Mr. Griscom to Mr.
Hay.
Legation of the United States,
Constantinople, January 27,
1900.
No. 156.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your instruction No. 196 of the 11th instant to Mr. Straus,
in which you recapitulate the claims of American citizens for damages
inflicted upon their persons and property during the Armenian troubles,
as well as the claim for indemnity for the murder of Frank Lenz, and
direct that this legation again energetically urge the payment of all
these claims.
In compliance with your instructions I have this day addressed to the
minister for foreign affairs a note, copy of which is inclosed herewith,
demanding an immediate reply to the note of Mr. Straus of the 16th
ultimo, in which he set forth at length the status of our relations with
the Ottoman Government. Mr. Straus’s note, a copy of which was
transmitted to the Department in his No. 136,1 of the 20th ultimo,
is of a character requiring a prompt response, and forty days having now
elapsed I have made a peremptory demand for a reply, at the same time
renewing the request for payment of all the indemnity claims. I have
endeavored to make the wording of my note slightly stronger than that of
Mr. Straus’s while refraining from committing the United States
Government to anything definite.
Should a reply be called forth I will immediately communicate it to the
Department.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Mr. Griscom to
the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
United States Legation,
Constantinople, January 27, 1900.
Excellency: In conformity with peremptory
instructions from my Government received this day I have the honor
to refer you to Mr. Straus’s note of the 16th ultimo, in which he
sets forth at length the important questions now at issue between
the Government of the United States and the Ottoman Empire. More
than a month has elapsed since the note was addressed to your
excellency, and no response being forthcoming I am obliged to call
the matter to your attention and request that an immediate reply be
given. I would submit to your excellency that the arguments of my
Government, presented with all courtesy and patience by its
accredited envoy, can not be allowed to remain longer
unanswered.
Mr. Straus in the above-mentioned note sets forth the solemn promise
of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan to pay the indemnity claims of
American citizens for losses arising out of the Armenian troubles
and the failure to fulfill it. Authorization has been asked to
rebuild the American college buildings at Harpoot, destroyed with
the cooperation of imperial soldiers during the same troublous
period.
On the day of Mr. Straus’s departure, December 20, His Imperial
Majesty sent a chamberlain to Mr. Straus to inform him that an irade
authorizing the rebuilding of the college at Harpoot would be issued
that day. Thirty-five days have passed, and the irade has not been
issued, and upon recent inquiry the first secretary of the Sultan
informed the dragoman of this legation that the matter is
indefinitely postponed until after Ramazan. I need not point out to
your excellency that this deliberate breach of promise has seriously
aggravated the situation and threatens to disturb the cordial
relations which have hitherto existed between the two
Governments.
I desire hereby urgently to present to the Ottoman Government and to
demand the immediate payment of all claims of American citizens for
damages inflicted during the Armenian troubles upon their persons or
property, as well as the claim for indemnity
[Page 908]
for the murder of Frank Lenz and the gross
miscarriage of justice in the failure to punish the guilty
parties.
The patience shown by my Government in waiting so long without
receiving a definite reply or any satisfaction being given to its
demands has been stretched to its utmost, and I feel confident that
to your excellency’s high sense of justice and wise statesmanship it
will be evident that to avoid the serious situation which seems
imminent action must at once be taken by the Ottoman Government in
conformity with the demands of the United States and His Majesty’s
solemn promise to accede thereto.
I shall await your excellency’s prompt reply in order to telegraph my
Government the decision of His Imperial Majesty.
Accept, etc.,
