No. 427.
Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Wallace.
Department
of State,
Washington, March 27,
1884.
No. 169.]
Sir: I transmit herewith for your information the
inclosed copies of dispaches No. 67, of January 18 last, and No. 323, of the
5th ultimo, from our consul at Beirut, Syria, and consul-general at
Constantinople, in relation to the difficulties encountered by American
citizens and graduates of the American college at Beirut in their endeavor
to practice their profession in the Ottoman Dominions.
To some extent the onerous and unjust discriminations of the Turkish
authorities in respect of this general subject are familiar to your
legation, the case of the late Dr. Calhoun being a recent one in point.
In that case, where it was sought to impose unreasonable restrictions in
regard to Dr. Calhoun’s medical practice, the Department endeavored to
secure for him only such treatment in respect to his examination as was
enjoyed by medical practitioners, citizens or subjects of other countries,
residing and practicing in Turkey. So, too, in the present instance, where
the cases are practically the same, we ask only fair and impartial treatment
for our citizens who desire to follow their profession in that country.
It is difficult to believe that the Turkish Government would knowingly permit
its local authorities to so unjustly discriminate against American medical
practitioners. This is the more singular and to be regretted when it is
remembered that our citizens have been regularly graduated from the college
at Beirut, a chartered and trustworthy institution, having authority to
confer such diplomas, and in view of the undoubted statement that no such
exactions as are sought to be imposed upon our citizens are attempted or
enforced against medical practitioners of other nationalities, even when
they have not followed any prescribed course of study. Yet this is precisely
the situation as represented by Mr. Robeson, whose strenuous efforts have
unfortunately been thus far unavailing to stop or prevent so unjust a
discriminatory practice. Nor, I regret to add, so far as Mr. Heap’s
knowledge goes, have those which have been put forth by the legation or
consulate-general for the relief of our citizens in such cases been hardly
more satisfactory, notwithstanding the orders and promises of the Turkish
Government. The faculty of the college at Beirut now hope for one of the
following privileges:
- First. A charter as an independent medical college, with power to
grant legal degrees in medicine and surgery.
- Second. The privilege of granting degrees in medicine and surgery,
which, to be legalized, shall be forwarded to Constantinople through
the American minister or consulate-general, to be signed and sealed
by the Imperial College officials.
- Third. Failing in either of these, the appointment of an examining
board of Government physicians in Beirut or Damascus with power to
grant a certificate to the graduates of the American college after
they have passed a satisfactory examination before the said board,
which certificate shall authorize the holder to practice medicine
anywhere in the Ottoman Empire.
These propositions appear reasonable and just, and any one of them, if
adopted, would doubtless afford a practical and satisfactory solution of the
present difficulties surrounding American medical practitioners
[Page 554]
in that country. In the opinion of
this Government, therefore, the Government of Turkey should be willing to
grant one or the other of these privileges and enforce a compliance with its
orders by the local authorities throughout the Empire.
The inclosed correspondence will enable you to fully and carefully present
this subject to the Government of the Porte. This you “will accordingly do,
and endeavor to obtain through the adoption of one of the courses suggested
above, or some other equally satisfactory method, recognition of the
competent diplomas issued by the American college at Beirut to its medical
graduates.
This Government is disposed to admit that every country has the right to
prescribe the mode of recognition of medical practitioners within its
borders. While granting this, it is only reasonable to expect, therefore,
that any regulations governing in such cases should be fair and impartial
and not discriminate in favor of any one nationality. All that is demanded
in the interest of our citizens is that the rule adopted shall be uniform
and without any practical discrimination against duly graduated American
practitioners. Common justice and international intercourse alike suggest
that no other course should be recognized or permitted.
You will give this subject your earnest consideration, and, if possible,
press it to an early and equitable conclusion.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 169.]
Mr. Robeson to Mr.
Adee.
Consulate of the United States,
Beirut, January 18,
1884. (Received February 23.)
No. 67.]
Sir: I respectfully beg to submit for your kind
consideration and such action as you may deem proper in the case a few
statements regarding the difficulties under which the American Medical
College in Beirut, the graduates, and Americans who wish to practice
medicine in this part of Turkey labor, with the earnest hope of
Americans in general, and the medical fraternity in Syria in particular,
that the Department may use its best influence with the Sublime Porte to
secure for them due consideration and fair treatment.
The medical department of the American Protestant College at Beirut was
established in 1867, under the general law of the State of New York, the
board of trustees consisting of the following distinguished and
philanthropic gentlemen: William A. Booth, William E. Dodge, David
Hoadley, Simeon B. Chittenden, of New York; Abner Kingman, and Joseph S.
Ropes, of Boston, Mass. In 1870, before the first class was ready to
graduate, application was made to the Sublime Porte, through the
American minister, Mr. MacVeagh, for an authorization to the college by
the Ottoman Government to confer medical diplomas which would be legal
in Turkey. The Porte referred this question to the imperial faculty of
medicine in Constantinople, which body declined to allow any school or
examining body but its own to confer diplomas in medicine, but promised
to recognize the Beirut school as a qualifying body, and to admit its
students to examination without further preparation. The Porte promised
further to defray the traveling expenses of the students, and to lodge
and board them in the imperial school pending their examination. Our
minister, Mr. MacVeagh, advised the college to accept this offer for the
time being, assuming that it was made in good faith, and pointing out
the difficulty and even impossibility of the Government’s overriding the
decision of its own medical faculty unless it were proved incapable or
corrupt in carrying out its decision. In no case, however, although
frequently applied to by indigent students, has the Government afforded
the slightest aid to any student in going or returning nor given them
board and lodging, as promised. Soon after the announcement, of this
decision the Ottoman Government began to send menacing communications to
the college and stringent orders to the governments of Syria and Lebanon
for the prevention of the unlicensed practice of medicine. During the
last
[Page 555]
two years there has been
a disposition on the part of the Turkish authorities in Syria to enforce
the regulations that require all persons to present their diplomas in
person and undergo an examination before the Imperial Medical College at
Constantinople before being permitted to practice medicine in
Turkey.
No one will deny the right of the Turkish Government to pass such laws,
but the strange part of the laws and regulations regarding this matter
is that they have been only enforced against American citizens who hold
diplomas from American colleges and natives who have graduated at the
American college in Beirut. No German, French, English, Italian,
Austrian, nor any other foreigner practicing medicine has in any
instance been molested by the Turkish authorities in Syria, while
American doctors have been harassed, insulted, prohibited from
practicing, and forced to go to Constantinople to pass an examination
before the board of the Imperial Medical College there.
At the request of Mr. Heap, United States consul-general at
Constantinople, I collected and furnished him during July last, at
considerable trouble and expense, with a list of the names and
residences of four hundred and eighty-two doctors practicing medicine in
my consular district. I find that over four hundred of the number have
no diplomas from the Imperial Medical College at Constantinople, mostly
natives, and over three hundred have no diplomas from any college, never
having studied medicine. I have called the attention of the
governor-general of Syria to these facts, but no notice has yet been
taken of the subject, nor is it likely that any will be given by the
Turkish authorities to the matter. Dr. Skandarani, the chief municipal
and sanitary physician of Damascus, the second city in the Empire, has
never studied in any medical school, nor has he a diploma from any
educating body. It is impossible for these ignorant native practitioners
to pass an examination before a medical board, but no one here believes
that they will be prohibited from practicing or in any way molested by
the Turkish authorities. They may get diplomas, however, by paying the
required fee, 7 Turkish pounds. In 1877 Dr. Post, of the faculty of the
medical college of Beirut, spent several months at Constantinople
endeavoring to obtain more favorable conditions for the graduates of the
college. He received promises, but these pledges have been entirely
ignored by the Imperial College. I am informed that in every case the
candidates from Beirut college proved themselves capable of passing the
examination at Constantinople, and, though they have been subject to
many annoyances, they finally received diplomas which made no mention,
however, of their studies in the American school at Beirut, but their
Beirut college certificates have been confiscated. Drs. Bliss, Van Dyck,
Post, Dennis, and other Americans have devoted many years of their lives
to establishing the Protestant Medical College in Beirut, while large
sums of money have been spent in buying ground and erecting suitable
buildings, which are second to none in the country; but all this will
prove comparatively futile unless proper concessions be granted to the
college by the Ottoman Government. The instructions have lately been
changed from the Arabic language to English in the medical department.
The college is in a flourishing condition, having two hundred students,
a considerable number of whom are studying medicine. The faculty request
and hope for one of the following privileges:
- (1)
- A charter as an independent medical college, with power to
grant legal degrees in medicine and surgery.
- (2)
- The privilege of granting degrees in medicine and surgery
which, to be legalized, shall be forwarded to Constantinople
through the American minister or consul-general, to be signed
and sealed by the Imperial College officials.
- (3)
- Failing in either of these, the appointment of an examining
board of Government physicians in Beirut or Damascus, with power
to grant a certificate to the graduates of the American college
after they have passed a satisfactory examination before the
said board, which certificate will authorize the holder to
practice medicine anywhere in the Ottoman Empire.
The course of instruction and standard of examinations in the college
will be seen, from the inclosed catalogue, to be thorough, and the many
graduates of the college now engaged in Government service or occupying
high positions as private practitioners in the east have established its
reputation on a firm basis.
Mr. Heap, our consul-general at Constantinople, has endeavored to get the
Imperial Medical College to accept the diplomas of Americans who desire
to practice medicine in Turkey (without having the parties appear in
person to undergo an examination before the Imperial College), and after
having their diplomas registered, to grant them permission or license to
practice medicine in the Ottoman Empire, but in this he has not
succeeded. It is in the interest of Americans in this part of Turkey and
the American Medical College here that I have presumed to address yon
this dispatch, with the sincere hope that the Department of State may
use it best influence with the Sublime Porte to have it grant one of the
three privileges desired by the American Protestant Medical College in
Beirut.
I am, &c.,
[Page 556]
[Inclosure 2 in No. 169.]
Mr. Heap to Mr.
Adee.
Consulate-General of the United States,
Constantinople, February 5, 1884. (Received February
23.)
No. 323.]
Sir: Referring to Mr Robeson’s dispatch to the
Department of State, No. 67, dated January 18, 1884, inclosed herewith,
I beg to say that what he states in regard to the examination and
licensing of the graduates from the American College of Medicine at
Beirut deserves the earnest consideration of the Department. The efforts
made here, whether by the legation or the consulate-general, to obtain
some relaxation of the stringent rules of the faculty of medicine in
their favor have been unsuccessful. It is true that no difficulty has
been experienced in obtaining the license to practice when the candidate
has presented himself for examination with a diploma duly certified to
by the consul-general, whether it was granted by the college at Beirut
or a medical college in the United States, and upon payment of the
established fees to the Turkish faculty. The Porte appears to have taken
stringent measures to prevent unauthorized persons from practicing in
the provinces; but these measures do not seem to have been attended with
success.
If a decree were obtained recognizing the validity of diplomas issued by
the American college at Beirut, after registration here, without the
presence of the candidate, and after the payment of the fees, which we
have reason to believe is the principal concern of the College of
Medicine of Constantinople, the ground of complaint would be
lessened.
The examination or colloquium is a mere
formality.
It may be well to state that no fee is charged at this consulate for the
certification of diplomas.
I am, &c.,
G. H. HEAP,
Consul-General.
