The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-04-13
Tba wins,ow Case.

YEG6olfA - - -
The winslow Case.
There can be bat one opinion, II seems TO
MA. as TO the merits Of the controversy be-
tveen our Government and that Of Great
Britain relative to the extradition treaty Of
1912, and especially relative TO the. WMsLoR,
case. Wmslow committed forgery and per.
haps other crimes in this country, and
escaped to England. There he was arrested
and imprisoned. His exeradision was de.
nanaed by our Government. The British
Government Is always ready to comply with
what it considers Its treaty-obligasiens but
il this case its idea as to what these OBJ
legations are differs from the idea as to
them entertained by our Government.
nc seems " that since the making
of the treaty in question Parliament
has. passed an act providing, In substance,
that no refugee from justice shah be returned
TO the country whence he escaped, to be tried
for any other than the offence with which he
is charged in the papers accompanying the
demand for his surrender; and that offence
must be one of those named In the treaty,
which are murder, or assault with intent to
commit murder, piracy, arson, robbery, for
gerry, and utteranee of forged paper. Natu"
rally enough, the English people look upon
this act as defining the real meaning Of the
treaty. England has no written constitution,
and 50 Parliament issaid to beomnipotent.
Ever since JAMES H., the lawful king, was by
force Of an act of Parliament deprived Of
his crown, the right to regulate even the
succession has been claimed by Parliament,
aud so It is not surprising that Jons BULL
should assume that the same powerful body
has the right to declare what treaty means
TO which he is one of the parties. We cam
not but admire the act of the Government in
throwing its protection over this friendIess
man, WrNsLow, who Is hunted by bis own
Government. He Is nothing to England,
and England Is nothing to him. II he had
been promptly surrendered no one would
have thought of censuring the British Go
vernment. But England Is country
OF large hearts as well IS great
minds. Her people sympathize with
the oppressed, and sometimes with persons
who are not much oppressed. They keep
their eyes open to all the world. Recollect
hew HAYNAU, the "Austrian butcher," so
called, was treated in London by the brew
cry. men. See how Don CARLOS is there
Kissed because he is supposed to represent a
class in Spain which Expresses the poor.
Not that our British cousins have any sym
PATTY with crime or criminals. Not they.
But they are not ready to believe that every
man is criminal who is charged by his own
Government with being one. They like to
judge for themselves.
Recurring to the subject of treaties, we
remark that in this Countrywide Federal
Constitution makes treaties ''the supreme |
law Of the land" anything in the constitu. |
ton or laws Of any State to the contrary |
notwithstanding. [By the way, that is one
Of the strong points Of those who maintain |
that this Is nation.l Our people at large.
and our statesmen have been taught, there.
fore, to attach much sacredness to treaties.
The idea OF modifying one by act of Congress
never entered into the head of any of our
statesmen, we suppose. And yet
Congress has equally as much right
to modify treaty between Great Britain
and the United States IS Parliament has. If
an act Of Congress or OF Parliament con-
corning such treaty does not attempt to
modify or alter it in any manner then the
act Itself is waste paper or mere surplusage.
II. on the contrary, such an act does under
take to modify or alter treaty in any de-
gree however small, then the act must be
accounted null and void, and treated aS the
attempt of one OF the contracting parties to
change the treaty without the consent,
of the other. This last is, as we un-
derstard the facts, the point now pend.
ing between the two Governments In
the W1SsLow case. JOHN BULL will
not surrender WINsLow unless BROTHER JON.
ATTAIN will promise not to try him for any
other offence than forgery, and pleads an act
of Parliament as bis justification. BROTHER
JONATHAN replies that he neither knows nor
cares button for acts of Parliament that I'm.
dertake 70 define bis treaties; that he looks
to the treaties themselves to learn their
meaning land that if JOHN BULL shall refuse
to surrender WNsLow, then JONATHAN will
surrender the treaty.
We conclude, therefore, as we com.
menced, that Mir. FISH seems to be clearly
right. But whatever may be the result Of
the correspondence we have no idea that any
serious trouble can follow as consequence
of this little diplomatic difficulty.