Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-07-11
THg AFTsMANss J0uRNAl,
THEHAruRAL1zAT1oN QUESTION.

The following is Gen. Cass' second letter on
the question of the right of foreign Govern
ments to exact unrendered military service
from our naturalzed citizens, dated at the
Department of State,
WASHINGTON, June 6, 1859.
SIR-In answer to your letter of the 9th
inst, 1 have to inform you that the brief letter
from this Department to which you refer, da-
ted the 18th of May last, and addressed to
Felix lie Clerc, was in reply to an application
for information, and was principally intended
to recommend caution to our naturalzed fell
w-citizens, natives of France, in returning to
that country, as the operations of the French
conscription law were not precisely known land
might bear injuriously upon that class of A
merican citizens. Most of the continental
European nations have system of N iltary
organization, by which their citizens COM
PEELED TO serve in the army by conscription,
and not as in France, where the duty is des-
ignated by lot or draft. In Prussia every
person is required to take his turn soldier.
The condition of American naturaliZed cit
liens returning to their native country, where
the system of compulsory service prevails,
| and who had left before such service, has con-
sequently been the subject of discussion with
some of the European powers. Quite recent
ly it has risen between the United States and
Prussia, and the Representatives of this coun-
try at the Court of Berlin, has brought the
| matter TO the attention of Prussian Govern
nient. In the Instructions which were sent
him May y, 1859. it was explicitly stated.
that this Government opposed the doctrine of
perpetual allegiance, and maintains the right
of expatriaton and the right to form new po-
| litical ties elsewhere. Upon this subject it is
to be observed, that in this age of the world,
the idea of controlling the citizen in the
choice of home, and binding him by mere
political theory, to inhabt for his life time, a
| country which he desires to lie ave, can hardly
be entertained by any Government.
The United States, therefore, maintains the
| proposition that naturaliZed citizens returning
| to the country of their birth, not liable TO
| any duties or penalties, except such as were
| in existenhe at the period of their emigration.
| If, at that time, they were in the army, or ac-
| tually called into it; such emigration and nat
uralization do not exempt them from the le-
| gal penalty which they incurred by their de-
| sertion. But this penalty may be enforced
| against them whenever they shall voluntarily
place themselves within the local Jurisdiction
of their native country, and shall tie proceed
ed against according to law. But when no per-
sonal liabilities exist against them at the peri
cd OF their emigration,th law of nations, in the
opinion of this government, gives no right
to any country to interfere with naturalizcd
American citizens, and the attempt to do SO
would be considered an act unjust in itself,
| aud unfriendly towards us. Jurisdiction
cannot, of course, arise in the case of the nat
| uralized citizen who remains in the United
States. 1t is only when he voluntarily returns
to his native country that its local laws can
be enforced against him.
l am, sir, your obcdient servant.
Signed LEWIS CAss.