Ambassador White to the Secretary of State .
Rome , June 20, 1906 .
Sir: With reference to my dispatch No. 204, of the 13th instant, relative to the counterfeiting of the seal of our consulate at Palermo, I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of the official copy,a which I have received from the consul at Palermo, of the “Sentenza,” or judgment, of the fifth section of the penal tribunal of Palermo in the case in question.
You will observe therefrom that in the view of the court, article 266 of the penal code only protects seals, marks, etc., “destinati per disposizione di legge o del Governo ad una publica certificazione” (destined by provisions of law or of the Government to public attestation), and that our consular seal, not having received such recognition from the laws of the Government of this country, is not protected by the article in question. Consequently the men accused of the violation of that article of the Penal Code were adjudged not guilty of having done so, however much they may have counterfeited our consular seal.
This morning I called upon the minister of foreign affairs and asked him whether he were yet in a position to answer the inquiry contained in the second paragraph of my note of the 9th instant or whether he had received any information relative to the case in question. He replied that he had written at once to Palermo for information on the subject, but had so far heard nothing.
I thereupon handed him the official copy of the inclosed “sentenza” and pointed out to him that even if the men who were accused of counterfeiting our seal could not be convicted under article 266 of the Penal Code, as to which I expressed considerable doubt, wherein he seemed disposed to concur without, of course, committing himself to a positive statement upon such a cursory perusal of the document, they should nevertheless, in my opinion, not have been discharged, but that they might have been punished under article 413 of the Penal Code and article 424 of the Mercantile Marine Code, copies of which I handed to Signor Titoni and I also inclose herewith.
I added that in view of the fraudulent attempts constantly made, especially at Naples, Messina, and Palermo, and which seem to be on the increase, to violate our emigration laws and regulations, I felt strongly that every effort should be made by the Italian authorities to punish any offenders who could be discovered, and that in this instance a failure of justice had, I thought, certainly occurred, which I hoped the Government would endeavor to rectify. The minister, who did not appear at all to like the look of the case himself, said he would at [Page 938] once communicate with the minister of justice in the matter and let me know the result as soon as possible. I concluded my remarks by renewing the request contained in my note of the 9th for information, which I said that I intended to transmit to you, as to the penalties, if any, contained in the laws of this country against the counterfeiting of the official seals of foreign embassies and consulates.
I have, etc.,
- Not printed, the document in the Italian language being too lengthy.↩