No. 199.
Mr. Francis to Mr. Fish.
Athens, March 1, 1873. (Received March 25.)
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 110, I now have to announce that in the case of Lorenzo Caratacciolo, the refugee who was decoyed on board an Italian mail-steamer at Corfu and taken to Italy, the court of appeals at Trani, in that kingdom, promptly decided that the arrest of Caratacciolo was in violation of international law, and granted him liberty on the condition that he should leave Italy within five days. He arrived at Corfu on the 24th ultimo, and was received by a large concourse of citizens, who marched through the streets with banners and music, and made him the hero of the day.
The Italian consul at Corfu alleges that this man Caratacciolo has committed three murders in Italy, and that he is now at the head of an organization in Corfu that has been for some time carrying on a contraband trade, chiefly in tobacco, with near points on the Italian coast. He states that earnest efforts have been made to induce the Greek authorities to surrender the man to be dealt with by the Italian courts, or to remove him to some more remote place in Greece where it will be impracticable for him to execute his contraband business in Italy. Now that the Italian government has conceded the right of asylum in his case, it is argued that, in a spirit of proper international comity, Greece ought to comply at least with the request to have Caratacciolo removed from Corfu. But, on the other side, it is contended that the person in question has violated no law of Greece, that he is a peaceable resident of Corfu, and that there is no authority in law by which the privilege of asylum there can be denied him.
I am, &c.,