[Inclosure in No. 20.]
Mr. Broadhead
to Mr. Lachenal.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I
am directed by the present Secretary of State of the United States
to call your attention, and through you the attention of the Supreme
Federal Council of the Confederation, to the case of Constance
Madeleine His, who was abducted from the State of New York and the
territory of the United States on the 4th day of May, 1891, by
Albert His, a citizen of Switzerland, who now holds her in custody
within the territorial jurisdiction of the Swiss Confederation. Upon
the receipt of my instructions I would forthwith have presented the
matter to your consideration, but learning that you were absent from
Berne I have awaited your return to your office. The
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circumstances of the case were first
communicated to your department on the 14th of March, 1892, by Mr.
John D. Washburn, then minister of the United States, in a letter
from him of that date.
The matter has been twice brought to the consideration of the Federal
Council by my predecessors, under instructions from the predecessors
of the present Secretary of State of the United States; and upon a
careful review by him of all the facts in the case, and an
examination of the correspondence which has taken place in reference
to it, he deems it incumbent upon him to present the subject again
to the consideration of the Swiss Government.
It appears that proceedings have been had before the judicial
tribunals of the Swiss Confederation in regard to the right to the
custody of the child Constance Madeleine; but these proceedings
related purely to the question as to whether the father or the
mother had the right to such custody, and involved only the civil
rights of individuals under the laws of the Swiss Confederation or
of the canton in which the questions were first brought before a
judicial tribunal, and can in no way affect the political questions
which arise in this case under the law of nations.
It is a well-recognized principle of international law that every
state possesses and exercises exclusive sovereignty and jurisdiction
throughout the full extent of its territory over the inhabitants
within its territorial jurisdiction whether they be citizens,
denizens, or domiciled aliens; and they are all subject to its laws
and entitled to its protection. To hold otherwise would be to deny
the independence of nations; a position which I am sure the Swiss
Confederation is not prepared to assume. Should the citizen or any
number of citizens of another State come upon Swiss territory and by
force carry off anyone who is entitled to its protection and subject
to its laws into the territory of another state, it would be an
offense against the sovereignty of Switzerland, to be answered for
by the state having jurisdiction over the offending parties. This
proposition is so firmly established in reason and justice and so
necessary to the preservation of the peace of nations as to be
beyond controversy.
In the case under consideration the child, Constance Madeleine, was
born in New York, one of the States of the American Union. She was a
citizen of the United States and resided in the United States, and
was therefore under territorial jurisdiction of the United States,
although she may at the same time have been a citizen of
Switzerland. While under the jurisdiction of the United States, and
entitled to the protection of its laws, she was forcibly taken away
from the territory of the United States by a citizen of Switzerland
into the territorial jurisdiction of the last-named country.
These facts are beyond controversy, and, being so, it was a clear
violation of the territorial sovereignty of the United States, so
clear as to leave no room for doubt as to the obligation of the
Government of the Swiss Confederation to have the child Constance
Madeleine His restored to the protection, jurisdiction, and custody
of the United States; and I am instructed to say that it is
earnestly hoped the Government of the United States will not be
compelled to make an imperative demand for such restoration, but
that if the detention of the child is persisted in, the self-respect
of the United States Government and the rights of its citizens will
require that such a demand be made.
In the desire that the friendly relations heretofore existing between
the two governments may continue uninterrupted, I have, etc.,
