The detailed arbitrary acts of certain Turkish officials in seizing mission
property and in closing schools are, as you will observe, specific instances
to the general nature of which I adverted in my instruction No. 3* as being a fruitful source of complaint
and regret on the part of American missionaries and teachers in Turkey.
I have no doubt that the general tenor of my recent instructions and the
knowledge you will have acquired of the action of your predecessors in
analogous cases will enable you to clearly present to the consideration of
the Turkish Government the acts of injustice complained of by the Board of
Foreign Missions, and to secure prompt and effective redress.
The course pursued by the governor of Latakia in confiscating the mission
property at Jendairia without notice or form of trial appears to be a
peculiarly aggravated instance of the arbitrary and inexcusable exercise of
authority by a local official, and should receive your prompt and earnest
attention. After familiarizing yourself with the features of the case you
are instructed to present to the Sublime Porte an urgent request that the
property may be at once restored to the owners in trust for the Board of
Foreign Missions. Whether the circumstances warrant a demand for
indemnification or justify any proceedings against the governor of Latakia I
must leave to your good judgment.
The case of the El dainey mission property appears to be similar in
character, and the course to be pursued by you in this connection will
probably be the same.
The numerous schools which have been illegally closed, contrary to the
clearly-defined rights of Americans to establish and maintain them, should
be reopened without delay by special order or decree of the central
Government. I entertain no doubt that courteous but decided representations
on your part will result in the issuance of the necessary firman by the
Porte.
I commend these cases to your prompt and careful consideration and action,
and trust that you will soon be enabled to report to the Department that
they have been satisfactorily settled.
[Inclosure in No. 11.]
Mr. Somerville et
al. to Mr. Foster.
126 West Forty-fifth Street,
New
York, November 30,
1892. (Received December 3.)
Sir: We are instructed by our Board of Foreign
Missions to lay before the Department of State again a statement of the
unjust and illegal opposition of the local authorities in Latakia,
Syria, to the American mission there. We are aware that our former
statement was duly forwarded in April of this year to Minister Hirsch,
with an approval of his energetic efforts to remedy this condition, and
with further instructions. But so far nothing has been accomplished.
Schools that have been legally in operation for years are arbitrarily
closed, teachers are arrested and thrown into prison at the caprice of
the governor, and property belonging, not to natives, but to loyal
American citizens, is confiscated, although paid for and held by
properly executed deeds.
It is peculiarly gratifying to read of the immediate action taken in the
case of Dr. Bartlett, of Konich, Asia Minor, and to learn that the
demand for indemnity for the loss of his house and the punishment of the
guilty parties will be enforced. But certainly to have our mission
property taken away and restored to its former owners without even the
form of law is as great an outrage as would be its destruction by
fire.
Our reason for presenting this renewed application for protection and
redress is not simply the fact of fresh outrages, but because a recent
letter from Constantinople informs us that the American legation can not
act further in the matter without special instructions from
Washington.
The facts then are as follows:
jendairia property.
First. A primary school for boys was opened in said village in the year
1865, and was kept open every year until closed by the general order of
the Turkish Government in the year 1887.
In the fall of 1883, as no suitable place could be found in the village
for the ever-increasing work, the mission decided to purchase a lot and
erect suitable buildings. At that time we had not as yet been required
to get a firman before building or opening a school, so the missionaries
then stationed in Latakia, Dr. A. J. Dodds, Rev. W. J. Sproull, and Rev.
Henry Easson, bought the ruins of a house and the ground belonging to it
from three brothers, and secured the deed of sale in their names,
witnessed by the chief of the village and others, according to the
custom of the place and time, the three brothers being present. The
paper was drawn in the names of the missionaries, because the Turkish
Government will not give a deed of property to a board located in a
foreign land.
The local government knew that the house was built by and owned by the
American mission at Latakia, and the Government officials have used the
house while staying in the village, as it was the only comfortable and
clean place to be found there.
Second. In 1887, by the general order above mentioned, the school there,
as well as other schools, were closed, and our mission, at the request
of the American legation, presented the diplomas of teachers and
programme of studies taught in our schools to the local board of
education, and these were forwarded by said board to the valiyet of
Damascus, and afterwards returned to Beirut when the new valiyet was
formed, and there they lie even till this day.
About the same time samples of all the books used in the mission school
were sent to the valiyet, and no book is used in those schools that does
not bear the sanction of the Turkish Government.
Minister Straus, after a two years’ conflict, secured an agreement
permitting the reopening of all schools where the missionaries had
complied with Article 129 of the Turkish school law, and, as our mission
had done so, it was instructed by Consul Bissinger, of Beirut, to reopen
the schools, and did so.
The present governor of Latakia district, a year or so after, forbade the
teachers to work for the American mission, and as he denies the
existence of a school where the mission does not own the building, he
thought he would be safer if he confiscated the property in the
mountain. So he decided to begin at Jendairia, and in October, 1891,
without form of trial or even a notice to the mission, he took the
mission property from the agent and gave it to the former owners, who,
of course, were very glad to receive it.
Our mission appealed to the vali at Beirut and the American consul there,
but could get no redress, so the case was carried to the legation at
Constantinople, and Minister Hirsch, we understand, wrote an official
note to the Sublime Porte, demanding
[Page 591]
the restoration of the property to the mission.
Time passed and it was not-restored. On returning to the United States,
Rev. Henry Easson called at the legation. The minister was absent in
America, but the chargé d’affaires asked him to restate the case and he
would call the attention of the Porte to it. He promised, as Mr. Easson
tells ns, to do all he could, not only to secure the restoration of the
property, but also to secure their rights to our missionaries, as they
had complied with the law in all respects.
el-dainey property.
In November, 1891, the same governor, Zea Bey, gave orders for the
seizure of the mission’s property in the village of El-dainey in the
kaimakamate of Mahailbey, but through the vali of Beirut the mission
secured a stay of that order. But it appears from a letter recently
received from Dr. J. M. Balph, our medical missionary in Latakia, that
the governor is growing bolder. Writing on October 17, 1892, he says:
“An order has been given to bring down teacher Isa Hamani, one of our
licentiates, his son, and their families, and to give the house and
property to the ‘Felahins,’ the former owners.” Dr. Balph at once
telegraphed the consul and received a reply to the effect that the vali
had ordered the mutasseriff of Latakia not to touch the property if
deeds exist. On the 20th he succeeded in getting the house cleared and
secured the keys, locking it up, although the former owners were quite
determined to take advantage of the governor’s order and repossess
themselves of the property. “The mutasseriff,” writes our missionary,
“although instructed to leave the property alone, has never
countermanded his order, at least not openly, but has allowed the time
to go by without enforcing it. No doubt the felahin will either possess
or destroy it if arrangement can not soon be made to put some one in the
house.”
The deed for this El-dainey property, as we are told, is regular in every
way, and so far as the mission knows, no flaw in the title.
schools illegally closed.
All the schools, closed a second lime and so illegally, after the
agreement between the Sublime Porte and the United States Government,
should be publicly re-opened by a special firman, mentioning the name of
each school, namely:
- (1)
- On the plains near Latakia; the schools in the villages of
Jendairia, Ain Leba, Set Marcho, and Mushairafey.
- (2)
- In the kaimakamate of Sahyoun; the schools in the villages of
Gunaimia, Ishtingo, Muzaira, Dabbyash, and Aldamey; and Bahamra,
in the kaimakamate of Gebley.
- (3)
- In the Valiyet of Aleppo, in the kaimakamate of the Jisser,
the school in the village of Inkzik.
These are all old schools, having been in existence from fifteen to
twenty-eight years, and our mission has complied with the school law in
each case. All of these schools were reopened by the order of the
American legation, and it seems to us that the honor of our Government
is pledged to see that our mission is allowed to carry on the school
work without obstruction, in accordance with the agreement of the
American legation at Constantinople and the Sublime Porte.
We are ready to give the Department of State any further information
called for, and, if necessary, we will go to Washington for that
purpose.
I have, etc.
- R. M. Sommerville,
Corresponding Secretary,
- Walter S. Miller,
Treasurer,
Committee.
