No. 706.
Mr. Preston to Mr. Bayard.
[Translation.]
Legation of Hayti,
Washington, November 19,
1888. (Received November 20.)
The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the
Republic of Hayti, has the honor to communicate to the honorable
Secretary of State of the United States the decision* of the prize court
sitting at Port au Prince, In re the Republic of
Hayti vs. The steamer Haytian
Republic. It appears from this decision that prize has been
found to be good and valid. This document will very soon form the
subject of a further communication to the honorable Secretary of State
of the United States, in which the undersigned proposes to examine
[Page 995]
the various aspects of the
question, or rather of the numerous questions, which have been raised by
this proceeding. This work, however, requires a little time, since the
authorities and the precedents governing the matter must be carefully
examined. The undersigned will therefore confine himself for the present
to stating the following propositions:
(1) No decision of a prize court becomes final without an appeal duly
taken has been decided by the court having appellate jurisdiction; even
in case no appeal has been taken, there can be no diplomatic action
until a decision has been rendered by the court of appeals. And, if the
undersigned is correctly informed on the subject, the interested parties
are presumed to have recognized the validity of the decision when there
has been no appeal, and when the original decision has become final
owing to the fact that no appeal has been taken.
Hence the undersigned concludes that in the present case there can be no
ground for any action on the part of the United States Government in
behalf of the owners of the captured vessel. It seems to him that it is
necessary to await the result of the appeal or to ascertain whether the
claimants waive an appeal.
(2) Supposing for an instant that the court of appeals should reverse the
decision of the prize court at Port au Prince, it would nevertheless
appear from the evidence produced on the trial that the steamer Haytian Republic has transported one or more
armed expeditions; that it has carried certain dispatches for the
insurgents; that it has violated the very principles on which the
security and sovereignty of the country rest; consequently the officers
of the steamer would then be liable to a criminal action before the
ordinary courts. And if it should be decided on appeal that the prize
court was not competent, then the criminal court at Port au Prince would
be so beyond a doubt. This principle has been established in the United
States in several instances, among others in the case of The United
States vs. Pender & Rand. (See the Federal
Reporter for 1883.)
(3) Any claimant, in order to be entitled to the intervention of his
Government, must prove that he is not guilty of any crime. This point is
one of those that were so learnedly discussed and decided by the
honorable Secretary of State in the case of Antonio Pelletier vs. The Republic of Hayti. The undersigned does
not therefore deem it necessary to examine it here.
Consequently, if it is proved (and there is no doubt that in the case of
the Haytian Republic ex parte evidence to this
effect has already been furnished) that the said steamer has violated
the rights of Haytian sovereignty, it can in no case claim the
interposition of the United States Government. It is not in a position
to do this unless it can show at once that the acts which are attributed
to it, and which thus far it has made no attempt to deny, were really
never committed by it, or unless the officers of the said steamer can
explain them satisfactorily. Finally, it will also be necessary for
Captain Compton to furnish a satisfactory explanation of his refusal to
exhibit the ship’s papers and all the other circumstances that tend to
show that his responsibility in this matter is very grave.
The undersigned will now confine himself to these preliminary remarks,
and, in conclusion, he begs the honorable Secretary of State to wait,
before examining the merits of the question, until he has had time to
present his further remarks relative to the decision pronounced on the
31st ultimo by the prize court at Port au Prince.
The undersigned has the honor, etc.,
[Page 996]
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
copy of the summons to captain compton and
mr. Metzger.
In the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, the
twenty-seventh October, at a quarter before two o’clock in the
afternoon, at the instance of Mr. Emanuel Léon, a member of the bar
of Port au Prince, residing and domiciled in this city, acting in
the name and for the account of the Haytian Government, in his
capacity as the representative before the special prize court, I,
the undersigned, Valmont Viljoint, sworn bailiff, matriculated at
the civil court of Port au Prince, residing and domiciled in this
city, having been designated for this purpose, summoned (1) Mr.
David S. Compton, captain of the Haytian
Republic, residing and domiciled at Boston, now in the
roadstead of Port au Prince, on board of said steamer, where he was,
and speaking to his person; (2) Mr. John D. Metzger, agent of the
“Hayti Mail Steamship Line,” domiciled at Boston, residing at Port
au Prince, at his residence, where he was, and speaking to his
person, to appear on Tuesday, the thirtieth day of October, at nine
o’clock in the morning, before the members of the prize court
established at Port au Prince, and sitting in the room of the court
of commerce, situated in Bonne Foi street, in order:
- Whereas during the existence of a state of war it is the
duty of neutrals to abstain from all participation in the
contest that is going on;
- Whereas the American steamer Haytian
Republic has violated those principles of
neutrality by transporting troops, arms, and emissaries for
the account of the insurrection;
- Whereas those acts furnish sufficient reason to consider
that vessel as being hostile;
- Whereas on the sixteenth day of October the provisional
government declared the ports of the Cape, St. Marc, and
Gonaïves to be blockaded; whereas due notice thereof was
given to the representatives of the neutral powers, and the
decree announcing the blockade was published in all the
towns of the Republic; whereas when the steamer Haytian Republic appeared off the
port of St. Marc, that port was blockaded;
- Whereas the blockade was effective, since the Haytien
advice vessel Dessalines guarded the
entrance; and whereas the Haytian
Republic must have eluded the vigilance of the
blockading forces, and have taken advantage of its superior
speed so as not to be sunk;
- Whereas signals were made to it, and six cannon shots,
with ball, were fired at it for the purpose of stopping it,
which acts constitute a sufficient special notice of a
blockade;
- Whereas the vessel was captured just as it was sailing out
of the port of St. Marc, into which it had forced an
entrance, and to which it had borne dispatches;
- Whereas numerous evidences confirm its illegal
participation in the acts of the insurrection of the north;
whereas the captain refused to show his papers, or to allow
his vessel to be searched by the examining judges, which he
did in order to conceal the papers that were likely to
compromise him; and whereas he also refused to allow seals
to be placed upon his vessel;
- Whereas a delegation consisting of leaders of the
insurrectionary movements is still on board of his vessel,
and was there at the time when the capture took
place;
- Whereas the violation of a blockade is an offense which is
provided for and made punishable by international
law;
To hear sentence pronounced upon them, the one to be condemned to the
forfeiture and relinquishment of the vessel under his command, which
is to be awarded to the Haytian Government, to which it has
occasioned great injury, and the cargo thereof to be confiscated;
the other for the company whose representative he is, to the
forfeiture and relinquishment of the vessel, which is to be awarded
to the Haytian Government, to which it has occasioned great injury,
the cargo thereof to be confiscated.
All damages reserved that may hereafter be claimed by the
plaintiff.
To the end that they may not be ignorant hereof, I have, at the
places aforesaid, and speaking to them as above stated, left with
them a copy of this paper.
Viljoint.
Registered at Port au Prince on this 29th day of October, 1888, fol.
202, Vol. C, 1959 of registered A, No. 1 of judicial
instruments.
The D. T. of registration.
[
l. s.]
Aug. A.
Heraux.
Examined.
N. L.
Lafontant,
Inspector.
A correct copy.
[
l. s.]
Charles A.
Preston,
Secretary of
Legation.
