St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-01
Careful Inquiry Being Made
Into the Barrundia In
cident.
Can Foreigners Seize and Kill
Their Subjects on Ameri-
can Vessels?
A Decision by Ex-Secretary
Bayapd Indicating That
They Can.
Minister Miners Course Is
Criticised in Diplomatic
Circles.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13.-The state
department has taken measures to Sc
cure full particulars of the shooting of
Gen. Barrundia on board an American
vessel lying in the port of San Jose by
officers Of the Guatemalan government,
and uutil the exact facts and circum-
stances connected with the affair are
known. it does not care to express any
opinion of the case or of the course of
Minister Miner. A case involving the
indentical principle with that of Gen.
Barrundia occurred in Nicaragua in
1885, and In that case Secretary Bayard
Informed our minister to Central Ameri-
ca that the Nicaraguan government had
right to take the man wanted from on
board an American merchant vessel
provided she were in Nicaraguan
waters. The case was that of Jose
Gomez. In a letter dated Qua
temala Feb. 10, 1885, Minister Hall
informed Secretary Frelinghuysen that
he had been informed that the Guate-
malan government proposed to take
from on board the Pacific mail steamer
Honduras, then lying in San Juan Del
Sur, passenger named Gomez in tran
sit for Panama, but wanted in Nicara-
gva to answer onarge of being impli-
Gated in a recent inSurrection in that
country. Minister Hall said that he
had directed our consul at Managua to
inform the Nicaraguan government
THAT our government has never con-
sented and will never consent to the ar
rest and removal from an American
vessel in foreign port of any passen-
ger in transit, much less if the offense
is political" The captain of the vessel
did not give up the man, and sailed out
OF port without securing proper clear
ance papers. He was
Tried and Convicted
for this by the Nicaraguan authorities.
The case came before the state depart
ment in this way, and it held that Min
lister Hall had not acted according to
law. In his letter to the minister, which
is dated March 12, 1885, Secretary Bay
ard says: "It appears that Gomez vol
unfairly took passage on the vessel,
knowing that it would enter en- route a
Nlcaraguan port. 1t may be
safely affirmed that when a merchant
vessel of one country visits the ports of
another for the purposes of trade it
owes temporary allegiance, and is
amenable to the jurisdiction of that
country, and is subject to the laws
which govern the port it visits so long
as 1t remains, unless it is otherwise
provided by treaty. Any exemption or
immunity from legal jurisdiction must
be derived from the consent of
that country" 1t is said that
cases have frequently occurred in
which revolutionists and others wanted
Tor offenses of one character or another,
have been selzed by the Hawaiian gov
ernment while on British merchant
ships, and Great Britain has not pro-
tested, thus establishing diplomatic
precedents. Had the vessel been a
man-of-war. Barrundia would not have
been subject to jurisdiction, as war yes
sells carry everywhere the jurisdiction
of the country whose flag they fly. The
Barrundia affair differs from the others
in that the man was shot, but the right
to seize being conceded, the right to
kill, if resistance is made, is an old
established principle of law. The
principal criticism made in diplomatic
circles of Minister Miners course is
that of unnecessary interference. 1t is
suggested that he. might have simply
stated to the Guatemalans that they
seized the man at their own risk. But
on this point it is thought well to await
knowledge of exactly what the minister
said and did before pronouncing judg-
ment upon his conduct.