Office of the Historian

Mavroyeni Bey to Mr. Gresham.

[Translation.]
Imperial Legation of Turkey,
Imperial Legation of Turkey, March 16, 1894.

Mr. Secretary of State: Your excellency has had the kindness to write me, in your note of the 19th of February, 1894, respecting the manner of preventing the prospective military drills which certain Armenians propose to make, with an object openly hostile toward the Imperial Government, and “that should the consul-general at New York be informed of the organization of any expedition against the peace of Turkey, it may be well for him to consult with the United States attorney for the district with regard to the proper method of procedure.”

Inclosed herewith your excellency will please find a copy of a letter which has been written to me on this subject by the attorney-general [attorney-general of the State of New York], and I beg of you to be pleased to inform me whether you are in accord with the contents of that letter. A legal question of serious importance is here raised, regarding which it is no doubt necessary that the Government of the United States should make its position known. For my part, I consider the opinion of the attorney-general as being correct.

Accept, etc.,

Mavroyeni.
[Inclosure.]

Attorney-General of New York to Mavroyeni Bey.

Attorney–General’s Office,
Attorney–General’s Office, March 13, 1894.

Dear Sir: In response to your letter of the 9th instant, would say that the State controls and punishes its citizens by legislative enactment.

The United States, as a nation, would probably have the power to prevent preparations having in view acts of hostility toward a friendly power.

Very respectfully, etc.,

J. C. Hancock,
Attorney-General.