File No. 763.72/1284
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
London, December 7, 1914.
[Received 7 p.m.]
[Telegram]
1209. With reference to your telegram 549, November 16,1 I quote in full a note I have just received from Sir Edward Grey for communication to Constantinople:
In your note of the 17th ultimo your excellency was so good as to communicate to me the substance of a telegram from the United States Ambassador at Constantinople to the effect that he had been requested by the Ottoman Ministers of War and of the Interior to inform the British and French Governments that unless the Turkish Government received immediate assurances that non-fortified seaports will not be bombarded they would henceforth detain British and French Consuls and subjects and would either expel them or keep them as hostages in some fortress outside the zone of military operations for purposes of reprisals. I have the honour to state that I shall be greatly obliged if your excellency will be so good as to inform the Ottoman Government through the United States Embassy in Constantinople (1) that His Majesty’s Government are the more surprised at the Ottoman Government’s communication since Turkish warships bombarded before a declaration of war the two open ports of Odessa and Novorossiisk; (2) that if a single British subject is molested within the Ottoman Empire His Majesty’s Government will be obliged to hold the present Ottoman Ministers of War and of the Interior personally responsible.2