File No. 763.72115/315
The Ambassador in Turkey (Morgenthau) to the Secretary of State
Constantinople, December 10, 1914, 10 p.m.
[Received December 11, 7:20 p.m.]
[Telegram]
141. Minister of War has gone to Erzerum for an indefinite period. Minister of Interior, who is acting Minister of Finance, assumed posts Minister of War and Minister of Marine. Yesterday and today there has been wholesale deportation of French and English from Beirut to Damascus by order of Damascus commandant. Minister of the Interior promised me this afternoon to stop it as it is contrary to his orders. I obtained definite assurances from him [that all British] and French employed in American religious, charitable, and educational institutions, as well as many employed by American firms, shall remain unmolested as a favor to the United States.