The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1851-11-05
The New Dile.n. OF tho Administrasio.
The New York Express quotes, apparently
with appreciation, the following passage from


with appreciation, the following passage from
recent article Of the National In,eiiigeneer.
1T is due to the President OF the Un.te'
States to say that, in his proclamation agains
the criminal enterprise known to DC ineoitatet
that they 1.-THE prisonersl were out OF the pale
Of the law Nor we morally certain, did
Mr.. Owen the United States consul at Havana,
in his communication to the prisoners, whatever
lanruas e he NAV have employed, represent tn.
President 10 have used such language. There
- much virtue in words IN such case as this,
and much mischief in incorporating them
The President s proclamation is on record, and
speaks for itself There is no such language
in IT.
The government, then, in its proclamation.
did not hold these unhappy captives ITO be
without the pale Of the law" Be il so. Then.
why did the government in the same Proclama-
ton so utterly abandon them to all manner of
torture and death, without law and without
mercy. Why, if il held them to be within the
pale Of the law, did the government proclaim
that they had forfeited all claim t. .the protec-
tiom of tAis government, or ANY INTERFER-
ENCE in their behalf, NO MATTER TO
WHAT ExTREMITIES they might be re.
dAeed:" Is this to be born Is It to be endured
that an administration here shall use such fatal
and atrocous language towards a portion of our
citizens, and then turn placicly round, and tell
Ms, forsooth, that all the time it has held them
to be within .sthe pale Of the law The
wretchcd excuse that the government now
gives for its proclamation only aggravates ten.
fold the already crushing burden Of its offence
What is the next ingenuity Of self abasemrnt-
the next elaborate and far fetched refinement of
observation-disclosures which the administration
will in this matter resort
But to even this wrecked excuse the admin
istration is not entitled. The proclamation not \
only does regard the prisoners scout Of the pale
of law" but It takes care to proclaim to the i
world that this government will SO treat their d
case. When has forfeited all claim To r
'ssny i~terfereaeer" in his favor by his govern:
ment, then he is. in literal stnctness of speech, 7
tsout Of the pale Of the law" for, so long as he
Il within the pale of the law, his government is
bound to see that he has the benefit OF the law, y
whatever the law may be, and whatever his ;.
offence under the law. If these prisoners in
Cuba had right to have Cuban or Spanish law
applied to their case. then our government was q
bound to nterfere 50 far to that law fairly lo
applied. in sayingit not bound to inter- al
fere at all, il put the prisoners out Of the pale "
of law altogether: in a word, 1t abandoned them N
to their fate, be that fate lawful or not lie
But see, again: how does the government, BY OF
thus declaration of the Intelligence, treat its a.
agents. To say nothing now Of
Owen, how does it treat Commander Plat p
DOES the Iatetiigeneer deny that he, as is shown
by his official despatch, felt his hands to be
wholly tied up by the Prisoner themselves And v
does the InfcHigence~- to gainsay Com :,
mander Platt's declaration, as Il nnw-openly "a
discredits OVENS This is worse aud worse.-ts -
First the government abandons our citizens, ~
thereby doing its utmost to put il out of the =;
power of our military officers to do anything for -
them, aud then tries to turn round, and Shift by
inference, the whole odum and blame Of its
heinous offence to the shoulders Of these, its
unfortunate agents: But this poor epasion, of
either from the administration its organs, it is l.;
bur purpose both to prevent and expose. tn
One thing, however, is manifest from the IT,
lcfhgeReer's above quoted statement, and we i'm
Ire glad to see it, the administration has come ell
% its senses in this business, so far as to be pr
either ashamed or afraid to face its proclama-
nation, 1t is bewildered by its own deed. Its 10
organs writhe and wriggle, and bubble and fol
equivocate, before its own deadly words-now mi
aking the ground that the men with Lopez
we're pirates, and then protesting that it never
aid they were 1out of the pale of the law
aow justifying Owen, now apologizing for him,
md then again apparently giving him up-and,
inally, protesting that the government will take tn
lime to deliberate what they shall do in the mat to
er! Verify, the way of the transgressor is GU
hards-Waskingfoa Uni0n. pr