No. 143.
Mr. Fish to Sir Edward
Thornton.
Washington, October 30, 1876.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 27th instant, wherein you inform me that you have received instructions from Lord Derby to state that Her Majesty’s Government will be prepared, as a temporary measure until a new extradition treaty can be concluded, to put in force all powers vested in it for the surrender of accused persons to the Government of the United States under the treaty of 1842, [Page 277] without asking for any engagement as to such persons not being tried in the United States for other than the offenses for which extradition has been demanded.
Your note also calls attention to the provision laid down in the eleventh article of the treaty of 1842, that the tenth article shall continue in force until one or the other of the parties shall signify its wish to terminate it, and no longer.
I have laid your note before the President, who observes with great satisfaction that Her Majesty’s Government has decided to use its powers for the surrender of fugitive criminals without asking any stipulations or engagements in the nature of those which, in recent correspondence with reference to the requisition made by the United States in the case of Winslow and others, had compelled him, with extreme regret and reluctance, to reach the conclusion that under the position then taken by the British Government, if it be adhered to, it would not be possible for the Government of the United States either to make demands on Her Majesty’s Government for the surrender of fugitive criminals or to entertain requisitions of that character from Her Majesty’s Government under the treaty.
The President concurs fully with Her Majesty’s Government in its appreciation of the very, serious inconvenience and the great encouragement to crime arising from the failure of the extradition of criminals between two states whose relations of business and of social intercourse are as close and as intimate as those which happily exist between the United States and Her Majesty’s dominions, and he greets the decision of Her Majesty’s Government, announced in your note, to ask no engagement with regard to the trial of persons surrendered, as the removal of the obstacle which arrested the execution and efficiency of the extradition article of the treaty of 1842.
He hopes, therefore, that Her Majesty’s Government will now take into consideration the applications heretofore made by the United States for the surrender of Winslow and Brent and Gray, with regard to each of whom the evidence of criminality has been duly furnished and heard, aud was found sufficient to justify his apprehension and commitment for trial in accordance with the requirements of the treaty. On an indication of readiness to surrender those persons, he will authorize an agent to receive them, and will be ready and glad to respond to any requisitions which may be made on the part of Her Majesty’s Government under the tenth article of the treaty of 1842, which he will then regard as in full force until such time as either government shall avail itself of the right to terminate it provided by the eleventh article, or until a more comprehensive arrangement can be reached between the two governments in regard to the extradition of criminals, an object to which he will be glad to give the attention of this government, with his most earnest desire for a mutually satisfactory result.
I have the honor, &c.,