I had the honor to inform your excellency that the director of the school had reported that the local authorities were stopping the work of construction and intimidating the workmen. I had therefore requested your excellency to cause telegraphic instructions to be sent directing the authorities to refrain from any further interference. I now much regret to have to inform your excellency that I have received another telegram from the director of the school, dated May 13, 1906, and delivered to this legation on the 16th of May, 1906, whereby he states that the local authorities, under pretense of acting in conformity with orders from Constantinople, have told him that they will deposit the equivalent of the value of the property and of the building material in the Imperial Ottoman Bank and will seize by force the said property. I beg to inclose a copy of the abovementioned telegram. This legation can not believe for a moment that the Sublime Porte has contemplated such unwarrantable action on the part of the local authorities, as I need not point out to your excellency that the most serious consequences might result from the seizure by force of American mission property. I find myself, nevertheless, obliged to confirm the notes of this legation of the 5th of February and 19th of April last, numbered respectively 649 and 700, and once more to request your excellency to kindly cause telegraphic orders to be sent to the authorities at Cæsarea to cease interfering with the construction of the buildings in question. I take, etc., No. 1098.] PETER AUGUSTUS JAY. The Secretary of State to Chargé Jay. [Extract.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch, No. 1393, of the 17th ultimo, inclosing a copy of your note of that date to the Turkish minister for foreign affairs, regarding the threat of the local authorities at Cæsarea to seize the American school property there by force. In instruction No. 1081, of the 5th ultimo, which evidently had not reached you when your No. 1393 was written, you were directed to insist on the point made by you regarding the "six months in which to object" being respected. I am, etc., No. 31.] ELIHU ROOT. Ambassador Leishman to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN EMBASSY, Constantinople, September 14, 1906. SIR: As an illustration of the numerous cases which are constantly being brought to the attention of the embassy, and which it is often possible to settle with the local authorities without referring to the central government at Constantinople thereby saving much delay and hardship for the interested parties, I have the honor to bring to the notice of the department the copies of a recent exchange of correspondence with the consul at Trebizond, having reference to the attempt made by the customs officials in that port to levy duties on articles intended for the use of missionaries in the interior. As will be seen from inclosure No. 4, the notice of the embassy was likewise called to this by the British consul at Erzeroum, who had in turn been informed by the British vice-consul at Van, both of whom have charge of American interests in these localities. I merely mention this in order to call attention to the number of occasions arising in which we are indebted to the English consular representatives in default of our own for information and assistance. As will be seen, the stand I took in instructing our consul at Trebizond, who had charge of the affair, was to insist on equality of treatment with the citizens of other nations in the matter of customs immunities for American citizens engaged in missionary work in the Ottoman Empire, and I have expressed my gratification to Mr. Jewett at his successful termination of this incident. Douane claims word missionary means a priest, and demands duty on the American missionary women's clothing and also on personal things not of priestly character. Van boxes detained on that ground. JEWETT. [Inclosure 2.-Telegram.] Ambassador Leishman to Consul Jewett. AMERICAN EMBASSY, Constantinople, August 9, 1906. The embassy can not accept the new interpretation given by the local Douane officials to the word missionary, and you will kindly ask the director of customs to furnish you with his warrant for attempting to change the customs privileges which have been accorded to American missionaries for so many years. All we ask in the way of customs immunities for American citizens engaged in missionary work in the Ottoman Empire is equality of treatment, and while we have no desire to ask for more we can not accept less. LEISHMAN. [Inclosure 3.] Consul Jewett to Ambassador Leishman. AMERICAN CONSULATE, Trebizond, Turkey, August 8, 1906. EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to confirm my telegram of the 7th instant, as follows: (Supra.) In explanation I have to say that the custom-house authorities are demanding duty on a number of things destined for the American missionaries at Van, two ladies' hats, two or three pairs of gloves, some photographs and photographic material, etc., on the assumption that only things suitable for priests are to be admitted free of duty. We have tried to convince the director and the inspector of the custom-house that such an interpretation of the law is untenable, but having failed I telegraphed to your excellency as above. It appears that the customs authorities are making trouble for our missionaries in many places. At Van Doctor Usher informs me they demanded a deposit on mission boxes that had passed the custom-house at Trebizond, and now say they have instructions from Erzerum to keep the deposit. They have collected, at Van, duty on drugs for the mission dispensary and hospital, on the hardware for the new mission house, and on a scroll saw for the orphan59605-F в 1906 -88 age. At Erzerum they have reinspected and injured hams and other food products, opened canned goods, and collected some duties on goods that had passed the custom-house at Trebizond. At Samson the Marsovan missionaries were compelled to pay duty on a gas engine for the use of the industrial department of the college, and duty was demanded last week on carpenters' tools, chair irons, turning and ironworking tools, etc., all intended for the industrial department of the mission. Most of these demands are made on the basis of the assumption that only those things that are of a priestly nature are exempted from customs duties. I hear that the French Sisters of Charity have had some similar trouble recently. It looks as though the custom-house authorities had recently received some new instructions touching missionary goods. As this seems to be a matter of principle of some importance and one which we have been unable to settle satisfcatorily here, I referred it to your excel. lency. I am, etc., MILO A. JEWETT. [Inclosure 4.] [Telegram from His Britannic Majesty's consul at Erzeroum, received by the British embassy at Constantinople and forwarded to the American embassy August 14, 1906.] His Majesty's consul at Erzeroum telegraphs under date of August 14 for the information of the United States embassy that the acting vice-consul at Van has reported that the custom-house there, on pretext that the Turkish Government has not recognized the American dispensary at Van, refuses to allow medicines and goods belonging to the missionaries to pass until duty has been paid on them. Mr. Shipley has called upon the vice-consul to furnish a report on the subject and suggests that it may be advisable in the meantime to instruct the missionaries to pay the duty under protest if the goods are urgently required. [Inclosure 5.] Ambassador Leishman to Consul Jewett. AMERICAN EMBASSY, Constantinople, August 16, 1906. SIR: I have to confirm my telegram to you of the 9th instant, reading as follows: "The embassy can not accept the new interpretation given by the local Douane officials to the word missionary, and you will kindly ask the director of customs to furnish you with his warrant for attempting to change the customs privileges which have been accorded to American missionaries for so many years. All we ask in the way of customs immunities for American citizens engaged in missionary work in the Ottoman Empire is equality of treatment, and while we have no desire to ask for more we can not accept less." If you have been unable to settle this question with the local authorities, it would be best to advise the American dispensary at Van, in case they are in urgent need of the medicines and goods belonging to the missionaries, to pay under protest the customs duties on the same. Should you then not succeed in reaching a satisfactory conclusion with the customs officials you will notify the embassy and I will take up the matter with the Sublime Porte. I am, etc., [Inclosure 6.] JOHN G. A. LEISHMAN. Ambassador Leishman to Consul Jewett. AMERICAN EMBASSY, Constantinople, August 20, 1906. SIR: As on the 16th instant I wrote to confirm my telegram to you of the 9th instant with reference to the difficulties encountered in passing missionary property through the customs at Trebizond, I will suspend further instructions on this subject until I again hear from you as to the present status of the case and of the success of your efforts to settle the matter in question. In your dispatch of the 8th instant, however, you signal numerous fresh difficulties in connection with the property of our missions. I will ask you to ascertain with reference to the same whether the Turkish authorities object to all articles imported for missionary use or only to certain specified ones and to let me know regarding same. I am, etc., JOHN G. A. LEISHMAN. [Inclosure 7.] Consul Jewett to Ambassador Leishman. AMERICAN CONSULATE, Trebizond, September 8, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency's telegram dated August 9, 1906, in regard to difficulties of missionary boxes at the custom-house, also your dispatches No. -, dated, August 16, 1906, confirming the above telegram, and No. 9, dated August 20, 1906, on the same subject. Thanks to your excellency's telegram and after a series of pourparlers and a great deal of effort I succeeded in having all the missionary boxes pass the custom-house free of duty except five boxes of drugs for the Erzeroum mission that are still detained at the custom-house pending the receipt of instructions asked from Constantinople. The custom-house authorities here pretend to have received recent instructions from Constantinople not to let anything addressed to the missionaries pass the custom-house free of duty which is not of a character fit for a religious institution and religious people. In the beginning, according to their judgment, gloves, ladies' hats, photographs, photographic material, and several other articles of the kind were subject to duty. We have finally arrived to make them understand (I do not know for how long it will last) that our missionaries differ from other religious denominations, that they are with their families and that their way of living does not differ from that of people in civil life, and consequently such articles are necessary for them. It seems the objection still remains for drugs in quantity and for goods in a certaint quantity, as, for instance, building material, unless there is an official permit for a new building, screws, hinges, tools, etc., for the industrial departments of the mission schools, and any other article that seems to them inappropriate for the personal use of the missionaries. I am, etc., MILO A. Jewett. The Secretary of State to Ambassador Leishman. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 8, 1906. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 31, of the 14th ultimo, reporting that, under instructions from you, the consul at Trebizond secured the settlement, without the necessity of referring the matter to the central Government at Constantinople, of a dispute regarding the levying of duty at Trebizond on goods imported for American missionaries in the interior. The department joins with you in gratification at the successful termination of the incident. I am, etc., E. ROOT. No. 63. MISSIONARIES' RIGHT TO TRAVEL IN TURKEY. Ambassador Leishman to the Secretary of State. [Extract.] AMERICAN EMBASSY, Constantinople, October 18, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to bring to your attention the difficulties lately experienced by certain of our missionaries traveling in the interior of Asia Minor. While these cases appear, fortunately, to be sporadic and any discrimination against our missionaries is denied at the Sublime Porte, at the same time the fact that they have occurred at all and the persistence of the local authorities in their restrictive action makes it incumbent for me to warn the department that the occurrence of such cases, especially under certain conditions. is far from improbable. The first of these cases concerns Mr. James L. Fowle, who has been for many years connected with the mission at Talas, Cesarea, who is well spoken of by everyone knowing him, and who is familiar with the country. Mr. Fowle has lately been stopped at Angora while on his way to certain localities in connection with his mission work, and in spite of the action of the French consul, whose good offices were exercised in his behalf, he has thus far been prevented from proceeding on his journey. I have made repeated representations at the Sublime Porte with regard to him, and when lately I saw the grand vizier he dictated, in my presence, a telegram instructing the vali to permit Mr. Fowle to travel when and where he wished in the vilayet. But in spite of this, and for no apparent reason, the prohibition appears to have been not yet removed. If I find all other resources without avail, I shall shortly advise Mr. Fowle to travel on the strength of his American passport, after serving notice on the vali that he will be held.strictly accountable and responsible for any injury which may befall him, and informing him of the time of his departure, the route he intends to take, and the locality of his destination, a source of action I adopted a few years ago when similar difficulties were encountered by Mr. Cole, of Bitlis. The other case concerns Mr. McDowell, of the American mission at Van, who has been refused permission to travel in that neighborhood, although such permission was granted within the last few months to Mr. Cole and Miss Ely and others, who encountered no difficulties at the hands of the authorities. (See inclosure 1.) The vali at Van, however, has notified the British vice-counsul, Captain Dickson, who has charge of our interests at Van, that he was forbidden from Constantinople to allow American missionaries to travel in the vilayet. In connection herewith the department is, of course, aware that the work of our missions is essentially among the native Christian population, and that where this population is chiefly Armenian it is almost unavoidable that suspicion fall on our missionaries. Turkish rule is essentially military rule, and almost necessarily so, since the Turks form everywhere, save in two vilayets, a numerical minority. It is therefore not altogether surprising that as our missionaries work so largely among a disaffected portion of the population that they, too, be regarded with apprehension. And as for some time past the governors of Mosul, Bitlis, and Mush have been complaining to Constantinople that American missionaries from Van, whom |