No. 1100.
Mr. King
to Mr. Bayard.
Constantinople, November 3, 1888. (Received November 19.)
Sir: Referring to your instructions, No. 105, of June 1 last, and No. 112, of June 19 last, I have to say that certain concessions beyond the terms of the law on archaeological explorations have been obtained from the Sublime Porte, namely, the offer to present to the explorers certain articles not needed by the imperial museum (from those found), and the right of exporting the same.
We (the friends of the expedition) feel that there is ground to hope that the nature of the concession will prove satisfactory, and, taking all the circumstances into consideration, we are pleased to have obtained such terms, although not as liberal as were expected by Dr. Pepper and others.
As the concession goes beyond the printed law, an iradeh from His Majesty the Sultan becomes necessary; it was expected this week, and will doubtless be issued in a few days. One circumstance particularly favored the application, namely, that the Turkish Government itself is not at present making any excavations in that part of the Empire; and one was very unfavorable—that if liberal terms were granted to Americans the same would at once be demanded by the representatives of various countries in Europe.
I have, etc.,
Chargé d’Affaires ad interim.