[2] 6 



Mi\ Marsh to the Secretary of State. 



[Extract.— No. 4.] 



Legatiow of the United States', 

 Constantinophf March 25, 1850. 

 Sir: On Tuesday, the 19th instant, I I'eceived frOtn the Department of 

 Foreign Affairs, of the Porte a reply to my note of March 11, (a copy of 

 which was communicated to you in my despatch No, 3, dated March lly 

 I ^-30,) whereof the following is a translation ; 



" Department of Foreign Af^fa/ks op the Sublime Porte, 



"I have had the honor to receive your communication dated the 11th 

 of March, A. C. 1850, in which you represent, that in case the Sublime 

 l^orte approves of the sending of the Hungarians to America, a vessel of 

 your government, appointed for that purpose, will convey them thither. 

 The Sublime Porte certainly will off"er no obstacle or difficulty to the de- 

 parture, to whatever place they please, of such of the Hungarians as are 

 not implicated, nor is there any objection to those Hungarians and Poles 

 whose names are not registered in the list given to the Sublime Porte by 

 the Austrian government, or Who are not otherwise implicated, profiting 

 by the hospitality thus offered on the part of the United States of America. 



"Yet, in consequence of the off"er spontaneously made by the Sublime 

 Porte, it bound itself to keep in the Ottoman dominions, under certain 

 conditions which it is now endeavoring to arrano;e, those of the chiefs of 

 said people whose names are entered on that list,' and in the view of acting 

 with sincerity and probity in its intercourse and relations Avith other friendly 

 governments, and maintaining its given word, it is obligatory on the part 

 of his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, to execute that offer. 



"Under these circumstance the Ottoman government deems itself com- 

 ))elled to decline permitting said chiefs to proceed to America. 



"I avail myself of the pres'ent occasion to offer you assurances of my 

 highest respect and most distinguished consideration. 



[seal.] "EL SAID MEHEMED EMIR AALI, 



"Minister of Foreign Ajjairs. 



"Jemagiel Gimel 5, 12m:'— {March 18, 1850.] 



I learn that the substance of my note was communicated to the Aus- 

 trian and Russian ministers at Constantinople, and that they were urged 

 by the Porte to consent to the emigration of the Hungarian refugees to 

 America, but without eff"ect. I am happy to add, that I have reason to 

 believe that Baron Tecco, the highly respectable minister of the King of 

 Sardinia at Constantinople, supported our application with great zeal ; and 

 I suppose, also, that the British aml)assador threw his influence into the 

 sauie scale. * * * * * 



I am now by no means without hope that Kossuth and his friends will 

 be speedily released, unless Austria unconditionally accepts the Sultan's 

 offer of a detention for a single year, which there is little reason to sup- 

 jiose she will (b). 



The precise terms of the Sultan's offer to the Emperor of Austria are 

 not known, but it is understood to liave been to the effect that he would 

 <b^tain for a year, in Asia Minor, a certain number of the refugees, to be 

 selected by Austria within a given period. Although the offer was not 



