A History of Protestant missions in the near East

Protestant Missions in Turkey and Armenia 131
so close to fanatical Constantinople, there are among
the 373
students, sixteen Turks, five Kurds and two Arabs. Up to
the year 1905, 2,705 students passed through the institution. 1
Cyrus Hamlin remained president of the college only till 1873,
when he returned home worn out with his labours. There remained
to him, however, a long eventide of life, which he spent
as professor of theology. His countrymen heaped on him
high honours he received the
;
degrees of Doctor of Divinity
and Doctor of Philosophy. He died in Portland, Maine, on
the 8th of August, 1900. Several talented and able men have
since been successful presidents of the Eobert College, e. g. 9
C. F. Gates, LL. D., D. D., and George Washburn, D. D.
The mission hesitated to follow the example of Cyrus Hamlin.
It was not their wish to deorientalize their pupils by imparting
an English education to them, nor to make them
dissatisfied with their simpler life by arousing unattainable
ambitions in their breasts. Yet the demand for higher education
was growing apace. The need of an educated ministry,
too, was pressing, and there was a sad gap between the
primary schools and the theological seminaries. In 1S74 the
first college was founded in Aintab.2 Since then two other
similar institutions have been opened for the two other missions,
the Euphrates College at Kharput in 1876, and the
Anatolia College at Marsovan in 1886. All three have, in the
course of years, so developed that they provide primary,
secondary, and college education, along with certain courses
in special subjects. A further stage of development in the
general educational system was entered upon about the year
1880. The Armenians had become alive to the fact that, if
they were to take their proper place in Turkey and in the
world, they must surpass the other nations of the country in
education. A great desire for enlightenment seized the Protesl
ln 1900, twelve former students had entered the ministry, eighty-eight had
become teachers, fifty were state officials (especially in Bulgaria), fourteen were
judges and thirty-seven medical men. Those who, after passing through the
Eobert College, wish to pursue study in special subjects, go to the Syrian Protestant
College in Beirut, where they enjoy special advantages.
8 " The Higher Educational Institutions of the American Board," Boston, 1904.