I said to his excellency that I regretted personally the necessity of being
obliged to hand him such a document, but that the exigencies of the case
necessitated such action on my part. I also said I should be pleased to know
when I could obtain a reply to the note in order that I could transmit such
reply to Washington. He asked me if this note was an ultimatum. I replied
distinctly that my note was not to be under stood in the sense of an
ultimatum of any kind, but that I hoped the matter could be settled amicably
“out of court” before being obliged to report formally to Washington that
its instructions had been carried out and the note and demand presented and
that I would be glad to allow a reasonable time for the deliberations of
himself and colleagues, and intimated that ten days was quite sufficient and
if at the termination of that period the Sublime Porte did not see fit to
comply exactly with the demands by taking the initiative and on its part
offering in a formal note, to be accompanied by a draft of £1,200, then I
should be obliged to report to the United States that a reasonable time had
elapsed and no such initiative course been taken by the Porte; that “the
[Page 585]
demands were presented ten days
ago and no reply thereto has been received to date;” but if full compliance
was offered I would withdraw the note and demand presented as soon as such
compliance was carried out, thus opening an honorable way for the Porte to
right a wrong. I trust my action in this matter will meet your full
approval.
[Inclosure in No. 521.]
Mr. Newberry to
Said Pasha.
Legation of the United States,
Constantinople, August 23,
1892.
No. 115.]Excellency: An event has taken place within the
past few days, and within the dominions of His Imperial Majesty the
Sultan, concerning the property and person of a citizen of the United
States that I, as the representative of that Government, could not, by
reason of its serious aspect, call your excellency’s attention to
without first transmitting the known facts in the case to the Government
at Washington for its information and deliberation.
I refer, firstly, to the destruction by Turkish subjects of a nearly
finished house owned by the Rev. Mr. Bartlett, a citizen of the United
States, and erected by him in the mutessarifflik of Bourdour, province
of Konia, Asia Minor, said destruction of house being from incendiarism
and occurring on the night of August 17, 1892. Secondly, to the
threatened danger to the lives of Mr. Bartlett and the members of his
household through the actions of Turkish subjects, so serious a danger
that he has been obliged, within the two days subsequent to the burning
of his house, to telegraph asking the protection of this legation.
On this second point I beg to refer your excellency to my telegram to you
of the 19th instant and to my note of the same date confirming the said
telegram, informing you that I should hold the Turkish Government
directly responsible for the safety of the lives of Mr. Bartlett and the
members of his household.
I shall not ask your excellency to go into a detailed history of Mr.
Bartlett’s attempts to establish himself in this mutessarifflik. A
number of notes have passed between the ministry of foreign affairs and
this legation concerning this question which are matters of record, but
I do desire to here recall to your excellency certain facts in this case
which can not fail to be of special interest as leading up to this late
catastrophe.
In December, 1890, the Rev. L. Bartlett, a citizen of the United States,
profiting by the protocol which permits the purchase of real estate in
Turkey by citizens of the United States, bought a piece of land in the
mutessarifflik of Bourdour, province of Konia, for the uses of the
American Board of Foreign Missions, he being a missionary of that
society. The title deeds of this property were made out in clue form in
Mr. Bartlett’s name and were registered and recorded in the land office
at Bourdour, where a copy of the deeds is on file, the originals being
in Mr. Bartlett’s possession. In August, 1891, the Rev. T. N.
MacNaughton, also a missionary of the American board, acting in
Bartlett’s place as his associate, obtained, after the usual formalities
and on payment of the customary fees, an official permit from the
municipal authorities at Bourdour to erect a dwelling house upon this
land. The house was at once erected, being a frame building two stories
high, and washhouse adjoining. In the early part of October the governor
of Bourdour, in person, ordered the workmen to stop their work, even
refusing to permit the tiles to be laid on the roof, although the
raining season had set in. He gave as a reason for this action that he
had been informed that a school was to be carried on in the house.
Subsequently, upon representation that the permit to build had been
regularly obtained, the governor assented to the completion of the work.
Meantime, during the month of November, certain persons hostile to the
presence of an American missionary in Bourdour induced the land office
officials to report to the general land office in Constantinople that
Mr. Bartlett was building upon “wild” land, which is unlawful to be
built, without special orders from the Sultan. On the 30th of November,
1891, a new governor having been appointed to Bourdour, he stopped the
work upon the house, upon an order from Constantinople, based on the
false statement of the Bourdour land office.
[Page 586]
Mr. Bartlett employed an attorney in Constantinople to present evidence
in the case to the land office.
After a long and careful examination of the question, the general land
office in Constantinople communicated to the authorities at Bourdour its
decision that the completion of the building must not be hindered, the
land being considered as properly authorized, building land, since four
hundred neighboring houses stood on land of the same class, and must be
deemed properly authorized. Nevertheless the governor of Bourdour
persisted in refusing to allow the house to be completed, alleging that
the orders received were not sufficient. At the same time the governor
made a determined effort to get possession of the title deeds “for
examination.” Mr. Bartlett refused to let them go out of his hands,
referring the governor to the official copy at the Bourdour land office.
The house being nearly finished, excepting the plastering and placing of
doors and windows, this interference with its completion seemed so
needless and unjust that the matter was brought to the knowledge of this
legation in April, 1892, and through its representations an order was
obtained from the Sublime Porte for the cessation of hindrance to Mr.
Bartlett’s work. The governor of Bourdour denied having received any
such order. Finally, near the middle of May, he admitted having received
the order for the completion of the house, but declined to obey it,
alleging that it was insufficient. Further representations having been
made by me to his highness, the grand vizier, about the 20th of June,
his highness assured me that the necessary orders would be sent to
Bourdour through the governor-general of Konia. Upon this assurance, Mr.
Bartlett was advised by this legation to go in person to Bourdour to
superintend the completion of his house, and to occupy it as soon as he
could leave his business in Smyrna. Mr. Bartlett arrived at Bourdour on
July 14. A new governor had recently been installed, and upon him he
called at once to inform him that as all difficulties had been removed
he would at once commence work unless objections were made. The governor
simply replied “Very well” (Pek ala), and on July 18 work, was
recommenced on the house.
On July 21 the governor stopped the work on account, as this legation is
credibly informed, of the urgent request of several Armenian notables of
Bourdour, who are intolerant of Protestantism.
The governor informed Mr. Bartlett that he had, indeed, received orders
from Constantinople not to interfere with the building, since the charge
that it stood upon wild land had been shown to be false, but that it was
evident that the order contemplated his demanding a bond that the place
should never be used for divine worship or for the instruction of
children.
Mr. Bartlett remonstrated with the governor for thus raising again the
question of a condition, illegal under the treaties, and which had been
abandoned as untenable by the former governor. But the governor was
immovable, and on July 28 gave Mr. Bartlett formal notice that he could
not finish his house unless he would make such a bond and obtain to it
the approval of the governor-general of Konia and the legalization of a
United States consul.
I then made further representations in this case to his highness the
grand vizier, who solemnly assured me that orders would be sent to
Bourdour that could not be misinterpreted. During the delay intervening,
Mr. Bartlett, seeing that his premises were easy of access from the
street and open to trespass, found that under the right of a municipal
law he could repair a wall and place a gate therein, said wall
surrounding his house being some 20 feet distant from it. He engaged
seven workmen to do this repairing, and they had barely finished putting
up the scaffolding, preparatory to working on the wall, when the police
appeared, arrested the workmen, and threw them into prison. Eight days
later, on the night of the 17th of August, peremptory orders for the
completion of the house having in the meanwhile been issued by the grand
vizier, the house was burned to the ground.
Such, your excellency, is a short history of this case, and a review of
it shows conclusively the existence of a conspiracy of those opposed to
the residence of the American in his house, aided and abetted by
officials of the Turkish Government to deprive Mr. Bartlett of his
rights under the protocol.
The unusual and illegal course of setting aside by force an official
permit to build; the puerile demand for pledges by which the use of the
house should be limited; the trumping up of the false claim that a
building lot in the midst of the town was “wild” land (so soon as it was
found that the first plan would not serve); and the revival of the
demand for pledges as to the use of the building as soon as the false
claim had been set aside by higher authority; the forcible stoppage of
the work on the inclosing wall, besides placing on the governor of
Bourdour direct responsibility for damage to the property thus left
unprotected, openly encouraging lawless men in the town to believe that
in the opinion and practice of the Turkish Government Mr. Bartlett had
no rights in that town; and in the interval of one year past, and on
numerous occasions, this legation has been assured by the Sublime Porte
that
[Page 587]
orders had been sent to
the proper officials that Mr. Bartlett was not to he molested. These
orders not having been obeyed in the sense of the assurances given this
legation that they would be, and the coincidence of the burning of the
house with the issue of peremptory orders for its completion, give good
ground for a belief that the orders of the Sublime Porte were
communicated to those hostile to, while at the same time withheld from,
the person for whose relief they were intended, all show a clear
intention at all hazards to prevent the enjoyment by Mr. Bartlett of his
property.
The facts connected with this outrage, and which are beyond any
controversy, and the above review of the case have been deemed worthy of
prompt and effective action on the part of my Government, and I am under
the necessity of now carrying out the explicit instructions sent me by
my Government in presenting to the Sublime Porte for its immediate and
most serious attention the following urgent demands:
- First. That immediate effective protection be given the lives
and property of Mr. Bartlett and the members of his household,
and that this legation be guaranteed in a written document that
such future protection will be granted him that will allow him
to immediately rebuild his house and to reside in it
unconditionally.
- Second. That the sum of 1,200 Turkish pounds be paid to the
Government of the United States by the Turkish Government for
Mr. Bartlett as a pecuniary reparation to him for expenses and
damages incurred by him and for the purpose of replacing his
property; and in addition to this sum of 1,200 Turkish pounds I
reserve to the Government of the United States the right to
demand of the Turkish Government the amount of the expenses
incurred by the former Government in the enforcement of these
demands and collection of this claim of 1,200 Turkish
pounds.
- Third. That the Turkish Government shall search out, arrest,
and punish in the most exemplary manner the perpetrators of the
outrage.
- Fourth. That the present governor of Bourdour be publicly
reprimanded by the power that appointed him, and that an
official copy of the orders reprimanding him shall be furnished
the United States legation at Constantinople.
Failing in these demands, I am instructed to report to the Government at
Washington such failure of compliance of the Sublime Porte.
I beg your excellency to be good enough to send me an official
acknowledgment of the receipt of this note, and I also beg that I may be
permitted to take this opportunity to express, etc.,
H. R. Newberry,
Chargé d’Affaires ad
interim.
