Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-04-30
From Tho Forum Tor May.

10 lItlT utStTls
Hamlet-God's bodykins, man, BETTER
use every man after his desert, and who
should seape whipping Use them after
your own honor and dignity; the less they
deserve, the more merit is in your bounty
To the people of the United States
and their government has been COM
mitted the great charge of maintaining
peace and order over a vast domain,
and to-day the mass of human interests
x in our land and the responsibility for
IL, their proper care and conduct are not
exceeded, if equaled, in any other em-
b pire on earth.
The unit Of our system is the indi-
yidual iuan, and to preserve him in the
possession of absolute civil and reli-
gious liberty we have adopted system
of government which, by limiting and
distributing its powers, prevents their
consolidation and the growth of
tyranny. Ours is government of
laws, and to quote from the golden
opinion delivered by the late Mr..
Justice Miller--clarum ct venerable
nomen--in the Arlington case:
No man in this country is so high that
he is above the law; no officer of the law
can set that law at defiance with impu-
nifty; all the officers of the government,
from the highest to the lowest, are
creatures of the law, and are bound to
obey it. 1t is the only supreme power in
our system of government, and every man
who, by accepting office, participates in
its functions, is only the more strongly
bound to submit to that supremacy and to
observe the limitations which it imposes
upon the exercise Of the authority which
itgives. Courts of justice are established
not only to decide upon the controverted
rights of the citizens as against each other,
but also upon rights in controversy be-
tween them and the government and the
d cket of this court is crowded with CON
troversies of the latter class.
One of the chief and enduring pur-
4 poses for which the Constitution of the
r United States was ordained is the cstab-
u lishment of justice. Indeed, this was
y the great end of the system as
n organized, and if it should ever fail
the system would perish. All persons
within the territory of the United
States under the sanction of admitted
public law owe it allegiance; the citi-
zens owe II permanent allegiance, the
resident foreigners owe it temporary
H allegiance. All alike are subject to lis
A laws and all alike are entitled to the
protection of those laws. 1t is believed
that this great function of administering
justice has on the whole been honor
ably and fairly executed by the officials
into whose hands the duty has been
committed, Our courts of justice have
been open to ALL No discrimination by
reason Of nationality, Or race, or condi-
non OF fortune, can be found upon our
statute books or is indicated by the
recorded judgments of our courts. With
or without treaty stipulation, no case
can be found of denial of Justice, either
N IEt fll I1t, FNr t1tr .1,,, ,F
statute, against foreigner; on the CON
trary, no mores patient, laborious and
learned decisions upon the rights of
person and property can be adduced
than those in which foreigners have
been interested parties.
l am aware Of no case until the
present time in which indemnity for
personal injuries inflicted upon a
foreigner within our jurisdiction has
been demanded by q foreign govern
ment from the United States by reason
of the failure of Justice in its judicial
courts. OF the case in which indem-
nifty is stated to have been demanded
very lately by Italy Of the United
States for the killing of possibly two
alleged Italian subjects in the city of
New Orleans, intend to say nothing
al presnt, as the matter is pending in
negotiation and is still undergoing the
usual and proper investigation by the
executive department. ! desire to dis
cuss, upon principle, the measure of our
liabilities for injuries inflicted upon indi-
viduals by other individuals within our
jurisdiction, and / shall not refer to the
New Orleans case OF to the unduly ex-
cited and unprecedented action Of the
Italian government in relation to it as
an illustration Of the law to which the
American people intend to adhere.
shall draw attention to the two cases
in which, and in which alone, an at
tempt has been made to substitute for
the remedies and redress always obtain-
able by an appeal to our local courts of
justice, a demand upon the government
OF the United States for pecuniary com
pensation in the class of cases alluded
to-one by Great Britain in 1878, and
the other by the Chinese government in
1885. The answer of the government
Of the United States in both cases was
the same; and it may be proper to note
that in the English demand no reference
was made to the existence of treaty
stipulation for reciprocal protection and
security, as set forth in the treaty of
1915, which is still in force between the
two countries, while in the case of the
Chinese demand, the claim was based
expressly on the stipulations of treaties
between two countries
A score or more instances can be
found, in existing treaties between the
United States and foreign nations, of
stipulations for securing to citizens of
each nation, residing within the terri
tory of the other, the enjoyment of all
the privileges of the most favored nation
and perfect equality with the natives.
These stipulations, while varying some-
what in form, are in substance equiva-
lent, and in none of them is a greater
degree of care, diligence, and active pro-
lection required Of the government of
the United States than is bestowed by it
upon its own citizens The grant Of
assured protection is almost invariably
accompanied by the condition that the
individuals so protected shall submit
themselves to the conditions imposed
upon the natives, or, in the phraseology
OF our treaty with Italy, that they shall
receive protection upon the same terms
as the natives of the country, submitting
themselves to the laws there estab-
lished."
In no case is separate or special
frthupo1 etiO111afad Fnr -, a;ti.a.