No. 333.
Mr. Evarts
to Mr. Foster
.
Washington , December 7, 1877.
Sir: Referring to the communication of Mr. Vallarta to Mr. Mata of September 10 last, stating that the Mexican administration, in order to give proof of its friendship for the United States, and without being bound thereto by treaty stipulations, had given positive orders for the arrest of all the offenders implicated in the assault upon the jail at Rio Grande City; and by its inclosed extract from the penal code in regard to the punishment of crimes committed in foreign territory by Mexicans, it will be observed that, in cases where such offenders are not delivered up under the extradition treaty, they are to be tried and punished in a specified manner. As four of the raiders who made the attack on the Rio Grande jail have not been surrendered in accordance with the orders of the central national authority of Mexico, and their extradition has been refused by the local authorities on the border, so far as the Department is informed, you are now instructed to make inquiry as to whether all or any of them have been arrested, tried, or punished in Mexico in accordance with the provisions of the penal code above mentioned, or are still enjoying immunity from arrest and punishment.
I am, &c.,