Mr. Breckinridge to
Mr. Olney.
[Extract.]
Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg, April 2, 1896.
(Received April 18.)
No. 273.]
Sir: Referring to my No. 271 of April 1, the
last in regard to the seventeen sealers reported to have been arrested
on Robben Island, I now have the honor to transmit herewith a copy and
translation of a note from Mr. Chichkine, adjoint of the ministry of
foreign affairs, and of my reply addressed to Prince Lobanow.
It appears that the seventeen men were tried at Vladivostok on January
12/24, and plead guilty, that the public prosecutor appealed from the
sentence pronounced, and that now the case will follow its “regular
course.”
My reply calls for more explicit information, requesting the names of the
men who claim to be American citizens, desiring to know the nature of
the sentence against which the prosecutor appealed and the object of his
appeal, the maximum and minimum penalties for the offense charged, the
significance of the “regular course,” followed by an appeal for lenient
treatment, in the line of my conversation with Prince Lobanow, reported
in my No. 271, just referred to.
* * * * * * *
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
273.—Translation.]
Mr. Chichkine
to Mr. Breckinridge.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Asiatic
Department,
March 20/April 1, 1896.
Mr. Envoy: In reply to your notes of
November 2/14, 1895, and January 25/February 5, current, by which
you have thought it necessary
[Page 499]
to ask of me information on the subject of
seventeen poachers arrested at Robben Island, where they were
engaged in illicit seal hunting, I have the honor to inform you that
the individuals in question, and among them Mr. R. Sheehy, specially
mentioned in the second document above referred to, have been
confined in the house of detention at Vladivostok, where they are
now held. Their case has been heard, the first time on January 12
last, before the tribunal of the “arrondissment” of that city, which
has received from them complete confession of the offense with which
they were charged. The public prosecutor having lodged an appeal
from the sentence pronounced, the affair follows its regular
course.
Please to accept, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
273.]
Mr. Breckinridge to Prince Lobanow.
Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg, March 21/April 2, 1896.
Your Excellency: Referring to my note of
November 2/14, last, and to my conversation with you on yesterday,
in the course of which you very kindly promised to give attention to
the inquiries made through this legation in regard to the reported
arrest of seventeen American citizens upon Robben Island, charged
with poaching, I now have the honor and pleasure to acknowledge the
ministerial note of March 20/April 1, giving some definite
information in regard to these men, which I hasten to communicate to
my Government.
His Excellency Mr. Chichkine, in the note referred to, has the
goodness to say that these men confessed their guilt, and that the
public prosecutor having lodged an appeal from the sentence
pronounced, the affair would follow its regular course.
In view of the nature of my instructions, I beg to ask, and I trust I
do not unduly tax your kindness, for the following information, if
the same be at hand or reasonably obtainable:
- First. The names of these men who claim to be American
citizens.
- Second. What is the nature and extent of the sentence from
which the prosecutor appeals, and what is the object of the
appeal?
- Third. What is the “regular course,” to which reference is
made?
- Fourth. What is the extreme penalty for the offense
charged, and what is the minimum sentence?
Upon the basis of the ministerial note there seems to be no question
of the guilt of these men, nor any present claim that I can prefer
for them except reasonableness of punishment, which I feel will not
be unwelcome to the Imperial Government, especially on behalf of
citizens of a friendly power, guilty of an offense not against
well-defined property nor deemed heinous by the most accepted
codes.
I avail myself, etc.,
