Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Seward.
No. 9.]
Legation of the United States,
Berlin, September 19, 1867.
Sir: Yesterday I had by appointment a long
interview at the foreign office with two members of the privy council,
Messrs. Philipsborn and Koenig on the subject of the claim of Prussia to
the military service of Prussians naturalized in America.
I produced to them the old Roman law on the subject, which coincides
exactly with the principle asserted by America and gives it a sanction
of more than two thousand years.
The question was thoroughly discussed in all its connections, with
military service, with commerce, and with those laws of maritime
neutrality which Germany, no less than America, has the greatest reason
to uphold.
But that which produced the most effect on the minds of the Prussian
councillors was the statement that the American view of the question had
been practically conceded by England and deliberately confirmed by
France.
They did not make a protocol of what passed between us, but requested me,
pro memoria, to put in writing the statements
which I made with regard to Great Britain, France, and the United
States.
I enclose to you a copy of the letter which I have in consequence written
to Mr. Philipsborn, and which Í trust will meet your approval and that
of the President.
I remain, sir, yours, sincerely,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Philipsborn.
American Legation, Berlin, September 19, 1867.
Sir: In conformity to your suggestion in
the interview which I had yesterday with you and the actual privy
councillor, Mr. Koenig, I have now the honor to lay before you the
practice of the governments of Great Britain and of France, touching
the claim to military service in reference to persons horn in those
countries, but since naturalized under the laws of the United
States; and also the practice of the government of the United
States.
[Page 588]
GREAT BRITAIN.
After the acknowledgment of the independence of the United States by
Great Britain in 1782, the officers of Great Britain put forward a
claim to the naval service of sailors who were natives of Great
Britain and Ireland, but who had emigrated to the United States and
might have become naturalized there after the acknowledgment of
independence. For forty years the subject remained one of increasing
irritation, and, as the officers of the British navy seized such
emigrants wherever they could find them, the question of right was
complicated by arbitrary acts. The number of seamen thus seized and
held amounted, in the early part of the present century, to several
thousands. The arguments, the appeals, the remonstrances of the
United States, long remained without effect; and these seizures
formed one principal cause of the war declared by the United States
against Great Britain in 1812. That war continued till 1815. In the
treaty of peace Great Britain did not admit any formal renunciation
of this claim to naval or military service, but her practice ever
after conformed to international law, as interpreted by the United
States, and the uninterrupted usage which has now continued for more
than fifty years must be admitted as a permanent and final
concession of the principle, on the part of Great Britain.
FRANCE.
In France it has been formally recognized by the tribunals and the
executive government that the Frenchman who has legally become a
citizen of the United States owes no military service to the
government of France.
The leading case is that of Michael Zeiter. He was a native of
France, and, in 1859, was placed on the recruitment lists of
Uhrwiller, his native place. Zeiter brought an action against the
prefect of the department of Bas Rhin, residing in Strasburg,
pleading that he was a regularly naturalized citizen of the United
States and had lost the title of a citizen of France. His plea was
admitted, and in consequence it was declared that the previous
judgment against him was satisfied; that as he had ceased to be a
Frenchman, he was no longer liable to compulsory service in the
French army. In consequence of this decision Zeiter was immediately
liberated from military service. [Judgment pronounced by President
Bardy of the Court of Wissembourg, on the record of June, I860.
Faulkner to Thouvenel, Paris, June 23, 1860; Thouvenel to Faulkner,
July 5, 1860.]
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The United States of America have always held that a man can never,
at the same time, owe allegiance to more than one country; that the
right of emigration is an inherent right; that a native American may
remove where he will, and that on his becoming the citizen of
another country he is released from his obligations to the United
States. The native American, naturalized abroad, loses at home the
right of suffrage and eligibility to office, and, in time of war, is
not liable to military duty. So far as I know there never has been
an instance, where a foreign government has complained or has had
cause to complain that a native American legally naturalized abroad
had been constrained to do military service in the United
States.
Having in this manner set before you the practice of Great Britain,
established by the usage of more than fifty years; the practice of
France as established by her tribunals and her executive government;
and the practice of the United States, let me hope that the
government of Prussia will, in like manner, put an end to the
discussions which for several years have been so constantly renewed,
by conforming to the practice of countries with which the friendly
relations of the United States have not been so unbroken as with
Prussia. This subject has, from the necessity of the case, been more
considered, in all its aspects, in America than in any other
country; and the conclusions arrived at have been the fruit of the
calm and impartial and long-continued study of her wisest statesmen.
The government and people of the United States, in their strong
desire to increase intercourse and confirm good will between
themselves and the government and people of Germany, earnestly
commend, through me, to this government the immediate settlement of
the question, on the only basis which has stood the test of
examination through successive generations, not of American
statesmen only, but of those of France and Great Britain.
Actual Privy Councillor, Mr. Philipsborn, &c., &c., &c.
