66 This is a factor which may be largely responsible for the rapid growth of Socialism in Belgium during the past few years. Liberals and Socialists have combined to fight for universal suffrage, and have raised the cry one man one vote" as a panacea for the existing ills. The Clericals maintain that the existing system of plural voting meets the present requirements of the country; that it places a premium on education, and acts as a check to the power of the ignorant, who are prone to resort to violence and disorder. The more moderate Liberals in the House of Representatives expressed a willingness to accept a compromise in the shape of a total abolition of the triple vote, granting one vote at 25 years and a second vote to married men of 35 or 40 years, with legitimate issue. The Clericals, however, would not consider a compromise and opposed revision in any form. 66 During the past fortnight, while the debates on the subject of revision were being held in the House of Representatives, the socialists and workingmen have held nightly meetings at the Maison du Peuple, and have frequently paraded the streets shouting for universal suffrage and one man one vote." The Liberal members, as well as some of the socialist leaders in the House, have cautioned the paraders to be calm, to avoid violence and disorder. But the ranks of the paraders have been swelled by the addition of the representatives of the very lowest and criminal classes of the population, the result being a conflict with the police followed by the breaking of windows and other damages to property. Shots were exchanged between the gendarmes and rioters, several of the latter being killed and wounded. Similar scenes were at the same time enacted in other towns in Belgium consequently the Government called out the troops. Order has been restored, but the streets of Brussels, as well as the large towns, are lined with soldiers. A general strike has taken place in all the industrial centers of Belgium, with the avowed object of forcing the Government to grant universal suffrage, but without success. The feeling of unrest is very general all over the country, but whether the strikers return to work, now that the fight for universal suffrage has been lost in the House of Representatives, remains to be seen. 1 give, without comment, for the information of the Department, the above sketch, embracing the salient points of both sides of the political controversy, which is at present agitating Belgium. I have, etc., SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Department's cablegram of May 24. a In conformity with instructions, I at once communicated to the minister for foreign affairs the above request and am to-day in receipt of a Printed, page 6. a letter from the minister granting the desired permission, a copy and translation of which is herewith inclosed. I have notified the United States consular officers in Belgium of these facts, requesting them to use their good offices in representation of the interests of Cuba and of its citizens until further notice from the Department. I have, etc., LAWRENCE TOWNSEND. [Inclosure-Translation.] Mr. de Favereau to Mr. Townsend. MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MR. MINISTER: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the letter of May 26 last, by which your excellency kindly informed me of the intention of the President of the Republic of Cuba to intrust to the consuls of the United States of America in Belgium the representation of the interests of the Republic and of its citizens until the organization of a Cuban consular representation in our country. I hasten to inform you, Mr. Minister, that the Government of the King has taken the necessary steps to the end that no obstacles should be placed in the way of the temporary representation in question. I avail, etc., DE FAVEREAU. TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM FOR THE MUTUAL EXTRADITION OF FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE. Signed at Washington October 26, 1901. Ratification with amendments advised by the Senate January 30, 1902. Ratified by Belgium January 28, 1902. Ratifications exchanged at Washington June 14, 1902. Proclaimed June 14, 1902. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas a Convention between the United States of America and Belgium providing for the extradition of fugitives from justice was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotentiaries at Washington, on the 26th day of October, 1901, the original of which Convention, being in the English and French languages is, as amended by the Senate of the United States, word for word as follows: The United States of America and His Majesty the King of the Belgians, having judged it expedient with a view to the better administration of justice and the prevention of crime within their respective territories and jurisdictions that persons charged with or convicted of the crimes and offences hereinafter enumerated, and being fugitives from justice, should, under certain circumstances, be reciprocally delivered up, have resolved to conclude a new Convention for that purpose and have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries: The President of the United States John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States; and His Majesty the King of the Belgians, Mr. Charles C. Wauters, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of Belgium near the Government of the United States; Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles: ARTICLE I. The Government of the United States and the Government of Belgium mutually agree to deliver up persons who, having been charged, as principals or accessories, with or convicted of any of the crimes and offences specified in the following article committed within the jurisdiction of one of the contracting parties, shall seek an asylum or be found within the territories of the other: Provided, that this shall only be done upon such evidence of criminality as, according to the laws of the place where the fugitive or person so charged shall be found, would justify his or her apprehension and commitment for trial if the crime had been there committed. ARTICLE II. Persons shall be delivered up who shall have been convicted of or be charged, according to the provisions of this convention, with any of the following crimes: 1. Murder, comprehending the crimes designated in the Belgian penal code by the terms of parricide, assassination, poisoning and infanticide. 2. The attempt to commit murder. 3. Rape, or attempt to commit rape. Bigamy. Abortion. 4. Arson. 5. Piracy, or mutiny on shipboard whenever the crew, or part thereof, shall have taken possession of the vessel by fraud or by violence against the commander. 6. Larceny; the crime of burglary, defined to be the act of breaking and entering by night into the house of another with the intent to commit felony; and the crime of robbery, defined to be the act of feloniously and forcibly taking from the person of another money or goods by violence or putting him in fear; and the corresponding crimes punished by the Belgian laws under the description of thefts committed in an inhabited house by night, and by breaking in by climbing or forcibly, and thefts committed with violence or by means of threats. 7. The crime of forgery, by which is understood the utterance of forged papers, and also the counterfeiting of public, sovereign, or governmental acts. 8. The fabrication or circulation of counterfeit money either coin or paper, or of counterfeit public bonds, coupons of the public debt, bank notes, obligations, or in general anything being a title or instrument of credit; the counterfeiting of seals and dies, impressions, stamps, and marks of State and public administrations, and the utterance thereof. 9. The embezzlement of public moneys committed within the jurisdiction of either party by public officers or depositaries. 10. Embezzlement by any person or persons hired or salaried to the detriment of their employers, when the crime is subject to punishment by the laws of the place where it was committed, and the amount of money or the value of the property embezzled is not less than two hundred dollars or one thousand francs. 11. Wilful and unlawful destruction or obstruction of railroads which endangers human life. 12. Obtaining money, valuable securities or other property by false pretences, when such act is made criminal by the laws of both countries and the amount of money or the value of the property fraudulently obtained is not less than two hundred dollars or one thousand francs. 13. Kidnapping of minors. 14. Reception of articles obtained by means of one of the crimes or offences provided for by the present convention. Extradition may also be granted for the attempt to commit any of the crimes above enumerated when such attempt is punishable by the laws of both contracting parties. ARTICLE III. A person surrendered under this convention shall not be tried or punished in the country to which his extradition has been granted, nor given up to a third power for a crime or offence, not provided for by the present convention and committed previously to his extradition, until he shall have been allowed one month to leave the country after having been discharged; and, if he shall have been tried and condemned to punishment, he shall be allowed one month after having suffered his penalty or having been pardoned. He shall moreover not be tried or punished for any crime or offence provided for by this convention committed previous to his extradition, other than that which gave rise to the extradition, without the consent of the Government which surrendered him, which may, if it think proper, require the production of one of the documents mentioned in Article VII of this convention. The consent of that Government shall likewise be required for the extradition of the accused to a third country; nevertheless, such consent shall not be necessary when the accused shall have asked of his own accord to be tried or to undergo his punishment, or when he shall not have left within the space of time above specified the territory of the country to which he has been surrendered. ARTICLE IV. The provisions of this convention shall not be applicable to persons guilty of any political crime or offence or of one connected with such a crime or offence. A person who has been surrendered on account of one of the common crimes or offences mentioned in Article II shall consequently in no case be prosecuted and punished in the State to which his extradition has been granted on account of a political crime or offence committed by him previously to his extradition or on account of an act connected with such a political crime or offence, unless he has been at liberty to leave the country for one month after having been tried and, in case of condemnation, for one month after having suffered his punishment or having been pardoned. An attempt against the life of the head of a foreign government or against that of any member of his family when such attempt comprises the act either of murder or assassination, or of poisoning, shall not be considered a political offence or an act connected with such an offence. ARTICLE V. Neither of the contracting parties shall be bound to deliver up its own citizens or subjects under the stipulations of this convention. ARTICLE VI. If the person whose surrender may be claimed pursuant to the stipulations of the present treaty shall have been arrested for the commission of offences in the country where he has sought an asylum, or shall have been convicted thereof, his extradition may be deferred until he shall have been acquitted or have served the term of imprisonment to which he may have been sentenced.. ARTICLE VII. Requisitions for the surrender of fugitives from justice shall be made by the respective diplomatic agents of the contracting parties, or, in the event of the absence of these from the country or its seat of government, they may be made by superior consular officers. If the person whose extradition may be asked for shall have been convicted of a crime or offence, a copy of the sentence of the court in which he may have been convicted authenticated under its seal, and attestation of the official character of the judge by the proper executive authority, and of the latter by the minister or consul of the United States or of Belgium, respectively, shall accompany the requisition. When, however, the fugitive shall have been merely charged with crime, a duly authenticated copy of the warrant for his arrest in the country where the crime may have been committed, and of the depositions upon which such warrant may have been issued, must accompany the requisition as aforesaid. It shall be lawful for any competent judicial authority of the United States, upon production of a certificate issued by the Secretary of State stating that a request has been made by the Government of Belgium for the provisional arrest of a person convicted or accused of the commission therein of a crime or offence extraditable under the provisions of this convention, and upon complaint duly made that such crime or offence has been so committed, to issue his warrant for the apprehension of such person. But if the demand for surrender, with the formal proofs hereinbefore mentioned, be not made as aforesaid by the diplomatic agent of the demanding government, or, in his absence, by the competent consular officer, within forty days from the date of the commitment of the fugitive, the prisoner shall be discharged from custody. And the Government of Belgium will, upon request of the Government of the United States, transmitted through the diplomatic agent of the United States, or, in his absence, through the competent consular officer, secure in conformity with law the provisional arrest of persons convicted or accused of the commission therein of crimes or offences extraditable under this convention. But if the demand for surrender, with the formal proofs herein before mentioned, be not made as aforesaid by the diplomatic agent of the demanding government, or, in his absence, by the competent consular officer, within forty days from the date of the commitment of the fugitive, the prisoner shall be discharged from custody. |