No. 343.
Mr. Cadwalader to Mr. Preston.
Washington, August 17, 1875.
The undersigned, Acting Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of Mr. Preston, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of Hayti, of the 14th, in reply to that of the undersigned of the 6th instant.
It is noticed that Mr. Preston has thought proper, in that communication, to characterize the sanctuary which the minister of the United: States in Hayti has thought proper to extend to certain citizens of that eountry as an act performed pursuant to a pretended right. As similar acts have often been exercised by the representatives of other powers, as well as by that of the United States, with the acquiescence of Hayti, the epithet referred to may be considered as superfluous.
The undersigned also regrets to notice a disposition on the part of Mr. Preston to draw an inference from the views which this Department has expressed on the general subject which will at least tend to restrict the course which the Department may think proper to adopt in regard to it. No such inference can be assented to.
It is quite probable, however, that, when the present case shall have been satisfactorily adjusted, this Department may be disposed to receive and consider any proposition which Hayti may make, looking to the abolition, by the several governments represented in that country, of the practice of granting an asylum to refugees in their respective legations. The United States cannot, for the present at least, separately, even by implication, engage to treat upon the subject.
The undersigned also regrets to observe that Mr. Preston mistakes the terms upon which, as he was informed, Mr. Bassett had been authorized to surrender the refugees in his residence.
The only condition upon which Mr. Bassett was authorized to make that surrender was, that the Haytian government should stipulate not to punish the refugees if, after trial, they should be convicted of any offense, but should, of its own accord, allow them to leave the country, and should furnish them with passports for that purpose. This condition did not imply any necessity for the exercise of the right of pardon, [Page 742] to which Mr. Preston refers in his note. Indeed, the proposition, as stated by that gentleman, would, it is conceived, involve not only an abandonment of the question of asylum, but practically an assent to its violation.
The United States cannot consent to this. The proposition authorized through Mr. Bassett was based upon the principle of deferring to the dignity of Hayti by acknowledging her right to try the refugees, but also of maintaining the inviolability of the asylum so long as it should generally be tolerated.
If the proposition adverted to should, in its spirit and its terms, be accepted by Hayti, the unpleasant question to which it relates may be promptly and satisfactorily settled.
The undersigned avails himself, &c.,
Acting Secretary.