The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-01-25
RIGHT OF ASYLUM.
Ex-senator Henderson Thinks the Refugees
Should Not Have Been Protected.

Ex-senator Henderson Thinks the Refugees
Should Not Have Been Protected.
srecial 10 the Indianapolis Journal
WASHINGTON, Jan. A-EX-Senator John
B. Henderson, of Missouri, does not think
our government is wholly in the
right in the sChilian controversy.
In discussing the situation to-day,
particularly with reference to the
right of asylum for refugees. he fnus two
sides to it. 1.-The refugees sent to Callao,"
he ssys. ''are citizens of Chill, who being
guilty of crimes under Chilian law, sought
refuge at the house of the United States
minister, Mr.. Patrick Egan. in order to
escape the punishment due to these crimes.
These men have not only been sheltered
and protected at the house and at the
legation of our minister resident at Sam
tiago for several months, against the pro-
test of the existing government of Chill,
which we have acknowledged and with
which we claim to be OF peace. but they
are finally removed and peaceably trans
ported by land from Santiago to Valparaiso
and there placed on war vessel of the
United States to be safely transported by
the authority OF our government beyond
the jurisdiction of the country whose laws
they have violated. This is regarded at
the Navy Department as an indication that
affairs are quiet in Chill at present.
II think, myself, after this much of hu-
initiation on the part of Chill. the further
suggestion that she desires war must be
totally abandoned by our people. Suppose,
during the late civil war in this country.
the English or the French minister at
Washington had given shelter and protec-
tion to Jefferson Davis. Jacob Thompson.
General Early or General Beauregard, how
long would the house or the person of that
minister have been respectedf Submit the
own Secretary of State in 1875, said to Mr..
Barton, minister to this country from
Hayti: .,..
asyluml would ever be attempted In this
country. or if attempted, could be toler-
ated, and the discountenance which the
United States extends to the practice is
upon the principle of doing to others as we
would they should do unto US. so that
when we acknowledge the sovereignty of
State by concluding treaties with and
by accredltlng diplomatic officers to it's
government we, implicitly at least. ac-
knowledge Ir as q political equal. and we
claim to extend to it all the political pre-
negatives and immunities which we may
claim for ourselves. We sincerely desire
that it may be universally recognized
that foreign legations shall nowhere be
made harbor for persons either charged
with crimes, or who may fear that such
charge may be made. Prominent among
the reasons for objection on our part to
gfvina asylum in legation, especially in
the government to the south of us, is that
such practice obviously tends toward the
encouragement of Otfenses for which
believe that the instability of the govern
ments in countries where the practice has
been tolerated may. in q great degree, be
due to such liberation. For this reason, if
r. 0fh e
United States, which is one of law and
order and of constitutional observance, de-
sires to extend no encouragement to q
practice which it believes to be calcula ted
movements and ambitious plottings. In
stances, too. have occurred where an
asylum having been granted, with i'm
punity. has been grossly abused. to the de-
feat of Justice not only against political
offenders, but also against persons charged
with infamous crimes. Such business is
plainly Incompatible with the stability
and welfare of government and society it.
SELF"
THINKS WE HAVE NO GRIEVANCE.
After quoting further utterances of other
Secretaries of State. Webster. Seward, Mar
cy and Bayard, on this subject. to show
that the United States has uniformity con-
demned the practice of granting asylum
for refugees. General Henderson said: I'VE
have no right to interfere with the civil
policy of other nations. and to make the
houses of our representatives abroad har-
Dor for offenders against their laws is an
insult to them far greater than the action
of unauthorized mobs can possibly be to
us. If We had TO go to war with every ma
tion whose soil vas stained with the blood
spilled by mobs few peaceful years wonld
bless our land. Chilli has the same God
whom we worship. They believe in the
same Bible and accept our Christian creed
of faith. The right of sylum is no longer
claimed. except In barbarous OF heather
states. To assert the right in Chill is to brand
the Chilians as barbarous. Chill repudistes
all governmental responsibility FOR the mob
of last October. She claims that il was the
sudden and unlicensed outbreak OF drunk
en- men on both sides. She proposes to es-
tabish this fact under the due admnistra-
tion of her laws, and asks for timo TO fur
Dish the evidence. Shall our pride forbid
US to waltz Only by pride cometh conten-
tion, but with the well advised is wisdom
"One year ago, when Italy demanded i'm.