A man, by the name of Penner, a colporteur of bibles, had had fines imposed upon him to a large amount, and his scanty effects had been seized. I caused his case to be brought to the notice of the king, through his private secretary, and the gazettes now announce that Penner has been fully pardoned by his majesty, and his property restored to him by a royal order.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your obedient

servant,

The Hon. WILLIAM L. MARCY,

Secretary of State.

D. D. BARNARD.

Mr. Barnard to Baron Meysenbug.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Berlin, March 26, 1853.

MONSIEUR LE BARON: I should feel very deep regret if anything which I felt called upon to say in my recent letter to your excellency in vindication of my countrymen, Messrs. Dana, Dingle, and Ramsay, and in the way of criticism on the proceedings of the authorities and government of your country in reference to them, should be thought in the slightest degree discourteous to your excellency, or wanting in manner in proper regard for the favor you had done this legation in consenting to be the medium of communication with your government. On these points I hope it may be enough to assure your excellency, personally, of my most unaffected and constant respect and esteem.

My letter was intended for your government. It was addressed to your excellency, as the original complaint had been, and because it had been confided to you by your government to draw up and address to me the formal response to the reclamation made upon it from this legation. My letter was designed to restate and insist on the complaint as originally presented; to express my dissatisfaction, and the dissatisfaction which I knew my government would feel, with the conclusion which the government of Baden had reached on the subject, and to set forth the grounds of that dissatisfaction. With my undoubting convictions of the wrongs done to my countrymen, I should have failed in my duty to them, and to my country, if I had said one word less in demonstration of the injurious treatment they had received, and in illustration of the unsatisfactory proceedings adopted in regard to their complaint.

But while I have felt it my duty to complain in strong terms, and in no equivocal language, of a particular transaction, it ought not to be inferred that there was any disposition to depreciate the princely virtues of his royal highness the reigning grand duke of Baden, or the proper claim which his government and people may have on the respect of the world. No such disposition existed on my part, and none such could exist, or would be countenanced, on the part of my government.

Since receiving your excellency's note of the 18th instant, I have desired to say thus much by way of explanation.

In reference to the substance of that note, I hope I shall be excused for adding, in conclusion, one or two brief observations.

When a foreigner-a traveller or temporary sojourner-suffers indignities and oppression at the hands of the employees and officers of any country, it is the government of that country itself that must be held responsible. The appeal of the foreigner is properly and necessarily to his own government. It is then an affair between the two governments. Any mere private prosecution of such a complaint is generally impossible, and, when possible, would be almost sure to be useless.

My countrymen abroad are never countenanced by my government in any act of disobedience to laws or of disrespect to authority. If they offend, they must take the consequences. But the offence must be shown, and not assumed. And if they suffer from a manifest perversion of justice or abuse of power, without fault on their part, my government will interpose in their behalf. In such a case a better justification is required to satisfy than has been offered in this instance.

I am quite prepared and happy to believe that the case which I have had occasion to bring to the notice of your excellency's government is an exceptional one, and that ordinarily strangers in Baden are treated with hospitality and kindness, and have no occasion to complain of such occurrences as those in which my countrymen were involved. Perhaps it might be thought there was the more reason, therefore, why this complaint should have been met in a different spirit.

I seize, with much pleasure, this occasion to renew to your excellency the assurance of my high consideration.

His Excellency BARON VON MEYSENBUG, &c.

D. D. BARNARD.

[Translation.]

Baron Meysenbug to Mr. Barnard.

BERLIN, March 18, 1853.

SIR: I have had the honor to receive, last evening, your letter of the 14th of this month, in which your excellency speaks to me again of the matter concerning Messrs. Dana, Dingle, and Ramsay.

It is impossible for me to conceal the astonishment that this reply to my letter of the 4th of February has caused me. By my answer, I had thought to have both obliged your excellency and cleared up facts which had been represented in a false light. I see, with regret, that I was mistaken.

I have, therefore, but few words to say. We are both of us unable to speak of occurrences which took place at Heidelberg otherwise than on the strengh of what has been transmitted to us from other persons. The only difference is, that you bring forward information which has been submitted to you by your own countrymen, that is to say, by the very persons who are accused of infraction; whereas I argue from depositions made by sworn functionaries, acting in reference to the discharge of their public duties.

If your countrymen are able to prove that all these functionaries have knowingly acted in violation of their duties, let them furnish the competent authority with the necessary means to show the abuse of power committed upon their persons. I do not hesitate one moment in giving the most formal assurance that my government will not delay in doing justice in the premises and to punish the culprits. All that I ask is, that the steps taken in future, in order to establish the truth, shall not be through the medium of a correspondence between us, but shall be taken at Heidelberg, and under the advice of a lawyer, whom your countrymen shall select at their pleasure among the advocates or other jurists of the country.

If such had been the course pursued by those gentlemen, from the the commencement, perhaps your excellency would not have been driven to pass censure upon our laws as you have done. Our laws may be imperfect; it is the fate of the laws of all countries. But what is certain, and what your excellency might have spared me from reminding you, is, that the laws which are in force, and as long as they continue to exist, must be executed as they are, and in all cases provided for. Each year thousands and thousands of foreigners come to pass some time in my country; I have never yet heard that our authorities have descended to use violence against them; I never believed that foreigners would be astonished on being punished, if they find themselves in contravention of existing laws. If those three gentlemen think otherwise, they are free to fly from a country where we are sufficiently behind the age to think that the first guaranty of individual liberty is obedience to the laws and respect for authority.

I avail myself with pleasure of this occasion to renew to your excellency the expression of my highest consideration.

BARON DE MEYSENBUG.

To his Excellency Mr. BARNARD, &c.