Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-14
CRIMINALS THAT ARE WELCOME.
Political Refugees Who Trade on
Stranoe Law Of Nations.

When a man commits an ordinary
crime and then flies to another coun-
try, the government of that country
is, as a general rule. only too glad to
hand him over on demand, and cry,
Good riddance to bad rubbish
When, however, the crime happens
to be a political one. the case is alto
gether different In such an event 1t
not infrequently welcomes him with
open arms. In any case, it almost in
yariably refuses to surrender him.
This is i'm accordance with both the
written and the unwritten law OF ma
tions, which DEGREES right OF sanctu-
airy" to political offenders, and for
this reason a good deal more Is likely
to be heard in the near future OF the
"Savarkar incident" as It is now be-
ginning to be called.
Savarkar it will be remembered, was
the Hindoo student who was arrested
in London for carrying on seditious
propaganda in India, and was deport-
ed to that country for trial. On the
WAY out, lnelc, lo"SNSit thS SNN~~-
that was conveying him put into the
harbor of Marseilles, and SaVarkar
seized the opportunity to jump over
board and swim ashore.
A French policeman arrested him
as he clambered up the quay side, and
handed him over to the crew of the
ships boat that was sent to fetch him
back, in ignorance Of the fact that ne
was a political offender. But he was
one, in fact. He had set foot Oh
French soil and he had thereby enti-
tied himself to his fright of sanctu-
ary." AS a consequence, the French
government, as soon as 1t learned the
| truth of the matter, started to make
friendly representations TO the
British government, and these are
still in progress. What the result Will
be remains to be seen:
| or course, a good deal turns upon
the question as to what constitutes
political offense, but the general ten
dency Is to allow the very widest pos
! sible latitude in the Interpretation Oh
the term. England, especially, mas
always shown herself exceedingly
tolerant of all sorts and kinds OF con-
spirators belonging to nationalities
other than her own.
Thus, when Orsini tried to blow up
the emperor of the French, we per-
sistentIv declined to hand over his
|accomplices, who had taken refuge IN
London, and this, although France
very nearly went to war with us In Or
der to try to compel us to do so.
| A more recent case In point, again,
was that of the Chinese reformer Sun
Vat Sen, who also took refuge on
British soil, and whom likewise we
refused to surrender, although the
Chinese government insisted. EVEN
tually, despairing OF gaming thelr
point in any other way, the Chinese
authorities here caused him to be kid
Mapped and imprisoned inside the chi
nese Legation in London, where 1t was
! intended to hold him a prisoner un-
til he could be smuggled on board
mail steamer bound for China. But
the facts leaked out, and the Chinese
minister had perforce to deliver up
his captive on receipt Of curt order
to that effect signed by Lord Sails
bury. -
day. A foreigner who Is disquallneu
under the alien act for residence In
this country, can claim Ambulance at
once provided he can show that ne Is
uolitical refugee, and that his lte
or his liberty would be endangered II
he were rejected and deported.
| Nor are other nations much less
tender of the rights of "politicals,' as
this class of offenders is generally de-
signated for short. switzerland, lor
instance, refused to give up the motor
lious Vera Zassoulich, who shot CEN
eral Trepoff, the chief of police at 81.
I Petersburg. Stepniak, the famous Nj
hilist, lived in France, Germany and
italy before finally taking refuge III
England, and by each Of these three
nations i'm turn was his eXtradltlon
refused.
These kind Of incidents often cause
considerable international Ill feehng'
| for naturally the governments CON
cerned look at them from entirey
different standpoints. For instance,
| we were once within an ace OF going
| to war with the United States OF
America over two "politicals" named
| Mason and Slidell.
They were rebels from the revolted
southern states, who were traVeilng
| to England on board the British mail
steamer Trent, with the OBJECT ol
pleading their cause before our gov
ernment. In midocean, however, tne
Trent was stopped by the United
States battleships San Jacinto, and
Messrs. Mason and Slidell were forci-
blv removed from her, despite the
protests of her commander, and taken
prisoners to Boston.
There were great rejoicings In the
| United States over their capture put
these were somewhat short llVeo' ior
] in a little while there arrived an ulti.
matum from the British government
demanding their immediate release: II
was made plain at the same time that
a refusal would be followed on our
part by an immediate declaration OF
war: and, as the government at WASH
ington already had its hands full pat
tling with the seeding southern
states, it had no option but to OBEY
pearSon's Weekly.