File No. 367.114M69/174.
The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Constantinople, October 31, 1912.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that on the 21st instant, having received your cabled instructions of October 18, in regard to the trial of Spiro Macris, captain of the Archipelago American S. S. Texas, sunk in Smyrna harbor on April 29th last, I had an interview with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. * * * I called his excellency’s attention to the fact that the man had now been incarcerated at Smyrna for more than six months, that no effective steps had been taken to push on his trial, and that as a result of his incarceration after removal from the hospital, his state of health was very much impaired. I added that at the present time the default of witnesses both for and against the accused seemed to render impossible an equitable disposal of his case. Furthermore, the long term of preventive prison which Macris had already served seemed a sufficient .punishment under the circumstances; and I suggested on purely humanitarian grounds that it might be found possible to release him.
During the course of the conversation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, I suggested that it might be found possible for the Ottoman Government to enter a nolle prosequi or ordonnance de non lieu. It is obvious that a request from me that either the trial be pushed to a judgment or be nol-prossed would constitute an acknowledgement of jurisdiction, and therefore impossible for me to make.
Seeing the impossibility of securing acceptance by the Ottoman Government of our views in the matter of jurisdiction in this case, I have made numerous efforts to have Macris released, which would have left the question of jurisdiction in such cases where it was before the sinking of the Texas, but I regret to say that all my efforts have so far been unavailing. I enclose herewith a docket in which are noted the dates on which representations have been made the Minister for Foreign Affairs and to the Minister of Justice either by myself or by the legal adviser of the Embassy.
Both of these Ministers had promised to have a talk with the other in view of coming to some decision, and the Minister of Justice, who is not tied down .by diplomatic usages, appeared favorably disposed to find a solution on the lines I had suggested. But pressure of work on account of the war had, the Minister of Justice stated, made it impossible for the two to find an opportunity to discuss the subject. Of course now that in the Kiamil Cabinet a new [Page 1336] Minister of Justice comes in, the whole matter will have to be discussed over with him before I can hope to bring it to as favorable a point as it was a short time ago. This remark applies to practically all the pending affairs of this as well as other Embassies.
I have [etc.]