At the request of His Excellency Marco Pacha, the chief physician of the
Sultan and the present president of the Imperial Medical College of
Constantinople, I recently called upon him for the purpose of discussing
the question of the American college aforementioned. I have not been
able to induce his excellency to accede to the request of this college
to be recognized as an independent medical institution, and authorized
to deliver diplomas to its graduates. His excellency, nevertheless,
decided to consider it as a branch (succursale) of the imperial college,
founded by the Sultan; to defray all of the expenses of its graduates
from Beirut to Constantinople and during their stay here, where they
will undergo an examination (colloqium) before the faculty of the
imperial college for the purpose of receiving diplomas in the name of
His Majesty, which will place them on a perfect footing of equality with
the graduates of the imperial college, and enable them to claim the
right of entering the military and naval service of the government,
while, at the same time, they will be free to exercise their profession
in private life should they prefer to do so. The imperial college will
also render any service in its power to promote the interests and
welfare of the American college, of which his excellency stated he had a
high estimation. His excellency was’also pleased to offer me the
assurance that the Ottoman government had decided to make these
concessions to the medical college of Beirut in consequence of the
friendly interest which you have expressed in its welfare, and so as to
promote the benevolent objects of its founders.
The department of state for foreign affairs will shortly communicate to
me officially the decision of the Imperial Medical College, so as to
enable me to convey the same to you.
Mr. Brown to Mr.
Bliss.
Legation of the United States,
Constantinople, February 14, 1872.
My Dear Sir: In a previous note, written
some time since, I informed you of the position of the question of
your college, and of my hope that, in consequence of a letter
addressed by the department of foreign affairs to His Excellency
Marco Pacha, president of the Imperial Medical College, he would be
induced to accede to your request to be authorized to grant diplomas
to the graduates of your medical college.
After considerable delay I am now able to inform you of His
Excellency’s decision, learned from himself personally, at an
interview which I had with him to-day. In a few days I shall receive
it officially, from the Porte, and shall then communicate it to you,
and to the Department of State at Washington, in reply to its
dispatches to me, the contents of which are known to you.
[Page 673]
Marco Pacha allowed me to peruse the decision of the medical college
which had been drawn up for transmission to the Grand Vizier. I thus
learned that it still refuses to authorize your faculty to grant
diplomas. The Beirut college will, however, he constituted as a
branch or “succursale” of the Imperial Medical College, and its
graduates placed upon the same footing as those of the latter. It
will promote its interests by every means in its power, and
communicate with it as a branch of itself; and yet without enabling
it to issue diplomas in the name of His Sublime Majesty, the Sultan.
These only will be delivered here, after an examination or
“colloqium,” in the imperial college of the capital. To enable the
graduates to receive these, the Ottoman government will defray all
of the expenses of coming here, during their stay, and return to
Beirut.
The examinations will be made as early as possible, and the diplomas
granted, free from all fee and expense, in place of the payment of
£5, now required of medical foreign graduates, who must, also,
undergo an examination here previous to their being allowed to
practice their profession in this empire. None of your graduates
will be compelled to enter the service of the imperial government,
though they will thus acquire a right to claim it in case they so
desire. They will be left perfectly free to return to Beirut, after
receiving diplomas, to practice the medical profession in private
life.
Marco Pacha thought these would prove to be advantages which would
remunerate your graduates for the trouble and inconvenience of
coming here to receive their diplomas, and desired to impress me
with the assurance that they were meant to be an evidence of
friendly regard for the Government of the United States, and of
consideration toward the founders of the Beirut Medical College.
I need scarcely add that I used various arguments to induce Marco
Pacha to authorize your college to grant diplomas to your graduates,
but without success. He said that it was impossible for the Ottoman
government to recognize a foreign medical college in the empire; and
that he did not believe the Government of the United States, or any
of the governments of Europe, would do it. To do so, he added, would
make a precedent in favor of every school or academy established by
foreigners in Turkey, by which they would claim the same right.
The laws of Turkey, he stated, only authorized the Imperial Medical
College, established by the sovereign, to grant diplomas; and they
even required medical men, coming into the empire with diplomas
procured from foreign universities and colleges, to undergo a
“colloqium” at the imperial college before being allowed to practice
their profession in the country.
Marco Pacha assured me of the strong desire of the Imperial Medical
College to encourage the benevolent intentions of the forwarders of
the Beyrut college by all the means in its power; that he
anticipated great advantages from it to the people of Syria, as well
as to your pupils, and therefore felt a sincere interest in its
welfare. You are probably aware that his excellency is the principal
physician of His Majesty, the Sultan, and that he enjoys his
confidence in a very high degree. I must, nevertheless, greatly
regret that I have been unable to induce his excellency to accede to
your request to grant diplomas to your own graduates. I believe that
the department of foreign affairs would have been gratified had his
excellency felt it possible to do so. The present arrangement must,
I believe, now be considered as a final one, at least for some time
to come, and I presume you will also so consider it.
So soon as I receive it in an official form from the department of
foreign affairs, I shall transmit it to you; and in the mean time
remain, with much respect and regard, your obedient servant,
