Mr. Sperry to Mr. Foster.

[Extract.]
No. 18.]

Sir: I have the honor to report that Hajie Seyyah is now practically in asylum at this legation. Hajie Seyyah is prima facie a naturalized citizen of the United States. His papers are at this legation. These papers are certified copies of the record. They consist of the declaration [Page 488] of intention and the decree of the court. The declaration is copied from volume 17, No. 364, of the fourth judicial district of the State of California in and for the city and county of San Francisco, and is dated, both as to the application and the certified copy, on the 11th day of June, 1875.

The present troubles of Hajie Seyyah, I think, are due to the fact that he did not disclose that he possesses these American naturalization papers until about the time of my arrival at this post. He belongs to a family of Moollahs, or Mohammedan priests, and himself wears the white turban of that order. By reason of his extensive travels in the United States and elsewhere (I think that there is no doubt that he had the required residence in the United States for naturalization) he has acquired notions of civil liberty, of which I have no doubt that he has spoken to his neighbors and friends. As he is well known in India, in Afghanistan, and in Persia, I fancy that he must have pointed out the differences between oriental governments and those of the western world pretty often. About four years ago one Malcolm Khan, who had been the Persian minister to London, and who had got into some troubles there, began to talk and write in favor of a republic in Persia. He issued a sort of paper or bulletin at intervals from Paris on this subject. This periodical he used to send regularly to Hajie Seyyah, but not at the latter’s request. Doubtless Malcolm Khan regarded Hajie Seyyah as in intellectual sympathy with his own views. Of these periodical papers thus sent to Hajie Seyyah the latter received only one; the others were retained and suppressed by the Persian post-office. But that they were sent to Hajie Seyyah made him an object of suspicion to the Persian Government, and about two years ago he was arrested and kept in prison, in various places and under most uncomfortable and often painful circumstances, for nearly twenty months. Nine other persons were arrested and imprisoned at the same time, charged with being the disciples or adherents of Hajie Seyyah. Of these ten, two are still in prison here in Teheran, while the others were released at various intervals. Hajie Seyyah was released about three months ago.

When Hajie Seyyah was released from prison he found his temporal affairs in bad shape. One of his villages in the province of Ispahan had been robbed and some fields had been taken from him by a neighbor. Certain moneys were also owed to him, purely as the result of private business arrangements, and his debtors would not pay him. As his wife is a relative of the Shah, and as the eldest son of the Shah (not the heir apparent) has always been friendly toward him, he finally secured some compensation for the trespass upon his village and had his fields restored to him) but in the matter of the debts he could make no headway.

It was then that he came to this legation and asked me to write to the prime minister that he was a citizen of the United States, and would he (the prime minister) see that he received justice in the matter of the settlement of his debts. This I did. The letter thus written by me appears to have been the first information conveyed to the Persian Government that Hajie Seyyah was no longer a Persian subject. This announcement was made eighteen years after the date of Hajie Seyyh’s naturalization papers. The Persian prime minister made the objection at once, but verbally, that Hajie Seyyah was not a citizen of the United States. He stated that the Persian Government had never been informed by the United States Government of Hajie Seyyah’s proposed change of nationality, and that therefore the purported change [Page 489] was void. I replied that the United States Government was only bound to do what it had agreed to do, at the request of Persia or some other government, and asked if Persia or any other government had ever asked the United States Government to give prior notice in the case of granting naturalization to persons of foreign birth. The answer to this was that the old treaty of Turkoman Chai, between Russia and Persia, ratified near the beginning of this century, established this obligation of prior notice, and that the United States (by some unstated process of reasoning) had only the rights accorded by that treaty. I then procured a copy of this treaty in French. I discovered that it was a treaty of peace between Persia and Russia after a war, that it related to a partition of territory, and to the rights of the people of this territory under the new arrangement, and that there was not a word in it, so far as I was able to ascertain, relating to prior notice by either government in the case of the subjects of either government desiring to change their allegiance. I then wrote to the prime minister, asking him for an assurance that Hajie Seyyah’s matters would remain in statu quo until I could submit his view to the Department of State, and also begging him to specify the article and clause in the treaty of Turkoman Chai upon which he relied to sustain his contention. To this letter I have, as yet, received no reply.

On Tuesday morning last Hajie Seyyah came to this legation and said that the Naib-es-sultanneh (the Shah’s third son and the governor of Teheran) had sent him a note asking him to come and see him, so as to arrange his business. As part of the imprisonment of Hajie Seyyah was passed in the cellar of one of the Naib-es-sultaimeh’s houses, the former referred the matter of his complying with this invitation to me. After due consideration I told him to go, but before the visit could be made, word came that a dozen soldiers had been to the house of Hajie Seyyah to fetch him. Upon learning this I changed my mind and informed Hajie Seyyah that he could remain at this legation for the time being. This he was very glad to hear, as he evidently felt in danger from the abrupt methods which are sometimes employed in Persia. I should have telegraphed at once to the Department had I been provided with a code. As it was, not having one, and as all open messages sent to the telegraph office are subjected to the inspection of a Persian officer, I decided not to use the telegraph. An additional reason in favor of this course was that Hajie Seyyah’s presence here was not known, and, while desiring to preserve him from any possible injury, I at the same time desired to avoid all unnecessary publicity in the matter.

My general plan at present is as follows: Mr. John Tyler, the interpreter of this legation and a thoroughly responsible and scholarly man, who knows Persia and the Persians well, is just recovering from a severe attack of fever. When he is able to go about, which I hope will be very soon, I shall send him to the Naib-es-sultanneh to have a full and friendly discussion of the whole situation. Time and a frank discussion, I trust, will adjust the matter. An unsettled question existing as to the civil status of Hajie Seyyah, and the papers which he has placed in my care creating a prima facie claim on his part to the protection of the United States flag, I have felt it to be my duty to extend to him such protection as would, without unnecessary irritation, preserve him from ill-treatment until this question can be fairly considered and an amicable conclusion reached. So far as I know there is no claim whatever that he has violated any local law or regulation or custom. I trust that my course may be approved by the Department, and that [Page 490] if any uncertainty is felt by the Department in regard to the quality of Hajie Seyyah’s papers, such inquiries may be made by it in San Francisco as will settle the matter, and that I may be promptly informed of his civil status a>s thus disclosed. Until further instructions I shall assume that, so long as he obeys the local law he is entitled to the protection of this legation from all summary and arbitrary proceedings.

I have, etc.,

Watson R. Sperry.