Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/190

184 Ambassador said, "Soon the Christian will be able to preach the gospel in Mohametan pulpits," there was a general shouting of jubilee, not that the Armenians would have a chance to slaughter Turks in their mosques, but that they would have the freedom and privilege of bringing their neighbors to the knowledge of true salvation. They did not take any aggressive course against the Turks or other Moslem communities, but rather, taking the favorable proclamations of the Sultan as sincere, cherished the expectation that both parties, hand in hand, would try to elevate the country to the level of European prosperity.

While the Armenians were thus hopeful and aspiring, the fanatic Turk kept swinging his head and sighing, "Alas! Islam lost its power and glory; the field remained in the hands of giaours!" The deep-rooted enmity that drew this exclamation out of the bigoted Turk was not idle, but by a gradual advance prepared and accomplished horrors too terrible to describe and too deep to realize.