Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

of speaking in measured and decorous terms in regard of vice and corruption, my language was inefficient to express the conviction of the government of Venezuela of the criminality of the arbitral sentences of which she complains as being deeply injurious, it so happening that the honorable Mr. Seward deemed that his government is obliged not to enter upon an examination of them.

and

I showed in my letter here referred to the constant endeavor of Mr. Talmage that the arbitrament should be exclusively his work; and that whatever the measures employed to attain this end, or little as Venezuela pretended to investigate them, the fact remains clear that an agent employed in the business affairs of Mr. Talmage, with whom he lived on terms of extreme familiarity, and who was deficient in every element of fitness for so delicate a matter, was appointed arbiter. I do not see in any sentence of my letter the assertion of the honorable Mr. Seward, that I had designated Mr. Machado "as the arbiter for Mr. Talmage," justified; but now that in passing mention must be made of this erroneous impression, I will not hesitate to state that in no other manner was the arbiter designated by public opinion. I showed that with the support of the arbiter Mr. Talmage dictated to the commission rules which made it impossible in complicated cases to give to the examination time materially needful-clear proof of the indifference with which that indispensable requisite for the correct administration of justice was looked upon. I showed that Mr. Talmage collected with zeal all reclamations; always inclined to concede everything, although in some cases what he claimed might appear small; and that the initiation for repelling even the most monstrous reclamations never was made by him; it may be added that such was his zeal to empty the treasury of Venezuela that, usurping powers which the international convention never gave to him, he gave support and favorable sentence to one reclamation of the Italian subject, Abbiati, who he ought to have certified was not a citizen of the United States, for which reason the arbiter rejected it. I showed that, as well on the part of the American commissioner as on that of the arbitrator, there was, in the consideration of the claims, a failure to notice those facts upon which their decisions ought principally to rest. Respecting the claim of the heirs of Captain Clark, I brought to mind the precedent already existing of the decision pronounced by the commission in Ecuador, and the statement made by the American commissioner and minister of the United States in that country, Mr. Hassaurek, that that individual had deserved rather punishment than reward. The same subject was also dismissed without consideration from the board of arbitration on the part of New Granada, (now Colombia.) And I am now forced to recall the attention of the Department of State to this noteworthy matter; since it is really incomprehensible how the strange anomaly can exist, that there be, to the detriment of Venezuela, an especial code of justice which is not applicable to the sister republics of Colombia and Ecuador, and which tends to shield a crime according to the conscientious expression of the Commissioner and Minister Hassaurek. I also observed that, in the case of Nobles, Beales, and Garrison, none of the considerations which should influence the decision of a judge were had in view. The Venezuelan commissioner protested in due form against the competency of the tribunal; and, as I said in my first letter, the pretence that Venezuela shall pay what has been inconsiderately sentenced by the arbitrator would be equivalent to a pretence that the United States should pay the damages demanded by those who made contracts with the government of the so-called southern confederacy; that is to say, the damages, real or imaginary, which they have suffered from their non-fulfilment. But there is yet more to be said in the present

case, for even according to the hypothesis, which I deny, that the Venezuelan government is responsible to the United States for the nullification of contracts made with an intrusive and ephemeral government, not recognized either by Venezuela or by the United States, there remains the fact that the contracts have been a mere fraud from the beginning to the end. If, instead of postponing every other object to that of extracting money from the treasury of Venezuela, even a moderate attention had been paid to the true statement of the facts, that decision, involving the most sordid criminality, could never have been arrived at. The conscience of the judge would not have failed to note that the contracts were leonine and concluded in bad faith; his eyes would not have failed to see the letters, which are included in the espediente, written by the so-called dictator to Mr. Beales, and by his general secretary to Mr. Nobles, in which they unblushingly confess that the steamship contract was made only "out of complacency" and "for the profit" of the pretenders, for which purpose, and that it might be extended at pleasure, a power of attorney was given to the consul in New York, a brother-in-law of the general secretary. The judge would have perceived that the contractors failed to make good the condition of sending the first steamship to La Guayra within 100 days, by which fact the contract died a natural death. And since the judge only saw a so-called additional article, by which the limit of 100 days was extended to eight months, he ought to have seen the evident nullity of this fraudulent article; since not only was it drawn up after the so-called dictatorship had ceased to exist, but the ex-consul was not provided with power to modify the contract; and in this assumption of governmental faculties, as well as in his artful acceptance by the contractors, the judge ought rather to have seen a proper subject for a criminal prosecution than for an indemnification.

If the judge closed his eyes to all these facts, and if he closed them also in order not to see in the same espediente a certificate of a notary public of New York figuring with the pretence of being authentic, but in which there is no signature of the notary, and that notwithstanding this there is to be found after it the consular legalization in which it is certified that the signature of the notary, which is not found in the document, is worthy of full credit, what were then the duties of the judge, and the obligations which he contracted with his principals?

I manifested, finally, in my letter of February 12, that, in the affair of the heirs of Jacob Idler, the arbitrator gave his decision to the effect that he would not go into an examination of the accounts in view of the possibility that it might present difficulties owing to its long standing, &c.; that is, he confesses that, under this puerile pretext, he violated his oath to scrupulously examine and decide with justice and impartiality.

By what has been stated it will be seen that I do not propose merely to examine conscientious reasons and judgments, more or less correct, as the facts which the government of Venezuela stated through me would have appeared to your excellency's honorable predecessor, and that the grave nature of the charges rests not alone upon the proved fact of Mr. Talmage holding powers of attorney from several of the claimants; a fact, the gravity of which cannot admit of a doubt, especially if it be taken in connection with the idea in which he pertinaciously insisted beforehand, and carried by the aid of the arbitrator, of dividing into parts the certificates, i. e., the amounts assigned to each favored individual. I have to do with an accumulation of grave and criminal facts which vitiate and annul the decisions of the arbitrator as being the product of a deliberate plan to carry up to the highest possible sum the concessions made to the interested parties, a plan followed out systematically and

perseveringly to the detriment of the Venezuelan treasury, and to the scandal of the native and foreign public of Caracas.

If in arbitration, as in war, there were no other object than that of doing all possible damage to the opposite side, it would be neither proper nor opportune to remonstrate against the consequences of the conduct of Messrs. Talmage and Machado; but as the objects of that institution are entirely distinct, and as, upon fixing the arbitral commission at Caracas, it was the positive intention and desire of both nations that their commissioners should act with loyalty and good faith, the government of Venezuela maintains that the radical defects of that commission being demonstrated, the United States should agree to its revision. Even though this step should be a novelty, as it appeared to the honorable Mr. Seward, the novelty does not detract from the force of justice; but in fact, there is nothing new in the proposal, since the laws of nations, according to the exposition of the writers upon the subject, recognize the justice of annulling an arbitral decision whenever the judges lay aside their judicial character, as Messrs. Talmage and Machado have repeatedly and notoriously done, as already stated. Not to accumulate quotations, a single one from so respectable an authority as Phillimore may suffice. In his "Commentaries upon International Law," part ix, chapter 1, he says, in treating of arbitration:

The sentence once given is binding upon the parties whose own act has created the jurisdiction over them. The extreme case may indeed be supposed, of a sentence bearing upon its face glaring partiality and attended with circumstances of such evident injustice as to be null. Nee tamen, (Voet observes,) executioni danda evit, si per sordes, aut per manifestam gratiam vel inimicitiam probetur lata.

Having proved with such conclusive reasons the justice with which Venezuela comes, full of fraternal sentiments to the United States, to ask an act of equity which will redound chiefly in honor and credit to her own illustrious government, I respectfully reiterate my request for the revision of the decisions which I made in the name of my government in my letter of February 12.

On this occasion I have great pleasure in improving the opportunity .to offer to your excellency the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.

ML. MUÑOZ Y CASTRO.

Mr. Washburne to Mr. Muñoz y Castro.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, March 16, 1869.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, in which you reiterate the request for a revision of certain decisions made by the joint commission lately sitting at Caracas. I cannot perceive that you present any new fact or reason for acceding to that request additional to those adduced in your letter of the 12th ultimo, and which, as you were informed by my predecessor in his communication of the 3d instant, this government was constrained to regard as inconclusive and unsatisfactory. I must, therefore, decline to reconsider the determination with which you have been made acquainted.

I avail myself of the occasion to tender to you a renewed assurance of my high consideration. E. B. WASHBURNE.

Señor MANUEL MUÑOZ Y CASTRO, &c., &c., &c.

[blocks in formation]

A report of the commissioners appointed under the 13th article of the treaty between the United States and the Senecas and mixed Senecas, Shawnees, and other Indians, concluded February 23, 1867, to ascertain and report the amount of money due by the United States to the Wyandott Indians.

MARCH 19, 1869.-Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be printed

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

Washington, D. C., March 17, 1869.

SIR: The 13th article of the treaty between the United States and the Seneca and mixed Senecas, Shawnees and other Indians, concluded in this city on the 23d of February, 1867, authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Interior to appoint three persons whose duty shall be to ascertain and report to the department the amount of money, if any, due by the United States to the Wyandott Indians under existing treaty stipulations, and the items mentioned in Schedule A, appended to the treaty.

Commissioners were accordingly appointed. On the 2d instant they submitted a report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, from which it appears that they have concluded their investigations on all matters, except those relating to depredations on Wyandott property; and they were of opinion that their inquiries in regard to such depredations could be more successfully prosecuted in Kansas than in this city. Instructions were given to them accordingly by my predecessor on the 26th ultimo to proceed to Kansas to complete the investigation.

I do not deem it proper to await the completion of the work of the commissioners, and, pursuant to the terms of the treaty, have the honor to submit a copy of the report herewith for such action as Congress may deem necessary in the premises.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX,

J. D. COX, Secretary.

Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate.

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 2, 1869.

SIR: The commissioners appointed in accordance with the Senate's amendment of the 13th article of the Treaty of the 23rd of February, 1867,

« ZurückWeiter »