Abbeville Press

A Colony of Armenian Immigrants FOR THE SOUTH.

An Armenian gentleman from Constantinople has arrived here with a view of finding a location in the Southern States for a colony of two hundred Armenian families. He yesterday addressed a number of his countrymen who are resident here. He alluded to the considerable body of Armenians at Constantinople who entertained a desire to find a land of religious liberty, where they might settle, and said that the American missionaries had pointed to the Southern States of America as the promised land, and also as a region having a climate similar to that of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. This is a novel and desirable element in the emigration to America. In race the Armenians are Japhetic; in faith they are Christian, but of a confession that differs both from the Protestant and Catholic, though it resembles the latter in many respects. Though the Armenians have long been subject to the Turks and Persians, they are a people of remarkable enterprise and intelligence, with a valuable old literature and many eminent scholars. They have in times past established colonies in various parts of Southern Europe, and they are numerous in the cities of European Turkey. If the first colony to this country prove a success as we trust it may, we shall doubtless in time see several thousand Armenians follow it from Constantinople. They can find in Virginia, South Carolina or Georgia, localities that offer them every opportunity for freedom, happiness, health and pecuniary success.—New York Times.