Draft of a circular to be addressed by the legation to the consuls of France in the United States, October 31, 1862

Draft of a circular to be addressed by the legation to the consuls of France in the United States.

Sir: The system of conscription which has just been put in force in the United States being of a character to give rise to certain questions as to the nationality of foreigners by birth or by origin, it has seemed to me essential, for the sake of our countrymen residing in this country, and in order to prevent any conflict with the local authorities, to settle categorically who among the persons that may have recourse to your intervention should of right remain exempt from service in the American armies, and for this purpose it will suffice to settle summarily who they are, among those persons, that have, in the terms of our legislation, preserved intact the French nationality. In fact, there is no principle more clearly defined by the law of nations than that, according to which the unnaturalized foreigner owes no military service to the country in which he may temporarily have taken up his residence. The Federal government has less than any other disputed this principle; on the contrary, it has affirmed it on more than one occasion, as well in its declarations to, as in its relations with, other powers.

The following persons are Frenchmen, and from that fact should be exempted from military service in the United States:

1st. Frenchmen born in Francey, or naturalized Frenchman who have preserved their quality intact, whatever may have been the duration of their sojourn in this country.

2d. Frenchmen by birth or by the fact of naturalization who have made a first declaration of intention to become citizens of the United States, but who have never taken out letters of naturalization.

3d. The minor sons, born in France or in foreign countries, who are the issue of the above individuals.

4th. The minor sons, even those born in this country, of French parents who are naturalized Americans, if they were born before the naturalization of their father.

5th. The minor sons of unnaturalized Frenchmen who, born in this country, have done no act at the period of or since their majority which could be interpreted us a choice by them of American nationality, such as participating in the popular vote, forming part of the jury, or any other act for the performance of which the quality of a citizen is requisite.

6th. The preceding article applies equally to the major sons of naturalized Frenchmen, if they were born before the naturalization of their parents.

7th. Those major sons of Frenchmen naturalized as Americans who were born in the United States after the naturalization of their fathers, if they prove that they have recovered French nationality by complying with the formalities which are requisite to this effect.

8th. The major sons of foreigners who were born in France, if they prove that they have claimed the quality of a Frenchman and have conformed to the requirements of the law within the year that followed their majority.

9th. The preceding article applies equally to the children of a foreigner naturalized as a Frenchman, although they were born in a foreign country, if they were minors at the time of the naturalization of their parents.

10 th. The children born in France or in a foreign country of a foreigner naturalized as a Frenchman, who were majors at the period of that naturalization, if, taking advantage of the benefits of the law, they have claimed and obtained the quality of a Frenchman within the year which followed that of said naturalization.

Consequently, all Frenchmen included in the above-mentioned classes who shall be prepared to furnish the proofs thereof, and who shall declare under oath that they have performed no act of a character to make them lose their nationality derived from origin, shall retain all their rights to the protection of the Emperor’s agents, and I therefore request you to issue to them without delay a certificate in conformity to the model hereto annexed.

The presentation of this certificate should suffice to suspend the action of the American authorities who are charged with the recruitment, so far as it may have begun to be exercised against any of these Frenchmen; and in case those authorities should deem it their duty to take no notice thereof, I request you to inform me of the fact immediately, in order that I may prepare to report the same directly to the government of the United States.

Finally, circumstances might be presented in which the scrupulousness of the French agent would have been surprised by the presentation of incorrect documents or by the taking of a false oath; I need scarcely tell you that you should receive on the spot, as I would myself receive them at Washington, in a spirit of impartial equity, the proofs which in this regard might be offered to us by the American authorities.

There is one point to which I wish to call your attention. The peculiar constitutions of certain States admit to the right of voting foreign residents who have only made a first declaration with a view of becoming American citizens; now it has been asked what, in presence of the law of conscription, would be exactly the position of foreigners who have profited by this favor? The answer to this cannot be doubtful. If it was the intention of the legislators of a State to extend even to the privilege of taking part in the elections the civil rights, or rather the rights of citizenship, granted in various countries to the domiciliated foreigner, in considerationof a first step with a view to obtaining naturalization, or from the simple fact of residence, we could only see in such a provision an act of internal police, and could not in any case allow it to be assimilated in its effects to one which consists in obtaining letters of naturalization, and in becoming de facto and de jure a citizen of the United States.

The federal government, to which the Constitution has expressly reserved, the right of granting naturalization, has never considered foreigners who have made the first declaration as citizens, whether they took part or not in the elections in virtue of the peculiar constitution of a state; it has from the earliest period kept up the rule of refusing them passports.

Abandoned by us, Frenchmen placed in the position indicated above would, consequently, be not only without protection, but without nationality. I do not think that we ought to consent to this; and since the government of the United States does not consider them as American citizens from the fact of their voting, we ought to continue to consider them as Frenchmen, by assimilating in some sort the part which they may have taken in the elections under such circumstances to the services which they might have been called to render in certain cases in the ranks of a city guard—services which would not have entailed on them the loss of their nationality derived from origin. I therefore, sir, request you to issue certificates to such of our countrymen as may be found in the last condition of which I have spoken to you.

Accept, &c.