The National tribune., 1884-03-20
AMERICANS ABROAD.
Celebration Of WaSIlington's Birthday
at Zurich.
Special Correspondence National Tribune.

Special Correspondence National Tribune.
ZURICH, February %.
Washingtons Birthday was celebrated III
! Zurich by a reception to the American colony
! given by the Consul and Mrs. Byers. About
/ five and thirty guests were present, chiefly
| students, but not students only. Among the
! elder members Of the company were three sol
diers of the Union army, Mr.. Byers being one
! of the number while the other two are here as
scientists working further, each upon his own
! speciality, i'll the university.
The most distinguished figure of the conf
I pany was Dr. Riotti, stately white-haire
! German-American who, having lived through
an active part in two revolutions, is spending
! his last years in peaceful Switzerland. Con-
/ demned to death in 1913 in Prussia, DR.. Riotti
went to Texas, where he speedily came into
conflict with the slave-hoiding interests of his
new ellowcitizens. He received frequent
warnings, but continuing to speak and write
| constantly against slavery and secession, he
was finally driven out of Texas with halter
| about his neck, !" and betool himself, with his
] two little motherless daughters, to Washington,
whence he was dispatched as Minister to one
of the South American States. DR.. Riottl lent
| for the occasion, for purposes OF decoration, a
beautiful silk flag given him by Mr.. Lincoln,
aud, in responding lin German) to the toast TO
! the memory of Mr. Lincoln, described his first
/ interview with the war President. When DR..
Riotti was brought first into Mr. Lincolns
| presence by Mr.. Seward the President was sit
ting in deep thought before great open fire,
with his feet on the mantelsheH, decidedly
higher than his head Changing his position
! to more formal one, the President immedi-
ately began to ply DR. Riotti with minute ques-
| tions concerning the career of General Twiggs
| III Texas, of whose action the patriotic doctor
! had been an unsuccessful opponent. After each
question had been answered, Mr.. Lincoln said:
| Do / understand you to say" and then
repeated precisely the statement made by DR..
! Riotti in the preceding moment, before dismiss
ing the subject. Dr. Riotti described the I'M
| preston which he received in this conversation
of Mr.. Lincoln's extreme conscientioHsness-an
| impression which deepened with every succeed
ing interview throughout Mr. Lincoln's life.
THE AMERICAN COLONY.
Other characteristic members of the colony
! present last evening were the women students
tamong whom, by the way, there is not single
oddity)-a goodly number of thoughtful, con
scientions women, most of whom are graduates
of American medical schools, spending year
or two in strengthening the weak places which
remain after the too brief American training.
1t was good to hear the Consufs cordial express
| sion of his pride in the American women stu
| dents in Zurich past and present, and equally
good to hear the cordial response made by one
the ex-soldiers, whose wife, also physician, is
his fellow-student and constant companion
in lecture hall and laboratory. The temper of
the American colony in Zurich with reference
/ to the admission of women TO universities was
! fifty expressed in the closing words of this gen
tlemans response. God bless the studentinnen,
/ land especially mine)."
| Much less creditable representatives of the
great Republic were two fighting corps students,
| of whom one vanished early to some more con-
genial haunt, while the other remained TO
afiiict the company by the presence of his hor-
ribly disfgured face, from which half of one
jaw has been removed in consequence of q duel
wound This man has killed fellow-student
in duel in Germany, but is not surrendered
by the Swiss government, on the ground that
dueling is not a crime under the German law.
The only comfort for America in regard to
these unworthy sons is that they have grown
up in Europe among the more brutal student
customs-being Americans only by birth.
THE AUTHOR OF A FAMOUS SONG.
| Mr.. Byers' own history has a double INTEREST,"
first, from the fact that he served through the
war and wrote . Shcrmans March to the Sea =
(which has been republished, within the last
month. in volume of poems entitled The
Happy Isles y, which should make him dear
to American hearts; and, second, because he is
in himself one of the most substantial argu-
ments in favor of long tenure of Office In the
civil service. Having spent fourteen years in
Zurich he has been able to master German and
"Schweizer Deutsch," and to investigate thor
oughly the different phases of the relation of
Switzerland to America.
At first sight the relations Of Switzerland TO
America seem trivial enough, but in the Ameri-
can colony, mention of pauper immigration
| suffices to bring into clear view the service
which Mr.. Byers has rendered America in this
direction and TO cali forth most earnest discus
sons of the immigration question. Mr.. Byers'
1 one denpp in oh led IN inv
tigate the Swiss emigration and to reach the
conclusion that, while as whole it is more
harm than good to America, the most fagrantly
injurious portion could and must be promptly
| stopped. His reports to the Department and
| his correspondence with the American press
concerning the Swiss policy, reused that pub
lie interest to which. we owe the Congressional
measures prohibiting al pauper immigration.
| With the investigation of the Swiss immigra-
ton came ike disclosures concerning other
countries, in consequence of which more than
eighteen hundred pauper immigrants were re-
turned to Europe last year. The number of
! persons returned IS naturally a trifle in COM
parison with the number prevented from start
ing. And every philanthropist who is dealing
with the question OF pauperism in America
| owes debt of gratitude to the Government
for keeping one consul in office long enough to
enable him to study the country to which he
is sent and to throw light upon so wide-reach-
| ing an evil.
RESTRICTIONS OF EMIGRATION.
But valuable as is the service already rem
dered in the immigration question, Mr. Byers
feels that it is FAR from completes, in fact,
only begun-and every thoughtful member of
the American colony agrees with him. He
would gladly welcome law requiring every
| immigrant TO produce q certificate issued by
the local authorities and countersigned by the
| American consul stationed nearest the immi-
grants home, stating: First that the inmi-
grant has never been imprisoned Except for
political ohense); second. that he is not, at the
time Of signing, under Indictment; third that
| be has never been a pauper, and, fourth, that
he is not leaving wife or children. 1t is a
notorious fact that such provision would ma
terially diminish the emigration of every con-
tinental country except, perhaps, France.
Such provision is, moreover, perfectly prae-
ticable; for, throughout Europe, the popula-
ton is thoroughly registered, and the officials
OF every community are able to ascertain and
| qualified TO vouch for the four statements
which Mr.. Byers' scheme requires. True it
would increase the duties of the consular office.
if every emigrant must call upon an American
consul in order to have his certificate counter
signed, but the benefit to America of exclud-
ing the aforementioned four classes of obiec-
tionable immigrants is certainly well worth
| the expense of an increased consular force 1t
is far better worth such expense than the labor
of ferreting out fraudulent entries and vaua-