The Americans consider themselves flouted by the Sultan, who cannot
be induced to reply to their remonstrances. The Government of Washington has accordingly despatched two cruisers to Smyrna, and if their appearance does not alarm Constantinople, the powerful American squadron in the Mediterranean will, it is said, shortly steam to their support. The Americans have a definite claim against the Sultan for £50,000, due as compensation for outrages on American Mission establishments during the Armenian troubles ; but their real object, it is said, is to obtain permission to raise their Mission to the rank of an Embassy. This can only be done if the Turkish Minister at Washington is also raised to the rank of an Ambassador, and this the Sultan pleads that he cannot afford. The Americans say that he must afford it, or allow their Minister the privileges of an Ambassador, for as matters stand they can obtain no hearing for their com- plaints,—are treated by the Porte, in fact, as one of the minor Powers. If the Sultan is as shrewd as be is usually repre- sented to be, he will correct this blunder at once. He can always leave his new Embassy without pay.
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