§ Mr. SWANasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is now in a position to state the result of his inquiries into the trial of certain British subjects imprisoned in the United States?
§ Mr. C. HARMSWORTHHis Majesty's Consul-General at Chicago reports that, as far as he could judge, all the defendants had a fair trial and were ably defended. An appeal has been lodged, but not yet heard owing to the briefs not having been filed. The record of the appeal is accessible to all the parties concerned.
His Majesty's Ambassador at Washington has received no confirmation of the alleged intimidation of witnesses for the defence, confiscation of correspondence in favour of the defence or theft of funds necessary to the conduct of the defence. As $60,000 were deposited for bail there could apparently be no difficulty about finding $4,300 for the costs of the appeal.
Of the defendants mentioned by the hon. Member for Wednesbury, there is in one case, that of J. A. MacDonald, some doubt as to whether he has become 266W naturalised as an American citizen. In five cases, those of Frazer, Manning, McAvoy, Prashner, and M'Kinnon, the American authorities have no evidence of nationality. The national status of Oats is also doubtful, but in all cases, except the five in which there is no evidence, warrants have been issued for hearings on deportation, on the ground that the men are aliens and have been engaged in a conspiracy to overthrow the United States Government.
As regards the progress of the appeal, the record has been printed and briefs are being prepared by the Attorneys for all the defendants. The Government Attorneys have informed His Majesty's Consul-General at Chicago that the briefs on behalf of the defendants make no distinction as to any defendant. It is expected that all the cases will be heard in January.
The Consul-General reports that the defendants expressed satisfaction with the fairness of the trial, as apart from the verdict, and that the judge seems to have given them every latitude as to evidence and not to have attempted to prejudice their rights in any way.