Armenia and its sorrows

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I02
ARMENIA AND ITS SORROWS
such a contingency they reserve to themselves the
joint consideration of the means they consider the
best adapted to assure the welfare of the Christian
populations and the interests of general peace."
At the close of the Russo-Turkish War in 1878,
came the Treaty of San Stefano, the 16th Article of
which runs as follows "
: As the evacuation by the
Russian troops of the territory which they occupy in
Armenia, and which is to be restored to Turkey,
might give rise to conflicts and complications
detrimental to the maintenance of good relations
between the two countries, the Sublime Porte engages
to carry into effect, ivithoiit fiirther delay, the improvements
and reforms demanded by local requirements
in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to
guarantee their security from Kurds and Circassians."
On 30th May 1878 a memorandum was signed in
London by Lord Salisbury and Count Schouvaloff,
which stated, inter alia "
: The promises respecting
Armenia stipulated in the preliminary Treaty of San
Stefano, must not be made exclusively to Russia, but
to England also."
Next came the Cyprus Treaty, of 4th June 1878, in
which Turkey promised " to introduce necessary
reforms, to be agreed upon later between the two
Powers, into the government and for the protection
of the Christian and other subjects of the Porte, in
these territories," and handed over Cyprus as a
pledge of good faith.
In the same year the Treaty of Berlin was signed,
the 61st Article of which is as follows:
" The Sublime Porte engages to realise, without
delay, those ameliorations and reforms wliich local
needs require in the provinces inliabited by the
Armenians, and to guarantee their security against
the Circassians and the Kurds. It undertakes to
make known from time to time the measures taken