154 



CONGRESS. (PBESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



toward our fishermen has been such as to seriously 

 threaten their continuance. 



Although disappointed in my efforts to secure a 

 satisfactory settlement of the fishery question, nego- 

 tiations are still pending, with reasonable hope that 

 before the close of the present session of Congress an- 

 nouncement may be made that an acceptable conclu- 

 sion has been reached. 



As at an early day there may be laid before Con- 

 gress the correspondence of the Department of State 

 in relation to this important subject, so that the his- 

 tory of the past fishing season may be fully disclosed 

 and the action and the attitude of the Administration 

 clearly comprehended, a more extended reference is 

 not deemed necessary in this communication. 



The recommendation, submitted last year^that pro- 

 vision be made for a preliminary reconnaissance of 

 the conventional boundary- line between Alaska and 

 British Columbia is renewed. 



I express my unhesitating conviction that the inti- 

 macy of our relations with Hawaii should be empha- 

 sized. As a result of the reciprocity treaty of 1875, 

 those islands, on the highway of Oriental and Aus- 

 tralasian traffic, are virtually an outpost of American 

 commerce and a stepping-stone to the growing trade 

 of the Pacific. The Polynesian island groups have 

 been so absorbed by other and more powerful govern- 

 ments, that the Hawaiian Islands are left almost alone 



in the enjoyment of their autonomy, which it 

 portant for us should be preserved. Our treaty is 

 now terminable on one years notice, but propositions 

 to abrogate it would be, in my judgment, most ill- 

 advised. The paramount influence we have there 

 acquired, once relinquished, could only with difficulty 

 be regained, and a valuable ground of vantage for 

 ourselves might be converted into a stronghold for our 

 commercial competitors. I earnestly recommend that 

 the existing treaty stipulations be extended for a 

 further terra of seven years. A recently-signed treaty 

 to this end is now before the Senate. 



The importance of telegraphic communication be- 

 tween those islands and the United States should not 

 be overlooked. 



The question of a general revision of the treaties of 

 Japan is again under discussion at Tokio. As the 

 first to open relations with that empire, and as the 

 nation in most direct commercial relation with Japan, 

 the United States have lost no opportunity to testify 

 their consistent friendship by supporting the just 

 claims of Japan to autonomy and independence among 

 nations. 



A treaty of extradition between the United States 

 and Japan, the first concluded by that empire, has 

 been lately proclaimed. 



The weakness of Liberia, and the difficulty of main- 

 taining effective sovereignty over its outlying districts, 

 have exposed that republic to encroachment. It can 

 not be forgotten that this distant community is an 

 offshoot of our own system, owing its origin to the 

 associated benevolence of American citizensj whose 

 praiseworthy efforts to create a nucleus of civilization 

 in the dark continent have commanded respect and 

 evmpathy everywhere, especially in this country. 

 Although a formal protectorate over Liberia is con- 

 trary to our traditional policy, the moral right and 

 duty of the United States to assist in all proper ways 

 in the maintenance of its integrity is obvious, and has 

 been consistently announced during nearly half a cent- 

 ury. I recommend that, in the reorganization of our 

 navy, a small vessel, no longer found adequate to our 

 needs, be presented to Liberia, to be employed by it 

 in the protection of its coastwise revenues. 



The encouraging development of beneficial and inti- 

 mate relations between the United States and Mexico, 

 which has been so marked within the past few years, 

 is at once the occasion of congratulation and of friendly 

 solicitude. I urgently renew my former representa- 

 tion of the need of speedy legislation by Congress to 

 carry into effect the Reciprocity Commercial Conven- 

 tion of January 20, 1883. 



Our commercial treaty of 1831 with Mexico was 

 terminated, according to its provisions, in 1881, upon 

 notification given by Mexico in pursuance of her an- 

 nounced policy of recasting all her commercial treaties. 

 Mexico has since concluded with several foreign gov- 

 ernments new treaties of commerce and navigation, 

 defining alien rights of trade, property ? and resfdence, 

 treatment of shipping, consular privileges, and the 

 like. Our yet unexecuted Keciprocity Convention of 

 1883 covers none of these points, the settlement of 

 which is so necessary to good relationship. I pro- 

 pose to initiate with Mexico negotiations for a new 

 and enlarged treaty of commerce and navigation. 



In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, 1 

 communicated to that body on August 2 last, and 

 also to the House of Kepresentatives, the correspond- 

 ence in the case of A. K. Cutting, an American citizen, 

 then imprisoned in Mexico, charged with the com- 

 mission of a penal offense in Texas, of which a Mexi- 

 can citizen was the object. 



Alter demand had been made for his release, the 

 charge against him was amended so as to include a 

 violation of Mexican law within Mexican territory. 



This joinder of alleged offenses, one within and the 

 other exterior to Mexico, induced me to order a special 

 investigation of the case pending which Mr. Cutting 

 was released. 



The incident has, however, disclosed a claim of 

 jurisdiction by Mexico, novel in our history, whereby 

 any offense, committed anywhere by a foreigner, 

 penal in the place of its commission, and of which a. 

 Mexican is the objectj may, if the offender be found 

 in Mexico, be there tried and punished in conformity 

 with Mexican laws. 



This jurisdiction was sustained by the courts of 

 Mexico in the Cutting case, and approved by the ex- 

 ecutive branch of that Government, upon the authority 

 of a Mexican statute. The appellate court, in releas- 

 ing Mr. Cutting, decided that tnc abandonment of the 

 complaint by the Mexican citizen aggrieved by the 

 alleged crime (a libelous publication), removed the 

 basis of further prosecution, and also declared justice 

 to have been satisfied by the enforcement of a small 

 part of the original sentence. 



The admission of such a pretension would be at- 

 tended with serious results, invasive of the jurisdic- 

 tion of this Government, and highly dangerous to our 

 citizens in foreign lands ; therefore I have denied it, 

 and protested against its attempted exercise, as un- 

 warranted by the principles of law and international 

 usages. 



A sovereign has jurisdiction of offenses which take 

 effect within his territory, although concocted or com- 

 menced outside of it ; but the right is denied of any 

 foreign sovereign to punish a citizen of the United 

 States for an offense consummated on our soil in vio- 

 lation of our laws, even though the offense be against 

 a subject or citizen of such sovereign. The Mexican 

 statute in question makes the claim broadly, and the 

 principle, if conceded, would create a dual responsi- 

 bility in the citizen, and lead to inextricable confu- 

 sion, destructive of that certainty in the law which is 

 an essential of liberty. 



When citizens of the United States voluntarily go 

 into a foreign country they must abide by the laws 

 there in force, and will not be protected by their 

 own Government from the consequences of an offense 

 against those laws committed in such foreign coun- 

 try ; but watchful care and interest of this Govern- 

 ment over its citizens are not relinquished because 

 they have gone abroad ; and if charged with crime 

 committed in the foreign land, a fair and open trial, 

 conducted with decent regard for justice and human- 

 ity, will be demanded for them. With less than that 

 this Government will not be content when the life or 

 liberty of its citizens is at stake, 



Whatever the degree to which extra-territorial 

 criminal jurisdiction may have been formerly allowed 

 by consent and reciprocal agreement among certain 

 of the European states, no such doctrine or practice 



