No. 203.
Mr. Wing
to Mr. Fish.
United
States Legation,
Quito,
Ecuador, September 25, 1873.
(Received November 4.)
No. 331.]Sir: Herewith I forward Nos. 1 and 2, copy and
translation, of a decree just issued by the President of the republic,
whereby those persons accused of political offenses, now expatriated from
Ecuador, are granted the privilege of return upon proper application,
&c., to the minister of the interior.
I am much gratified to be able to forward this document to the Department, as
it betokens a spirit so entirely at variance with that which generally
controls the governments of the Spanish American republics.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 331.]
[From El Nacional, September 24,
1873.—Translation.]
Gabriel Garcia Moreno, President of the republic of Ecuador, considering—
- 1st.
- That by the fourth section of article 60 of the constitution,
the power of conceding special pardons is invested in the
Executive;
- 2d.
- That in the exercise of this faculty the government has
pardoned those offenders for political offenses who have
solicited it when they were not guilty of grave crimes;
- 3d.
- That it is willing to allow the return to the country of all
who have left it for purely political reasons and wish to return
thereto, and that it does not, nor can it, oppose the return of
those fugitives from justice who may come to answer in the
courts, and who are in the habit of concealing their ignominious
precedents by giving themselves the name of political
refugees—
Decrees:
1st. All those who may he without the republic, in consequence of their
political action, who desire to return thereto, must send a petition to
the minister of the interior, signed by themselves, to obtain a
safeguard, which will be conceded them without prejudice to their
responsibility for trial for common crime.
The minister of the interior is charged with the execution and carrying
out of the present decree.
Given in Quito
September 24,
1873.
G. GARCIA MORENO.
The Minister of the Interior,
