International Incidents for Discussion in Conversation Classes Part 5

60. _The "Maori King."_

The vessel, the _Maori King_, was purchased in March, 1906, by Messrs.

Ginsburg and Co., a Russian firm. To enable the vessel to sail under the British flag, all the shares in her were nominally transferred to a British subject named Dow, who registered her in Shanghai as a British-owned vessel. Subsequently she sailed under the British flag from Vladivostok to Guaymos, in Mexico, carrying 921 Chinese coolies and 217 Russians. In January, 1908, the British consul-general in Shanghai seized the vessel as liable to forfeiture under ---- 69 and 76 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.

SECTION XVI

61. _The Island of Rakahanga._

On Nov. 20th, 1908, the following paragraph appeared in the papers:

"News has reached here that on July 1 last the natives of Rakahanga, in the Cook group, hauled down the British flag, and, after ejecting the island council, appointed their own Government, judges and police. The ringleader of the movement is a dismissed teacher of the London Missionary Society."

62. _A Complaint against the Police._

A policeman, stationed at the corner of Bond Street and Oxford Street for the purpose of regulating traffic, raises his hand as a sign for carriages coming from Bond Street to stop. One of the drivers ignores this sign and drives on. The policeman seizes the horse's head and stops the carriage, whereupon a gentleman within complains, maintaining that he is an amba.s.sador to the English Court and that the police have no right to stop him. As the policeman does not give way the amba.s.sador leaves his carriage and, going immediately to the Foreign Office, complains of the violation of his privileges and demands the punishment of the policeman.

63. _A Man with two Wives._

In 1900 Oscar Meyer, a German by birth, who is naturalised in England without having ceased to be a German subject, marries an Englishwoman in London. In the following year he obtains a judicial separation from his wife. As his marriage was never known in Germany, he succeeds in 1902, while staying in Berlin, in marrying his niece, whom he brings back to England as his wife. In 1905 the niece finds out that Meyer was already a married man when he married her, and has him arrested for bigamy.

64. _Murder on a Mail Boat._

The _Marie Henriette_ is one of those mail boats plying between Ostend and Dover which are the property of the Belgian government and are commanded by Belgian naval officers. On the 25th July, 1900, an Italian on board murdered an English fellow-pa.s.senger on the voyage between Ostend and Dover, within three miles of the latter port. On the arrival of the vessel the captain handed over the murderer to the English police authorities, but a few days later the Belgian government claimed the extradition of the criminal.

SECTION XVII

65. _Persian Disorders._

The following telegrams, dated from Bushire, appeared in the papers on April 12th, 1909:

"_April 10th._

"In view of the sense of insecurity caused by the looting of the Tangistani tribesmen, who will not submit to any control, his Majesty's cruiser _Fox_ to-day landed a party of bluejackets who are guarding the place. The Tangistanis are now leaving the district."

"_April 11th._

"Before the bluejackets landed from the cruiser _Fox_ yesterday, the British Resident in the Persian Gulf issued a proclamation informing the public that the measure had been forced upon the British authorities in the absence of any authority able to control the Tangistanis or guarantee the safety of British and other foreign subjects. The proclamation added that the bluejackets were being landed solely for the purpose of protecting foreigners and would be withdrawn as soon as security was a.s.sured."

On April 27th the following appeared in the _Times_ from Teheran:

"The advance guard of the Russian expedition to Tabriz left the frontier yesterday. The main body marched this morning. The force numbers 2,600, and consists of four squadrons of Cossacks, two batteries of horse artillery, three battalions of infantry, and a company of pioneers, escorting a large train of provisions.

"The commander of the troops has stringent orders to preserve a pacific att.i.tude, and it is expected that he will halt some distance outside Tabriz, which he will not enter except in case of necessity.

"The Russian and British Legations will to-morrow jointly notify the Persian Government of the action taken and of the motives which prompted the despatch of an armed force into Persian territory."

66. _The Expulsion of Monsieur de Reus._

The following appeared in the papers of July 22nd, 1908, dated Caracas, July 21st:

"President Castro has expelled M. J. H. de Reus, the Dutch Minister Resident here. Dr. Paul, Minister for Foreign Affairs, sent his pa.s.sports to M. de Reus with a note informing him that, in view of the opinions expressed by M. de Reus in a letter written on April 9th, President Castro declares him to be incompetent to serve as a friendly medium in the relations between Venezuela and the Netherlands.

"The letter referred to is probably M. de Reus's reply to President Castro's demand that Holland should exercise more effectual vigilance over Dutch vessels plying between La Guaira and Curacao, in which Venezuelan revolutionaries frequently effect their escape under a.s.sumed names. This preceded the trouble caused by the closing of the port of Curacao to Venezuelan shipping on account of plague at La Guaira."

67. _The Case of McLeod._

Alexander McLeod was a member of the British force sent by the Canadian government in 1837 into the territory of the United States for the purpose of capturing the _Caroline_, which vessel had been equipped for crossing into Canadian territory and taking help to the Canadian insurgents. In 1841 McLeod came on business into the State of New York, and was arrested and indicted for the killing of one Amos Durfee, a citizen of the United States, on the occasion of the capture of the _Caroline_.

68. _A Thwarted Suicide._

While the _Frau Elizabeth_, a German tramp steamer, is on the high seas during a voyage between New York and Hamburg, a sailor, Heinrich Kalke, jumps overboard with the intention of drowning himself. Another sailor leaps into the sea after him in the hope of saving Kalke's life. He succeeds in getting hold of the man, but Kalke struggles and, being unable to free himself, draws a knife and stabs the sailor, who thereupon sinks. While the struggle is in progress the vessel slackens speed, a boat is lowered, and its occupants succeed in securing Kalke.

He is taken on board, conveyed to Hamburg, and there put on his trial for murder. Counsel for defence a.s.serts that Germany does not possess jurisdiction, as the act was committed, not on a vessel sailing under the German flag, but in the sea itself, and as, according to -- 4, No. 3 of the German criminal code, a German can only be punished in Germany for an act committed abroad, if the act concerned is punishable both by the law of Germany and by that of the country where the act was committed.

SECTION XVIII

69. _An Insult to an Amba.s.sador._

The following appeared in the papers, dated St Petersburg, Feb. 4th, 1908:

"M. Bompard, the French Amba.s.sador, regarding a recent paragraph in the _Grazhdanin_ as insulting, has addressed himself to M. Isvolsky, Minister for Foreign Affairs, complaining that the statement in question was directed against himself in his capacity of representative of the French Republic in Russia. He therefore asks for the protection of the Imperial Government. Since the Press laws contain no provision for the criminal prosecution of newspapers for insults offered to representatives of friendly Powers, a decree has been issued whereby the Prefect of St Petersburg, in virtue of the powers conferred upon him under the law on 'extraordinary protection,' has inflicted upon the editor of the _Grazhdanin_ a fine of 1,000 roubles (100)."

70. _A Question of Legitimacy._

Edward Wolff, a German subject, domiciled in England since 1860, goes to Germany in 1870 for the purpose of there marrying his niece. He at once returns to England with his bride, and becomes naturalized in 1871. His wife dies in 1873 in giving birth to a son. In 1875 he marries an Englishwoman in London. As the result of this marriage a second son is born in 1876. In 1900 Wolff dies without leaving a will, six months after the death of his second wife. The son of the second wife claims the whole of his father's estate, maintaining that the first marriage of his father was invalid and that therefore his step-brother, being illegitimate, could not inherit.

71. _The Coachman of an Envoy._

In 1827 a coachman of Mr. Gallatin, the American minister in London, committed an a.s.sault outside the emba.s.sy. He was arrested in the stable of the emba.s.sy and charged before a local magistrate. The British Foreign Office refused to recognise the exemption of the coachman from the local jurisdiction.