During the second Hague Peace Conference the Emperor of Korea, although he had signed in 1904 a treaty according to which Japan exercised a protectorate over his country, dispatched an envoy and two secretaries to the Hague for the purpose of bringing some complaints before the Congress. One of the secretaries had been in Holland two years previously, and had left the country without paying his debts. When his creditors heard of his return, they asked an advocate whether they could sue him, or whether he was exempted from Dutch jurisdiction, since he now appeared as the secretary of the Korean envoy.
SECTION XIV
53. The Adventures of a South American Physician.
In 1905 the President of a South American Republic visited London with the intention of undergoing an operation by a famous surgeon. He was accompanied, among others, by Doctor Alcorta, his physician-in-ordinary, who was watching the case. After dining with friends one evening at a well-known restaurant, during which he drank very freely of wine and liqueurs, Doctor Alcorta proceeded to the Empire Theatre. He at first listened quietly, but, being displeased by the song of one of the performers, he became noisy, had to be removed, and on proving violent was handed over to the police. Next morning he was brought up before a magistrate on the charge of having been drunk and disorderly.
54. Extradition of a British Subject.
The following is a cutting from the police court reports of a daily paper:
"At Bow-street, Julius Kuhliger, alias Nollier, 35, of Field-road, Forest-gate, was again brought up before Sir A. de Rutzen for extradition on the charge of obtaining money by false pretences in Belgium. Mr H. Lewis defended. In consequence of certain complaints Detective-sergeant Brogden kept observation upon a newsagent's shop in Shoreditch, and on the 2nd inst. he saw the prisoner call there and receive several letters. He followed the prisoner and saw him examine the contents, and then arrested him. The letters were found to contain four money orders of the total value of £6. 7s. 1d., and the prisoner was brought up at the Old-street Police-court and charged with being in the unlawful possession of them. It was afterwards discovered that the orders were the proceeds of an alleged swindle in Belgium which had been carried on from this country, and the original charge was abandoned in favour of the extradition proceedings. Detective-sergeant Brogden now gave evidence that the prisoner claimed to be a British subject, alleging that his mother was English, though his father was a Swiss. Since his arrest he had made a statement to the effect that about three months ago, finding himself in financial difficulties, he thought he would embark upon a system of fraud. He advertised in the German newspapers, he continued, stating that an English lady wished to send her two daughters to Germany for the purpose of learning the language of the country. Several persons replied offering to take the children, and he wrote to each of them accepting their offer, and stating that the luggage had already been sent on. He followed this by another letter purporting to come from a firm of railway carriers, saying that they had been instructed to forward certain trunks, and would do so on the receipt of their fees in advance. He arranged for the replies to these letters to be sent to five or six different newsagents' shops in various parts of London, and each place brought him in an average of about £10. The prisoner, on oath, now said that he was a British subject, and Mr Lewis asked the magistrate to say that this was not a case in which he ought to surrender the prisoner to a foreign Power. The magistrate said that with regard to the point raised as to the accused's being a British subject, the article in the Treaty with Belgium dealing with that matter said that 'in no case or on any consideration whatever shall the high contracting parties be bound to surrender their own subjects whether by birth or naturalization.' It had been held that such provision implied that the high contracting parties might surrender their own subjects, and that such surrender must be left to the discretion of the Secretary of State. He ordered the prisoner to be committed for extradition, and it would be for the Home Secretary to decide whether it was a case in which he ought not to sanction the surrender."
55. The Case of the "Oldhamia."
The following appeared in the Times of Dec. 14th, 1908, dated St Petersburg, Dec. 13th: