Law, to be limited by that Act. It is possible that the Courts of Law may place an interpretation upon the Act of 1870, prohibiting Her Majesty's Government from surrendering an accused person without the preliminary condition specified in section 3, subsection 2, of the Act. Her Majesty's Government do not anticipate that this will be the view taken of the Act of 1870 by the Courts of Law, but they must guard themselves by stating that they cannot undertake to carry out the surrender of accused persons except subject to this contingency. I have thought it right to make the foregoing observations in order that, in your communications with the United States' Government, you may clearly explain the position in which Her Majesty's Government are placed with regard to this matter. Sir E. Thornton. I am, &c., DERBY. Sir E. Thornton to the Earl of Derby.-(Received November 16.) MY LORD, Washington, November 2, 1876. I HAVE the honour to inform your Lordship that I addressed a note on the 27th ultimo to Mr. Fish in the words of your despatch of the 14th ultimo, proposing that a temporary arrangement should be agreed upon for the revival of the Extradition Article of the Treaty of 1842. I also wrote him at the same time another note, proposing to him the negotiation of a new Extradition Treaty. Yesterday morning I received from him his note dated the 30th ultimo, copy of which I have the honour to inclose. From this note, the greater part of which I telegraphed to your Lordship yesterday, I gather that the United States' Government expects that Her Majesty's Government will express its readiness to surrender Winslow, Brent, and Gray, and in the event of its doing so. will consider Article X of the Treaty of 1842 again in force. I have, &c., The Earl of Derby. SIR, EDWD. THORNTON. (Inclosure.)—Mr. Fish to Sir E. Thornton. Department of State, Washington, October 30, 1876. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 27th instant, wherein you inform me that you have received instructions from Lord Derby to state that Her Majesty's Government will be prepared as a temporary measure, until a new Extradition Treaty can be concluded, to put in force all powers vested in it for the surrender of accused persons to the Government of the [1875-76. LXVII.] 3 M United States under the Treaty of 1842, without asking for any engagement as to such persons not being tried in the United States for other than the offences for which extradition has been demanded. Your note also calls attention to the provision laid down in Article XI of the Treaty of 1842, that Article X shall continue in force until one or the other of the parties shall signify its wish to terminate it, and no longer. I have laid your note before the President, who observes with great satisfaction that Her Majesty's Government has decided to use its powers for the surrender of fugitive criminals without asking any stipulations or engagements in the nature of those which, in recent correspondence with reference to the requisition made by the United States in the case of Winslow and others, had compelled him, with extreme regret and reluctance, to reach the conclusion that under the position then taken by the British Government, if it be adhered to, it would not be possible for the Government of the United States either to make demands on Her Majesty's Government for the surrender of fugitive criminals or to entertain requisitions of that character from Her Majesty's Government under the Treaty. The President concurs fully with Her Majesty's Government in its appreciation of the very serious inconvenience, and the great encouragement to crime, arising from the failure of the extradition of criminals between two States whose relations of business and of social intercourse are as close and as intimate as those which happily exist between the United States and Her Majesty's dominions; and he greets the decision of Her Majesty's Government, announced in your note, to ask no engagement with regard to the trial of persons surrendered, as the removal of the obstacle which arrested the execution and efficiency of the Extradition Article of the Treaty of 1842. He hopes, therefore, that Her Majesty's Government will now take into consideration the applications heretofore made by the United States for the surrender of Winslow and Brent and Gray, with regard to each of whom the evidence of criminality has been duly furnished and heard, and was found sufficient to justify his apprehension and commitment for trial in accordance with the requirements of the Treaty. On an indication of readiness to surrender those persons he will authorize an agent to receive them, and will be ready and glad to respond to any requisitions which may be made on the part of Her Majesty's Government under Article X of the Treaty of 1842, which he will then regard as in full force until such time as either Government shall avail itself of the right to terminate it provided by Article XI, or until a more comprehensive arrangement can be reached between the two Governments in regard to the extradition of criminals, an object to which he will be glad to give the attention of this Government with his most earnest desire for a mutually satisfactory result. I have, &c., Sir E. Thornton. HAMILTON FISH. Sir E. Thornton to the Earl of Derby.-(Received November 26.) MY LORD, Washington, November 13, 1876. WITH reference to my despatch of the 2nd instant, in which I had the honour to transmit to your Lordship a copy of Mr. Fish's note of the 30th ultimo, I now inclose copy of the note which I addressed to him on the 27th ultimo, and to which his note was an answer. Your Lordship will perceive that in my note I proposed the arrangement for the extradition of criminals "as a temporary measure," and that in Mr. Fish's auswer he repeated my words; and at the end of his note of the 30th ultimo he further showed that he fully understood the measure to be a temporary one, by saying that the President would regard Article X of the Treaty as in full force until such time as either Government shall avail itself of the right to terminate it, provided by Article XI, or until a more comprehensive arrangement can be reached between the two Governments in regard to the extradition of criminals. I do not think that anything which I could say to him would make him more fully understand that the arrangement now proposed was intended to be a temporary one. Indeed, I am convinced that the United States' Government, and Mr. Fish particularly, are very desirous of negotiating a new Treaty upon the subject without delay, so that it may be transmitted to the Senate and confirmed by that body before the 4th of March next. I have, &c., The Earl of Derby. SIR, EDWD. THORNTON. (Inclosure.)-Sir E. Thornton to Mr. Fish. Washington, October 27, 1876. I HAVE the honour to inform you that I have received instructions from the Earl of Derby to state to you that Her Majesty's Government, having regard to the very serious inconvenience and great encouragement to crime which would arise from the continued suspension of the extradition of criminals between the British dominions and the United States, will be prepared as a temporary measure, until a new Extradition Treaty can be concluded, to put in force all powers vested in it for the surrender of accused persons to the Government of the United States, under the Treaty of 1842, without asking for any engagement as to such persons not being tried in the United States for other than the offence for which extradition has been demanded. It is, however, to be borne in mind that each Government has the right laid down in Article XI of the Treaty of 1842, which provides that Article X shall continue in force until one or other of the parties shall signify its wish to terminate it, and no longer. I have, &c., Hamilton Fish, Esq. EDWD. THORNTON. SIR, The Earl of Derby to Sir E. Thornton. Foreign Office, November 23, 1876. HER Majesty's Government will be satisfied if you can reply by telegraph that you have taken such steps as to enable you to place on record in a despatch that you have informed Mr. Fish that in entering into the temporary arrangement with regard to extradition, Her Majesty's Government must not be understood to recede from the interpretation which, in their previous correspondence, they have put upon the Treaty; but that, having regard to the prospect of a new Treaty and the power of denunciation of Article X of the old Treaty possessed by either party, they are willing to enter into this arrangement. Sir E. Thornton. I am, &c., DERBY. Sir E. Thornton to the Earl of Derby.-(Received December 6.) I HAVE the honour to inform your Lordship that I have this morning stated to Mr. Fish that, in entering into the temporary arrangement with regard to extradition which, in accordance with your Lordship's instructions, I proposed in my note to him of the 27th ultimo, Her Majesty's Government must not be understood to recede from the interpretation which, in their previous correspondence, they have put upon the Treaty ; but that, having regard to the prospect of a new Treaty, and the power of denouncing Article X of the old Treaty possessed by either party, they are willing to enter into this arrangement. Mr. Fish replied that they too adhere to the construction which, in the correspondence, they put upon the Treaty; and, while he regretted that he was not able to persuade Her Majesty's Government to adopt their views of its construction, he was glad to know. that, earnestly as each presented its views, the manner of presentation had created no irritation, and had left no cause on either side of complaint. Hitherto, neither Government had availed itself of the right to which your Lordship had referred, reserved by Article XI, to terminate the extradition provision of the Treaty, which either party might have done, or may at any time do, on notice with or without giving a reason for it. The President, he said, had felt that, whilst Great Britain refused to surrender the persons who gave rise to the correspondence, he could not make demands nor entertain requisitions under the Treaty. The surrender of those persons, which Great Britain now expresses its willingness to make, will, however, remove all obstructions to its execution, and will reinvigorate the Treaty, leaving differences of opinion as to its proper construction to be entertained as either Government may construe its obligations, and leaving either party at liberty to terminate it at pleasure in accordance with Article XI. He added, however, that any differences of construction which might exist, might be speedily placed among the things of the past by the celebration of a more comprehensive arrangement, the negotiation of which the United States are ready to enter upon, as soon as the Extradition Article of the Treaty of 1842 shall again be put into practical operation. I have, &c., The Earl of Derby. SIR, EDWD. THORNTON. The Earl of Derby to Mr. Pierrepont. Foreign Office, November 29, 1876. I HAVE the honour to inform you that, after the communications which have recently passed between Her Majesty's Minister at Washington and Mr. Fish, of which reports have been received by telegraph, the Secretary of State for the Home Department has felt warranted in issuing orders for the apprehension of Winslow, Brent, and Gray, whose extradition has been requested by the United States' Government. I have to add that it is desirable that this information should be treated, for the present at all events, as confidential. E. Pierrepont, Esq. I have, &c., DERBY. Sir E. Thornton to the Earl of Derby.-(Received December 25.) (Extract.) Washington, December 14, 1876. MR. FISH invited me to call upon him yesterday at the State Department, and in doing so he expressed his opinion that there were some matters which we might talk about unofficially, with a view to a subsequent official agreement. On my going there Mr. Fish said that, as the forger Brent had |