The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-04-26
TROUBLE WITH TURKEY
As Explained b. Former United States
Minister A, ". Terrell.
THINKS CLAIMS SHOULD NOT BE PRESSED
A. sucb Action Might Have a Ten
deucy TO Disturb the Peace of
Europe and of the world.

h Austin, Texas, April 25.-Hon. a. w.
Terrell. ex-unlted States minister to Tur-
KEY. expressed himself as follows tonight
with regard to the claims the United
States is attempting to collect from Tur-
key on account of the destruction OF mis-
sionary property in Armenia;
II entirely agree with General Lew
| Wallace in his estimate Of the sultan OF
! Turkey. There is much ignorance about
the nature OF our claim against Turkey;
we claim indemnity for the burning oil
missionary property at Harpoot and Ma
rash places then dominated by kurds and
fanatical populace and remote at the
| time from consular projection. Mission
aries claim that the burning was done with
the aid or counivance OF Turkish soldiers;
the porte has insisted that 1t was done by
Kurds and by an ungovernable mob, our
claim is sustained by circumstances rests
| ing on missionary evidence; the denial OF
the Turks Is sustained by official reports
made by Turkish officers and pashns aud
the issue Of fact has not been settled by
any impartial tribunal. The burning was
done during the Armenian massacres ana
! the Kurds have been the enemies OF the
Armenians from the time OF Xenophon.
| turkey, by the treaty OIL ~
der quasi protectorate OF the six great
European powers. The claims OF Russia
and several other powers for Indemnity on
account OF spoliations are far greater than
ours and II would seem that while those
powers refrain from enforcing their de-
mands We should hesitate long before dis
turbng the peace of Europe by resortlng
to force. General Wallace. while minister
TO Turkey and long before our buildings
were burned, demanded a large moneyed
indemnity from Turkey because two mis-
slonaries who had ventured without pro-
lection into a region known to be danger
Gus had been beaten by the natives. That
claim has never been recognized by Tur-
key. Unfortunately for us, England had
gone far to establish the interna tional
doctrine that a government is not liable
under such circumstances. We should not
forget that though Father Salvatore, an
Italian priest. and subjects of other Chr.--
tain powers were slain during the mas
sacres, no American citizen was hurt,
though they were living in their mss.o
from the sea to the Persian border. Tur-
kish soldiers, placed over them by the
sultan, protected them.
The spirit Of commercialism in its new
career OF forcible expansion is dangerous
enough, but the spirit of religious intoler-
I
ago It was demanding the bombardment
OF Constantinople. Until the New York
Herald sent Rev. Or. Hepworth to Turkey
to find out and report the true cause o!
the Armenian massscres, our people were
taught 10 believe that the Armenians were
killed because they were Christians and
that the sultan was devil incarnate.
Since Dr. Hepworth reported that the
massacres were caused by the plots OF the
Armenians to destroy the Turkish govern
ment We heard no further abuse OF the
Turks. The oldest Christian churches in
the world are in the Ottoman empire and
while the Turk must pay tariff on every
| imported article, our missionaries there
import free OF duty everything thoy need.
healthy public sentiment should protest
the president In his foreign diplomacy
against the spirit Of religious intolerance
! pressed our claim for indemnity to the
utmost limit of friendly diplomacy while
in Turkey. II the sultan has ever prom
ised to pay 1t he will keep his word, and
II he ever made the promise he will not
deny it. l regard him as a good man.
know him well and believe he was the
most intellectual man / met while in
Europe"