Mr. Olney to Mr.
Terrell.
Department of State,
Washington, November 25,
1895.
No. 677.]
Sir: I inclose herewith for your information
and flies a copy of a letter from the foreign secretary of the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, dated Boston, the 19th
instant, and of my reply of the 21st concerning the massacre and
destruction of mission property at Harpoot.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
677.]
Mr. Smith to Mr.
Olney.
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions,
Boston
Mass., November 19,
1895.
Sir: A second and much more full dispatch
has just come to my hands from Mr.—— concerning the massacre and
destruction of mission property at Harpoot, which was first reported
last Saturday. This dispatch places the actual property loss at
above $100,000. The actual damage in the exiling of our missionaries
from their homes and the suspension of our work is very much
greater. Mr. —— message states distinctly that the raiders were
protected by the Turkish soldiers, who fired at the mission
premises; that special malice was shown toward the missionaries;
that a bomb was exploded in the house of Dr. Barnum, one of the
oldest and most revered of the mission force. Since a Turkish
garrison is located but a short distance from Harpoot, from whence
troops might easily have been drawn for the absolute protection of
the missionaries and their property, and yet no help came from that
quarter; since also Turkish soldiers protected the raiders and
[Page 1350]
shared in the
devastation, the responsibility for the loss seems without a doubt
to be fastened upon the Turkish authorities. Nothing short of an
immediate demand for exemplary damages and for permit to rebuild at
once can meet the necessities of the situation. The Porte has again
and again given most solemn promises to Mr. Terrell that neither
American missionaries nor their property should suffer any harm; and
yet at this mission center, where so many missionaries reside and
where there is so valuable a mission property, and a Turkish
garrison is near at hand, the pledge of the Sultan has seemed to
prove lighter than a breath, and the property is gone, the work is
suspended, and the missionaries are scattered. I am sure that our
Government will not hesitate a moment in making demand for instant
and ample reparation and the permission to replace the property that
has been so causelessly destroyed. Something more is involved than
that missionary interest for which I may be supposed to speak—even
the honor of the nation, a solemn pledge to whose representative has
been ruthlessly broken.
Assured of the unalterable purpose of our Government to protect its
citizens and maintain its own fair name in this as in every like
emergency,
I am, etc.,
Judson Smith,
Foreign Secretary A. B. C. F. M.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
677.]
Mr. Olney to Mr.
Smith.
Department of State,
Washington, November 21,
1895.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of the 19th instant, conveying the substance of a second
and fuller report from the Rev. Dr. Dwight concerning the massacre
and destruction of mission property at Harpoot.
Mr. Terrell’s telegraphic reports show that he has promptly acted in
the line of standing or special instructions and has given
impressive notification to the Porte that instant and ample
reparation for injuries shown to have been sustained on that
occasion in contravention of the solemn assurances of safety for the
lives and property of American missionaries in that quarter will be
demanded.
I am in receipt of a communication from the Turkish minister at this
capital reiterating the assurance of the Imperial Government that
the safety of missionaries is completely assured, but I have
received from him no communication touching the occurrences at
Harpoot.
This Government is taking every possible measure, through the earnest
demands of its diplomatic representative at Constantinople and
through the presence of national vessels in Turkish waters, to
insure the fulfillment by the Porte of the repeated guarantee it has
made respecting the personal security of American citizens residing
in Asia Minor and in any other quarter of the Empire where
disturbance is or may be apprehended.
A copy of your letter will be sent to Minister Terrell.
I am, etc.,
