of self-government after a transition period under European advisers, as is alleged by some. V ARMENIA AS A PEACE PROBLEM--VIEWS OF THE "MANCHESTER GUARDIAN" AND THE "SPECTATOR"--CAN ARMENIANS STAND ALONE AMONG THE KURDS?--AMERICAN OPINION AND THE FUTURE OF ARMENIA Although the Allies have declared in their reply to President Wilson that one of their aims is "the liberation of the peoples who now lie beneath the murderous tyranny of the Turks," no official or authoritative statement has yet been made by the Allied Governments as regards the precise future status of Armenia. Mr. Asquith in his Guildhall speech spoke of "reparation and redemption." M. Briand in a letter to M. Louis Martin, Senator of the Var, published in the _Courier du Parlement_ (Paris) of November 12, 1916, says: "When the hour for legitimate reparation shall have struck, France will not forget the terrible trials of the Armenians, and, in accord with her Allies, she will take the necessary measures to ensure for Armenia a life of peace and progress." M. Anatole France, in his speech at the great "Homage à l'Arménie" meeting in the Sorbonne in April 1916, used these words: "L'Arménie expire, mais elle renaitra. Le peu de sang qui lui reste est un sang précieux dont sortira une postérité héroïque. Un peuple qui ne veut pas mourir ne meurt pas. Après la victoire de nos armées, qui combattent pour la liberté, les Alliés auront de grands devoirs a remplir. Et le plus sacré de ces devoirs sera de rendre la vie aux peuples martyrs, a la Belgique, a la Serbie. Alors ils assureront la sureté et l'independance de l'Arménie. Penchés sur elle, ils lui diront: 'Ma soeur, lève toi! ne souffre plus. Tu es désormais libre de vivre selon ton genie et foi!'"[13] M. Paul Deschanel, the President of the French Senate, and M. Painlevé, Minister of Public Instruction, spoke in more or less similar terms. The most recent authoritative reference to Armenia--and one which is of special importance, coming as it does from a member of the Inner Cabinet or War Council--is Mr. Arthur Henderson's statement in his conversation with the correspondent of the _New York Tribune_, reported in _The Times_ of January 8, 1916, as follows: "Speaking of the part of Turkey in the war, Mr. Henderson said that though Armenian atrocities were not much talked about here, they had undoubtedly made a deep impression on the minds of the working population, who, he thought, were determined that never again should a Christian nation be under the yoke of the Turk." These are comforting words indeed to Armenians, as were those of Mr. Asquith at the Guildhall. Nothing could give the Armenian people more comfort and hope for the future than this assurance of the British working man's sympathy--of which they never had any doubt--and his determination to see them freed from the Turkish yoke once and for all.