Morgan to Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, June 2, 1884

No. 252. Mr. Morgan to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Sir: My dispatch No. 773, 21st March last, and its inclosures, informed you of the steps I had taken to procure an investigation of the case of Howard C. Walker, charged by the Mexican authorities at Minatitlan with having stolen wood.

I have now to report to you that on the 15th of May last I received a letter from Mr. Walker, dated the 3d of that month, in which he stated his case to me and asked for such assistance as it might be in my power to render him. To this letter I replied on the 16th.

Señor Fernandez not having furnished me the information he said he had asked for from the governor of Vera Cruz (see inclosure 4 in my dispatch No. 773), and as Mr. Walker’s case, as stated by him, appeared to me to be a particularly hard one, I addressed another note to Señor Fernandez on the 15th of May, 1884, reiterating the request contained in my note to him of the 13th March last (inclosure 3 in No. 773).

On the 31st May I received Señor Fernandez’s reply (28th May), a copy and translation of which I inclose.

Señor Fernandez states that he had asked for information from the governor of the State of Vera Cruz, who, in turn, had made inquiries of the superior court, but he does not state that the governor has been able, as yet, to furnish him with any information in the case.

He further states that while he has made these inquires in this as in other cases which I have brought to his notice, in compliance with my request, with the view of bringing to the knowledge of the courts the irregularities charged therein, it must not be implied therefrom that he has done so under any authority of his department to supervise the action of the courts in judicial proceedings which relate to private individuals, because of the independence of the public powers, Federal and State.

And as regards Walker, he informs me that as he does not appear to have been matriculated at the foreign office as a citizen of the United States, he will be prevented from admitting any future official intervention in his behalf.

Since my note to Señor Mariscal, of the 25th of September, 1882, written under instructions contained in your No. 298, 24th of July, 1882, I have several times called the attention of the Mexican Government to cases of citizens of the United States held in confinement in the prisons of Mexico, and asked for investigation and speedy trials, to none of which has objection been made to my interposition on the ground that they were not matriculated. I had therefore hoped, as my note of the 25th of September, 1882, has never been answered, that the Mexican Government had abandoned that untenable position. It appears that I have been mistaken. Señor Fernandez occupies it again.

Unless otherwise instructed I shall pay no attention to Señor Fernandez’s suggestion that he will not accept the intervention of this legation in Mr. Walker’s behalf should he need it, but will act under the opinion expressed by you in your dispatch No. 298, above referred to.

I am, &c.,