Mr. Hirsch to Mr.
Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
Constantinople, March 18, 1891.
(Received April 6.)
No. 246.]
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a letter
from Rev. H. O. Dwight, in which he informs me that a school under the
charge of the American missionaries at Agantz, in the district of Yan, which
has been in existence for some seventeen years, and which, after being
closed by the authorities a few years ago, was, through the efforts of this
legation, reopened about one and one-half years ago, since when it has again
been in successful operation, was last month again closed by the arbitrary
order of the local authorities.
The vizirial letter of Ramazan 16,1306 (May 16, 1889), expressly provides:
“And if there is a reason which demands the closing of schools which have
been opened of old, the matter will be reported to the ministry of public
instruction and the necessary steps will be taken in accordance with the
answer which is received.”
The evident conflict of the arbitrary proceedings of the local authorities in
closing this school without first having reported to the ministry at
Constantinople, with the extract from the vizirial letter just quoted,
having been brought to the notice of his excellency the minister of public
instruction, he immediately ordered by telegraph the reopening of the school
and instructed the reasons for its closing, if any exist, to be forwarded to
him here.
As soon as additional information is received the Department will be duly
informed.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 246.]
Mr. Dwight to Mr.
Hirsch.
Constantinople, March 18,
1891.
Dear Sir: The American missionaries residing at
Van established a primary school about sixteen years ago in the village
of Agantz, in the neighborhood of Van, which was summarily closed, in
1887, I think, by the governor-general, at the request of Armenian
notabilities of the village. Upon the representations of the United
States legation, his highness the grand vizier admitted that this school
came under the terms of the agreement by which American schools were not
to be interfered with which had been in existence for years, and which
conformed to the law as to the inspection of such schools. In accordance
with his decision the school was reopened in 1889 and has continued
until the present year, when the governor-general again caused the
school to be closed, alleging that orders from the department of the
interior compelled him to do so.
The order referred to appears to be one which I have not seen, but which
was alluded to in the newspapers as requiring provincial authorities to
be careful in enforcing the law, which requires an imperial firman for
the erection of church and school buildings. The minister of the
interior could hardly issue orders as to the regulation of schools,
since that matter belongs to the department of public instruction.
Certain officials have the impression that all orders referring to
schools are intended to check the increase of Christian schools, and are
therefore liable to misunderstand [Page 750] the scope of such orders. I judge that this
misunderstanding is the cause of the difficulty in the present case. At
all events, there is no question of erection of school buildings, nor
any other matter requiring the interference of the minister of the
interior with one of our schools carried on in strict conformity with
the understanding by which, in return for the assent of the missionaries
to the Government inspection, the question of the right of our old
schools to exist was not to be raised.
The governor of Van has told the resident missionaries, on being reminded
of this agreement, that there is not and never has been a school at
Agantz, there being merely a number of children under instruction in a
private house. If there is no school, there is of course no reason for
interference. But his excellency does not appear to see the
inconsistency of claiming that the school exists for the purpose of
closing it, but does not exist when the question of its continuance is
alluded to. If the definition of “school” is to be fixed as including
only those which exist in buildings especially constructed for the
purpose by imperial firman, the new definition affects the greater part
of the American schools, since as you are aware the most of them were
established long before anyone dreamed of requiring schools to apply for
firmans except for the purpose of securing buildings, and since,
moreover, the finances of our mission could never have met the need to
erect special buildings for our schools. The baselessness of any such
claim as that a school can not exist except when a community has money
enough to obtain a firman and build special schoolhouses appears when we
reflect that such an edict would close nine-tenths of the Christian
schools in the country and would destroy education among the
poverty-stricken village population.
In the particular case in hand the mission school at Agantz has been
arbitrarily closed in violation of the agreement and in entire disregard
of the fact that our mission was the first among the foreign bodies
engaged in educational work in this country to admit heartily Government
control over the text-books and course of study in use. I hope that
there may be no difficulty in securing redress for this wrong, and if
the minister of the interior could be informed of the understanding that
complaints against our schools are to be arranged here, where we can
answer for their submission to the laws, and not in remote interior
districts, I think that some, at least, of the cases with which we now
have to give you so much trouble would not occur. It has often happened
that interference with our schools originates in orders from the
department of the interior, which, having no information as to our
history, regards us with undue suspicion.
Very respectfully, yours,
