No. 557.
Mr. Wallace to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
[Extract.]
Legation of
the United States,
Constantinople, July 10, 1883.
(Received July 30.)
No. 243.]Sir: I have the honor to transmit a copy and a
translation of a communication received from his highness, the minister of
foreign affairs, upon the subject of the commercial treaty between the
imperial Government and that of the United States. After explaining how he
came to adopt the 13th of March as the date of conclusion of the treaty, and
reciting that he addressed another note to me dated June 4, he finally
consents to accept the 5th of June as the starting point of the 21st or
terminal year.
* * * * * * *
The treaty and the tariff questions between the Turkish Government and the
powers remain statu quo, and will do so during Ramazan, which is now in full observance.
[Page 866]
I have nearly completed a paper of review of the treaty and tariff issues as
they appertain to our Government, in which the suggestion contained in your
dispatch touching a revision of Article XXII of the treaty, will be
submitted to the Sublime Porte as a compromise. The proposition will in all
likelihood be accepted.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure in No.
243.—Translation.]
Aarifi Pasha to Mr.
Wallace.
Mr. Envoy: I have had the honor to receive the
note your excellency kindly addressed to me on the 6th of this month,
relative to the treaty of commerce concluded in 1862, between Turkey and
the United States of America.
Permit me to observe, Mr. Envoy, that the notification relative to the
denouncement of the said treaty was made to you on the 12th of last
March, because the treaty was not put in executive form the day of the
exchange of ratifications, as Article XXIII of the treaty would have
required, but from the 1st (13th) March, 1862, date fixed subsequently
by the convention of the tariff, signed and sealed by the representative
of the United States, a convention which, practically, has replaced the
said stipulation of the treaty
Besides, I have had the honor to address to you, on the 4th instant (that
is to say, the day before the date invoked by your Government), a second
note to reiterate the denouncement of the Turco-American treaty of
commerce. Your excellency does not, however, make any mention of this
communication in your note, and you confine yourself to the one of March
12. In these circumstances the imperial Government has the right to
consider as valid the clear and formal denouncement contained in the
note of March 12, 1883.
Nevertheless, and with the sole view of putting an end to all
discussions, the Sublime Porte consents to abide, conformably to the
desire of the Cabinet of Washington, by the date of the 5th of June, as
marking the starting point of the 21st year.
In having the honor of bringing what precedes to the knowledge of your
excellency, I beg you again to be good enough to appoint, as soon as
possible, a delegate for the conclusion of the new treaty.
Accept, &c.,
