Regarding the expatriation of American citizens and their protection abroad, I have the honor to acquaint your excellency with sections 1 and 2 of the act of March 2, 1907, which you will observe apply to those persons who have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States and proceed abroad, and to naturalized citizens returning to the countries of their origin, or visiting other foreign States: "That the Secretary of State shall be authorized, in his discretion, to issue passports to persons not citizens of the United States as follows: Where any person has made a declaration of intention to become such a citizen as provided by law and has resided in the United States for three years a passport may be issued to him entitling him to the protection of the Government in any foreign country: Provided, That such passport shall not be valid for more than six months and shall not be renewed, and that such passport shall not entitle the holder to the protection of this Government in the country of which he was a citizen prior to making such declaration of intention. "SEC. 2. That any American citizen shall be deemed to have expatriated himself when he has been naturalized in any foreign State in conformity with its laws, or when he has taken an oath of allegiance to any foreign State. 66 When any naturalized citizen shall have resided for two years in the foreign State from which he came, or for five years in any other foreign State, it shall be presumed that he has ceased to be an American citizen, and the place of his general abode shall be deemed his place of residence during said years: Provided, however, That such presumption may be overcome on the presentation of satisfactory evidence to a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States, under such rules and regulations as the Department of State may prescribe: And provided also, That no American citizen shall be allowed to expatriate himself when this country is at war." Returning to the case before mentioned of Mr. Fink, the apparent reasons for his expulsion from Austria were that he was making use of his American citizenship to avoid military service; that he failed while sojourning in Austria to perform military duty as an Austrian subject; that he emigrated to the United States without the permission of the Austrian authorities, and his presence was additionally undesirable with a view to public safety and order. The American Government can well understand how the last-mentioned reason might be sufficient for his expulsion if his conduct were a menace to public safety, although no specifications of such misconduct are enumerated in the issued order of expulsion, but the adequacy of the other reasons is disputed upon the grounds already set forth. Awaiting your reply, I avail, etc., CHARLES S. FRANCIS. File No. 4062/11-12. The Acting Secretary of State to Ambassador Francis. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 16, 1907. SIR: The department has received your No. 225 of the 8th of May last, relative to the expulsion case of Mr. Selig Fink, and awaits the reply of the foreign office to your note of May 7 last on this case and on the general question involved of former Austrian or Hungarian subjects returning as American citizens to the country of their origin. I am, etc., ROBERT BACON. File No. 4062/13-14. No. 448.] Ambassador Francis to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN EMBASSY, SIR: Supplementing my No. 225, dated May 8, 1907, I have the honor to inclose a copy (accompanied by a translation) of a note received from the foreign office to-day in the expulsion case of Mr. Selig Fink. Following the instructions contained in Mr. Bacon's No. 98 dated April 13, 1907, I addressed Baron Aehrenthal on May 7, 1907, at considerable length not only upon the particular case of Mr. Fink but on the general question involved of former Austrian or Hungarian subjects returning, as American citizens, to the country of their origin. Receiving no answer to my communication mentioned, I addressed several notes upon the subject at different times to the imperial and royal minister of foreign affairs, supplemented by personal effort, to obtain the attitude of the Austrian Government toward the general question involved, but not until to-day have I been able to obtain any word in reply from the Austrian Government. I am, etc., CHARLES S. FRANCIS. [Inclosure-Translation.] The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Francis. IMPERIAL AND ROYAL MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. No. 7925/7. In the esteemed note F. O. No. 84 of May 7, 1907, his excellency the ambassador of the United States of America was pleased to state the point of view of the Government of the United States of America in the matter of treatment of naturalized citizens of the United States, who were formerly Austrian citizens, upon their return to their former home, in order that the decree of expulsion issued by the imperial and royal Bezirkshauptmannschaft at Grybow against the naturalized American citizen, Selig Fink, might be revoked. The undersigned has not failed to convey the contents of the above-mentioned esteemed note to the imperial and royal ministry of the interior for its decision in the matter, and in accordance with the report received from that ministry begs most respectfully to present the following to his excellency, the ambassador of the United States of America. The imperial and royal ministry of the interior agrees entirely with the point of view of the American Government that it would be wrong and unjust to issue a decree of expulsion against every former Austrian citizen who, before he had fulfilled his military service in his native land, had become naturalized in America and returned to Austria as an American citizen. The ministry of the interior is of the opinion that every case of this kind should be specially examined and treated according to its individual merits. The ministry of the interior can not agree to the view that in the decision of certain cases special consideration shall be given to those individuals who, under the pressure of particular considerations, assume a residence in their former home for a certain time intending to return to the United States after they have completed their business. From the point of view of the imperial and royal ministry of the interior the case of Selig Fink can not be included in the list of those deserving special consideration. The above-named Selig Fink, whose true name is Selig Gottlob, came to Grybow in August, 1905. This fact has been determined by papers submitted by the Bezirkshauptmannschaft. The decree of expulsion against Selig Fink was issued by the imperial and royal Bezirkshauptmannschaft in July, 1906, so that he was able to spend 11 months in Grybow. Fink, therefore, had ample time, if, in his case there had been a question or merely temporary residence. to have attended to all his business affairs. Under these circumstances the imperial and royal ministry of the interior considers that the imperial and royal officials were entirely justified in making an exception in this case by issuing an order of expulsion and in considering that Fink had the intention of residing permanently in Grybow. The imperial and royal ministry of the interior wishes in this connection to correct any impression in the mind of his excellency the ambassador of the United States of America of an unfair decision or an evasion of duty on the part of the Austrian officials. The undersigned avails, etc. VIENNA, February 3, 1908. LAD. MÜLLER. RENUNCIATION OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP BY PERSONS DESIROUS TO SECURE HUNGARIAN CITIZENSHIP. File No. 13014. The Ambassador of Austria-Hungary to the Secretary of State. No. 827.] [Translation.] AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMBASSY, Washington, April 11, 1908. EXCELLENCY: By a note No. 49 of the 23d of December, 1903,1 relative to the resumption of the Hungarian nationality by the American citizen Joseph Fuchs, the State Department informed me that the Federal Government did not regard it as necessary, notwithstanding Article IV of the treaty concluded September 20, 1870, between Austria-Hungary and the United States, that a Hungarian naturalized in the United States, who wishes to resume his allegiance to his parent country, produce before such resumption a certificate of acceptance of the renunciation of his American citizenship. Contrary to this interpretation, the American consul general at Budapest addressed on the 29th of October last to the royal Hungarian ministry of the interior the inclosed letter, by which he requests, under that very article of the treaty above cited, that one Samuel Stark Meisels, who was naturalized in America but subsequently wished to be restored to the Hungarian nationality, be required formally to renounce his American citizenship and that the consulate general be furnished with a certificate to that effect. I am now instructed in consequence by my Government to obtain authenticated information as to this apparent contradiction and especially to inquire whether the Federal Government has now reached an opinion different from that announced in 1903, and, if so, in what form and before what authority a Hungarian seeking naturalization should declare his renunciation of American citizenship and especially whether a renunciation before Hungarian authority would be considered operative. I have the honor to apply for your excellency's obliging intercession in this matter, and with a request that the inclosed letter of the American consul general at Budapest be kindly returned to me in due course, I avail, etc., HENGELMÜLLER. 1 See Foreign Relations, 1903, p. 20. [Inclosure-Translation.] Consul General Chester to the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior. No. 6789.] AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL, The Hungarian Ministry of the Interior: Having learned that Samual Stark Meisels, a naturalized American citizen, said to have been born at Veröcze, Croatia, on August 29, 1859, and to have emigrated to the United States in June, 1891, where he was naturalized in the Federal court of the southern district of New York on April 16, 1898, notwithstanding which he obtained an American passport from me in 1899, has since secured Budapest citizenship papers and become a Hungarian aulic councilor, in consequence whereof I have the honor to request that you take Mr. Meisels's declaration of renunciation as soon as possible, in accordance with Article IV of the naturalization treaty with Hungary of 1871, inserted in XLII tl. cz., and forward the declaration to me officially, since section 2 of the American law, dated March 2 of this year, requires me in such cases to send the declaration, together with the certificate of American citizenship, to Washington. Inasmuch as a new American law provides similarly with regard to the loss of citizenship by naturalized citizens of the United States, I have the honor to request your ministry, and through it, the Croatian and Fiume governments, to kindly send me all consular certificates in cases where Hungarians or Croatians have remained in America over five years and then applied for Hungarian citizenship papers. Very respectfully, FRANK DYER CHESTER. File No. 13014. The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador of Austria No. 338.] Hungary. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 24, 1908. EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 11th instant, in which you advert to correspondence between your embassy and this department in the year 1903, and especially to the department's note of December 23 of that year relative to the method of renunciation of American citizenship by a person desirous to secure Hungarian citizenship. Your excellency incloses a letter from this Government's consul general at Budapest, dated October 29, 1907, to the royal Hungarian ministry of the interior asking that one Samuel Stark Meisels, who has applied for Hungarian citizenship, be required to renounce his American citizenship. In reply, I have the honor to say that the department has given careful attention to the consul general's letter. He requested that the Hungarian ministry of the interior take Mr. Meisels's declaration and forward it to him in order that he might send it to this city, together with Mr. Meisels's certificate of American naturalization. The consul general stated that, in view of the provisions of a recent law of the United States, he desired to learn the names of all Hungarians or Croatians who had secured American naturalization and had afterwards applied for Hungarian citizenship. There appears to have been some uncertainty concerning the precise nature of the consul general's request, due, possibly, to the fact that his letter was written in the Hungarian language, he being unable, no doubt, to employ the words which would accurately describe his desires. By an act passed on March 2, 1907, it is provided that an American citizen ceases to be such as soon as he secures naturalization in a foreign country. The consular officers of the United States are, accordingly, required to inform the department whenever an American citizen secures such naturalization, and to transmit proof thereof, the best proof being an official statement of the naturalization from the foreign authorities which conferred it. It is thought that the consul general was endeavoring to obtain such a statement in Mr. Meisels's case and to arrange for securing similar information in other cases that might arise. His request that Mr. Meisels's declaration of renuciation be furnished as soon as possible, in accordance with Article IV of the naturalization treaty, and forwarded to him, was an error on his part, as the treaty is not in any way involved in the administration of the act of March 2, 1907. I return the consul general's letter, as you request. Accept, etc., ROBERT BACON. SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. File No. 10624/3. The President of the United States to the Emperor of Austria. [Telegram.] WASHINGTON, May 22, 1908. I have charged Mr. Charles S. Francis, the American ambassador at Vienna, to convey to Your Majesty in person my sincere congratulations on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of Your Majesty's accession. I beg that Your Majesty may be pleased to receive from him the expression of my best wishes for Your Majesty's welfare and of my earnest desire that the peace, happiness, and prosperity of the Austrian and Hungarian peoples may long continue under Your Majesty's benignant reign. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, File No. 10624/4. The Emperor of Austria to the President of the United States. [Telegram.] VIENNA, May 23, 1908. Delighted with your amiable telegram. I shall be also pleased to receive the American ambassador, Mr. Charles S. Francis, charged to convey to me your kind congratulations on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of my reign. I beg you, dear sir, to accept my heartfelt thanks for this new sign of your most appreciated friendship and the assurances of my sincere affection. FRANCIS JOSEPH. |
