Mr. Morris to Mr.
Seward.
No. 144.]
Legation of the United States of
America,
Constantinople,
February 17, 1866.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of despatch No. 105. As the proceedings of the Cholera
International Conference are of universal importance, I transmit
enclosed herein a report of the first meeting of that body, from the
Levant Herald.
An insurrection of considerable importance has broken out in Syria. It is
chiefly owing to an indiscreet attempt by Daoud Pasha, the governor
general of the Lebanon district, to enforce the collection of taxes,
arrears, and current, without regard to the actual condition of the
people. The population of that part of the empire, owing to the ravages
of the cholera, the failure of crops, and the interruption of trade, is
in a state of general destitution and distress. In the progress of the
forcible measures attending the collection of taxes, it was found
necessary to arrest some of the leading members of the family of Joseph
Karam.
This person was compromised in the trouble of 1860, and in his capacity
of native chief of an ancient family in the Lebanon region; he took an
active part in the religious war of that period. In consequence of this
conduct he was exiled. He was pardoned this year on the intervention of
the French government, the protector of his fellow-sectaries the
Maronites, and was permitted to return to Syria. On being apprised of
the arrest of members of his family, he endeavored to seek an interview
with the Pasha for their liberation, and with the view also of
dissuading him from the dangerous course of action in which he had
embarked. His friendly remonstrances were regarded as hostile
demonstrations, and being himself attacked, he repelled force by force,
and open war against the authority of the Pasha has ensued. Several
actions have taken place of a doubtful result for both parties, and the
insurrection has recently assumed such proportions that Karam has now
under his orders more than a thousand men, and is able to oppose a
formidable resistance to the imperial forces under Daoud Pasha.
As insurrection is contagious in the Turkish empire, the Porte has taken
the alarm, and large bodies of troops have been despatched from the
capital, with orders to put down the rebellion at all hazards. Its
suppression must take place sooner or later, but it will be accompanied
by acts of violence that will inevitably sow the seeds of future
troubles. It is suspected that foreign intrigues are connected with this
movement, in order to give a pretext for foreign intervention. Never was
the population of this empire in such a wretched condition as at the
present time. Discontent prevails everywhere, and this is increased by
the necessity in which the government finds itself, from its financial
embarrassments, of securing the payment of the taxes. For the most part,
the taxes on articles of consumption are disposed of by contract for
terms of years to bidders, who have the right to claim the assistance of
the local authorities in their collection. Great abuses grow out of such
a system, but they are trivial in comparison with those attending the
mode of enforcing government dues by the governors and caïmakans of |the
provinces. In many cases the people are obliged to pay much more than
the sums legally due, and the government and its subjects are thus both
robbed by functionaries who appropriate these illegal gains to their own
uses. These vexatious practices are the cause of most of the
insurrections in this empire, and they are in part connected with the
present rebellion in the Lebanon.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Page 236]
The Cholera Conference.
This conference was formally opened yesterday at Galata-serai, by
Aali Pasha. Shortly before 2 p m., the hour fixed for the meeting,
his highness reached the medical school, and the members arriving
about the same time, he at once proceeded to open the sitting. In
doing so, he said:
Gentlemen: I am happy to express to you, in
the name of my most august sovereign, the pleasure with which his
imperial Majesty sees you assembled in his capital.
The eminently philanthrophic mission confided to your intelligent
deliberations will, we feel persuaded, be productive of the results
which the august courts represented in this hall, and humanity at
large, anticipate will flow from it.
Permit me to add, gentlemen, that we regard this assemblage as an
incontestable proof of the immense progress which civilization has
made in our age. Human fraternity, that fundamental law of all
progress, gains more and more by the mutual guarantees which
civilized nations continue to give each other. And what greater
guarantee could be offered to all humanity than that to which we
have now under our eyes, namely, than to see the governments which
march at the head of civilization concurring, by the choice of
persons so distinguished and so competent, in the attempt to trace
out measures of preservation against a scourge which desolates the
human race.
I conclude by informing the conference that its sittings are opened
from this day, and that, in order to facilitate the record of the
voting, it has been agreed that two votes shall be accorded to each
state.
Count Lallemand, the senior French representative, said that as the
suggestion for this inquiry had originated with his government, he
took leave to assure his highness that himself and the whole of the
other members heartily shared the hope of the Porte that this
investigation might result in the adoption of such measures as
would, if not altogether save the countries represented from future
visitations of the cholera, at least mitigate its virulence in case
it again appeared.
After a few further remarks from the minister of foreign affairs and
other members, the Pasha withdrew, and the conference then proceeded
to elect Salih Effendi, the senior Turkish representative,
president. Some other pro forma details
having been settled, a sub-committee was named to draw up a
programme of the proceedings. This done, Count Lallemand proposed
that as several months must necessarily elapse before any measures
decided on by the conference could be carried into effect, and as a
return of the epidemic was possible in the interval, some
provisional precautions should be taken with the collective sanction
of the governments represented. With this view, he said, Dr. Fauvel,
his colleague, had drawn up a short suggestive statement which he
would read to the conference. Doctor Fauvel then read an excellently
written sketch of the early history of the late visitation, tracing
it clearly to the Hedjaz, and advising as a corollary, that in the
event of the disease showing itself around Djeddah, Mecca, or
Medina, during the coming spring, the Ottoman commission lately
despatched to those cities should be empowered to stop communication
by sea between the Arabian ports and Egypt, until at least fifteen
days after all trace of the disease shall have disappeared.
Communication by land, he considered, involves no danger whatever,
the curative effects of a long and tedious journey through northern
Arabia effectually checking any spread of the epidemic by land
travellers. After some discussion, a recommendation to the Porte in
this sense was agreed upon, and the instructions to Ahmet Effendi
and his colleagues will probably be extended accordingly.
The conference broke up after a sitting of nearly three hours, and in
consequence of the intervention of Bairam, it will not meet again
till Thursday, the 22d instant.
The following is a complete list of the countries as yet represented,
and of their delegates: Turkey, represented by Salih Effendi and Dr.
Balotelli; England, by Hon. W. Stuart and Drs. Goodeve and Dickson;
France, by Count Lallemand and Dr. Fauvel; Austria, by M. Vetchera
and Dr. Sotto: Prussia, by M Krauser and Dr. Muhlig; Russia, by Drs.
Pelikan, Lintz, and Bykoff; Italy, by M. Vernoni, and Drs. Bosi and
Salvatore; Spain, by M. Segovia and Dr. Moulau; Portugal, by M,
Pinto de Soubral and Dr. Gomes; Sweden, by M. Stenersen and Dr.
Hübsch; Greece, by M. Kalergi and Dr. Paspati; and Egypt, by Dr.
Lautner. The United States, Belgium, Holland, and the Papal
government have also been invited to take part in the conference,
but have not as yet named their representatives.
