Mr. Blaine to Sir Julian Pauncefote.
Washington, May 15, 1890.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 10th instant, with which you transmit a copy of a dispatch from His Excellency the governor-general of India in council, forwarding forms of certificates proposed to be used in British India in authenticating papers in support of applications for the extradition from the United States of fugitives from justice.
As you observe, the form of certificate for the signature of the consuls of the United States is in accordance with that prescribed by this Department for the use of the legation in London, and it is believed that the form proposed for the signature of the secretary to the Government of India is in accordance with that employed by the home office in England. You inquire whether these certificates will be accepted as sufficient by the courts of the United States. In reply to this inquiry, I have the honor to say that the form of certificate prescribed by this Department for the use of the legation in London rests on the authority of several adjudicated cases and is the best that could be devised under the circumstances. It is proper to state that the Department was led to direct its employment in consequence of the decision of the commissioner in the recent case of Thomas Barton, who was examined in Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, on a charge of forgery alleged to have been committed in England. The commissioner rejected the documentary evidence for want of proper authentication, and the prisoner would have been discharged had it not been possible to adduce oral evidence. This led the Department to formulate a certificate founded on the adjudications of the courts upon the act of Congress of 1882. It is proper to say that this certificate was submitted to the commissioner in the Barton case, who stated that if such a form had been used in that case he would have admitted the documentary proofs.
The Department will cause copies of this certificate to be sent to its consular representatives in those parts of the British Dominions in which they may be called upon to certify extradition papers.
I have, etc.,