No. 126.
Mr. Williams to Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
Pelting, October 10, 1874.
(Received December 8.)
No. 65.]
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 62, of the 2d
instant, in relation to the request of Prince Kang for the arrest in the
United States of Wang-Yen-ping, and his surrender to Chinese jurisdiction, I
have now the honor to inclose the translation of a rejoinder I have since
received to my reply to the prince.
In this letter he quotes a clause of the eighteenth article of the American
treaty, stipulating for the surrender of Chinese criminals who may take
refuge in the ships or houses of Americans, as if, in his view, it was of
the same force within the territory of the United States as of China.
This opinion, though quite unfounded, probably seemed to him to be a
legitimate inference when taken in connection with what is said in Wheaton’s
International Law upon the extradition of criminals among the nations of the
west, and the express stipulation of the British treaty in reference to
criminals fleeing to the colony of Hong-Kong. Article XII of the treaty
between Japan and China provides for the mutual surrender of criminals
fleeing from justice, but does not state what crimes are amenable to this
provision. Article XXI of the unratified treaty of 1862, between Portugal
and China, also stipulated for the surrender of Chinese criminals fleeing to
Macao, and required the proof of their guilt to be presented to the colonial
authorities. In view of the great emigration of Chinese to the United
States, this subject presents features of much interest.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
65.—Translation.]
Prince Kung to Mr.
Williams.
Tungchi, 13th year, 8th moon, 25th day,
(October 5, 1874.)
Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith sends
a reply.
I have had the honor to receive your excellency’s dispatch of the 30th
ultimo, in which you state as follows:
(Here Mr. Williams’s dispatch is quoted in full.)
In reference to this case, I may quote the 13th article of the American
treaty, in which it is provided, “if criminals, subjects of China, take
refuge in the houses or on hoard the vessels of citizens of the United
States, they shall not be harbored or concealed, but shall be delivered
up to justice on due requisition by the Chinese local officers addressed
to those of the United States.”
The criminal, Wang-Yen-ping, who was reported by the southern
superintendent of trade as having been implicated with some vagabonds at
Shanghai in secretly carrying arms, and afterward fleeing the country to
avoid arrest, had designed a scheme of brigandage in so doing. It is
really to be feared that he will delude some people by now giving out
that he is an envoy of the Chinese government, and thereby cause
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trouble; and it was this
apprehension which led me to address your excellency and request that
you would communicate the facts to your government to the end that this
criminal might be arrested and sent back to China to be tried and
punished.
In your reply now received, you state that as Wang-Yen-ping has no
letters of credence from his own government, it will be known that he is
an imposter, and quite impossible for such a hare-brained, half-crazy
man to make any trouble. I shall put this reply carefully on file for
future reference, and now send this acknowledgment.
His Excellency S. Wells Williams,
United States Chargé d’Affaires.
