The herald., 1896-10-15
LITTLE GUNB0AT BANCROFT
Is Not to Defy the Sultan's
Mandate
NO ENTANGLING ALLIANCE
Still the Policy Of the Uuited States
Government
Turkish Reforms Are Promised and
Nothing Will Be Done That Might
Complicate the Situation
Associated Press Special Wire

N''SSSA0tNN L iSSS OpoCldl WAC
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1.-THE closest
inquiry fails to disclose any change in
the policy of the state department to-
ward the Turkish question, and in par
ticular respecting the movements of the
little dispatch boat Bancroft. From the
first the officials of both the state and the
navy departments have refused to state
where the boat was ;soing further than to
make public the official orders of her
commander These orders directed him
to report on arrival at Gibraltar to Ad-
miral Selfridge, commanding the Euro
pean station and to take all further or
ders from him. 1t can be stated posi-
lively, however, that no orders have gone
forward since the original instructions
to Admiral Selfridge, nor are any on the
way touching the future movements Of
the Bancroft.
From best official sources it Is learned
the movements of the Bancroft have not
figured in any way in the cabinet meet
ings held since the return Of the presi-
dent to the city, and equally good and
strong denials can be entered to all the
sensational features of the published re-
ports. Indeed, the matter has not en-
gagged the attention of the administra-
tion or Of the officials of the state or the
navy departments since the sending of
the original orders to the commander of
the European squadron.
At no time was there the slightest in
tention of undertaking to force pas
sage of the Dardanelles, least of all at
present, when almost daily cables bring
the assurance of the porte to some one OF
the powers party to the treaty of Paris,
that reforms shall be initiated at once
in the disturbed provinces, and that the
Turkish officials shall be held to a rigid
responsibility for the maintenance of
order and the protection of life and prop
erty in the respective provinces.
The administration has strongly re-
corded itself, notably in the Venezuelan
correspondence with Great Britain, as
bound to refrain from interference in
European politics that do not directly
affect the United States, and while it
might be gratifying were the Bancroft
admitted to the Dardenelles for the ben
eft of Minister Terrell, it is not disposed
to make any issue that would tend to
complicate the situation.
REPORT DISCREDITED.
LONDON, Oct. 14.-The morning pa
pers discredit the report set afloat in the
United States that the Bancroft was to
proceed through the Dardenelles with
out regard to any protest offered by
Turkey and was to be protected in doing
so, If necessary, by the United States
squadrn at Smyrna.
The Chronicle suggests, in comment
ing on the report, that in the event of the
United States attempting to do for Eu-
rope what she dare not do for herself,
the United States, with three cruisers,
might seize the customs at Smyrna
The Graphic and Post concur in the
opinion that such action as the passage
of the Dardanelles by the Bancroft
would fail to settle the eastern problem
The Post thinks perhaps there is ker-
mel Of truth in the report that Russias
good offices have been invoked to in
duce the sultan to permit an American
man of war to proceed to Constantine
pie.
A Rome dispatch to the Daily News
reports the foreign office there denies
the powers would support the United
States in an effort to force the Darda-