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Letters about 19th Century

19,594 letters
Letter

[Denmark.], undated

To Rainals asserted that he had never taken any oath such as is here inserted; that the copy of the entry given to him did not include the part between brackets; and that in order to take an oath he must have held up three fingers, which he distinctly recollected he had not done. He further showed that he had resigned his “borgerbrev” in 1859. Sir A. Paget then requested the Danish government to explain whether they considered the mere fact of obtaining a “borgerbrev” constituted a person a Danish subject. The foreign secretary replied (May 28, 1863): “Quant à la question positive à savoir si un sujet Britannique en prêtant le serment de bourgeois devient sujet Danois, il est de fait qu’en prêtant le serment il se fixe dans ce pays, et en se fixant et en prenant domicile en Danemark il devient sujet Danois et entre dans tons les droits et tons les devoirs civils et sociaux d’un sujet Danois. Pour ce qui regarde les droits et les devoirs politiques, ceux-ci n’ appartiennent qua’à ceux qui sont en possession de l’indigé-nat qui, s’il n’est pas acquis par le fait même de la naissance dans ce pay, ne peut être obtenu qu’en vertu d’une loi. Quant au côté négatif, à savoir, si un sujet Britannique en acquérant les droits et en se soumettant aux devoirs d’un sujet Danois perd sa qualité de sujet Britannique, c’est là une question dont la solution paraît dépendre le plus spécialment de la législation Britannique. Pour ce qui est de notre législation relativement à ce point, celle-ci ne s’oppose pas à ce que la coexistance de deux natioualités puisse être admise dans la personne du même individu; seulement, dans le principe, sa qualité de sujet étranger ne doit porter ancune atteinte à l’accomplissement des devoirs qui lui incombent comme sujet Danois.” With regard to his having been born in Denmark, Mr. Rainals cited an opinion given by the attorney-general of Denmark on a recent occasion when a bill respecting the naturalization of certain foreigners had been discussed in the chambers. A decree of January 15, 1776, provided that children of foreigners, born in Denmark, can claim the rights of Danish citizenship after a permanent residence in that country up to their eighteenth year. The attorney-general gave it as his opinion, though other lawyers differed on the subject, that by the terms of this decree the children of aliens born in Denmark were capable of being admitted to the rights of natural-born Danish subjects; and Mr. Rainals accordingly argued that this was conclusive proof that they were not considered to be natural-born subjects. Moreover, one of the persons for whose naturalization the act under discussion made provision was stated to have been born in Denmark. Sir Augustus Paget To Sir A. Paget, No. 141; August 26, 1863. now referred the question for the consideration of Lord Russell ; and, after further information on the points of law raised in it had been procured from Copenhagen, Lord Russell , under the advice of the Queen’s advocate, instructed him that “it is not denied that Mr. Rainals was born in Denmark, and the opinion of the Danish lawyers so far coincides with that expressed by M. Hall that the renunciation by Mr. Rainals of his rights as a citizen of Elsinore does not relieve him from the obligations of allegiance to the Crown of Denmark. “It is admitted that he obtained the ‘borgerbrev,’ and he must, under these circumstances, be deemed to have taken the usual preliminary oath. “I infer also that lie obtained this ‘borgerbrev’ on the footing of a Danish subject, and without the delay of five years, which would have been necessary for a foreigner. It appears that, though by returning the ‘borgerbrev,’ he is replaced in his former position, he nevertheless remains subject to whatever obligations attach to a person born in Denmark and subsequently resident there.”
January 1, 1873

[Denmark.] [undated.] The case of Mr. Rainals, British vice-consul at Copenhagen, which led to a long correspondence in 1863, illustrates the operation of the Danish laws with regard to the…

19th CenturyDiplomacyReconstruction
Letter

[Spain.], undated

January 1, 1873

[Spain.] [undated.] Her Majesty’s Consul at Cadiz having requested instructions in 1841 as-to the claims of the sons of British subjects born in Spain to exemption from the conscription, he…

19th CenturyDiplomacyReconstruction