Mr. Blaine to Governor Nicholls .
Washington , March 15, 1891 .
It has been represented to the President by the minister of Italy accredited to this Government that among the victims of the deplorable massacre which took place in the city of New Orleans yesterday were three or more subjects of the King of Italy. Our treaty with that friendly Government (which, under the Constitution, is the supreme law of the land) guaranties to the Italian subjects domiciled in the United States “the most constant protection and security for their persons and property” making them amenable, on the same basis as our own citizens, to the laws of the United States and of the several States, in their due and orderly administration.
The President deeply regrets that the citizens of New Orleans should [Page 667] have so disparaged the purity and adequacy of their own judicial tribunals as to transfer to the passionate judgment of a mob a question that should have been adjudged dispassionately and by settled rules of law. The Government of the United States must give to the subjects of friendly powers that security which it demands of our own citizens when temporarily under a foreign jurisdiction.
It is the hope of the President that you will cooperate with him in maintaining the obligations of the United States towards the Italian subjects who may be within the perils of the present excitement, that further bloodshed and violence may be prevented, and that all offenders against the law may be promptly brought to justice.
Very respectfully,