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have shown, and is daily becoming more so, whether the Government of The United States is to protect naturalized citizens who return temporarily and voluntarily to their native country, to the same extent that it would native-born citizens, and also whether any and what protection is to be afforded to individuals who have simply taken the preliminary steps and declared their intention of becoming American citizens. In my experience here, I have endeavoured, in several cases, to protect both these classes, but have been cautious not to commit myself with regard to the latter; for I see not how they can have any claim whatever upon us, except a friendly one.

English legislation excludes naturalized aliens from any positive claim to the protection of their adopted country, when they are beyond its frontiers.

You

Our own does not; and it is highly desirable that the intention of our Government in this respect be clearly made known. will much oblige me by instructing me as to the course to be pursued in future.

P. D. Vroom, Esq.

J. C. BATES.

(Inclosure 3.)-Mr. Bromberg to Mr. Wise.

(Extract.) Berlin, October 16, 1853. I AM afraid of troubling you too much, but I cannot omit to inquire if any recent instructions have been received at your Legation, concerning the right of German rulers to force their former subjects, after having become naturalized in The United States, on revisiting their native country, to bear arms. The former administration has conceded this point, and though I have been able to resist any claim of this kind (which I believe to be wrong, and totally at variance with our naturalization laws,) yet, as the decision in favour of this claim is known, I had only last month, in a case (reported to the Hon. D. D. Barnard) of this kind, to use the utmost exertions, and to assure the syndicus that the present Administration would not uphold the former decision, and I was enabled to get the person claimed unmolested to England. I have on this applied to the State Department for information, but not having received answer, I would be obliged to you for any light on the subject.

O. J. Wise, Esq.

(Extract.)

SAMUEL BROMBERG.

(Inclosure 4.)—Mr. Wise to Mr. Bromberg.

Berlin, October 26, 1853. No instructions have yet reached this office with regard to the construction of our naturalization laws, nor with regard to the condition and rights of those unfortunate emigrants whom the Prussian Government claims the right to compel to military service.

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As soon as such instructions are received, I will gladly communicate

them to you.

S. Bromberg, Esq.

(Extract.)

O. JENNINGS WISE.

No. 25.-Mr. Vroom to Mr. Marcy.

Berlin, December 13, 1853. On the 2nd instant, I received a letter from William Parehen, a naturalized citizen of The United States, who left this country in 1848, when about 18 years of age, and without a permit of emigration. He states that on his return, a short time since, to transact some family business, he was taken up, and was to be placed in the army within 14 days, 4 of which had already expired. He asked the protection of the Legation, and, if that could not be given, he desired to make a personal application to the King. This case appeared to be within the instructions received by the Legation from the State Department in February last, and which had been communicated to the Government here, and since acted on by the Legation. I did not, therefore, feel at liberty to give to Mr. Parehen any positive assurance of relief. I told him that, in similar cases, the Prussian Government had refused to listen to such applications, but that I would aid him as far as was in my power; that if he desired, under the circumstances, to make an application to the King, as be had intimated, I did not wish to deprive him of the opportunity by any act of mine, without his knowledge, but that in such application he must act on his own responsibility; that if I interfered on his behalf, it would be on the ground of his rights as an American citizen, and I should expect him to await and abide the result. I have not heard from him since.

The department will perceive that complaints from our naturalized citizens of maltreatment in this kingdom continue to be frequent. I hope to be able to dispose of them satisfactorily without giving trouble. Cases of embarrassment, however, will sometimes occur, in which it will be necessary to ask for direction. The case of Parehen presents an instance. He went to The United States without a permit of emigration, and without having performed the military service required by his country. On his return, a naturalized citizen, he was taken and placed in the army. The right of Prussia to do this has been formally conceded. I presume it will be proper for me to act on this principle, unless formally instructed otherwise. I did not, however, think it advisable in my letter to Parehen to commit myself by a formal abandonment of his It was not necessary. He emigrated with his father at the age of 18, when yet a minor, and an argument might have been made that, in such a case, a permit of emigration was not necessary.

case.

That point might have been presented without expressly admitting the principle referred to. As my interference in the case of Parehen may be requested again, I should be glad to have the views of the Government on this subject at as early a day as may be convenient. Hon. W. L. Marcy.

(Extract.)

No. 26.—Mr. Vroom to Mr. Marcy.

P. D. VROOM.

Berlin, February 28, 1854. I STATED in my last despatch, that I had just received yours of the 2nd instant, inclosing papers in the case of John Haben, of Syracuse, a naturalized American citizen, who was arrested and imprisoned on or about the 19th of December last, at Saarlouis, in this kingdom.

On the 22nd instant, I prepared and sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs a communication inquiring into the facts and causes of this proceeding. No answer has yet been received. I suppose it will turn out in this case that Haben, having emigrated without permission, and being afterwards found on Prussian soil, has been condemned to punishment according to the laws of the Kingdom. It will again present the question, whether persons emigrating without permission, and becoming naturalized citizens of The United States, can afterwards, if found in Prussian territory, be compelled to serve in the army, or be arrested and imprisoned for not having performed military duty.

Hon. W. L. Marcy.

P. D. VROOM.

P.S.-After closing the foregoing dispatch, I received from Baron Manteuffel a letter acknowledging the receipt of my communication respecting the arrest and imprisonment of John Haben, a copy of which is herewith forwarded.

P. D. VROOM.

(Inclosure 1.)—Mr. Vroom to Baron Manteuffel.

M. LE BARON,

Berlin, February 21, 1854. I HAVE just been informed that John Haben, a citizen of The United States, was, on or about the 19th day of December last, arrested and imprisoned by some of the public authorities of this Kingdom at Saarlouis, and that he is still kept there in confine

ment.

It appears from the evidence furnished me, that John Haben was born in Prussia in the year 1822; that he emigrated to The United States from Westwellars, in the Rhine province, in 1842, and has resided for 11 years at Syracuse, in the State of New York,

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where he married, and now has a wife and 4 children living; that he was naturalized according to law, and became a citizen of The United States in 1850; that he left Syracuse about the 1st of October, 1853, on a visit to this Kingdom to recover some property inherited by him from his father, who died at Westwellars about two years since, and that soon after his arrival he was arrested and imprisoned.

At the instance of the Government of The United States, I hasten to bring this matter to the notice of your Excellency, and to inquire whether it be true that such arrest has been made, and that John Haben, the person arrested, is now confined in jail at Saarlouis or elsewhere, in the Kingdom of Prussia, and, if true, upon what ground, and for what reasons such proceedings have been taken against him.

As this case involves the personal liberty of a worthy and respectable citizen, I must respectfully, but earnestly, ask for it the immediate attention of His Majesty's Government. I cannot but hope that an inquiry into the facts will show that Mr. Haben has done nothing to merit the treatment he has received, and that he will be at once discharged. I take this occasion, &c.

Baron Manteuffel.

SIR,

P. D. VROOM.

(Inclosure 2.)-Baron Manteuffel to Mr. Vroom.

(Translation.)

Berlin, February 26, 1854. I HAVE the honour to apprize you, in preliminary answer to your letter of the 22nd of this month, that I have promptly written to the Minister of the Interior, inviting him to obtain information in regard to the causes of the arrest of Mr. John Haben, a citizen of the United States, detained at Saarlouis, who had come into the Rhenish Province, his former country, in order to settle an affair of inherit

ance.

As soon as Mr. Westphalan's answer reaches me, I shall take care to inform you of its tenor.

P. D. Vroom, Esq.

(Extract.)

Accept, &c.

MANTEUFFEL.

No. 27.-Mr. Vroom to Mr. Marcy.

Berlin, May 2, 1854.

I HAVE at length received from the Minister of Foreign Affairs an answer to my letter of the 22nd of February last, making inquiry into the cause of the arrest and detention of John Haben, a citizen of The United States.

It appears from this communication, a copy of which is herewith sent, that John Haben, being a native of Prussia, emigrated to America in 1842, at the age of 20 years, without a permit of emi

gration, and without having performed the military service required of him by his country; that, in 1845, he was proceeded against for violation of law, and his property condemned; that, in 1853, he returned to the place of his birth, was arrested and imprisoned, and in January following was incorporated into the army at Saarlouis, to which town he had been transported. It further appears that he made his escape on the 26th of January, and that the Government has fined him as a deserter.

Your despatch received this morning, informs me that Haben has returned safely to Syracuse. As he is no longer within the power of this Government, no claim can be made for his release or surrender. I am, nevertheless, instructed to demand indemnification for Haben's losses and the violation of his rights, in case it shall appear that he had complied with the law of Prussia, before leaving his native country, and that he owed no military duty. As it is not alleged, or, I believe, pretended by Haben, that he emigrated with leave, or had discharged his military obligations, and as the contrary is charged by this Government, there would seem to be no ground on which any claim for indemnity can be made. Hon. W. L. Marcy.

SIR,

P. D. VROOM.

(Inclosure.)-Baron Manteuffel to Mr. Vroom.

(Translation.

Berlin, April 25, 1854. IN referring to my letter of the 26th of February last, serving as a preliminary answer to that which you were pleased to address to me on the 22nd of the same month, relative to the person named John Haben, a citizen of The United States, who, having returned near the end of last year into Prussia, his native land, was there arrested, I have the honour to communicate to you the reasons for this measure, as they appear from a report made by the regency of Treves.

John Haben was born on the 3rd of December. 1822, at Urweiler, in the circuit of St. Wendel. He is the son of John Haben, who died on the 20th of January, 1851, and of Angela Zimmer, who is yet living. At the age of 20 (in 1842) this individual emigrated to America without a permit of emigration, and before he had complied with his military obligations. Prosecuted as a rebellious recruit, he was condemned on the 25th of April, 1845, by the court of Sarrebrück, to the confiscation of his present and future property in Prussia. In the course of the month of October, 1853, Haben reappeared in the place of his birth, on a visit to his relatives. He was immediately arrested, conveyed to Saarlouis, and incorporated on the 4th of January last in the 40th regiment of infantry, in garrison at that city. In acting thus the competent authorities have strictly

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