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 14, 1896.
Sir: I inclose for your information a copy of a letter, with its accompaniments, received under date of January 8, 1896, from Bev. Judson Smith, foreign secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Your attention is directed to Mr. Dwight’s statement, which has doubtless also been directly made to you by him, that the soldiers in Harpoot openly appeared making use of the goods which have been stolen from the houses of the American missionaries. It seems to be established by concurrent testimony of weight that during the interval of several hours which passed before the Porte’s assurance of military protection to the missionaries was effectively made good, the soldiers participated in the pillage at Harpoot; and Mr. Dwight’s assertion that officers are using the furniture and bedding of the missionaries, while the missionaries are suffering for the want of these stolen goods, is so circumstantial as to admit of ready verification. If verified, exemplary punishment of the offenders should be demanded. The mere restoration of the stolen property would be but a small measure of reparation under the circumstances stated.
I am, etc.,
Mr. Judson Smith to Mr. Olney.
Boston, Mass., January 8, 1896.
Sir: Referring to your communication of January 6, just received, I beg to assure you that I did not for a moment attach authority to the statement in the newspaper press, to which I called attention, but simply made its appearance the immediate occasion of communicating with our Government in regard to a matter deemed by us of the greatest importance—the maintenance of our missionaries in their just rights of residence and legitimate work within the limits of the Turkish Empire. I had then, as I have now, ample reason to believe that the policy of our Government in this matter was the same as that which has guided our Government in all similar cases in the past—the dignified and vigorous and efficient protection of American interests in Turkey.
I beg to submit herewith a copy of an important letter just received from Rev. Henry O. Dwight, of Constantinople, who writes for himself and his associates and for the other American missionaries resident in Constantinople. There is important information in the letter, which undoubtedly reaches our Government through the legation at Constantinople, but which it will not be amiss should come directly to you through my hand. Mr. Dwight writes with the freedom of an habitual correspondent to his regular correspondent here, and some allowance must be made for the forms of expression used in the letter on this account. At the same time he makes very plain the critical condition of our missionaries at Harpoot, and the importance of every exertion in their behalf which it falls within the power of our Government to make. It can not escape attention that the soldiers in Harpoot openly appear making use of the goods which have been stolen from the houses of our missionaries. Whatever may be the best way of bringing them and the Government which is responsible for them to account, we can not but hope a remedy may be promptly applied.
The continued circulation of calumnies against the missionaries by officials, with the certain if not the intended result of awakening a popular indignation against them, is a most unfriendly act, and I am sure our Government will find some way in which both to rebuke it and bring it to an end.
Communications which have come to me from Americans residing at nearly every one of the points where massacres have occurred in full detail confirm every word which Mr. Dwight writes respecting the exposure of our missionaries during the entire period of the massacres. This is not protection; it is not the protection which Mr. Terrell has demanded; it is not the protection which the Sultan has promised. It seems plainly to mark an unfriendly attitude toward these Americans on the part of the Government itself, for in no instance has a rebuke to the soldiers or their commanding officers or the offending governors been addressed by the Government at Constantinople. The direct part which the soldiers had in the destruction of buildings and property at Harpoot and at Marash is too plain to require a word of additional proof. Messrs. Gates and Barnum and Allen at Harpoot, over their own names, have given this testimony. Mr. Lee and Mr. Macallum, of Marash, have reported the same facts in regard to that place. But I do not need to dwell upon these points. The letter of Mr. Dwight will speak for itself, and the situation is plainly one requiring the most [Page 1457] careful, prompt, and determined treatment. There can be no question that the Porte will promptly respond to the rightful demands of our Government, both for indemnity for losses experienced and for additional and adequate security to our missionaries and the property of which they are in charge.
Rejoicing in the assurance already afforded that our Government has a face of indignation toward every foe of its citizens and of friendliness and help toward all who trust in its protection,
I am, etc.,
Foreign Secretary A. B. C. F. M.
Mr. Dwight to Mr. Smith.
Dear Dr. Smith: The situation in the interior stations gives ground for anxiety. The western stations are better off than the eastern, and of the eastern stations those where foreign consuls are stationed are far better off than those where no consul is near, for in Turkey one consul can hold in check, without lifting a finger, a horde of ruffians. He is like a policeman in a mob. In this city the Moslem population is all armed, and frankly admits the hope that the Sultan may be induced to give the dictum, “Killing is lawful.” That word is not now likely to be spoken, I think, for the foreign ships will exercise a strong deterrent influence in this matter.
At Baghchejik there is reasonable quiet, although the presence of a company of Turkish troops outside of the town is a constant menace to the peace. Adabazar seems quiet, also, and I think there will be no authorized attack there. Smyrna is held down by the fleets and Brusa by a strong-handed governor. At Manissa there have been threats of massacre within a week, but the governor-general is Kaimil Pasha, the ex-grand vizier, who, I am confident, will use all his power to prevent such a thing. Trebizond is pretty well recovered from the terror that followed the massacre there, and Dr. Parmelee, Mr. Crawford, and Miss Chambers are hard at work in distributing relief to about 4,000 destitute people. They work with the aid of the Armenian clergy, and when the people here sent by Mr. Peet a considerable sum of money to the clergy there for relief work the favor was asked of Dr. Parmelee to keep it and use it with the other funds indiscriminately. Adana and Hadjin are also quiet, but full of threats. The presence of the Marblehead at Mersine has been a powerful influence for the preservation of the peace in all that region. We learn by telegraph this week that Mr. Christie, of Tarsus, has left that place, with his family, for safety, but do not know what it means. I think it is a pity that Mr. Mead did not go to Adana, since the place is so near the coast that while a United States war vessel is at Mersine there is little fear in the way of attacks on the persons of the missionaries. His presence there would much comfort the missionary women who are alone. Mardin and Van have not been touched by the storms of blood, but they are full of refugees and have suffered terribly in their villages. Fear exists lest they be attacked even now. Erzeroum and Sivas are slightly recovering from the reign of terror. The missionaries can go about the city at both places and are doing relief work. But in neither place is it possible to go out of the city for any purpose.
At Harpoot the missionaries are guarded by 100 men, but can leave their premises but cautiously. If our Government would do something to express its indignation at the outrage there; if it would demand, for instance, that the officers who are using the furniture and bedding of the missionaries while the missionaries are suffering for the want of these stolen goods, should be punished and compelled to disgorge, it would have a salutary effect.
The impunity allowed the military pasha and his associates in the sack of the mission premises has a very bad effect on the security of the missionaries. At Bitlis the danger of assassination of Messrs. Knapp and Cole seems diminished. The houses are protected by a strong guard, but the missionaries have very little liberty of motion beyond the limits of the premises. At Marash a company of troops guards the mission premises and escort the missionaries when they wish to go into the streets. The government there seems to be trying to restore confidence, but the missionaries have been warned by friendly Turks that “the next time” no one who refuses Islamism [Page 1458] will be allowed to live. At Aintab the mission premises are guarded by troops, but no one can go into the city until after satisfying the government that the object is a reasonable one and obtaining formal permission to go under escort. Reports of sedition are circulated against the missionaries in an underhanded way, so that they can excite the people and at the same time be intangible for anyone who seeks to disprove or suppress them. At Marsovan about 35 men guard the mission premises, and they are under orders to allow no one to enter or leave the premises without the permission of the officer in command. Every Friday the city is in fear of massacre, and calumnies against the missionaries are constantly circulated. The authorities are polite enough, but there is hardly a doubt that if they were to be directed to do so they would be glad to cut the throats of the whole band.
The situation at Marsovan is the most dangerous in the whole field, perhaps, because the anarchist committee in the town is actively seeking to make trouble, while the large collection of young men in the college has in it some who sympathize with the anarchists and require constant watching. If it were not that the students would probably be killed or otherwise attacked on leaving for their homes, I should be inclined to advise the disbandment of the college classes. Of course, the attempt to carry on studies under existing circumstances does not amount to much, while the strain of watching that falls upon the mission circle is dreadful.
From this hasty survey of the field you will see that Marsovan, Harpoot, Marash, Aintab, and Bitlis are at present the stations most severely tried and in greatest danger. At Bitlis the danger arises from the thirst for vengeance upon the missionaries for sympathy with the Sassoun sufferers. At the four other places the feeling against the missionaries arises from the wish * * * to crush out our educational centers. The inaction of the European powers partially removes for the moment the danger that the missionaries will be sacrificed. * * * Calumnies against the missionaries are circulated by officials with the direct object of exciting the people against them. The month of religious fasting (Ramazan) now approaches. * * * Delay on the part of our Government is therefore a great element of the danger that overhangs the interior stations.
Let me show you how the action of our Government looks from here. The Turkish Government chose to order a massacre of its own subjects. Our people, however, were entitled both by treaty and by the repeated promises of the Porte while the massacres were in progress to be guarded from all attack. Excepting at Erzeroum, where the missionary is a British subject, and at Sivas, where there is an American consul, I do not remember a case where a guard was furnished until after the expiration of the time limit set for the massacre by the authorities. That is to say, in violation of treaties and promises the Turkish Government left the people free to treat the missionaries as they were ordered to treat all the Armenians. At Harpoot the attack on the mission premises was directed by Mustapha Pasha, the commander of the military division, and he and his officers are using to-day the goods plundered from the missionaries, and for the lack of which, the lives of several of those ill-fortified against privation might easily be lost. In Marash, Ottoman troops were openly sent before the eyes of all the people to sack the seminary premises and to burn the seminary building. The troops are to-day in possession of the goods carried off from those premises. In all the stations the schools have been broken up. At least 100 chapels and schoolhouses in the outstations have been burned or pillaged. Almost our whole stock of books on sale in the interior has been carried off, and the missionaries have been shut up like prisoners in their houses. * * * We wait for a vigorous demand on the part of our Government for reparation for the violation of treaties, for instant payment of damages, for restoration of stolen goods, for punishment of guilty officials, and for full protection for the missions in future. We await this because the enterprises thus attacked and ruined are the fruit of the investment of American capital, during sixty years, to an amount reaching above $6,000,000. We await some utterance of our Government that will call a halt and protect the remnants of the crushed enterprise.
* * * If both the Turkish Government and the Turkish people believe that impunity will follow attacks upon American missionaries, the missionaries are in danger as never before.
After writing thus far I read my letter to Dr. Herrick and found that he had already admirably said what I had in mind briefly to touch upon—namely, that so far as able-bodied men are concerned the stations simply can not be abandoned. I therefore close my own letter, referring you to Dr. Herrick’s note of the same date for our unanimous views on this point.
Yours, very sincerely,