Lascelles to Granville Leveson-Gower, April 18, 1883

Mr. Lascelles to Lord Granville.

My Lord: With reference to my dispatch No. 24 of the 6th instant, I have the honor to report that Mr. Agourd, the acting minister of public instruction, has informed Mr. Challis that in view of the popular feeling at Sistova against the teaching of the American missionaries, it is impossible for the Bulgarian Government to grant permission for the opening of American schools.

In consequence of this answer I have informed Mr. Zancoff, the acting minister for foreign affairs, that it became my duty to report to your lordship the decision which the Bulgarian Government had arrived at, and to wait your lordship’s instructions on the subject. I also told Mr. Zancoff that I had recommended Mr. Challis to report the matter to the United States minister at Constantinople, who, I understood, had the intention of bringing the question to the notice of the great powers. Mr. Zancoff replied that the right of opening schools in Bulgaria was a purely internal matter, which would not justify the interference of the powers. He said that he himself was favorably disposed toward the Americans, but that they appeared to have acted in an illegal manner. * * * I told Mr. Zancoff that as far as I could learn the Americans had done nothing illegal, and that they professed their willingness to comply with all the requirements of the laws which might be made; what they complained of was the arbitrary act of the authorities in illegally closing the schools. The Bulgarian Government had now decided that the schools should not be reopened, and the matter had therefore assumed so serious an aspect that it became my duty to apply to your lordship for instructions as to the course I should follow in regard to it. Mr. Zancoff said that he would bring the matter before the council of ministers. * * *

The schools of the American missionaries are not the only ones which have been recently closed by the Bulgarian authorities at Varna, where there is a large Greek population. Two Greek schools were closed some time ago, and Mr. Rangabé, the Greek agent and consul-general, has informed me that in spite of an order from the Bulgarian Government, the prefect refused to allow them to be opened, and that it was only in consequence of a telegram to the prefect, informing him that unless the schools were opened he would be dismissed, that he at last obeyed the orders he had received. * * *

With regard to the popular feeling which is said to exist in Sistova, I am informed that a petition signed by three thousand persons has been addressed to the minister of public instruction against the American schools. Mr. Challis has informed me that no doubt there is a class of persons who are hostile to the work of the American missionaries, and among these are to be counted a large number of the clergy. He denies, however, that the majority of the inhabitants are opposed to the missionaries, who are quite prepared to meet with opposition, provided that they are not molested by the authorities. He was not aware of the manner in which the present petition was got up, but he has informed me that last year a petition directed against them was circulated by the tax-gatherer. He has also informed me that under Turkish rule the missionaries had no complaint to make against the authorities, who, on the contrary, protected them against the attempts at persecution which were made by some of their Bulgarian opponents.

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I have, &c.,