Smyrna times., 1903-09-02

THERE is a disposition in some quar-
ters says the Baltimore Sun to "poke
fun" at the President because of his
prompt and energetic action in order
ing the European Squadron to Beirut as
soon as he was informed that the Unit
ed States Vive-COnsul there had been
assassinated. Mr.. Mageissen the con-
sular officer, whose death was reported
to the State Department in a dispatch
from Minister Leishman, at CONSTANT
nople, is, happily, alive and uninjured
An attempt was made upon his life, but
fortunately it failed. The misleading
report was due to an error in the trans
mission or the translation of a dis
patch from the American Consul at
Beirut to the United States Legation
at COnstantinOple. Nevertheless, some
of our esteemed contemporaries in
New York do not hesitate, in the light
of later developments, to assert that
Mr.. Roosevelt acted too hastily, that
he should have waited until there
could be no question as to the truth of
the report before ordering Amer ican
warships to Beirut to enforce demand
for satisfaction from the State Depart
ment at Washington. Our contem-
porary, the New York World, is not
only very emphatic on this point, but
:" ,lsO facetiOus. 1t attributes to the
dent an intention to ''brandish
his big Club" prematurely, and, by
"mangling the Moslem," to prove to
the nations that he was in earnest
when he said, in some of his recent
speeches, that 'wOrds are of no ac-
count unless backed by deeds"
While President Roosevelt has the
reputation Of being an impetuous man
an Executive with a strenuous spirit,
it does not seem that in the Beirut
case the accusation of acting with un-
due haste can fairly be brought against
him. How could he be expected to
know that there was an error i'll Min
lister Leishman's dispatch to the State
Department.: that when our diplomatic
representative at COnstantinople cabled
that Vice-Consul Magelssen had been
'assassinated" he meant to state that
Mr.. Magelssen had not been killed, or
even injured, but had merely been
dhnt OF hxr VII, -,
bad? Mr.. Roosevelt is not mind
reader. He is not such an adept in
telepathy that he can, at the distance
of thousands of miles, divine what is
in the thoughts of dispatch writer's in
Syria or Abdul Hamid's capital, and
sift the false from the true, the in
accuracies from the facts in an official
statement.
If he had no reason to question the
accuracy of Minister Leishman's dis
patch, his promptness and energy are
worthy of commendatiOn. If the State
Department were advised of the as
sassination of an American Consul in
Great Britain, Germany, France
Austria, Italy or Russia, the Pres1
dent would not think of sending war.
ships to any of these countries. II
would be taken for granted that tn,
Governments of these nations woulC
take Immediate measures to arrest tn
d. assassin, to protect the lives of othe
Americans, and to offer such repara
ton as might be proper in the circum
stances. But conditions are entirely
different in Turkey. The fanatica
Mussulman population have a way O
slaughtering those not of their faltl
which is a disgrace to civilization
Even if the Sultan's intentions wer
good, it is doubtful whether he coul
hold his subjects in check if thei
racial and religious prejudices wer
aroused. Experience has taught Eu
rope that the Turk is not impressed b
diplomatic representations, that b
yields only to the strong arm. If th
President believed that an America
official had been killed, and that th
lives of other Americans were i
danger, it was his duty to send war
ships, to Beirut. That he interprete
Minister Leishman's dispatch as any
body not telepathist or psychologist
would have interpreted it is plain to a
people who think that words whic
have only one meaning cannot have a
entirely different significance. 1t