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  4. Document 487

Mr. McDonald to Mr. Gresham.

Legation of the United States,
Teheran, Persia , February 8, 1894 . (Received March 22.)
No. 64.]

Sir: In continuation of my dispatch of the 22d of January, transmitting copies of two letters from the Rev. James Hawkes an American missionary residing in Hamadan, asking me to obtain permission from the Persian Government for him to open a school for the education of Jewish and Christian children in the town of Kermanshah, and my communication to the Grand Vizier preferring Mr. Hawkes’s request, I now have the honor to transmit for your information a copy and translation of the prime minister’s reply refusing permission to allow the school to be opened, on the ground that it might be the cause of trouble and dispute.

[Page 488]

As Mr. Hawkes appears to have gone to some trouble and incurred considerable expense, and as the work he proposes to undertake would be of practical benefit and utility to the Jewish and Christian communities in Kermanshah, I propose to have an interview with the prime minister as soon as possible, to speak with him on this and one or two other subjects; but as his highness is unwell I may not be able to obtain it for a few days at the least.

I have, etc.,

Alex. McDonald.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 64.]

The Prime Minister to Mr. McDonald.

Your Excellency: The contents of your letter dated the 12th of the month Rajah, A. H. 1311, with reference to the opening of a school in Kermanshah for the instruction of the children of the Jewish and Christian communities in that city, have been understood.

In considering the objections to this institution in Kermanshah it is evident that it would result in trouble and disputes. I wish to bring these objections plainly to the mind of your excellency, and to state that the Imperial Persian Government begs to be excused from granting the permission for Mr. Hawkes to start a school in Kermanshah.

I take, etc.,

Dated the 22d of the month Rajah, 1311, the 30th of January, 1894.