Mr. Uhl to Mavroyeni Bey.

No. 10.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your notes of the 6th and 7th instant, in further reference to the approaching visit of the United States vessels in the Mediterranean to the Turkish ports of the Levant.

As was stated to you by Mr. Gresham on the 5th, and as I had the pleasure to say to you on the 6th instant, the intended visit of our ships is without any unfriendly purpose. Their presence at the ports of the Syrian, Aleppan, and Adanan coasts will, however, afford an opportunity to learn whether there is just ground for the apprehensions of insecurity of life and property which our citizens in that region have expressed, and which have called forth the positive assurances of the Porte that full safety will be guaranteed them, with enjoyment of all their residential and professional rights, in which sense I am informed instructions have been telegraphed by the Porte to the valis of the several Levantine provinces as well as in the interior of Asia Minor.

Accept, etc.,

Edwin F. Uhl,
Acting Secretary.