptieh has expired of his wounds, though one of them received three musket-balls in
different parts of his body. The malefactors, Ghazar and Govand, have not been
seized, but there are hopes that they may be, and possibly in this neighbourhood, as
the Persian frontier is closely watched and officers there are on the alert.. It would
not be easy for them to make their escape in other directions.
On Eriday, Dergobosian Obannes Effendi (Keshish Oglu) was suddenly seized and
sent off summarily, under strong escort, to Constantinople, by order of the Minister of
tlm Interior. He is a Van Armenian of local standing and wealth, and is the
“ Keckieh Agha Ohannes ” [sic] referred to in the Mazbata of the 11th (23rd) July,
1889, of which translation is published in the “Correspondence respecting the
Condition of the Populations in Asiatic Turkey, and the Trial of Moussa Bey.”
“Turkey No. 1 (1890),” p. 2. On Eriday morning the “ Murakhas Vekil ” w'as
paying a visit at his house. His presumable banishment, it is said, is not in any way
due to the kidnapping of Ghazar, but to habitual thoughtless conduct and a loose way
of criticising too audibly the action of the Government.
I have, &c.
(Signed) GEORGE POLLARD DEVEY.
No. 65.
Acting Consul Hampson to Mr. Fane.—(Received at the Foreign Office, August 21.)
• Erzeroum, August 1, 1891.
HAvING been staying for the last few weeks in villages round Erzeroum, I
have taken every opportunity of learning personally the condition of the inhabitants,
and more especially the feeling existing between Mussulmans and Christians.
The conclusion I have formed is that in this neighbourhood everything is quiet
and prosperous, and that there is very little ill-feeling, especially on the part of the
Mussulmans, though they sometimes complain, not without reason I fear, that the
Christians intrigue and make false accusations against them.