152 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



United States in the so-called Eastern question, nor 

 as an officious interference with the right and duty 

 which belong by treaty to certain great European 

 powers, calling for their intervention in political 

 matters affecting the good government and religious 

 freedom of the non-Mussulman subjects of the Sul- 

 tan, hut it arose solely from our desire to have an 

 accurate knowledge of the conditions in our efforts 

 to care for those entitled to our protection. 



The presence of our naval vessels which are now 

 in the vicinity of the disturbed localities affords 

 opportunities to acquire a measure of familiarity 

 with the condition of affairs, and will enable us to 

 take suitable steps for the protection of any inter- 

 ests of our countrymen within reach of our ships 

 that might be found imperiled. 



Tim Ottoman Government has lately issued an 

 imperial iradf. exempting forever from taxation an 

 American college for girls at Scutari. Repeated as- 

 surances have also been obtained by our envoy at 

 Constantinople that similar institutions maintained 

 and administered by our countrymen shall be se- 

 cured in the enjoyment of all rights, and that our 

 citizens throughout the empire shall be protected. 



The Government, however, in view of existing 

 facts, is far from relying upon such assurances as 

 the limit of its duty. Our minister has been vigi- 

 lant and alert in affording all possible protection in 

 individual cases where danger threatened or safety 

 was imperiled. We have sent ships as far toward 

 the points of actual disturbance as it is possible for 

 them to go, where they offer refuge to those obliged 

 to flee, and we have the promise of other powers 

 which have ships in the neighborhood that our citi- 

 zens, as well as theirs, will be received and protected 

 on board those ships. On the demand of our min- 

 ister, orders have been issued by the Sultan that 

 Turkish soldiers shall guard and escort to the coast 

 American refugees. 



These orders have been carried out, and our latest 

 intelligence gives assurance of the present personal 

 safety of our citizens and missionaries. Though 

 thus far no lives of American citizens have been 

 sacrificed, there can be no doubt that serious loss 

 and destruction of mission property have resulted 

 from riotous conflicts and outrageous attacks. 



By treaty several of the most powerful European 



Sowers have secured a right and have assumed a 

 uty not only in behalf of their own citizens and in 

 furtherance of their own interests, but as agents of 

 the Christian world. Their right is to enforce such 

 conduct of Turkish government as will restrain fa- 

 natical brutality, and if this fails, their duty is to 

 so interfere as to insure against such dreadful oc- 

 currences in Turkey as have lately shocked civiliza- 

 tion. The powers declare this right and this duty 

 to be theirs alone, and it is earnestly hoped that 

 prompt and effective action on their part will not 

 be delayed. 



The new consulates at Erzerum and Harpoot, for 

 which appropriation was made last session, have 

 been provisionally filled by trusted employees of the 

 Department of State. These appointees, though 

 now in Turkey, have not yet received their exe- 

 quaturs. 



The arbitration of the claim of the Venezuela 

 Steam Transportation Company, under the treaty 

 >f Jan. 19, 1892, between the United States and 

 Venezuela, resulted in an award in favor of the 

 claimant. 



The Government has used its good offices toward 



composing the differences between Venezuela on 



the one hand and France and Belgium on the other, 



growing out of the dismissal of the representatives 



hose powers on (he ground of a publication 



deemed offensive to Venezuela. Although that dis- 



tl was coupled with a cordial request that other 



more personally agreeable envoys be sent in their 

 stead, a rupture of intercourse ensued, and still 

 continues. 



In view of the growth of our interests in foreign 

 countries and the encouraging prospects for a gen- 

 eral expansion of our commerce, the question of an 

 improvement in the consular service has increased 

 in importance and urgency. Though there is no 

 doubt that the great body of consular officers are 

 rendering valuable services to the trade and indus- 

 tries of the country, the need of some plan of ap- 

 pointment and control which would tend to secure 

 a higher average of efficiency can not be denied. 



The importance of the subject has led the Execu- 

 tive to consider what steps might properly be taken 

 without additional legislation to answer the need of 

 a better system of consular appointments. The 

 matter having been committed to the consideration 

 of the Secretary of State, in pursuance of his rec- 

 ommendations an executive order was issued on the 

 20th of September, 1895, by the terms of which it is 

 provided that after that date any vacancy in a con- 

 sulate or commercial agency with an annual salarv 

 or compensation from official fees of not more than 

 $2,500 or less than $1,000 should be filled either by 

 transfer or promotion from some other position 

 under the Department of State of a character tend- 

 ing to qualify the incumbent for the position to be 

 filled, or by the appointment of a person not under 

 the Department of State, but having previously 

 served thereunder and shown his capacity and fit- 

 ness for consular duty, or by the appointment of a 

 person who, having been selected by the President 

 and sent to a board for examination, is found, upon 

 such examination, to be qualified for the position. 

 Posts which pay less than $1,000 being usually, on 

 account of their small compensation, filled by selec- 

 tion from residents of the locality, it was not 

 deemed practicable to put them unde'r the new sys- 

 tem. 



The compensation of $2,500 was adopted as the 

 maximum limit in the classification, for the reason 

 that consular officers receiving more than that sum 

 are often charged with functions and duties scarcely 

 inferior in dignity and importance to those of dip- 

 lomatic agents, and it was therefore thought best to 

 continue their selection in the discretion of the Ex- 

 ecutive without subjecting them to examination be- 

 fore a board. Excluding 71 places with compensa- 

 tion at present less than (1,000, and 53 places above 

 the maximum in compensation, the number of po- 

 sitions remaining within the scope of the order is 

 196. This number will undoubtedly be increased 

 by the inclusion of consular officers whose remuner- 

 ation in fees, now less than $1,000, will be aug- 

 mented with the growth of our foreign commerce 

 and a return to more favorable business conditions. 



In execution of the executive order referred to, 

 the Secretary of State has designated as a board to 

 conduct the prescribed examinations the Third As- 

 sistant Secretary of State, the solicitor of the De- 

 partment of State, and the chief of the consular 

 bureau, and has specified the subjects to which such 

 examinations shall relate. 



It is not assumed that this system will prove a full 

 measure of consular reform. It is quite probable 

 that actual experience will show particulars in 

 which the order already issued may be amended, 

 and demonstrate that, for the best results, appro- 

 priate legislation by Congress is imperatively re- 

 quired. 



In any event these efforts to improve the consu- 

 lar service ought to be immediately supplemented 

 by legislation providing for consular inspection. 

 This has frequently been a subject of executive 

 recommendation, and I again urge such action by 

 Congress as will permit the frequent and thorough 



