Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-01-03

occasion, sir TO offer to you renewed assurance of nay
very distinguished consideration
A. CALDERoN DE Ia IARCA
Hon, DANIEL WEBSTER, &c
ITRASsLATIoS
GoceyRment Hoas and office o. The Cdpt0a- Gene
ratof the IsLoHd Of Cuba.
MosT EXCELLENT SIR: Don J. S. Thrssher, anatye of
the United States accused of the crime of high
conspiracy having been tried and senteoced by The rbu
nal of the military commission think it proper hat your
Exceency should be informed of the of proceed
ings TO which this trial has given place.
The military commission, as / have said beore, has
tried Mr. J. s. Thrasher, American citizen, but for
many years domiced in this island for the crime of
spiracy against the State, and sentenced him fer eight
years at hard labor As your ESceency will perceive by
the subjoned documents the aforesaid individual through
the medium Of the Consul complains first, that sufficient
time not allowed him prepare his defence; that the
officer of army who defended him did consult the law
yers he had selected and that the advocate whose
vices that officer aYaed himself of did agree with him
to the mode of conducting the defence Secondly that
he ought TO have been tried by military ssion
in times OF peace and that he could be charged with
treason as he was citizen of the United States And,
thirdly, that although lie is domciled he had refused
be naturaIed and that for this he had been pro-
hbited from continuing the . Faro journal which he
had been publishing in this city. Such is the total
of grievances reduced to the simplest mode of
preston, of which Mr.. Thrasher complains. 1t is
tremely easy to reply TO them.
The tribunal known by the name of military commits
previously established by law these forms brief be-
the of the crimes oyer which it has jursc
ton requires that they should be they, however af
ford sufficient guaranty to the persons accused. This
brcvty of forms required that the arguments should be
short and that there shall not be any lawyers admitted
introduce into these trials the habit of suggishness
which has been carried into the proceedings of common
and ordinary suits law In the of Mr. Thrasher
all the forms employed by the military commission have
been scrupulousy observed He selected of his
will whichever officer of the army he preferred to
duct his defence and the latter had proceed
ngs whenever he deemed it necessary took abstracts of
the same, conferred with his client and assisted well
Mr. Thrasher at the trial Of the and read the
occasion large manuscript of defence, which the judges
had fully taken into consideration when they pronounced
his sentence.
do not know whether that officer did or did not con-
suit with the lawyer selected by Mr. Thrasher and am
likewise ignorant of the fact whether the individual who
entrusted with the confidence of the former conferred
with the latter to the of defence But if
this had been the case, inasmuch lawyers adj
united to plead in these trials the officer designated by
the accused having TO discharge the duty of conducting
the defence any consultation with advocates the part
of the latter is spontaneous act for his better nfor
nation and he may therefore select whom he prefers
best Above all, the most conclusive proof in justification
of this tribunal is the publicity which is given all its
acts The trial of Mr. Thrashers witnessed by
himself by the Consul of the United States and by
immense concourse Of people, who bear unanimous wit
the scrupulous exacness with which all the forms
observed well to the freedom and amplitude
of defence granted the accused and the mness of
the punishment imposed, considering the nature of his
crime 1t is said that he ought have been tried by
military commission in times Of peace. This error
which probably its origin the by which this
tribunal has been designated The military commission
established in this island since the year 1926
and ordinary tribunal for the trial of such crimes as nav
be committed against the State. IL therefore the
only authority competent to pass Judgment upon Mr.
Thrasher who stood accused of the latter
could have been tried by any other tribunal without
manifest violation Of the laws by which we are governed
Mr.. Thrssher who formerly Editor of the Faro a
literary, political, and economical paper could have
been ignorant of the truth Of this assertion, and having
offended against the State, he knowingly subjected him.
self to the Jurisdiction OF the military commission 1t is
added that citizen Of the United States he could
have been indicted for This is so singular
doctrine that ought not TO stop to reute it. will do
So nevertheless not without previously remarkng that
If Mr. Thrasher considers this doctrine rightful one
there be nothing strange in fact in his having be
come conspirator. Protection is due foreigners"
says James Kent in his Commentaries on American Law
volume page IS; but they bound obey the laws
of the country and amenabe 10 its tribunals for in
fractions of the law If in the United States foreigners
bound TO respect the laws and of their voat
ing those laws they liable to be tried and punished by
the tribunals Of the country what right has Mr. Thrasher
to expect, in his capacity of American citizen to be be-
yond the reach of the law which in this country APP
piled for the punishment of trators What would be-
Of public tranquility if foreigners were permitted
to enter into conspracies unrestrained? On the 9th
of October, 1896, treaty concluded between
Spain and the United States in the seventh article of
his complaints it thus 'sAnd in all cases of deten
ton for debts contracted offences committed
by any citizen subject of Of the contracting par
ties, within the jurisdiction Of the other the same shall
be prosecuted by order and authority of law only and
according 10 the regular Of proceedings usro IN suc
cases Consequently American citizens are here re-
sponsble in the way that Spanish subjects are re-
sponsble in the United States for the offences or crimes
which they may commit and that responsibility render
ed effective by the tribunals and according to the rec
lar of proceedings usual in such cases there nv
chance any greater offence crime than that o
The American who conspres TO overthrow the Govern
nent Of this country who repays the hospitality and the
protection which it has extended him. by endeavorng
TO destroy it. therefore bound answer before the r
bunal for the offence which, by 50 doing he may have
committed according TO the regular Of proceedings
usual in such cases And which is the tribunal II return
again 10 demonstrate the competency Of the military com
mission and what has been the course Of proceedings
adopted in Mr. Thrnsher case which one of cnsnirocv
against the State? The military comm ssiou and its
forms Of proceedings, which have been scrupuousy oh
served in his trial Hence he has cause either to repe
the charge Of treason pretend that ought 10 have
been tried by other judges or to have gone through
different course Of proceedings than that which was
pursued 'r
Ii Is true that by this very article the parties interested
allowed to employ such advocates solicitors notares
agents factors they judge proper and il may
be that Mr. Thrasher has inferred from these words in
the article in question that he had right TO select an
advocate But who is there ignorant as not to know
that these words have reference such matters or suits
law in which such fhnctonaries required by the
established Of proceeding? There are cases
which need the nstrumenaty of agents Or factors and
others which require the intervention Of advocates
ney and nstares The article provides that whenever
roFt al r. tba