Mr. Pioda to Mr. Hay.

[Translation.]

Mr. Secretary of State: Referring to the note which your excellency was pleased to address to me on the 19th ultimo, relative to the [Page 505] request presented by Dr. A. Cérésole and Mr. A. du Souchet, Swiss citizens, to Mr. Long, agent and consul-general of the United States at Cairo, to have their names enrolled at the office of the said consulate-general, with a view to enjoying its protection, if necessary, I hasten herewith to communicate to you the reply which I have just received from my Government on this subject.

The circular of the Federal Council of July 8, 1871, a copy of which your excellency will find herewith, states the point of view of my Government on the subject of the protection of Swiss citizens in countries where Switzerland has no diplomatic or consular representatives. It appears from this circular that in 1871 my Government and the Government of the United States of America agreed that the latter should instruct its representatives in foreign countries to take under their protection any Swiss citizen who desired it, without the necessity of a previous understanding between the two Governments in each particular case.

Mr. Fish addressed a circular, under date of June 16, 1871, to the representatives of the United States in foreign countries (see Foreign Relations of the United States for 1871, p. 28) authorizing them to extend their protection to Swiss citizens with the consent of the authorities of the country in which they resided.

The contents of the aforesaid note of your excellency have given rise to a doubt in the mind of my Government whether the instructions given by Mr. Fish have since then been modified. I should therefore be grateful to your excellency if you would inform me on this point.

My Government apprises me, moreover, that it will not hesitate to support the request of the aforesaid gentlemen on condition that they themselves lay their request before the Federal Council. Messrs. Cérésole and du Souchet must also be informed that the representatives of the United States are not authorized by their Government, according to the view set forth by the Department of State, to assert the claims of foreigners officially, and that they must confine themselves to lending, when necessary, their personal and unofficial good offices.

In having the honor to bring the foregoing to your excellency’s notice, and awaiting such further communications as you may be pleased to make to me on this subject, I avail, etc.,

J. B. Pioda,
Minister of Switzerland.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]

Circular.

[The Swiss Federal Council to the diplomatic and consular officers of the Confederation.]

Sir: Petitions have several times been presented to us by Swiss citizens or commercial firms established in countries where Switzerland has neither diplomatic officers nor consuls, asking for our intervention with this or that foreign power with a view to securing its consular protection for them.

In one case of this kind, the legation of Germany at Berne remarked that it would be much easier and more expeditious to avoid, by a general measure, the correspondence that has hitherto been necessary in each particular case, and suggested that this matter should be settled once for all. It declared, furthermore, that the Imperial Government was prepared to issue general instructions to its diplomatic [Page 506] and consular officers to grant, in places where there were no official representatives of the Confederation, their protection to such Swiss citizens as should make application therefor.

We accepted this offer of the German Government, declaring, however, that we did not desire thereby to compel Swiss citizens in foreign countries to place themselves under the consular protection of Germany, or even specially to recommend them to apply for such protection.

Similar negotiations having been held between the president of the Confederation and the United States legation at Berne, the American Government issued to its diplomatic and consular agents general instructions identical with those issued by the Imperial German Government.

In informing you of these arrangements, we would remark that it is understood that none but those localities are concerned in which there are no official representatives of the Confederation, and that a Swiss citizen can in nowise be permitted to renounce the protection of the consul of his country in order to have recourse to that of a foreign consul, nor can the latter be permitted to grant him his protection before it has been asked for.

In conclusion, we repeat: Although a general measure of this kind has been accepted by us, it has only been with a view to avoiding a long correspondence in each particular case, and in order to guarantee efficient protection to Swiss citizens when it is impossible for the Confederation to furnish such protection to them directly, through its own agents.

We avail, etc.,

In the name of the Swiss Federal Council:
The President of the Confederation:
Schenk.

The Chancellor of the Confederation:
Schiess.