Los Angeles herald., 1890-09-01
BARRUNDIA AFFAIR.
MINISTER MINERS ACTION CALL
ED IN QUESTION,
The State Department Investigating the
Matter-How Secretary Bayard Dealt
With Parallel Case.

WASHINGTON, August 3l.-The state
department has taken measures to Sc
cure full particulars of the shooting OF
General Barrundia on board an Ameri-
can vessel lying in the port of San Jose,
by officers of the Guatemalan govern
ment, and until the facts and circum-
stances connected with the affair are
known, it does not care to express any
opinion of the case, or the course OF
Minister Miner.
A case involving identical circum-
stances occurred in Nicaragua in 1885,
and in that case Secretary Bayard in
formed our minister in Central America
that Nicaragua had right to take the
man wanted from an American merchant
vessel, provided it would be in Nicara
guam waters. The case was that of Jose
Gomez. In a letter dated Guatemala,
February 10, 1885, Minister Hall in
formed Secretary Frelinghuysen that he
had been informed that the Guate-
mala government proposed to take
from on board the Pacific mail steamer
Honduras, then lying at San Juan del
Sur, passenger named Gomez, in tran
sit for Panama, but wanted in Nicaragua
to answer the charge of being implicated
in recent insurrection. Minister Hall
said he had directed our consul at Mana
qua to inform the Nicaraguan
government that our government
had never consented, and never
would consent to the arrest and
removal from an American vessel, in a
foreign port, OF any passenger in tran
sit, much less if the otfense is political
The captain of the vessel did not give
up the man, and sailed out of the port
without securing proper clearance
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 letter to the minister, which is
dated March II, 1885, Secretary Bayard
says ''It appears that Gomez volun-
tarily took passage on the vessel, know
ing it would enter EN- route Nicaraguan
port. 1t may safely be affirmed that
when a merchant vessel of one country
visits the port of another for the purpose
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 it remains, unless otherwise
provided by treaty. Any exemption or
immunity from legal jurisdiction, must
be derived from the consent of that
country. 1t is said cases have re-
Gently occurred in which revolutionists
and others wanted for offences of one
character or another have been seized
by the Hawaiian government, while on
British merchant ships, and Great Brit
ain has not protested, thus establishing
a diplomatic precedent"
The Barrundia affair differs from the
other, in that the man was shot out
right. To seize being considered the
right to kill if resistance is made, is one
of the oldest principles 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
seize the man at their own risk. But
the department waits exact information
as to what he did do.