Mr. Olney to Mavroyeni Bey.
Washington, October 17, 1896.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of October 8, in which, under instructions from the Sublime Porte, you lay before the Department of State reasons which, in the view of the Imperial Government, render it unable to accept the demands for indemnity presented to it by the United States minister at Constantinople in consequence of injury to the persons and property of American citizens during the disturbances which have taken place in Asiatic Turkey.
As your note makes no reference to the abundantly supported contention on the part of this Government that the injuries in question were largely suffered through the participation or connivance of the authorities and agents of the Imperial Government, and as that fact very materially qualifies the doctrine of irresponsibility advanced and expanded in your note, it behooves me to make the mattter the occasion of further instruction to the United States representative at Constantinople.
Accept, etc.,