Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

and committal for trial of the person so accused, if the crime of which he or she shall be so accused had been there committed."

2nd. Are original depositions admissible, as well as copies thereof, under the second section of the Act, the said Act being a penal one?

3rd. If original depositions be admissible, should it not be certified, under the hand of the person who issued the warrant in America, that upon such depositions he granted his warrant ?

4th. If copies are alone receivable, is it imperative on a magistrate to require the certificate of the judge or magistrate who granted the warrant in America, that they are copies of the depositions upon which he issued his warrant, and should they be also attested upon the oath of the party producing them, that they are correct copies of the originals?

5th. Is the "original warrant," mentioned in the 2nd clause, to be taken to mean "the warrant issued by the judge or magistrate in America," and must such original warrant be produced before a magistrate in America, that he has issued, upon such depositions, his warrant, be sufficient? (In the Act for carrying out the Convention between Her Majesty and the King of the French, the original warrant of arrest is required to be produced).

6th. Should a magistrate in England, upon having admissible depositions before him, require evidence that the offence charged is an offence against the law of America, or is he bound, under the words received in evidence of the criminality of the person so apprehended, "to act upon the depositions as proof that the facts therein set forth do constitute an offence according to that law?"

7th. Do the words "so apprehended," in the 2nd section, exclude the reception of copies of depositions before the apprehension of the accused, under the warrant of a magistrate, or may those words be read, "so to be apprehended"?

The Legislature can scarcely be supposed to have meant that a magistrate should not act upon depositions until the accused shall have been actually apprehended under his warrant.

Under the Act for giving effect to the Convention with France, the word used in the 2nd section is "apprehended."

THOMAS S. HALL.

The Attorney and Solicitor-General will be pleased to advise upon the several points stated in Mr. Hall's letter.

1st. The offences for which a party may be apprehended under this Act are distinctly specified in the 1st section of it. They are all offences known and recognized by the criminal law of this country, and the magistrate should issue his warrant upon the same description of evidence as he would require in case the crime had been alleged to be committed in this country.

[blocks in formation]

2nd. We are of opinion that papers or documents professing to be or proved to be the original depositions are not admissible under the 2nd section of the Act, without the certificate of the magistrate who issued the warrant.

3rd. We think they ought to be connected with the warrant, as copies ought to be, by a certificate from the party issuing it.

4th. We think copies are not admissible unless certified to be so under the hand of the person issuing the warrant, and attested, by the oath of the party producing them, that they are true copies.

5th. There can be no doubt that the words " original warrant," in the 2nd section, mean the warrant issued in America; but, in order to justify the apprehension of an offender under this Act, it does not appear to us to be necessary that any warrant, by the authorities in America, should be produced here; such production is not required by the 1st section of the Act, which gives the justices here the power to apprehend. The 2nd section applies merely to the evidence of the guilt; and if the depositions are offered in evidence before a magistrate here, then the certificate of the magistrate abroad, who took the depositions and issued his warrant upon them, becomes necessary to render them admissible.

6th. We think a magistrate may act upon the depositions, &c., if they would constitute an offence here, without proof that the offence charged is an offence in the foreign country.

7th. We think that the depositions may be received in evidence before the apprehension of the party.

Temple, November 24, 1843.

FREDERICK POLLOCK.
W. W. FOLLETT.

INSTRUCTIONS to Mr. Ouseley, Her Majesty's Minister at Buenos Ayres, for his guidance in the Joint Intervention by England and France, between Buenos Ayres and Monte Video.-February, November, 1845.*

No. 1.-The Earl of Aberdeen to Mr. Ouseley.

SIR, Foreign Office, February 20, 1845. You are already aware that the first and most important duty which will present itself to you upon your arrival at your post, will be the endeavour to effect a cessation of the hostilities which have been so long carried on by General Rosas against the city of Monte Video, and to restore and secure peace throughout the State of the Uruguay.

You are also aware, that at the close of last year the Government of Brazil, in its character of a neighbouring Power, and being a

* Presented to Parliament, 1846.

party to the Convention of August, 1828,* which declared the independence of Monte Video, as well as deeply interested in the restoration of tranquillity on its own frontier, urged upon the Cabinets of London and Paris, through the Viscount d'Abrantes, the necessity of prompt and effective interference in order to put an end to the war ; and you will have learned by the personal communication which you have lately had with the Ministers of the King of the French, that the determination of Her Majesty's Government to accomplish this object is shared by the Government of France, and that it is the intention of the 2 countries to unite their influence, and, if need be, their force for that purpose.

I will now proceed to give you some instructions by which to guide your conduct in the discharge of the important duty before you.

It is not probable that the new representative of France who is about to be accredited to the Government of Buenos Ayres will have reached that city at the time of your arrival; and although it would be improper to attempt any coercive measures, except in strict concert with your French colleague, there seems no reason why you should not try the effect of amicable representations without any delay.

Your first steps, therefore, will have to be taken singly; and it is the wish of Her Majesty's Government that they should be directed to set before General Rosas, in candid and friendly terms, the danger in which his refusal to listen to former representations from Her Majesty's Government has placed him, and to induce him at once, and of his own act, to desist from taking any further part in the operations against Monte Video.

You will therefore lose no time in entering into communication with General Rosas, and with his Ministers. You will state that the spirit in which Her Majesty's Government address themselves to the Government of Buenos Ayres is not one of hostility to that State, or to the influential individual who is at the head of it; on the contrary, that the advice which you, are instructed to offer is conceived in friendship, and in a true regard for the interests of the Republic. It can scarcely be necessary to assure the Government of Buenos Ayres that we have no selfish or exclusive objects in view. General Rosas will himself fully comprehend and acknowledge the true character of our proceeding. You will say, that, in exhorting General Rosas to desist from the contest to which he has made himself a party, Her Majesty's Government disclaim all intention of interfering in any manner with the independence of Buenos Ayres; they do not deny the right of that State to wage war like any other independent Power, provided always that the war be conducted according to the law of nations and the practice of civilised men. But the war in which the * Vol. XV. Page 935.

Argentine arms are at present engaged is waged against a State, the independence of which Great Britain is virtually bound to uphold; and the object of that war is to place the domestic Government of Monte Video in hands other than those to which the consent of the State has intrusted it. This alone might justify the interposition of a Power, under whose mediation the independence of Monte Video was established; and certainly the fact that the war is without any national character, so far as Buenos Ayres is concerned, and that General Rosas is by his own confession engaged in it as an auxiliary only and not as a principal, would enable him, without any sacrifice of honour or independence, to submit to a termination of the contest, by the peaceful interposition of friendly Powers. You will earnestly entreat General Rosas so to consider the question, and, by accepting the mediation of England and France, to open a door to its settlement before it is too late to do so with dignity; and you will represent to him that the time is come when the rejection of this advice will involve him in dangers and difficulties from which he cannot hope to escape without serious injury to his power: for that the long continuance of the war, the daily increasing losses and injuries to which European interests are exposed, the hopelessness of its termination, and the barbarities which mark its character, have, in addition to the claims of Monte Video for the preservation of her independence, determined Her Majesty's Government and that of France to unite for the purpose of putting an end to it. You will assure General Rosas that, not only is this determination taken, and the means of accomplishing it at hand, but that its execution cannot be long delayed, unless it shall be anticipated by a timely and becoming acquiescence on his part in the proposal about to be made to him by England and France. You will add, that you state this not as a threat, or in order to accomplish by words what Her Majesty's Government will hesitate to enforce by acts, but as a kindly warning, and with a sincere desire to avoid the necessity of adopting measures offensive to the dignity of a State with which Great Britain has hitherto preserved her relations of friendship unbroken.

I must leave to your own judgment the mode in which you will press these considerations, or any other which the state of affairs at your arrival may suggest to you, upon the attention of General Rosas; but I am inclined to think that in the first instance it will be better not to do so by formal or official communications; and, although there should not be any reserve or secrecy on your part, towards the representative of France, who may be actually resident at Buenos Ayres at the time, it is probable that, until the arrival of the French Minister with the instructions of his Government, the chances of success to our common cause will be best consulted by your speaking in the first instance independently, and singly, as the Minister of Great Britain.

If, as Her Majesty's Government cannot but hope, your representations in that character should have their due weight, and the Government of Buenos Ayres should withdraw its troops from the Banda Oriental, and its naval forces from before Monte Video, or should issue orders for a suspension of hostilities and the raising of the blockade, the first and most important object which Her Majesty's Government have in view will have been accomplished. The terms upon which peace shall be finally settled and declared between the 2 Republics may then be properly left to the united mediation of the friendly Powers, to be discussed and recommended to the 2 principal parties so soon as the arrival of your French colleague at Buenos Ayres may enable you to act together in the matter.

It is essential that you should observe a strict impartiality in the propositions which you may make to the contending parties; but the character of the contest, and the absence of all substantial and national objects at least on the side of Buenos Ayres-make it difficult to prescribe any conditions as a proper basis whereupon to negotiate a peace. The point, however, to be principally kept in view, and the one which is of most importance to the mediating parties, is the preservation of the independence of Monte Video. To this condition the honour of England and France, and Brazil is respectively pledged, and it is one upon which no compromise can be admitted.

The obligations indeed of Buenos Ayres to acknowledge that independence are equally strong with those by which the mediating Powers are bound; nor is there any reason to suppose that General Rosas will hesitate to recognise it. The recognition, however, will be of little value so long as he shall continue the chief supporter of General Oribe's cause, whether that support be given ostensibly by arms, or secretly by the aid of money, or other influence. With the view, therefore, of setting at rest all jealousy on this score, it might perhaps be well that the conditions of peace should include on one side the removal of General Oribe from the Monte Videan territory, and, on the other, that any political refugees or other persons, whose presence in Monte Video may be a reasonable source of disquietude to the Buenos Ayrean Government, should seek an asylum elsewhere. Amongst these General Rivera would no doubt be included. And to this extent alone would Her Majesty's Government be disposed to sanction, either on their own part or on that of others, any interference in the internal affairs of Monte Video.

Should it appear necessary under such an arrangement, that security should be furnished for the persons and properties of the individuals affected by it, you are at liberty, under proper precautions, to offer the intervention of Her Majesty's Government for the purpose.

If you should find that General Rosas' Government has any just

« ZurückWeiter »