439.41 St 3/12
The British Ambassador (Geddes) to the Secretary of State
Sir: In the note which you were so good as to address to me on March 18th, in regard to the claim of Mr. Thomas Steel, you enclosed a copy and translation of a note from the Dominican Foreign Office to the American Legation at Santo Domingo. In this note the opinion was expressed that Messrs. Steel and McPhail were without good grounds in preferring a claim against the Dominican Government and it was pointed out that such a claim is cognizable by the Courts of the Dominican Republic.
I did not fail to submit a copy of your note to my Government, who desire me to draw attention to certain of the principles laid down in this note from the Dominican Foreign Office and in particular to the assertion that “it is a principle of international law universally admitted that every person who establishes himself in any foreign country, respects, by that simple act, not only the laws, regulations and practices there existing, but also accepts all of the abnormal conditions to which life in that country may be exposed”.
[Page 97]My Government are anxious to learn whether, in forwarding this note to His Majesty’s Embassy, the United States Government may be held to approve of and to subscribe to the principles laid down in the Dominican note and to consider that such principles are susceptible of universal application.
I should be grateful if you would be so good as to place me in a position to inform my Government of your view in regard to the point raised above.
I have [etc.]