But all these frightful deeds of the Moslems do not surprise us. It is but natural that "a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." There is perfect harmony between these happenings and the Mohammedan faith. The surprise, the shock we experience when we think that the "Christian" Emperors of Russia, of United Germany, of Austria-Hungary, and the "Christian" Empress of Great Britain and India, and the "Christian" Presidents of the United States and of France could prevent the massacres, and did not. They looked on. They are all, in various degrees, the accomplices of the criminal Turk. Is it to be supposed, logically, that while Hamid is acting in accordance with his religious belief and the example of the "Prophet," certain Christian princes have no sincere faith in Christ and his Gospel of love? May the exhibition of Islamic barbarity and blindness open the eyes of the "Christians" to see the heavenly holiness of Christ! May the curse of Islam which has fallen upon Armenia as a deadly pestilence arouse the torpid conscience of Christendom to a full appreciation of its sacred Book, its Christian homes, its free institutions and its religious liberty! CHAPTER XVII. THE GREATEST CRIME OF THE CENTURY. That the Powers of Europe, having their fleets lying at anchor in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas within a day's sail of Constantinople, should stand by and permit the Sultan to slaughter the helpless Armenians by the tens of thousands is the greatest crime of the century. The mutual jealousies and distrusts and diverse ambitions of the Powers of Europe have been as fatal and as horrible in result as the cruel wrath of a Nero, when for the first time he smote the early Christians with the clenched fist of the Roman Empire. Would that some hand could strip off the blood-soaked, dagger-pierced garments of nearly a hundred thousand martyred dead, and lay them at the feet of the nations who were consenting unto their death. Far be it from us to attempt to divide, or measure, or weigh out the guilt that lies with common shame upon them all; but that the burden rests with unequal weight upon the Powers a brief recital of some of the facts of history will show. In little more than three hundred (322) days the Russian Army had swept from the Danube, through Bulgaria, over the passes of the Balkans across the plains of Adrianople, breaking and scattering the power of the Turkish armies until in February, 1878, nearly one hundred thousand victorious troops encamped before the gates of Constantinople which lay defeated and helpless at the feet of the conquering Czar. General Grant said that for Russia not to enter Constantinople at that conjuncture was the greatest mistake a nation ever made. Could he have foreseen the misrule of the coming years culminating in the recent awful massacres, he would have called the failure a crime and not a blunder.