Mr. Pratt to Mr.
Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
Teheran, August 9, 1890.
(Received September 20.)
No. 483.]
Sir: Not having been able in the press of business
to get the same ready for transmission by last mail, I now have the honor to
submit to you, with the hope that their contents will meet with your
approval, the [Page 689] duplicates of my
answers to the communications from Consul-General Stewart, the copies of
which were contained in my dispatch No. 482 of the 8th instant.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 483.]
Mr. Pratt to
Colonel Stewart.
Legation of the United States,
Teheran, August 8,
1890.
Sir: I have received your dispatch No. 42 of
the 2d instant in acknowledgment of my No. 17 of the 26th ultimo.
Your views as to the fact of the guilt of Minas, the accused in the case
of the assassination of Mrs. Wright, having been conclusively
established by the evidence adduced, I entirely concur in, and realize
as fully as you do the evil that must result if the perpetrator of so
heinous a crime is not capitally punished.
This I have strongly impressed upon the Government here with the hope
that it would induce the Shah to reconsider his present decision and yet
decree the sentence of death, which alone can vindicate justice in the
present instance. I cannot make a formal demand for the execution of the
accused without instructions to that effect from my Government, and such
instructions I can not expect to receive until my report and opinion of
the case, duly transmitted, shall have reached Washington and been there
passed upon by the honorable Secretary of State.
In the meantime I have written the prime minister, His Highness the Eminé
Soultan, who is again absent with the Shah, asking that the prisoner
Minas be transferred from Tabreez to Teheran for safe-keeping.
If you learn that there is really any organized conspiracy against the
safety of Mr. Wright for the suppression of which the authorities at
Tabreez are unable or unwilling to adopt the necessary measures, I beg
that you will advise me by telegraph, so that I can take the matter in
hand here at once.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 483.]
Mr. Pratt to
Colonel Stewart.
Legation of the United States,
Teheran, August 8,
1890.
Sir: With reference to the closing paragraph of
your dispatch No. 42 of the 2d instant, concerning the difficulty about
the house at Khoi, treated of in the letter you inclosed me from Mr. J.
C. Mechlin, I have to express to you my thanks for bringing the matter
in dispute so promptly to the attention of the authorities at Tabreez,
and trust that you will be able to satisfactorily arrange the affair
with the Emir Nizam, on the spot, without having to refer it here for
settlement.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure 3 in No. 483.]
Mr. Pratt to
Colonel Stewart.
Legation of the United States,
Teheran, August 8,
1890.
Dear Colonel Stewart: Your letter of the 3d
instant is at hand. That it will have a very bad effect if Minas is not
executed I have no doubt.
Of this fact I think the Eminé Soultan became pretty thoroughly convinced
by the argument I advanced during the interview we had together on the
26th ultimo. What effect the said argument has had upon the Shah, to
whom it was to be communicated, I have not yet learned, as His Majesty
is again off to the mountains, where he has been followed by the Emir. I
have written the latter asking that Minas, whose [Page 690] presence was producing a bad influence in Tabreez,
be transferred to Teheran to await final decision in his case.
I note your suggestion about getting Sir H. Drummond Wolff to join me in
a protest against the nonexecution of Minas, but feel that a like step
should not be taken without the sanction of the honorable Secretary of
State, who may not deem this an occasion for joint action and decide
that such representations as the Government of the United States shall
have to make in the premises should be directly communicated through me
to the Shah or his Government.
The letter you inclosed from Mr. Wright I have carefully read, and
though, from your subsequent inquiries into the matter of the alleged
attempt to assault Mr. Wright’s person and desecrate the grave of his
wife, it would appear that his fears were not altogether well founded,
every allowance is to be made for the state in which the assassination
of Mrs. Wright has left his nervous system. At the same time I can but
thank you for your promptness in requiring the transmission of the
orders which the urgency of the case seemed at the time to demand.
Unless you think it may react injuriously upon our missionaries in your
district, and that the local authorities are able and willing to extend
them proper protection, I will, on the Shah’s return, ask that such
explicit instructions be sent from here as shall bring the delinquent
officials to realize that they can not neglect their duties with
impunity.
Concerning the controversy about the house at Khoi, treated of in Mr.
Mechlin’s letter, I beg to refer you to my dispatch No. 21 of to-day and
to again express the hope that your efforts to arrange this matter
directly with the Emir Nizam may prove successful.
Sincerely yours,
