Mr. MacNutt to Mr. Blaine.

No. 364.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose for your information a verbal note to the Sublime Porte, based upon information furnished me by Bible House, concerning the capricious action of the Vali of Bourdour in stopping the work upon the house of Mr. Bartlett, an American missionary, for which the usual municipal permit to build had been granted.

Besides being thus formally presented to the Porte, this case has been the subject of discussion with the minister of foreign affairs. The customary satisfactory promises have been offered me.

I have, etc.,

Francis MacNutt,
Chargé d’Affaires ad interim.
[Inclosure in No. 364.]

Mr. Mac Nutt to the Sublime Porte.

The Rev. L. Bartlett, an American citizen residing in Smyrna, last spring purchased a piece of land in the town of Bourdour (Vilayet of Konia), for the purpose of constructing a dwelling house upon it. The land was transferred to Mr. Bartlett’s name under the protocol permitting ownership of real estate by foreigners, and Mr. Bartlett took out the usual municipal permit to build a dwelling house thereon, paying the customary tax upon it. He then proceeded to build his house. After the walls were constructed, but before the roof was tiled, the governor of Bourdour stopped the work. The official permit to build being produced, the governor said that he had received information that Mr. Bartlett intends to open a school in the house, which he, the governor, did not wish to have done. After long discussion upon representation of the injustice of issuing a permit to build and then seeking to set it aside after the building was nearly completed, permission was given to tile the roof in order to save the walls from injury.

A new governor was recently appointed to Bourdour, and he has again stopped the work upon the house, declaring that he has orders from the minister of the interior to destroy the house, unless Mr. Bartlett will bind himself never to hold a school or religious worship upon the premises.

While the protocol on real estate provides that Ottoman law shall govern the enjoyment by foreigners of their real estate property in Turkey, it certainly does not contemplate the arbitrary interference of officials to prevent Americans from using the property which they have bought. Hence it is to be hoped that the Sublime Porte may see fit to intervene to protect Mr. Bartlett against the lawless suppression of his right of property, and setting aside of his formal permission to build. It is to be noted that permits to build are issued on the sole condition of conformity to municipal regulations as to manner of construction, containing no warrant for inquiry into the owner’s intentions as to the use of the building. In fact this inquiry is needless since it is evident neither Mr. Bartlett nor any other house owner can use his house for any illegal purpose.