Office of the Historian

Mr. Gresham to Mr. Terrell.

Department of State,
Department of State, January 4, 1894.
No. 114.]

Sir: Referring you to instructions No. 3 of November 29, and No. 5 of December 1, 1892, and to others of later date in regard to various obstructions which have been encountered by our citizens having charge of schools in Turkey, I now inclose a copy of a letter from the secretary of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society in Cincinnati in respect to the apparently arbitrary closing of their chapel in Marash and the neglect of the authorities to provide Rev. G. N. Shishmanian with a permit to carry on his school at Constantinople. Your familiarity with this class of cases leads me to hope that your efforts may in due time remove the unfavorable conditions complained of by Mr. McLean.

I am, etc.,

W. Q. Gresham.
[Inclosure in No. 114.]

Mr. McLean to Mr. Gresham.

Cincinnati, Ohio, December 26, 1893. (Received December 28.)

Dear Sir: Our missionaries in Turkey have two grievances. First, this society has a chapel in Marash, Cilicia. This building has been closed for about two years by the Government. The Christian people that used to worship there are obliged to worship in some private house, or not to worship together at all. Unfortunately, this property is in the name of a man who is not an American citizen. But the property is ours. We paid for it.

Secondly, our missionary in Constantinople, Rev. G. N. Shishmanian, complains that the Porte will not give him a permit to carry on his school work in that city. He has been asking the authorities for more than a year to give him a permit. They assign no reason for their failure to grant his request.

This society respectfully asks you, if you can do so consistently, to use your good offices to have the chapel in Marash opened, and to secure a permit for Mr. Shishmanian to enable him to carry on his school work. You did us one good turn in securing the recognition of the citizenship of Dr. Garabed Kevorkian.

This emboldens us to approach you again. Our workers in Turkey think the U. S. Government omnipotent. They feel sure that any request you may make will be granted by the Porte. If you can do anything for us, we shall be very grateful.

Very respectfully,

A. McLean,
Corresponding Secretary.