Department
of State,
Washington, November 7,
1887.
No. 81.]
[Inclosure in No. 81.]
Mr. Bayard to Mr.
Dwyer.
Department of State,
Washington, January 31,
1887.
Sir: I have to acknowledge your letter of the
23d instant, inquiring, by a series of interrogatories (twelve in
number), whether it is compatible with his official duty for the United
States minister to Italy to present to His Holiness the Pope and
Cardinal Simeoni a memorial from the creditors of Archbishop Purcell and
transmit the reply thereto, or whether the minister can be instructed by
this Department to do so personally or through an agent.
To these questions I reply: This Government, when seeking redress for
citizens of the United States from residents in Italy, is limited to
diplomatic appeals to the King of Italy, either through its minister at
Rome or His Majesty’s minister at Washington. It can not address the
Pope personally, and a minister to a foreign country can only
communicate officially with persons living under its sovereignty through
the channels of customary international intercourse.
It is not consistent with the public service for one of our foreign
ministers to press on the tribunals, ecclesiastical or lay, of the
Government to which he is accredited, the collection of private debts.
The foreign minister, in seeking redress under his Government’s
instructions for injuries to his country or its citizens, must alone
address the sovereign to whom he is accredited; and what the minister
can not be instructed to do officially he can not be authorized to do in
his private capacity, either personally or through an agent.
Very respectfully, yours,
