No. 68.
Mr. Bayard
to Mr. Jacob.
Department
of State,
Washington, April 12,
1886.
No. 20.]Sir: I transmit herewith copy of a letter addressed
to me on the 30th ultimo by the president and secretary of the Star and
Herald and La Estrella de Panama Company, a corporation organized under the
statutes of the State of New York, touching the recent suspension of their
journals by order of General Santo Domingo Vila, I also send you copy of an
instruction on the subject addressed to Consul-General Adamson.
[Page 169]
A copy of Mr. Adamson’s dispatch, No. 182, of 15th September last, which is
referred to in the Department’s instruction to Mr. Adamson, is also inclosed
for your information.
You will take an early occasion to speak to the secretary for foreign
relations on the subject, representing to him the interest this Government
necessarily feels in securing for its citizens and their property and lawful
business ventures in Colombia all the protection due under the existing
treaties, and especially in preventing their subjection to arbitrary and
extra judicial penalties.
When you shall receive from Mr. Adamson the full text of the protest I have
directed him to make, you will be in a position to judge what further
representations may be necessary on your part to secure due respect for the
obligations of the treaty in this particular.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 20.]
Mr. Adamson to Mr.
Porter.
Consulate-General of the United States of
America,
Panama,
September 15, 1885. (Received September
25.)
No. 182.]Sir: * * * On the 10th instant Mr. Samuel Boyd,
one of the proprietors of the Star and Herald newspaper of this city,
called to ask my advice, stating that the secretary of the civil and
military chief of the state had notified them that in virtue of a
circular issued by the President of the Republic—which circular had the
force of a decree—all newspaper offices throughout the Republic were to
be closed until after the meeting of a convention which was to be called
to change national constitution.
The notice was given verbally, in order that the preparations for closing
might be made before the official order was sent, at least I so
understood it.
The Star and Herald Newspaper Company, limited, is organized under the
laws of the State of New York and has its head office there.
The constitution of Colombia guarantees liberty to the press. Official
announcement has been made here of the entire supression of the
rebellion throughout the whole Republic.
There does not appear, therefore, to be any valid reason for continuing
the reign of martial law and the exercise of measures which are only
usual in times when the nation is in great peril.
It was decided that the representative of the Star and Herald Company
should visit the civil and military chief and try to have the order
withheld. He made seveeral fruitless efforts to do so, and finally
decided to telegraph to the President of the Republic, setting forth
what Dr. Nuñez well knew, that the paper had always supported him,
&c.; that it was an American enterprise, and asking that it be
exempted from the observance of decree. A few moments since the editor
handed me a copy of the President’s reply, which, translated into
English, is as follows:
“President thanks and salutes Star. May continue to publish,
considering the enterprise as industrial, principally as a
demonstration of appreciation of the United States. Trust you
will guard strict circumspection as to political subjects.
“NUÑEZ.”
While I am glad to note this exemption of the Star and Herald, the order
itself is noteworthy and ominous.
* * * * * *
I am, &c.,
THOMAS ADAMSON,
Consul-General.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 20.]
Messrs. Spies and
Thomas to Mr. Bayard.
Office
of the Panama Star and Herald and La Estrella de Panama
Company, Limited,
New
York, March 30,
1886.
Sir: The Star and Herald and La Estrella de
Panama Company, limited, incorporated under the laws of the State of New
York, seven-tenths of the capital stock of which was paid for and is now
the property of citizens of this State, publish at Panama the papers
known as the Star and Herald, daily, the Star and Herald, weekly, and La
Estrella de Panama, weekly. Our papers have been suspended by the
dictatorial decrees of Governor Santo Domingo Vila, of Panama, United
States of Colombia. No unfriendly act of ours warrants such a
proceeding, the pretended grievance being that one of our subeditors did
not publish certain unofficial matter. We have duly protested against
such action, and we understand the United States consul-general at
Panama has cabled you about this. We therefore respectfully request that
you cable to the United States consul-general at Panama to take such
action as you decide is proper to protect the interests of our
company.
Trusting to receive your reply in due course, we are, sir, &c.,
- FRANCIS SPIES,
President. - HENRY A. THOMAS,
Secretary
[Inclosure 3, in No. 20.]
Mr. Porter to Mr.
Adamson.
Department of State,
Washington, April 9,
1886.
No. 63.]Sir: Your telegram of the 29th ultimo,
reporting the suppression of the newspaper called the Panama Star and
Herald, which is owned and published by a New York corporation, was duly
received.
I am also in receipt of a letter, dated the 30th ultimo, from the New
York managers of the publishing company, stating that the papers
published by it at Panama have been suspended by decree of General Santo
Domingo Vila, that no unlawful or unfriendly act of the papers in
question warrants such a proceeding, and that the pretended grievance on
which the order of suspension rests is “that one of our subeditors did
not publish certain unofficial matter.”
The rights of the publishing company which issue the Star and Herald and
La Estrella de Panama are the same as those of any citizen or
corporation of the United States engaged in lawful business operations
in Colombia, and the thirteenth article of the treaty of 1846 with New
Granada expressly provides for the special protection of the citizens of
the United States and their property against acts amounting, as does the
act now protested against, to arbitrary confiscation by mere executive
decree of the property of citizens of the United States.
I am not unmindful that your No. 182, of September 15,*
reported the issuance by the President of the Republic of a decree in
form of a circular whereby “all newspaper offices throughout the
Republic were to be closed until after the meeting of a convention which
was to be called to change the national constitution,” and narrated the
understanding reached between the President of the Republic and the Star
and Herald Company by which its papers might continue to be published,
“considering the enterprise as industrial, principally as a
demonstration of appreciation of the United States,” with the intimation
that the continuance was conditional on the paper’s guarding “strict
circumspection as to political subjects.” There is, however, nothing in
such an arrangement which would preclude the Government of the United
States from insisting upon “special protection” of the lawful rights of
American citizens secured by the thirteenth article of the treaty of
1846.
It is represented that no charge, even of want of “circumspection as to
political subjects,” has been made against the Star and Herald Company;
and, were such a charge made, the arbitrary character of the suppression
would not be thereby changed, for the alleged offender would be entitled
under the treaty to an impartial hearing on a distinct accusation. If
there be no formal charge, the occasion for the earnest protest of this
Government is greater.
[Page 171]
Yon are instructed to present to the local authority at Panama a formal
protest in the name of the Goverment of the United States against the
breach of the treaty and the injury to its citizens involved in the
arbitrary suppression of the papers in question. Besides addressing this
protest to the official by whose order the seizure and suppression of
the papers were committed, you will forward a copy thereof to Minister
Jacob at Bogota.
Your action will be fully reported to this Department.
I am, &c.,
JAMES D. PORTER,
Assistant
Secretary.
