The Foreign Service Journal, March 2021

64 MARCH 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL the Metropolitan (the head of the Greek Orthodox Church), “expressions were employed by the translators, which the Hel- lenes regard as unfit to be printed in the Holy Scriptures.” As a result, “Athens has been the scene of mob demonstration which … almost assumed the proportions of a revolution,” Francis reported. He continued, “Mass meetings were held in front of the university buildings on the afternoons of November 19 and 20, at which violent speeches were made in denunciation of the objectionable biblical translation and of all those identified with it.” Opponents of the project, led by university students and labor unions, called for a mass demonstration; the Greek authorities unwisely reacted by mobilizing military forces in the capital. “Late in the afternoon the expected collision took place between the authori- ties and the aroused Athenians. The mob, now numbering over 25,000, proceeded to the ministry of finance and demol- ished the windows of the building. Thereupon, shots were fired upon the crowd by police officers and employees of the ministry. The rioters responded with pistols and stones and were only dispersed after a cavalry charge and several carbine volleys,” Francis wrote. Eight demonstrators were killed and more than 60 wounded. “That the casualties were not greater may be explained by the fact that the soldiers were unquestionably in sympathy with the sentiments of the rioters, and did not direct their fire upon the crowds, the effective shooting being done by the police or gendarmes.” After these events, the Greek govern- ment and church capitulated. Two senior police officials were sacked, the Metropolitan resigned; and, as Francis reported, “Priests read from every pulpit in Athens a [religious] decree … which prohibits, on pain of excommunication, the sale or read- ing of any translation of the Bible.” Protecting U.S. Citizens and Promoting Exports Protection of citizens overseas has always been a priority of U.S. embassies. One particular issue facing naturalized U.S. citizens returning to Europe during the Francis ambassadorships in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was conscription into the armies of their birth countries. Many European armies were based on universal conscription, and some governments did not, as a matter of principle, recognize foreign naturalization as an exemption from conscription. This was such a serious issue for Greece and Austria that in 1901 the State Department instructed the embassies in both countries to warn naturalized U.S. citizens that naturaliza- tion was not an automatic exemption from conscription. The instruction to Athens said: “The Greek Government does not, as a general statement, recognize a change of nationality on the part of a former Greek without the consent of the King, and a former Greek who has not completed his military service and who is not exempt therefrom under the military code may be arrested upon his return to Greece.” Charles S. Francis dealt successfully with at least one such case in each country where he served. In Greece, he secured the release of Louis (Leonidas) Economopoulos from the Greek Army in 1901, but it took two years of diplo- matic struggle. In 1906 Francis similarly secured the discharge from the Austrian Army of Peter Szatkowski. Unfortunately, he was not as successful in opening the Aus- trian market to U.S. meat exports, particularly of salt pork. A long series of cables from 1906 to 1908 describe U.S. efforts to get salt pork exports accepted by Austria, and the reasons why Austria refused. The fundamental issue was a dispute over sanitary stan- dards; these kinds of disputes persist to this day between the U.S. and the European Union. Given that both [Francises] were in the newspaper business, it seems likely that they wrote their own diplomatic cables. John M. Francis in his Troy study, 1889. HARTCLUETTMUSEUM,TROY,N.Y.