No. 947.
Mr. Lothrop to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
St.
Petersburg
,
February 10, 1888.
(Received February 28.)
No. 158.]
Sir: Mr. Isidore Albert, who claims to be a citizen
of the United States, has sent to me a petition to His Majesty the Emperor,
praying for pardon, which he asks me to present to the Emperor.
The facts of the case, so far as known to me, are disclosed in Mr. Albert’s
letter to me, a copy of which is inclosed herewith, and in my reply to him,
a copy of which is also inclosed (Nos. 1 and 2).
I should perhaps say that though I have no other information, the internal
evidence of his letter leads me to infer that Mr. Albert was not a native
citizen of the United States.
I also suspect that when he entered the Russian military service as a medical
officer he must have taken an oath of allegiance to the Emperor.
On the whole, I feel satisfied that I ought not to take any official action
in the matter without your instructions. I have felt it my duty on so many
occasions to remonstrate energetically against the action of the Russian
authorities against our citizens in respect to matters which, as we claim,
were outside their rightful jurisdiction, that I feel a delicacy in
interfering where their jurisdiction is unquestionable.
For this reason I beg to ask your instructions.
Of course, forfeiture of all civil rights and perpetual exile in Siberia for
the offense of accepting a bribe of nine rubles seems a most extraordinary
sentence. But this is so completely a matter of domestic concern and policy
as perhaps to make any remonstrance in that respect inadmissible. Besides,
it is not disclosed what was the act for which the paltry bribe was taken.
It is possible that it was so grave as to excuse if not justify the severity
of the penalty.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 158.]
Mr. Albert to Mr.
Lothrop.
Mariinsk
,
January 2,
1888,
Residence, Mariinsk,
government of Tomsk, Siberia.
Sir: My present unfortunate situation compelled
me to apply to the aid and protection of your excellency.
I am a citizen of the United States, a graduate as M. D. of the Boston
University. In the year of 1879, for some particular reason, I came to
the capital of Russia, St. Petersburg, passed examination at the
Imperial Medical Academy, got my degrees and a diploma as M. D., entered
in the service of the Russian Army as physician, where I served for a
term of six years. In the month of March, 1887, I was accused of
receiving a present (bribery) of 9 rubl., was apprehended, tried at the
military district court of Wilna, was found guilty of the aforesaid
offense, and sentenced to be deprived of all my civil rights and
privileges as physician and to be sent to Siberia to live here as an
outlaw forever! a punishment too severe even for such an offense as I
was accused of.
At present I am living at the town of Mariinsk, province of Tomsk,
amongst a semi-savage population; have no means to subsist with, as I
know no trade or profession but medicine. I would apply to the mercy of
His Majesty the Emperor to be pardoned, but to do it in the ordinary way
of sending to the committee is no use, because in that [Page 1402] way the Emperor will never see nor read
my petition. Therefore I apply to your goodness to procure me, if
possible, an opportunity that his Imperial Majesty shall read my
petition.
Then I can have some hope to be pardoned.
I am, etc.,
P. S.—I beg your excellency to return me my passport, if not as a
useful document at my present state but as a souvenir of my once
being a member of the greatest free nation of the world.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 158.]
Mr. Lothrop to Mr.
Albert.
Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg
,
January 29 (February 10),
1888.
Sir: Your letter (apparently of January 2) to
me was received to-day and has been carefully read and considered.
It appears by the passport No. 5736, granted to you by the Department of
State April 18, 1878, that you were a citizen of the United States; and
it further appears by your letter that in 1879 you came to Russia and
entered the Imperial Academy of Medicine, where you took a degree as a
physician; that you entered the Russian army as a physician, where you
served as such for six years; that in March, 1887, you were charged with
receiving a bribe of nine rubles, for which you were arrested and tried
before a military court of Wilna, found guilty, and sentenced to a
forfeiture of civil rights, etc., and to perpetual exile in Siberia, the
execution of which sentence you are now undergoing at Mariinsk, in the
government of Tomsk. You now ask me to present a petition to the Emperor
for your pardon.
It is by no means clear that you did not renounce your American
citizenship by entering the military service of Russia, but as I do not
know all the facts, I do not assume to pass on that point.
You are undoubtedly aware that when you entered Russia you became subject
to its laws so far as your conduct here was concerned, and when you
entered its military service you became subject to its military
jurisdiction.
Your American citizenship would not shield you from this operation of the
local laws. The only intervention that could be made in your behalf was
to see that you had a fair trial, and had you appealed to me when you
were arrested I should of course have inquired whether such a trial was
afforded you.
But you made no appeal to this legation, and I never heard of your case
until to-day. The case seems to have been regularly disposed of, and the
Government is now executing a regular judgment of one of its courts.
These are the facts as far as made known to me, and they do not disclose
any ground on which I can intervene officially without instructions from
the Secretary of State. I will therefore at once refer the matter to
him, sending a copy of your letter to me and also of this letter.
I return to you herewith your passport.
I sympathize with you, and would be very glad if I could properly aid
you.
I am, sir, etc.,
