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In my reply of February 19 to that first note I intimated the dis tinction between infringement of municipal or police regulations under the State laws and any question of violation of the neutrality statutes of the United States. With respect to the former, I stated that a copy of your note would be sent to the governor of New York for proper consideration. As regards the latter, I suggested that, should the consular representative of Turkey in New York City have knowledge of any expedition being set on foot there as indicated, it might be advisable for him to consult with the United States attorney for the district with regard to the proper mode of procedure.

You now communicate to me a copy of a letter you have received from Mr. J. C. Hancock, attorney-general of the State of New York, to whom it appears you wrote in this relation on the 9th instant.

As before indicated, the construction and enforcement of the statutes of the several States is a subject peculiarly within the jurisdiction of the State courts, and the Federal courts take cognizance of complaints properly supported in cases of asserted violations of the acts of Congress upon proceedings instituted under the direction of United States district attorney of the district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed.

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MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: I have the honor to give, hereinafter, to your excellency copy of a telegram which I have just received from the first secretary of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, with orders to cause its contents to reach their high destination:

The justice which characterizes the American Government is already recognized. By imperial order I pray you to inform the President of the United States that his message of the month of December last, which is in conformity with justice, has met with the high satisfaction of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan our sovereign. Be pleased, etc.,

MAVROYENI.

Mr. Gresham to Mavroyeni Bey.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, March 27, 1894.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 21st instant, communicating the text of a telegram you have received from the first secretary of the Sultan, expressing His Imperial Majesty's high appreciation of the President's message of December last.

This is regarded as a pledge of the high sense of justice and international comity which, the President is pleased to believe, must equally

animate His Majesty, and as an assurance that the sovereign right which we have recognized in favor of Turkey will be exercised without harshness and duly tempered with friendly consideration, thus fulfilling the President's just expectations as expressed in that message.

Accept, etc.,

W. Q. GRESHAM.

PUBLICATIONS BY TURKISH SUBJECTS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES OF MALEVOLENT ARTICLES AGAINST TURKEY.

Mavroyeni Bey to Mr. Gresham.

[Translation.]

IMPERIAL LEGATION OF TURKEY,

Washington, May 24, 1894.

MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: Certain Ottoman subjects, when out of the Ottoman territory, now and then indulge in malicious publications for blackmailing purposes.

Your excellency is aware of the fact that, in many instances, the Imperial Government has taken administrative action for the preven tion of intemperate language brought to its notice in Turkish newspapers directed against governments and statesmen who are on friendly terms with us. The Imperial Government therefore hopes that similar measures may be taken by that of the United States whenever it may be necessary. In fact, the Sublime Porte's wish is that such Ottoman subjects as would come to the United States and attempt there to publish, with obviously malicious intent, newspapers or pamphlets, or to spread false information through the local press, be delivered to us. I am pleased to hope that the Government of the United States will be willing to acquiesce in the foregoing.

Accept, etc.,

MAVROYENI.

Mr. Uhl to Mavroyeni Bey.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, May 26, 1894.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your note of the 24th instant, in which you refer to alleged malevolent and untruthful publications in the press of the United States by Ottoman subjects against the Turkish Government, and in view of the circumstance that in your country such publications may be prevented by administrative action, you state the wish of the Imperial Government that similar measures be taken by the Government of the United States, and in particular that Ottoman subjects making such publications here be delivered to the Ottoman Government.

Under our system the Executive is not clothed with the power whose exercise you invoke, and is equally without authority to deliver an accused person to a foreign government save under due proceedings in extradition under a treaty when the commission of a specified offense in the demanding country is proved by judicial evidence.

Accept, etc.,

EDWIN F. UHL,

Acting Secretary.

Mavroyeni Bey to Mr. Gresham.

[Translation.]

IMPERIAL LEGATION OF TURKEY,
Washington, August 4, 1894.

MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: I duly communicated to His Excellency Said Pasha the reply you were pleased to make to my note of May 24, 1894, relative to the hostile publications which certain vagabond persons make against us in foreign countries with the object of blackmailing.

Several of the powers having favorably received the proposal of the Sublime Porte, I have received instructions to renew to your excellency proposals in the sense of the conclusions of my aforesaid note.

The Sublime Porte hopes that the Government of the United States, in regard for the sentiments of friendship which it constantly testifies to it, will be pleased not to persist in refusing the extradition of the persons in question.

I would be happy to receive from your excellency a response in this

sense.

Be pleased, etc.,

MAVROYENL

Mr. Gresham to Mavroyeni Bey.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, August 23, 1894.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 4th instant, No. 34, in which, referring to your previous note of May 24 last and the Department's reply of the 26th of the same month, you state that your Government has received favorable responses from several of the powers touching the extradition of Turkish subjects publishing in foreign countries malevolent articles against the Govern ment of Turkey, and add that you are accordingly instructed by the Sublime Porte to renew your former proposal for an agreement looking to the surrender of such persons to the Turkish Government by that of the United States, and to express the hope of the Porte that the Gov ernment of the United States will be pleased not to persist in refusing the extradition of the persons in question.

In Mr. Uhl's note of May 26 last you were informed that the President had no authority to surrender an accused person to a foreign gov ernment except under a statute regulating extradition and in pursuance of a treaty.

I have the honor to remind you that at that time no treaty authoriz ing the surrender to your Government of persons charged with the com mission of the acts complained of was in existence, and that no such convention has since been concluded.

Accept, etc.,

W. Q. GRESHAM.

No. 248.]

CASE OF SOCRATES A. SEFERIADES.

Mr. Riddle to Mr. Gresham.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Constantinople, June 2, 1894. (Received June 18.) SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith copy of a dispatch from Mr. Madden, consul at Smyrna, to Mr. Short, consul-general; also copies of correspondence between Mr. Madden and the governor-general of the vilayet of Aidin, relative to the case of Mr. Socrates A. Seferiades, a naturalized American citizen, who is claimed for trial by the Turkish authorities at Smyrna for the offense set forth in Mr. Madden's dispatch to the consul-general. I have instructed Mr. Madden, through the consul-general, not to yield the disputed point in Article IV of the treaty of 1830.

I am informed that Mr. Seferiades obtained his naturalization in 1893, but I have not yet learned in what State. I shall try to supplement the meager information which has so far reached the legation by an inquiry as to the circumstances of Mr. Seferiades's naturalization and as to his intentions regarding future residence, and will inform the Department of the result of my investigation.

I have, etc.,

J. W. RIDDLE,

Chargé d'Affaires ad interim.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 248.]

Mr. Madden to Mr. Short.

CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
Smyrna, May 16, 1894.

SIR: I beg to lay before you the following case, concerning which I wish to receive your instructions before proceeding further: Mr. Socrates A. Seferiades, an American citizen, who resides at Nazli, some 100 miles from here, in the interior, last year attended the World's Fair in Chicago, and during this visit to America he bought quite a number of agricultural implements, among which were a thrashing machine, a reaper and mower, and a traction engine. These machines arrived at the railroad station of Nazli some ten days ago.

After putting together the thrashing machine Mr. Seferiades attached to it the traction engine and started to go to his farm, some 6 miles distant. A large crowd, attracted by the novelty of the sight, assembled and gathered about the machines. Mr. Seferiades, as a precautionary measure, had employed 6 men to keep back the crowd, lest someone might get hurt. Notwithstanding these precautions, a boy some 13 years of age forced his way past the guards and ran in between the engine and the thrasher, and before the machine could be stopped he received injuries from which he died in a few days. The parents of the boy, as well as other spectators, agree that the boy came to his death by accident and through no fault of Mr. Seferiades. The parents brought no suit in the case, but the Turkish authorities of Nazli issued papers for Mr. Seferiades's arrest. He, learning of this, eluded their grasp and took refuge at this consulate, where he has been since the 9th instant.

Having had, as long ago as last November, special instructions from the Department of State to extend to Mr. Seferiades the fullest protection of this consulate, I at once took steps to prevent, if possible, his arrest and imprisonment by the Turkish authorities, and addressed to the governor-general of this vilayet a communication, translation of which I inclose (sub. No. 1). A translation of the governor's reply to the same is inclosed (sub. No. 2).

I am aware of the dispute that has arisen between the Government of the United States and the Sublime Porte over the interpretation of Article IV of the treaty of 1830; yet I know of no instance where the point in controversy has ever been yielded by our Government. It cer tainly never has been done by any one of my predecessors at this post, but in all such cases where an American citizen has been accused of a crime he has been tried by the consul. Having cognizance of the footnote to Article IV, I would have avoided bringing the matter to an issue, but it has forced itself upon me in such a manner that it has to be met.

Mr. Seferiades has large farming interests in the interior, all of which are suffering in his absence. His machinery is still standing in the road where the accident occurred. It is the advice of the governor-general, as well as my own, that he remain in Smyrna till this question be settled, and in view of the pressing necessity of the case a speedy answer is prayed for.

I am, etc.,

J. H. MADDEN.

[Subinclosure 1 in No. 248.-Translation.]
Mr. Madden to Fehmi Pasha.

CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
Smyrna, May 11, 1894.

EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to transmit under cover of this dispatch a petition of Mr. Socrates A. Seferiades, a citizen of the United States, and to request you to be so kind as to give as soon as possible the requisite orders to whom it may concern in order that any claim or complaint against the said Seferiades be referred to this consulate, in compliance with the laws and with the treaties and capitulations in force.

Accept, etc.,

J. H. MADDEN.

[Subinclosure 2 in No. 248.-Translation.]

Fehmi Pasha to Mr. Madden.

OFFICE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE VILAYET OF AIDIN. MR. CONSUL: I acknowledge you the receipt of your note which accompanied a petition of Socrates Seferiades, whose father is a native of Caissar (a town of the interior) and himself (Socrates) was born in Smyrna.

About fifteen years ago he left for America where, though he had resided during a period of some years, he was not allowed to abandon his real and natural nationality, according to the regulations on Turkish nationality, without the authorization of His Majesty the Sultan.

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