1 of 9 DR. CYRUS HAMLIN AND THE MANUSCRIPT PRESENTED TO HIM PRIOR HIS DEPARTURE FROM ISTANBUL, IN 1873 Prepared by Erol Makzume Makzume Collection 2 of 9 “To the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D.D. LL.D. President of Robert College, Constantinople1 Rev & Dear Sir, Your removal from Bebek, where you have resided with slight interruptions for the last thirty three years, and where we have enjoyed the privilege of your society, appears to us a suitable occasion for giving expression to the feelings which we have long entertained towards you. As a Missionary for many years of the American Board to the Armenians, you won the confidence and esteem of that nationality, and doubtless, in their own language, you preached to them the Gospel of God with the same favo9r and faithfulness, which have so often edified ourselves in your English ministrations. We admired also your wisdom in introducing manual labour, within due bonds, among the students of the Mission Seminaries, thus activating among them a spirit of self reliance, while diminishing materially the expenses of the Board. Those years will ever be associated in our minds with the events of the Crimean War; and we recall with gratitude the important services you rendered to the British Army by erecting a washing establishment for the Hospitals at Kuleli2, and also by supplying them and those at Scutari3 with wholesome bread; while with the profits of the latter enterprise, you created a fund, which largely aided the erection of Churches for the native Protestant congregations of this country. Equally conspicuous were your exertions during the terrible visitation of cholera in this capital in 1865. The “cholera mixture” which you brought into use, was doubtless the means under God of saving many lives, but we equally vale the example of your courage in penetrating into the pestilential abodes of the neglected population of this City. On that occasion, however, you merely dispensed in a more public manner the kind sympathy, the wise counsel, and the prompt personal assistance, which you have ever manifested to the inhabitants Bebek of every nationality, and which bestowed upon ourselves in the hour of distress and sorrow, we shall ever gratefully remember. These service have endeared you to us all; while we have ever found you affable and generous, fertile in expedients, and ready to support everything that could promote the happiness and improvement of the community. In connection with the noble Institution over which you now preside, we admired the prudence and perseverance with which you surmounted the opposition which so long resisted its 1 Istanbul. 2 In original text : Koululee. 3 Todays Üsküdar. 3 of 9 establishment. Now that you have been privileged to erect for it so befitting a habitation, may you be spared for many years to watch over its interests. It is your distinction as President of Robert College to present to the youth of all the nationalities of this Empire the means of attaining high literary culture and scientific eminence, and to offer at the same an example of firm faith In the divine Authority of the Bible, and of reverent obedience to its precepts. By the diffusion of such truly Christian Education, Robert College cannot fail to be a blessing to this land. In short, we have been directed by you counsel, encouraged by your example, and instructed and edified by your ministrations; and we pray that God may bestow on yourself and all the members of your Family his richest blessings, guiding you here with his counsel, and afterwards receiving you to glory. We are, Reverend and Dear Sir, Your very affectionate Friends : James Binns, E.E. Bliss, J. G. Bliss, E. M. Bliss, W. R. Bull, Mrs. Callucci, G. H. Clifton, E.F. Ede, George Gatheral, J.K. Greene, H. Groppler, C. S. Hanson, Hy. I. Hanson, A. W. Hanson, W. Wellesley Hanson, George Jacobs, W.E. Jackson, Henry Lamb, Albert L. Long, I.F. Pettibone, Hy Ridley, John Rowell, Rudolf Schneider, John Seager, W. Seller, W.G. Scauffler, W.R. Swan, Thomas Swan, Octs Swan, Hy Swan, Alex Thomson, John R. Thomson, Edwin Thomson, G. W. Wood. Constantinople May 1873.”4 (6 pages) *** This unique manuscript presented to Cyrus Hamlin just before his departure from Istanbul in May1873, in a way, summarizes the Turkish odyssey of this remarkable and exemplary personality of the 19th century. After the announcement of his departure from Istanbul, Cyrus Hamlin and his family received an invitation to meet friends at the Bebek home of John Seager. Hamlin and Seager, an important trader and entrepreneur, had known each other for almost as long as Cyrus had been in Turkey. Seager ,besides his different business activities, also dealt with the administration of a shipping company and befriended Florence Nightingale, who operated a hospital in Üsküdar for the victims of the Crimean War. He assisted her in getting the much need supplies, including loaves of bread supplied from Cyrus Hamlin’s bakery.5 Friends had not prepared the Hamlin family for the large attendance. Engish and American residents all gathered at the farewell evening. Upon their arrival at Seager’s home at Bebek, the Hamlins were directed into a long hall where at the end was placed a table, upon which lay several objects covered with a sheet. 4 Turkish translation in appendix. John Seager obtained the agency for the Cunard shipping company in Istanbul in 1852, which remained in the family for 80 years… 5 4 of 9 When everyone took their seats, the Rev. Thomson of the British and Foreign Bible Society rose from his seat behind the table, holding the beautifully engrossed vellum booklet protected with a blue cover. On the booklet read the inscription “To the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., LL. D., President of Robert College, Constantinople” hand written in elegant style and finely bordered with floral designs. The text read by Rev. Thomson, was a tribute and a testimonial to his more than three decades of service to his adopted homeland Istanbul.6 Following the reading of the manuscript, a beautiful gold watch with the inscription “Presented to Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, LL. D., as a mark of esteem by a few friends on his leaving Bebek, Constantinople, May 1873”, a beautifully crafted silver tea set with initials C.H. and an exquisite isilver tray were presented to him. In a letter he wrote, prior his departure from Istanbul, to the financier of the College Christopher Robert, Hamlin said “English and American community who reside in Istanbul are not the only ones to regret my departure. Turks, Armenians, Greeks and Jews all seem to know that I am about to leave and are profuse in the expression of their feeling”. In another letter to Robert he wrote”…I am hard pressed as possible, early and late, in arranging things, saying farewell to my friends of many nationalities whom I would not like to leave without shaking their hands. Every step is one of deep and tender sadness. A peculiar solemnity comes over the lost things and makes one feel all neglects, mistakes, lost opportunities.” On Friday, September 26, Hamlin escorted his wife and four youngest children on board of the steamer bound to America, for what he expected would be a prolonged period of fund-raising on behalf of Robert College. As the familiar domes and minarets of the city faded into the distance, there was no way Hamlin could have known that he would never set foot again on the shores of his beloved Bosphorus.7 *** In addition to his biographies, much has been said and written about Cyrus Hamlin’s early life, his accomplishments both in Istanbul and when he returned to his motherland. We shall not go through the various stages of his life, but instead quote some excerpts from the US public press and from letters received from friends and academicians: S.M. Minassian of Brooklyn : “I have seen him in sunshine and under the shadow. I have seen him in all his works and in all his moods, and I felt deeply convinced, long ago, that he was a rare man - a great man - especially fitted by God for the time and generation in which he lived…” Rev. H.A. Schauffler D.D. of Cleveland Ohio: “…I never knew any one more gladly ready to sacrifice himself for others than he was. And how willingly he used his brilliant talents, his great knowledge and his wonderful power in the service of God and his fellow men ! “ Hon. S.B. Capen, President of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions : “…He has been one of the great man of this century and people are appreciating him and his work more and more…” US press, The Chicago Advance 1900 : “ As to his value of educational work it cannot be measured by statistical standards. His monument can be seen only in part by going to the campus of Robert College and looking around you. There you will find the edifices where he taught and the equipment for higher education which he was largely instrumental in procuring, but his important and enduring monument must M. Stevens-M. Stevens, Against the Devil’s Current the Life and Times of Cyrus Hamlin, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınevi 2012, p.387-389. 6 7 ibis, p.390 5 of 9 be sought for in the lives and characters of his pupils. He has influenced hundreds of lives for good, and in so doing he has been writing, in part, the history of the Turkish Empire for years to come. He put his Yankee inventiveness and mechanical skill to the good use of Turkey. He established an industrial annex in Bebek Seminary in which his students made sheet-iron stoves and various household articles. He built a mill for grounding flour, and made the best bread in Turkey when good bread was very much needed. He tempered steel picks for dressing the buhrstone of his mill when English and French mechanics had failed. He taught the English how to wash and laundry clothes in their hospitals , during the Crimean War…” US Press The Ticonderoga Sentinel, by Rev. Joseph Cook, 1900 : “A polygonal soul both in mind and heart, Dr. Hamlin’s chief characteristics were the variety and opulence of his native endowments. He was brilliantly successful as preacher, as an educational organizer and leader, as an instructor in the mechanical arts, as practically a diplomat and statesman, as a polemic and reformer, as a professor of theology, ethics and philosophy, as an autobiographer and as a college president. The many sided character of his endowments and carrier reminds one of Benjamin Franklin…” US press The New York Tribune 1900 : “…There was , at this time, no bakery in all the city that furnished sweet bread. All that could be had was leavened bread , which of course, was sour. Dr. Hamlin bethought himself that here was a promising field in which to employ his friends….For the needed buildings must first be erected, and the mill established, and the flour be ground, before the first loaf could be turned out. For all this, moreover, he had to be financier, for the Board could not advance funds for work of this sort. But Dr. Hamlin was equal to all these demands, for he got his money, built his flour mill, set up his machinery, built his ovens, taught the men how to make bread , and, finally found a market for his whole product… But the greatest achievement of his life was still to come. After the close of the Crimean war came the establishment of Robert College. The story of the most notable institution has been told so often that we can only say, that while what Dr. Hamlin had already achieved would have given him an imperishable name in the East, this added to his laurel wreath its most luxuriant branch. In the lapse of years, when the final story of the enlightenment of the East comes to be told, the influence of Robert College will be given the weight due to it, and then, and only then, will the debt that the East owes to Dr. Hamlin be fully understood.” Us press The Independent of Aug. 16, 1900: “He was original and distinguished an American character as Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln. For fifty years a missionary at Constantinople, he was first of all an original educator. But in order to secure imperial sanction for the college which he founded, he had to be a diplomat, and that of the highest character; and in order to provide for the pupils in those , especially to provide means by which they could do something for their own support, he had to invent forms of practical industries, construct machinery, and himself do everything which an inventor, architect, engineer or farmer may do to create a plant and put everything in working order….” Godfrey Goodwin (Teacher at Robert College between 1957-1968) : “… a man whose name should be included in any list of outstanding individuals of the 19th century. Cyrus Hamlin was much more than a dedicated missionary. He was a revolutionary educationalist who wanted learning to be a balance between the skills of the hand and the skills of the mind…No detail escaped this self-taught engineer who trained his students to bake bread which delighted the wounded from the Crimean War and who also invented primitive washing machines to deal with their blood and filth sodden uniforms unchanged since the battlefield. Deservedly, it was the whiff of the newly baked bread that led Christopher Robert to land perchance at Bebek and so the meet Hamlin. From this encounter came the money with which to found Robert College which is now the University of the Bosphorus. (Later to become Bosphorus University) *** 6 of 9 HOW CYRUS HAMLIN ACQUIRED LOANS TO FINANCE HIS BREAD PROJECT : It was in 1853-54, during the initial years of the Crimean War (1853-1856) that Cyrus Hamlin decided to build a mill for grounding flour and mount a bakery for producing loaves of sweet bread, in Istanbul. As he had no money to invest, he decided to approach his friend Charles Ede (1793-1863), a British banker residing in Istanbul to obtain a loan. From a manuscript ledger of H. Basil who was Ede’s bookkeeper, we note, starting from January 1854 and for two years Hamlin obtained seven loans, spread over different dates, from Charles Ede. At the end of the first year, Hamlin refunded the loan with 8 % interest. After the venture became profitable, the remaining loan was refunded by the end of 1856. Page of the ledger indicating dates when Hamlin obtained his first loans from Charles Ede in 1854. Makzume Collection Istanbul 7 of 9 CONCLUSION : Although the manuscript presented to Cyrus Hamlin was prepared from the perspective of an American Christian missionary, it does not fail to pass the clear message that Cyrus Hamlin always exposed a secular attitude and made no difference among students of all races, nationalities and religions, without any prejudice or discrimination. The college he established, under no circumstances, became politically involved or showed any political inclinations. Had it not been for Cyrus Hamlin, neither Robert College nor the Bosphorus University today would have existed. Photograph of Robert College, which Cyrus Hamlin took along with him when he returned to America in1873, Makzume Coll. 8 of 9 ANNEX 1 Turkish Translation of Farewell Manuscript (source 2 p.418-419) : “Robert College Müdürü Rev. Cyrus Hamlin’e… Muhterem ve Aziz Beyefendi, son otuz üç yıldır kısa aralıklar dışında kesintisiz ikamet ettiğiniz ve bizimde sizin topluluğunuzda bulunma ayrıcalığından zevk aldığımız Bebek’ten ayrılıyor olmanız uzun zamandır size karşı aklımızda bulunan hisleri ifade etmeye uygun bir fırsat gibi görünmektedir. Yıllar boyu American Board’un Ermeniler için görevlendirdiği bir misyoneri olarak o milletin güvenini ve saygısını kazandınız. Hiç şüphesiz aynı şevk ve sadakatle onların kendi dillerinde Tanrı’nın Müjdesi’ni vaaz ettiniz. İngilizce gerçekleştirdiğiniz vaazlar sık sık bizim de zihni ve ahlaki açıdan yükselmemizi sağlıyordu. Ayrıca Misyon İlahiyat Okullarına, uygun sınırlar çerçevesinde zanaat bilgilerini dahil etme noktasındaki bilgeliğinize hayranız. Böylelikle bir yandan öğrencilerinizi özgüven ruhuyla yetiştirirken öte yandan Board’un masraflarını da azaltmış oldunuz. Hafızalarımız o yılları hep Kırım Savaşı’ndaki hadiselerle ilişkilendirmektedir. Sizin İngiliz ordusuna yaptığınız önemli hizmetleri minnettarlıkla yad ediyoruz. Kuleli’deki hastanelere çamaşır yıkama tesisleri kurdunuz. Ayrıca oradaki ve Üsküdar’daki hastanelere besin değeri yüksek ekmekler temin ettiniz. İkinci söylediğim teşebbüsün kaplarından bir fon oluşturarak ülkedeki yerli Protestan cemaatler için yapılan kilislerin inşaatlarına bol bol yardımda bulundunuz. !865 yılında İstanbul’u sarsan korkunç kolera salgınındaki gayretleriniz de aynı derecede dikkat çekiçidir. Halkın kullanımına soktuğunuz “kolera tertibi ilaç” hiç kuşkusuz Tanrı’nın izniyle pek çok hayatın kurtarılmasına vesile oldu. Fakat bizler, şehirde ihmal edilmiş halk kesiminin veba tehlikesi saçan evlerine girmedeki örnek cesaretiniz de buna denk bir değer biçiyoruz. Ancak bu vesileyle söyleyelim, Bebek’te oturan her milletten insanı kucaklayıcı bir tarzda gösterdiğiniz, yine sıkıntılı ve üzüntülü anlarımızda bizlere de ihsan ettiğiniz şefkat, bilgece yol gösterme ve anında yardına koşma gibi hasletlerinizi daima şükranla anacağız. Siz bu hizmetleri hepimize sevdirdiniz; sizi daima dost canlısı, cömert, çareler üreten ve toplumun gelişmesini teşvik edebilecek ve mutluluğunu yükseltebilecek şeyleri desteklemeye hazır biri olarak bulduk. Şu an yönetmekte olduğunuz bu asil eğitim kurumuyla bağlantılı olarak, kolejin kurulmasında uzun süre direnen muhalefetin üstesinden gelmede gösterdiğiniz sağduyu ve sebata hayranız. Mademki ona bu derece yakışır bir mesken inşa etme imtiyazına sahip oldunuz; yıllar boyunca onun çıkarlarını koruyup gözetmeye de ömrünüz vefa edebilsin. Robert Kolej Müdürü olarak sizin farkınız, İmparatorluktaki bütün milliyetlere mensup gençliğe, onları yüksek edebi kültüre ve bilimin zirvelerine ulaştıracak vasıtaları sunmanızdır. Aynı zamanda siz, Kitab-o Mukaddes’in ilahi otoritesine olan sağlam inancın ve onun emirlerine saygı gösterme temeline dayanan itaatin bir örneğini takdim ettiniz. Böylesine hakiki Hristiyan eğitimini yaymasıyla Robert Kolej, bu topraklara bir lütuf olmada asla başarısız olamaz. Kısacası bizler sizin tavsiyelerinizle istikametimizi belirledik, sizi örnek alarak cesaretlendik; sizin hizmetlerinizle zihni ve ahlaki açıdan yükseldik. Tanrı’ya, size ve aile fertlerinize en cömert nimetlerini bahşetsin diye dua ediyoruz. Öğütleriyle bu dünyada size rehber olsun; öte dünya da ise Cennetine kabul etsin. Muhterem ve aziz beyefendi, biz dostlarınız zatı alinize saygılar sunuyoruz. Otuz Dört dostun imzası, İstanbul, Mayıs 1873 “ 9 of 9 Primary sources used to prepare this article: 1) Cyrus Hamlin, Türkler Arasında Türkiye’deki Misyonerlik Faliyetleri ve Robert Kolej”, Kahverengi Kitap 2015, İstanbul. 2) Cyrus Hamlin, Robert Kolej Uğruna Bir Hayat, Dergah Yayınları 2017, İstanbul. 3) M. & M Stevens, Against the Devil’s Current The Life and Times of Cyrus Hamlin, Boğaziçi Univ. Publication 2012, İstanbul. 4) In Memoriam, Cyrus Hamlin - Missionary, Published Privately, Boston 1903