The Madisonian

HORRIBLE MASSACRE.—Destruction of the Nestorian Christians by the Turks.—The pure and upright Nestorian Christians, dwelling in primitive simplicity and happiness in their mountain fastnesses, have been sought by the bloodhounds of Mohammed, and doomed to annihilation. The circumstances connected with this sad event are melancholy in the extreme, and are detailed by a correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle (writing from Constantinople under date 17th August, as follows:

You have been informed of the combination between the Pacha of Mosul and several powerful Kurdish chiefs for the extermination of the Nestorian Christians, or Chaldeans. Letters received the day before yesterday contain a deplorable account of the results of the attacks of the united troops. They had penetrated into the centre of the Tiyaree districts, burnt the villages and churches, destroyed the crops, and put the inhabitants of both sexes to the sword—Three, or according to other accounts, five brothers of the Patriarch have been slain, his mother was cut in half, and his sister horribly mutilated. The patriarch himself had fled to Mosul and taken refuge in the British vice consulate. Thus a sect which had preserved its independence during centuries, and had resisted the persecuting sword of Islam, when wielded by the most powerful and most intolerant of the followers of Mohammed—which, in its simplicity and isolation, had maintained the doctrines and forms of a primitive church for above fourteen centuries, and which had escaped the corruption of religion, of morals, and of character, so conspicuous in all other Christian sects of the East—has now, in the weakness of Mohammedanism and the strength of European Christianity, been delivered over to destruction.

Although the Turkish authorities merit the strongest condemnation for the part they have taken in this massacre, yet there are others concerned who are almost equally responsible for the results. The history of the fall of the Nestorians is a new example of the consequences of a system pursued by foreigners in the East, which we cannot contemplate without the utmost indignation. All those who have been the direct or indirect instruments of their destruction, although they may not have anticipated a result of so serious a nature to their intrigues, and although they may now shelter themselves under the cloak of religion, have been guilty of a great crime against humanity. In their mountain fastnesses the Nestorians had retained their independence for centuries. The first western traveller who succeeded in penetrating into them was Dr. Grant, an American missionary. His object in visiting them was the establishment of schools and other means of instruction. No sooner had Dr. Grant met with some success in the mountains, than the Roman Catholic missionaries at Mosul, supported by French political agents, endeavored to counteract it. The English High Church was also jealous of American encroachments in the midst of a sect still venerating Episcopacy; and an additional firebrand was thrown into the country last autumn, in the person of the Rev. Mr. Badger. During last winter the three parties—the American, the Puseyite, and the Roman Catholic—have waged an open warfare among themselves. The Americans, who had been first in the field, only acted on the defensive; the influence they had already acquired among the Nestorians, enabled them, without much difficulty, to retain their position. The object of the two remaining parties was to eject the Americans, and to establish their own influence. They did not act in concert, for their mutual enmity equalled their hostility to the Americans. No means were left untried to effect their object. The agents of the Church of Rome received the earnest co-operation—in fact, became the tools—of the French political agents. Mr. Badger enjoyed the support of the British local authority.

A report began to prevail that the Americans were assisting the Nestorians to build forts in their mountains. The ignorant inhabitants of the surrounding country, and their Governor, the Pacha of Mosul, readily believed the assertion. For some time access to the mountains, from the west, was denied to the American missionaries. Mr. Badger and the Romanists renewed their separate attacks. Both had interviews with the patriarch, and both believed that they had established their influence. The suspicions of the Pacha of Mosul were excited; from both parties he received accusations against their respective adversaries, tending to increase his alarm. Mr. Badger pointed out the danger of Roman Catholicism and French influence in the mountains; the French, in return, the danger of English influence. At length, the combination we have described was formed, and those alone who were innocent have fallen victims to the intrigues of men who announced themselves to them as their only saviours—the ministers of Christ, and the teachers of civilization.

Strict justice compels us to state that the Americans are in this instance without blame. They established themselves first in the mountains, and their efforts were successfully directed to the improvement of the inhabitants, without any ulterior political design. We believe that had the Church of England zealously co-operated with them as Protestant Christians, instead of opposing them as heretical enemies, the disasters we have described would not have occurred; as it is, one of the most ancient and most interesting sects in the world—interesting from its origin, from its language, and from the purity of its Christianity—has been sacrificed to the religious quarrels of American Independents, English Puseyites, and French Roman Catholics.

The number of persons who have perished has not been ascertained. The population was about one hundred thousand. Neither age, sex, nor condition met with mercy. All were sacrificed by the savage Turks.