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  4. Document 548

No. 549.
Mr. Wallace to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Legation of the United States,
Constantinople, June 13, 1883. (Received July 2.)
No. 233.]

Sir: Referring to the dispatch which I had the honor to forward to the Department touching an application in behalf of the American Bible Society for a permit to print the Bible in Arabic characters, and the conditional permit granted by the Sublime Porte in reply to the request,! have the honor to inform you that Mr. Wyndham, Her Majesty’s charge d’affaires, acting in behalf of the British Bible House, has agreed with me to send an identic note verbale to the Porte upon the subject, a copy of which is herewith inclosed.

Very respectfully, &c.,

LEW. WALLACE.
[Inclosure in No. 233.]

note verbale.

United States Legation,
Constantinople, June 13, 1883.

The United States legation has the honor to acknowledge receipt of the note verbale from the Sublime Porte, of the 9th instant, in which it is stated that the American Bible Society are at liberty to publish a Turkish translation of the Bible, on condition that each copy bears on the cover and on the first page the words “For the use of Protestants.” From the text of the permission, which is now in the printer’s hands, the United States legation learns that the words in Turkish are “For Protestants alone “; and it regrets to state that such a condition is not one which it can feel justified in enteraining.

The Sublime Porte will doubtless remember that seven years ago a similar condition was put forward, but eventually withdrawn, and the United States legation cannot doubt that in this instance the Sublime Porte will follow an equally conciliatory course, especially when it is remembered that the permission now asked is not a new privilege, but is one that has been enjoyed for several years by the Bible societies of Great Britain and America.

It is unnecessary for the United States legation to enlarge upon the fact that the Bible is freely translated into two hundred and fifty different languages; and it begs to point out the unfavorable impression which the imposing of a condition such as the one proposed would produce, and to express an earnest hope that the Sublime Porte may be willing to grant the permission now requested unfettered by any restrictive condition.