In thanking you for that communication, I hasten to express the regret that the unusual precautions taken by my department to facilitate the execution of that police measure did not produce the desired result. I will add that my regrets are the more intense and the more sincere, that Mr. Battiste has always merited the consideration of the Government.

Please accept, etc.,

B. ST. VICTOR.

Mr. Hay to Mr. Powell.

No. 378.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 27, 1899.

SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 655, of the 11th instant, in which you report to the Department the invasion of the premises of the deputy consul by the chief of police and a body of the police force for the alleged purpose of making search for a thief, and you ask instructions as to any further representation to the Haitian Government.

The search seems to have been immediately accomplished without awaiting the result of the formal application made to the legation for its sanction.

The application so made is somewhat vague, but in the light of Mr. Battiste's report to Mr. Terres it appears that the entire square was being searched for an escaped thief who was supposed to have taken refuge there.

As the immunities attaching to the office of deputy consul do not include so-called asylum for persons charged with violating the law, no objection could be seen to effecting the proposed search after notification, and with the sanction and, if necessary, the full assistance of the officers of the legation. It seems clear, however, that the proceedings were not conducted with suitable consideration for Mr. Battiste's official position, his yard fence having been broken down and his premises alarmingly invaded by an armed force.

The protest made by Mr. Terres is approved as proper and timely. The reply from Mr. St. Victor is evasive and unsatisfactory, being confined to an expression of regret that the exceptional precautions taken by his department to facilitate the execution of the proposed police measure had not produced the expected result.

You will impress upon Mr. St. Victor the obvious circumstance that no time was allowed to the legation to respond in the desired sense, inasmuch as the search appears to have been already in progress when the agents of the legation hastened to Mr. Battiste's house for the purpose of aiding the local authorities in the orderly execution of the proposed search, and you will express the hope that you may not at any time hereafter be called upon to make renewed complaint respecting any such offensive disregard of the consideration and official amenities due to the representative agents of the United States at Port au Prince, or, indeed, anywhere else within Haitian jurisdiction.

As it would appear from Mr. Terres's statements that Mr. Battiste's fence has been broken down, you should insist, if it has not already been done, that any injury done to the property of this officer of the United States shall be made good.

I am, etc.,

JOHN HAY.

No. 426.]

ITALY.

BEQUEST TO METHODIST CHURCH IN ITALY.

Mr. Draper to Mr. Hay.

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES,
Rome, Italy, April 13, 1899.

SIR: I have the honor to send you herewith a copy of a statement made to me by the Rev. William Burt, presiding elder of the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a society duly incorporated under the laws of the State of New York and recognized in Italy by a royal decree, according to the law of June 5, 1850, and having an office at No. 38 Via Firenze, in this city. It relates the difficulties which Mr. Burt has encountered to his efforts to obtain a legacy left to him as presiding elder, etc., by one Carlo Giovane, for the purpose of building an evangelical school in San Marzano, Italy. The attention of the foreign office has been called to the matter in a note, of which I also send you a copy. The case seems to involve not only a considerable sum of money, but the very right of a duly incorported American body to exist in Italy, and the legality of the titles to its property. I am, etc.,

WILLIAM F. DRAPER.

[Inclosure 1.]

Statement of the Rev. William Burt.

Carlo Giovane, of San Marzano Oliveto, left by will to the Rev. William Burt, as presiding elder of the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 7,000 lire for the purpose of building an evangelical school in San Marzano. The school has been built. Giovane did not nominate his heirs, nor did he dispose of all of his property; hence his brothers and sisters became his legal heirs to them. Therefore, the Rev. William Burt turned to them for the 7,000 lire and asked that certain properties of these heirs be sequestered as a guaranty of the payment of the money. The tribunal of Asti ordered the sequester December 22, 1894. The sentence was confirmed by the court of appeal May 7, 1895. Then came in the clerical influences-religious processions, planting of a cross near the property of the mission in San Marzano, making the people take an oath at the altar of the church in the presence of a notary, the visit of the bishop of Acqui, etc. The case was then brought before the tribunal of Asti again to pass judgment on its merits, and this same tribunal, which before had ordered the sequester, now decided that the money was not left to the Rev. William Burt personally, but to him as representative of a society which had not proved its right to appear in judgment. This sentence was given December 7, 1895, and was confirmed by the court of appeal March 20, 1896. Then the missionary society, already recognized by several preceding royal decrees as a corporate body of the State of New York, immediately obtained from the council of state a royal decree September 30, 1896, authorizing the missionary society to receive the bequest in question. This royal decree was accompanied by numerous documents proving the right of the society to appear in judgment. Notwithstanding this, the tribunal of Asti, on March 25, 1898, not only absolved the heirs from the former sentence of sequester of January 17, 1897, but also condemned the Rev. William Burt personally

to pay all expenses. The Rev. William Burt then appealed to the Government to know if there was anything else he could do to establish the society's right. The Government replied that the right was implied in the royal decree already granted, and that nothing more could be done, or was needed. The Rev. William Burt, furnished with all these documents, appealed, and the case was again heard February 17, 1899, at Casale, and the court not only confirmed the sentence of the tribunal of Asti, but positively declared that the society had no judicial rights in this country. The Rev. William Burt was informed before the case was heard that three of the five judges were clericals, and that the opponents made their boast that for this reason their case was sure, and now it is known that the court stood-the three clericals against the two liberals.

It seems to be now not entirely a question of the 7,000 lire, but of the abovenamed society's right to be in Italy and of the legality of the titles to its property. When the courts absolutely refuse to recognize the judicial rights of a society duly incorporated according to the laws of the State of New York and duly authorized by a royal decree according to the law of June 5, 1850, what value have the society's titles to property in Italy, and of what importance are the royal decrees when the society has no judicial rights? The society's representative has done all that the laws and government of the country demand, and yet, according to the courts, the society has no rights. Certainly the Italian Government will never permit such a monstrous injustice!

[Inclosure 2.]

General Draper to Admiral Canevaro.

I have the honor to call your attention to the following statement furnished to me by the Rev. William Burt, presiding elder of the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church at No. 38 Via Firenze, Rome:

The

Carlo Giovane, of San Marzano Oliveto, left by will, on the 19th of February, 1890, to the Rev. William Burt, as presiding elder of the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 7,000 lire, for the purpose of building a Methodist Episcopal school in San Marzano. The school has been built. Giovane did not nominate his heirs, nor did he dispose of all of his property; hence his brothers and sisters became his legal heirs. To them, therefore, the Rev. William Burt turned for the 7,000 lire, and asked that certain properties of these heirs be sequestered as a guaranty of the payment of the money. The tribunal of Asti ordered the sequester December 22, 1894. This sentence was confirmed by the court of appeal May 7, 1895. case was then brought before the tribunal of Asti again to pass judgment on its merits, and this same tribunal, which before had ordered the sequester, now decided that the money was not left to the Rev. William Burt personally, but to him as a representative of a society which had not proved its right to appear in judgment. This sentence was given December 7, 1895, and was confirmed by the court of appeals March 20, 1896. Then the missionary society, already recognized by several royal decrees as a corporate body of the State of New York, immediately obtained from the council of state a royal decree, September 30, 1896, authorizing said missionary society to receive the bequest in question. This royal decree was accompanied by numerous documents proving the right of the society to appear in judgment. Notwithstanding this, the tribunal of Asti on March 25, 1898, not only absolved the heirs from the former sentence of sequester of January 17, 1897, but also condemned the Rev. William Burt personally to pay all expenses. The Rev. William Burt then appealed to the Government of His Majesty to know if there was anything else he could do to establish the society's right. The Government replied that the right was implied in the royal decree already granted, and that nothing more could be done or was needed. The Rev. William Burt furnished with all these documents appealed, and the case was again heard February 17, 1899, at Casale, and the court not only confirmed the sentence of the tribunal of Asti, but positively declared that the society had no judicial rights in this country.

This case seems now not to be merely a question of 7,000 lire, but of the very right of the society of which the Rev. William Burt is the head to exist in Rome, although the society is a corporate body of the State of New York and has been recognized by royal decree within this Kingdom. A situation is thus presented in which my Government will take the deepest interest if the judgment of the last court in which the cause was heard should be sustained by the highest court to which it may be carried. I shall therefore be very glad if your excellency will call my attention to any inaccuracies (if such exist) in the Rev. Mr. Burt's statement concerning the decisions of

the courts. What he relates can doubtless be verified by the court records at the disposal of His Majesty's Government.

I avail myself, etc.,

WILLIAM F. DRAPER.

Mr. Iddings to Mr. Hay.

No. 471.]

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES,

Rome, Italy, July 6, 1899.

SIR: Referring to the ambassador's No. 426 of April 13, 1899, about the difficulty which the Rev. William Burt, presiding elder of the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church at No. 38 Via Firenze, Rome, is having in trying to collect a legacy left to him, as presiding elder, by one Carlo Giovane, for the founding of an evangelical school in San Marzano, Italy, I have now the honor to send to you, with a translation, a copy of the reply to General Draper's note to the foreign office, dated April 12, last, on the same subject, a copy of which was inclosed in his No. 426, above referred to. I have allowed the Rev. Mr. Burt to read this reply. He is well satisfied with the attitude of the Royal Government, and hopes that the meaning of the opinion is that if he does not get justice in the court of cassation, the department of grace and justice will then examine the case. Mr. Burt has taken steps to have his claim to the legacy well presented before the court of cassation. I am, etc., LEWIS M. IDDINGS.

[Inclosure.]

The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Mr. Iddings.

His excellency the keeper of seals, to whom I hastened to communicate the contents of your note dated April 12, last, concerning the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church at No. 38 Via Firenze, in Rome, has expressed himself to me as follows regarding the matter:

As it is known, there are two opinions regarding the status and capacity of corporations legally established abroad, some writers holding that civil recognition in the Kingdom is indispensable in order to insure to them enjoyment of the practice of the rights pertaining to national corporations, while others hold that a new recognition is useless and even contrary to the principles of international right as accepted by our legislation.

"The ministry of grace and justice constantly followed this last opinion, in conformity with repeated similar opinions of the counsel of state, among which the original ruling of the 7th of June, 1884, in full bench, in which it was held that the recognition of the foreign corporation touching only its rights of holding property should be considered as implied in the very act by which the Government grants the authorization of purchase (requiring) to this end only being required the proof and official declaration that the corporation making the demand has a legal existence and power to hold property in the county of its origin.

"And as it results that the said missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of New York was legally incorporated in the United States and was therefore authorized, by the terms of the law of June 5, 1850, to receive legacies and donations, and also in the case under examination it was authorized to receive the legacy of 7,000 lire, left by the late Carlo Giovane for founding an evangelical school in S. Marzano, as a special decree of civil recognition was not considered necessary.

"In the suit, however, instituted against the Giovane heirs for the payment of the aforesaid legacy, the tribunal of Asti, by the sentence of March 25, 1898, following the first of the above-mentioned opinions, absolved the Giovine defendants from this demand, holding that the society has not made demonstration of its legal existence in the Kingdom, and that the decree of authorization already cited was not sufficient to that end.

"The court of appeals of Casale, by a judgment of February 17 last, confirmed this opinion, but, as has recently been stated by the attorney-general of that city, exceptions will be taken to that sentence.

"In this condition of affairs no steps can be taken in behalf of said corporation, but if the court of cassation is of the same opinion as the judges on the merits of the case, then the ministry of grace and justice, after having heard the counsel of State, will not fail to examine whether, at least in this case, a formal and explicit recognition should be granted to the foreign society in question to enable it to again take legal steps against the Giovane heirs, the judgment already given not, apparently, having prejudiced its merits."

Pray accept, etc.,

MALVANO, for the Minister.

ABOLITION OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION BUREAU AT ELLIS

No. 455.]

ISLAND.

Mr. Draper to Mr. Hay.

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES,

Rome, Italy, June 7, 1899.

SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of a note from the Italian foreign office, dated June 5, with a translation. My personal attention has also been called to certain printed testimony of Mr. Powderly, our Commissioner-General of Immigration, a copy of which is in the possession of the Italian foreign office, and it seems to me that there is some reason for the complaint made in the note which I am sending to you. Outside of the passages to which there is reference in the communication of the foreign office, there is an implication in the testimony of Mr. Powderly that Baron Fava, the Italian ambassador at Washington, secured the establishment of the bureau directed by Signor Rossi, in the interest of the padroni-an implication naturally offensive to Baron Fava and to his Government, and in the nature of things absolutely without foundation. The statement that the bureau was to be suspended, when no notice had been given to the Italian Government, is what the foreign office here specifically complains of. The ministry take the view that this bureau stands on such a basis and is of such a character that its abolition, if such be intended, should be discussed with them, and that reasons for such abolition should be given before any definite action is taken.

* *

*

In March or April of last year notice was received in Rome that the bureau was to be discontinued in fifteen days. The minister of foreign affairs, the Marquis Visconti Venosta, immediately made a protest to me, and I think also through his embassy at Washington. I wrote in regard to the subject in my dispatch No. 158, dated April 2, 1898. The result of that communication was the temporary revocation of the order of abolishment. If it be really intended now to renew the order, I venture to suggest that it would be most wise to explain to the Italian Government in advance the reasons for such a step, so that it may not seem to them an arbitrary act on our part. I am sure that the Marquis Visconti Venosta is desirous that our immigration laws should be respected in letter and in spirit, and I have always found him ready to consider favorably every suggestion that has been made by us to accomplish this result. I trust that the matter may receive the especial attention of the Department of State. WILLIAM F. DRAPER.

I have, etc.,