edge, and there is no allegation to prove that it ever would; that they had no duty concerning it; that it was not shown that they ever would have such duty; and that a charge of bribery cannot be based upon payment to an officer to induce him to perform an act, as to which he has no duty, and may never have any duty. (2) That neither of these officers was forbidden by any lawful duty to reveal to Benson the contents of any report, even if they ever should come into a position to do so. Upon these grounds it is insisted that the indictment charges no offense against the United States under section 5451.

1. The extent to which a Commissioner in extradition may inquire into the validity of an indictment put in evidence before him, as proof of probable cause of guilt, has never been definitely settled, although we have had frequent occasion to hold generally that technical objections should not be considered, and that the legal sufficiency of the indictment is only to be determined by the court in which it is found. Er parte Reggel, 114 U. S. 642, 650; Roberts v. Reilly, 116 U. S. 80, 96; Horner v. United States, No. 2, 143 U. S. 570, 577; Greene v. Henkel, 183 U. S. 249, 260; Beavers v. Henkel, 194 U. S. 73, 87.

Indeed, it is scarcely seemly for a committing magistrate to examine closely into the validity of an indictment found in a Federal Court of another District, and subject to be passed upon by such court on demurrer or otherwise. Of course, this rule has its limitations. If the indictment were a mere information, or obviously, upon inspection, set forth no crime against the United States, or a wholly different crime from that alleged as the basis for proceedings, or if such crime be charged to have been committed in another District from that to which the extradition is sought, the Commissioner could not properly consider it as ground for removal. In such cases resort must be had to other evidence of probable cause.

While the principle laid down in some of the earlier cases in this court, that an indictment upon a statute is ordinarily sufficient if framed in the language of the statutes has been somewhat qualified in later cases, the rule still holds good that

where the statute contains every element of the offense, and an indictment is offered in evidence before the extradition Commissioner as proof of probable cause, it is sufficient if framed in the language of the statute with the ordinary averments of time and place, and with such a description of the fraud, if that be the basis of the indictment, as will apprise an intelligent man of the nature of the accusation, notwithstanding that such indictment may be open to motion to quash or motion in arrest of judgment in the court in which it was originally found. An extradition Commissioner is not presumed to be acquainted with the niceties of criminal pleading. His functions are practically the same as those of an examining magistrate in an ordinary criminal case, and if the complaint upon which he acts or the indictment offered in support thereof contains the necessary elements of the offense, it is sufficient, although a more critical examination may show that the statute does not completely cover the case. Pearce v. Texas, 155 U. S. 311; Davis's Case, 122 Massachusetts, 324; State v. O'Connor, 38 Minnesota, 243; In re Voorhees, 32 N. J. Law, 141; In re Greenough, 31 Vermont, 279, 288.

Applying these considerations to the present case, it appears plainly from the indictment that the accused was charged with the crime of bribery in paying to two officers certain sums of money to reveal to the petitioner the contents of certain reports, pertaining to an investigation then pending with respect to certain frauds used in obtaining public lands. The Commissioner was not required to determine for himself whether the statute applied to reports which had not yet been filed, and which might never be filed, or whether the words of the statute, "which may at any time be pending, or which may by law be brought before him in his official capacity," apply to the pendency of the investigation, or to the pendency of an obligation not to reveal the contents of a paper then in his possession. This was peculiarly a subject for examination by the court in which the indictment was found.

Like comment may be made with respect to the second

objection, that neither of these clerks was forbidden by any lawful authority to reveal the contents of such reports, upon the ground that there was no statute imposing such obligation. But it is clearly for the court to say whether every duty to be performed by an official must be designated by statute, or whether it may not be within the power of the head of a Department to prescribe regulations for the conduct of the business of his office and the custody of its papers, a breach of which may be treated as an act in violation of the lawful duty of an official or clerk. United States v. Macdaniel, 7 Pet. 1, 14.

While we have no desire to minimize what we have already said with regard to the indictment setting out the substance of the offense in language sufficient to apprise the accused of the nature of the charge against him, still it must be borne in mind that the indictment is merely offered as proof of the charge originally contained in the complaint, and not as a complaint in itself or foundation of the charge, which may be supported by oral testimony as well as by the indictment. When the accused is arraigned in the trial court he may take advantage of every insufficiency in the indictment, since it is there the very foundation of the charge, but to hold it to be the duty of the Commissioner to determine the validity of every indictment as a pleading, when offered only as evidence, is to put in his hands a dangerous power, which might be subject to serious abuse. If, for instance, he were moved by personal considerations, popular clamor or insufficient knowledge of the law to discharge the accused by reason of the insufficiency of the indictment, it might turn out that the indictment was perfectly valid and that the accused should have been held. But the evil once done is, or may be, irremediable, and the Commissioner, in setting himself up as a court of last resort to determine the validity of the indictment, is liable to do a gross injustice.

2. It is further urged in support of this appeal that Rev. Stat. sec. 1014 does not authorize a removal to the District of Columbia, as it is not a District of the United States within

198 U. S.

Opinion of the Court.

the meaning of the law; and the Supreme Court of the District is not a court of the United States, as the words are used in that section. The pertinent words in the section are that "For any crime or offense against the United States, the offender may," by certain officers therein designated, "be arrested and imprisoned, or bailed, as the case may be, for trial before such court of the United States as by law has cognizance of the offense. And where any offender or witness is committed in any District other than that where the offense is to be tried, it shall be the duty of the marshal to execute a warrant for his removal to the District where the trial is to be had." It is true that this section was taken from the judiciary act of 1789, and at that time the District of Columbia was not in existence. But the same remark may be made of the dozens of different Districts which have been formed since this act was passed. The fact that the District of Columbia was not created out of territory theretofore unorganized, but was simply carved out of the District of Maryland, is of no more importance than would be the creation of a new District, rendered necessary by an increase of population or business, of which almost every Congress produces an example. Even if this were not so, the reënactment of this section of the judiciary act in 1873 as sec. 1014 of the Revised Statutes, clearly extended the word "District" to be District of Columbia, as well as to all other Districts created since the judiciary act. United States v. Bowen, 100 U. S. 508; Arthur v. Dodge, 101 U. S. 34; Cambria Iron Co. v. Ashburn, 118 U. S. 54, 57.

The anomaly in Rev. Stat. sec. 1014, as applied to this District, consists in its limitations to offenses "against the United States," since the courts of the District of Columbia have a local as well as a Federal jurisdiction, and may punish for offenses, which, if committed within the limits of any other District of the United States, would be relegated to the state courts. Offenders against state laws escaping from the State where the crime is committed and found in another State are surrendered upon the demand of the Governor, by proceedings

taken under a different statute. Rev. Stat. §§ 5278, 5279. Certain cases are to be found, which hold that persons accused of crimes committed within the District of Columbia, against its local laws, cannot be removed to this District for trial under section 1014. If this objection might have been a sound one under sec. 33 of the judiciary act, since the Revised Statutes local offenses have also been treated as offenses against the United States. The question, however, does not arise in this case, since the indictment charges an offense against the United States in violation of section 5451, respecting the bribery of public officers.

It is unnecessary to decide whether the power to remove offenders found in other Districts to this District is affected by the act of February 21, 1871, 16 Stat. 419, 426, providing that "the Constitution and all laws of the United States, which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said District of Columbia as elsewhere within the United States," since by section 2 of the act of June 22, 1874, 18 Stat. 193, the provisions of the thirty-third section of the judiciary act of 1789, from which Rev. Stat. sec. 1014 is taken, "shall apply to courts created by act of Congress in the District of Columbia." Criticism is made of this act in that it only authorizes a removal from the District of Columbia to other Districts, but that it does not authorize the removal of persons arrested in some other judicial District to the District of Columbia. But we think that if there were any doubt upon the subject still remaining it was removed by the new code of the District of Columbia, taking effect January 1, 1902, wherein it is declared by section 61 that the Supreme Court of the District "shall possess the same powers and exercise the same jurisdiction as the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, and shall be deemed a court of the United States;" and by section one (1) of the same code that "all general acts of Congress not locally inapplicable in the District of Columbia, and all acts of Congress by their terms applicable to the District of Columbia and to other places under the