respondence had been exchanged on this delicate point of foreign intervention.a "After the treaty of Berlin, so delicate a treatment was not deemed necessary, and Europe was the spectator of an incident which in certain respects recalled the adventure of which Prince Mentchikoff was the hero in 1853. Towards the close of the year 1879 the Turkish police arrested a mollah who had assisted an Anglican missionary in translating Christian works hostile to the Mahometan faith. In the eyes of the followers of Islam a more culpable act could not be conceived or one more odious than that of a priest of the national religion lending his personal assistance to a work of propagandism directed against that religion. "Ahmet Tewfik Effendi was therefore condemned as proven guilty of a crime defined by the law of the land. The English embassador, whose intervention in this case had been asked by the agent of the London Church Missionary Society, did not content himself with intervening in behalf of his fellow-subject, who had himself been put under examination and arrest; he demanded of the Porte the immediate release of the ulema as well as his immunity from all punishment, alleging the liberty of conscience which the Sultans had promised their subjects, and the religious liberty embodied in article 62 of the treaty of Berlin." (Note of Sir H. Layard to the Porte, dated December 24, 1879.) "The ultimatum of Sir H. Layard was successfully supported by the representatives of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. “It would scarcely be possible to show more clearly that to the abdication of judicial functions, a result of the first capitulations, there had succeeded in Turkey a second and not less grave abdication, that of absolute autonomy in religious matters." For citations of the instruction of April 20, 1887, see, particularly, Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Hirsch, min. to Turkey, No. 263, Dec. 14, 1891, For. Rel. 1891, 765; Mr. Foster, Sec. of State, to Mr. Thompson, min. to Turkey, No. 3, Nov. 29, 1892, For. Rel. 1892, 609. 6. SCHOOLS. $ 871. "I thank you for the note which you addressed to me on the 12th instant, by which I am informed that the Sublime Porte, in its extreme desire to be agreeable to the government of the United States, and to give to it a fresh proof of the liberal spirit which guides the Turkish government in its relations with the United States, has just decided the question of the Robert College to the satisfaction of the United States citizens interested therein, and that His Majesty the Sultan has made a decree which authorizes Dr. Hamlin to build a college on the ground which was first selected by him. "Mr. Morris, at Constantinople, will be instructed to assure the Despatches from the British embassy, 23 Sept., 1856, 26 Nov., 1857, 14 Aug., Sultan's government that the United States highly appreciate the comity as well as the justice which mark this proceeding." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Blacque Bey, Turkish min., Jan. 20, 1869, In July, 1888, the president of Robert College, under instructions from the trustees in New York, applied to the Ottoman government for permission to erect an additional school building as well as a dwelling house for the president. On examination of the original iradé for the erection of the college and the Ottoman laws regulating the construction of buildings, it was found necessary to apply for an iradé for the additional buildings and to file plans and specifications. The Sultan's iradé was issued May 6, 1889. Mr. Straus, min. to Turkey, to Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, No. 194, May 10, 1889, For. Rel. 1889, 717. An error which was afterwards discovered in the iradé was duly corrected by the Ottoman Government. (For. Rel. 1890, 769.) In the school law promulgated in 1869 there are only articles 129 and 130 which relate to schools conducted by foreigners, of which the following is a translation: "Second category-Free schools. "ARTICLE 129. The free schools are those founded by the communities or by private Ottoman or foreign subjects. The instruction is either gratuitous or by tuition, and their expenses are covered by their founders or by the vacaufs (a trust foundation in mortmain for a charitable or pious purpose) to which they are attached. "The foundation of free schools shall be authorized in the provinces by the governor-general or by the academical council, and at Constantinople by the ministry of public instruction. "This authorization will not be given but under the following conditions: "(1) The teachers and professors must be furnished with a certificate of capacity, or diploma issued by the ministry of public instruction or by the academical council of the locality. "(2) There shall be no teaching against politics and morals. To that effect the program of teaching and the text-books in the free schools must bear the approbation of the ministry of public instruction or of the academical council of the locality. "Any school opened without these formalities will be closed. "The principals of the said establishments will be bound to get the certificates or diplomas. Their professors may be provided, legalized by the ministry of public instruction or by the academical council. "ARTICLE 130. It is formally forbidden to ill-treat the stubborn or lazy pupils, and to use injurious expressions towards them, either in the public schools or in the free institutions. The different degrees of punishment to be inflicted to children of bad conduct will be set forth by special instructions. Any offender will be punished in accordance with the law." Mr. Newberry, chargé d'affaires, to Mr. Foster, Sec. of State, July 21, 1892, For. Rel. 1892, 580, citing Wistarky, Legislation Ottomane, III. 299. The text of article 29 of the law of 1869 was communicated to the Department of State by Mr. King, chargé d'affaires, in his No. 276, Jan. 11, 1887, MS. Desp. from Turkey. "Your No. 240, of the 30th ultimo, covering your application to the Turkish government in favor of the Rev. Mr. Bartlett, of Cesarea for permission to build a residence and schoolhouse at Taln, has been received. Under the circumstances as you present them, your note to the Turkish minister upon the subject is approved. It must, however, be understood as merely calling attention to a delay in attending to a regular petition of an American citizen, and can not be permitted to be regarded as a precedent for requiring that original applications of this character are to be made through your legation, since it is no part of your diplomatic functions to apply for municipal-building permits." Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. Wallace, min. to Turkey, No. 105, "The minister of public instruction has apparently done better than I expected or requested. He has agreed to forward a general order to all the places where such schools are in existence, directing the governors to refrain from closing American schools where a request for the regular permit has been made by the principal of these institutions. He also promises to take the necessary steps to furnish the permit to them as soon as possible. If this promise be kept, it will be a great gain in this direction, for it assures not only the continued existence of the schools now open, but a permit for the establishment of new schools." Mr. Cox, min. to Turkey, to Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, No. 55, Nov. 14, 1885, For. Rel. 1885, 879, 881, replying to Mr. Bayard's No. 9, of Aug. 17, 1885, id. 855. In Mr. Cox's despatch here cited will be found some matter concerning attacks upon missionaries and the case of Messrs. Knapp, Reynolds, and Pflaum. As to an order for the reopening of certain schools which had been closed in the vilayet of Van, see Mr. Straus, min. to Turkey, to Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, No. 178, March 15, 1889, For. Rel. 1889, 713; same to same, No. 201, June 13, 1889, id. 722. "Your vigilance and your intelligent and energetic action in behalf of Early in 1886 the Turkish government issued a new school law, and proceded to close a number of schools because they had no official permits. After much discussion an agreement was reached, and the minister of public instruction issued the following circular: "A number of schools within the imperial provinces having been. established without permission, general instructions were issued some time ago, with the object that three months' time should be given them, and if within that time they did not comply with the requisite rule action should be taken against them in accordance with the law. Now, according to the information which reaches us, some of these schools have for some reasons been closed, but several of them have now given assurances of their readiness to conform to the terms of the law, consequently you will see fit to allow the reopening of such schools that will conform to article 129 of the law of the public instruction, the closed schools of the Jesuits to be excepted until further instructions." This order seems not to have been enforced in Syria. Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Hirsch, min. to Turkey, April 22, 1892, "The legation of the United States has made a complaint to the Porte, stating that whenever American schools are established, that while the authorities proceed to the examination of their programme (of studies) as well as the certificates of the teachers, yet no official permission in writing is granted, and the above-mentioned certificates are withheld by the authorities, and after a lapse of eight or ten years, when proceedings for the investigation for the condition of said schools are made, the said schools are closed, not because of any irregularity as regards the schools, but because the above-mentioned official permissions and the certificates of the teachers are not in their possession, and in consequence many inconveniences and difficulties are encountered in the effort to reopen the said schools. "Although it is known that some of these schools are closed for legal reasons, it can not be admitted that long-established schools should be closed as long as their status and the manner in which they are conducted are not such as to render their closing necessary for being contrary to the established regulations. Consequently, you are instructed that whenever a new school is to be established, the formalities required by the special law having been complied with, the govH. Doc. 551-vol 5-52 ernor-general shall grant to the directors of the schools the official permission, and the certificates of the teachers, after being examined, shall be returned to the latter and left in their possession. As regards the old existing schools, whenever any reason for their closing exists, the fact should be reported to the ministry of the public instruction, and, in accordance with the answer thus given, action shall be taken. "The same rule shall apply to the other foreign schools." Vizierial circular to the governors-general of Turkey, May 16, 1889, en- "I desire to offer the Department's congratulations on the success which Of thirty schools which were mentioned as closed in January 11, 1887, it was stated in December, 1889, that all which the missionaries had desired to reopen had been reopened. Two of them were, however, afterwards reclosed. (For. Rel. 1890, 738.) As to the application for an iradé for the foundation of St. Paul's Insti- As to the reopening of schools by the authorities of Damascus, see For. As to the closing and reopening of the school at Agantz, see For. Rel. January 6, 1892, the following vizierial circular was issued by the Sublime Porte: "The prohibition against founding or opening in the Ottoman Empire schools or places of worship, without obtaining official permission, is reiterated. "Moreover, peremptory instructions will be given to those concerned that in respect to schools or places of worship that have been opened without official permission it will be necessary for them, within a period fixed according to the locality, to obtain by the usual method permits for these also: and, further, that those schools and places of worship which do not obtain permits within the specified time shall be closed. It must be made known to them also that those who found schools or places of worship without permission will be treated according to the provisions of article 129 of the law of public instruction and to the present edict. The decision of the high council of ministers upon these points having received by iradé the sanction of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, the orders necessary for its execution have been delivered to the ministry of the interior, the min |