Julius White to To all royal courts of appeal, to all royal supreme courts, and to the state attorneys-general in Kiel, Cassel, Wiesbaden, and Frankfort-on-the-Main, September 1, 1880

No. 282. Mr. White to Mr. Evarts.

Sir: I have the honor to state that a note has been received from the foreign office of the German Empire, of which a copy and translation are inclosed, announcing in substance that the military fine of John Schehr has been confirmed on the ground that the treaty of 1868 does not extend to Alsace-Lorraine.

The decision will doubtless surprise you; the circumstances under which it has been rendered are as follows:

On February 27, 1879, application was made to the foreign office in behalf of Michael Pacquet, for the remission of a military fine. No answer having been received from the foreign office, attention was again called to the case on June 3 and November 26, 1879, with the same result.

On March 10 of the same year, the cases of the brothers Franz and Theobald Hess, who were subjected to fines, were presented, and on March 31 the foreign office replied that the cases should be investigated; but nothing having been heard regarding the matter, attention was again called to it on October 3, 1879.

On November 21, 1879, the case of Joseph Lauber, who was fined and ordered to leave, was presented, and on the 27th of that month the foreign office replied that an investigation had been ordered. Similar replies had been received from the foreign office in the case of Alphonse Sester, of February 9 last, of Alois Fischer, February 12 last, and of J. P. Q. Schaug, of March 20 last.

While cases apparently similar, arising in various other parts of the empire, were dealt with by the foreign office in the usual time, there was in the cases above mentioned, all of which occurred in Alsace-Lorraine, great delay. I naturally attributed it to the condition of those provinces, different as it is from that in the older parts of the empire; but from time to time made efforts to secure a decision, Mr. Everett having already endeavored in vain to do so. Soon after my arrival I called the attention of the foreign office to the matter, and followed this up by suggestions and requests to the same purpose in my conversations with Mr. von Billow on other subjects.

At a still later time I called upon Mr. von Philipsborn and urged upon him the necessity of a decision at the earliest moment possible, alluding to the fact that my general dispatch and report on all the cases of the year had been long delayed, waiting for a decision on these very cases; and on leaving him I placed in his hands a memorandum of them. On one other occasion also, calling on business, I alluded to these decisions so long delayed, and received assurances that everything possible should be done, and I again waited.

In addition to the difficulties in Alsace-Lorraine, I felt bound to make allowances for another cause of delay, naMély, the many changes which have taken place in the foreign office since my arrival. As you are aware, after the death of Mr. von Bülow, the duties of the ministry were sometimes discharged by Mr. von Philipsborn and sometimes by Mr. von Radowitz; but they were finally transferred to Prince von Hoheniohe-Schillingsfürst, who, though ambassador at Paris, is now also minister of foreign affairs ad interim. On the 13th of October last, I wrote to Mr. von Philipsborn on the subject, and finally called upon him, making a statement of the matter and leaving a memorandum.

These cases having become so numerous, and the time since the earlier ones so long, naMély, nearly eighteen months, and the usual notes and interviews proving to be entirely ineffectual, it seemed absolutely necessary to do something which would bring an answer; and I therefore, in my above-mentioned note of October 13 last, asked for distinct information as to whether the principles laid down in certain circulars in execution of the treaty of February 22, 1868, with the North German Confederation, addressed by the Prussian minister of justice and of the interior, on the 5th of July, 1868, to certain Prussian courts and officials for their guidance, were to be observed in Alsace-Lorraine, which request was calculated to elicit a declaration from the Imperial German Government as to whether the treaty in question applied to that territory.

Difficult as it was to believe that an interpretation on which all the business in regard to such cases up to February, 1879, had been conducted was to be abandoned, especially in view of the clear statements that had been made in the matter by the immediate predecessors of the present minister, it was very evident that some change of policy had been determined upon; and it seemed dangerous longer to remain in the dark regarding it.

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Considering the development of the matter thus far, and the importance of warding off great hardships from those who by this new decision have been or may be brought into great difficulty or even distress, I have not felt warranted in delaying a note to the foreign office until receiving more definite instructions from the Department. A copy of this note is inclosed.

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I have, &c.,