Bayard Taylor to Mr. von Bülow, June 14, 1878
Mr. Taylor to Mr. von Bülow.
Sir: The undersigned, envoy extraodinray and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the communication of his excellency Mr. von Bülow, imperial minister of foreign affairs, of the 11th instant, accompanied by a memorial (Denkschrift), containing the decision of the imperial government in the case of Charles Ganzenmüller, a citizen of the United States of America, whose expulsion has been ordered by the authorities at Sinsheim, Baden.
When the case was first presented by Mr. H. S. Everett, chargé d’affaires, on the 30th April last, the attention of his excellency the minister of foreign affairs was called to the new and extraordinary grounds upon which the expulsion of the said Ganzenmüller was ordered. Since the memorial just received appears to recognize these grounds as valid, the undersigned begs leave most respectfully to present to the imperial government his reasons for believing that they conflict with the letter as well as the spirit and intention of the treaty of February 22, 1878.
In the present instance it might be urged that the assumption of the government of Baden that the said Ganzenmüller does not intend “final emigration,” and that his presence is dangerous, is directly opposed by his own formal declaration, and by the testimony of the municipal council (Gemeinderath), that “through his residence in Sinsheim public safety or morality is not endangered.”
The undersigned, however, will confine himself to calling attention to article 2 of the separate treaty between the United States and Baden, which specifies the only circumstances under which a former citizen of the latter country is liable to punishment for non-performance of military duty. It is not claimed that any such liability has been incurred; but the sole ground of expulsion is based upon § 4 of the Baden law of sojourn (Aufenthaltsgesetz) of May 5, 1870. This action assumes that the fact of American citizenship is in itself a danger, and that all natives of Baden, of a certain age, who shall have become naturalized citizens of the United States, may be expelled at the pleasure of the local authorities, whenever they return to visit their former homes.
The undersigned is aware that, according to article 4 of the treaty of February 22, 1868, between the United States and the North German Union, the said Ganzenmüller’s return could be demanded, but this article has not been formally accepted by the government of Baden, the separate treaty with which, not specifying any limit of residence might equally be taken advantage of by the authorities to prohibit any residence whatever. A case has just occurred in the same town of Sinsheim which shows that such an abuse of the treaty is possible. It is herewith transmitted to his excellency the minister of foreign affairs, and the undersigned begs his excellency to notice that the order of expulsion was issued within a month of the naturalized citizen’s arrival, notwithstanding that the latter announced his intention of returning to the United States on the 1st of September.
In view of this circumstance, the undersigned is compelled most respectfully to express his inability to accept the opinion contained in the memorial received from the foreign office, that § 4 of the Baden law of May 5, 1870, is an “indispensable supplement of the treaty, if the latter is not to be used as a means of evading military duty.” On the contrary, such applications of § 4 of the Baden law as have been made by the authorities at Sinsheim seem to the undersigned to be in direct contravention of those reciprocal rights and privileges of the citizens of the two countries which the treaties of 1868 were intended to guard. The subject will therefore be submitted by this legation to the consideration of the Government of the United States.
The undersigned avails himself, &c.