only from the day of its promulgation, while the order requires that acts should have been done the necessity of which was unforeseen, especially in this country.

The required oath is contrary not only to the rights, duty, and dignity of foreigners, who are all free born, but also to the dignity of the Government of the United States, and even to the spirit of the order itself.

First. Because it virtually forces a certain class of foreigners in order to save their property, to swear "true faith and allegiance" to the United States, and thereby to "renounce and abjure" that true faith and allegiance which they owe to their own country only, while naturalization is and can be but an act of free will; and because it is disgraceful for any free man to do through motives of material interest those moral acts which are repugnant to his conscience.

If the order merely required the English oath of allegiance, it might be argued, according to the definition given by Blackstone (1, p.370), that said oath signifies only the submission of foreigners to the police laws of the country in which they reside, but the oath as worded in the order is a virtual act of naturalization. A citizen of the United States might take the oath, although Article VI of the Federal Constitution and the act of Congress of June 1, 1789, do not require as much. But no consideration can compel a forefinger to take such an oath.

Second. Because, if according to the order the "highest title known was really that of an America reason why it should be sought after and not imposed upon the unwilling, whether openly or implicitly.

Third. Because, while the order advocates the "neutrality imposed upon foreigners by their sovereigns," it virtually tends to violent that neutrality,not by forcing them openly to take up arms and bravely shed their blood in defense even of a cause that is not their own, but by enjoining upon them, if they wish to redeem their property, to descend to the level of spies and enunciators for the benefit of the United States.

The undersigned will close by remarking that their countrymen since the beginning of the war have been neutral. As such they cannot be considered and treated as a conquered population. The conquered maybe submitted to exceptional laws, but neutral foreigners have a right to be treated as they have always been by the Government of the United States.

We have the honor to be, general, your most obedient servants,

JUAN CALLEJON,

Consul de Espana.

CTE. MEJAN,

Frech Consul.

JOS. DEYNOODT,

Consul of Belgium.

N. M. BENACHI,

Greek Consul.

JOSEPH LANATA,

Consul of Italy.

B. TERYAGHI,

Vice-Consul.

AL. PIAGET,

Swiss Consul.