Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-08-19

| DnlteO otatfS on leave OF aptcnces
sEDGwIcK is COMING.
ST. LoCis, Mo-, Aug. lS.--Gen. Sedg.
wick passed through this city en- route to
T. Paso. He remained in his room and
refused 20 receive any callers. He Is
travelling as an ordinary passenger 10
avoid attracting attention.
BAYARD TO JACKSON.
Several readers OF THE GAZETTE hay
ing expressed desire Dread the letter Of
Secretary Bayard TO Minister Jackson In
regard 10 the Cutting case, The GAZETTE
feproduoes the same in full.
DErAnIM nj or STATE,
WASHINGTON, July 20, 1885
SIR After reading the kilograms and
dispatches copies Of which inclose fol
v0ur intormatiOn) OF Mr.. Harvey
brigham, United States consul at III Paso,
Mexico, aud also your No. 1856, dated the
s.h inst. relating TO the case of Mr.
A. X. Cutting, telegraphed you on the
10th instant as follows
You are instructed 70 demand of the
Mexican government the instant release
OF A. X. Cutting, citizen Of the United
States, now unlawfully imprisoned at
Paso del Norte.
BY the documents before me the follow
ing facts appear:
ON June Is last A. X. Cutting, citizen
Of the United States, who for the preced-
Ing eighteen months had been resident,
"of and on" of Paso del Norte, Mexico,
and as TO whose character for respecta
bility strong evidence has been adduced,
| published in newspaper OF I'll Paso,
Texas, card commenting on certain
proceedings OF Emigdio Medina, citizen
OF Mexico, with whom Mr.. Cutting has
been In controversy. For this puolica-
ton Mr.. Cutting was imprisoned on the
22d Of June last, at Paso del Norte, In
Mexico. Such publication would not,
even had 1t been made In Mexico, be the
subject OF criminal prosecution In the
country, according to the Roman common
law there in force, nor Of any adverse
governmental action, unless, perhaps, for
the single purpose OF requiring security
In some small sum TO keep the peace
But the paper was not published IN
Mexico, and the proposition that Mexico
can take jurisdiction of It's author on &C.
count OF ITS publication In Texas is wholly
tnadmlssl6le and Is peremptorily denied by
this government 1t is equivalent TO as
sorting that Mexico can take Jurisdiction
over the authors Of the various
criticisms of Mexican business operations
which appear In the newspapers OF
be tried and imprisoned Ia Mexico for
publishing in the United States criticism
on Mexican business transaction in
which be was concerned, there is not an
editor or publisher of a newspaper in the
United States who could not, were he
found IN Mexico, be subjected to like in
dignities and injuries on the same ground.
To an assumption of such jurisdiction by
Mexico neither the government OF the
United States nor the governments OF our
several states will submit They will each
mete out due justice to all offenses com
mttted in their respective jurisdictions.
They will not permit that this preroga-
tive shall In any degree be usuIped by
Mexico, nor, aside from the fact of ex-
clusiveness OF their jurisdiction over acts
done within their own boundaries, will
they permit citizen of the United States
TO be called TO account by Mexico for
acts done by them within the boundaries
If the United States On this ground,
therefore, you will demand Mr.. Cuttings
release.
But there is another ground on which
this demand may with equal positive
ness be based. BY the law OF nations no
punishment can be Inflicted by soyer-
eign on citizens OF countries unless In
conformity with those sanctions of JUS
tice which all civilized nations hold In
common.
Among these sanctions are the right of
having the facts on which the charge OF
guilt was made examined by an impartial
court the explanation TO the accused of
these facts, the opportunity granted to
him Of counsel, such delay as is necessary
to prepare his case, permission In all
cases not capital to go at large on bail
TILL trial, the due production under oath
OF all evidence prejudlcing the accused,
giving him the right to REORGANIZATION
the right to produce his own evidence In
eXcnlpation, release even from temporary
Imprisonment In all cases where the
charge Is simply one Of threatened breach
OF the peace, and where due security TO
keep the peace Is rendered. All these
sanctions were violated In the present
case. Trr~-Untting was summarily
imprisoned byy tribunal whose
partlality and incompeteney were
alike shown hy---tts proceedings. He
was refused counsel; he was refused an
Interpreter to explain to him the nature
OF the charges brought against him; n
there was evidence against him 1t was
not produced under oath, with an oppor-
tunity given him for cross-eNsmlnation
phii Wos Etlustu tO MN, ana htter n trial,
II II can be called such, violating In its
way the fundamental sanctions OF civil.
ized justice, he was cast into ''loath-
some and elthy" cell, where, according to
one OF the sfllduvlts attached TO MIR. Brig.
HAMS report, "there are from six to eight
other prisoners, and when the door is
locked there are no other means OF ven
u ation"-an adobe house, almost all
tight, with "dirt foor;" he was al
lowed about "Sb cents American money
for his subsistence;" he was "not fur
nished with any bedding, not even
blanket" In this wretched CELL subjected
TO pains and deprivatlons which no civil.
lied government should permit TO be In
illeted on those detained In It's prisons, he
still languishfs, and this for an act com
mitted in the United States, aud In itself
not subject to prosecution in any humane
system of jurisprudence, and after trial
violating the chief sanctions Of criminal
procedure
THESE circumstances you will state as
giving an additional basis, basis which
II IL be established this government will
| not nArmil IN ha a..