"We work for those who come a hundred and fifty years hence," said Aram proudly to the _Vali_.
"Leave that to Allah," said the more practically minded Turk, "and help us Turks to work for to-morrow."
"Well you see, I do not believe in Allah," said the Armenian; who, like most of these Fedais, had been so highly educated that it was impossible for him to believe that any power could have made so supreme a _chef d'oeuvre_ as his magnificent self.
"What? Won't He recognize your importance?" said the Turk shrewdly; after which it was not wonderful that they did not part on too friendly a footing.
However, the Tashnakists soon found that the attachment of their countrymen to the old church that had kept their nation alive through the centuries, was so strong that some outward deference must be paid to it. Therefore, on the principle that it is well to do thoroughly that which you have to do, Aram became a Sunday-school teacher! The spectacle of this atheistic revolutionary (who had deliberately planned, and executed, murders by the dozen; and was indirectly responsible for heaven alone knew how much bloodshed besides), solemnly teaching little girls their Catechism, was at least striking, if not particularly edifying.
Time went on; and gradually, the utter failure of the effort of the "Young Turks" to effect the regeneration of their country became manifest. The handicap against them was cruelly heavy. They were themselves without experience in working that great crazy combination of makeshifts which men call the Ottoman Government. Yet kept going it must be; and the only men who had the requisite knowledge were just that clique of unspeakably corrupt officials whom it would have been the first duty of any good Government to clear away. Further, while the great mass of the subjects of the Sultan, of whatever creed; are easily governed folk enough, and obey any order that the _Hukumet_ gives, within certain limits; yet everywhere in each one of the varied nations there was a small, noisy and irreconcilable minority--sets of men who could work neither with the Government nor with one another.
There was the blind, fanatical opposition of the mollahs, and those Mussulmans whom they influenced. There were the self-styled leaders of each separate Christian nation; who usually misrepresented the inarticulate _rayats_ most woefully, and were clamouring for the immediate introduction of "reforms," that would have provoked a conservative reaction in France or America. And, moreover, there were very many others of the type that prefers troubled waters, because they are the best to fish in. Further, the Young Turks were themselves theorizers, and theory ridden. Ottomans and secularists, who wished to Ottomanize every one and to disregard religion; and did not realize how much the twin principles of religion and nationality went for in the land they wished to govern.