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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
6
Reference :-
mwimmim C.O. 885
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
2
officer administering the Government of Northern Nigeria, to postpone the date of the execution of these men without admitting that there is any reason for questioning the propriety of the sentence (Paper N).
I am further to call your special attention to the report of the trial, of which a copy is enclosed in the letter from the Colonial Office of the 26th instant (Paper Z').
As you are aware, in the view taken by His Majesty's Government the Extra- dition Act and Treaties are of no application in the case of British Protectorates, which are not considered to be an integral part of the British dominions.
No formal arrangement at present exists for the surrender of criminals between the British Protectorates on the West Coast of Africa and the adjoining French and German Colonies or Protectorates, but having regard to the opinion expressed in your Report to the Colonial Office of the 29th June, 1901,* His Majesty's Government con- template suggesting local agreements based on the Extradition Treaties between the United Kingdom and those countries, both of which preclude the surrender of nationals. The matter is, therefore, one which could not, in the view taken by His Majesty's Government, have been dealt with under the Extradition Treaty at present subsist- ing between Great Britain and France. At the same time, however, it is clear, having regard to the special reservation in the Treaty and to the existing practice between the two countries with reference to the non-surrender of nationals, that the French Government, with full knowledge of the undisputed facts of the case, neither would have surrendered, nor could have been reasonably expected to surrender under the Treaty or by some substituted extradition process of a less formal and regular kind, three persons who were French citizens.
At the same time, these offenders were not brought within the jurisdiction of the Northern Nigerian Courts in consequence of any demand or request made by the British authorities.
They came within that jurisdiction through the voluntary, if misconceived, action of a French official, for which no British authority was even indirectly responsible, and, being found within the jurisdiction, they were thereupon arrested, committed for trial, tried, and convicted in due course of law. It was, unfortunately, not until after verdict and sentence had been actually pronounced that any representation from the Government of the French Republic reached His Majesty's Government on the subject.
In these circumstances a juridical position of no little difficulty and delicacy has arisen, in dealing with which Lord Lansdowne would be glad of your assistance and
advice.
A Memorandum by the Legal Adviser to the Department, briefly summarizing the more salient points of difficulty in connection with the case and offering such suggestions for their solution as have occurred to him, is enclosed for your considera- tion.
Having regard to the peculiar nature of the case, it has been thought preferable not to submit specific questions for your opinion, but to request you to advise gene- rally on the matter.
I am to add that this letter has been submitted to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for his approval and that Mr. Chamberlain concurs generally in its terms.
As there has already been considerable, though unavoidable, delay in the sub- mission of the case to you, and as it is very desirable in the discussion of a matter of this nature with a foreign Government to avoid even the appearance of procrastina- tion, Lord Lansdowne will be greatly obliged if you can favour him with your Report at your earliest possible convenience.
I have, &c.,
T. H. SANDERSON.
P.S. An additional copy of this letter and of Mr. Davidson's Memorandum has been enclosed for the convenience of the Solicitor-General.
T. II. S.
List of Papers.
(A.) Colonial Office
July July
6, 1901.
17.
(No. 104)
July
26.
"
(No. 78.
Africa)
August
4,
No. 87 in this Vol.
(B.) Colonial Office
(C) To Mr. Herbert
(D.) Sir E. Monson
(E.) Colonial Office (F.) To Sir E. Monson (G.) Colonial Office (H.) Sir E. Monson (I.) Colonial Office (J.) Colonial Office (K.) War Office (L.) Colonial Office (M.) M. Géoffray (N.) To Colonial Office (0.) To Sir E. Monson (P.) Colonial Office (Q.) M. Cambon (R.) Colonial Office (S.) Colonial Office (T.) To Colonial Office (U.) Colonial Office (V.) Colonial Office (W.) M. Cambon
(X) M. Cambon
(Y.) To Colonial Office
(7.) To M. Cambon (Z1.) Colonial Office (Z'.) Colonial Office
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(No. 115. Africa)
(No. 86. Africa)
August 9, 1901. August 16, August 19, 11 August 27, " September 11, September 16, September 27,
October 28,
"
**
"
(No.-63. Treaty)
October 19, October 21, October 22, October 23, October 23, October 26, "
11
"
23
21
""
October 30,
October 31,
November 8, November 12, November 20, November 23, November 25, November 25, November 26, November 28,
"
"
"
+
"J
"
ANNEX.
Memorandum by Mr. Davidson.
The salient facts of this case are very simple, but the questions which arise on them are of considerable difficulty and delicacy.
In June last, Captain Keyes, a British officer serving in the West African Frontier Force in the British Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, was murdered by three French citizens, who, with a so-called trading caravan, had crossed the frontier from the ad- joining French territory of Dahomey. These men subsequently made good their escape into French Dahomey, where, however, they were apprehended by the order of the Governor, apparently with a view to their trial by the French Courts, and while under detention were, through a misapprehension of a subordinate French official, handed over to the British authorities in Northern Nigeria without any application having been made by those authorities for their surrender, either by way of extradition or other- wise.
They were kept under arrest for a time by the British military authorities, and having been conveyed by them to Jebba, the seat of the Government of Northern Nigeria, they were handed over to the civil power, and in due course underwent their trial, and were convicted on a charge of murder committed within the jurisdiction of the Court for Northern Nigeria, by which Court they were thereupon sentenced to death and left for execution on the 4th November.
Between the date on which they were convicted and sentenced and that which had been fixed for their exccution the French Government represented to that of His Majesty that the offenders had been handed over to the authorities of Northern Nigeria through an error on the part of a minor French official, whose action in the matter they entirely disavowed, that the men were French citizens, and that the provisions of the Anglo-French Extradition Treaty had not been complied with.
In these circumstances the French Government requested that the three offenders might be handed back to the authorities at Porto Novo for trial and punishment.
In the face of this representation it was obviously impossible to allow the execution to proceed, and it was accordingly postponed pending the further discussion and ad- justment of the affair with the French Government.
Looking at the matter from the French point of view, it can scarcely be denied that there is considerable force in their representations.