File No. 3294/27.
Consul-General Skinner to the Assistant Secretary of State.
Marseilles, April 4, 1907.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of the department’s instruction No. 308 (file No. 3294), dated March 9, in regard to the detention at Marseilles of F. L. Jacobs, whose extradition is demanded by the Argentine Government upon a charge of fraudulent bankruptcy.
[Page 426]The contention of the French Government that a declaration of reciprocity “exchanged in view of a special case,” or in other words a mere improvised request, is of the same binding force as a solemn treaty, seems to me a matter of much more importance than the personal issue actually involved. If the above principle be admitted, it practically renders unnecessary every existing extradition treaty, and squarely opposes the consistent attitude of the American Government, which has always maintained the doctrine that only by treaty can the surrender of accused persons take place.
Be that as it may, it is certainly obvious that the imprisonment of this individual, which now dates from December 4, 1906, constitutes in itself a severe punishment, and that the person named is entitled either to immediate liberation or immediate transfer to the Argentine Republic, where it might be possible for him to prepare a defense of his interests in a manner quite impossible in France.
Although the embassy intimated to the minister for foreign affairs on March 7 that it had submitted its final suggestions, Mr. Jacobs is still in jail, where he remains without information in regard to the present status of his case. Should he be discharged from custody or transferred to the Argentine authorities within ten days of this date I shall advise the department of the fact by cable. The prisoner writes to me frequently to complain about the long delay in reaching a settlement of this matter.
I am, etc.,