Mr. Leishman to Mr. Hay.
Constantinople, February 3, 1903.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your cable of yesterday instructing me to demand a personal audience with the Sultan in order to present the President’s message to His Imperial Majesty in accordance with your cable.
As I had taken the matters referred to up promptly with the Sublime Porte upon my return, and had the promise of the minister for foreign affairs that he would use his best endeavors to have the several matters acted upon favorably and give me an answer not later than end of present week, I ventured to intimate to the Department by cable that under the circumstances it might be desirable to postpone any further action until I found whether the promised decisions were forthcoming.
Little complaint could be made of delay as far as the school question is concerned, as the petition was only filed a few days prior to my departure for America in September, which is not an unreasonable length of time for questions of this character to be decided by the Turks, especially as all the other powers have waited a longer period before securing action; nor have I any particular reason to expect any great amount of trouble in finally securing favorable action.
[Page 737]The discrimination in the matter of the American medical college at Beirut, however, has been a most exasperating and flagrant case of discrimination, and has been continuously brought to the attention of the Porte by the legation for the past five or six years.
Last summer I finally succeeded in having it favorably acted upon, and it was then sent to the palace, where it now rests, no doubt under the mountain of unfinished business.
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I am at the same time pressing Doctor Bank’s petition for permission to make excavations, and several other smaller matters that have been hanging for some time, including the prohibition of American pork, which in reality has only been nominal for several years, for, while there have been no direct importations, American pork is continuously being brought into Turkey through English and German houses.
The Sultan very courteously accorded me an audience when I called to pay my respects upon my return, but the interview was confined to complimentary remarks and a half hour’s conversation on general matters, as without special arrangement any one but an ambassador who ventured to talk business would be sure to meet with a polite rebuff and forever after find it a most difficult task to secure an audience.
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I have, etc.,