seems restored in your province, and whether, in the opinion of yourself and your associates, a guard can be dispensed with. There seems now no cause existing here which gives occasion for immediate alarm. The designs of the ambassadors are, however, jealously concealed, and no one can foresee whether their future demands will exasperate or not. I hope to have your opinion regarding future safety at your post direct, uninfluenced by any opinion of other persons in this city. Sincerely, yours, A. W. TERRELL. MISSIONARY CLAIMS FOR LOSSES AT HARPOOT AND MARASH,' No. 799.] Mr. Terrell to Mr. Olney. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES. Constantinople, February 5, 1896. (Received Feb. 24.) SIR: I have to inform you that the inclosed is an extract taken from a letter just received from the Rev. C. F. Gates, mailed at Harpoot on January 15, in which he states that his original estimate of loss by fire, which was $100,000, was more accurate than the one subsequently sent me. I will inform the Porte that more recent information may increase the claim for indemnity already made. A. W. TERRELL. I have, etc., [Inclosure in No. 799.-Extract.] Mr. Gates to Mr. Terrell. HARPOOT, TURKEY, January 15, 1896. DEAR SIR: Your valued letter came yesterday, and I wish to say on behalf of my associates as well as myself that we feel exceedingly grateful to you for your efforts in our behalf. When we were shut up in the college building, uncertain what a day might bring forth, it was your telegram of inquiry which first brought a ray of hope to us, and we said, "Now we can act." The telegrams we sent were in Dr. Barnum's name, and the Turks said in regard to them, "What courage! That man is not afraid of death." Dr. Barnum wishes me to say a word about our estimate for indemnity. He says that so many things have been forgotten that our original estimate of $100,000 is more nearly accurate than the one we sent you. It is difficult to sit down and recall all that has been carried away and destroyed at such a time as this. Sincerely, yours, See also Foreign Relations, 1895, Part II. C. F. GATES. Mr. Terrell to Mr. Olney. [Telegram.] CONSTANTINOPLE, February 25, 1896. I have received a note from minister for foreign affairs, who disavows liability for Harpoot and Marash damages on the ground that every effort has been made by Turkish officials to protect life and property, and saying this has been acknowledged by the Americans in their address of thanks. Permission to rebuild promised. Have renewed also demand for $10,000 more, in view of later information. England, France, and Russia have received no satisfactory answer to their indemnity claim dating from last May, and are not pressing it. Exposed condition of missionaries and action of European powers regarding their claims restrain my further pressing without definite instructions. TERRELL. No. 831.1 Mr. Terrell to Mr. Olney. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Constantinople, February 27, 1896. (Received March 14.) SIR: I have the honor to inclose for your information the copy of a note from the minister for foreign affairs, dated 24th instant, in which he denies the liability of the Turkish Government for the burning and spoliation of property of American citizens at Harpoot and Marash. I also inclose a copy of my telegram of the 25th instant, which, among other things, refers to the note of the Turkish minister. A copy of my note No. 114, of the 26th instant, to the Sublime Porte, which was in response to that of the minister for foreign affairs, is also inclosed. Demands for indemnity have been made upon the Turkish Govern ment by England, France, Russia, and Italy, which are permitted to slumber for causes which can only be conjectured. This fact, as also the presence in the interior of Asiatic Turkey of many estimable missionary men and women, surrounded by cruel races who detest them, who profess a hostile creed, and who are now easily excited to deeds of blood, induces me to rest the question of indemnity on my last note, until further instructed, and to refain from suggestions which are always ventured on with diffidence. I indulge the hope that my note above referred to will meet your approval. I have, etc., A. W. TERRELL. [Inclosure 1 in No. 831.-Translation.] Tevfik Pasha to Mr. Terrell. SUBLIME PORTE, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, February 24, 1896. Mr. ENVOY: I have received the note you kindly addressed me on the 29th last, No. 108, with regard to the losses occasioned to the property belonging to the American citizens at Harpoot and at Marash during the last disturbances. I have already informed your excellency by my notes of the 3d and 30th of December last, Nos. 16645"32 and 17037"35, that in the perturbations which took place in above-mentioned cities the local authorities and Imperial troops have displayed all their efforts for the protection of the properities and the lives of the Americans, and that these have expressed to the said authorities their acknowledgment for the measures adopted in order to insure their safety. The Imperial Government not being in any way bound to make good the losses suffered during aforementioned disturbances, there can not be any question of the payment of an indemnity for the damage at stake. As to the authorization for the rebuilding of the destroyed property, the competent department will not fail to do what is right as soon as it shall be requested in the usual form. In having the honor to bring what precedes to your excellency's knowledge, I avail myself, etc., TEVFIK. [Inclosure 2 in No. 831.] Mr. Terrell to Tevfik Pasha. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Constantinople, February 26, 1896. SIR: I have received the answer sent by your excellency on the 24th instant, to my demand for the payment of indemnity for losses caused by burning and spoliation of the property of American citizens by Ottoman subjects at Harpoot and Marash during recent disturbances. If Americans expressed approval of the conduct of Imperial troops at Harpoot or Marash it was no doubt for the protection of their lives and of property which was not burned. Your excellency will observe by reference to my former note that the Government of the United States demands indemnity not for life or property protected or preserved, but for the property of peaceful American citizens which has been destroyed by Turkish subjects; and it is entirely immaterial whether the burning was done by Turks, Kurds, Armenians, or Imperial troops, for all are subjects of his Imperial Majesty. Before the spoliations occurred this legation repeatedly demanded of your predecessor general and ample protection for all Americans and their property throughout the Ottoman Empire. Adequate protection was promised. Be pleased to observe, excellency, that protection adequate to the danger was not afforded. Justice now requires that indemnity for the loss should now be promptly paid by the Ottoman Government. Under any other rule no peaceful remedy would exist for such flagrant wrongs, and commerce, being unprotected, would be impossible. Your excellency is therefore reminded that an interchange of views regarding the conduct of the Imperial troops at Harpoot and Marash would neither be pertinent to the claim made by the United States nor instructive. Your excellency is now informed that the claim of the United States for £21,8701 (Turkish) indemnity which I had the honor to present in my note of the 29th ultimo, is again insisted upon, and also the further sum of £2,730 (Turkish), it being the value of goods plundered at Harpoot FR 96-56 and Marash during the burnings, and which was not estimated in my former note. In presenting this claim the United States does not waive its right to insist hereafter on the payment of any other just claim against the Turkish Government, and especially of a claim for the value of books and bibles plundered and destroyed by Turkish subjects, the amount and value thereof not being yet known. I beg also to inform your excellency that the amount now demanded by the United States as indemnity is for actual values destroyed or plundered, and that proper interest will be expected, to be computed from the dates of the losses until paid. A. W. TERRELL. Receive, excellency, etc., No. 891.] Mr. Olney to Mr. Terrell. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Your dispatch No. 757, of the 6th of January last, has had due consideration. You therein report that a large proportion of the claims filed by the injured missionaries at Marash consists of claims for injury to native students, preachers, and teachers whose nationality is not stated. In general principle of international law a Government can not be held accountable to a foreign Government for injuries suffered by its own citizens or subjects. The relation of native teachers to the administration of the American schools in Turkey has led this Department, on previous occasions, to instruct you that the operations of the schools are not to be wantonly interfered with by molestation of the native instruments they may legitimately employ in their teachings; and that interference with such native teachers on frivolous and vexatious grounds should call for remonstrance and prevention. Should the destroyed property of native teachers not have been merely personal belongings, but actual and necessary adjuncts to the operation of the American schools in which they were employed, indemnity of that character and to that exent only might be properly asked. It is not, however, thought that any appreciable amount of claims can be due on this limited account, inasmuch as the usual appliauces for the educational work conducted by our citizens would necessarily be the property of the missions which direct them. As to the native scholars attending the school, the foregoing princi ple does not seem applicable. I am, etc., RICHARD OLNEY. Mavroyeni Bey to Mr. Olney. [Translation.] IMPERIAL LEGATION OF TURKEY, Washington, May 25, 1896. Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: I have the honor to confirm my note of the 15th of last January, No. 7, and to furnish your excellency with the following copy of a dispatch which I have just received from His Excellency Tevfik Pasha, in answer to No. 66 which you were pleased to write me under date 14th January, 1896: I have received with its inclosures the report which you were pleased te send me the 16th of last January, relating to the disturbances which occurred at Harpoot. My colleague of the interior, to whom I had communicated these documents, answers from information furnished by the governor-general of the Vilayet of Mamuret-ulAziz, that the conflagration which had broken out in the said city had lasted several hours on account of scarcity of water, and that without the efforts of the Imperial authorities to fight it it would certainly have occasioned very much greater ravages, in view of the fact that the houses of the town which number some 3,000, are very near together, and that the fire had broken out at the time of the troubles. I beg you to answer in the above sense to Mr. Secretary of State. Please accept, etc., · Mr. Olney to Mavroyeni Bey. MAVROYENI. No. 91.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 25th instant, embodying the text of a dispatch received by you from His Excellency Tevfik Pasha in reply to the note which I addressed to you on January 14 last, in regard to the burning of the property of American missionaries at Harpoot. It is not perceived that the explanations of the minister of the inte rior to Tevfik Pasha controvert in any way the information furnished to this Department and stated to you in my note referred to. Even admitting that water was not procurable in sufficient quantities to immediately extinguish the fire, this can not account for the unchecked destruction and pillaging which were carried on for several hours before a guard was furnished the American missionaries. A copy of your note and of this reply will be sent to the United States chargé d'affaires ad interim at Constantinople for his information. Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: I have the honor to confirm my note of the 30th of May last, and to acquaint your excellency with the following response to your note of the 29th of May, 1896, which has just been sent to me by his excellency Tevfik Pasha, relative to the disorders which occurred at Harpoot. His Excellency Tevfik Pasha points out the double fact, namely, that the Imperial authorities of the aforesaid city did everything in their power to combat the fire which broke out in that city, and that, thanks only to their efforts, the greater part of the property of the American missionaries was enabled to be saved. His Excellency Tevfik Pasha adds in his response that no pillage was committed in the houses of the said missionaries. Be pleased to accept, etc., MAVROYENI. |