No. 58.
Mr. E. B. Washburne to Mr. Fish.
No. 251.]
Legation of the United
States, Paris, August 11, 1870. (Received August
23.)
Sir: I have the honor to send you herewith a
copy of a letter I addressed to the Duke de Gramont, together with the
translation of his reply. The correspondence explains itself.
Mr. E. B. Washburne to the Duke de Gramont.
Legation of the United
States, Paris,
July 30,
1870.
Sir: In view of the fact that I have been
charged with the protection of the subjects of the North German
Confederation, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Hesse-Grand-Ducale, residents
in France, certain of those subjects have called upon me and
expressed a wish to have some kind of a certificate from me, which
they think will be a protection. I can see no objection to my giving
them a proper certificate of this character, but before doing so I
beg to submit, for the approval of your excellency, a form that I
have prepared, and which I send herewith.
I take the present opportunity, &c., &c.
His Excellency the Duke de Gramont,
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
[Translation.]
The Duke de Gramont to Mr. E. B. Washburne.
Sir: You did me the honor to inform me, on
the 30th ultimo, that a considerable number of German subjects,
placed under the semi-official protection of the legation of the
United States at Paris, had expressed to you the desire of obtaining
from you a sort of certificate, to which they seemed to attach a
certain importance as regards their security. You deemed it proper
at the same time to forward a draught of this document to me, to be
submitted for the approval of my department.
I cannot understand, sir, the utility of such a certificate, the
possession of which, you will readily perceive, will add in no
respect to the security of the German subjects to whom it may be
granted, provided their conduct gives no cause for complaint, and
which would have no effect in protecting them against the
consequences to which they would be exposed by culpable actions.
With this reservation, I will add that, in case you should not judge
it desirable to refuse a certificate to those Germans who may claim
it, I have no objection to make to the form in which you propose to
draw it. I am, moreover, this moment in receipt of a notice from the
minister of the interior,
[Page 92]
that all Germans resident in France are required to provide
themselves, from competent French authorities, with a permission to
remain. This police regulation appears to me to render all the more
unnecessary the delivery of a certificate by the legation of the
United States.
Accept, sir, the assurances, &c., &c.
Mr. Washburne,
Minister of the United States.
