Gazette and sentinel., 1860-10-06
6 SENTINEL.
protection to American Citizenship.

Berlin correspondent of the Delta, and
We are sure will be read with pleasure
nv all who take an interest in the pro-
lection of American citizenship abroad.
The young gentleman who is spoken
Of so Hatteringly below, and which Ell
bapces TO us the interest of the affair,
is an "Iberville boy" the worthy son of
our esteemed feIlow-citizen, Col. E. G.
", Butler, of this parish. The affair
alluded to is the second one Of the kind
that young Mr.. Butler has been engag-
ed in within a year:
The most interesting thing to Amcri-
cans that has lately happened in Eu-
rope, is the principal feature in a little
DIPLOMATIC drama now TRANSPORTING at
. Berlin. As the case is one involving
the liberty of an American citizen. and
nav therefore in some degree develop
what backbone there is to our foreign
policy, feel authorized in furnishing
Won "A Dlltl dbolldNl " llS idCiS.
1t appears that Joseph Wolfram, a
native Of Prussia, :mmigrated TO the
United States at the age Of eighteen
years, and in process of naturalization
became a citizen. He returned TO Prus-
sia in July last, on a matter of business,
and in the vicinity of the little village
Kustrin, was arrested as IA Prussian
subject, and i'll the teeth of his Ameri-
can passport and papers of naturaliZa-
ton, compelled to put on the Prussian
Uniform, and do the drudgery Of a CONF
mon soldier.
A report of the affair reached the
merican Embassy at Berlin, at the time
in charge of Mr.. Z. G. W. Butler, Jr.,
the Secretary of the Legation. That
young gentleman, instead of lounging
through the inquiry in the soIcmn-paced
way, which all the hOary precedents of
the red-tape system enioined, acted on
the spur of some insane impulse of flesh
and blood. He took the first train to
Kustrin, burrowed in a dirty barracks,
unearthed the fearful and melancholy
Wolfram, pumped him dry of all the
facts in his wrong, hurried by a night
express to Berlin, and dispatched a
singing missive to the Prussian Minis
ter, expouuding the condition Of VOL
fran, and demanding his instant release |
and what other PREPARATION the equities
Of his case required.
Prussia has not yet responded, but if
the answer accords with the laws of her
hereditary policy, it can hardly be fa-
vOrable to Mr.. Buffers demand. The
theory Of the European governments Oh
this subject, and the one popularity held
in the United States, are so entirely i'll
dividual and destitute of all points of
contact, that we may as soon expect to
see them meet as we may a pair of par
aHel lines. 1t is to be hoped that the
pressure of public opinion at home will
extort from our Government some ex-
Plicit declaratiog of principle on this
point.
Either Wolfram is a citizen of the
United States, or he is not. If he is not,
then so far as we are concerned, Prus-
STA or any other nation having the pow
er, may constrain him to its uses. If
he is a citizen, however, then it is plain
that his military allegiance is due to the
United States, and the consequence
seems equally logical, that the United
States are bound to protect him against
the exaction of that allegiance, upon
the part Of any other power.
This Mr.. Butler, by the way, is a cit
zen of Louisiana, and the same who a
year or two since, under an analago&
state of facts, signalized himself so
handsomely, and whom on that account
he Northern prints were so prompt to
appropriate as a Down-East growth
10 Louisiana and South Carolina eyes,
I would have a queer appearance to
zee Butler and Yankee" yoked toge-
in the same expression. The claim,
lowever, was but anticipating by i'm
'lcation the new evangel, just ordain-
d OF Charles Sumner-that humanity
nobility or action does not lie among
ne possibilities of aslave-holding com
Mr.. Butler is entitled to high praise
the energy and disinterested %solici- ,
ude he has evinced in the Wolfram
natter, and deserves, if he does not re-
GIVE, a commendatory expression from
ne powers at Washington. Your cor
.espondent has been one of the recipi-
nts OF his graceful civilities, and is i
Apply In t~estifying to the efficiency |
nth which the many, and often migrate J
I'll offices OF his host are discharged.
1t is with much pleasure we saw. in
o~nslusion, that from informatiop wa