The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-29
WAR SHIP WILL BE
SENT TO TURKEY
The Bencr0ft Has Been Selected to Pass
the BOy phorus.
Mr.. TERRELL SNUBBED BY THE PORTE
No Satisfaction Received Concerning
the Outrages at HarpOOt..Mav.
rOycni Bey's Cool Letter to Secre.
tary OlMey Concerning the Passage
of the Bancroft .. The Government
Evidently Means Business.

washington, Aug. 2S.-Ine president
has decided to send war ship to Con-
stantnople, and the little cadet prac-
tice ship Bancroft has been selected as
the first American ational vessel since
the ratification of the treaty of Berlin
to pass the Bosphorus and anchor in
the Golden Horn opposite the gardens
of the Zaraglio.
The navy department is in state of
suppressed excitement today, on ac-
count of preliminary orders TO fit the
vessel for foreign cruise, and although
officials have been placed to unusual
secrecy over the immediate cause OF
the departure, it is well known that
extraordinary efforts are being made TO
expedite the despatch of the vessel from
Annapolis, where the cadets have just
Giscmbarked from the summer cruise,
and the instruction officers have been
ordered ashore To the naval academy.
Within Il day or two, under peremp-
tory orders. a new complement of Of
ticers and men. 1t is understood Will
man the ship. and she will so 10 the
Norfolk or New York navy yard to
make ready for duty she was never
designed to undertake. Congress au
practice cruiser for the education of
naval cadets. The administration hay
ing reached the decision, however, that
the presence of United States war
vessel was imperatively demanded at
ConstantinOple to perform duty similar
to that of the guard ships maintained
there by England and France and other
European powers, and the Turkish laws
forbidding vessel of over six guns to
enter the Bosphorous, the Bancroft
alone was found available for the SER
vice required. She has four guns, and,
therefore. is under no obligation to Sc
cure permission to pass the forts, as
would be the case of all other Amerl-
can war ships save the Concord, now
out of commission, ana the Bennington,
attached to the Pacific station. both or
which have six guns. and the despatch
boat Dolphin. which has two guns. 1t Is
understood that At Minister Terrells
suggestion the step now to be taken has
been under contemplation for some time
and Is not due to any sudden and un-
foreseen complication.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BANCROFT.
The cruiser Bancroft, was laid down
in 1891 by Moore Il Sons, at Elizaheth.
n. j., and went into use three years
ago. She cost S250,OOO and Is only S39
tons displacement, being lS1 feet in
ches long. 3a broad. with draught of
II feet inches. Her horse power on
trial was l.213 and her speed 14.37 knots.
She can only carry 200 tons of coal, and
must therefore make port frequently
on a cruise. Her main battery con-
sists of four 4-inch rapid fire rifles and
number of small secondary weapons
and two torpedo tubes. She carries ten
officers and 100 men. In all respects
she Is warship of the highest class
In miniature. equal in appearance to
the finest vessels in foreign navies. For
her size she is probably the most for
midable Of United States naval ves-
sels.
1t is Impossible TO learn at the state
or navy department today whether any
assurances have been received from
Turkey that Minister Terrell will be
permitted to have the moral support Of
u ship dying the stars and stripes near
his legation. The utmost reticence is
preserved about Turkish affairs. and
even in the past few days when ii was
learned that Mr.. Terrell's demands
were not receiving satisfactory replies
from the Porte and he was said to have
exhausted his efforts to- secure redress
for the Harpoot and Marash Outrages,
officials here declined emphatically to
answer questions about the matter. 1t
appears, however. that the administra-
tion has contemplated for some time
the dispatch Of the Bancroft to Com
stantinople as shown by the following
letter addressed by Mayroycni Bey, the
Turkish minister to Secretary Olrey.
last January.
ORIENTAL BLUFF.
Turkish Legation
Washington Jan. IL, 1885,
Mr.. Secretary of State:
His excellency, Tewiik Pasha, has Just
informed me that the sublime porte re-
srets that IL cannot comply with MIR.
Terrelrs reuQest for permission for the
Bancroft TO pass through the strait, that
vessel having been authorized to remlin
at the disposal of the United States lega-
tion at COnstantinople.
Your eXcellency knows perfectly we'll
the earnest and sincere desire Of the i'm
perial government to do all in its power to
strengthen, II possible the ties OF friend
ship which unite the two countries, but
III tIiis Cdsc a Iact Is involved, 10
wit: That only the sisnatory powers of
treaty of Paris enjoy the right to have
vessels of war permanently at Constanti-
nople at the orders Of their respective
embassies. Now. the United States gov
ernmeHt does not appear in the number Of
the sigratories of that II eaty. | am, con-
sequently, sure that your excelency will
be pleased to take the foregoing into con-
sideration.
(SigneO Nlavroyeni.
II any reply was made to this letter,
or If any correspondence followed or
preceded 1t, that correspondence is not
obtainable. 1t is believed in naval
circles here that the preliminary orders
sending the Bancroft to Constantinople
constitute the first step in the admin
istration programme to compel Turkey
10 respect the peremptory demand for
full and immediate satisfaction for $100,
900 indemnity made last November for
the destruction of the American col
lege and the property at Harpoot and
similar demand for the burning Of
the college at Marash. It is believd
this will be enforced before the close of
the present year even If 1t be necessary
to detach all the battleships and big
cruisers from Admiral Bunce's fleet for
the purpose.