No. 629.
Mr. Boker to Mr. Fish.

No. 276.]

Sir: I have the honor to say that the attention of the Department may have been attracted to a report made current by the American and the British newspapers, to the effect that it was the intention of the Ottoman government to suppress the Protestant schools throughout the empire, and that efforts to that end had already been set afoot in the province of Syria.

As the officials at the Sublime Porte have always unhesitatingly denied any such intention, both to the British ambassador and to myself, I thought it advisable to instruct Mr. Baraczi, on his recent visit to Syria, to investigate the matter, so far as that province was concerned, and to communicate the result of his observations to the legation.

From Mr. Baraczi’s report—a copy of which I herewith inclose—it will be seen that no Protestant schools have been closed, nor has any attempt to close them been made by the Ottoman government, although I can say, of my own knowledge, that many of them were opened without having received the permission from the authorities required by the law of this country.

It seems to me that the statement of those two facts should relieve us from all concern on the subject, for governments and their representatives can have nothing to do with undeveloped and disavowed intentions. There is no doubt that there exists great popular hostility to the Protestant schools of Syria, which are generally conducted, or have been established, by American and British missionaries; but this opposition, in almost all cases, owes its origin to the fanaticism of the native Christian sects, and rarely to the antagonism of the indolent Mussulmans.

There is hardly one Turk in a year converted to Christianity of any kind, so that the converts to Protestantism are, as a rule, recruited from those native Christians who, under various sectarian names, lean toward the discipline of Catholicism in subjecting themselves completely to priestly domination.

The clergy and the notables of the native Christian sects, who hate Protestantism, which they call atheism, more than the faith of Islam, and who sit in the councils of the local communes, in which the Protestants have no representation, often use the pliant Turks as cat’s paws, or carry them along in the current of good-fellowship toward measures directed against the Protestants, or cunningly devised to incite popular odium and even violence against them. I have, however, seldom been called upon to deal with one of those constantly-recurring difficulties between the American missionaries and the natives of Turkey which could be traced to a Mussulman origin. Now and then a [Page 1295] good-natured Turk blunders into such an affair, but he is usually the surprised victim of a priestly intrigue, and not seldom the most innocent of all the parties concerned, while he is ever a willing, and, if unnoticed, grateful fugitive.

As the report of Mr. Baraczi will give the Department full information as to the true condition of a matter which has attracted great attention in the religious world, both in the United States and in Great Britain, it will not be necessary for me to continue the subject.

I have, &c.,

GEO. H. BOKER.
[Inclosure in No. 276.]

Mr. Baraczi to Mr. Boker.

Sir: I have the honor to state that, while I was in Syria, the American missionaries complained that the Turkish government persecuted the Protestants in Syria, and, in order to prevent the conversion of the people to Christianity, it not only submits the converts to a hard and unjust treatment, but recently directs all measures against the missionaries themselves.

The principal points of their complaints are—

  • First. That the custom-house authorities make great difficulties in letting pass, free of duty, the goods destined for the private use of the missionaries.
  • Second. That the government made difficulties about the establishment of a printing-press connected with the Bible-house at Beirût.
  • Third. That it refused to grant the permission to practice to the graduates of the medical college at Beirut.
  • Fourth. That their elementary schools had been closed by the Ottoman authorities.

The latter complaint having filled almost all the newspapers of America and Europe, I felt it my duty to examine it. The other three questions having previously been brought to the knowledge of the legation, I found no object in investigating them.

The results of my inquiries, in reference to the question of the elementary schools, do not coincide with the exaggerated and perverted statements published in so many papers. I found that while one part of the population of Syria is friendly to the missionaries, because they feed and clothe their children, the greater part, the Mussulmans, are the most implacable foes of the foreign teachers, who, according to their opinion, sap the foundations of Islamism. This fanatic part of the inhabitants accused the missionaries of promising foreign protection and exemption from military service to those who would become Protestants; of sending the daughters of the Ansayrich inhabitants to America; and of founding schools without asking the authorization of the government, as they are required to do by the laws of the country.

The two former complaints afforded no reasonable ground for a formal proceeding, but the third accusation was brought to the knowledge of the Sublime Porte, which instructed the governor-general of Syria to put a stop to such abuses and to prevent the missionaries from building and opening schools without the permission of the government.

Halet Pasha, the governor-general of Syria, addressed a circular to the governors under his jurisdiction, ordering them to watch that no schools be built and opened by foreigners without previous authorization of the Ottoman government. The governors transmitted this order to the caïmmakams of their districts, who communicated it to the consular officers, on whom the schools depended.

I herewith inclose a copy of a communication sent by the caïmmakam of Latakia to the United States consular agent at the same place.

The note of the caïmmakam contains a request to stop the building of schools, and to close those which had already been opened. But the latter part of his communication is only an explanation of the order received from the governor of Tripoli, which is repeated in the first part of the said communication. An ambiguous Arabic word made the caïmmakam believe that the schools already existing should be closed, while the order really said, “to prevent the building and opening of schools by foreigners.”

As far as I could ascertain, no American school in Syria was closed by force, and the above communication arrived a long time after the schools had been closed by the missionaries themselves for reasons entirely independent from the above orders.

Still the communication of the caïmmakam of Latakia was termed every where a governmental measure by which the Protestant schools in Syria had been closed.

[Page 1296]

The real reasons for closing the schools are the following:

The greatest part of the converts to Protestantism consist of Ansayrichs, who embraced Christianity in order to escape certain obligations imposed on them by the Ottoman laws. It was impossible for me to find out whether this hope was fostered by the missionaries or not. When the converts heard that three conscripts were taken out even of the American school at B’hamra and sent to Damascus to do military service, they lost all confidence in the power of the missionaries. After waiting some time, and when they saw that the conscripts did not come back from Damascus, they deserted their new faith. Reports of cruelties exercised by Turkish officials and soldiers against the Protestant conscripts contributed very much to intimidate and determine them to remain on a better footing with the Ottoman authorities, which they had ignored up to that time. So, in the spring of 1874, the chapels and schools of the missionaries counted but very few visitors. The elders and notables of some villages, in order to get entirely rid of the missionaries, addressed a petition to the caïmmakam of Djebleh, asking the expulsion of the missionaries and closing their schools. The caïmmakam, of whose order I inclose a copy, took into consideration only the latter part of their request, and authorized them only to prevent their children from going to school and to abstain from all intercourse with the missionaries, so as to compel them to go whence they came. The school at Bahloolich was consequently abandoned in June, and the benches of the school of B’hamra became empty about the same time, and, as the schools already existing remained empty, there was no inducement to the missionaries to continue building new schools.

The communication of the caïmmakam of Latakia arrived only three months after these events had taken place. Whatever might have been its contents, it could not effect the closing of schools which were not open.

While I repeat that no violent act took place on the part of the Ottoman authorities in regard to Protestant schools, which is proved best by the medical college and preparatory school at Beirut, which have never been molested, I leave it to your appreciation to decide whether the proceedings above stated were illegal or not.

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

G. BARACZI.

Hon. George H. Boker,
United States Resident Minister, Constantinople.

[Subinclosure 1 in No. 276.—Translation.]

Order of the Caïmmakam of Djibleh.

To the Elders and Notables of the Village of Bahloolieh:

We have read your report asking that the schools established in your village by American missionaries should be abolished, because the instruction given in them by the Protestant teachers is contrary to the principles of your religion, and because said schools have not been established with permission from the imperial government, as should have been done. As you ignored in the beginning that the lessons given in those schools are contrary to your religion, and as it is improper to establish schools without the permission of the government, we have made the necessary representations in order to obtain the closing of said schools. As to you, you are instructed to prevent your children from going to those schools, and from associating with the teachers so that they [the teachers] might move with their families to the place where they came from.

Be it known to you.

MOHAMMED SALEH,
Caïmmakam of Djebleh
[Subinclosure 2 in No. 276.—Translation.]

The Caïmmakam of Latakia to the United States vice-counsul.

To our honored friend the Vice-Counsul of the mighty United States of America, at Latakia:

We have the honor to receive an order from the high government, (at Tripoli,) which has been sent in consequence of an order of the government-general at Damascus, based upon an order from the Sublime Porte. The substance of the said high order is that constant care be taken to prevent the building and opening of schools by foreigners, whosoever they may be. We, therefore, inform you that you are requested to do [Page 1297] your best to prevent the subjects of the Government which you represent from doing anything of the kind. And if anything of the sort has taken place, you will be kind enough to stop it, and to close the schools already established, and to inform me of the measures you take in that respect. Hoping that you will kindly acknowledge the receipt of this communication, I seize this opportunity to assure you of my sincere friendship.

[l. s.]
ABDELRAHMAN NADJIM,
Caïmmakam of Latakia.