In regard to the outcome of the case of Messrs. Knapp and Reynolds, the humiliating fact must be recorded that not one cent of the indemnity demanded by the United States of America has to this day been obtained. The monster, Moussa Bey, was allowed by the Turkish Government to continue his outrages on the Armenian villages of the great Moosh plain, until his record became so appalling, that under European pressure the Porte summoned him to Constantinople, where he was entertained as the Sultan’s guest. He was whitewashed by the courts, but the Sultan was prevailed upon to invite him to make a pilgrimage to Medina at his expense, and there spend the remainder of his days in religious exercises.
APPENDIX B.
U. S. CONSULATES IN EASTERN TURKEY.
The following petition was recently presented to the Hon. Walter Q. Gresham, Secretary of State, and to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, for the establishment of U. S. Consulates at Erzerum and Harpoot. The necessary legislation has been promptly enacted, for which the thanks of all Americans in Turkey is due to His Excellency the President, to the Secretary of State and to members of both Houses of Congress.
Washington, D. C., Jan. 3, 1895.
Apropos to the recent massacre of five thousand Armenians in Turkey, it is clearly inexpedient for the United States to mix up in the Eastern Question. But it is equally clear that the duty of protecting a large body of native-born American citizens constantly subjected to danger, injury and insult in that land is not complicated by any Monroe Doctrine. In their interests, attention is called to this brief statement of facts, and to a practical request for consular protection.
1. Number of Individuals and Interests Involved.
Distributed in thirty of the principal cities of Asiatic Turkey alone, there is a permanent body of two hundred and fifty Americans, not including their children, who hold over two million dollars of American property for residence and the use of their educational, medical, publishing and religious enterprises.
These figures do not cover the large commercial interests of Americans in Turkey, for which statistics are not at hand.
2. Nature and Extent of the Danger to which they are Exposed.
There are two sources of danger: first, the lawlessness of numerous highwaymen who infest the country, and of the fanatical Moslem population of the cities; and second, the hostility of Turkish officials, who have repeatedly failed to restrain, and in some cases have even encouraged attacks upon the lives and property of American citizens.