Mr. Fogg to Mr. Seward.
Sir: In my despatch of August 29, I informed you of the negotiation by the federal council of a commercial treaty between Switzerland and France, in which is conceded to all French subjects, “without distinction of faith or worship,” the right to sojourn and transact all branches of lawful industry and commerce in every part of Switzerland, subject only to such regulations and restrictions as may be rightfully imposed upon all classes of Swiss citizens.
I further informed you that there would be held, on the 20th of September, a special session of the federal assembly, (a congress,) to consider and ratify, or to reject the treaty. Since then the session has been held, and has just adjourned, having ratified the treaty by a very large majority. There was strenuous opposition to the ratification by the representatives of several of the small Catholic cantons, among the people of which prevails a strong prejudice against the Jews, whom they regard as still tainted with all the sins of their fathers, who crucified the Saviour of the world.
There were also some liberals, “strict constructionists,” who opposed the ratification on constitutional grounds, they arguing that neither the federal council nor the federal assembly have the power to admit Jews to an equality of rights with Christians, in disregard of the laws of those cantons which deny them such equality. To effect this object it was contended that a change of the federal constitution was necessary. This position, however, was not sustained by the majority, which decided the treaty expedient, and not in contravention of the constitution.
[Page 402]In principle, therefore, the question so long mooted, and which occasioned so voluminous a correspondence between my predecessor, Mr. Fay, and the Swiss authorities, may be regarded as settled. The practical question may also, I trust, be regarded as settled, in accordance with the demands of enlightened Christian opinion in both Europe and America. The treaty just ratified secures, it is true, only the rights of French Jews; but it will be followed by treaties with other powers, and must, in the end, enfranchise the whole race, since the Swiss authorities having taken the first step in a movement so obviously just, and so imperatively demanded by the spirit of the age and their own position as the vanguard of liberty in Europe, they cannot recede, but must go forward.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States of America.