Orders were sent, we believe, for the forwarding of at least the chief of the Tashnakists, Aram, to Constantinople, under strong guard. Once in the clutches of Abdul Hamid his fate would have been a grim one indeed. But before the decree was executed, a marvellous transformation took place. This was nothing less than the Turkish Revolution of 1908, with its consequent amnesty for all political offences. All proceedings were dropped, and the prisoners emerged to be greeted as national heroes after their confinement.
[Illustration: CHURCH OF MAR SHALITHA, QUDSHANIS.
The larger arch opens into the Sanctuary, the veil of which is never withdrawn except for the celebration of _Qurbana_. The smaller opens into the Sacristy, where is also the font. _Ex voto_ offerings of aromatic herbs hang from the tie beams; and the Church is lit only by a tiny cruciform loophole at the west end, so that the interior is almost pitch dark.
Very soon, however, the real problem of the relations of the Armenian and Ottoman began to come up again in a slightly different form.
The Young Turk ideal was an Ottoman Empire; with equal rights no doubt for all who were content to become Ottomans, but Ottomanization for all. The Tashnakists (who kept up their organization, observing, in answer to all protests, that it was as necessary for them as was that of the Committee of Union and Progress for others) were Armenians first and foremost; and further were anxious to set about the immediate realization of a programme that was wildly Radical, not to say Socialistic, in its objects. Confiscation of all landed property; disendowment and disestablishment of the Church;[125] universal suffrage (which was to include female suffrage by the way), and the abolition of all religious teaching in schools, were some of the planks of their "platform." All authority, save that of the nation, was disowned; even a parent was not to exercise any power over his son. In fact all the reforms that even a Socialist admits must come in gradually in the West, were to be administered _en bloc_ to an astonished East.
Even a schoolmaster's authority was declared anathema according to the modern dogmas, and attempts were made to act on this hopeful doctrine. Thus, a certain missionary in the town forbade his Armenian pupils to smuggle revolvers, and other contraband dear to the heart of every boy, into the school premises. Having reason to suspect that the command had been disobeyed, he began a search in the boys' boxes; but while in the stooping attitude necessary for the purpose, he was vehemently assaulted _a posteriori_ with hat-pins by his pupils, and was solemnly forbidden by the Tashnakists either to cane or to expel those guilty of this _lèse-majesté_. The first punishment was derogatory to the dignity of the young rascals as free-born Armenian citizens; the second deprived them of their natural Right to a good education. Further, it was solemnly argued, "if we do not send our boys to your school what will become of you? The funds have been subscribed by the friends of Armenia for our teaching, not for your livelihood." To manage a school under these conditions was obviously difficult; and to quote John Dryden, "the sons of Belial had a glorious time." But at last the absurdity of the _impasse_ forced even the Tashnakists to be a little more reasonable.