SECTION XII. 45. _a Fallen President._

45. A Fallen President.

The following appeared in the papers on Dec. 4th, 1908, during a revolution in Hayti, when the president Alexis had fled to a French training ship in the harbour of Port-au-Prince:

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 2.

"President Nord Alexis is safe on board the French training ship Duguay Trouin. At the last moment the President yielded to the pleas of those about him, and precisely at five o'clock a salute of 21 guns announced his departure from the Palace.

"Previously to his departure the French Minister and other foreign representatives, with a specially-formed committee, forced themselves on the President, who finally consented to withdraw. Shouts and jeers of derision greeted President Nord Alexis as he entered his carriage. The French Minister sat beside him, and threw the folds of the Tricolor over the shoulder of the President to protect him. Along the route the people lining the streets greeted the President with curses. When he arrived at the wharf the mob lost all restraint. Infuriated women penetrated the cordon of troops, and shrieked the coarsest insults in the face of President Alexis. The people tried to hurl themselves upon him, fighting with hands and feet with the soldiers, who, in order to disengage the President, discharged their muskets, and the crowd then fell back. President Alexis, still draped in the Tricolor, boarded a skiff, his suite tumbling in after him. Haitian, French, and American warships fired a salute to the fallen President. As he was embarking a woman aimed a blow at his side with a knife, but missed him. A man, however, succeeded in striking the President a glancing blow on the neck with his fist."

46. A Murder in Monaco.

In August, 1907, Mr. and Mrs. Goold, the Monte Carlo murderers, were arrested in Marseilles, to which town they had succeeded in escaping before the murder became known. The Monacan government demanded their extradition and France was ready to comply with the request. Mrs. Goold, however, was by birth of French nationality, and it was doubtful whether she had been legally married to Mr. Goold. Under these circumstances the French government refused to extradite Mrs. Goold, before it had been proved by inquiries in England whether or not a legal marriage had taken place between herself and Goold.

47. A Question of Interpretation.

According to Article XIII of the Treaty of July 11th, 1799,--confirmed by Article XII of the Treaty of May 1st, 1828,--between the United States of America and Prussia which is now valid for the whole German empire, in case one of the contracting parties is a belligerent, no articles carried by vessels of the other contracting party shall be considered contraband, but nevertheless the belligerent party shall have the right to seize any military stores carried by vessels of the other party on payment of their full value.

Has the Declaration of London, 1909, any influence on the validity of this old treaty stipulation?

If not, in the event of war between Germany and another power, can powers possessing most favoured nation treaties with Germany claim the same treatment with regard to contraband for their own vessels as Germany must grant to vessels of the United States?

48. The Island of Santa Lucia.

In 1639 the island of Santa Lucia, in the Antilles, was occupied by England, but in the following year the English settlers were massacred by the natives, and no attempt was made by England to re-establish the colony. In 1650 France, considering the island no man's land, took possession of it. England, however, contended for many years that she had not abandoned the island. After the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, the question of ownership was referred to the decision of certain commissioners, and England claimed that having been driven out by force she had not abandoned the island sine spe redeundi, and that therefore France, in 1650, had no right to consider the island as no man's land. Finally, by the peace treaty of Paris of 1763, England resigned her claims.