Mr. Terrell to Mr. Olney.
Constantinople , July 16, 1896 . (Received July 31.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you of the conditions which now surround American educators in Turkey, and of the tendencies which threaten them.
[Page 858]The pledge of the Ottoman Government that our people should not be disturbed during my absence, has been scrupulously kept, except in the case of George Knapp, whose statement shows that his domicile was not violated; that he left under guard with a passport, and chiefly through fear of the Kurds if he remained, though under duress.
A guard of regular Turkish troops still protects every American fatuity in the interior, this being still deemed a necessity.
Serious complaint was made last March, on the eve of my departure for America, of missionaries at Aintab, whose intercepted correspondence, it was claimed, showed their guilty connection with sedition. The promise that no steps should be taken against them during my absence has been kept. Dispatches from Consular Agent Poche reached this legation in March, soon after I left it, relating to that charge, about which a full report will be made when further information is obtained.
Mr. George Knapp goes around this city unmolested, and I will await some communication from the Porte regarding him before further action. The lapse of time will not injure his case. His name was not mentioned during my visit to the grand vizier and the minister of foreign affairs.
The Turkish Government has granted a traveling permit to the Rev. Mr. Baird to go to Bitlis to supply the place of Mr. Knapp. This was in compliance with my demand that a missionary should take the place of any teacher who from any cause should leave his place.
Few missionary teachers are in this city. Nearly all are enjoying their usual summer outing in Switzerland, Germany, or Austria. Mr. Bowen, chief of the Bible House, is lecturing through England, to show that the establishment of the Christian religion in Turkey is necessary to its tranquillity.
Miss Clara Barton, the grand missionary, is engaged in her work undisturbed. I have placed the legation launch at her disposal. But I regard the future even with more apprehension than I did in October last.
I have, etc.,