No. 347.
Mr. Langston to Mr.
Frelinghuysen.
Legation of
the United States,
Port-au-Prince,
Hayti, January 21, 1885.
(Received Feb. 11.)
No. 706.]Sir: I have the honor to advise you, referring to
your dispatch No. 321, received yesterday, that I have not ceased to do all
in my power in obedience to your instructions, to secure the release of Mr.
C. A. Van Bokkelen.
The correspondence passing between this legation and the Haytian Government
on the subject, since my last report thereupon, copies of which are herewith
transmitted, will show this to be true.
[Page 491]
I addressed Mr. St. Victor, in regard to this matter, on the 14th instant,
asking a response to my dispatch of the 22d ultimo. On the 16th instant he
wrote me saying that he had referred my dispatch to his colleague of
justice, and had, after receiving my last dispatch, referred it to him also,
with the request to present his views to him, as asked, upon my dispatch of
the 22d of December.
But I did not wait for a response longer than the 19th instant, when I
addressed Mr. St. Victor again in a dispatch, in which I present, somewhat
at length, considerations in favor of the immediate release, which I once
more demand, of Mr. Van Bokkelen.
The considerations are such, both as regards the law and the facts involved,
in the face of the admissions made by the law officer of the Government in
his opinion of the 18th of November last, already transmitted to you, that I
cannot see how the authorities can longer detain this American citizen.
Copies of the several dispatches are herewith transmitted, as already
stated.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
706.—Translation.]
Mr. St. Victor to
Mr. Langston.
Department of State of Foreign Relations,
Port-au-Prince, January 16, 1885.
Mr. Minister: I have the honor to acknowledge
the reception of your dispatch of the 14th instant, and to inform you
that I have communicated it to my colleague of justice, requesting him
to let me have his opinion on the subject of your letter of the 22d of
December last, concerning the affair of Mr. Van Bokkelen, that I had
submitted to him for that purpose.
As soon as my colleague shall have answered me, I will hasten to forward
you his response.
Please accept, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 706.]
Mr. Langston to Mr.
St. Victor.
Legation of the United States,
Port-au-Prince, Hayti, January 19, 1885.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your dispatch of the 16th instant, received on the 17th, but
I am at an utter loss to understand your course in regard to the case of
Mr. Van Bokkelen, which has been under discussion between us already too
long. He is detained in confinement, deprived of his liberty, upon a
decision of your civil tribunal, which is without foundation in law, as
declared in the opinion of your learned secretary of state of public
justice, already communicated to you, and by you communicated to me,
solely upon the apparent indisposition and inactivity of your court of
cassation, to which appeal was taken many months ago, and by which
action ought to have been taken without unreasonable delay, annulling
the decision of the under court and relieving Mr. Van Bokkelen of bodily
restraint by granting him such right, under the plain intent and meaning
of your law as to the right of assigning one’s property in the interest
of his creditors, construed and enforced in the clear light of the
treaty existing between the Government of the United States and
Hayti.
Now, Mr. Minister, shall this citizen of the United States of America,
restrained of his freedom simply because he is an American citizen, be
longer detained in his confinement, against the law and in violation of
our treaty?
Mr. Van Bokkelen did, Mr. Minister, in tendering the assignment of his
property in the interest of his creditors, comply with every requirement
of your law in that
[Page 492]
behalf,
and his property, credits, and other assets were such in quantity and
quality as to constitute such sufficient guarantee to his creditors that
not one of them offered objection to his proceeding in that regard.
He was denied by the court itself the right of assigning his property
solely and simply, as you will see by the record, on the ground of his
American citizenship. He is a stranger, an American citizen, and
therefore the court held he cannot assign his property so as to relieve
himself against his bodily constraint in Hayti. This does not accord,
Mr. Minister, with your law; it is violative of your treaty obligations
with my Government, and it is contrary to the opinion of the learned
secretary of state of public justice, as I conceive, already alluded to,
dated November 18, 1884, transmitted by you as an inclosure in your
dispatch of the 10th day of December last, addressed to me. Upon which
one of the judgments that have been rendered against him is this
American citizen held in prison?
Mr. Van Bokkelen, Mr. Minister, is restrained of his liberty, kept in
confinement, contrary to law, in feeble and declining health, awaiting
the too tardy action, the intolerable and unjustifiable delay, of your
court of cassation, which does not, and which apparently will not, act
in this case.
In view of such considerations and facts, Mr. Minister, once again I
demand the immediate release of Mr. Van Bokkelen.
Awaiting your favorable reply, and protesting against all delay in the
premises,
I am, &c.,
