[Inclosure in No.
330.—Translation.]
Mr. Azpiroz to Mr.
Ryan.
Department of Foreign Affairs.
Mexico
,
June 12,
1890.
Mr. Minister: I have the honor to acknowledge
receipt of Your Excellency’s note, dated the 15th of May last, wherein,
under special instructions from your Government, you are pleased to
again draw the notice of the Government of Mexico to the claim of the
American citizen Howard C. Walker for injuries and cruel treatment he
alleges to have received at the hands of the authorities of Minatitlan
during 4 years.
The claim in question is really incidental to the complaint of Captain
Jobsen, of the Norwegian bark Circassia, which,
according to the detailed and well-founded report of Señor Lic. Don
Ignacio L. Vallarta of April 18, 1887, should be rejected.
That report shows clearly that the delay in the proceedings against
Jobsen and Walker, accused of robbery by José R. Terán, as well as the
consequent damages, were due to Walker and to the firm of Leetch, of
which Walker was a clerk, and that therefore the Mexican Government was
not responsible therefor.
Upon the presentation by your legation (in its notes dated March 13 and
May 15, 1884) of the claim referred to by Your Excellency’s note to
which I have the honor to reply, this department stated on the 28th of
May of that same year that the Government of Mexico had found it
expedient to refer to the supreme court of justice of the State of Vera
Cruz the circumstances complained of by Walker, in view of the
irregularities which it is alleged were committed in this instance,
solely with a view of complying with the courteous application of the
Hon. Mr. Morgan, at that time minister of the United States; and that it
was considered the more necessary to make that explanation inasmuch as
it did not appear from the matriculation register that Howard C. Walker
was a citizen of the United States, a circumstance which prevented this
department from accepting the ulterior official intervention of the
United States in the matter.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in view of the courteous terms and
friendly tone of Your Excellency’s note I have made a detailed
examination of the voluminous correspondence on file in this department
relative to this case, which shows, as indicated by the reasons set
forth in the report of Señor Lie. Vallarta, that the Mexican Government
is not responsible for the injuries and damages Walker was alleged to
have suffered; that the latter has unchallenged right to proceed against
his calumniators, if any there be, but not against my Government; that
as the claim of the captain of the bark Circassia
was regarded as groundless, that of Walker was also so regarded, even
had he complied with the law on matriculation then in force; that, as
concerns the proceedings had against the claimant, there was no
voluntary or unjust delay on the part of the Mexican authorities, but
that the accused themselves, of whom Walker appears to have been an
accomplice, and Walker himself, carried the blame (if there was any) of
the delay and of its consequences; and that the proof that there was no
laxity in the administration of justice lies in the fact that Walker was
acquitted of the offense wherewith he was charged.
Trusting that the foregoing explanations will suffice for the Government
of the United States, it gratifies me to reiterate, etc.,
