Dr. Don Ramon Ribeyro, under date of February 15, 1893, and duly forwarded to the Department in Mr. Hicks's No. 472 of February 18, 1893. Mr. Neill, the secretary of this legation, at my suggestion, had a guarded interview with Señor Dr. Don Carlos Wiesse, the chief clerk of the foreign office here, and ascertained that no correspondence had been received there from Mr. MacCord on the subject of his claim, and that they had no knowledge of his letter from Arequipa, dated January 14, 1892, in which he distinctly withdrew his claim etc., but that the foreign office regarded the matter as no longer constituting a diplo matic claim. Mr. John L. Thorndike, a friend of Mr. MacCord, now residing in Lima, informs the legation that he had a conversation with Mr. MacCord within the month last past, in Arequipa, and in discussing the claim Mr. MacCord told him he did not desire the case reopened, and that if it was reopened it would not be done by his advice or with his consent. I have the honor, etc., J. A. MCKENZIE. The report of the committee is made more voluminous than would have been necessary had the confusion in the arrangement of dates been avoided in the printing of the "papers and correspondence" sent to the Senate by the State Department, and which the committee have in their report arranged chronologically, and from which it is easily ascertained. The committee report: That the claimant, Victor H. MacCord, of Linesville, in the county of Crawford and State of Pennsylvania, and a citizen of the United States, while lawfully engaged in the discharge of his duties as acting superintendent of the Arequipa, Puno and Cuzco Railroad in June, 1885, and at the time a consular agent of the United States in Peru, was, without cause or provocation on his part, arrested by order of Manuel San Roman, prefect of the city of Arequipa, Peru, appointed by General Caceres, who had recently proclaimed himself as the head of a Constitutional Government for Peru, and on the 12th day of June, 1885, imprisoned in the San Francisco Barracks, at Arequipa, Peru, where he received the following order: Mr. MACCORD, PREFECTURE OF THE DEPARTMENT, June 12, 1885. Superintendent of the Railroads: You will direct by telegraph all orders of the case, in order that the rail line between Cachendo and La Joya remain completely unused. You will have for that fulfillment until to-morrow very early, in order that this order be terminantly complied with. As to that, you being in the power of the authority which has to comply with his duty in these circumstances, the mere fact of the fugitive engine passing from La Joya in the direction of this city will place me in the case of shooting you without the least delay, since you alone are responsible for what may happen. God guard you. MAN'L SAN ROMAN. [Indorsement-Translation.] Mr. A. TAMAYO, Present: Be pleased to dictate the measures most efficient in order to comply with the order above indicated of the señor prefect. V. H. MACCORD. Cuartel of San Francisco (date as above). CERTIFICATE. These are to certify the above-written signatures of Man'l San Roman, prefect of the department of Arequipa, under the then Government of General Caceres, to be of his true and proper handwriting, the present document having been handed me to keep under date the 12th day of the month of June, 1885. British vice-consulate, Arequipa, Peru, this 22d day of the month of October, 1888. [SEAL.] ALEX. HARTLEY, British Vice-Consul. That some time after the receipt of the above order an officer came to his cell and advised him to arrange his affairs, as there was an order to shoot him within an hour, and that within half an hour afterwards he was marched out to the parade grounds and stood up before a file of soldiers armed with rifles and asked if he wished to say anything, as he was to be shot, when he replied that he had committed no crime and had nothing to say; whereupon, after consultation among three or four officers, one remarked that it was not good to kill a man, he was then led back to his cell. That on the 13th day of June, 1885, he was notified that by order of the prefect he must pay a fine of 10,000 soles for the escape of an engine, and that it must be paid at once or extreme measures would be taken against his person to compel payment. That MacCord answered, denying the right to impose a fine implying culpability, without even a semblance of an investigation, and demanded a trial, if there was a charge of any kind against him, which was refused. That upon the following day, June 14, notice was verbally given as coming from the prefect that unless the 10,000 soles were paid before 3 o'clock in the afternoon the "extreme measures" threatened would be applied and the fine increased to 15,000 soles, and if delayed longer to 20,000 soles, when reply was made by MacCord, reiterating his demand for a trial, and protesting against the illegality of the fine and his arrest and confinement. That on the morning of the 15th of June word was brought to his cell that by order of the prefect MacCord should not be allowed either food or water, and that every article of furniture be removed from his cell, which order was at once carried out, his cell being damp, with a brick floor, and he compelled to stand, as everything, even to a rough stone, which might have served as a seat, was taken away; when the commercial houses of the city of Arequipa, doubtless realizing that MacCord could not long survive such inhuman treatment, raised and paid the 10,000 soles, and he was, late in the afternoon, allowed his liberty. The first use made of his pardon was to protest against the barbarity to which he had been subjected, which protest, hereinbefore set out in this report and printed upon pages 10, 11, and 12 of Ex. Doc. No. 4, Fifty-third Congress, third session, concludes as follows: It appearing by the foregoing deposition that the laws of the country have been defiantly infringed by an authority who, not being a judge, imposes fines and executes punishments arbitrarily and in violation of the laws, and by keeping a prisoner over the time allowed by law without submitting him to the proper tribunal for trial, and subjecting him to barbarous and inhuman treatment whilst so detained, I, Victor H. MacCord, do make this my formal protest against the arbitrary and abusive proceeding of the aforesaid prefect of Arequipa, Colonel Don Manuel San Roman, and do declare that the ten thousand soles, in silver coin, were paid under pressure of violence and reserving the right to make a claim to a higher authority, and to the tribunals of justice of the country, and to appeal to diplomatic ways, if necessary in defence of my own personal rights and in protection of the interests confided to my care. Let it be put on record that the first use made of my liberty is to enter this protest at the British vice-consulate, this sixteenth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five. V. H. MACCORD. Thus protested and declared in due form of law at Arequipa aforesaid the day, month, and year first before written. [SEAL.] ALEX. HARTLEY, Acting British Vice-Consul. That such protest was subsequently verified, in support of MacCord's memorial addressed to Secretary Bayard, by his solicitor, in August, 1888, as found on pages 2, 3, and 4 of Ex. Doc. No. 18, Fifty-third Congress, third session, by the following certificate: Those who subscribed, natives and strangers, resident in this city during the month of June, 1885, having been well acquainted with the terms of the protest which preceded, made by Mr. MacCord, superintendent of the railroads of Mollendo to Puño and Cuzco, before Mr. Alex. Hartley, vice-consul of Her Britannic Majesty in Arequipa, being animated by a lively sentiment of the strictest justice, consider it due him to declare, as in effect they do declare, that those things which it evidences, having been in this locality, of public notoriety, absolutely conform with the truth of what occurred, all and each of the facts which are found set forth in the said protest. Which, with the respective signatures they desire to authenticate, for the ends which Mr. MacCord, the author of the aforesaid documents, may consider proper. Arequipa. C. WAGNER, [L. S.] Consul of the German Empire. Consul of the Netherlands. Vice-Consul, Argentino. Vice-Consul of Portugal. Vice-Consul of Spain. Consul of Austria-Hungary. Consular Agent of Italy. Consul of Bolivia. British Vice-Consul. E. PONCIGNON, [L. S.] Vice-Consular Agent of France. FRA. K. GIBBONS. JNO. BOURCHIER. MNR. BUSTAMANTE Y BARREDA. WALTER NICKOLSON. JAMES G. BEAUMONT. That no charge was ever formulated against MacCord is evidence that no sufficient ground existed for preferring one, and such position is emphasized by the fact that none ever was made, while the record in the case is demonstration itself that none in truth could be made. That the arrest was unlawful and oppressive because no charge was made, and consequently his imprisonment was in violation of the law of Peru, which declares "that prisons are only places of detention, and that no one shall be so detained for a longer period than twenty-four hours without being handed over to a judge for trial." That MacCord's confinement and maltreatment were not only in violation of the local law of Peru, but the larger principles of interna tional law, and, in a still higher sense, the incontrovertible guarantees of a treaty at the time existing between the United States and Peru, as found in article 16, which reads: The high contracting parties promise and engage to give full, perfect protection to the persons and property of the citizens of each other, of all classes and occupations, who may be dwelling or transient in the territories subject to their respective jurisdiction; they shall have free and open access to the tribunals of justice for their judicial recourse, on the same terms as are usual and customary with the natives or citizens of the country in which they may be, and they shall be at liberty to employ, in all cases, the advocates, attorneys, notaries, or agents, of whatever description, whom they may think proper. The said citizens shall not be liable to imprisonment without formal commitment under a warrant signed by a legal authority, except in cases flagrantis delicti; and they shall in all cases be brought before a magistrate or other legal authority for examination within twenty-four hours after arrest, and if not so examined the accused shall forthwith be discharged from custody. Said citizens, when detained in prison, shall be treated during their imprisonment with humanity, and no unnecessary severity shall be exercised toward them. That at the time of the arrest and imprisonment of Mr. MacCord in June, 1885, there were two distinct Governments in existence in Peruone in the north of Peru, with President Iglesias at its head at Lima; the other in the south of the Republic, with General Caceres at the head of his proclaimed constitutional Government at Arequipa. That by the act which General Caceres and Iglesias signed December 2, 1885, both Governments were, by their mutual consent, merged into the Provisional Government thereby established, of which the pres ent Government, by popular and peaceable determination, made under the authority and administration of said Provisional Government, became the successor, so that whatever may have been the character of either the Iglesias or the Caceres Government, by consent of each and of the people of Peru, given through the subsequent elections, the then constitutional Government became the successor of both, and hence was responsible under the circumstances of the case for the acts committed by the officials, or under the authority of either, so far as they affected the rights, interests, or liberty of Mr. MacCord, a citizen of the United States, and especially so inasmuch as on the 3d of June, 1886, in pursuance of the compact between General Caceres and Iglesias, in December, 1885, herein before referred to, General Caceres, to whose Government Colonel San Roman had pertained in his occupancy of Arequipa, was installed as the constitutional President of the Republic, which was done after due ascertainment of the popular will, and by the proclamation of the Peruvian Congress assembled, as stated by the Provisional Government, in fulfillment of the arrangement of December, 1885, made between General Caceres and Iglesias. That the prefect, Colonel San Roman, by whose orders, under General Caceres, Mr. MacCord was subjected to the inhuman treatment complained of on the 8th day of December, 1886, solicited from the Peruvian Government at Lima the approval of his proceedings in the matter, whereupon that Government, without a hearing or even giving notice that the question was being investigated or considered, proceeded, under date of December 15, 1886, to approve the actions of the prefect in the matter, and of which Mr. MacCord was informed by official note dated December 22 of the same year, all of which was conveyed to Minister Alzamora by Minister Buck in his note of November 14, 1888, to the foreign office by way of correcting an error contained in the note of August 28, 1888, addressed to Minister Buck by Minister Alzamora stating that his "Government had never had knowledge of the facts referred to in said protest," referring to the protest of Mr. MacCord inclosed to Mr. Alzamora by Mr. Buck under date of August 6, 1888, and by direction of the State Department "requesting an explanation in the case of Mr. Victor H. MacCord, now United States consular agent for Mollendo," to which Mr. Alzamora never made reply. That although the foreign office of Peru entered upon the discussion of the subject under date of August 28, 1888, in reply to Mr. Buck's of August 6, 1888, declaring that "no matter what the realities or facts to which Mr. MacCord refers, the responsibility, if such should exist, does not therefore rest upon the Government of the nation, but personally on the authors of them, inasmuch as the acts complained of were in fact the acts of a chief in arms against the Government then recognized as legitimate by all nations, especially the Great Republic," Mr. Alzamora did, in his note of September 6, 1888, to Mr. Buck, reply ing to his of the 3d idem, expressly abandon his Government's first contention that it was not responsible for acts during the revolution referred to, and expressly assumed them, which position was treated by Mr. Buck in his note-in his note to Mr. Alzamora under date of September 14, 1888, as abandoned by the foreign office, such note to Mr. Alzamora closing the discussion, no reply being made to that of Mr. Buck by Mr. Alzamora. If a nation or its ruler approves and ratifies the act committed by a citizen it makes that act its own. The offense must then be attributed to the nation as the true author of the injury, of which the citizen is perhaps only the instrument. (Hallech, Int. Law, p. 275; Vattel, liv. 2, ch. 6, §§ 74–77.) That the impropriety of treating as material or attaching any importance to the personal letter of Mr. MacCord to Mr. Hicks, dated January 14, 1892, is apparent from the fact that, the Government having taken up his claim, he had no control over it, and especially so as the subject and questions under consideration involve not only the rights of an American citizen who was brutally treated in a foreign country, but in a double sense the national honor, in that MacCord was not only a citizen of the United States, but was one of its consular agents in Peru. It grew out of a private correspondence with Mr. Hicks, officiously opened by him while absent from his legation, and at Mollendo, in September, 1891, and into which Mr. MacCord was seemingly betrayed. Such letter, as well as each of the others addressed by Mr. MacCord to Mr. Hicks, corrected the garbled, erroneous, and inaccurate statements contained in the letters of Mr. Hicks, and successfully combated his conclusions, each of Mr. MacCord's teeming with expressions of dignified criticism, of disappointment, and regret at the indifference manifested by his Government's inaction for years, while the unofficial character of the letter of January 14, 1892, is made clear by the fact that its contents were never made known to the Peruvian Government or the foreign office, and was fully explained by his letter to Secretary Gresham in October, 1893, virtually withdrawing the one of January 14, 1892. That nothing is found in the action of the Government of Peru since the inhuman treatment of Mr. MacCord in June, 1895, to in any way atone for the inhumanity charged and never denied. The Government authorities in control of the railways afterwards directed General San Roman to remove Mr. MacCord from the superintendency of the same, which he enjoyed at a salary of $10,000 per annum. He was again, in the summer of 1888, made the victim of Peruvian persecution by the authorities at Arequipa, confined and imprisoned in his own office for five days, so confined for twenty-seven hours without food or water, for the avowed purpose of compelling him to pay the sum of $3,000 for taxes levied on the railway company by the Government authorities, although Mr. MacCord was neither stockholder nor director in said railway company, his connection with it having ceased some time before. On the 20th of September, 1888, the house of Mr. John Thorndike, the president of the railways of American construction, in which was established the United States consular agency, was taken possession of by armed soldiers, the consulate closed, the shield taken down, and the business of the consular agent suspended for weeks, which incline the committee to the opinion that the Peruvian authorities were emboldened by the unchallenged act of its maltreatment of Mr. MacCord in June, 1885, to the commission of this offense in 1888. Your committee are of the opinion that, upon the facts and circumstances of this case as disclosed by the official correspondence, the |