The Express.
London, England, 1859-08-03 00:00:00

CRUELTIES TO MERCHANT SEAMEN.

Mr. M. MILNES presented • petition from Junes Ken-
amty, • seamen at present in hospital a Liverpool, through
lido:lse which had been inflacted upon him at sea, praying
the home to take the system under which he was a enlister
into Its etineldersdon, and to devise some remedy.

Mr. M. MILNES then rove to mere that an humble ad-
dome be presented to her Majesty, preying her Majesty to be
gradosidy pleased to enter into negotiations with the govern-
ment of the United States of America, for the purpose of
preventing the assaults and cruelties committed on merchant
semen engaged In traffic between this country and the
United States, and of bringing to jastios the perpetrators of
such offence', many of whom escape with impunity in
aonsequenoe of the defects of the present system
of hitereational juriedictioe. In Winging this sub-
ject betore the house, he begged to Mate that it
was • question which had agitated large and
influential bodies of men, loth in ',Unload and America.
He wished to draw the attention of the house to a large
mum of crime unpanlehed and smehaßenged ; and to propose
to show the government how that was to be remedied. At
present • rut deal of cruelty took place in the vessel.
which plied between thes country and America. Constantly—
sometimes almost daily—nocurrencee &this kind 0111110 under
make In the town of Liverpool, and the hospitals 7re-
pass* contained numerous cases of the kind. Such, bow-
; ever, woo the pretest state of the law and of our relations
with the United States, that the men who had committed
them madam were perfectly unchallenged. This subject
bad been very ably explained in • peruphiet by Mr. Bright,
of Liverpool, and indeed the few words be should whim/ to
their., would be but a brief resume edit. The pamphlet wee in
the hem ef a letter, addressed to his bon. friend the member
for Bedford, by whom the subject was to have been brought
forward I. that house. Unhappily, however, hie bon. friend
was now a member of the government, and hence, through
our mettle of politics, his talents were (except in hie own
department) lost to that house and to his country. (A
laugh.) As en instance of the imperfection of the present
state of the law, he would bring to this attention et the
home a can lately decided by Baron Bramwell. In that
ease a man committed a murder two mike beyond the juts-
dictionof this country, and although the !Acta ware proved,
the learned judge could only direct the jars y not to find •
verdict. This was done, end the man was Lauded over to
the American consul, who ate great expense had him and
his wit:Domea conveyed to America. They bad no sooner got
there than the witaireses absconded, and the murderer
was, therefore, set at large. So in another case,
the operation of the laws enabled a Condcan sailor to at
himself beyond restraint, and this man, who had been guilty
of murder, wee now at large somewhere In this country.
These team were no doubt of a heavier kind than many,
but Is tenth the ordinary cams of cruelty were so numerous
that they had obtelned a name for themselves, and were
known in Liverpool as " Censure c wee." From June, IS%
to June, 18.58, 138 COD/lIII'I oases were taken; front June,
1868, to the following Much, 80 Coesul's cams occurred.
Since them 23 oases had occurred. In tome of these eases
men who were engaged as stewards were put to the
work of common mama, and wars cruelly treated be-
cause they were not fit for the work. In many of
these eases the offenders were not Americans; in
fact, in • great number the only man in a ship against
whom a ehargeof musky could not be substantiated was the
American captain. The house would agree with him that
for thin state of thing. a remedy ought to be found, and ho
believed that the people of America were equally with
ourselves desirous to god a remedy. The remedy which
he would suggest was of two kinds. In the Bret place be
thought that the powers of the mauls might be safely M-
agma so as to give theca a juriedietion to try offender,.
And in the next place the tribunals of this country might
with the Intervention of the government of the
United Staten, be enabled to try guilty partite.
With regard to the commis he would remind the hone
that in the origin of the coneular elegem, under the
French minister Colbert. these offi, era claimed the exclusive
privilege of trying French subjects. Without going to say-
thing like this length in the case of the consuls for America,
• mesas might yet be found tf enabling them to deal with
these cases. With regard to the plan of extending
the jurisdiction of our tribunals, to that then
might be some objection in the heavier cases,
but in those cases which might be disposed of
bye stipendiary magistrate he law no moan why the plan
should not be adopted. Ho trusted that this subject would
be taken up by the goverment in a large and comprehmeire
spirit, and that no techniodities would be allowed to shoed in
the way of its settlement. He believed it would be dealt
• M • fair and open manner in the tinl•od States snit he
had MIS a letter from that eminent writer, Mr. Haw-
thorne, expreeeing en opinion that in the States
every disposition would be shown to avoid difficulties. It.
had once men in a work on international law a fantastical
nirtkn put forward that the law relating to the high sem
moat remain as variable as the ma itself. He hoped, how-
ever, that in these days it would be found not to be so, but
that the government would be enabled so to adjust matters
on that great highway that the cruelties which now dimmed
It might, with the help of that greet nation across the water,
at ones end for ever mem. (Cheers.)

Mr. J. ZWART seconded toe motion with a few observe-
nee% but spoken in so low a tone that their purport did not
reach the gallery.
Sir G. C. LEWIS :said that the hon. member for ;Pomfret
had done good service by bringing this subject, and the evil
alleged by him to sr sefrom the present state of international law
under consideration. He (Sir G. O. Lewis) could not admithow-
ever that the evil arose from the preeenfatate of things, ea the
international law did not permit, except by treaty, any juris-
dietiontooneomantrystribunabiomethesubjemsofanother for
crimes committed on the high seas. There was an extradition
treaty with the U n ite4States applying to murder, arsoe,forgery,
and one or two other Mmes committed in another country by
the subj, eta of the other. In this case, murder, or attempt to
murder, wee committed In an American ship on the high seas,
and consequently, according to lb' present construction of
the law, on American territory. On touching at an English
port the offender might be handed over to the American
consul to be sent home, but that coarse was seldom taken
on account of the expense. He wee not amenable to the
English law any more than If the offence had been committed
on the lend territory of the United States. It appeared that
cruelties were often committed in American ships on the
high seise, and the present state of the law offered no remedy.
The question thin wee, whether any convention could be
entered Into with the United Stets* sp sa to meet these
cases. These was one obvious way, sad that was to include
them he the present extraditka treaty. The objection to
that win the expense that wood attend its wcrking.
Another plea was for the United States to give us power to
treat sack mesa in English courts, the United States to have
the same power io America. It ht be provided that on the
arrival of an American ship at and notice being
When that a crime had bean nom on boned, the Eng-
lish magistrates could deal with ft—the same privilege
being given to America. He saw no objection to such •
treaty, nor did he think that parliament would hones to
sanction It, as the intelligence of American °Aire of justice
would, no doubt, give ample security for the fair trial of
British subjects. lint there was another plan upon which
his honourable friend had touched, and that was the ermine
the cant withpowets to try oriesioale. Eno that plan, if