Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1894, With the Annual Message of the President, Transmitted to Congress, December 3, 1894

Mr. Terrell to Mr. Gresham.

Legation of the United States,
Legation of the United States, January 5, 1894. (Received January 22.)

No. 148.]

Sir: I have the honor to call your attention to the translation of a letter from Ibrahim Hakki, the governor of Palestine, to Mr. Selah Merrill, United States consul at Jerusalem.

The correspondence revives the old contention about Dr. Franklin, who was accused by the Turkish Government of killing a child by malpractice.

When the expulsion of Dr. Franklin was first requested at the Porte I refused to consider it, claiming the right to try him myself, if he was charged with murder, under article iv of the treaty of 1830 and the act of Congress giving me jurisdiction.

No instance has come to my knowledge (and I have made inquiry) in which European powers have permitted their native subjects to be capriciously expelled from Turkey. Cases have occurred in which notoriously bad men have, on application by the Porte, been required by a minister to leave, but they are rare.

Thus far the line has been firmly drawn between the right of Turkey to exclude returning natives, naturalized in the United States, and her claim of right to expel native citizens of the United States domiciliated in Turkey. I will not permit our relations with Turkey to become strained in urging this distinction, except under specific instructions given on a case properly presented. In maintaining this distinction we would have the coöperation or approval of all the Christian powers.

The alarm felt over what seemed to be a concession in the President’s message of the right of Turkey to expel our people already domiciled here was at first general. I think it is no longer felt by those with whom I have come in contact.

I have, etc.,

A. W. Terrell.

January 6, 1894.

N. B.—The consul at Jerusalem has been instructed that he will not cooperate in the expulsion of Franklin unless instructed, and that the Porte yesterday, on my application, suspended the order for his expulsion.

A. W. Terrell.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 148.]

Mr. Short to Mr. Terrell.

Consulate-General of the United States,
Consulate-General of the United States, January 4, 1894.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 20, of this date, inclosing a communication in Arabic from Selah Merrill, consul at Jerusalem, and beg leave to return herewith said communication, with its translation in English, as desired.

I am, etc.,

Luther Short,

[Inclosure 2 in No. 148–Translation.]

Mr. Merrill to Mr. Maulessarifat.

Consulate of the United States at Jerusalem [, undated].

Honorable Sir: In reply to your esteemed letter, dated November 23, 1893, No. 321, informing me that you had received a telegram from his highness the grand vizier concerning the expulsion and banishment from the Turkish dominions of Dr. Franklin, a citizen of the United States, now residing here, because of his having administered poison to a patient, thereby causing his death, and demanding that I would attend to the matter, I have the honor to state that, having received no instructions from my legation at Constantinople, I am unable to act in accordance with your request.

I have, etc.,

Selah Merrill.