Mr. Uhl to Mr. Taylor.
Washington , May 17, 1895 .
Consul-general at Havana reports that Governor-General denies application procedure of protocol of 1877 to case of Francisco Carrillo, a citizen of the United States, alleging that he has been arrested and is detained by executive authority under powers of state of siege merely as a person dangerous to public order 5 that therefore there is no ground for a demand for a transfer of his case to civil jurisdiction. He is held without apparent intention to try him. The negotiations resulting in [Page 1221] the protocol of 1877 and the awards of the mixed commission in cases of arrest without charge and imprisonment without trial show that article 7 of the treaty of 1795, and the protocol which interprets it, confer on citizens of the United States arrested in Cuba during a state of siege or otherwise, unless with arms in their hands, absolute right to the benefits and guaranties of the law ordinarily administered in the civil courts and to be placed as soon as arrested in the custody of the civil courts, excluding altogether the right to deprive them of their liberty under any processes of martial law. Ton are instructed to demand that Carrillo be promptly released or placed at once in the custody of the civil courts for regular trial and for such proceedings as may be lawful under the law administered therein.