The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1847-01-08


that offences committed by American citizens IN Turkey
shall be tried by their minister consul and punished
according to their offence following IN this respect the
usage observed towards the other Franks" And under
the 2lst article of recent treaty with China, Gu
,s S may aDa only by
the consul or other public funconary Of me unteo
states according to the laws Of the United s,sies Ana
in order to the of all controversy ana dsansc
ed on both sides"
Good faith thus requires that Congress should provide
for the trial and punishment ofcrmes and offences when
committed by American citizens in the dominions Of the
this sovereign power to the United States under So
Tenn part that shall be faithfully
executed the Turkish and Chinese emit. have
right to expect that Congress shall provide for the
Torrance Of this obligation There urgent nscess
~ that this should be done Immediately. At present
presumed that consul of the United States resident
in those countries would undertake to try convict and
aagrsnt crime be perpstIaed upon Turk or Chinese
by any OF our citizens and should punshmeut not fol
low according to the acquisitions the treaty this
might disturb If not destroy friendly relations and
do great injury to commerce Accustomed a. they
are to summary justice, they could not be made to un
States. should escape with impuny in violation of trsa
V obligations, whilst the punishment Of Turk or chi.
who had committed any Grim: against an American
Under existing treaties with Trpol Tunis, Morocco
and Muscat all disputes between citizens 81 the United
States in these countries to be decided oy the
consul and in the three former whenever he shall re-
quire any aid to enforce his decisions is to be mme'
Under our treaties with swsdsn Prussia Russia Han
over and Portugal consuls have the right to sit a.
Judges ana aIpitrators in such dnerences a. may s
between the captains and Of American vessels IN
these countries.
The mode in which these judicial powers shall be sx.
ecuted by consuls has yet In single instance,
been prescribed by Congress.
See what a predicament our citizens are In, In
this respect. These powers have coded away
by treaty civil and criminal jurisdiction over Anne
rican citizens, and yet law has ever been pass
ed by Congress empowering our consuls in those
countries to assume the power thus gwen them
by treaty, nor directing the mode in which they
shall exercise this power.
Now, suppose an American citizen were to
commit homicide in China, he would be tried
in the same manner as natives of thar country
tried for similar offence. No American
consul would, without warrant, incur the respon-
sibility of trying and hanging an American cil-
zen in China; and the Chinese Government
would er mecessitate rel be obliged to do it al
though it coded away the power to do it. That
power however not being used by the Anne
rican Government, the Government of China,
in order to preserve order and peace, would
be obliged to order trial; and where, as in Chi
ma, the prejudice against foreigners is great, it
is not difficult to assume what the consequences
would be-
We are inclined to pursue this subject further,
but our space will not permit In conclusion,
we earnestly hope that Congress will carefully
read, ponder, and digest the able document SUBJ
mitted to them by Mr.. Buchanan document
every way worthy of that enlightened statesman,
and carry out the suggestions it contains.
GOVERNOR YouNe's MEssAeE.-Our readers are
aware that the inaugural message of Gov. Young
was transmitted to this city by teleg aph, and oc
cupied two columns and half OF solid nonpareil
in the Netv York Herald. 1t contained twenty five
thousand letters, or five thousand words, and was
the longest compete document ever sent to any
distance by the subtle agency OF lightning.
II may astonish our readers when we inform
them, that at the regular telegraphic prices, the
cost of sending this document would have reach
ed the sum Of eight hundred dollars; but although
it cost large sum, the price was borne by three
papers, of which the Herald was one. This, o.
course relieved each of the burden of an -enor
nous expense, and made it CONF aratively ligh
to each.
After these three papers had incurred thi
great expense, the message was copied By
other journals, the Wall street papers il
particular, without crediting either of the three
journals that incurred the expense of telegraph
ing it, which, to say the least, was rathe
dishonorable; but this was not all, for they com
mtted the most unbushing impudence in stating
the next day, and after they had received tn
document by mail, that the telegraph had in ont
or two instances made some trifing mistakes il
the phraseology.
This brings to our mind the anecdote OF thu
Quaker and his wheelbarrow, which kind frient
had borrowed, and returned after he had broker
it, with the modest request that he would have /
repaired as soon as possible, as he wanted to use
it again the next day.
SPEED FROM BosToN.-We received at three