may be exposed to inconvenience; and the utmost alacrity will at all times be evinced by the Irish Government to rectify such

errors.

With regard to your request to have copies of the instructions issued by the police authorities respecting Americans arriving in Ireland, Her Majesty's Government regret that they cannot comply with your wish. There are many obvious reasons why it cannot be expected that one Government should communicate to another the instructions which, in times of difficulty and disturbance, it may think right to give to the officers whom it employs to preserve the public peace. But Her Majesty's Government are responsible for all acts which may be done in consequence of such instructions, and from their responsibility, in this respect, they have no wish or intention to shrink. I have, &c.

G. Bancroft, Esq.

PALMERSTON.

(18.)-Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Buchanan.

(Extract.) London, October 6, 1848. I HAVE, at Lord Palmerston's invitation, been passing three days at his country seat. On returning, I find a letter from him, sent to my house in London while I was with him at Broadlands. I have not time to-day to offer any remarks on this letter; nor have I had time fully to consider it; but I call your attention to the claim set up by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland that Mr. Ryan is a subject of Her Majesty.

It is understood that he has a passport from you as a citizen of The United States, and he can be claimed as a British subject only on the ground that a British subject can never divest himself of his allegiance.

Two questions then arise: Does a naturalized citizen owe allegiance to any country but that of his adoption? and does the return of a naturalized citizen, for transient purposes, to his native country bring back upon him the obligation of allegiance to that country?

The argument against the doctrine of perpetual allegiance appears to me to derive, what it scarcely needed, irresistible confirmation from the fact that tens of thousands annually migrate from this Kingdom to The United States, under the sanction of British law; that within the last 25 years nearly a million of souls have so emigrated; that a claim, on the part of the British crown, to the allegiance of men thus sent forth, and in such vast numbers, is, in itself, impossible to be asserted, and fraught with practical contradictions and absurdities without number. As the claim in this particular case conflicts with the passport which was

issued from your office, perhaps you will state to me your views on the subject.

I annex, also, a letter from an American citizen on the nature of the orders issued there, in reference to persons coming from America.

J. Buchanan, Esq.

GEORGE BANCROFT.

(19.)-Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Bancroft.

(Extract.) Washington, October 23, 1848. I HAVE this moment received your despatch, and have only time before the closing of the mail to say a few words in relation to it.

Treason cannot be committed by a citizen of The United States against a foreign Government, and we are bound, by every principle of faith and national honour, to maintain the doctrine, firmly in favour of our naturalized as our native citizens. I should trust that the British Government are not prepared, by the trial of Mr. Richard Ryan for treason, to precipitate a question which must produce such a tremendous excitement throughout our country, especially when this can be so easily avoided. If Ryan has violated the laws of Great Britain within her dominions, he can be tried and punished for an offence of a different denomination. G. Bancroft, Esq.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

(20.)-Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Bancroft.

(Extract.) Washington, October 28, 1848. MR. RICHARD F. RYAN obtained a passport, in the usual form, from this department, on the 17th May last, upon the production of his certificate of naturalization. He stands, therefore, precisely upon the same footing as though he had been born within The United States. I find, however, that I was too hasty in stating, as I have done in my last despatch, that treason could not be committed by a citizen of The United States against a foreign Govern

ment.

Blackstone, in his Commentaries, vol. I, page 369, says, that allegiance is distinguished by law "into two sorts or species, the one natural, the other local; the former being also perpetual, the latter temporary." Again, "local allegiance is such as is due from an alien, or stranger born, for so long time as he continues within the king's dominions and protection; and it ceases the instant such stranger transfers himself from his kingdom to another."

According to British law and practice, therefore, aliens guilty of treasonable acts whilst residing in England, are tried and punished for high treason. Vide I. East's Crown Law, page 52; IV. Blackstone's Commentaries, page 74. Vide, also, I. East's Crown Law,

1

page 115, in regard to the form of an indictment for high treason. I take it, also, that even in this country, a foreigner, whilst enjoying the protection of our laws, and consequently owing temporary allegiance to our Government, might, during this period, commit treason against The United States "in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." Indeed, this seems to be taken for granted by Chief Justice Marshall in delivering the opinion of the court in the case of The United States v. Wiltberger, V. Wheaton, 97, when he says that "treason is a breach of allegiance, and can be committed by him only who owes allegiance, either perpetual or temporary. The words, therefore, owing allegiance to The United States, in the first section [of the Act for the punishment of certain crimes against The United States, approved April 30, 1790,] are entirely surplus words, which do not, in the slightest degree, affect its sense. The construction would be precisely the same were they omitted."

Sad, indeed, might be our condition should numerous emigrants hereafter arrive in our country in times of difficulty and danger, possessing a different spirit towards our institutions from that with which they have been heretofore animated, if none but citizens of The United States could commit the crime of treason.

It may also be observed, that the words employed in the first section of the Act to which I have referred, are 'any person or persons," not "any citizen or citizens of The United States," &c. I have deemed it proper to make these suggestions, in order to correct a mistake into which we both have fallen.

The President has been highly gratified with your efforts in favour of our unfortunate citizens who have been arrested in Ireland, charged with sedition and treason against the British Government, and feels confident that you will continue to aid them by every means proper to be employed by an American Minister under such circumstances. I need scarcely add that, whenever the occasion may require it, you will resist the British doctrine of perpetual allegiance, and maintain the American principle, that British native born subjects, after they have been naturalized under our laws, are, to all intents and purposes, as much American citizens, and entitled to the same degree of protection, as though they had been born in The United States.

G. Bancroft, Esq.

MY LORD,

JAMES BUCHANAN.

(21.)-Mr. Bancroft to Viscount Palmerston.

London, November 10, 1848.

YOUR note of the 30th of September was received by me on my recent return from the country; and having made the inquiries which it suggested, I now reply to it.

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, it appears by your Lordship's note, holds in Newgate prison, Dublin, Mr. James Bergen, an American citizen, on suspicion of being the agent of associations in New York, formed for the purpose of supporting an attempted outbreak in Ireland. An American citizen coming into the British dominions certainly owes respect to British laws, and is amenable for the breach of them to British tribunals.

But Mr. Bergen has, through the Lord Lieutenant, written to me, protesting his innocence of the suspicions against him. The utterance of his opinions in America on Irish affairs is no crime; if I understand your Lordship, it is not imputed to him as a crime. I have had some opportunity of tracing his general conduct from the moment of his leaving America to the evening of his arrest, when he was just preparing to return home. He came to Europe in the most frugal manner, like the father of a family of small means which he desired to improve, and not as one provided with the resources of an association. On board ship he was discreet in his language and conduct. One whom I know well, and whose integrity and character I can vouch for, with good opportunity of observation, saw no reason to deem him an agent. He seems, during the few days of his being in Ireland, to have not even attended a political meeting. This, in substance, I brought to the knowledge of the Government; and I had hoped that my representation might countervail the suspicion in the breast of the Lord Lieutenant, and would have gained Mr. Bergen leave to return to his own country.* I had hoped this the more, as the statute 11 Victoria, cap. 20, which alone of the two exceptional Acts of the last session of Parliament specifies "aliens" as well as "Ireland," does but give authority to remove aliens from the realm. Her Majesty's Govern ment have judged otherwise. I have, therefore, on the part of my Government, to request that Mr. Bergen, who has already languished in prison for more than 3 months, may have a fair trial without further delay.

In regard to Mr. Richard Franks Ryan, your Lordship informs me that this citizen of The United States is, in the judgment of the Lord Lieutenant, a subject of Her Majesty. I shall take an occasion to give to your Lordship some of the reasons which lead me to hold that, by the accepted law of nations, Mr. Ryan owes alle giance to the United States of America alone.

Here I could wish to stop, reposing confidently on the justice of your tribunals and the clemency of your sovereign. But there are observations in your Lordship's note which might lead to wrong inferences, were I not to place by their side a simple statement of

* 9th June, 1848. Vol. XXXVIII. Page 916.

facts, derived from the best sources at hand, in the absence of that official information which the British Government withholds.

Early in August last, an order was secretly issued and circulated. in Ireland, directing the arrest of all persons coming from America, the examination of their baggage, papers, and persons, and their detention in imprisonment. No authority was given to set free Americans thus arrested, even where it was admitted by the officer making the arrest that no ground whatever even of suspicion existed. Mr. Redington, the Under Secretary for Ireland, frankly avowed to two of my countrymen that the order contemplated the arrest and detention of every American citizen. And this general warrant of arrest, issued against all persons of or from the nation of America, was acted upon.

On this subject I must remark that I am ignorant of any British statute, or principle of the English Constitution or common law, authorizing the arbitrary arrest of all American citizens in Ireland, or elsewhere in Her Majesty's dominions. The Act 11 Vict., cap. 20, does but authorize the arbitrary removal of aliens from the realm, and the imprisonment of those only who refuse to depart. The Act 11 and 12 Vict., cap. 35, gives broad powers of arbitrary arrest, but only in case of suspicion of high treason or treasonable practices.

Nor is the order in question consistent with the usage of nations. I know of not one precedent for it. Your Lordship gives the best excuse for it, by comparing all Ireland to a battle field. But international usage requires the proclamation of martial law before the application of its rules. The good sense of the American travellers whose conversation Mr. Redington reported, suggested rightly that notice should have been given of the measure.

And what motive is there for assuming, before Ireland and the world, that every American citizen, and every person coming from America, would be likely to abet the outbreak in Ireland?

I cannot for a moment admit that anything which has happened in America justifies such measures. In the progress of the human race, nations profit by the experience of one another. Events in the history of America have perhaps contributed to beneficial changes in the condition of Ireland and they may do so hereafter; but it will never be by rebellions organized at public meetings at three thousand miles distance from the scene of action.

The United States protect freedom of speech, in private and in public; and sympathy with any political movement in any foreign land is, in America, no offence. 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