Mr. Morris to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that my efforts to bring Mustook Pasha, the Caimacam (lieutenant governor) of Payas, to justice, have at length been crowned with success. Since I first learned that he had given protection to one of the assassins of the Rev. Mr. Coffing, of the name of Kaleel, I have been unremitting in exertions to enforce him to the delivery of the criminal. Failing in this, owing to the impunity with which this functionary has been enabled to defy the Porte audits authority in his mountain-fastnesses, I have from time to time caused vizerial orders to be issued to the governor of Adana to secure the arrest of Kaleel, through representations to the Pasha of the earnest wishes of the Porte on this subject. At one time the Porte, at my request, removed Mustook Pasha from office, but he was restored on the protest of Caleduli Effendi, the commissioner in Syria, who deemed his removal at that time as dangerous to the peace of that part of Syria.
Persisting in his determination not to surrender Kaleel, who is a near relative to his wife, the Porte at last resolved to assert its authority in the most decided manner. On the 2d of November last Mustook Pasha was arrested at Payas, by order of the governor of Adana, with the co-operation of Husni Pasha, who, at the head of a large body of troops, seized him in his own territory, to which he had repaired under pretence of aiding the Caimacam in the apprehension of robbers. All his family except one son were taken, and have been sent to the capital. The arrest of this notorious Pasha, who for the last fifteen years has [Page 374] been the terror of the people of Alexandretta and its vicinity, from his own ruffianism, and the protection which he has accorded to fugitives from justice, has been a subject of great rejoicing among the mussulman and Christian population. It is hailed as a pledge of the restoration of law and order in one of the most troubled provinces of the empire.
It will be seen from the enclosed translation of a letter from Vice-Consul Levy to our consul at Beyrout, that this arrest is attributed to my exertions, which I allude to only as showing that American influence is recognized in such a remote part of the empire in a way which honors the American name in the estimation of men of all races and creeds.
I need not assure you that I shall not give up the pursuit of the assassin Kaleel and shall continue to have instructions issued by the Porte from time to time to all the civil and military authorities for his apprehension. There will be no security for travellers in Syria so long as criminals like Kaleel are permitted to escape the penalty of their crimes through the connivance of the local governors. In this persevering effort to accomplish justice, I am satisfied I am most properly representing the vigorous and liberal tone of the administration of President Lincoln, which expects from its foreign representatives the strictest performance of duty in the protection of American life.
In this connexion, I beg respectfully to remind the department that the pair of pistols promised in one of your despatches to ex-Grand Vizier Kibrisili Pasha, governor of Adrianople, for the interest he took in the arrest and punishment of the murderers of the Rev. Mr. Merriam, have not yet been received.
With great respect, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c.