File No. 367.11/28a.

The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Navy.

[Telegram.—Paraphrase.]

I have the honor, in pursuance of instructions that I have received from the President, to request you to be good enough to despatch two vessels with the least possible delay to the ports of Beirut and [Page 1347] Smyrna to protect or to give refuge to American citizens in case of antiforeign outbreaks there, subject, however, to any supplemental requests the American Embassy at Constantinople may make.

Huntington Wilson.

Approved.
Wm. H. Taft.