The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-14
FOREIGN EMBASSIES
NOT SAFE AS A REFUGE FOR
 CRIMINALS.
Questions Arising in Connection with the Homicide Perpetrated by United States Minister Hun
 ter's Son at Guatemala.
Washington Times.

So many years have elapsed since any civilized power has been called upon to deal with a difficulty such as the one py which the United States government IS ccnfronted in connection with the homi- eide of which the son of Minister Hunter has rendered himself guilty at Guatemala City, that it may be timely, as well as interesting to offer some explanation with regard to the rights of the Ameri- can envoy in offering an asylum to his son in his legation. This is all the more necessary as the often high-handed acton of the western powers in the Orient m according protection and refuge at their embassies, not merely to their own coun- trymen guilty of offenses against the laws of the land, but also to native onenoers, has led to a good deal Of msappretn,snsioHf t,nss of diplomatic representatives in such cases
 inasmuch as w. Godfrey Hunter, Jr., is a son of the United States Minister to Guatemala. he is by virtue of interna. tional law and diplomatic usage, entitled to the exemption from local-that is, Qua temalan-iurisdiction which not only the envoy but also the members of his fam lily enjoy. And this same immunity ex, tends to the secretary of the United States legation at Guatemala, who. ac. cording to the first dispatches received about the matter, was implicated aiong with young Hunter in the shooting Of wants that Minister Hunter might have in his employ would be equally safe from any procedure on the part or the Qua temalan judicial and police authorities But this privilege Is only allowed on me understanding that the offenders thus protected are sent home for trial and are punished by the courts of their own country.
 Envoys Formerly Acted as Judges
 Themselves.
 In former times the envoys themselves acted as judges in cases where members oP fhni h0uSahnd had been. guilty of crimes committed either within or without the precincts of the embassy. In the seventeenth and elgh- teenth centuries there were quite num- Der of incidents of this kind. Thus when Venice was still a republic. the Spanish ambassador having caught one of his Spanish servants in the act of thieving, proceeded to try, convict. and sentence him hanged from one of the windows of his palace. When Sully was French am bassador in London and one of the mem bers of his staff killed an .Englishman with whom he had become involved In a quarrel at an inn. he assembled jury of Frenchmen at the embassy and on the strength of their verdict condemned the man to death, turning him over to the London public executioner for punishment as a matter of convenience. King James, who was then on the throne, heard of the affair and pardoned the man, whereupon Sully protested against this act of clem- ency, declaring that as the Frenchman had been convicted and sentenced to death by tribunal of his own countrymen. the English King had no right or competence to Interfere in the matter. There is also the case of M. de Thou, who, while French envoy at The Hague, kept a mem- Der of his staff in prison for no less than four years in the cellars of the legation as a punishment for some breach Of French law that the man had committed system Changed by Modern Ideas and
 Usages.
 Modern ideas and usages are opposed to such extraordinary preroganves as tnese, and the civilized powers have come to an agreement to the effect that 1t Is mex pedient for any government to permit foreigners to perform acts of criminal justice within its territory, unless It @ oe for the purpose of carrying out military law on a vessel of war in port, pr Tn a foreign army passing by virtue4 of per mission through the land. According tc the present state of international law ior- eign envoys in civilized countries are pre- cluded from determining and punishlne members of their mission, family oI household who have rendered themseives guilty of crimes within or without thf precincts of the embassy. and are ob iiged to send the offender home for tria by the courts of his native land. collect ing and sending all the evidence that Il has been possible to obtain in the matter
 Thus some twenty years ago a popular foreign nobleman, the first secretary ot one of the embassies accredited to the Court of St. James, was arrested along with certain English associates on charge of felony. Not until the prison CTS were brought before the magistrate or the following day was his identity and his diplomatic status established. As soon as ever this became known he was turned over by the police to his ambassa- dor who sent him back to his native land In the custody of two detectives sum moned from~rhe Continent for the pur. pose. to be dealt with by the courts oi his own country, while his fellow offend CTS were sentenced at Old Bailey to long terms of penal servitude.
 It is however, in the power Of the gov ernment to which the offender is subject to order the envoy to turn him over fol punishment to the authorities of the 10 caity in which the crime has been per petrated The minister cannot do this without his governments consent and the latter Is so rarely given that there is bu little probability of the United State: directing Minister Hunter to surrender hi! son or his Secretary to the Guatemalar authorities. in connection with the kill ing by the former of William Fitzgerald
 Should Minister Hunter decline to senC home his son for trial by the courts il the United States, the Guatemalan au thorities would be justified by preceden and by international law in expelling th' young man-"but without personal in jury"-from their territory, without ex posing themselves to any charge by thu United States of having violated the Jul gentium or diplomatic prerogatives.
 Immunity Extends to Foreigners ant
 Not to Natives.
 This immunity from local Jurisdiction enjoyed by foreign envoys, by the mem bers of their staff and by those of theil domestic servants who are of the same nationality as themselves, and whom they have hired abroad, does not extend to the natives in the employ of the ambassador or to domestics hired in the country tC which he is accredited Thus some year: ago when the English coachman of the American ambassador in London was ar rested by the police for an assault com nitted outside of the precincts of th' embassy, and their action in the mattel was questioned on this side of the ocean the British Government successfully es tablished the fact that it had not eX ceeded it's rights in the affair, and tha the only thing in which the police ha( been remiss was in negecting the cour tesy of notifying the ambassador of hi coachman's predicament
 There is but one eventuality which migh necessitate the surrender of Ministe Hunters son to the Guatemalan authori ties and which would deprive the United States Government of the right of eX tending its protection to the young man or from demanding that he should b brought back to this country for trial II connection with the killing of Fitzgerald If he has been engaged in any bushes fin Guatemala, either of a commercial O an industrial character he forfeits ips facto all his diplomatic imnunlties, n matter whether he be a member of tn family of the envoy or an othclal O jster have any right in that case to- ac snrd to him an asylum at the American 1Icw- sr Attache Was Caught b!