Message of the President.

To the Senate of the United States:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 21st instant, relative to the refusal of the Turkish Government to grant exequaturs to the vice-consuls of the United States at Erzeroum and Harpoot, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State.

Grover Cleveland.

Report of the Secretary of State.

The President:

The Secretary of State has had the honor to receive, by reference from the President, a Senate resolution of December 21, 1895, which is in the terms following:

Resolved, That the President be requested, if not incompatible with the public interests, to inform the Senate whether the exequaturs of the American vice-consuls duly appointed to the consulates of Erzeroum and Harpoot have been withheld or refused by the Turkish Government, while exequaturs were granted to the consuls of other nations at the same points.

The facts respecting the new consulates at Erzeroum and Harpoot, temporarily filled by the appointment of Mr. Robert S. Chilton, jr., as vice-consul at Erzeroum and of Mr. William D. Hunter as vice-consul at Harpoot, have been fully set forth in the report of this Department annexed to the special message of the President of the 19th of the present month.2

Since the making of the report, however, attention has been called to an error of slight importance, but which it may be well to take the present opportunity to correct. Instead of Messrs. Chilton and Hunter departing for Tnrkey early last autumn, they were commissioned in June, immediately started on their journey, reached Constantinople in July, and after waiting there for two months for their exequaturs were, on September 11, directed to go to their respective posts without them.

The statement of the same report that consulates of Great Britain and France are already established at Erzeroum and Harpoot was made [Page 1471] on the authority of early advices. It has since been ascertained that no foreign consular representation of any kind exists at Harpoot. That town lies in Koordistan, a district comprising the vilayets of Harpoot, Diarbekr, Sort, Moosh, and Yan. It is embraced in the consular jurisdiction of a British consulate for Koordistan, the residence of the principal officer being at Erzeroum (which, however, lies north of Koordistan proper), with subordinate vice-consuls at the towns of Diarbekr and Yan. At both of these latter places, as also at Mosul, in the eastern part of Koordistan, vice-consulates of other Powers are established, although as regards lack of foreign trade they are in much the same case as Harpoot.

At Erzeroum consulates are maintained by Persia and Russia, and vice-consulates by France and Italy.

Richard Olney.

  1. Printed on page 1256.