File No. 367.116/341
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Rev. James L. Barton)
Sir: The Department acknowledges the receipt of your telegram, dated July 14, stating that advices from different parts of Turkey report inhuman treatment of Americans by Turks, and asking if something cannot be done to alleviate the horrors.
The Department has received no reports of any inhuman treatment of Americans by the Turks, and would be pleased to receive details from you if you have received any information to this effect.
The Department believes, however, that the word “Americans”1 in your telegram should have read “Armenians.” If this is the case, the Department begs to state that it has done, and will continue to do, all that it can do consistently to persuade the Turkish Government to [Page 985] alleviate the condition of this race. It should be added, however, that efforts to aid the Armenians are rendered more difficult by the fact that, according to the reports received by the Department, large bodies of Armenians are in armed rebellion against the Turkish Government, and that the Turkish Government claim that such measures as it has taken are only such as are necessary for its own protection against the members of this race.
I am [etc.]
- According to letter dated July 22, this should read “Armenians” (File No. 367.116/345).↩