Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-13
AFFAIRS IN TURKEY
Why the United States Wants
an Ambassador.
MANY COMPLICATIONS
OUR MINISTER CANNOT GET AC-
CESS TO THE SULTAN.
While the Latter's Envoy Has Never
Been Formally Presented to
the President

Copyright, 1904, by John Elfreth Watkins)
Written for The Evening Star.
Some quiet, diplomatic thumb-screwing
of the 'sick man of Europe" has been
planned by our government, with the OBJ
ject of elevating our envoy extraordinary
and minister plenipotentiary to the sublime
porte to the sacred rank Of ambassador and
personal representative of the President.
The right Of people to expect the head of
a friendly government to sit up and trans
act business with them is the principle un-
DERIVING our contention.
Seven years ago John G. A. Leishman,
man Of great wealth, retired from the pres
idency of the Carnegie Steel Company to
become minister to Switzerland, with a
salary of $500 a year, and two years ago
he was promoted to the mission Of minister
to Turkey, from which he draws SO 600 an
nually. Toll and trouble began to bubble
for Mr.. Leishman as soon as he left our
peaceful legation in Switzerland to take up
his ofhc1al abode near the court of Con-
stantinople and assume a hand In the diff
ficult game of oriental diplomacy.
The indemnities due us as a result of the
murders OF our citizens during the bloody
Armenian massacres Of 1895 had just been
paid up after seven years Of haggling ended
by the vigorous action Of young Lloyd Girls
com. our present minister to Japan. So
the waters seemed calm for Mr.. Leishman
when he entered the harbor Of Constantine
pie. But he had no sooner landed than
things began to happen. There began a
succession OF instructions by Bulgarians,
revOlts by Albanians and Macedonians, Wis
it's of foreign men-cf-war. threats of war
by the powers uncertainties of the finances.
the attempted assassination of our vice con-
sui at Beirut and the sending of Admiral
Cottons squadron to that ancient port of
Damascus. Later events are better remem-
bered, but throughout Mr.. Leishman's stay
one vexed question has been pending be-
tween our government and that of the Of
toman porte.
The Vexed School Question.
When Constantinople was captured in
1853 the great sultan, Mohammed, allowed
the Jews, Catholics, Byzantine Greeks and
other nom Mohammedans then implanted
about Constantinople to retain their relig-
ious freedom. By a convention known as
the "capitulations'' these sects were set
apart as distinct religious communities, the
religious head of each church being re-
garded by the government as the civil head
and representative of his sect But Martin
Luther was not yet born when CONSTANT
nople fell to the conquering Turks, and
there were no ProteStantS In the world
when the COMPILATIONS" We're drawn up.
Yet the Protestants after arriving in Tur-
key have claimed the extra-territorial privi-
leges of the older sects. and they have en-
joyed them to some extent. But the porte s
attitude toward Protestant institutions has
been that of federation only. The work of
our Protestant missionaries in Turkey is
largely educational, and the schools con-
nected with their missions have found their
status very much unsettled. Certain school
l. privileges, such as we have asked, were
given to France in 1901 and were later con-
coded to Russia, Germany and other coun-
| tries But all attempts on the part OF ouI
| government to receive the same concessions
| have failed because the sick man OF Flu.
| rope has allowed himself to be influenced
| into the belief that the American school IL
| a hotbed of sedition.
| This matter, however, does not complete
| our list of grievances. Turkey has refused
to give us written acknowledgment of hel
debt to US, whereas all of her other cred
itors have received such acknowledgment
Moreover, our consul at Harput has JUS
| been forcibly prevented from going to Sas
| SCUM to investigate American Outrages In
| which American citizens were suspected Of
| being killed. The Turkish government dis
| putes the authority of consul to venture
| outside the province In which his consulate
| is situated.
| Abdul Hamid seems to have been too bus
ily engrossed- by harem festivities during
| recent months to have noted how the re
| public of Panama came into being, for HI
rests under the impression that no forciblt
| action in foreign affairs can be taken by
this country without the authority OF Con
gress. We have long kept in the neighbor
hood of Turkey the largest Yankee fee
ever assembled in Mediterranean waters
When our squadron sailed into Beirut las
August the sultan pretended to regard III
arrival - q friendly visit but ct the samt