For some time after their conquest the Armenians had nothing particular to complain of in their lot as Ottoman subjects. The Turk had no cause to fear anybody, for his dominion was unshaken, and it is only when he fears that he is oppressive and cruel. Moreover if his method of government did suggest the habits of a man who lives on capital rather than income, there was still a good deal of capital left, and all was comfortable for every one while it lasted. The Armenians were rather the favourites among the subject races. They were the millet-i-zadik, the loyal people, who had no friends outside the empire, and no political aspirations, but were content to be Ottoman subjects provided that their religious institutions were respected. Any interference with these was the last thing that the Turk contemplated; for the Mussulman was, to do him justice, the first ruler that was really tolerant in religious matters. Armenians were very convenient underlings in all the work of governing. “We Turks do not know how to make money, we only know how to take it;” and a Turk does not know to this day, and probably never will learn, how really to govern a country. His sole conception is to occupy the land, and take as much money from his subjects as his needs require. His instincts are really those of the nomad; the rayats are his sheep and cows,—there to be milked. He does not want to kill them, for he is a kindly fellow; and besides, who ever kills his own cattle[{240}] wantonly? But if a sheep exhibits an unpleasant independence of disposition, and propagates the blasphemous doctrine that it was created for other things than the due provision of milk, wool, and mutton in due season for its lawful owner, the shepherd is apt to say it is a vicious beast, and to take measures accordingly.
The country that the Turk acquired had of course to be administered somehow; but it was not Turks by blood that did the administering. The high officials were usually the selected children, taken from their Christian parents by the “Janissary” tribute (which provided also the corps d’elite of the army). Or else they were European adventurers and renegades; or (in the case of many of the very best of them) Albanians. The underlings were very largely Armenians, who form most admirable subordinates in all Government offices. They were never trusted with any high executive posts; but they did all the inferior work, and no objection was raised to their filling their own pockets the while.
There were isolated cases of oppression in plenty, as there always will be when Armenian and Turk deal with one another; but it was not Turkish tyranny that was invariably to blame. We have known of an Armenian father, on his death-bed, giving his last charge to his son, as follows: “Grigor, these are the last words of your father; and see that you honour and obey them, as such words should be honoured.”
“I will my Father; on my head and eyes be it,” said the youth.
“My son, never pay your taxes until you have been thrashed.”
Under these circumstances, it really does not prove brutality in the tax-collector, if he sometimes thinks he may as well begin with the stick, and so save trouble all round.[119]
The fact is, that to try and get the better of the Government in a bargain (or for that matter, of anybody else) is[{241}] an Armenian’s notion of sport; and abstractedly, there is as much to be said for it as for professional football! Very pretty fencing sometimes results, as the following case may show. Educational institutions and church property have to be registered in the names of trustees; and, in consideration of the fact that they pay no taxes, certain fees are demanded when a new name has to be registered. The idea of saving that expense appealed to all Armenians; and there was the further consideration that no one of them ever feels any confidence in another’s honest administration of any trust fund. A brilliant idea occurred to some genius. He would secure a trustee who was indubitably honest and immortal as well; the property should stand in the name of the Patron Saint!
So, in one instance (the thing was done repeatedly) the school attached to the church of SS. Peter and Paul was solemnly registered in the names of Peter, son of Jonas, fisherman by trade, resident at Capernaum in the province of El Kuds (Jerusalem), and Paul, father’s name unknown, tentmaker by trade, resident at Tarsus in the province of Adana. The scheme worked admirably for a while; and when the Ottoman officials realized what was being done, and objected to losing their fees, it must be owned that they played the game prettily. They sent in a formal notification to the Armenian authorities, that they understood that these two trustees, Petrus Effendi and Paulus, were now dead; and (so far as their information went) that both gentlemen had died intestate. If this were so, then in course of law their trust property would revert to the “Ministry of Pious Benefactions,” whence very little of it would ever come out for the use of any Armenians!
There was a terrible scare for a while among those concerned; but Turkish good nature came into play, and the matter was dropped, in consideration of proper trustees being registered in future—and no doubt a decent bakhshish to the officials concerned.
While the nation as a whole was not badly off, individuals were often in a position of privilege, owing to some personal claim that they happened to have on some official. One of[{242}] these, which endures to the present day, is so remarkable as to deserve special notice.