No. 342.
Mr. Preston to Mr. Cadwalader.
Washington, August 14, 1875. (Received August 14.)
The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of Hayti near the Government of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note addressed to him by the honorable Acting Secretary of State, under date of August 6, 1875.
He will take the liberty to say, in the first place, that the opinions of the Government of the United States in regard to the pretended right of asylum agree entirely with those of the government of Hayti.
He is happy to think that, during the negotiations to which the asylum granted to Boisrond Canal and others has given rise, the Department of State has madeknown its view of the question with so much plainness, that no doubt can exist with reference to the line of conduct which it will eventually adopt in the matter.
The undersigned also feels authorized to hope that a perfect understanding will be reached on this question of the right of asylum by the government which he represents and that of the United States. Thus he cousiders that the way is now prepared for the negotiation which his government has instructed himto open and pursue with that of the United States, with a view to bringing about the abolition of this practice, which has been too long maintained in Hayti by the legations there accredited.
The attention of the undersigned has been specially called to that portion of the note of the honorable Acting Secretary of State which relates to Mr. Bassett’s official conduct in the affair of Boisrond Canal and others. He now knows to a certainty that, as the honorable Acting Secretary of State says, “this act on his part has not been approved by this Department.” The undersigned will observe that these words, ultered in the name of the Government of the United States, give entire satisfaction to the government which he has the honor to represent; he sees in them a formal recognition of the sovereign rights of a state whose duty it is to maintain public peace within its jurisdiction, and to repress any disorder that may be raised by fomenters of anarchy.
Being thus placed in presence of the friendly declarations of the United States, the undersigned ,who fully appreciates their importance, thinks that there remains little for him to say inflation to the incident created by the asylum found by Boisrond’Canal and others at Mr. Bassett’s residence. As the honorable Acting Secretary of State has informed him that he would give formal instructions to Mr. Bassett, ordering these refugees to be delivered up to justice, that they might be tried by the competent jurisdiction, on condition that the sovereign, and constitutional authority of Hayti, using its right of pardon, would under all circumstances spare the lives of these individuals and commute the sentence to that of expulsion from the territory, the undersigned, in virtue of the instructions which his government has given him, believes himself authorized to accept definitely this proposition, that proceeds from an allied and friendly power.
The undersigned does not deem it necessary to dwell here on the concluding part of the note of the honorable Acting Secretary of State, in which there is mention of the complaints that Mr. Bassett has drawn [Page 741] up relative to the annoyances which he has experienced in consequence of the military precautions adopted by the government of Hayti around the residence of the American minister. If acts of this kind were really occasioned, the government of Hayti, as it has recently informed Mr. Bassett officially in writing, would be the first to regret them, and, if necessary, to punish the guilty. The solemn declarations, in the opinion of the undersigned, render useless to the Government of the United States any active measure 5 the government of Hayti is in fact firmly determined to maintain and cause to be respected by all the rights and privileges conferred by international law on the representatives of foreign nations. Finally, the undersigned will take the liberty of adding here that his government has always considered the representative of the great American Republic as the friend of his country and the upholder of the institutions which govern it.
The undersigned embraces, &c.,