Two American Sailors in a Spanish Dungeon
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TWO AMERICAN SAILORS IN A SPANISH DUNGEON.
[Condensed from the N. Y. Herald.]
STATE PRISON OF SAN AUGUSTE,
SAVILLE, June 20, 1858
To Mr. ELDRIDGE TINKHAM, of bring Rolling wave:
I was second mate of the ship Waverly, of Boston, in China, in Sept. 1855. We took on board 450 coolies (Chinese) for Callao, Peru. We put the ship for Manilla—the coolies threatening our lives the whole way. The authorities ordered us into quarantine, and while there the coolies attempted to murder us and plunder the ship. we were obliged to fire on them, and put them below and put the hatches on. At the end of twelve hourse we took the hatches off and 270 of the coolies were dead. It was a horrible affair, but we could not help it. We were obliged to do as we did to preserve our own lives and save the ship. Ten days afterwards, when they saw fit to take the quarantine off, we were taken out of the ship with the crew, and imprisoned in Manila. The American Consul refusing to take cognizance of the case, our wages due from the ship were paid to the Spanish authorities, where it still remains.
After remaining in prison twenty one months they sentenced Mr. French to six years and myself to four years.
When we left Manila the Consul told us that we might expect to be released very soon after we arrived in Spain. Mr. French has written three letters to the Consul at Cadiz and one to the Minister at Madrid. He got one answer from the Consul but none fro the Minister. The Consul said he had written to the Spanish authorities to know the cause and length of our confinement. For a year past we have not heard a word from the United States. Yours, with respect.
We call the attention of our readers to the above very interesting letter from an American sailor, now incarcerated in a Spanish dungeon. This letter of Mr. Weeks is the plain story of a man who has been unjustly and barbarously treated by the Spanish government for obeying the orders of his superior officer on board of an American vessel on the high seas, as well as assisting in quelling a mutiny while at Manila.
Every government has a right to make such port regulations as it may deem proper for its own protection, and vessels of all nations entering the ports of nations with whom peaceful relations have been established either by treaty or otherwise, are furnished with the regulations which govern the commerce of the port, as soon as the vessel enters the harbor. The master is expected in all cases to follow these regulations, as it is optional with him to enforce the laws of his own nation only so far as they conform to and comply with the regulations of the port which he may have entered in distress or otherwise.
We infer, from the letter of Weeks, that the master and seamen of the ship had fully complied with the regulations which governed the port. The letter states that they buried the master according to instructions; also that their course was approved by the authorities in quelling the mutiny. We are yet to learn what crime has been committed by these men, and how far they have transgressed or violated the laws of Spain.
The letter of Mr. Weeks is the plain statement of an American citizen, suffering under the vengeance of the Spanish government. It is so full of truths that it stares every American in the face who has ever been abroad. It was the duty of the Consul at Manila to have appointed the first officer to the command of the ship Waverly, if, after being duly examined, he was found qualified to take the ship to her port of destination. (By virtue of his commission he became the agent of the owners as well as the agent of the underwriters.)
So soon as the officers and seamen were seized out of the ship, it became his duty to wait upon the authorities and learn the cause of their arrest, and if illegal, enter his protest against their acts. He should have demanded permission to be present at their trial, and to have used his best exertions in their behalf. After all the means in his power had failed, then he should have entered his protest against the proceedings of the court, and transferred the case to our Minister at Madrid. The claims of the seamen upon the Consul ceased the moment he entered his protest against their unlawful condemnation—it was the duty of our Minister to use his good offices for these men—to send copies of the correspondence, &c., to the State department at Washington, and await further instructions. We have no doubt but that this case has been fully presented in all its details to the circumlocution office, and we boldly express the opinion that the Tite Barnacles of the office have safely deposited the papers in the case of Weeks and Mr. French in one of those unfathomable pigeon holes of musty documents with which our State department abounds. There they will rest undisturbed and unnoticed until they have crumbled into dust, unless political influence or wealthy friends besiege the administration to interfere in behalf of these men.
The letter of these seamen shows how far the protection of the American government can be depended upon by its citizens abroad. Our government allowed these men to remain twenty-one months in a Spanish prison before they were brought to trial; they were then condemned and sentenced, one to four and the other to six years’ imprisonment in a Spanish dungeon. They fully realize the fact that political influence and wealth are the only pass words which ever entitle a citizen of this great Republic to enter into the mysteries of our Foreign office. It is true that these citizens must rot in the prisons of Spain, because they have no rich friends to plead their cause at the State Department? Must they eke out a miserable existence to gratify the vengeance of the despots of Europe, for the reason that we have no foreign policy? Is it beneath the dignity of our Cabinet Ministers to listen to the prayers of American citizens working in the chain gangs of the European tyrants? Have we so far lost our national honor as to allow the citizens of this Republic to be seized out of a vessel sailing under its flag, and cast into prison as outcasts and felons with the most perfect impunity?
Have we a Foreign policy? Do wealth and political influence control the acts of the men whom the people have placed in power? Is this a republican government? Is it necessary for an American citizen to carry an English passport while travelingtravelling abroad, in order that he may keep himself out of the prisons of the despotic powers of Europe?