THE AMERICAN EXTRADITION CASE.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 681, 25 August 1876, Page 3

THE AMERICAN EXTRADITION CASE.

The Philadelphia correspondent of the Times telegraphs on June 21st as follows : Presiden 1 Grant has sent a message to Congress about the Winslow case, in which, after giving a history oi the case, the President says : " England bases its refusal to surrender the fugitive and its demand for stipulations from tin's Government on the requirement of a purely domestic enactment of the British Parliament passed in 1870. This Act was brought to the notice of this Government shortly after its enactment, and her Majesty's Government advised the United States

that they understood it as giving continued effect to the existing engagements under the Treaty of 1842 for the extradition of criminals ; and with this knowledge on its part, without dissent from the declared views of the United States as to the unchanged nature of reciprocal rights and obligations of the two Powers under the Treaty, Great Britain has continued to make requisitions to grant surrenders in numerous instances, without any suggestion that it was contemplated to depait from the practice under the Treaty which has obtained for more than thirty years until now. For the first time, in this case of Winslow, it is assumed that under the Act of Parliament her Majesty's Government may require a stipulation or agreement not provided for by the Treaty as a condition to the observance by her Government of its Treaty obligations towards this Government. This I have felt it my duty, emphatically my duty, to repel." In addition to the Winslow case, the President describes the Brent case, saying that a similar stipulation has been asked for and refused. The President continues that with regret he announces that England has released both fugitives, setting them at liberty, thus omitting to comply with the provisions and requirements of the Treaty under which the extradition of fugitive criminals is made between the two Governments. He says:— " The position thus taken by the British Government, if adhered to, cannot but be regarded as an abrogation or annulment of the Article of the Treaty on Extradition. Under these circumstances it will not. in my judgment, comporb with the dignity or selfrespect of this Government to make any demand upon that Government for the surrender of fugitive criminals, nor to entertain any requisition of that character from that Government under the Treaty. It will be a cause of deep regret if this Treaty, which has been thus beneficial in practical operation, which has worked so efficiently, and which, notwithstanding exciting and, at times, violent political disturbances, of which both countries have been the scene during its existence, and which has given rise to no complaint on the part of either Government against either its spirit or provisions, should be abruptly terminated. It has tended to the protection of society and to the general interest of both countries. Its violation or annulment would be a retrograde step in international intercourse. I have been anxious, and have made efforts, to enlarge its scope, and to make a new Treaty which would be a still more efficient agent for the punishment and prevention of crime; but at the same time I have felt it my duty to decline to en tertain any proposition made by Great Britain, pending its refusal to execute the existing Treaty, to amend it by practically conceding by Treaty the identical conditions which that Government demands under the Act of Parliament. In addition to the impossibility of the United States entering upon negotiations under a menace of intended violation, or refusal to execute the terms of the existing Treaty, 1 deemed it unadvisable to treat of only the one amendment proposed by Great Britain. While the United States desires an enlargement of the list of crimes for which extradition may be asked, and other improvements which experience has shown might be embodied in a new Treaty, it is for Congress to determine whether the Article of the Treaty relating to Extradition shall be any longer regarded as obligatory on the United States or forming any part of the supreme law of the land. Should the attitude of the British Government remain unchanged, I shall not, without an expression of the wish of Congress that I should do so, take action either in making or granting requifitions for the surrender of fugitive criminals under the Treaty of 1842."

The House referred the Message to the Committee upon Foreign Affairs.