George Harrington to William H. Seward, July 31, 1868

Mr. Harrington to Mr. Seward.

Sir: On Friday, the 8th of May, I was informed of the arrest and imprisonment of one Charles Berry, a native of Basle, but asserted to be a naturalized citizen of the United States, under circumstances which, if true as asserted, appeared to demand my prompt intervention. It was the attorney of Mrs. Berry, then at Stuttgart, that made application to me at the suggestion of United States consul Klaupreeht, whose card he presented as an introduction.

Although he had with him no direct evidence of Mr. Berry’s naturalization as a citizen of the United States, such papers, he said, being in the possession of Mr. Berry when arrested, he submitted to me two commissions as second and first lieutenant in the New York volunteers, running in the name of Mr. Berry, with other papers in support of his assertions sufficient to justify preliminary action.

I directed him, therefore, to proceed at once to Basle, and confer with Mr. Consul Wolff, to whom I gave instructions to investigate the case, and ascertain if Mr. Berry was a naturalized citizen of the United States, and to report to me at the earliest moment practicable.

The report of Mr. Wolff reached me on Monday morning, the 11th, accompanied by an intimation that it was the probable intention of the Basle authorities to consign Mr. Berry to prison at hard labor.

I immediately addressed the high federal council, submitted to them the alleged facts, and requested it upon investigation they were substantiated, the prompt release of Mr. Berry, with an intimation that some indemnity would be demanded.

The high federal council evidently at once took action in the premises. Mr. Berry was released on Wednesday, the 13th, at 3 p. m., and the report of the Basle authorities in relation thereto was transmitted by the federal council to this legation under date of the 15th.

The Basle authorities, it will be seen, ignored the features of the case as submitted by me, and their report appeared to be in other respects of so unsatisfactory and deceptive a character as to induce me to institute an investigation, the result of which I embodied in my rejoinder of this day’s date.

These three communications, that is to say, my first dispatch to the federal council of the 11th May, their reply of the 15th, and my rejoinder of this date, embrace all the correspondence between this legation and the federal council in relation to this case, and with the report of Mr. Consul Wolff, and certain other papers, copies of all which are transmitted, will place you in possession of the full merits of the case.

I have learned unofficially from Mr. Wolff, and from other sources, that the parties to this arrest are in a state of alarm lest their proceedings should result in a claim for damages, of all other the most dreaded by the Swiss, and that the authorities of Basle, under the influence of doubt as to the effect of their acts and with a view of appeasing Mr. Berry, have promptly recognized him as an American citizen, have removed his trustee, and directed his fortune to be restored to him. In fact I have delayed my reply beyond the period required for my investigations, in order not to interrupt the favorable progress of the measures instituted, by Mr. Berry for the recovery of his rights.

When Mr. Berry was induced to emigrate to the United States to enlist in its army, however repugnant the idea may be, there is little doubt that it was the hope and expectation of his trustee that he would there find a grave, and thus his fortune actually in hand, as well as the larger amount that will eventually come to him from his mother’s estate, would thereby be saved to the other members of his family.

Mr. Berry disappointed his trustee. He not only lived, but lived down the slanders against him; he, however, seems to have committed in the mind of his trustee and family, an unpardonable offense by marrying, after placing himself under the protection of the United States, thus opening a door for the escape of his fortune even after his death.

It was unquestionably the purpose of his trustee to have had Mr. Berry consigned to a prison at hard labor, in the hope that the act would not have reached the ear of any effective friend; that his wife should be repudiated, and to attach to him permanently the disabilities of the criminal.

It will be observed that tile high federal council formerly announced that the naturalization of a Swiss in any other country does not co ipso change his Swiss character. I have briefly alluded to this, disclaiming however, as will be seen, any intention at this time to discuss the question.

It is proper to observe that naturalization as a federal question is subordinate to cantonal legislation.

It is now, however, beginning to occupy public attention, and will doubtless be brought before the National Assembly at its session of December. In the mean time it is my purpose to make it the subject of a special dispatch as soon as I can obtain the necessary detailed information as to the respective cantonal laws bearing upon the subject.

With greatest respect, your obedient servant,