British Subjects Quotes
This Government Instruction to British North African Consular Personnel summarized the policies of the British government with regard to British citizens who run afoul of the law while in Morocco and other North African countries. Essentially, the British almost always insisted on a treaty with the foreign governments that gave jurisdiction to the British Counsul to try any Englishman who was accused of a crime. The national government could not put a British Subject on trial of punish him regardless of the crime. Where local people were the victim of the alleged crime, the national government could send an observer to the trial that the British consul held. To many, this was arrogant and insulting to the host governments. As high handed as it seems, there were and still are great problems with differing concepts of justice, different rights protected and different levels of corruption. In many countries “important” local officials can control or influence the decisions of courts, witnesses can be easily bribed lie, and even judges can readily be bought. Even today, the issue of criminal jurisdiction is one of the most important subjects of negotiations between nations. The United States has similar agreements with Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea, Germany, Japan and other nations where we have armed forces. Generally, the better and more sophisticated and honest the host government justice system is, the more willing modern nations are to allow them jurisdiction over criminal matters. But generally, in the world today, these treaties are the exception. Most criminal jurisdiction is with the national government where the alleged crime takes place.
A problem often exists when a citizen of one country is in another and is accused of wrongdoing. In many cases the local country’s laws. Constitutional guarantees, and corrupt or incompetent judiciary are of a very low standard. How active should a nation be in protecting its citizens in foreign countries to be sure that they are treated fairly and with justice. This is a matter of foreign policy and at the time, some British politicians wanted the government to avoid interfering in individual cases as the consequences were often bad relations and occasionally war to protect citizens. Temple would have none of it, and the last sentence of this quotation is his famous statement of the role of England towards their citizens wherever they might be. This problem only exists for powerful nations as weak ones are in no position to protect their citizens abroad. The United States has never been as strong as Ancient Rome or England in the protection of its citizens abroad, but has not been entirely disinterested either. It depends on the facts of the individual case, the foreign policy situation with the country involved and the particular government in power.
These words are inscribed on the West Front of the state's Capitol in Providence
