Aali to E. Joy Morris, November 28, 1866

Aali Pacha to Mr. Morris.

Sir: The governor of Jerusalem has recently informed the Sublime Porte that some forty American families have arrived at Jaffa, for the purpose of establishing a colony in that neighborhood.

It is unnecessary, sir, to remind you that the imperial government has always manifested an earnest desire to grant all possible facilities to strangers who resort to this empire as travellers, or for the purpose of engaging in industrial or commercial pursuits, but the object of the emigration of such a number of families at the same time is evidently with a view to the colonization of a part of the empire, and to the acquisition of landed property. On the other hand, if such a precedent should be admitted, the proprietorship of the soil and the agriculture of one of the most important provinces of the empire would inevitably, to the great detriment of the native population, pass into the hands of the new colonies, that would not fail to follow the first.

The imperial government therefore believes it to be its duty, in regard to the interests of the population of the empire, to notify the legation of the United States that it cannot give its consent to the establishment of these families in Palestine.