The Secretary of State to the Italian Ambassador.
Washington, December 21, 1906.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your notes of December 6 and 18 advising the department that in the State of Kentucky an organization known as the “night riders” has burned tobacco purchased by the agents of the Italian Government and threatens further depredations.
You ask in behalf of the Italian agents and the property purchased by them the protection and security granted by the existing treaties between Italy and the United States.
I have the honor to say in reply that while Article III of the treaty between the United States and Italy, dated February 26, 1871, guarantees Italian subjects temporarily residing within the United States “the most constant protection and security for their persons and property,” it is specifically stated that these rights and privileges are [Page 953] to be enjoyed “on their submitting themselves to the conditions imposed upon the natives.”
Inasmuch as native citizens seek and obtain redress for their injuries or threatened injuries to property by means of proceedings in courts of justice, it would appear that Italian subjects should in like cases seek their redress in courts of justice.
If the tobacco when purchased by the agents of the Italian Government becomes the property of the Government, as may be inferred from your note, it would seem to belong to the Government in its private capacity rather than as sovereign. In such a case the Italian Government might seek redress in our courts of justice, because it is a settled law of this country that courts of justice are open to sovereigns upon the same terms as to private individuals, for the protection of property rights.
A copy of your note and the department’s reply have, however, been transmitted to the governors of Kentucky and Tennessee for their information and such action as they may deem appropriate in the premises.
Accept, etc.,