Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-06-16
The ArgUelIeS Case,


States office respecting the ARGUELLEs case
were transmitted by the President to the Sen
ate on the lst, together with letrer of Sec
{ rotary SEWARD in which he says:
| By the act Of Congress of May Is, 1920,
the African Slaye-trade is declared to be pi-
: racy and by the treaty of 1912 with Great
Britain, it is stipulated that they will invite
and urge upon all Powers the propriety and
duty of efectually at once and forever clos
ing all African slave markets"
The Secretary then goes on to state that
| there being no treaty of extradition between
the United States and Spain, nor any act of
Congress directing how fugitiyes in the Span
lsh dominions shall be delivered up, the ex-
tradition in the ARGUELLEs case is understood
by the State Department to have been made
IN virtue of the law of nations and the Con
stltution of the United States. Although
there Is conflict Of authorities concerning
the expediency of exercising comfy toward
foreign Government, by surrendering at it's
request one of its own subjects charged with
| the commission of crime within its territory :;
and although it may be conceded that there
is no national obligation to make such sur
! render upon demand therefor unless it is
acknowledged by treaty or statute, yet ma
ton IS never bound to furnish asylum to dan
gerous criminals who are offenders against the
human race; and it is believed that if in any
case the comfy could, with proprety, be
practiced the one which is understood to
have called forth the resolution of inquiry of
exercise.
1t may be fairly presumed that the circum-
stance which gives poignancy to the grief of
the Copperheads over the surrender of AR
GUELLEs is the fact that he had been engaged
in encouraging the slave trade, and thus con-
trlbutlng to the advancement of Democratic"
principles in the world. A pirate by the law
OF nations, guilty of the most monstrous of
crimes, the Copperhead Democracy seek to
place him in the same category with refugees
from mere political prescription, with the
Kossuths, Mazzinis, and Hugos, exiled by
tyranny On account of their devotion to hu-
man freedom. The efforts to excite publicin-
dlgnatlOn against the Administration for the
surrender of this felon will fail. Our country
Is the refuge of the oppressed; her broad
@gls will be thrown over all who fly from the
prosecutions and pains of despotic power;
but she does not aspire to become the asylum
of pirates, murderers and man thieves.
The REBEL RAMs.-From Europe we have
the intelligence that the Laird rams have
finally been disposed of by being sold to the
British government. Thus ends matter
which has for long month occupied as large
share in public attention as the Danish war
or French intervention in Mexico. The re-
suit IS, that, although the United States were
beaten in law they triumphed in fact; for the
British government, finding that they could
not retain these rams by law, disposed of
them by purchase, and are now taking steps
to so amend their neutrality laws as to pre-
vent the recurrence of similar operations.
1t is probable that although it may have
been intended to do strict justice in the mat
ter, England was assisted in this decision bv
tho knnwlndnn +ha+ y, onen of a war hatween
herself and some other power, American pri-
vateers would collect ample compensation
for the damage which has been inflicted upon
our commerce by Confederate cruisers.
ss
IMPORTANT CORRESPONDENCE JEFF. Dooi
and Coz. Tance-The Petersburg (Va.) Regis
ter and other Southern papers publish an in
teresting correspondence between Governor
VANCE, of North Carolina, and JEFF. DAVIS.
The Governor writes that latter a careful
consideration Of all the sources of discomfort
in North Carolina" he thinks cit will be i'm
possible to remove it," unless the Confeder-
ate authorities will make some effort at nego-
tiation with the enemy. JEFF. DAVIS replies
that he has made three such attempts with
no avail; that the only terms to be obtained
are unconditional submission, and therefore
the South must fight it out. He tells the
Governor, also, that he is very much afraid
that chad men" in North Carolina will at
tempt to inaugurate movements which must
be considered as equivalent to aid and COM
fort to the enemy" These admissions are
quite significant as to the state public feel
ing in North Carolina.
WESTERN OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES GRIMES,
of Iowa, made speech in the Senate the
other day, in which he called on the West to
bring side by side the wool grower and wool
manufacturer. He startled some New Eng
land men by the statement that the West al
ready had 479 wooden mills, to 453 in the
East, and he predicted that the cloth manu-
featuring empire would be in the Upper Mis-