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FOREIGN RELATIONS.

Mr. Terrell to Mr. Gresham.

[Telegram.]

CONSTANTINOPLE, September 8, 1894.

Adam Aivazian has been pardoned and discharged. Seferiades1 is not under arrest, but is absent from Smyrna.

TERRELL.

NON-EXCHANGE OF RATIFICATIONS OF NATURALIZATION TREATY OF

1875.

Mr. Gresham to Mavroyeni Bey.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, March 27, 1894.

SIR: My recent absence from this capital has deferred due acknowledgment of your note of the 22d ultimo, in which you refer to my remark in a recent interview that while at Constantinople in the summer of 1890 you had told the members of the United States legation in Turkey "that the modifications introduced by the United States Senate to our convention on naturalization were not such as to justify their approval by the Turkish Government." You add that, while this much is true, the legation omitted to state that your action was not original with yourself, but in pursuance of opinions conveyed to you by the first secretary of the Sultan.

If I am to regard your note as an authoritative communication of the views of His Imperial Majesty regarding the exchange of ratifications of the long deferred naturalization treaty of 1875, permit me to state that this is the first specific intimation this Government has had during nearly five years of the intentions of His Imperial Majesty in this regard.

By the phrase "modifications introduced by the Senate of the United States to our convention on naturalization," I presume you refer to the condition stated in the Senate resolution of February 28, 1889, whereby that coördinate branch of the treaty-making power advised the exchange of the ratifications in view of the assent of the Imperial Government, which was unreservedly given by the Porte on January 15, 1889, after fourteen years had elapsed since the original ratification and exchange. The Senate condition was, after ample consideration, acquiesced in by the Porte without reserve, and Mr. Hirsch was so advised in formal interviews with their excellencies the grand vizier and the minister for foreign affairs on April 19, 1890, being informed that the imperial iradé was alone awaited to enable the completion of the convention by exchange. Subsequently, in June, 1891, and in response to Mr. Hirsch's request for a reply to his note touching the deferred iradé, he learned that the protracted delay in obtaining His Imperial Majesty's sanction was due to the necessity of first obtaining information from the representatives of Turkey at certain European posts. This is the latest Turkish official communication on the subject, and nothing is found to intimate that the Porte's formal acceptance of the Senate conditions of February 28, 1889, has been since withdrawn.

1See page 731.

I should, moreover, remark that your memory of my statement touching your action in the summer of 1890 is not strictly accurate.. What the legation then reported was that you had declared your purpose, on returning to Washington, to influence the Senate to recede from its expressed condition, and had invited the friendly concurrence of Mr. Hirsch to that end.

It is to be noted that the announcement of the Turkish foreign office in June, 1891, that the imperial iradé was merely deferred awaiting certain details of information, is long subsequent to the date of your visit to Constantinople, when, as would now seem, you were acting in accordance with the imperial conclusion that the conditions of the Senate resolution "were not such as to justify their acceptance by Turkey."

His Majesty being of this mind in the summer of 1890, and your action being guided by the imperial wishes as you now state, I am unable to find any satisfactory explanation of the silence of the Porte in this regard for nearly three years, during which time this Government has patiently awaited the consummation of the arrangement which was formally accepted by the Porte on the 19th of April, 1890. Accept, etc.,

W. Q. GRESHAM.

FREEDOM OF WORSHIP FOR PROTESTANTS IN TURKEY.

Mr. Gresham to Mr. Terrell.

No. 254.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, October 26, 1894.

SIR: Your dispatch No. 280,' of August 2 last, reported the request of the British ambassador at Constantinople for your coöperation to secure greater freedom of worship for native Protestants in Turkey.

Your comments upon the situation which gives rise to this request on the part of Sir Philip Currie indicate your appreciation of the fact that, while Great Britain, under the stipulations of the treaty of Berlin, has a conventional right to intercede in behalf of larger religious toler ation as regards non-Mohammedan sects in the Ottoman dominions, the treaty rights of the United States are limited to the interests and immunities of their own citizens.

This Government, founded upon the broadest civil and religious liberty, can not but feel a lively sympathetic interest in the extension of this beneficent principle among mankind; but its right to press its views in this regard upon other governments is necessarily limited, as well by treaties as by its established rule of noninterference in the internal affairs of other nations.

In one sense, however, the interests of native Christians in Turkey are associated with the legitimate enterprises of our citizens in the direction of education and worship, and interference with those associations through restriction of native liberty of conscience may hamper them as effectively as direct repression of the useful endeavors of our citizens themselves, perhaps even more so. It is therefore proper to testify our sympathy with liberty of worship and to expect for our teachers and pastors no less latitude in their intercourse with native

1 Not printed.

Christians than is enjoyed by like teachers and pastors of the mostfavored nation. It is, of course, impossible for this Government to distinguish between the several non-Musselman faiths followed in Turkey, or do more than ask for our citizens equal treatment with those representing any other sect. By discreetly but earnestly claiming these rights as justly due to the citizens of a nation which has so repeatedly been assured by Turkey of the most favored-nation treatment in all things, you may indirectly advance the purposes which Sir Philip Currie has announced to you. The extent to which you can hopefully do this is necessarily left to your wise discretion.

A copy of your dispatch and of this reply will be sent to the United States ambassador in London for his information.

I am, etc.,

W. Q. GRESHAM.

VENEZUELA.

CLOSING OF THE MACAREO AND OTHER BAYOUS OF THE ORINOCO RIVER TO FOREIGN COMMERCE AND DETENTION OF THE STEAMER BOLIVAR.

No. 142.]

Mr. Bartleman to Mr. Gresham.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Caracas, April 30, 1894. (Received May 8.) SIR: Late on Saturday evening, April 28, I received from Mr. Robert Henderson, U. S. consular agent at Ciudad Bolivar, the following telegram:

Difficulties in the clearance of the American steamer Bolivar. The collector of customs refuses to grant permission to load cargo and dispatch her unless a bond is given for the result of suit entered in the courts of Ciudad Bolivar for accused violation of the decree of the Venezuelan ministry closing the caño Macȧreo, said vessel having passed through that channel. Bolivar carried the American flag. Agents anxious for answer.

To this I replied as follows:

Give bonds under protest if clearance is desired.

For a clear understanding of this matter I beg to call your attention to Mr. Partridge's No. 58, of July 10, 1893, which contained a copy of the decree of July 1, closing to navigation the Macareo and Pedernales channels to vessels in foreign trade, but permitting them to use the "Boca Grande," said law to take effect from December 31, 1893.

On the 30th of October last a petition was sent to the Venezuelan Government by the Red Star, of the Orinoco Line, requesting an extension of the time to December 31, 1894. This was granted, but soon afterwards revoked in consequence of a request made by Mr. Ellis Grell, an Englishman, who had secured a concession for a coasting trade between Ciudad Bolivar and Maracaibo, which allowed him the exclusive navigation of these channels.

The several companies running steamers between Trinidad and Ciudad Bolivar then became indignant, notwithstanding that their trade was a foreign one, and that they were running their steamers without a contract or concession of any sort.

On the evening of the 25th instant I received a hastily written note from Mr. W. P. Pierce, the U. S. consul at Port of Spain, Trinidad, informing me that he was "preparing papers, as provided for by paragraph 313 of the Consular Regulations, under which the Bolivar might without hesitation display the American flag as her national colors, and claim the protection of the United States accordingly," and, as Mr. Henderson's telegram shows, this was done.

Immediately upon receipt of the aforesaid telegram I called upon the minister of foreign affairs to use, if possible, my good offices in behalf of the company. I read to him the telegram and asked that the

'See Foreign Relations 1893, p. 729.

steamer be permitted to clear for Trinidad, provided her agents would not repeat the offense.

He informed me that he was not in favor of any decree prejudicial to Venezuelan interests; that on the previous morning he had held a long conference with Gen. Crespo with relation to the decree; that the ves sel knew of the existing law, and that during its enforcement it was unwise to have violated the same; and that she had displayed the American colors merely to defy the law.

He then called the minister of hacienda by telephone to ask for the latest information from Ciudad Bolivar and to transmit my request, and he was informed by him that the matter had passed to the courts of Ciudad Bolivar. I then thanked the minister for his interest in the case and departed.

Trusting that my action will meet with your approval, as I have endeavored to make the case as clear as possible in the short time before the closing of the mail to-day.

I have, etc.,

R. M. BARTLEMAN.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 142.-Translation.]

UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA, MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR,
ADMINISTRATIVe Department,
Caracas, January 8, 1894.

Resolved, That the petition dated the 30th of October last, addressed to this department by Dr. José Manuel Gabaldon, attorney of the Venezuelan Stock Company, "Red Star of the Orinoco," having been considered in cabinet, in which he requests from the National Government a special extension of time to December 31, 1894, of the permit which according to Article II of the executive decree of July 1, 1893, the steamers of said company have availed themselves of for navigating through the channels known as Macareo and Pedernales, which are reserved to coast wise commerce, and in view of the impossibility, as he manifests, under which the said company labors of improving the condition of its steamers and making them suitable for navigating the Boca Grande, according to the terms of the said Article II, and at the same time consulting the lawful convenience of the commerce of Ciudad Bolivar; the president of the council of government, in charge of the executive power, has deemed it proper to resolve:

That the permission conceded by Article II of the decree of July 1, 1893, to the line of steamers that now carry on the trade between Cuidad Bolivar and Trinidad, through the Macareo and Pedernales channels, be extended until the 31st of December of the present year 1894, in order that they can continue carrying on the commerce through them during the period indicated.

Let it be known and published.

For the National Executive.

FELICIANO ACEVEDO.

[Inclosure 2 in No. 142.-Translation.-Official Gazette, Monday, February 26, 1894.]

UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA, MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR,
DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION,
Caracas, February 24, 1894.

Resolved, Having been read in cabinet the petition of Mr. Ellis Grell, dated the 13th of February of this year, in which, by virtue of the concession and franchises conceded to him in the contract made by him with the Government on the 17th of the same month of January, he asks that the anterior resolution of the 8th of said month be declared annulled, according to which was granted a special extension of time to the lines of steamers plying between Ciudad Bolivar and Trinidad, through the channels Macareo and Pedernales, they being thereby allowed to continue doing so until December 31,1894, and in consideration of the reasons given by said Grell, and moreover, as his line has for its principal object the establishment of a coasting trade between the ports of the whole coast of the Republic, the president of the

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