The Irish standard., 1900-05-12
JUDGE LOCHREN'S DECISION
Is of International Interest at the
Present Time.

-Ait optllioll Wds lllCQ ny JuuSc LOCll-
rem in the United States circuit court
last Monday that is OF international
Importance and will have Il decided
bearing on matters concerning the new
ly acquired possessions OF this country.
especially Porto Rico
The case came up on the application
of Rafael Ortiz, Porto Rican, to be
released from the Minnesota state pcni-
tcntiary on a writ OF habcas corpus.
The application was refused by Judge
Lochren in an oral decision on Thurs
day before, and he handed down his
written decision on Monday.
Ortiz was convicted in Porto Rico of
the murder OF soldier and was SEN
fenced to be shot, the finding of the
military tribunal being afterwards modi-
fed so that the sentence was commuted
to Imprisonment for life, and he was
brought to Saltwater. The application
for his release was based on the con-
tention that Ortiz was entitled to trial
by jury, as the United States senate
had ratified the treaty Of peace with
Spain prior to the trial OF Ortiz by a
military tribunal, though the trial pre-
ceded the exchange of ratifcations be-
tween this country and Spain.
The opinion Of Judge Lochren in part
is as follows:
Our general government was founded
by the men of the revolution, who had
rebelled against the arbitrary power as
serted by Great Britain to govern her
outlying colonies at the will OF her par
Lament. They established this govern
merit upon the asserted theory that all
just powers of government come from
the consent of the governed. They
founded, as described by President Lin
coin in language not yet forgotten. "a
government OF the people, by the peo-
pie, for the people" 1t will be, indeed,
marvellous if it is made to appear that
these men who then founded our ma
tional government SO constructed it that
it is capable of ruling with unlimited
power subject people who have nei-
thcr guarantees to protect them nor any
voice in the government. This is for
sign absolutism-the worst form of ty-
fanny.
The argument, much repeated, that if
the national government of the Unite,l
States has not the power to deal will,
these new territories untramme!ed by
the constitution, its power is less than
that possessed by other governments CT
the civilized world, is admitted. 1t
proves nothing The national govern
ment OF the United States is one of very
limited powers. In respect to its own
people, in its entire domain, and gen
orally, except i'll respect to its power to
deal with foreign nations, and concern
ing matters expressly committed to it
by the constitution, its powers are mucl,
less than those possessed by other gov
crnmcnts. No one will dispute this.
1t must be held that upon the ccssion
by Spain to the United States OF the
island of Porto Rico, that island be-
came part of the dominion OF the
United States, as much SO as is Arizona
or Minnesota; and that the constitution
OF the United States, ex propria vigorc,
at once extended over that island; and
that this extension OF the constitution
gave congress, whose every power must
come from that instrument, the author
ity to legislate in respect to that island
as part OF the United States territory.
1t follows that all the provisions Of
the constitution in respect to personal
and property rights, including the right
to trial by jury in criminal prosecutions,
became at once, when the ccssion Was
completed, a part Of the supreme law
OF the land. The character Of an offcnsc
and the nature of its punishment would
lie determined by the law in force When
and where the act was committed; and
laws of this character remain in force
after the cession until changed; but the
manner OF the trial must depend on the