218 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE AND FOREIGN RELATIONS. 



The commission was composed of very emi- 

 nent men, including two Lord Chancellors, sev- 

 eral learned judges, and public men of high po- 

 litical standing of both of the great parties. 

 Among them is Mr. Phillimore, the distin- 

 guished author of a work on public law, and Mr. 

 Vernon Harcourt, the author of the well-known 

 letters on this class of questions, printed over 

 the signature of " Historicus." The commission 

 was as able and independent as could be well 

 made up from the two great parties. 



The commission dealt with the subject in a 

 very comprehensive spirit. They refused to be 

 guided by any nice line of discriminations as 

 to what constitutes exact duty under interna- 

 tional law ; but took as the basis of their rec- 

 ommendations the moral obligations of nations 

 to maintain strict neutrality, and on that pro- 

 ceeded to make a code of municipal regulations 

 which would effect that object^ whether required 

 or not by the strict letter of international law. 



In this temper they recommended certain 

 alterations in the law, and improvements in the 

 forms of pleading on indictments under the 

 neutrality law, to the end that a trial may be 

 reached on the merits without delay. 



Among the new provisions recommended 

 are these : 



A prohibition against the preparing or fit- 

 ting out, from any British port, of any naval or 

 military expedition against any state with 

 which Great Britain is at peace, whether such 

 state be at war with any other state or not. 



Making it a misdemeanor 



1. To fit out, arm, dispatch, or cause to be 

 dispatched, any vessel with intent, or knowl- 

 edge, that it will be employed by any foreign 

 power, in war against another, with which 

 Great Britain is at peace ; or 



2. To build or equip within British jurisdic- 

 tion any ship, with the intent that the same 

 shall, after being fitted out and armed, " either 

 within or without the British dominions," be 

 employed in that way ; or 



3. Commence or attempt to do, or aid in do- 

 ing, these acts. 



There is a special section containing ten pro- 

 visions for regulating and making efficient the 

 powers of the executive and the courts. 



It is also recommended that it be made a 

 misdemeanor to engage any person to quit the 

 country on any representation whatever, if it 

 be the intent to employ him in foreign military 

 service. 



It is further recommended that all prizes of 

 neutral vessels brought into British jurisdic- 

 tion, if captured by any vessel in the employ 

 of a belligerent, which has been built or sent 

 out of England, in violation of the neutrality 

 act, shall, on due proof, be returned to the 

 owners from whom they were captured, and 

 no vessel which has got out of British jurisdic- 

 tion, against the neutrality laws, and becomes 

 employed in the service of any belligerent gov- 

 ernment at war, shall be admitted into any 

 British port thereafter. 



Naturalization. H. Kreissrnann, United 

 States consul at Berlin, writes as follows, 

 under date of July llth, to F. "W. Seward, 

 Assistant Secretary of State : 



I beg to inform you that, in a circular dated July 

 6th, the Prussian Minister of the Interior instructs 

 those government officials whom it concerns that by 

 the conclusion of the treaty of February 22, 1868, be- 

 tween the United States and North Germany, it is 

 intended, in accordance with article second of said 

 treaty, that citizens of the North-German Union who 

 have emigrated to the United States without permis-- 

 sion of the proper authorities, and thereby committed 

 an act punishable under the laws relating thereto, 

 are not to be indicted, prosecuted, or punished for 

 such criminal act on their return to their former 

 homes, after an absence of five years, and that any 

 judgment or punishment which may have been pro- 

 nounced or decreed against such citizens ? by reason 

 of their emigration to the United States without per- 

 mission, is not to be executed or enforced against 

 them, provided the parties have acquired citizenship 

 in the United States, in accordance with article one 

 of the treaty in question. The circular of the minis- 

 ter accordingly directs the proper officials, throughout 

 the kingdom, in no case to institute the proceedings 

 for the trial and punishment ; and to desist from any 

 molestation whatever of any individual coming under 

 the provisions of the treaty, if such individual fur- 

 nish the proper proof of his having become a natural- 

 ized citizen of the United States, pursuant to article 

 one of the treaty. The Minister of Justice has, more- 

 over, called on the Courts of Justice throughout 

 Prussia for official reports of all the cases in which 

 judgments and sentences have been passed, and 

 still stand in force, with the view of having all pun- 

 ishments, fines, and costs remitted by means of a 

 royal pardon. 



Negotiations, tending to the recognition of 

 the rights of the naturalized citizens of the 

 United States by their native governments, 

 were carried on, and in some instances con- 

 cluded favorably to such rights. 



Paraguay. A difficulty arose between the 

 Paraguayan Government and Mr. Washburn, the 

 United States minister, during the year. The 

 trouble sprung out of the evacuation of Asun- 

 cion, and the declaration by the Paraguayan 

 Government that it was a military point. The 

 American legation alone was allowed to re- 

 main in Asuncion, and several persons, be- 

 tween the date of evacuation and June 16th, 

 took up their abode in the American ministry. 

 A correspondence arose between Benitez and 

 Mr. Washburn as to the persons who were 

 protected at the American embassy, the former 

 charging some with crimes and others with 

 communicating with the enemy, and demand- 

 ing their surrender to the authorities. These 

 allegations were denied by Mr. Washburn. A 

 long and bitter correspondence ensued, result- 

 ing in the forcible seizure of some of the resi- 

 dents, and, as claimed by Mr. Washburn, at- 

 taches of the United States legation, by the 

 Paraguayan authorities. 



Matters were in such a condition, that Mr. 

 Seward writes, under date of November llth, 

 to Secretary Welles : " I have thought it my 

 duty to advise the President that the rear ad- 

 miral should be instructed to proceed, with an 

 adequate force, at once to Paraguay, and take 



