Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 4, 1871

No. 317.

Mr. Fish to Mr. Torbert

No. 33.]

Department of State, Washington, May 18, 1871.

Sir: The Department has received your dispatch No. 48, of the 21st ultimo, relative to the surrender to authorities of Salvador of Señor Doctor Don Francisco Dueñas, late president of that republic, to whom you had granted an asylum. Nothing will at this time be said as to the propriety or expediency of your having granted that asylum; you are, however, referred for the general views of the Department upon the subject to instruction No. 24, of the 16th of December, 1869, addressed to Mr. Ebenezer D. Bassett, minister resident of the United States in Hayti. A copy of this instruction is herewith inclosed.

Having, however, whether for sufficient reasons or otherwise, granted a refuge to Mr. Dueñas, you thereby incurred an obligation, which, it might be said, more or less implicated the honor of this Government in its exact fulfillment.

It appears that Mr. Dueñas assented to his own surrender. This assent, however, may be regarded as so important an element in the case that it would have been preferable if it had been given in writing. This would have made it a matter of record, which might have been used, in possible contingencies, to refute a charge that the surrender was contrary to the wishes of the refugee, a charge which there may be no sufficient means of refuting.

I am, sir, &c.,

HAMILTON FISH.

Mr. Fish to Mr. Bassett

No 24.]

Department of State, Washington December 16, 1869.

Sir: Your dispatch No. 20, of the 20th ultimo, has been received. It represents that in consequence of the apprehended triumph of the armed opposition to the existing government in Hayti, the foreign consulates, and even the legation of the United States, had been sought as asylums for persons and property. Occasions for this have of late years frequently arisen in the independent states of this hemisphere, but the proceeding has never been sanctioned by the Department, which, however, appreciates those impulses of humanity which make it difficult to reject such appeals for refuge. The expediency of granting an asylum in such cases, especially by consuls, is more than questionable, and the obligation to take that course has no foundation in public law, however in Hayti or elsewhere it may be tolerated and customary.

While you are not required to expel those who may have sought refuge in the legation, you will give them to understand that your Government cannot, on that account, assume any responsibility for them, and especially cannot sanction any resistance by you to their arrest by the authorities for the time being.

I am, &c.,

HAMILTON FISH.