IX
THE MISSION TO THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
IN the spring of 1897, I was asked by Rev. Dr. Storrs, President of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, if I would accept the position of Minister to Japan or Turkey, if desired by the President. Mr. William E. Dodge, of New York, speaking for the Presbyterians, asked the same question with respect to Turkey. They both had in mind the interests of Christian missions. I gave both to understand that if the offer of such a position came unsought by me, I would give it consideration.
In April, Senator McMillan, at the request of President McKinley, inquired by telegraph whether I would accept the position in Turkey. After some correspondence, I finally wrote that I would accept, provided I could return at the end of a year or remain longer if I chose. While, with my wife and daughter, I was on a visit to New Orleans, my name was sent to the Senate and promptly confirmed. On my return home the Regents gave me leave of absence for a year from October. The Legislature of Michigan passed a vote of thanks to the President for the appointment.
On May 6, I visited Washington and had interviews with the President, Secretary of State John Sherman, and other officers of the State Department, all of whom received me very cordially. But two despatches were received from Mr. Terrell, our minister at Constantinople, which led me to ask the President to excuse me from serving. The first said the report had come to him that while in the South I had charged Russia with fomenting disturbances in Turkey, and that on this account my relations with the Russian Ambassador would be strained. The second stated that the Sultan objected to me because I, like most of the American missionaries, belonged to the denomination of Congregationalists. I did not desire to go with these difficulties as a handicap. But Secretary Sherman telegraphed my denial of the truth of the first despatch. It being soon ascertained that the Sultan had made the mistake of confounding the denomination of Congregationalists with such an organization as the Congregation of the Jesuits, with which he had controversies, our Secretary in charge of the Legation telegraphed that the objection to me was withdrawn.
I may as well say here that no one of the European Ambassadors was more cordial to me on my arrival than Mr. Nelidoff, the veteran Russian Ambassador and that the other ambassadors in answer to my inquiries, assured me that they never heard the least criticism of me from Mr. Nelidoff, or from any Embassy or Legation.
Furthermore, I may say, that the Sultan was always most affable to me in my interviews with him, even when I had to discuss some missionary questions. In fact, I never saw any traces of the difficulties which Mr. Terrell reported.
The President and the Secretary declined to listen to my requests to be excused from service. I decided to go to my post, and made my arrangements to sail on July 17, for Havre. My wife and I left home on July 14. We reached Paris at an early hour on July 26. While we were there, floods in Austria destroyed the railways, by which we had planned to go to Constantinople. So we were compelled to go to Marseilles and take the steamer.
On the way south we visited Avignon, Nimes and Arles. After a comfortable voyage on the Messageries steamship "Senegal," we reached Constantinople late in the after-noon of the 18th. Mr. Riddle, the Secretary, Mr. Short, the Consul, and a Turkish official, representing the Grand Vizier, were at the wharf to greet us. In the Legation launch we proceeded at once to Therapia and took lodgings for the summer at the Palace Summer Hotel. The next morning a messenger from the Sultan called to greet me.
As soon as convenient I made my calls on the Ambassadors and Ministers. Baron Calice, the Austrian, was the Dean, a most courteous and amiable man with an English wife. His long service at that post made his knowledge of affairs valuable to us all. Nelidoff, the Russian, soon transferred to Rome, had been considered the most influential representative. He was succeeded by Zinovieff, a shrewd man, whose whole career had been made in Asiatic service. He informed me that Russia trained its men in diplomatic service, especially for Asiatic or for European posts. He had been much in Persia and under-stood the operations of the Oriental mind. Russia treats Turkey as belonging to the Asiatic department.
