No. 616.
Mr. Heap to Mr. Payson.
Constantinople, June 10, 1880. (Received July 6.)
Sir: I called yesterday on Abeddin Pasha, the newly appointed minister of foreign affairs, and presented to him the compliments of the minister resident.
I had received the evening previous a letter from Mr. Maynard, by which he instructed me to see the minister of foreign affairs and communicate to him the substance of the Secretary of State’s telegram in cipher, received here the 22d May last, in reference to the withdrawal of the Turkish mission at Washington. I gave the minister a translation in French after reading it to him, for although he can speak that language with tolerable facility, he does not seem able to read it.
Abeddin Pasha said he was so new in his office that he was not informed of the case, but would give it immediate attention. I related to him how the Ottoman missions at Washington, Brussels, and Stockholm had been simultaneously suppressed, and how, upon the request of the Kings of Belgium and Sweden, they were at once restored. My government therefore had every reason to hope that the wish expressed in the Secretary of State’s telegram would meet a favorable response.
His excellency did not seem to be acquainted with the name of the Ottoman representative at Washington. On informing him that it was Aristarchi Bey, he remarked that the withdrawal of the mission could only have been for economical reasons.
I am, &c.,
Consul-General.