[Germany–Frankfort.]

8 Sir Alexander Malet having requested to be informed, in June, 1863, whether a naturalized British subject is entitled to claim, in the land of his birth, British protection against any penalties which he may have incurred by the act of withdrawing himself from his native land, Lord Russell9 replied, “That a foreigner who has become a naturalized British subject cannot claim British protection against the operation of the law of his native country, so as to exempt himself from any penalties which the law of his native country may inflict upon him when he returns to it.”

10 In April, 1864, a Mr. Grimm applied to Sir A. Malet for protection as a British subject on the ground that he had received a “denization”11 act issued by a judge of the supreme court of New South Wales in 1856, though he had been domiciled in Germany since 1859.12

13 Mr. Grimm had been convicted of an assault on a railway guard in the grand duchy [Page 1338] of Hesse, and he requested Sir A. Malet to get the sentence of imprisonment passed on him reversed.

1 Sir A. Malet was instructed that if the country of Mr. Grimm’s birth was the same as the one whose court had tried and condemned him, Her Majesty’s minister ought not to interfere on his behalf, on the ground of the alleged act of denization; but if Mr. Grimm had been tried in the court of a third country, i. e., not the country of his original allegiance, then Sir A. Malet should use his good offices in whatever manner might be expedient and discreet.

It turned out that Mr. Grimm was a Prussian by birth, and Sir A. Malet accordingly entered into an official communication with the authorities, and Mr. Grimm’s sentence appears to have been eventually commuted for a fine on his petitioning the Grand Duke.

  1. Sir A. Malet, No. 81; June 2, 1863.
  2. To Mr. Corbett, No. 2; June 19, 1863.
  3. Sir A. Malet, No. 129; April 30, 1864.
  4. Sir A. Malet, No. 136; May 13, 1864.
  5. Sir A. Malet, No. 139; May 24, 1864.
  6. Sir A, Malet, No. 140; May 28, 1864.
  7. To Sir A. Malet, No. 36; May 9. 1864.