Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-10-20


Americans, there-and then finishes the pro-
ceedngs, by lowering his flag, transmitting
history of the case to Washington, and invit-
ing the Commander Of the steam sloop-of-war,
Massachusetts, to pay visit to Panama, TO
afford protection to American citizens, in case
of an emergency
The particular provisions Of the Treaty be-
tween the United States and New Grenada,
under which the Consul claims to act, stipulates
that the citizens Of the respective countries,
may apply to the authorities of the consular
district, and, IN case Of necessity they may
have recourse to the national government
through the diplomatic agent of their nation,
if there be any, or directly if there be no such
agent, against any abuse on the part Of the
authorities of the country, or the persons
employed by them, against individuals of their
nation in whose service the consul is engaged;
and they may, when necessary, take such
measures as may be proper to prevent justice
from being denied to them, or delayed, and to
prevent them from being judged or punished
by any other than competent judges, and agree
ably to the laws in force.
"They may, as the national defenders of their
fellow ,countrymen, appear in their name and
behalf, whenever so requested by them, before
| the respectce authorities Of the place, in all
cases in which their support may be necessary"
| A Mr.. Francis w. Rice, an American citi-
zen resident at Panama, gives different yer.
sion Of the affair in the following letter to the
| Panama Star.
PANAMA, Oct. 2, 1855.
TO the Editors Of the Panama Star:
| am requested by the Jefe Superior to say,
that your editorial statement in regard to the
misunderstanding between the United States
Consul at this port and the civil authorities is,
IN many points, incorrect. 1t is only necessary,
at this time, to allude to one of the errors you
have been led into. You state that lin the
matter Of Hunter and Edwards) "the Consul
applied to the Superior Chief for certain in
| formation respecting an American in prison,
and was informed that that officer was unable
to attend to his duties on account Of rheu-
matism." The truth is this:
The Consul sent his secretary to the Jefe
! Superior with note, in regard to the arrest of
Hunter and Edwards, to which the Jefe
| Superior at once replied in writing and the
next day the Consul returned him his thanks
| for the promptness with which he had acted in
the matter. Subsequently the consul sent his
Secretary to the Jete Superb with a verbal
| message, requesting his interference with the
police authorities to prevent them from sending
| Hunter to Colon, and obtain his release from
| prison, on the plea that he, Hunter, was 50
sick, that his life would be endangered by his
| confinement. With the first request, the Jefe
Superior promptly complied, by writing note
| to Governor Echevarria requesting him not
to send Hunter TO Aspinwall, without further
orders To the latter request the Jefe Superior
replied by asking the Consul's Secretary if it
was probably Hunter could get bail for bis
appearance at court, if released from prison.
The Secretary thought he could The Jefe
Superior then told the Secretary to say to the
| Counsel that, with the certificate of physi.
clan, if Hunter could not get bail, that his life
or death would be endangered in prison until
| he could have an examination, he would
cause order to be issued for his transfer to
| the hospital. The note before referred to- to
/ Governor Echeyarria, was written in the
presence Of the Consul's Secretary, and the
Secretary himself was the bearer Of it to the
Governor. No intmation was ever given to
the Consul or his Secretary that the Superior
Chief could not attend to his duties in this or
in any other reason whatever. Why the Consul,
then, should attempt to transfer the ne9ocio
from the hands of the superior to those of the
inferior officer, by addressing his note of
September 10Th TO Governor Echevarria, is
best known to himself In this connection, il
will not be amiss to state that the Consul could
not be unaware that the Jefe Superior was at
his official desk on the day of the date Of his
missive to Senior Echevarria, as the Consul's
Secretary came to the former with the letter in
his hand previous to delivering it to its ad
| dress.
You, Of course, will not fail to perceive the
error Of the Consul in assuming that by the
consular treaty between the United States and
New Granada the Consul at Colon was EN-.
powered to release Hunter from criminal
prosecution on his compromising the civil
phase Of the matter with the man who was
| robbed
But as the whole and not mutilated facts,
OF the correspondence viii soon be published in
the Gaecta ofcial," it is not necessary to
offer any remarks upon this branch Of the
subject
Very respectfully yours
FRANCIS ". RICE.
| ~ amor rrrnN ANYWAY nr nun r,p r. u