No. 450.
Mr. Bayard
to Mr. Manning.
Washington, April 9, 1887.
Sir: On the morning of the 7th instant I received from you a telegram, apparently dated the 6th. On the afternoon of the same day, April 7, I sent you a reply by telegraph.
The views of this Government respecting its right to demand the return of Gutierrez have been made amply known to that of Mexico, through my previous instructions to you, and through my communications to Señor Eomero. It does not appear from your dispatch that the Mexican Government contests the right so asserted; on the contrary, the statements of Señor Mariscal, and of his Excellency the President of Mexico, as reported by you, are understood as coupling a request for non-insistence upon that right with an explicit disclaimer of desire or intention to fall short of the full measure of friendly international obligation in the premises.
In dealing with this amicable request it is important to bear in mind that this Government can not, even by implication, permit this case to become a precedent for any assumption that forcible rescue can create any right of asylum or that the Mexican Government is not under the obligation to undo the unlawful act of its own officers and return the rescued party to the jurisdiction of the United States.
It is presumed that the friendly deference to the wishes of the Mexican Government, which is indicated in my telegram, will dispose of this incident in a manner entirely satisfactory to the President and Señor Mariscal.
I am, etc.,