File No. 702.6811/43.
The Chargé d’Affaires of Greece to the Secretary of State.
Washington, March 7, 1914.
Mr. Secretary of State: I have had the honor to receive your note No. 182 of January 3, on the subject of the suit brought against Mr. Aristotele Tsakonas, His Majesty’s Consul at Philadelphia, by the Orthodox Hellenic Community of that city.
Pursuant to the instructions I have just received from my Government—to which I had forwarded the contents of your above-mentioned note and which adheres to its opinion that the aforesaid suit, being an action bearing on the discharge of the Consul’s official duties, is tantamount to an intervention of the local authorities in the Consul’s relations with his Government contrary to the provisions of the existing Consular Convention between Greece and the United States and, in particular, Article VI which expressly stipulates that “the local authorities shall in no case examine the papers deposited in the consular offices that are inviolable “—I venture to apply to your excellency with a request that you kindly take such steps as you may deem appropriate to induce the local judicial authorities to desist from any further proceedings in the said suit brought against His Hellenic Majesty’s Consul at Philadelphia.
My Government would be glad to hear whether the Government of the United States shares its views on the subject or deems that the aforesaid Consul was regularly summoned in his official capacity before the local courts in a case that relates to the discharge of his duties as representative of his nation, in order that it may accordingly shape its attitude towards Consuls of the United States in Greece.
Be pleased to accept [etc.]