File No. 5931/171.
The Secretary of State to Minister Jackson .
Washington , March 16, 1908 .
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 33, of the 12th ultimo, in regard to the settlement of the Labaree case, and the status of the Turco-Persian boundary dispute.
You have correctly apprehended the attitude of this Government in the Labaree matter as expressed in the department’s note to the Persian envoy, July 17, 1907.1 It was not competent to this Government to exercise a domestic prerogative of Persian sovereignty and assume to absolve the accessories to Labaree’s murder from the consequences of their violation of Persian law, should they be found in Persian jurisdiction; but the United States cheerfully assented to the request of Persia that its demand for the punishment of the guilty parties should be withdrawn, inasmuch as the accessories were outside of Persian jurisdiction, and this Government’s demand for their punishment appeared to be regarded as requiring Persia to pursue and capture them in alien territory. The request of the Persian Government and the ready compliance of the United States therewith looked to the avoidance of international complication with Turkey, and it naturally behooved this Government to make it clear that no misunderstanding as to its attitude might indirectly contribute to any such complication. The present course of this Government in deferring to whatever action of the Persian Government in respect to the accessories may be counseled by high reasons of public policy on the part of Persia is a further proof of its earnest and considerate friendship.
I am, etc.,