Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1901 — ULTIMATUM SENT TURKEY [ARTICLE]

ULTIMATUM SENT TURKEY

F"*nch Ambassador Constans Threatens to Leave Constantinople. BRIEF TIME IS ALLOWED. Sultan Must Settle Matters in Dispute Without Delay—Opinion Prevails in Paris That Affair Is Delng Mismanaged —No Naval Demonstration. M. Constans, the French ambassador,, has issued what is virtually an ultimatum to the Turkish government It was in the form of a letter to the Sultan personally, informing him that the entt re staff of the French embassy would leave Constantinople If the matters in dispute were not settled immediately. The briefest possible time is accorded the Sultan in which to comply with the demands. The foreign office at Paris has received a telegram from M. Constans, the French ambassador to Turkey, to the effect that he has sent an ultimatum to the Sultan that he will leave Constantinople at a given date unless satisfaction is accorded for the French grievances. The given date is not stated. The opinion prevails at Paris that the affair is being mismanaged. Either the Sultan is proving more obstinate than was expected or else the government’s reticence in giving out information is inexplicable. While officials of the French foreign office decline to confirm or deny the dispatch from Constantinople announcing that the French ambassador has sent the Sultan a letter which is in the nature of an utlimatum, they admit having received a telegram from M. Constans, which has been laid before the council now sitting at the Elysee palace. Only three ministers were not present. The Premier, M. Waldeck-Rousseau; the Minister of Agriculture, M. Dupuy, and the Minister of Public Works, M. Baudin, are absent from Paris. M. Constans has been given a free hand. Any step he finds propel to take will be fully indorsed. The Foreign Minister, M. Delcasse, if he deems it necessary, will withdraw the French embassy from Constantinople, and Munir Bey, the Turkish ambassador, who is now in Switzerland, will be notified not to return to Paris, in which case Munir Bey will probably withdraw the legation to Berne, as he is also accredited as minister to Switzerland. No naval demonstration is yet contemplated, but the Sultan will probably be seriously inconvenienced by the closure of the Turkish embassy here, which is the center of the espionage maintained to watch the numerous young Turks and other disaffected Ottoman subjects and voluntary exiles who make their headquarters in Paris, and who will have a free hand if diplomatic relations between France and Turkey are completely broken off. It has been suggested that the French government issue orders for the bourse to cease dealing in Turkish securities, but it is not likely that this step will be taken, as it would only injure the French bondholders. The entire Turkish group fell on the bourse Friday, in some cases going down 10 to 12 francs. According to a special dispatch received at Paris from Berne, Munir Bey has already leased a villa there for the use of the Turkish embassy.