According to the press despatches the brief outline of this scheme contained the following points: 1. The appointment of a High Commissioner who is to be a Christian. 2. The governors and vice-governors of Van, Erzroum, Sivas, Bitlis, Kharput, and Trebizond be Christians or Mohammedans according to the inclination of the population; but either the governor or the vice-governor to be a Christian, and the appointments are to be confirmed by the Powers. 3. General amnesty for, and release of, all political prisoners. 4. The appointment of a Commission to sit at Constantinople, charged with the application of the reforms and working in concert with the High Commissioner. 5. Complete changes will be made in judicial system--tortures will be abolished. 6. The prisoners will be under surveillance. 7. The police will be composed of Christians and Turks equally. 8. The local and not State officials are to collect the taxes and enough money is to be retained, before it is forwarded to Constantinople, to pay the expenses of the local administration. 9. The inhabitants of Sassoun shall be paid the amount of their losses. 10. The Kurds shall be disarmed. 11. The laws against compulsory conversions to Islam will be strictly enforced. Supposing that the above synopsis of the reforms demanded of the Porte is true--though these reforms were not officially published--the reader can easily see that the source of the Armenian trouble starts from the head of the government and runs through all its branches down to the very insignificant, yet well-armed peasant, Kurd who may happen to be a member of the Hamilieh regiment. The evident reason also why the Powers did not wait for the report of the commission and then present their scheme of reforms was three-fold, namely, they had all the facts with regard to the massacre at Sassoun in their possession; they were aware of the dilatory manner the indolent Turk generally moves, and they would thus save time and prevent the unspeakable Turk from committing something worse. They, however, signally failed in all these. If they ever intended to accomplish anything, they indeed did not succeed, and still worse, they provoked the beast. After a prolonged pressure had been brought to bear on the sultan by the British, French, and Russian governments he seemed to give up his opposition to their demands and in the autumn in order to pacify England--for England, to her credit, was the leading power that took real interest in the matter, realizing her greater responsibility in the case--the sultan wrote to Lord Salisbury and gave his word that the reforms should be literally and immediately carried out. Meanwhile oppressions and imprisonments were still going on as usual.