Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-08-06
THE CUTTING #
Presented I'm a Nutshell, and h Duty OF
Our Government.
pbJ-daynbs1 Times

Philadelphia Times.
A. X. Cutting, whose imprisonment IN
Mexico has caused a grave diplomatic
Yrangle, is probably as worthless an adj
~yenturer "a could be found anywhere be-
tween Ell Paso and the northeast boundary
line of Maine; and if there is any news
naper man within the same limits who
more deserves to have free boarding IN jail,
we can't now recall his name. Cuttings
attack upon a newspaper rival across
the river in Mexico, was infamous
w libelous and indicated only the
qualities of the b~lackguard; but for that ne
was arrested, signed a reconciliation, as
the Mexican law calls a legal apology or
retraction in libel, and was discharged;
After thus confessing his crime committed
within the jurisdiction of Mexico, he re-
heated the libel in his English paper on
the American side Ofthe river, and Tor that
he was again arrested when he recroSseu
10 Mexico, and has since been IN prison De
cause he refused TO enter bail.
Had Cutting circulated his American pa
per containing his repetition of the libel
across the river in Mexico he WouIu DC
| Justly amenable to the Mexican laws, rs
he voluntarily went into Mexico and thus
brought himself within the jurisdiction OF
the Mexican courts; but if, as Is officially
! stated in Secretary Bayard's official review
of the case mo allegation of the clrcula-
| tion (of the LIBEL in Mexico by Mr.. Cut
ting is made, and indeed no such clrcula-
ton was practicable or possible, because
the arrest was summarily made on the
same dav of the publication in the Eng
| Iish language in Texas" it is the clearest
duty of the United States Government 10
demand the release OF Cutting, and release
him by the military power II necessary.
II matters not who or what Cutting Is,
when Mexico assumes to arrest and punish
| American citizens for alleged, or even the
most fragrant, libels published only In the
| United States, our Government is bound to
assert and maintain, nj any cost, the free
dom of our citizenship. England would
not arrest even Herr Most if he returned
Ia England, for libclOuS or sedltlOus
publications in America, unless he
made himself clearly amcnable to
| English law by circulating the lawleSS ar
ticies in England; and the assumption by
Mexico of the right 10 arrest any Amerl-
can citizen and try and punish him Tor a
libelous publication made only IN this
/ country, is simply mOnstrous. There Is
ample law for all, citizen and stranger, IN
America for the punishment of libel, and
there is not even the Semblance Of injus-
ticc in requiring arrest and trial by the
jurisdiction wherein the crime is commit
/ ted.
1t ispossible that the courts of Chihuahua
are going it alone in hindering the release
of Cutting, rs that part OF Mexico Is de-
cidedly loose on the Mexican Federal
hinges: but the Government of Mexico Is
answerable for the conduct of Chihuahua
in international affairs, and our govern
ment need not stop to inquire whether it
more or less aflrOnts Mexican Federal or
State authority by the prompt release OF
Cutting and by forceif necessary. 1t is a
clear case for the Jackson rule OtdiplOmacy
that acts first and explains afterwards.