over estates of persons dying within limits of Canal Zone; and to act 24, giving official administrator jurisdiction over the estates of Isthmian Canal Commission employees. The only way that I can see that consul could administer on estates of Panama Railroad employees dying in the Canal Zone would be for an arrangement to be made with the circuit judges to appoint consuls to administer said estates, and even then I think consuls would have to act in a private capacity and not as consuls of the United States. Another question that would have to be considered is whether the State Department would want to be bothered with handling accounts, finding rightful heirs, etc., of deceased Americans dying in the Canal Zone, when all the Panama Railroad Company has to do is to notify judge of particular circuit in which employee died, and thereby throw all trouble and responsibility on circuit judge, where it rightfully belongs. I am always anxious to assist the Panama Railroad Company in any way possible, but do not think we can legally handle estates of their employees who die outside of our jurisdiction. I would suggest the following plan for the Panama Railroad Company to pursue in such cases, which I think would simplify matters and be satisfactory to circuit court judges: Let Mr. Bierd select one of his employees to handle estates of all persons in the employ of the Panama Railroad Company who die outside of consular jurisdiction, and immediately on the death of an employee Mr. Bierd can apply to circuit judge to have person whom he has selected appointed to administer estate. This the circuit judge has a right to do, and estate would be settled according to laws of the Canal Zone. Sincerely, yours, J. M. HYATT. [Inclosure 4.] Consul-General Shanklin to Minister Squiers. AMERICAN CONSULATE-GENERAL, SIR: Referring to our conversation of several days ago, in the matter of the consul at Colon having, at first, declined to take charge of the estate of a deceased American citizen who died while in the employ of the Panama Railroad Company, I have to advise that on my taking charge of this consulate-general I found the Isthmian Canal Commission had appointed an administrator of estates, and was notified that he was authorized and that it was his duty to take charge of the estates of all deceased Americans who died while in the employ of the Isthmian Canal Commission, if said estates were valued at less than $500 American money, but was given to understand that this did not cover estates of deceased Americans who died while in the employ of the Panama Railroad Company. I have acted accordingly, but I take it that the question will soon solve itself in that, as you are aware, the Isthmian Canal Commission will, it is said, take over the Panama Railroad, so that all men employed by the Government on the Canal Zone will be Isthmian Canal employees, and its administrator of estates will have charge of settling same until it reaches the $500. I am, etc., ARNOLD SHANKLIN. File No. 4108/4-8. No. 35.] The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Squiers. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 12, 1907. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 66, of the 8th ultimo, in regard to the consular jurisdiction over the estates of citizens of the United States dying in the Republic of Panama. In reply I inclose for your information copy of the department's instruction of the 10th instant to the consul-general at Panama. I am, etc., ROBERT BACON. [Inclosure.] The Third Assistant Secretary of State to Consul-General Shanklin. No. 71.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 10, 1907. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 238, of the 5th ultimo," relative to the administration of estates of American citizens dying within the Canal Zone. Under the law the circuit courts of the Canal Zone have jurisdiction in all matters of probate, both of testate and intestate estates of all persons dying in that territory except the estates of employees of the Isthmian Canal Commission or government of the Canal Zone, or any branch thereof, not exceeding $500 in value, which estates are administered upon by the collector of revenues. The department can not extend your consular jurisdiction to any part of the Canal Zone, and in no case should a consular officer undertake the settlement of estates of deceased American citizens dying without his district, in violation of paragraph 30 of the Consular Regulations. The estates of all American citizens dying within the Republic of Panama outside of the Canal Zone, as defined by the treaty of November 18, 1903, are administered upon by the consular officers in whose district the death occurs, in accordance with Article XIII of the Consular Regulations. I am, etc., HUNTINGTON WILSON. a Not printed. PERSIA. MURDER OF REV. BENJAMIN W. LABAREE. (For previous correspondence see Foreign Relations for 1904, pp. 657 et seq. and 835; 1905, pp. 722 et seq., and 1906, pp. 1208 et seq.) File No. 1558/1. The Persian Minister to the Secretary of State. No. 28/206.] [Translation.] LEGATION OF PERSIA, Washington, October 17, 1906. MR. MINISTER: I have the honor to inform your excellency that I have just received a detailed letter from His Highness Prince Mirza Mohamed Ali Khan, minister of foreign affairs, concerning the case of the murder of Mr. Lebri (Labaree), an American missionary. Your excellency already knows that the murderer of Mr. Lebri has been sentenced and imprisoned and that an indemnity has also been paid and that only a secondary question, that of the supposed guilt of several alleged accessories, remained pending. The readiness evinced by the Imperial Government, the energy displayed by the authorities for the capture of the said persons who are related to the chiefs of border tribes have since then brought contrary results; for, when armed force was used against them, they fomented disturbances along the whole of the Perso-Turkish boundary line, and succeeded by intrigue in creating a controversy between Persia and Turkey, so that in this unfortunate and regrettable affair the Imperial Government has had to meet not only internal disturbances, but also difficulties raised by Turkey. The governor of Ourmiah (Oroomia) recently sent a telegram to his highness the prince, imperial viceroy of the province, which, translated, reads as follows: As long as participation in the murder of Mr. Lebri shall hover about the alleged accomplices who are on Turkish or disputed territory, the prevailing disturbances that have already been the cause of great loss of life and property can not possibly come to an end, unless the Imperial Government should approach the Government of the United States with a view of commuting their punishment into a fine commensurate with their means. The minister of foreign affairs, while communicating the text of the foregoing telegram to His Excellency Mr. Pierson (Pearson), minister of the United States at Teheran, who is well acquainted with all the difficulties arising out of this matter, has also just instructed me to bring the above-stated facts to your excellency's knowledge and to beg that you will be so good as to accede to the peaceful solution of a fine which is, in truth, a much more severe punishment for those who are truly or fictitiously accused in the case. Hoping for a favorable answer, I embrace this opportunity, etc. MORTEZA. 85111-FR 1907-VOL 2- -23 941 File No. 1558/1. No. 7.] The Secretary of State to the Persian Minister. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 7, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 17th ultimo, in which, concerning the punishment of the accessories in the murder of the American citizen Labaree, you point out, by direction of your Government, that the efforts made by the Persian authorities to capture these persons, who are related to chiefs of the border tribes, have resulted in disturbances along the whole of the Perso-Turkish boundary and in creating a controversy between Persia and Turkey, so that the Persian Government has had to meet not only internal disturbances, but also difficulties raised by Turkey; and you quote the text of a telegram from the governor of Oroomia to the effect that these disturbances, which have already been the cause of great loss of life and property, can not possibly come to an end unless the Government of the United States should "commute their punishment into a fine commensurate with their means. Therefore, under the instructions of your Government, you request the Government of the United States "to accede to the peaceful solution of a fine." It thus appears that, in view of the impossibility of inflicting bodily punishment, by imprisonment or otherwise, as stipulated by the arrangement reached between the two governments in settlement of the reclamation arising out of the murder of the American citizen Labaree, the Persian Government proposes that, in lieu of such bodily punishment of the accessories, there be exacted from the guilty parties or their relatives a fine equal to the amount which was remitted from the indemnity paid to the widow of the murdered man. This department understands that, under Oriental procedure, a fine levied upon the offenders or upon their property or upon their immediate relatives is a punitive process, implying ascertainment and adjudication of guilt. It has been represented to the department that the burden of such a fine might not, in fact, fall upon the real culprits or upon their property or near kinsmen, but be levied upon the inhabitants of the territory by some form of taxation or assessment involving the vicarious suffering of the innocent peasantry for the deeds of public criminals. Such a proceeding would lack the essential element of punitive and exemplary justice and would, in fact, be tantamount to a device of the Persian State to relieve itself from the moral and conventional duty to punish the murderers. The Government of the United States would be loath to believe that any such procedure was contemplated or even possible. It would be a conspicuous and painful departure from the lofty principles of justice which from the earliest days of history have inspired the noble Persian Empire and set its reputation for uprightness so high in the eyes of all mankind. It would be a procedure to which the Government of the United States could not lend acquiescence. In this matter of the murder of Labaree, the Government of the United States has acted in fulfillment of its duty to protect the interests of American citizens, as well as in the exercise of its international right to redress the wrong done to the United States in the person of one of its citizens. This has required the treatment of the question under two aspects the remedial reparation due to the widow of the murdered man, which has been effected by the payment of a money indemnity for the benefit of the dependent relatives of Labaree, and the exemplary redress due to the Government of the United States, to effect which the due operation of Persian justice has been invoked against the guilty parties and their accessories. The United States Government will not accept blood money from the state or from innocent Persians in substitution of its just claim that punishment be visited upon the guilty. It is imperative that they be punished. As to the shape the punishment shall take, this Government is not disposed to dictate terms to the Persian Government, so long as we shall be satisfied that punishment in some way consonant with Persian justice and commensurate with the gravity of the crime is in fact inflicted. As a legal proposition punishment, whether by death, or by imprisonment, or by fine, is still a penalty for guilt. Whatever form it takes, if it does actually reach the guilty, its exemplary character and deterrent purpose are accomplished. But it is essential that the punishment should possess that exemplary character and should effect that deterrent purpose. This Government seeks no vindictive remedy on the one hand, and on the other hand it can not barter away its right to simple justice for a lucrative consideration which may be neither exemplary nor punitive. If this Government be satisfied that the fine which, as appears from your note, is proposed to be inflicted upon the participants in the murder of Labaree shall be punitive, reaching the guilty parties, through their property or their kin, and not bear upon the innocent by way of a territorial tax or indiscriminate assessment, we shall be willing to take into account the difficulties which, as your note recites, stand in the way of the Persian Government's pledge to visit bodily punishment upon those implicated in the murder of Labaree, and would be disposed to accept the imposition of an adequate fine as being a mode of punishment falling within the scope of our just demand. To effect an agreement in this sense, however, it would be necessary that the two Governments should stipulate for some such suitable disposal of the fine as will attest its exemplary nature and deterrent purpose. It can not be viewed in the light of mere additional indemnity to the family of the murdered man. That form of reparation has already been completely accomplished. It can not inure to the pecuniary profit of the Government of the United States, for we may not and will not purchase lucrative gain at the cost of acquiescence in a failure of justice. Neither can it be deemed a fitting disposition to let it pass into the Persian treasury, for that would defeat the essential condition that the settlement of this matter between the Governments shall be exemplary as well as remedial, punitive, and deterrent. In like cases, which have occurred elsewhere within recent years, notably in the Chinese Empire, a practical solution of the problem has been found and one which may be followed with singular appropriateness in the present case. It is that the money penalty exacted |