Mr. Fish to Mr. Washburne
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch of the 8th instant, No. 413, inclosing the statement of the case of Mr. Albert C. Fougen, who claims to be a citizen of the United States, in regard to the appropriation and destruction of his property in France by the Prussian forces.
In reply I have to inform you that the Court of Claims, adopting the language of my predecessor, Mr. Seward, has decided it to be the law and usage of nations that one who takes up a residence in a foreign place, and there suffers an injury to his property, by reason of belligerent acts committed against that place by another foreign nation, must abide the chances of the country in which he chooses to reside, and his only chance, [Page 336] if any, is against the government of that country, in which his own sovereign will not interest himself. Such has been the doctrine and practice of the United States and of the great powers of Europe, and this Government, therefore, cannot intervene in behalf of Mr. Fougen, or of any citizen of the United States, under the same circumstances.
I am, &c.,