Mr. Olney to Mr. Terrell.
Washington, December 26, 1895.
Sir: Your No. 710, of December 5, has been received. I had already been informed by the Turkish minister of the receipt by him of a telegram from the minister of foreign affairs informing him that you had addressed to Tevfik Pasha two notes expressive of your satisfaction at the conduct of the Turkish authorities during the recent disorders, and that you particularly commend the efforts put forth by them for the protection of the lives and property of the missionaries and American citizens of Harpoot, Marash, Marsovan, and Aintab.
Your note to Tevfik Pasha, of December 5, of which you send me copy, appears to be one of those referred to in his excellency’s telegram to the Turkish minister. In these times of excited fanaticism and sanguinary encounters, when not a few of the higher officers of the Turkish Government rest under the imputation of abetting by indifference, if not aiding by active connivance, the deplorable excesses now rife, it is gratifying to see that you are in a position to commend the exceptional conduct of these officers; and you may inform his excellency, the minister of foreign affairs, that the Department approves your note to him of the 5th instant, and that the satisfaction it feels is coupled with equal conviction that the conduct of other officers, so unfavorably contrasting with that which you have had occasion to praise, will receive the condign punishment you have demanded.
I am, etc.,