International

are necessary enough in the promotion of good relations, but diplomats do not get their work done at functions.

There were a number of important diplomatic questions between the United States which gave rise to recurring vexatious differences.

Like China, Turkey had treaties with various European nations granting extra-territorial rights to their nationals. Foreigners were to be judged by their own ambassadors and consuls in both civil and criminal suits between one another. In crimes or offenses committed by foreigners against natives Jurisdiction, by long usage, was exercised by the consular court of the person accused. Foreigners were to be exempt from all taxes except on exports and customs.

Such a juridical anomaly is necessary where foreigners have no confidence in the administration of the government under which they reside. These rights of foreigners were very irksome to the "Turkish Government and derogatory to

its sovereignty. Some countries, especially Russia, in return for other advantages were not insisting upon their claims under the capitulations, and this encouraged the Ottoman Government under various pleas to resist claims, especially as to criminal jurisdiction over the nationals of other countries, including our own.

We had had a series of treaties with the Sublime Porte since 1830, but there had been many disputes as to the interpretation of the various articles. The treaty of amity and commerce of 1862 was abrogated upon expiration at Turkey's request, which left various controversies subject to the discrepancies of the earlier treaty of 1830, about which was a dispute as to translation-an irritating condition.

Similar troubles arose from the treaty of 1874 of naturalization and extradition.

This treaty, after conclusion, was amended by the Senate to provide for a requisite of two years' residence in the country of naturalization after issuance

of naturalization papers. The amendment was accepted by the Sublime Porte with a declaration of interpretations. The United States Government, however, did not accept the interpretations, and the treaty remained in abeyance.

During this time a number of Christian subjects of the Porte, principally Armenians, Greeks, and Syrians, came to the United States and remained just long enough to become citizens. Thus freed from Turkish jurisdiction, they returned to Turkey. Many were arrested on charges of being involved in alleged conspiracies against the Ottoman Government. These frequently recur

ring cases produced considerable irritation. At many times there was a severe strain upon the relations of the two countries.

It was felt that the treaty of naturalization and extradition, with the twoyear clause, the same as we have with other nations, would prevent subjects from seeking naturalization in America for no other purpose than to escape liability as Turkish subjects on their return.

One of my first diplomatic efforts was to effect an adjustment of these difficulties either by a new treaty or acceptance of the treaty of 1874 as amended by the Senate. After long and tedious negotiations by an exchange of notes, the Ottoman Government accepted the treaty as amended. I received a flattering cable of congratulations from Secretary Bayard and a letter from Assistant Secretary Adee, in which he wrote:

Whatever may be the outcome of this negotiation, you are to be congratulated without stint on having achieved a decided diplomatic success by causing the Government of the Porte to recede from the position which it took in 1875, with respect to the Senate amendments, and to which it has so pertinaciously adhered ever since, until you wrought a change of heart and induced it to take a more rational view of the subject. This makes it far easier for us to deal with the question now as justice and equity and due respect for the rights and privileges attaching to American nationality may demand.

As fourteen years had elapsed since the negotiation of the original treaty, it was thought best that the matter should be again submitted to the Senate. Some of our leading missionaries, instigated by prominent Armenians who had become naturalized and returned to Turkey, opposed ratification. No action was taken by the Senate. It was a discouraging situation and difficult to explain to the authorities of the Porte, as by instructions I had assured them that by their acceptance of the amendments negotiations would be concluded.

In the meantime many cases arose, some of a very serious nature, regarding the protection of American citizens of Turkish origin who, upon return to Turkey, became involved in political agitation or who were accused of crimes. Ten years later, on my second mission

to Turkey, I was instructed to renew the negotiations, but the Ottoman authorities were unwilling. We were left without a treaty of naturalization.

REOPENING AMERICAN MISSIONARY
SCHOOLS

Governmental hostility to the four hundred American missionary schools in Turkey was stimulated by Russia and by the priests of the French Jesuit and Catholic institutions. The Turks were accustomed, besides, to look for sinister motives underlying the spending of so much money. The Greeks and other nations had fostered political designs there under the cover of scientific and benevolent organizations.

Before my arrival, beginning with the winter of 1885, thirty American schools were closed by the authorities. The pretexts were flimsy. Schools, it was alleged, had not submitted study programmes, text-books, and teachers' certificates to the Government. This was quite contrary to the facts.

At the same time the Sublime Porte used another method to hamper the schools. A new law was proposed by the Sublime Porte for the governing of foreign schools in the Empire. Schools, according to this law, must have the Sultan's irade or sanction. Such schools as did not receive this sanction within six months were to be closed by the authorities.

It was no easy matter to have this proposed law modified so as not to disturb existing schools or further development of these schools.

Though I argued the matter again and again with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and got him to permit the reopening of the schools, it remained an unexecuted promise. In order to take the promise out of the nebulous atmosphere of officialdom and make an actuality of it, I decided to visit the various consulates and confer with the missionaries on the spot. In the middle of February, 1888, I visited Cairo, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Beirût, Mersina, and Smyrna and conferred with the valis or governors-general of the respective provinces. I instructed the missionaries to prepare for the opening of the schools, and under my directions such schools as had been closed were immediately opened. The progressive closing of these schools since 1885 seriously threatened the existence of all the American schools, and therefore it was important to reverse the Government's policy. Secretary Bayard on May 24, 1888, wrote me as follows:

The ability, tact, and energy displayed by you in the prosecution of this delicate and important question is deserving of the greatest credit, while the success which has finally crowned your efforts is exceedingly gratifying and entitles you to the Department's special acknowledgment.

SALE OF THE BIBLE DEFENDED At the same time that the Turkish authorities made their drive against the

(C) Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd.

missionary schools they arrested the agents of the American Bible Society and the British Bible Society who went about selling Bible tracts. These agents were known as colporteurs.

I protested against these arrests and secured the release of the agents one after the other. Then I argued for the rights of these colporteurs before the Grand Vizier, the venerable Kiamil Pasha, the most enlightened statesman of the Turkish Empire. I based the right to dispose of these tracts upon the general principles of commerce, arguing that, once the authorization of the censors for printing and publishing a book had been obtained, a prohibition of its sale was in restraint of commerce. There was no reason why different regulations should be made for book hawkers than for hawkers of any other article.

The subject being presented in this matter-of-fact way, the Grand Vizier agreed with my conclusions. Orders that no further arrests be made were issued. Those already arrested were ordered released. The British Bible Society, which benefited equally by this decision, conveyed its thanks and appreciation through my colleague, Sir

William A. White, the British Ambassador.

A JOURNEY TO EGYPT

As I have stated, I obtained permission from the Secretary of State in March, 1888, to visit some of our principal consulates to bring to a conclusion on the spot various matters about which I had negotiated with the Porte.

My wife and my little five-year-old daughter, Aline, with her nurse, accompanied me. We took a steamer to Alexandria, and from there went to Cairo. At that time Egypt was still under Turkish suzerainty. Our Consul-General and diplomatic agent there was John Cardwell. We also had the pleasure of frequently meeting Anthony M. Keiley, to whom I referred earlier in this account. After his unfortunate experiences with the appointments to Italy and AustriaHungary, President Cleveland appointed him one of the American judges of the Mixed or Reform Tribunal at Cairo. We saw much of him and his charming wife. He was a learned jurist and was highly respected as one of the ablest judges of the international tribunal.

I had also a pleasant conference with Sir Evelyn Baring, afterwards

T

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27 September

self were invited to lunch with the Khedive. It was an unusual menu. The names of the dishes had been devised for the occasion, and included such oddities as "crevettes à l'Américaine," "bombe à la Lincoln," etc. I recall the Egyptian quail as specially delicious. It is larger and plumper than our quail. In season, when they migrate from the north, they are trapped in great numbers, and they can be bought in the markets for a piaster (less than five cents) each.

Paul Thompson

Cromer, the British agent and ConsulGeneral in Egypt, who was then at the height of his career in the reconstruction of Egypt. I also came in contact with Major-General Sir Francis Grenfell, Sirdar or Commanding General of the Egyptian army.

He

Nubar Pasha was the foremost statesman of Egypt. He was an Armenian, educated by the Jesuits in France. His general knowledge was extensive. had the wide outlook of the European statesman of the first rank with all the subtlety of an Oriental. It was he who conceived the plan of introducing a legal system and good government into Egypt and of creating the mixed tribunals or international law courts. He acted in sympathy with Lord Dufferin's programme for the reorganization of Egypt. Consequently, he was highly regarded by the British.

The Khedive, Mohammed Tewfik, son and successor of the extravagant Ismail, of Suez Canal fame, entertained us. He was about thirty-six years of age. Without his fez he might have been taken for an Englishman. He spoke English perfectly, and his conversation showed he was well informed about the governments and peoples of Europe.

He desired to bestow a decoration upon me, but I informed his aide-decamp that under our system our diplomatic representatives were not permit ted to accept such distinction. Within an hour after my first call upon him, which was made by appointment, he, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, called upon me at the Hotel Shepheard. Next day he decorated the manager of the hotel, which, it was stated, was done in my honor.

A few days later Mrs. Straus and my

DRAMATIC PHASES

OF DIPLOMACY

The inside stories of a number of dramatic episodes in Mr. Straus's diplomatic career are related in next week's installment of the Autobiography. Mr. Straus describes his journey to Jerusalem, where he found under arrest by the Ottoman authorities hundreds of Jewish pilgrims to the Holy City. He at once demanded the release of these immigrants, holding that they were imprisoned contrary to treaties with the United States, Great Britain, France, and other Powers, and secured their release. The distinguished autobiographer tells how he secured the Sultan's permission for American scholars to undertake important Babylonian excavations. He describes Baron de Hirsch at odds with the Turkish Government regarding railway and other concessions, and tells of the invitation extended to him by both parties to arbitrate the dispute in return for an honorarium of 1,000,000 francs, and his declination for diplomatic reasons of the astounding offer, but his willingness to sit as a mediator should the negotiations at any time require it. The story of the Sultan's farewell to America's Minister on the latter's return home is included in next week s installment.

A CARGO OF MISSIONARIES AND RUM From Cairo we went direct to Beirut, where, in connection with the opening of the schools, I came in close relationship with our leading missionaries.

The missionaries at Beirût of the Presbyterian Board of Missions and the members of the Faculty of the Syrian Protestant College were an exceptionally fine lot of able and devoted men. The nature of their work was not, as generally supposed, to convert Mohammedans to Christianity; the number of such converts was few and far between. Mohammedans are sincere and intense upholders of their faith, which they look upon as the one faith. They regard Christianity as inferior and less rational.

The converts were almost exclusively among native Christians, Armenians, Syrians, Greeks, and Maronites. The chief result of their work has been educational, carried forward by a religious spirit among people who have a less enlightened form of religion and among those whose form of Christianity is of a semi-pagan character. At the time of my visit, the Presbyterian Board alone had over one hundred schools throughout Syria, mostly located in places where previously there had been no schools of any sort.

Chief among the missionaries who consecrated their lives to their work I recall. the venerable patriarch, the Rev. Dr. Henry H. Jessup, a man of learning, energy, and wisdom. In 1910, near the close of his career of service, his book "Fifty-three Years in Syria" was published. He gives in much detail a description of his departure from Boston in December, 1856, on the Sultana, á bark sailing for Smyrna, which had on board besides himself nine other missionaries and a cargo of New England rum. Truly it may be said the cargo was spirited as well as spiritual.

One of the missionaries aboard that interesting vessel was the Rev. Daniel Bliss, who became President of the Syrian Protestant College. I found him to be a minister and educator of the finest type. The first President of the College, he was succeeded in 1902 by his already distinguished son, the Rev. Howard S. Bliss, who continued with renewed vigor the work of his father, enlarging the scope and curriculum of the College, so that it became through its thousands of graduates in arts, science, and medicine a potent force

throughout the whole Near East. I became very intimate with the younger Bliss during my subsequent missions to Turkey, and lastly in 1919, when he was present at the Paris Peace Conference in behalf of Syria. He was then suffering from a serious malady, and died the following year in America, honored, beloved, and respected in both the Old World and the New.

While writing of these men I want to express my admiration for several other of the American educators and missionaries in Constantinople: Dr. George Washburn, President of Robert College;

Dr. Albert L. Long; and Dr. Edwin A. Grosvenor. Dr. Washburn was a statesman no less than a college president. His knowledge of the diplomatic East was thorough and reliable. Bulgaria at one time was largely governed by officials who had graduated from Robert College, and they looked to Dr. Washburn as their chief adviser. The British Ambassador frequently consulted him and was much influenced by his advice. He understood the Turks and, like others of the College Faculty, spoke their language.

In the year 1888 I secured, after ardu

ous negotiation, permission for the erection of a new building for Robert College and a house for the President. After the permission was obtained and the papers were being prepared in the office of the Grand Vizier, some enemy of the College so manipulated its permission as to strike out the permit for the addition to the College. This caused great anxiety, as the building was in process of erection. But by reason of my good relationship with the venerable and enlightened Grand Vizier, Kiami Pasha, I secured for both buildings the Sultan's irade.

EAST

F

TORTY thousand Chinese have perished within the past few weeks, victims of a storm of wind and rain which swept ashore at Swatow. In 1913 thousands were drowned in the harbor of Hongkong by a similar storm. Only recently Congress was asked to provide relief for the planters of Guam, many of whom had been ruined by a hurricane. Not long ago a great passenger liner, loaded with passengers, was destroyed in the China Sea. Macao and Manila are constant sufferers from these terrible winds, and hundreds of houses are unroofed and blown down every year on the shores of the Inland Sea of Japan and the southern coast of Hondo, the largest island of the Japanese Archipelago.

These terrific winds, called typhoons, are noticed by the world only when they cause some disaster appalling in its totals of lost life and destroyed property. They are noticed by the world only when they come ashore. Every year, however, seamen fight them week after week, month after month, from early June to late November. Hardly a fortnight passes in the summer and fall without its Pacific typhoon; and the most terrible of them stay at sea during their entire course.

We have disastrous hurricanes that sweep our Southern coastal States, but these hurricanes are born in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico. .Their course is broken by islands, large and small, and the shores of the mainland are very close. A circular storm is like a rolling wheel-any little pebble or bush can affect its course and speed. A patch of woods or a moderately high hill can materially diminish the storm's force. The hurricanes which damage the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi are those which have managed to slip through the narrow channel between islands off Yucatan, and so reach our shores with their fury still immature but unhampered. In the broad Pacific there is nothing to stop them. Day after day the typhoons swing across open water, gathering speed and strength as

they gradually curve northward, until by the time they reach the broad side of China they have becoming yelling, destructive giants.

Two things are necessary to start a circular storm: a quiet, sheltered, windless area and a hot sun. When these two things combine, a typhoon is invariably started. If the earth's blanket of air revolved with the earth, there would be areas of perpetual typhoon, and China and Florida would escape. However, as the earth spins it trails the air behind it, like streamers on an electric fan; and so, once started, the typhoon begins to slip to the westward, left behind by the hurrying earth. When the birthplace of the storm is surrounded at fairly close range by hills and rocks, forests and cliffs, the storm soon breaks up. When it has the open sea for a playground, it grows in size and violence, gradually drifting northward, pushed by the resisting quiet air which it is disturbing, until its strength

wanes and the backlash of its own fury drives it northeast and out to sea again, dying as it strikes the cold air currents of the fortieth parallel.

The physical laws involved are the simple ones that heated air rises and that two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time. The hot sun beats down on the still air and overheats it. Immediately it begins to rise, leaving a partial vacuum. Cooler air from all sides moves in to fill up the depression; but air from all sides at once cannot reach it, so a whirl of air forms around the hot area as water running out of a bathtub whirls down the pipe. In this case the air whirls up instead of down, pulling up the sea and increasing the vacuum itself. Once firmly established, this air eddy starts to roll westward, and the mischief is on its way.

Contrary to one's first and natural conclusions, a typhoon travels very slowly-usually between five and ten

miles per hour, and practically never over eighteen or twenty. The movement of the storm itself is not dangerous. The inrushing currents of cool air, radiating from the still, empty, slowmoving center like sparks from a pinwheel, however, reach terrific speed. Their velocity is roughly the square of the rate of progress. That is, if the storm is moving forward at five miles an hour, the concentric winds are running twenty-five miles an hour. By the time the center has reached a speed of ten miles the whirling winds are making one hundred. The upper limit of possible velocity of typhoon winds has never been measured-the instruments

ow away at anywhere from one hun

dred to one hundred and twenty miles. When one considers the power of such frightful wind velocities, the amount of damage done does not seem unreasonable; but when we stop to consider that as the storm center passes, the wind, which has been constant, suddenly and without warning starts to blow just as hard in the direction exactly opposite to its former course, the wonder is that anything survives. I have seen sturdy cocoanut trees stand for hours of the first half of a typhoon bent double, their fronds trailing out in the wind as rigid as steel rods. And with the first screaming assault of the reversed wind of the second half those same trees were ripped to splinters, solid twenty-pound green

cocoanuts as big as footballs sailing down the gale like scraps of paper. The terrible loss of life in the "sampan cities" of China, where thousands of people live their entire lives in houseboats moored in regular streets and blocks along the fringes of the bays, is inevitable once the typhoon center comes near. Row after row of floating homes is hurled on the beach in a smother of stinging foam and green water; then the wind shifts and the tangled mass is carried shrieking out to sea. When a steamer's only hope is to run away, upon what can a houseboat depend for safety?

Ordinarily, whirling tropical storms do not occur before July 1 nor after November 1, inspiring the old "Western Ocean" warning of

June, too soon.

July, stand by.

August, you must.

September, remember!
October, all over.

An unusually warm spring or an unduly lengthened summer sometimes causes storms in June and November, and these storms, when they do occur, are often the worst of the season. These calendar limits are fixed by the semi-annual shift in prevailing winds across the two oceans. From November to June the trade winds blow briskly from east to west, and nowhere except in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, under the lee of Mexico, does a "quiet, sheltered, windless area" exist. The Caribbean and the Pacific are cool and the air is constantly moving. In May or June of each year the trades die out and the monsoon, blowing from the southwest, hot, sickly, and moist, takes its place. The mountains of Honduras and Nicaragua shelter an area large enough to breed hurricanes during this time; and to the northward of the high mountains of Borneo, ten degrees "above the line," the island of Yap lies in the hot sun, without a breath of cooling breeze until the trades come back in November. Yes, the same island of Yap which tried to brew trouble of another kind last year-Yap of the Pacific cables and the stone money. The Swatow typhoon, like all other typhoons, was born in Yap.

A wonderful old man in Manila, called Father Algué, has told the world a great deal about typhoons. His instruments are known in every weather-forecasting station. His books are on board every modern vessel; but his greatest work has been the cable service of the observatory he founded, a service which saves thousands of lives a year. Years ago, in Guam, before the first symptom of a storm developed locally we used to receive Father Algué's cables telling us of a coming typhoon, its course, and the hour and minute it would reach us. Sometimes he became personal, as in one message reading: "Tell transport Sherman to leave Apia Harbor before six o'clock to-night if she wishes to see Manila this voyage!"

Father Algué's records of storms, ex