The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.--While Lord Russell has declined to in
tervene on behalf of the Georgia, the Government
of the United States has justified the confidence o
the English public by ordering the immediate extra
dition of Franz Muller. It was only a vague idea
that the evidence might be incomplete or that some
technical point might be raised to procure delay
that suggested any doubt as to the issue of the pro-
ceedings at New York. Whatever may be said
against American politics, and even against the con-
duct of the American Judges when they merge their
proper character in that of politicians, no well-in-
fornaed:person would venture to speak disparagingly
of American tribunals. Acting in their judical capa-
city, American jurists have-merited and obtained a
very high place among legal authorities, and the
present Attorney-General has more than once taken
occasion to cite with the utmost respect their deci-
eions on internationai questions. In the present in-
stance, indeed, there was little room for the exercise
of a magnanimous impartiality, inasmuch as the case
—that is, the prima facie case upon which the requi-
sition was founded—proved to be free from all doubt.
The only hitch was as to the identity of the watch,
and the want of this link was not material. Nothing
seem to have been elicited in cross-examination that
could influence the result of the inquiry, except the
alleged want of resemblance between the prisoner
and either of the persons seen in the railway car •
riage with Mr Briggs. Nothing was said in the
course of the defence that could shake the presump-
tion of Muller's guilt, except in this one particular,
and the terms used by Commissioner Newton in
granting the necessary certificate indicated no hesi-
tetion whatever—" My duty is simple and plain.
I do not desire to sit in judgment on this man ; far be
it from me. I wish it was in my power to discover a
trace of innocence to justify me in withholding the
certificate of extradition, but I am flee to say all the
circumstances point fatally to the prisoner as the
guilty man. So clear and distinct is the question
of probable cause that I cannot for one moment.
have a doubt as to the proper course to be pursued."
Language such as this is perhaps a little more ems
phatic and unqualified than we should expect. from
a committing magistrate; at all events, it does not
betray any unworthy reuetence to surrender an
English criminal under the Extradition Treaty. It
is right, however, that we should take notice of the
atrenge arguments employed by Muller's counsel—
first in support of the motion fur a further adjourn-
meat, and afterwards in support of the motion for
the prisoner's discharge. It was urged that the
case of Muller stood on the same footing as that of
Anderson and the Confederate pirates, and that in-
asmuch as the claim for extradition was there dis-
allowed by the British Courts after solemn inquiry
and deliberation, time should at least be granted to
find a like flaw in Muller's favour. The answer was
obvious—viz., that the murder of which Anderson
was accused appeared on the face of it to be no mur-
der in the eye of the English law, and that the
piracy with which the Confederate seamen were
charged turned out, upon the preliminary investi•
gation, to be piracy of a kind for which they could
be tried in this country. No such objection relating
to the nature of Muller's crime had been established
or even put forward; the evidence went to prove a
murder in the plainest sense, or nothing at all, the
only possible doubt being as to Muller's com-
plicity. But, then, argued Mr. Shaffer,
the Extradition Treaty itself mast 'ba con-
sidered void as violating the American Consti-
tution, or if not void ab initio, it has been annulled
by the state of war now subsisting between Great
Britain and the United States—not,indeed, between
the two Governments, but between the peoples, so
long as Confederate cruisers issue from English
ports. We are not surprised that Mr. Marbury, who
conducted the. prosecution for the British Consul,
wasted very little time on this marvellous paradox.
It is so obvious that the Executive Government
alone can abrogate a treaty that we can hardly sup-
pose the exception to have been taken in earnest.
Remembering Mr. Edwin James's famous defence of
Bernard, we are not disposed to make too much of
forensic appeals to national prejudices, or to pre-
sume that because a fallacy of this kind was thrown
out, in desperation, by an advocate, it had the least
chance of imposing on the court. We question,
however, whether an English barrister would have
had the assurance to address such a piece of reason•
ing to an English judge, even it he were capable of
trying its effect on a jury. As if to deprive it of all
pheusibility, it so happens that when the Extradi-
tion Treaty was made, the relations of the two coun•
tries were in quite as precarious a state as they
have been at any time during the last three years,
and serious difficulties had arisen, the recurrence
of which it was calculated, and probably designed,
to prevent. Disputes on the frontier, originating in
the Canadian rebellion, constantly threatened to em-
broil us, while the controversy about the right of
search was still outstanding, the Slaves States were
furious at the release of some negroes at Nassau,
and, besides the unfailing sympathy of an American
party with disaffection in Ireland, there were the
formidable questions of Texas, Mexico, and Oregon
to keep hostility alive. If, therefore, there was
ever a time when either party might be tempted to
repudiate a treaty expressly made terminable at thy
will of either, it was when the ratifications of it
were first exchanged. Yet, so far from regarding
it as an additional element of discord, its framers
seemed to have intended it as a palliative, and it is
a little curious that it is mere comprehensive than
the treaty made with the friendly Government of
France a few months afterwarda. The latter, it is
true, includes the crime of fraudulent bankruptcy,
but it is silent as to piracy, arson, or robbery, the
very offences which are most akin to private warfare
on the border or the high seas. Since this treaty
was signed similar conventions have been made by
the United States with France and other Powers,
and a special machinery was provided by Congress
in 1848 for giving effect to their stipulations. It
vrtcEg
virtue of
of Inspector
fidathe Actthenpa
Tanner,ssedth andat Muller
on his
ulleris
itl:a b
owyy
Courts to i
in
and Government ud
in th
e having e'Ena.
thusl'h honourably
discharged discharged themselves of their obligations, it le-
tames for us to consider what is due to English jus-
tice. When we hear of vast crowds awaiting Mul-
ler's arrival at Queenstown, and listen to expres-
sions of relief at the murderer being capturck we
are compelled to remind our readers that the pri-
soner has still to take his trial, and that it will be a
disgrace to us if it be not a fair one. It is too much
to expect that any one of the jurymen will not have
read accounts of the case and formed an impression
of his own. No one will envy these gentlemen the
effort of clearing their minds from all prejudice and
weighing the evidence as if they heard it for the
first time, but it is an effart that must be, made.
Without entering upon details which are already
familiar to every one, it is manifest that almost
everything must turn upon Muller's ability to
explain two facts,—the discovery of a hat be-
lieved to be his in the railway carriage, and the
possession of Mr. Briggs's property. If he can do