File No. 763.72115/396
The Ambassador in Turkey (Morgenthau) to the Secretary of State 1
Constantinople, January 9, 1915, 5 p.m.
[Received January 10, 9 a.m.]
[Telegram]
273. Your 240.2 Contents communicated to Minister of the Interior who says that statement of British Foreign Office in your No. 227 being construed by him as a promise not to bombard unfortified places the Ottoman Government gives assurances that all British subjects throughout the empire will be properly treated and receive full protection. He says belligerent subjects were sent from the seacoast to the interior as a military measure and in order to prevent all possibility of their giving information to the Anglo-French fleet. If conditions for the release of Omar Tousson and others mentioned prove acceptable he states the whole matter can be promptly arranged.