765.84/5031: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister Resident in Ethiopia (Engert)
353. Your 551, September 13, 9 a.m. While it is of course regrettable that the Italian authorities should have chosen a spot so near our legation to carry out the execution of rebels, I am surprised that you have seen fit without consulting me to address a written protest to Marshal Graziani couched in such violent language.
If any action appeared desirable before consulting the Department it would seem that you might have confined yourself in the first instance to a courteous oral inquiry of the Marshal as to the reasons why the executions were carried out so near the Legation. In view of the friendly spirit which the Marshal has repeatedly shown in matters of concern to this Government I cannot believe he would have failed in the present instance to have given sympathetic consideration to any reasonable request you might have made.
I note that in your letter to the Marshal you have stated that you “will not in the future tolerate the perpetration of such horrors at the Legation’s doorsteps.” The impropriety of such a threat should be obvious to you in the absence of any knowledge that the Department concurred in the step you have taken and would be prepared to support you in making any such an unenforceable demand.
You should bear constantly in mind the delicate position of our diplomatic mission in Ethiopia and the fact of Italian military control and you should carefully refrain from any act that might aggravate the situation, and create needless problems for the Department.