No. 2.
Convention between Her Majesty and the
United States of America relative to naturalization. Signed at
London May 13, 1870.
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the President of the United States of America, being desirous to regulate the citizenship of British subjects who have emigrated or who may emigrate from the British dominions to the United States of America, and of citizens of the United States of America who have emigrated or who may emigrate from the United States of America to the British dominions, have resolved to conclude a convention for that purpose, and have named as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say:
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the right honorable George William Frederick, Earl of Clarendon, Baron Hyde of Hindon, a Peer of the United Kingdom, a member of Her Britannic Majesty’s most honorable Privy Council, knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, knight Grand Cross of the most honorable Order of the Bath, Her Majesty’s principal secretary of state for foreign affairs;
And the President of the United States of America, John Lothrop Motley, esquire, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Her Britannic Majesty;
Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles:
Article I.
British subjects who have become, or shall become, and are naturalized according to law within the United States of America as citizens thereof, shall, subject to the provisions of Article II, be held by Great Britain to be in all respects, and for all purposes, citizens of the United States, and shall be treated as such by Great Britain.
Reciprocally, citizens of the United States of America who have become, or shall become, and are naturalized according to law within the British dominions as British subjects, shall, subject to the provisions of Article II, be held by the United States to be in all respects and for all purposes British subjects, and shall be treated as such by the United States.
Article II.
Such British subjects, as aforesaid, who have become and are naturalized as citizens within the United States, shall be at liberty to renounce their naturalization and to resume their British nationality, provided that such renunciation be publicly declared within two years after the twelfth day of May, 1870.
Such citizens of the United States as aforesaid who have become and are naturalized within the dominions of Her Britannic Majesty as British subjects, shall be at liberty to renounce their naturalization, and to resume their nationality as citizens of the [Page 267] United States, provided that such renunciation be publicly declared within two years after the exchange of the ratifications of the present convention.
The manner in which this renunciation may be made and publicly declared shall be agreed upon by the governments of the respective countries.
Article III.
If any such British subject as aforesaid, naturalized in the United States, should renew his residence within the dominions of Her Britannic Majesty, Her Majesty’s Government may, on his own application and on such conditions as that government may think fit to impose, readmit him to the character and privileges of a British subject, and the United States shall not, in that case, claim him as a citizen of the United States on account of his former naturalization.
In the same manner, if any such citizen of the United States, as aforesaid, naturalized within the dominions of Her Britannic Majesty, should renew his residence in the United States, the United States Government may, on his own application and on such conditions as that government may think fit to impose, readmit him to the character and privileges of a citizen of the United States, and Great Britain shall not, in that case, claim him as a British subject on account of his former naturalization.
Article IV.
The present convention shall be ratified by Her Britannic Majesty and by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and the ratification shall be exchanged at London as soon as may be within twelve months from the date hereof.
In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto their respective seals.
[l. s.]
[l. s.]