No. 623.
Mr. Hay to Mr. Heap.
Washington, September 2, 1880.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch of the 9th ultimo, No. 7, furnishing the details in regard to the murder of the late Dr. Parsons and servant, near Ismid, in July last, and the action so far of the Turkish Government in respect to the murderers, together with what seems to you probable and likely, owing to the infrequency of the execution by that government of sentences imposed upon Mussulmans for the murder of Christians, to be expected in the present case.
It would seem, however, from your dispatch, that you were giving the matter every possible attention, and it is sincerely hoped that your efforts may be crowned with success, and that the rule which seems apparently, heretofore, to have actuated that government in the infliction [Page 988] of merited punishment upon its subjects, in cases of this kind, may not prevail in the present instance, to defeat the ends of justice, and that the offenders and murderers may be made to suffer just and speedy punishment for their crime. You will watch the proceedings closely and omit no means within your power to secure the full and complete vindication, if possible, of the murder of Dr. Parsons.
Agreeably to your request for a vessel-of-war of this government to be near you, I have to state that the Navy Department informs me, under date of the 31st ultimo, that Bear-Admiral John0. Howell, United States Navy, commanding the United States naval force on the European station, has, under date of August 31, been instructed by cable to send a vessel as desired, to cruise in Turkish waters. The commander of such vessel will, it is not doubted, render you such aid and assistance in your representations to and demands upon the Turkish Government for its just and prompt action toward the murderers, as the presence of an American man-of-war may make proper.
While upon the subject of the recent murder of Dr. Parsons, it is proper to add that the Department has, since his death, received several communications from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, of which the deceased was an active member, containing information in regard to his death. With a letter of the 26th ultimo, from the secretary of that board, are three communications, dated at Constantinople, respectively, the 2d, 4th, and 5th of August ultimo, and signed by J. F. Pettibone, J. K. Greene, and Edwin E. Bliss, which letters these gentlemen had addressed to the secretary of that board, Dr. Clark, and which relate to the murder of Dr. Parsons. The letters referred to contain in effect information almost identical with that found in your dispatch, and for that reason it has not been deemed necessary to forward to you copies thereof, as no doubt you may have already seen the originals. If, however, you have not, and these gentlemen could be of any service to you, they living in Constantinople, and the Rev. Mr. Pettibone, one of the writers, having already been referred to in a former dispatch, they would, it is thought, if desired, willingly furnish you with such information as they might possess.
I am, &c.,
Acting Secretary.