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98 HISTORY OF THE PARLIAMENT. Prof. Minas Tcheraz, editor of an Armenian newspaper published in London, was the next speaker. In introducing him, Dr. Barrows referred to the fact that Armenia is supposed to have been the cradle of the race, and that, according to the Biblical story, the ark, after the flood, rested on Mount Ararat, in Armenia. He paid a tribute to the noble traits exhibited by the old Armenian Christian nation when suffering under persecution. Prof. Tcheraz responded in these words : SPEECH OF PROF. TCHERAZ. Salutations to the new world, in the name of Armenia, the oldest coun- try of the old world. Salutations to the American people, in the name of Armenia, which has been twice the cradle of the human, race. Salutations to the Parliament of Religions, in the name of Armenia, where the religious feeling first blossomed in the enraptured heart of Adam. Salutations to every one of you, brothers and sisters, in the name of the Tigris and the Euphrates, which watered the Garden of Eden ; in the name of the Majestic Ararat, which was crowned by the ark of Noah ; in the name of a church which was almost contemporary with Christ. A pious thought animated Christopher Columbus when he directed the prow of his ship toward this land of his dreams, — to convert the natives to the faith of the Roman Catholic Church. A still more pious thought ani- mates you now, noble Americans, because you try to convert the whole of humanity to the dogma of universal toleration and fraternity. Old Armenia blesses this grand undertaking of young America and wishes her to succeed in laying, on the extinguished volcanos of religious hatred, the foundation of the temple of peace and concord. At the beginning of our sittings allow the humble representative of the Armenian people to invoke the divine benediction on our labors, in the very language of his fellow-countrymen : Zkorzs tserats merots oogheegh ora i mez, Der, yev zkorzs tserats merots achoghia mez. Prof. C. N. Chakravarti, a theosophist from Allahabad, India, was the next speaker. He said: SPEECH OF PROF. CHAKRAVARTI. I come here to represent a religion, the dawn of which appeared in a misty antiquity which the powerful microscope of modern research has not yet been able to discover ; the depth of whose beginnings the plummet of history has not been able to sound. FVom time immemorial spirit has been represented by white, and matter has been represented by black, and the two sister streams which join at the town from which I came, Allahabad, represent two sources, of spirit and matter, according to the philosophy of