865.85/578: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Italy ( Phillips )
816. Your 1143, August 1, 2 p.m. Proceedings have been instituted or will be instituted against some 25 or 26 Italian vessels. These vessels were sabotaged by their masters and crews in direct violation of a statute passed in 191725 (see title 50, sections 191–194, of the United States Code). It will be for the courts to decide whether the vessels shall be forfeited for violations of our law. If they are not so forfeited the owners of any vessels requisitioned will be paid the value thereof as provided by the act of Congress approved June 6, 1941.25a
The vessels were in our ports and they, their masters, and crews were subject to our jurisdiction. The giving of effect to our law, which is designed to protect vessels, and harbor and other shipping facilities against acts of sabotage, would not be contrary to any principle of international law. On the contrary, each sovereign state has a right to protect itself against the commission of lawless acts within its jurisdiction, and to punish the commission of such acts.
There is no parallel between the action that is being taken by this Government and the retaliatory acts of confiscation which the Italian Government suggests may be taken against American-owned property in Italy.
You may inform the Foreign Office in the sense of the foregoing and say that any act of retaliation against enforcement of our laws by orderly judicial processes will be dealt with in such manner as the facts may seem to warrant.