Memorandum on the History and Scope of the Laws Prohibiting Correspondence with a Foreign Government, and Acceptance of a Commission to Serve a Foreign State in War: Sections 5 and 9, Federal Penal Code (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Memorandum on the History and Scope of the Laws Prohibiting Correspondence With a Foreign Government, and Acceptance of a Commission to Serve a Foreign State in War: Sections 5 and 9, Federal Penal Code

Dana said that a person thus employed must be considered as acting in direct hostility with the authority of our Government and against the general character of our country It is a crime of severe magnitude, as the person thus acting must be considered as the agent of a faction waiting only for an opportunity of joining the enemies of their country.

Pinckney said that it was a leading doctrine of Republican Govern ment that no one can pretend to interfere so as to counteract the proceedings of the people of their country as expressed by its legal organs. He stated that he knew of no case, no situation on which it would be lawful or right for an individual to interfere with a foreign Government at a time when any negotiation is going for ward by legal authority. Such an interference can have but a bad efl'ect; it may have a very bad effect. It Shows, at least, that there is a party in the country divided from the Government who take upon themselves a separate negotiation, and set up a distinct power, which they wish to be paramount to the legal authority.

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