Mr. Hovey to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Several applications for asylum have been made to me by Peruvian citizens charged with crime against the republic. So far I have refused them on the authorities of law: Wheaton, §18, page 416; Woolsey’s International Law, §92 (b) page 152; and Poison’s Law of Nations, §31, page 103.
A different practice has prevailed in Peru, and the houses of foreign ministers have become little less than the abode of criminals who flee from the vengeance of the law. It seems to me that this practice is highly censurable and leads to very evil consequences. Crime ripens and accumulates where offenders are so easily shielded; and no government can be secure where high treason, if unsuccessful, can flee to the “horns of the altar” for protection.
By this practice the minister indirectly assumes a kind of infallibility, exalts himself above the executive and courts of the land, and thus pays the authorities, as I view it, a very unkind compliment.
I feel assured that such a practice would not be tolerated in Washington; and as we should be willing to abide by what we teach and exact, I have refused to recognise the doctrine of asylum as practiced in this country, until I am otherwise directed by the Department of State.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.