[Untitled]
Washington , May 7, 1908 .
In signing to-day with the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Most Faithful Majesty the King of Portugal and of the Algarves the extradition treaty which was negotiated between the Government of the United States and that of Portugal, the undersigned Secretary of State has the honor to acknowledge and to take cognizance of the Minister’s note of this day’s date stating that he has been instructed by His Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Portugal to place on record, on behalf of the Portuguese Government, its understanding that the Government of the United States assures that the death penalty will not be enforced against criminals delivered by Portugal to the United States for any of the crimes enumerated in the said treaty, and that such assurance is, in effect, to form part of the treaty and will be so mentioned in the ratification of the treaty.
In order to make this assurance in the most effective manner possible, it is agreed by the United States that no person charged with crime shall be extraditable from Portugal upon whom the death penalty can be inflicted for the offense charged by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the charge is pending.
This agreement on the part of the United States will be mentioned in the ratifications of the treaty and will in effect form part of the treaty.
Visconde de Alte,
Minister of Portugal.