File No. 12344.
The Acting Secretary of State to Chargé Gregory.
Washington, March 20, 1908.
Sir: You will ascertain whether, in view of the negotiations pending between the Governments of the United States and Honduras for an extradition treaty, the latter Government would be willing, as an act of comity, to surrender fugitives from the justice of the United States, charged with embezzlement.
While you will, however, be obliged to supplement your inquiry by a distinct statement that you regret that this Government will be unable to reciprocate the favor in similar cases, because, in the absence of treaty stipulations, the laws of the United States preclude the surrender of fugutives from the justice of other countries, yet the imminence of an extradition treaty between the two countries whereby the reciprocal surrender of criminals will be put into operation in accordance with law, leads the department to hope that the Government of Honduras may, as an act of comity, agree to the surrender of fugitives from the justice of the United States, unless such surrender, in the absence of treaty, is precluded by the laws of Honduras,
I am, etc.,