Saville Lumley to The Lord Stanley , M. P, September 6, 1868

[Untitled]

My Lord: In your dispatch, marked circular, of the 11th ultimo, I am instructed to furnish your lordship with a report, for the information of the naturalization commission, on the state of the Swiss law with regard to the nationality of children born of alien parents in Switzerland.

Finding it difficult, without the assistance of the federal government, to draw up a report on this subject, the laws concerning which appear to vary in different cantons, I addressed a note to the president requesting him to obtain for me, from the various cantonal governments, replies to the following questions, which I thought calculated to procure the information required by the naturalization commission:

• What is considered to constitute a Swiss citizen according to the laws of the various cantons?
• In what manner, if in any, can such citizenship be forfeited?
• Are the children of alien parents born in the canton regarded by the law as Swiss citizens?
  • De facto by the mere incident of their birth on Swiss territory?
  • If not, how long must the parents have resided in Switzerland previous to the birth of the children, or what additional circumstance, beyond the fact of their birth on Swiss territory, are required to constitute the children of Swiss citizens?
  • Are the children expected to elect Swiss citizenship by some formal act on their coming of age? and what is held to constitute a presumptive election of Swiss citizenship on their part?

In reply I have received a communication from the president, copy of which I have the honor herewith to inclose, together with the printed work therein referred to, drawn up by the federal chancery on the cantonal regulations for acquiring the right of citizenship.

I have, &c.,