Mr. Terrell to Mr. Gresham.
Constantinople, October 21, 1893. (Received November 11.)
Sir: The naturalized citizen, Redighian, referred to in my dispatch No. 72, of September 30, was permitted yesterday, by mutual agreement, to go into the interior, as he desired. He will, of his own volition, return here in thirty days, en route for the United States. He returned here to remain, but finds surroundings uncomfortable.
The man Metzig, referred to in the same dispatch, who was arrested at Salonica and taken to the frontier, has not since been heard from.
In the absence of a response to my telegram which asked for instructions, I have deemed it most prudent not to press further that man’s case.
Even if we should admit the right of the Porte to punish our naturalized citizens by expulsion from the country for the offense of having left it without the Sultan’s consent, still, if we mean to claim them as citizens, our consular courts under treaty stipulations alone have jurisdiction to try and punish.
The arrest and expulsion of Metzig from Salonica, while bearing a passport from you, and against the protest of our consular agent there, done as it was under the direction of the Porte, seemed to me a deliberate and wanton disregard of treaty rights.
I have, etc.,