Career
David Offley first appears as lieutenant and quartermaster in a regiment of volunteers enrolled when war with France was impending in 1799. In 1811 he went with a cargo of merchandise to Smyrna in Asia Minor, founding there the first American commercial house in the Levant. Feeling against England was bitter in the United States when he left, and he imported this antagonism into Turkey, where the lack of a treaty made American trade dependent upon British protection. Formerly American goods had paid the same duties as British, but recently the Turkish government had doubled the rate because New England captains had indiscreetly passed the Dardanelles without proper papers. Influenced by ardent nationalism, Offley erroneously attributed this to English intrigues and suspected that it lacked the Sultan's approval. When he refused to pay the increased duties, his property was seized, and he carried the case to Constantinople. Four months of negotiation and the judicious expenditure of several thousand dollars in bribes produced little result until he threatened to present a petition directly to the Sultan. A spirit of accommodation was then suddenly discovered and an agreement made which was practically a private treaty. The duty on American goods was fifteen per cent more than that of nations having treaties, but the added expense was no greater than the cost of foreign protection.
Returning to Smyrna, he was mortified to fird other Americans unwilling to risk their goods under this arrangement. Trade was suspended during the war with England, but in 1815 he induced his countrymen to abandon British protection by agreeing to be responsible personally for any losses. In 1816 he gained the favor of Husrev Pasha, Turkish minister of marine, under whose powerful protection American trade prospered for fifteen years. Settled in Smyrna with an Armenian wife and handling most of the growing American trade, Offley became wealthy enough to play successfully the part of unofficial ambassador, greatly respected by natives and foreigners. In 1823 his services were rewarded by appointment as consular commercial agent. Meanwhile Secretary John Quincy Adams, convinced of the need for a formal treaty, sent out several secret agents, and in 1826 sponsored a meeting between Husrev Pasha and Commodore John Rodgers of the American Navy. Greatly impressed by Offley's knowledge of the people and manners of Turkey, Rodgers took him along as adviser, but nothing definite came of the interview. Husrev kept suggesting a direct negotiation at Constantinople to Offley, who urged it upon the American government, feeling certain that success would be easy while Turkey was embarrassed by the Greek Revolution and war with Russia.
In 1828 he and Commodore William M. Crane were commissioned to negotiate, but several months of labor in the capital were rendered fruitless by insufficient funds and foreign influence. A year later he was appointed on another commission with Commodore James Biddle and Charles Rhind. Since Offley was widely known, Rhind went alone to Constantinople and secretly concluded a mostfavored-nation treaty on May 7, 1830. When the other commissioners arrived to add their signatures, Rhind disclosed a secret article against which they protested violently. Refusal to sign would have wrecked the whole negotiation. After an acrimonious quarrel they unwillingly signed and distributed the customary presents to the Ottoman negotiators. In 1832 Offley was raised to the rank of consul, a position he held at Smyrna until his death. A man of great vigor, keen judgment, wide knowledge of Turkey and the Turks, he was the founder of American commerce in the Levant, for he bestowed freely upon his countrymen the advantages won by his own liberal expenditure, energy, and bold diplomacy.
