Foreigners and Consuls.
--
Judge W. G. Jones, of the
Confederate Court for
Alabama, has lately given at
Mobile a judgment and opinion on the liability of alien residents to the conscription.
As to foreigners and Consuls, he says:
‘
The petitioner, McKinn, produces a
certificate, dated at
Mobile, 26th May, 1863, signed by her Britannic Majesty's acting Consul at
Mobile, and under the Consular seal, to the effect, that the
acting Consul "has
good reason to believe, after careful examination, that the bearer,
Peter McKinn a native of
Monaghan county,
Ireland, is a subject of her Britannic Majesty, who has never forfeited his claim to the protection of the
Queen by becoming a subject or a citizen of any foreign State or country whatsoever."
It is not for any Court to determine whether foreign Consuls are properly here or not. It is exclusively for the
President to recognize foreign Ministers and Consuls, and when he recognizes a person as properly exercising the functions of a foreign Consul the
Courts are bound to recognize him as such.
Nor is it necessary, in these cases, to inquire into the powers and duties of Consuls.
These powers are generally prescribed by laws and treaties I know of no law or treaty which authorizes a foreign Consul to exempt any person domiciled in this country from obedience to our laws.
The Consul's certificate, in this case, does not pretend to do any such thing.
It merely states the
belief of the
Consul that the party named in it is a British subject, and as such entitled to the protection of the
Queen.
It is notice to any person to whom it is shown that the
Consul considers him a British subject, and nothing more.
If the person having such a certificate is really and in fact liable, by law, to conscription, the certificate, would not of itself exempt him. But it seems to me that an enrolling officer ought to respect such a certificate so far as not to enroll the person having it without first making inquiries, and obtaining such information as satisfies him that the party is really a permanent resident of this country and liable to conscription.
The Mobile
Tribune says the decision of
Judge Jones in the
Confederate States Court, respecting the liability of aliens, is regarded as one of the most important decisions that have yet been given, and will have a wonderful effect in bringing about a change in matters generally.
For there is any quantity of these people, who have resided in this city, married here, and have been doing business for years, and since the war have sworn that they never intended to become citizens, and were granted exemptions on this oath — men who are now engaged in every branch of speculation, and doing more to depreciate our currency than any other class in the community.
We are told that there are hundreds in the interior who travel from towns to farms, buying up all the produce that they can get hold of and shipping it to the cities on speculation, which is partly the excuse for the exorbitant prices we have been paying all winter.
Now that the
Judge has declared them liable to conscription, the country will probably be rid of them, so far as their "business" qualifications are concerned at least.
’
