Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-05-03

sionary buildings destroyed and prop
erty looted as well as to the permits
sion required to rebuild. The Turkish
government, shortly before the de-
parture of II, Angel, had denied all
liability for the buildings and proper
ty DESTROYED. A similar reply was
sent to the ambassadors o. England,
France and Italy, who had presented
similar claims.
The Turkish government took the
position that its denial of liability il
such case had ample precedent in the
refusal of the government of the
United States to admit responsibility
for outrages committed within its own
territory on the subjects of friendly
powers One case cited was the violence
10 which the Spanish consul and other
citizens of Spain had been subjected by
riotous mobs in New Orleans and key
West in 1851, another was the masSa
ere OF IS Cinnamon, with attendant
pillage of Chinese property at Rock
Springs, Wyo., in 1886, and the third
was the lynching Of II Italians by a
AS matter of fact, the outrageS in
Asia Minor We're not parallel cases, be-
cause the presence OF bullets and can
non balls in the walls of the wrecked
buildings of Harpoot were indiSpu,
able evidence that Turkish soldiers
had participated in their destruction.
But the record of the United States in
the three cases referred to was a per-
fectly clear and correct one and could
confidently be commended by our min
lister at Constantinople to the tmita-
ton of Turkey.
The case of the United States against
Turkey was, necessarily. first submit
ted to the minister of foreign affairs.
then to the council of ministers, who
made their report to the sultan, and,
finally it became a question OF direct
negotiation between the sultan and the
minister of the United States. At an
audience Dec. S, 1898, the sultan in
former our minister he had directed
that the claims preferred by the
United States should be paid. The
claims were examined with great care
and it was agreed that the basis of
settlement should be a simple indem-
nifty for the actual value of the prop
erty destroyed There can be no Ques-
ton that to the payment Of this the
sultan explicitly and unequivocally
agreed. The promise to pay has been
twice repeated since December, 1895
the last time just before the departure
of Mr.. Starus for the United States.
fhe situation, therefore, is practical
ly this: Our minister has succeeded
in obtaining Judgment upon these
claims by confession made by the sui
tan himself, but the execution remains
unsatisfied. There has been double
breach of faith on the part of the sui
tan, for not only is the money pay
ment evaded, but the promised trade
or permit for the reconstruction Of
the burned buildings is, on one preteXt
or other, still delayed AS the build
ings were originally erected under the
protection of our treaties with Turkey,
the right obviously exists to restore
them without special permission, But,
considering that the buildings were
destroyed by the connivance If not
with the assistance of the troops of the
sultan, the eXpediency of securing an
10,
open to question.
The case is obviously not one that
lends itself to arbitration. 1t is sim
ply question whether the word Of the
sovereign of Turkey is to be kept, ana
what shall be the course Of the gov
eminent of the United States, to whose
representative the word was given, in
the event of a persistent refusal to
make it good With manifest propri-
city the president has declined to ac-
cept the resignation of Minister
Straus, because to send a new envoy
to COnstantinople would he merely TO
give the sultan another chance to re-
peat the tactics of evasion and delay
Wnlch nave already consumed nearly
five years. 10 order Mr.. Straus to re-
turn to ConstantinOple would be equal
II inadvisable till there is some decid.
ed change in the status Of the contro-
versy. Under the able guidance and
direction OF Secretary Hay our minis
ter has carried the negotiations to their
logical conclusion and there is abso-
lutely nothing more to do in that d.
rection. Diplomacy has exhausted IT,
self in this negotiation, and arbitra-
tion is impossible. Were the issue one
which involved our national honor
war would, under such conditions, be
inevitable
As matters stand, several courses
are open before resorting to extreme
measures. If we break diplomatic re-
lations, our diplomatic interests could
he Dlaped in cborUe NJ Lrrapon Tt.l,,