Mr. Olney to Mr.
Terrell.
Department of State,
Washington, December 4,
1895.
No. 695.]
Sir: I communicate for your information copy of
a letter addressed to me by Rev. Judson Smith, foreign secretary of the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, of Boston, under
date of the 30th ultimo, in relation to the security of missionaries at
Harpoot, Bitlis, and Marash; also a copy of my reply to Dr. Smith.
It is assumed that you are doing, and will continue to do, all in your
power to communicate with our citizens in those remote and exposed
quarters, as well to relieve the anxiety of their relatives and friends
in this country as to enable you to respond promptly to any indication
of a wish on their part to seek a place of greater safety.
Mr. Dwight’s reference to the difficulty of remitting funds to the
missionaries presents a practical problem, with which it may be more
difficult to deal. Recent dispatches indicate that the distribution of
relief funds among the Armenian sufferers is virtually suspended, and
when resumed will be intrusted to the organized boards of Constantinople
and not to individual almoners. As to the personal funds of the
missionaries, you will remonstrate against any interruption of the mails
or interception of correspondence by the Ottoman authorities which may
tend to deprive those persons of the necessaries of life. You have
demanded their protection, and this Government must hold that the
promises of the Porte in that regard embrace security of property as
well as life, and enjoyment of all the individual rights pertaining to
peaceable dwellers in that disturbed region.
I am, etc.,
[Page 1364]
[Inclosure in No. 695.]
Mr. Judson Smith
to Mr. Olney.
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions,
Boston
Mass., November 30,
1895.
Sir: A dispatch came yesterday from Mr.
Dwight of such character that it seems to me important that you
should have its contents. It runs in these terms:
Missionaries at Harpoot, Bitlis, and Marash protected by
soldiers, but streets unsafe for any Christian. Confidence
weak. Difficult to send money for personal need of
missionaries.
This protection is very nearly identical with imprisonment, so that
our missionaries are able to do nothing in behalf of the people
among whom they live, and have great difficulty in securing supplies
for their own wants. Letters received from Bev. B. M. Cole and Bev.
George C. Raynolds, M. D., the former of Bitlis and the latter of
Van, both of whom have for some time been in the Sassoun region
distributing relief, contain plain proofs of the dreadful strain to
which their families have been subjected. Mrs. Cole, writing to her
husband, says:
We come around the table, but not to eat, save the two small
daughters. This nervous strain on us all is heavy. God only
knows the history of these days and never-ending nights. May
He grant that we meet again.
Both these men speak of the great difficulty of receiving any tidings
whatever from their families. All telegraphic communication was
strictly suspended, and letters—the outgoing and incoming
letters—were suppressed. This interruption of communication adds
seriously to the peril in which our missionaries stand, and the
strain which is upon them all in consequence of being thus cut off
from communication one with another and with friends outside, is a
heavy and wearing burden.
The last sentence in Mr. Dwight’s message is particularly ominous. If
it is difficult for our missionaries at Constantinople to send money
for the personal needs of missionaries in the interior, of course
the relief work is still more difficult, and the time can not be far
distant when not only such relief work will be at an end, but when
our missionaries themselves will be in great straits.
I am well aware that these facts are but a part of the generally
distressful condition of things in the interior of Turkey. But they
are real and formidable evils, and if anything lies in the power of
our Government by which communication can be opened and relief be
brought it will be a great blessing to our 150 missionaries in Asia
Minor and an equal relief to the multitude of their anxious friends
in this country. We look every day with eager expectation for news
of the interposition of the great powers and the quelling of this
high tide of murder and pillage.
I have been delighted to note in the last letter received from Mr.
Dwight a very high tribute paid to the activity and efficiency of
Mr. Terrell in these trying weeks. I think it only right that I
should communicate to you the language which Mr. Dwight has used. He
says:
Judge Terrell has labored to his utmost through all of these
trying times to do anything and everything possible to keep
the Turks up to defending the missions. The United States
minister to Turkey deserves large credit for the safety of
all. He has used the most violent forms of expression that
diplomacy permits in order to convince the Porte of his
earnestness, and has not left a thing undone that could be
[Page 1365]
a help to
the safety of the missionary band. He has had his leave of
absence in his hands for five months, but has said often
that he can not bear to leave while his fellow-citizens are
in danger.
This is very honorable testimony, and gratifying to us, as we are
sure it must be to our Government.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
695.]
Mr. Olney to Mr.
Smith.
Department of State,
Washington, December 3,
1895.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of the 30th ultimo, communicating with comments the
information received by you on the preceding day from Mr. H. O.
Dwight, of Constantinople, concerning the safety of the American
missionaries at Harpoot, Bitlis, and Marash.
Mr. Dwight’s information that the missionaries in those towns are
protected by soldiers agrees with the reports received from Mr.
Terrell, whose demands for the personal security of American
citizens in that disturbed quarter of the Ottoman Empire have been
prompt and peremptory.
The Department can understand that in the present crisis, when
internecine violence is rife throughout eastern Asia Minor,
communications may be more or less interrupted and that the
remission of funds for the support of the missionaries and for the
charitable work of distribution which they have undertaken becomes
difficult; and Mr. Terrell’s dispatches indicate that he is using
every exertion to keep up direct correspondence with those remote
districts.
A copy of your letter will be sent to Mr. Terrell for his
information, and I have no doubt that he will be pleased to see the
tribute paid by Mr. Dwight to his activity and efficiency in the
present emergency. I need hardly add that the Department has of late
had frequent occasion to commend Mr. Terrell’s energetic action.
I am, etc.,
