Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President, Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1895, Part II
Mr. Olney to Mr. Terrell.
Washington, January 10, 1896.
Sir: I inclose for your information a copy of a letter of the 4th instant from the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, and of my reply of the 8th, in relation to the protection of the American citizens who reside in the interior of Asia Minor and devote themselves to missionary and educational enterprises among the local Christian population in that quarter.
I am, etc.,
Mr. Goodell to Mr. Olney.
President’s Office,
Amherst Mass., January 4, 1896.
Sir: I am president of the Massachusetts Agricultural State College. I am a son of William Goodell, the missionary, who for forty years labored in the Turkish Empire, frequently at the risk of his life. I was born in the city of Constantinople, living there sixteen or seventeen years prior to coming to this country. My sister, Mrs. Barnum, her husband, and daughter are shut up in the city of Karpoot, having lost everything they possessed. I understand that an assurance has been given them and their associates of a safe conduct to the seacoast if they will abandon their posts.
Realizing fully the deadly peril in which they are placed, and understanding, as no one can who has not lived in the East, the utter irresponsibility of the fanatics by whom they are surrounded, I must still protest against such an alternative being urged upon them. I am not aware that a single individual among the 300 citizens of the United [Page 1450] States laboring on Turkish soil has ever expressed a wish to accept these terms. I am not aware that the American board itself, under whose auspices they are prosecuting their missionary work, has ever felt it wise to advise their removal. A far deeper question is involved than that of abandoning an enterprise because there are risks attached to it. If that consideration obtained, there would be no progress in the world, for all enterprises are attended with risks.
Of the value of this work undertaken by missionaries there is no uncertain testimony. Permit me, sir, to transgress on your patience by quoting from a recent article of the bishop of Ripon, England:
In the report of the secretary of state for India, 1871 and 1872, we read:
“The Government of India can not but acknowledge the great obligation under which it is laid by the benevolent exertions of missionaries, whose blameless example and self-denying labors are infusing new vigor into the life of the great populace under English rule, and are preparing them to be in every way better men and better citizens.”
The report of the Indian educational commission for 1883 tells us, “The most successful efforts yet made to educate Indian women have been conducted by missionaries.”
“Notwithstanding all that the English people have done to benefit India,” said the late Lord Lawrence, the missionaries have done more than all other agencies combined.”
To the practical benefits Charles Darwin bore this testimony:
The lesson of the missionary is the enchanter’s wand. The march of improvement consequent upon the introduction of Christianity throughout the South Sea probably stands by itself, unique in the records of history.
An article in the Revue des Duex Mondes, the 15th of June, 1866, says:
Before the arrival of the missionaries the natives had no word to express home comfort. How different is the case now!
Mr. Wallace writes, speaking of Minnehassa in Celebes:
The missionaries have a right to be proud of this place. They have helped the Government in a remarkably short time to convert savage tribes into a civilized people.
To the testimony of Lord Stratford de Recleliffe to the value of the missionary work in Turkey I need not allude, for it is known to the whole civilized world.
Is the average of risk in missionary enterprises any greater than in the ordinary enterprises of war, of traffic, or of discovery? Were these missionaries peaceful traders plying their vocations in the Turkish Empire, would there be the slightest hesitation on the part of our Government to demand in the most emphatic manner protection for their persons?
To evangelize is, with Christianity, the necessary outcome of her spirit. It can never cease as long as Christianity is a living religion. Missionary work can only perish with the death of the Christian faith. For the missionaries to withdraw from their posts in the Turkish Empire, centers of humanizing and Christianizing influence, is to abandon those rights and privileges which they have hitherto enjoyed under existing treaty between Turkey and the United States and sanctioned by the unbroken usage of well-nigh seventy years. Nay, more. It is to surrender those principles of civil and religious liberty guaranteed by the hatti sherif of Cul Hane in 1839, confirmed by the pledge of the Ottoman Porte in 1844 in these words: “Henceforth neither shall Christianity be insulted in my dominions, nor shall Christians be in [Page 1451] any way persecuted for their religion;” reaffirmed by the firmans of 1850–1853, and finally “confirmed and consolidated,” to use the words of the act, by the celebrated Charter of Civil and Religious Liberty in the Hatti of Humayounn of 1856, pledging that “No subject of my Empire shall be hindered in the exercise of the religion that he professes, nor shall he be in any way annoyed on this account.”
For these reasons, I ask, sir, that the missionaries remaining in the Turkish Empire be protected to the fullest extent. Their missions are addressed, not to the Turks themselves, but to the Christian subjects, whose rights have been guaranteed in the most absolute manner by the charters above named.
I am, etc.,
Mr. Olney to Mr. Goodell.
Washington, January 8, 1896.
Sir: I have received and considered with interest your letter of the 4th instant, in relation to the protection of those American citizens who reside in the interior of Asia Minor and devote themselves to missionary and educational enterprises among the local Christian population in that quarter.
Your letter presents various considerations tending to show the inexpediency of removing those beneficial agencies from their fields of labor. I note, however, that your remarks are based upon your understanding that an assurance has been given to your relative, Mrs. Barnum, who with her husband and daughter are shut up in the city of Harpoot, and to their associates, of a safe conduct to the seacoast “if they will abandon their post,” and I infer that you suppose that a similar course has been pursued with respect to other American citizens similarly situated in the cities of the disturbed district of Asia Minor.
You are quite mistaken in supposing that the alternative of abandonment of their post is being urged upon American missionaries in Turkey. The real position is stated in the report which, under date of December 19, 1895, I had the honor to submit to the President in answer to a Senate resolution of the 4th ultimo. Quoting from recent advices received from the United States minister, Mr. Terrell, I observed:
He says that if the missionaries wish to leave Turkey he can obtain their transportation to Christian ports; if the men wish to remain he can get escort for all to the seacoast, whereupon the men can return, but he adds that the women and children should quit Turkey.
This Government, acting through its agencies in Turkey, has no desire whatever to constrain the movements of the missionaries or prescribe to them the course that they should pursue in this time of evident peril. It stands ready to protect them and their wives and children and it has obtained assurance of proper escort should they or their families desire to seek temporary safety at some less exposed point. It is likewise exerting itself to secure the safety of those who remain at their posts of residence. The missionary boards of which those American citizens are dependents are fully informed of the position of this Department in the matter, and now that Mr. Terrell has succeeded in [Page 1452] reopening telegraphic communication with the several points, it is presumed that the missionaries will act in conformity with advice from headquarters.
I am, etc.,