Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part II

Mr. Morris to Mr. Seward

No. 37.]

Legation of the United States of America, Constantinople, December 4, 1862.

Sir: I have the honor to enclose a printed translation of the answer of the minister of foreign affairs to the note of the ambassadors of the Great Powers, on the subject of the rights of foreigners to own real property in Turkey. This note confirms the observations which I had the honor to submit on this question in despatch No. 36.

I also enclose a correspondence with the consul at Beirut, on a case which is connected with this question. The “helpers” of the missionaries are native preachers, converted by them to protestantism, and for the most part, originally Americans. The Porte is daily growing more jealous of the interference of foreign legations in the affairs of Ottoman subjects, and it requires great prudence not to offend its sensibilities on this subject. By the existing treaties the United States agents in Turkey are expressly restrained from protecting Ottoman subjects not in the employment of the legation or consulates.

The native protestants are recognized as a distinct religious fraternity in the empire, and as such choose, by authority of the Porte, an Agha, or chief, who is the organ through whom they communicate with the Turkish government. The Porte acts with the same deference and regard to the representative of this, the smallest religious fraternity in the empire, as towards the millions of Greeks represented by their patriarch at Constantinople.

For some time the Turkish government has had under consideration the question of the creation of a government bank. The utility of such an institution, in aiding the financial operations of the government, in regulating the exchanges, and in furnishing a paper currency of equal value in all parts of the empire, has become so apparent of late that the Porte has resolved to create a national bank. The plan is matured, but not yet published.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

E. JOY MORRIS.

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

P. S.—As an example of the insecurity of life and property on the roads of the interior of the empire, and to show that others, as well as Americans, suffer from this cause, I beg to mention the fact of the robbery of Baghir Bey, an agent of the Persian minister, on his way from this place to Teheran, with jewelry to the value of 1,500,000 piastres, purchased for the Schah of Persia by the minister, on a recent visit to Paris. The Bey was assailed by robbers near the frontier beyond Erzeroum, robbed of his despatches and jewels, and killed. The robbers have escaped.

Mr. Morris to Mr. Johnson

Legation of the United States of America, Constantinople, November 26, 1862.

Sir: I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 14th instant, reporting the conduct of his excellency Achir Pacha, governor of Marash, in relation to a house possessed by Messrs. Goodale & White, in the name of an Ottoman subject, for the use of their helper, who, I suppose, is also a subject of the Sultan, and have brought the case before the minister of foreign affairs for his consideration.

The present incident, which I greatly regret, furnishes me with an occasion to inform you that the Ottoman government firmly refuses to all foreigners the rights of possessing real estate in their own names, and is as strongly indisposed to allow any privileges or distinctions in favor of property which they may acquire in a fictitious manner. The interference of the legation in such cases must therefore be entirely officious, and great discretion is required, so as not to excite the sensibilities of the Porte.

I must also add, that the Ottoman government does not admit that the employment of its subjects by private foreigners in Turkey gives to the former any foreign protection, or in any manner releases them from their proper subjection. It is only when temporarily in the employ of the foreign legations and consulates that they enjoy their protection.

The house in question is officially owned and occupied by an Ottoman subject, and is therefore wholly within the jurisdiction of the local authorities. I hope that the friendly intercession of the legation will, however, induce the Porte to address such an order to his excellency Achir Pacha as will cause him to release, under the circumstances, the American gentlemen from the inconvenience complained of.

I have the honor, &c.,

E. JOY MORRIS.

J Aug. Johnson, United States Consul, Beirut.

Mr. Johnson to Mr. Morris

United States Consulate, Beirut, Syria, November 14, 1862.

Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I have this morning received a communication from the American missionaries in Marash, relative to an outrage committed upon them personally, and in the person of their employé, by the new governor of Marash, Achir Pacha, of which the following is an extract:

“Three years ago, at a cost of one hundred pounds, we purchased a house for the use of our helper, the acting pastor of a large protestant church here. Yesterday morning, without any previous warning, the helper and his wife were ejected forcibly from the house, that it might be made a hospital for the soldiers. Dr. Goodale immediately waited on Achir Pacha, but, without suffering a word of explanation, with anger and rage he ordered him from his presence. This morning Mr. White called, represented that the house was our own, bought with our own money, and for a specific purpose, and that there was an abundance of as good houses in the vicinity. Achir Pacha replied that the deed of the house was in the name of a native. For this reason he had a right to take it, and for this same reason he could take the houses in which we live, and would do so if necessary; and he threatened to make us smart in future for not having considered it a high privilege to receive the King’s soldiers.

“The Pacha’s whole deportment is tyrannical and insulting in the extreme, and, according to his own words, we may any day be ejected from our homes. Has the Pacha a right to seize the house of a foreigner when there is an abundance of eligible houses in the vicinity? Has he the right to drive from his presence a peaceful American resident, without even hearing his petition?”

The letter, of which the above is an extract, is dated Marash, October 11, 1862, and concludes with the prayer that an order may be obtained commanding that their house be restored to them, and that the Pacha be made to apologize to Messrs. White and Goodale, the signers of the letter, for his unwarrantable and insulting conduct towards them.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

J. AUG. JOHNSON.

E. Joy Morris, Esq., United States Minister Resident, Constantinople.

Foreigners and the rights of property in Turkey.

A French journal publishes the following as the reply of Ali Pacha to the recent note of the foreign representatives on the subject of the rights of foreigners to own real property in the empire. We shall take early occasion to review some of the arguments employed by his highness in defence of the existing disabilities:

Sublime Porte, October 3, 1862.

The undersigned, minister for foreign affairs to his Majesty the Sultan, has had the honor to receive and to submit to his august master the collective note which their excellencies the representatives of the Great Powers have addressed him in reference to the question of foreign subjects holding real property in the Ottoman empire. The undersigned, by order of his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, hereby declares to their excellencies, that the imperial government does not hesitate to recognize its proclamation some time ago on the subject; and will also add, that even issued without the existence of such a circumstance, he would consider himself happy to be able to solve a question which appears to be destined to produce great benefit for Turkey, as well as to increase its relations with Europe. But the representatives are not ignorant of the motives which have, up to the present, delayed this result. They are also aware that the Sublime Porte has always affirmed that it will only grant to foreign subjects the right of possessing real property, under certain conditions.

The government of the Sultan desires to act towards other nations according to the principles of the most civilized people. In return, it considers it its right, and as due to its dignity and preservation, to invoke the same principles on its own behalf. It is well known in what a situation Turkey was, when its relations with Europe commenced. A few foreign merchants, completely separated from the rest of the population, resided in the seaports of the Levant. They had hardly anything to do with the natives, and were entirely devoted to wholesale trade. The Ottoman government granted them privileges which the state of society in which they lived, and the customs and habits of that time, had rendered necessary; but, what existed then has given place to a state of things completely different. Europe has changed, and Turkey is no more what she was. The relations between her and Europe are no longer the same. Everything, then, is changed, except those antiquated capitulations which are often put forward in order to justify pretensions incompatible with the present system, and of such a nature as to render impossible the regular course of the government.

Foreign subjects are, in virtue of the said capitulations, only subject to their own authorities. It follows, then, that in the provinces of the empire there are as many police administrations, as many tribunals governed by different laws, as there are consulates. Consequently, in any police matter, as well as everything relating to judicial, financial and other administrations, the hand of the government is paralyzed in the name of this irregularity. The great inconvenience arising from such an extraordinary state of things, the insurmountable obstacles opposed to the accomplishment of the wishes of the Sultan to have order and regularity in all branches of the administration, are too evident to require enumeration here, and the extent of which cannot be more fully appreciated by any one than by those on whom the responsibility of the government of the empire rests. The undersigned is persuaded that if the representatives who signed the collective note would take into consideration the preceding observations, they will admit that, as long as such a state of things exists, it must be impossible for the Sublime Porte to adopt the course on which they advise it to enter. In fact, how can it grant the right of establishing themselves as proprietors to populations who do not recognize its authority or its laws, and who do not submit to the obligations to which the subjects of his Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, are themselves subordinated, but to their own foreign tribunals? Everywhere else, where strangers enjoy the privilege of possessing property, they are subjected to the police, to the laws and tribunals of the nation amongst which they reside; they pay the same taxes as the people of that nation, and they do not expect to be treated more favorably than its own subjects.

The necessity and legitimacy of modifying the capitulations has been solemnly recognized by the Great Powers who signed the treaty of the 30th March, 1856, and has been solemnly expressed in one of the protocols of the Congress of Paris. In consequence, the undersigned feels himself justified in repeating that the government remains faithful to the promise made at the conclusion of that treaty, to deal with this question as soon as the legislation which governs foreign subjects in Turkey shall have undergone such changes as are required by present circumstances. According to the opinion of the Sublime Porte, the following three points must form the basis of the revision for that end:

1st. The integral payment, by strangers resident in Turkey, of all taxes and imposts to which Ottoman subjects are subjected.

2d. What authority should the Sublime Porte exercise over them?

3d. Are there any advantages that could be granted them in return for the obligations they will have to accept?

The undersigned cannot omit to say, at the same time, that the government will neglect nothing in order that the laws to which strangers will be subjected shall offer all the most desirable guarantees. It is equally to be observed that the obtainment of all the immunities (to be) accorded to foreign subjects, and which would not be in direct opposition to their new position, would not be an affair of a stroke of the pen, nor of immediate accomplishment, since it would be out of the question to grant them all the privileges enjoyed by native subjects of the Porte. The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to repeat to his excellency the assurance of his high consideration.

ALI.