in the British consulate. These two and the three with me are all under the same decree of outlawry. Yet the British consulate is not surrounded by troops, no official demand is made for their delivery, and there is no hunting up of laws at the government for pretexts and authority to seize the refugees by force from under the British flag. It must be stated, however, that General Boisrond Canal is the chief personage in the party sought out for vengeance; and, besides that, the three under our flag are in my house in the country and not in the city. I note this last fact in justice to a view which I understand this govern ment pretends it wishes to take of the asylum given to General Canal. It has been considered fortunate that my British colleague has had in this harbor during the occurrences herein narrated a man-of-war, and that my colleague of Spain has received response to his request for the presence here of an armed vessel of his government by the entry into these waters of the "Churruca" this evening. I could not quite see the entire judiciousness of telegraphing to you, as I was much urged to do, for a Government vessel, though it is clear enough to me now that if one had been here its presence would have exerted a wholesome influ ence. It would even now strengthen our own moral force as compared with that of the other great powers represented in this country. I shall keep you informed of any further significant developments that may be made in this singular political drama. I sincerely hope for the calming down of passion, and the speedy return of better and wiser counsels, though I must confess that the presence of a thousand armed men around my country residence, (which covers about fifteen acres,) with discontent stamped on their faces and Heury rifles in their hands, does not quite give the best possible ground for my hope. I have, &c., EBENEZER D. BASSETT. [A.-Inclosure 1 in No. 364.-Translation.] Mr. Excellent to Mr. Bassett. BUREAU OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Mr. MINISTER: It has come to the knowledge of the government that certain rebels, who these last days have resisted its authority in firing upon its troops, and who still resist, have taken refuge, they and their adherents, in the country house which you occupy at Turgean. The government desires to know the names of these individuals, who have indeed killed this morning a soldier of one of our posts not far from your house. I have the honor, Mr. Minister, to salute you with a very high consideration. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Mr. E. D. BASSETT, [B.-Inclosure 2 in No. 364.] Mr. Bassett to Mr. Excellent. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Port au Prince, May 3, 1875. MONSIEUR: I have the honor to represent that my official residence is surrounded by large numbers of armed men, the roads and avenues of approach to my house are guarded by soldiers of the government, the free ingress and egress of myself and my household are impeded thereby, and both myself and my household feel ourselves in personal danger by the presence of these armed men. Such a surrounding of the official residence of a diplomatic agent of a friendly foreign power is a proceeding which can scarcely be justified under any circumstances. It is liable to lead at any moment to unpleasant results. I have therefore to suggest to you, Mr. Minister, that these armed men be at once retired from such near vicinity of my residence, and to request that an explanation be made to me of the proceeding of which I here complain. I am, monsieur, your obedient servant, Monsieur EXCELLENT, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. EBENEZER D. BASSETT. [C.-Inclosure 3 in No. 364.] Mr. Bassett to Mr. Excellent. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MONSIEUR: I have the honor to inform you that while I was coming to my office this morning in company with my fellow-citizen Mr. Lazare, I was stopped by an armed band of men near the point where the Turgean road enters the Champ de Mars, the bridle of my horse was rudely seized by these men, deadly weapons were drawn upon us, in spite of all I could say, I was for several minutes prevented from either proceeding on my way to town or returning to my residence, and mean time unpleasant language was addressed to me by these men. My servant woman, Cesarine Davis, while coming to market this morning, was also stopped at the same place, and rudely treated. All these proceedings took place in the presence of the officers in command and with their active concurrence. I have therefore to ask of you, Mr. Minister, that your agents who took part in the proceeding shall be brought to a sense of responsibility for their acts on this particular occasion; that an explanation of their extraordinary conduct toward the representative of the United States be made to me; and that such orders be given for the future as will prevent a recurrence of like disrespectful proceedings. MONSIEUR: Referring to your dispatch of yesterday, in which you ask me for a list of persons whom you suppose to be in my official residence, I have the honor to state that the same request was made to this legation in January, 1870, by your predecessor, Mr. T. Rameau, and that in the answer given by this legation January 13, 1870, to his request, occur these words: "The persons who may have sought refuge under my flag are considered as being on the territory and under the protection of the United States. "I guarantee that they shall in no way affect the public order while they remain here. "It has been the uniform practice between the government of Hayti and the other powers represented here to furnish such list as you request solely with the view to the release or embarkation of the persons in refuge, and not at all for the purpose of affording the Haytian government the opportunity of searching them out, or putting in force its measures of police. In consideration of these facts, and in consideration of instructions to this legation from the United States Government relating to the subject, I must beg you to excuse me for the present from furnishing the requested list." The question having been once thus officially decided, I beg you to believe that no other ground can now be taken in reference to it. I am, monsieur, your obedient servant, Monsieur EXCELLENT, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. EBENEZER D. BASSETT. [E.-Inclosure 5 in No. 364.-Translation.] Mr. Excellent to Mr. Bassett. BUREAU OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Mr. MINISTER: The government being informed that the persons named Nathan Modé, Alonzo Iacinthe, and Jean Alerte have taken refuge at your house, prays you to be pleased to deliver them up, (vous prie de vouloir bien les lui livrer,) sought out as they are by the government, according to the law. The government does not doubt that you will appreciate the present measure, dictated as it is by a sense of the most precious interests of the country. Be pleased to accept, Mr. Minister, the new assurances of my very high consideration. EXCELLENT, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Mr. EBENEZER D. BASSETT, Minister-Resident of the United States, Port au Prince. (F.-Inclosure 6 in No. 364.| LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MONSIEUR: I have had the honor to receive your dispatch of yesterday, in which you state that your government begs me to be pleased to deliver over to it the persons named Nathan Modé, Alonzo Iacinthe, and Jean Alerte, whom it supposes to be in refuge at the house of my official residence, and that the government does not doubt but that I will appreciate the step which is thus taken, and which is dictated by the consciousness of the precious interests of the country. Your dispatch raises the subject of the right of asylum-a right which has been uniformly exercised by the representatives of foreign governments in Hayti since the foundation of Haytian independence. In no country on this hemisphere has this right been more frequently exercised or more fully consecrated than in Hayti during the past seventy years. In no single instance during all that number of years has such a request as you make ever been complied with. It would, indeed, seem extraordinary if now, in full view of all these facts, it should even be expected that the legation of the United States should be the first to accede to such a request. But I see no good reason for a discussion of the subject at this time, and I content myself, therefore, by simply asking you to excuse me for the present from a compliance with your request for the delivery of the persons named in your dispatch. I am, monsieur, your obedient servant, Monsieur EXCELLENT, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. EBENEZER D. BASSETT. [G.-Inclosure 7 in No. 364.-Translation.] Mr. Excellent to Mr. Bassett. BUREAU OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Mr. MINISTER: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the dispatches which you addressed to me on the 3d and the 4th of the present month. I regret infinitely, and so does the government, to learn that the respect to which you are entitled in your quality of representative of a friendly power should have been forgotten by the agents of the government, and that persons attached to your suite should have had to suffer by acts of these agents. The government, Mr. Minister, in blaming the authors of these acts, however unintentionally they may have occurred, has given the most express orders, to the end that all the respect to which you are entitled in your aforesaid quality may be scrupulously observed by its agents, whoever they may be, and that the persons attached to your snite may be able to circulate with perfect freedom and security. Be pleased to accept, Mr. Minister, the new assurance of my very high consideration. EXCELLENT, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Mr. E. D. BASSETT. No. 365.] No. 312. Mr. Bassett to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Port au Prince, May 19, 1875. SIR Referring to my No. 364, of the 8th instant, and especially to its inclosures A, D, E, and F, which relate to the asylum sought and obtained in the legation by persons under pursuit by the authorities of this government, I have the honor to state that I have had further correspondence and personal conference on the same subject with the minister of foreign affairs and his colleagues; that I have been successful in obtaining permission to embark, and have already embarked for foreign territory, Messieurs Alerte, Modé, and lacinthe, named in the inclosure F above referred to, also a Mr. Floriot, one of the supposed associates of General Boisrond Canal, and in connection with my colleague of Great Britain, Ex-Minister Ethéart, and Ex-Senator Duval, and that there are now left in asylum under our flag here only General Boisrond Canal and his younger brother. Under date of the 8th instant the minister sent me a dispatch, (inclosure A,) in which, denying my right to extend asylum to General Canal, he insists that I should deliver him up, and notifies me that in case I cannot agree to the view of his dispatch, his government is decided to refer the question to Washington. To this I returned answer (inclosure B) on the 12th instant, assuring him that I differed with him as to the application under existing circumstances of the view he had expressed, and that I maintained the tenor of my previous dispatches on the subject, which would of course call into operation his expressed purpose to refer the question to you, and by consequence, it seemed to me, suspend further official correspondence relative thereto between this legation and his government until his ap peal could be heard from. Accordingly, on the 14th instant, the minister addressed me another note, (inclosure C,) rather mildly worded, saying that his government had charged him to express to me anew, before submitting the question to Washington, its desire that I should deliver over General Boisrond Canal to "justice." I acknowledged receipt (inclosure D) of this note on the 17th instant, repeating the view expressed in my dispatch of the 5th instant, (see inclosure F to my No. 364,) and sating that no departure would for the present be made from any ground which we had heretofore taken on the subject. It was while this correspondence was going on that I secured, by friendly personal representations to the minister and his colleagues, permission to embark my refugees other than General Boisrond Canal and his younger brother, and that my colleague of Great Britain also succeeded in obtaining a like permission to embark General Loyer Barreau, who was especially named in one of the government decrees with General Canal. These permissions were obtained in the face of a decree from the minister of interior announcing that all persons here included in the decree of banishment who did not quit the country within twenty-four hours would be considered outside of the law, and every citizen would be invited to shoot them down at sight. I am not unaware that the ground taken in my several dispatches, marked as inclosures D and F to my No. 364, and B and D herewith sent, may not be in accord with the requirements of public law, as it is recognized by states perfectly constituted and established; nor am 1 ununmindful of the views entertained by the Department as they are expressed to me in your No. 24, of December 16, 1869, but circumstances seemed to crowd in upon me without warning, and in such a way as to leave me almost no choice. Men maddened by passion, inflamed, as I am credibly informed, by rum, and elated by consciousness of armed power, were pursuing their fellow-countrymen with red-banded violence. To have closed my door upon the men pursued would have been for me to deny them their last chance of escape from being brutally put to death before my eyes. I thought it my duty under the circumstances to do what I could to protect them from such a fate and to guard them until passion might cool and violence spend its force. There are other grounds also for the tenor of my said dispatches. The right of asylum has never been renounced by this government. On the contrary, each successive administration has clung to that right, and practically, once or twice formally, refused to assent to its discontinuance. Only lately, as I had the honor of stating to you personally, when I was at the Department in November last, the work of completing our consular treaty with this government was arrested because the Haytian plenipotentiary would not agree to having the exercise of this right taken away from eveu our consulates in the inferior ports. And besides, no foreign power represented here has ever withdrawn the right from its legation in this country. Great Britain alone has formally prohibited the exercise of the right in its vice-consulates in this island, but it did this only after bombarding Cape Haytian in 1865 and humiliating Santo Domingo in 1873, in vindication of its perfect right to act solely according to its own pleasure as to the continuation of the practice of granting asylum in those consulates. It was partly in view of such facts as these, it may be supposed, that you instructed me in your No. 32, of February 4, 1870, that "since the custom is tolerated by the other great powers, the Department is not disposed to place the representative of the United States in an invidious position by positively forbidding him to continue the practice." I note also in the same dispatch your admonition to be discreet in exercising this tacit permission for its continuance. Moreover, any weaker ground than that which I took in my said dispatches to the Haytian minister, would, in my opinion, have probably led to the invasion of my residence, violence against men under our protection, and a consequent humiliation of the American flag, unless, yielding in a cowardly manner to intimated menaces, I had delivered the men up. This may be called acting upon expedients rather than upon the full requirements of rigid law. But I am faithfully stating to you facts. I firmly maintain all that is said in the last pages of my No. 364, in reference to * charges of conspiracy upon which men are persecuted, exiled, and outlawed, and in reference to General Boisrond Canal and his alleged associates. I do not think he, who i sought for with so much passion and ill-concealed desire for vengeance, is a criminal. * He is a man who, as far as I can learn, is without a personal enemy, although known everywhere in this country, both for his own manly character and as the grandson of General Boisrond Tonnerre, secretary to the Emperor Dessalines and the author of the declaration of Haytian independence. The same method was adopted with me here in 1869 and 1870, when I protected numbers of Salnave's friends from violence, and had under |