811.111 Zizianoff, Nina Princess
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in France (Whitehouse)
Sir: The Department is informed that the appeal cf Consul Donald F. Bigelow from the decision of the 12th Chamber of the Tribunal Correctionnel de la Seine in the suit brought against him by Princess Zizianoff will be heard on December 22 by the Cour d’Appel of Paris. The Department desires that you send to the French Foreign Minister a note containing the following statement:
“I am instructed by my Government to say that it has learned with much concern of the decision rendered by the Tribunal Correctionnel de la Seine on April 5, 1927, declaring itself competent to hear the [Page 856] suit brought against Consul Donald F. Bigelow by Princess Zizianoff because of statements made by Mr. Bigelow to a newspaper writer, in which the Consul gave reasons why he had refused to visa the passport of the plaintiff. It is hoped that the Court of Appeals, to which Consul Bigelow has taken an appeal from the decision mentioned, will see fit to take into consideration the following points:
“The action of Consul Bigelow in refusing to grant a visa to Princess Zizianoff was approved by the Department of State. White the Department regrets that Mr. Bigelow felt called upon to state to a newspaper reporter who had made inquiry regarding the matter reasons which had actuated him in refusing the visa, it feels that his action is not one for which he should be prosecuted in the French courts, particularly in view of the fact that he acted in his consular capacity, on the consular premises, and was not actuated by any personal malice toward Princess Zizianoff.
“In addition to the foregoing facts which would seem to furnish sufficient ground for holding that the French courts should not take jurisdiction in the suit against Consul Bigelow, my Government again calls attention to the provisions of Article XII of the Consular Convention of 1853, between the United States and France, that ‘the respective Consuls General, Consuls, Vice Consuls or Consular Agents … shall enjoy in the two countries all the other privileges, exemptions and immunities which may at any future time be granted to the Agents of the same rank of the most-favored-nation’. My Government desires that attention be again directed to the Embassy’s note of March 5, 1927, in which mention was made of the decision of the Tribunal Correctionnel de la Seine of July 8, 1890, dismissing the suit brought against Mr. Manolopoulo, Chancellor of the Greek Consulate General in Paris, who was charged not only with having defamed but also with having struck the plaintiff, and the decision of the Cour d’Appel at Rouen of May 11, 1900, dismissing a suit brought against Mr. Lee Jortin, British Vice Consul at Dieppe for lack of jurisdiction.
“My Government would be pleased if the French Government could see its way clear to bring the above to the attention of the Cour d’Appel of Paris.”
I am [etc.]