Moreover, the two High Contracting Parties agree, that the merchandize and other effects that are saved shall not be subjected to any Customs duty, unless they should be entered for home consumption.

In cases of doubt as to the nationality of the vessels, all the provisions mentioned in this Article shall be exclusively carried out by the local authorities.

XVIII. The Consuls-General, Consuls, and their Chancellors as well as Vice-Consuls shall enjoy in the two countries all other privileges, exemptions, and immunities which may in future be granted to agents of the same rank of the most favoured nation.

XIX. The present Convention shall be in force for the space of 10 years, to be reckoned from the day of the exchange of the ratifications, which shall take place in this city of Rio de Janeiro, within the term of 3 months, or sooner if possible.

If neither of the High Contracting Parties shall have notified, one year before the expiration of the aforesaid term of 10 years, its intention of causing the effects of this Convention to cease, it shall continue in force for another year, and so on until the expiration of one year from the day on which one of the parties shall have made the notification above-mentioned to the other.

In witness whereof the two Plenipotentiaries have signed this Convention in duplicate, and have affixed thereto the seal of their

arms.

Done at Rio de Janeiro, on the 4th of April, of the year 1863 from the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(L.S.) JOSE DE VASCONCELLOS E SOUSA, (L.S.) MARQUEZ DE ABRANTES,

CORRESPONDENCE between The United States and Great Britain, Bavaria, Bremen, Denmark, France, Hamburgh, Netherlands, Oldenburg, and Spain, relative to the Emigration of Foreigners to The United States, and to the liability of Naturalized American Citizens to Military Service on their return to their Native Country.-1848-1860.

SIR,

No. 1.-Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Buchanan.

London, December 8, 1848. I HAVE this day received a note from Lord Palmerston, informing me officially of the liberation of Messrs. Bergen and Ryan, and inclosing a communication from Sir William Somerville on their

arrest and liberation. I inclose copies of these to me to require no further attention.

J. Buchanan, Esq.

SIR,

papers, which appear I remain, &c. GEORGE BANCROFT.

(Inclosure 1.)-Lord Palmerston to Mr. Bancroft.

Foreign Office, December 7, 1848. I HAVE the honour to inform you that I have referred to Sir George Grey, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department, the observations contained in the letter which you addressed to me on the 10th ultimo,* in reply to my note of the 30th of September,† respecting the imprisonment in Dublin of Mr. James Bergen and Mr. Richard Ryan, and respecting the orders which were issued in August last to the Irish police, with reference to persons arriving in Ireland from America.

I now beg leave to transmit to you a copy of a statement upon those matters, which Sir George Grey has received from the Government in Ireland, containing a further explanation of the grounds upon which the Irish Government found it necessary to order the adoption of those measures of precaution.

You will, however, learn from the inclosed statement that the Irish Government had given directions for the liberation of Mr. Bergen and Mr. Ryan. I have, &c.

G. Bancroft, Esq.

SIR,

PALMERSTON.

(Inclosure 2.)—Mr. Somerville to Mr. G. C. Lewis.

Dublin Castle, November 28, 1848.

I AM directed by the Lords Justices to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th instant, with its inclosures, relative to the arrest in Ireland of certain persons coming from America; and I am desired by their Excellencies to state, for the information of Secretary Sir George Grey, that the reply of Mr. Bancroft to Lord Palmerston's letter of the 30th September complains of the detention without trial in this country of Mr. James Bergen and Mr. R. F. Ryan, stated to be American citizens; and also, of a certain order, issued in the month of August last, with reference to natives of America visiting Ireland.

With reference to the first-named gentleman, the American Minister states it to be the opinion of persons on whose integrity he can rely, and who had good opportunity for observation, that Mr. Bergen was not a political agent. It has been already stated, in a former letter of the 19th September, that the Lord Lieutenant had reason to come to a different conclusion.

As regards Mr. R. F. Ryan, it will be observed that Mr. Bancroft does not convey any similar assurance.

* Vol. XLVII. Page 1237.

+ Vol. XLVII. Page 1233.

With respect, however, to the detention of these gentlemen, although the Act of last session applying to aliens may be naturally appealed to by Mr. Bancroft, who regards the gentlemen referred to as American citizens, and owing allegiance to The United States alone, yet the Lords Justices must observe that it is a mistake to suppose that the 11 Victoria, cap. 20,* alone of the two exceptional Acts of the last session refers to aliens; persons who are charged in this country with being suspected of treasonable practices may, whether aliens or not, be detained under the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act without trial or bail until the Privy Council may make an order to that effect; and the treasonable acts of those parties, if really such, may be charged against them, whether committed within the realms of Her Majesty or without; and the right to arrest and detain persons suspected of high treason or treasonable practices, whether aliens or not, and detaining them under the provisions of 11 Victoria, cap. 35,† cannot, it is presumed, be legitimately questioned.

But, supposing Mr. Bergen not to have committed a crime in uttering his opinions on Irish affairs in America, yet, when he proclaims not only his hostility to the British Government, but his intentions to act offensively against it in Ireland, and actually arrives in Ireland as soon as possible after the announcement of his intentions, the Government would indeed have been unmindful of its duty and indifferent to the public tranquillity, seriously threatened at that time, if it acted upon the presumption that Mr. Bergen was merely a braggart, and that he had come all the way from The United States to Dublin to improve his means in paternal solicitude for his family. His discreet conduct on board the ship, and his abstinence from public meetings when he arrived in Ireland, were precisely what was to be expected from one fit to perform the particular duties for which he had been selected.

Mr. R. F. Ryan arrived in Ireland notoriously for the purpose of aiding in a revolution which was to overthrow Her Majesty's authority and dominion in this part of the United Kingdom. He visited the residence of one of the leading rebels in arms against the Sovereign (Mr. Doheny), who is now a refugee in France. He was arrested on suspicion of treasonable practices, and papers found in his possession abundantly proved that the accusation was well founded. He is known to be a native of this country, and it would indeed be a strange perversion of the accepted law of nations if a subject of Her Majesty, born in Ireland, and living in his native country, could go to The United States, be admitted a citizen there, return to Ireland, use his utmost efforts to promote rebellion and overthrow the Government, and then claim immunity from the * Vol. XXXVIII. Page 916. + Vol. XLVII. Page 1244.

British laws against which he had offended, on the ground that he owed allegiance to The United States alone. The Government of The United States is even more interested than that of Her Majesty in protesting against such a doctrine, because the facility with which the rights of citizenship are there obtained would be little else than protection to every foreign malefactor, and might thus cause The United States to be viewed as the enemy and the disturber of every other country.

With respect to the order issued in August last, it is to be observed that the plan publicly announced in America for promoting civil war in Ireland was, that American citizens, as they were styled, but who were at the same time Irishmen recently arrived in The United States, should go over in parties of 20 and 30, and that each should repair to the locality with which he was acquainted and endeavour to excite the people with promises of active support from The United States-promises which the meetings, the speeches, and the subscriptions throughout The United States fully justified these emissaries in giving, and the ignorant people of Ireland in believing.

No attention was at first paid to these threats by the Irish Government; but when information was received from America that persons were about to embark at New York on this mission, when they actually arrived in Liverpool, and subsequently in Ireland, where they lost not a moment at the port of disembarkation, but spread themselves over the country for the very objects that had been previously announced, it became the duty of the Government to take precautions for the public tranquillity, and persons coming from America were, therefore, ordered to be arrested and detained for further examination, until a communication had been made to the Government. This order only called upon the authorities to be vigilant in the execution of the law in regard to persons coming from that country, where a conspiracy against the Queen's authority was openly carried on; and it was in fact fully justified by the 50 Geo. III, cap. 102, sec. 7, under which strangers, whether subjects of Her Majesty or otherwise, may be arrested and detained in any district. Any unreasonable detention of parties so arrested, whether American or British subjects, would not be justifiable; and their Excellencies are not aware of such having taken place. It was a matter of sincere regret to the Irish Government that the stringent enforcement of this law (at a moment when a general insurrection appeared imminent), should have subjected some American gentlemen to inconvenience. The circumstances were fully explained, and this regret expressed by Mr. Redington in the only instance where grounds for complaint existed.

The gentlemen were also relieved from arrest immediately on

the facts being brought under notice, and before 24 hours had elapsed, though the detention had taken place upwards of 80 miles from the seat of Government.

The Lords Justices feel satisfied that Her Majesty's Government would be far from complaining that freedom of speech, in private and in public, should be protected in The United States. It is so in the United Kingdom, where, as in The United States, sympathy with any political movement in a foreign land is no offence; but, with reference to Mr. Bancroft's allusion to Poland, it may be observed that, if tumultuous assemblages of Poles were suddenly to take place in every part of the United Kingdom upon the occasion of an anticipated rebellion in Prussia, Austria, or Russia; if English subjects had taken an active part at such meetings; if the most unmeasured abuse and the foulest calumnies against any of those Governments had been there put forth, and received with enthusiasm; if large subscriptions had been obtained; if plans had been announced and organized, and partly carried into execution, for promoting rebellion, and had only been stopped by its suppression; and if, during all that time the British Government had neither manifested its disapprobation nor its inclination to interfere, it is much to be doubted whether, as Mr. Bancroft supposes, its friendly relations with the Powers in question would not have been in danger of serious interruption.

It is perfectly true, as Mr. Bancroft observes, that "all human affairs come before the tribunal of public opinion, and the formation or expression of a judgment by the public opinion of a people is not an act of hostility;" but experience shows that it is impossible to submit the feelings of Governments, or the interests of nations, to the rigid guidance of axioms; and, if when The United States declared war upon Mexico the lively sympathies of the British people had been manifested in favour of the latter country; if meetings had been held at which the conduct of the American Government had been denounced in the vilest terms of reprobation; if immense subscriptions had been collected; if men and arms had been promised to the Mexicans; and, if privateers had been fitted out against American merchantmen, it is to be feared that the American Government would hardly have regarded this as the formation or expression of public opinion, nor would they have refrained from remonstrating upon it with the British Government; while the natural feelings of hostility it must have engendered in the minds of the American people would have led to the interruption of friendly relations between the two countries.

If demonstrations of this kind had occurred, it must be frankly admitted that the American Government would have been justified in their remonstrance, and in intimating that such a state of things