Resolved, That the conduct of the Executive Government of the United States, in relation to the requisition made by his Britannic Majesty's Minister, of the delivery up to justice of Thomas Nash, otherwise called Jonathan Robbins, upon the charge of murder, committed on board of the Hermione British frigate, which said Nash had sought an asylum within the United States, was conformable to the duty of the Government, and to the obligations of good faith stipulated in the 27th article of the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, made with Great Britain.
Thursday, February 20.
Case of Jonathan Robbins.
Mr. Livingston proposed the following resolutions:
"Resolved, That it appears to this House that a person, calling himself Jonathan Robbins, and claiming to be a citizen of the United States, impressed on board a British ship-of-war, was committed for trial in one of the courts of the United States for the alleged crime of piracy and murder, committed on the high seas, on board the British frigate Hermione: That a requisition being, subsequent to such commitment, made by the British Minister to the Executive of the United States, for the delivery of the said person (under the name of Thomas Nash) as a fugitive, under the 27th article of the Treaty with Great Britain, the President of the United States did, by a letter written from the Department of State to the Judge who committed the said person for trial, officially declare his opinion to the said Judge that he 'considered an offence committed on board a public ship of war on the high seas to have been committed within the jurisdiction of the nation to whom the ship belongs;' and, in consequence of such opinion and instruction, did advise and request the said Judge to deliver up the person so claimed to the agent of Great Britain, who should appear to receive him, provided only that the stipulated evidence of his criminality should be produced. That in compliance with such advice and request of the President of the United States, the said person so committed for trial was, by the Judge of the District of South Carolina, without any presentment or trial by jury, or any investigation of his claim to be a citizen of the United States, delivered up to an officer of his Britannic Majesty, and afterwards tried by a court martial, and executed on a charge of mutiny and murder.
"Resolved, That inasmuch as the Constitution of the United States declares that the Judiciary Power shall extend to all questions arising under the Constitution, laws, and treaties, of the United States, and to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction: and, also, that the trial of all crimes (except in cases of impeachment) shall be by jury; and that such trial shall be held in the State where such crime shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, then at such place or places as Congress may by law have directed; and inasmuch as it is directed by law that the offence of murder committed on the high seas shall be deemed to be piracy and murder, and that 'all crimes committed on the high seas, or in any place out of the jurisdiction of any particular State, shall be tried in the district where the offender is apprehended, or into which he may be first brought:' therefore the several questions, whether the alleged crime of piracy and murder was committed within the exclusive jurisdiction of Great Britain; whether it comes within the purview of the said twenty-seventh article; and whether a person stating that he was an American citizen, and had committed the act of which he was accused in attempting to regain his liberty from illegal imprisonment, ought to be delivered up, without any investigation of his claims to citizenship, or inquiry into the facts alleged in his defence, are all matters exclusively of judicial inquiry as arising from treaties, laws, constitutional provisions, and cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.
"Resolved, That the decision of those questions by the President of the United States, against the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States, in a case where those courts had already assumed and exercised jurisdiction: and his advice and request to the Judge of the district court that the person thus charged should be delivered up, provided only such evidence of his criminality should be produced as would justify his apprehension and commitment for trial, are a dangerous interference of the Executive with Judicial decisions; and that the compliance with such advice and request on the part of the Judge of the District Court of South Carolina, is a sacrifice of the Constitutional independence of the Judicial power, and exposes the administration thereof to suspicion and reproach."
The question of reference to the Committee of the Whole was taken and carried—yeas 55.
The House then adjourned.