! ARTICLE VII. The present convention shall be ratified by her Britannic Majesty and by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London as soon as may be, within twelve months from the date hereof. In witness whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto their respective seals. Done at London the day of in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty FRANCE. No. 157.] Mr. Dix to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: The Paris journals are full of speculations in regard to the Roman question-indeed, they have been from the commencement of Garibaldi's movement. Some of these speculations, like the inclosed, translated from the "Liberté," are of the wildest character. I have not thought it advisable to take any other notice of it than to say to one or two persons who spoke to me on the subject, that, so far as the article referred to me, it was entirely destitute of truth. The policy of the United States in abstaining from all interference with the domestic concerns of other independent states is so well known abroad as to make it very unlikely that the statement in the "Epoque" will obtain any credence in intelligent quarters. I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN A. DIX. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. [Translation from the "Liberté," November 22, 1867.] The "Epoque" informs us that General Dix, minister of the United States at Paris, has received from his government an order to protest against the exclusion of the American Republic from the conference upon the Roman affairs. In the opinion of the Washington cabinet the Roman question is not simply European, but universal. Mr. de Moustier, the "Epoque" tells us, has received favorably this step of the American diplomat. This is a piece of news which may well be true, provided that the first fact upon which our brother editor bases his statements is in any degree authentic. Mr. Dix to Mr. Seward. No. 158.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I shall forward, by the dispatch bag of Friday next, the annual account of the condition of the empire, "exposé de la situation de l'empire," presented to the legislative chambers at the pending session. At page 245 you will find the following pleasant allusion to the United States, which I translate literally from the original : "Our relations with the United States have resumed their habitual character of cordiality. Faithful to the recollections of our history, we follow with a sincere sympathy the efforts pursued by the great American federation to complete the work of its reconstruction and efface the vestiges of its past discord. The prosperity of the United States is closely linked to that of the world, and in the desire we cherish for its development our interests are in accord with the traditions of our ancient friendship." I need not add that the document containing the foregoing paragraph is the account rendered by the government of the transactions of the preceding year, and the condition of the country. It differs little, except in form, from the annual message of the President of the United States. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN A. DIX. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Dix to Mr. Seward. No. 160.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I send by the dispatch bag to-day the document from which I made an extract in my dispatch No. 158, (26th instant,) and a document from the foreign office containing diplomatic papers. In the former you will find, at page 256, a paragraph, of which the following is a translation: "The time is not yet opportune to undertake a commercial negotiation with the cabinet of Washington; nevertheless, the progress which the doctrines of political economy now prevailing in Europe appear to have made within a few months in the federal administration gives ground for hope that our exchanges with the United States will not fail ere long to be placed on the footing of a conventional arrangement favorable to their development. In any event, we shall at a still earlier period obtain, without doubt, for the products of our vines, in regard to which the existing mode of assessing duties has of late been so prejudicial, the modification of the tariff, which we have claimed since last year." I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN A. DIX. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Dix to Mr. Seward. No. 173.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Noticing that the President in his annual message calls the attention of Congress to the claims of foreign states for military service from their subjects naturalized in the United States, I have thought it right to advise you of the present state of the question, which has for a great many years been a subject of discussion between the imperial government and our diplomatic representatives here: the liability of Frenchmen naturalized under the laws of the United States to be called to account for failing to appear and perform military service under the conscription laws of France. I found that repeated and very elaborate arguments had been made by our ministers; and, as the subject appeared to me to have been exhausted, and as I am always unwilling to write dispatches except when absolutely necessary, I have forborne to enter into any correspondence with the imperial government on general grounds, but have confined my communications to an explanation of the circumstances under which two or three cases of arrest have occurred during the past year, pressing such explanation on the government with a view to the release of the persons detained. Through these communications, both written and verbal, I have obtained from the imperial government two admissions, viz: 1st. That no native of France, duly naturalized under the laws of the United States, will be held to perform military duty in the French army. 2d. That no such naturalized person, who has been conscripted under the laws of France and is in delinquency for failing to appear and perform military duty, will be held to any accountability for such delinquency after the lapse of three years from the time when he has lost "the quality of a Frenchman," as the laws of France express it; or, as I interpret it, after his naturalization in the United States. No further concession appears likely at present to be made. The imperial government has, no doubt, been a good deal annoyed by the disappearance of young men just before reaching the age at which they were liable to be conscripted, and sometimes immediately after being drawn for military service, and their reappearance after a few years, with naturalization papers and United States passports, for the purpose of resuming their residence in France. There have been sev eral cases in which the persons arrested have been a number of years in the United States without becoming naturalized, and taking out their papers immediately before returning to France for purposes of business or pleasure. The annoyance created by cases like these, in the neighborhoods in which the parties have reappeared, has no doubt led the imperial government to require the lapse of three years after naturalization before returning to France, as evidence of the good faith of such persons in abjuring their native allegiance, and removing the presumption of having left their country for the sole purpose of evading the burden of military service, which they were bound by its laws to bear in common with all their fellow citizens of the same class. The imperial government has, I believe, in every instance released from arrest, after judicial examination, Frenchmen naturalized in the United States, where there was not some ground for presuming bad faith in withdrawing themselves from the jurisdiction of France. I have had one case, in which a young man who left France in 1855 was conscripted in 1859, and remained in the United States till 1866 before he was naturalized. He came to France in the latter year, and soon after his naturalization. The court sentenced him to six months' imprisonment on the ground that he had been from 1859 to 1866, seven years, in a state of disobedience ("insoumission") to the laws of his country, to the government of which, during the whole period, he owed allegiance. I did all I could, by official correspondence and by personal interviews with the minister of foreign affairs and the minister of war, to obtain his release; but the government was inexorable, and he was only released on the full execution of his sentence. It was regarded as a special case, in which a remission of the penalty would have encouraged an evasion of the laws exacting military service. I could, I have no doubt, have obtained his pardon from the Emperor, but I would not ask it, for I had claimed his release on the ground of right, and I would not. compromit my position by soliciting it as a favor. It is proper to add that in all cases when a Frenchman has been conscripted and stands on record as having failed to comply with the requirement of military service, a judicial inquiry takes place. His passport does not exempt him from arrest and detention; but the government always allows him to go at large on engaging to appear at the time and place appointed for the examination. The first examination is by a civil tribunal. If he is found to be a citizen of the United States, he is exempted from military service. He is then brought before a council of war, which decides whether he has been delinquent; and if so, whether his delinquency is removed by prescription. In my brief correspondence with the imperial government I claimed that the quality of a Frenchman was lost, under the Code Napoleon, at the moment of emigration, provided the emigration was without the intention of returning to France, or, in the language of the code," Sans esprit de retour." The course taken by the imperial tribunals and authorities practically refers the evidence of intention to the act of naturalization in a foreign country. I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN A. DIX. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Dix to Mr. Seward. No. 175.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: The Emperor received the diplomatic corps according to custom, to-day; after a very brief address by the Pope's nuncio in behalf of himself and his associates, and an equally brief reply by his Imperial Majesty, the latter passed down the line, saluting each member of the corps with some words appropriate to the day, and now and then making a special remark to some one of them. To me he said: "The President of the United States in his late message to Congress made a very pleasant reference to France, and I am very sensible of his kindness." I am, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. JOHN A. DIX. Mr. Dix to Mr. Seward. No. 194.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to inclose a document which the chargé d'affaires from Japan left with me the day before yesterday, with a translation in French. His call, which was quite formal, was made in pursuance of a request that I would appoint a day to receive him. The conversation between us was carried on in Japanese on his part, and in French on mine; his interpreter, who does not speak English, explaining to each |