Mr. Gresham to Mr. Terrell.
Washington, November 23, 1893.
Sir: I have received your No. 93, of the 27th ultimo, with copies of two letters addressed to you by the Rev. E. W. McDowell, in charge [Page 705] of the missionary school at Mosul. Incidentally you remark the difficulty in securing the punishment of a Turk for an injury inflicted upon a Christian, and call attention to the apparent lack of evidence to convict the assailants of Miss Melton.
The Department agrees with you in much that you have said on this subject. With regard to your observation that “the parties complaining do not know who the guilty parties are,” the circumstances attending the assault upon Miss Melton should be taken into consideration. Indeed, little is known with absolute certainty beyond the fact that she was attacked, and the evidence in that regard is, as you imply, almost wholly circumstantial. But this does not absolve the Turks from adopting all possible means to ferret out the assailants. Their duty in this respect is as clear as their obligation to punish them when found. This Government has a just right to expect that the Ottoman Government will omit no opportunity to ascertain the guilty person in this affair and, after fixing the responsibility in their case, inflict adequate punishment.
I am, etc.,