[Extracts.]
Mr. Tuckerman to Mr. Seward.
No. 7.]
Legation of the United States,
Athens,
July 10, 1868.
Sir: I have had occasion to bring to your
notice the flattering reception which I have met with in my official
capacity at the hands of this government and people. These
manifestations of sympathy with the United States continue. Monseigneur
Théophile, the metropolitan archbishop, the head of the synod, and the
highest ecclesiastical authority in Greece, called officially upon me a
few days since. He wore the robe and insignia of his office, and the
visit was intended to be marked and significant. I inclose a newspaper
report, which appears to be substantially correct, of the remarks of his
Holiness on the occasion.
* * * * * * * * *
Within a few days the Chamber has completed the much-prolonged and
disputed “verification” of the recent popular elections. The result is
that out of the one hundred and eighty deputies, twenty-seven have been
excluded from the national parliament. Of these, fourteen were of the
ministerial party, and thirteen of the opposition. It remains to be seen
what will be the result of the re-election which will now be ordered to
take place in the disputed districts. The well established popularity of
several of the rejected deputies cannot fail to cause them to be
returned by their constituents in spite of the efforts of the
ministerial party to keep them out of the Chamber.
* * * * * * * * *
Mr. Erskine, the British minister, informs me that the reported massacre
in Crete, which I brought to your notice in my last dispatch, is fully
confirmed by subsequent investigation, although the number of victims,
as usual in such reports, is exaggerated. The Turkish authorities on the
island are said to have been “highly incensed” at the barbarous acts of
their soldiers, and to have caused many of the troops to be imprisoned.
The governor general has also issued orders of a pacific character, but
the insurgents have no faith whatever in Turkish statements or promises
of reform.
I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient
servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[From the
Athens Courier, of July 3,
1868.]
[Translation.]
On the 27th of July, about noon, his Holiness the metropolitan bishop
of Athens, accompanied by Dr. Gondas, as his interpreter, called
upon his excellency Mr. Tuckerman, the United States minister. The
customary compliments having passed, the bishop addressed Mr.
Tuckerman as follows:
Your Excellency: As a man who participated
in our great struggle, which commenced in 1821 and which still
continues, and as the head of the Greek clergy, I come to express to
you, the representative of the great American nation, the gratitude
of my companions in arms, not only those belonging to the orthodox
clergy, but those of the entire Greek nation, for the many benefits
of every kind which, not only during the old war, but during the
present struggle in Crete, your countrymen have conferred upon the
Christians of the east, who are fighting for religion, country, and
liberty.
[Page 127]
“I pray your excellency to transmit this expression of our deep
thankfulness to your whole nation, and if it be possible, to every
American citizen. Tell them what they have done for Greece is
written in indelible characters on the Hellenic heart, and will be
transmitted from generation to generation. The clergy of Greece will
ever pray for the peace and prosperity of the world, but above all
for these two nations, so closely bound together by the ties of
friendship and of sympathy. Without the beneficence of America, the
difficulties of our great struggle would have been much greater, and
but for her generous aid many Cretan widows and orphans would have
perished of hunger and of cold. May God bless the American
benefactors of the Christians in the east!”
His excellency the minister resident of the United States thanked the
bishop for his kind words, and expressed his sense of the honor
conferred upon him by this visit. “The people of the United States,”
he remarked, “are well aware of the religious element in Greece, and
how signally it was illustrated at the earliest period of her war of
independence, when the patriotic archbishop of old Patras lifted the
standard of the cross in the Peloponnesus, and inspired his
countrymen with courageous determination. In the United States,” his
excellency continued, “although every form of religious worship is
tolerated, perfect harmony exists; and although church has no
connection with state, yet the safety of the state is based upon the
religious and intellectual education of the people. It must be
always so in Greece, and if ever peace and concord shall reign in
the four corners of the earth, the result will be owing to the
efforts of Christian teachers in spreading the influences of the
gospel.” The minister thought that perhaps an exaggerated importance
is given to the sympathy of his countrymen for Greece. It is but the
natural expression of the Christian mind, to conceal which would be
an affectation.
In conclusion, his excellency the minister assured the metropolitan
bishop that it would be his pleasure as well as his duty to transmit
to the American people the words of sympathy and good will which had
just been so feelingly uttered.
