Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1859 — Important Document From the state Department Defining the Position of Naturalized Citizens Abroad. [ARTICLE]

Important Document From the state Department Defining the Position of Naturalized Citizens Abroad.

Washington, June 15. 1859. The following important lettkr was to-day communicated to A. V. Holer, o! Cincinnati. !>y Secretary Cass. It needs no comment: “Department of State, ! \Y jx, J vine 1-1, 1859. ( Sir: In' answer to your letter of the Gtli ins!., 1 have to inform you that the brief letter iVo m tliis Department to which you refer, dated top 171-h of May last, a: d addressed to Mr. Felix Lec-lerc, was in reply to an application lord n format lon, and was principa llv ■"tended to. recommend caution to our naturalized fellow citizens, natives of France, in returning to that com.a* the operati-c; o, the French conscription i ,vr >.v not pre - c.seiy known here, and might hear injiirioils . iy up m tout c:ass ,ii American citizens. .Viosi 1 oi the (,\;f 11 n■ n tal European nations have a system of military organization ' v winch their citizens are compelled to serve in the army by conscription, as in France, where th“ duiv is designated hv lot. or by draft, as in Prussia, where every person is required to take his turn,as a soldi, r. The condition ot American naturalized citizens returning to their native country where the system of compulsory service prevails, and who had left before performing such service, has frequently been the subject of discussion with some of the European powers. Quite recently it. has arisen between the United States and Prussia,and the representative of this country at. the Court of Berlin has brought the matter to the atten ion .of the Prussian government. In the instructions which were sent to him, dated Mav 12, 1859, it. Was explicitely stated that this government, is opposed to the doctrine ol perpetual allegiance, and maintains the right of expatriation and tlie right to form new political ties elsewhere. Upon this subject it is observed, that in this age of the world the idea ol controlling a citizen to the choice of a home and binding him by a mere political theory to inhabit for his lifetime a country which lie constantly desires to leave, can hardly be entertained by any government whatever. The position of the United States, as communicated to the Minister at Berlin for the information 6f the Prussian government, is 1 tint native born Prussians naturalized in the United States and returning to the country ol their birth, are not liable to any duties or penalties, except such as were existing at tiie periou ot their emigration. If at that time they were in the army, or actually called into it, such emigration and naturalization do not exempt them from the legal penalty which they incurred by their desertion, but this penalty may be enforced against them whenever they shall voluntarily place themselves within the local jurisdiction of their native country and shall be proceeded a<>- linst. according to law. But when no present liabiiiiies exist against them at the period of their einigrali hi, the law of nations, in the opinion of this government, gives no right to any country *o interfere with naturalized American citizens, and the attempt to do so would be considered an act unjust in itself and unfriendly toward the Uniteu States. I’nis question cannot ol course arise in the case ot a naturalized citizen who remains in the United tutes. It is only when he voluntar,ly returns to his native country that its local laws can be enforced against him. I am, sir, your obedi int. servant, • Lewis Cass.