No. 7.
Mr. Taft to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

No. 124.]

Sir: I have received, through the United States consul-general at this place, from the consul at Buda-Pesth, the papers relating to the case of Anton Wurglitz and his sons, who have been claimed for military service, with the request that the minister of the United States interpose to protect him and his sons from the requisitions of the Hungarian Government.

Mr. Anton Wurglitz, a native and citizen of Hungary, in 1851 emigrated to the United States, and resided there until 1867, having in the i mean time obtained letters of naturalization; but in 1867 he returned with his family to Hungary, where he has resided to the present time. While in America he had three sons born, whom he took with him to Hungary from the United States, viz, Ludwig, born in the city of New York, July 16, 1855 Atilla, who was born in Sullivan County, New York, March 30, 1859; Anton, born in the same county, March 26, 1863.

Wurglitz purchased lands in the county of Vas, in Raba-Szent Mihaly, and has carried on his farm there for the last fifteen years, paid taxes, and would seem to have been regarded by the citizens and officials as a burger or citizen of Hungary. His name was placed upon the list of voters, and in 1879 he was elected mayor of the town in which he was then residing and where he now resides, and, though he says he protested [Page 7] against it, he accepted the office and was mayor or presiding officer of the community for one year.

In 1880 Wurglitz wrote a letter to the United States minister at Vienna, Mr. Kasson, stating to him that he emigrated to the United States in 1851, became a naturalized citizen in 1856, returned to Europe in 1867, having had children born in the United States, and since 1869 had lived as a farmer in Hungary that his son Atilla, born in New York in 1862, wished to return there soon to live, and that all his children wished to return there soon to live in their “native land.”

On this statement Mr. Kasson directed passports to be issued, and expressed the opinion that the United States citizenship of the family continued, though the father did not appear to intend personally to return to America. (See inclosed letter of Mr. Kasson to Anton Wurglitz of December 24, 1880, and letter of Mr. Kasson to Mr. Evarts of same date, published in Foreign Relations of United States for 1881, page 30, and the answer thereto by Mr. Blaine of March 31, 1881, page 52.)

He and his family have not returned to America, but have continued to reside in Raba-Szent Mihaly; nor, has he or either of his sons obtained a passport, as advised by Mr. Kasson. (See letter of Mr. Kasson.) He attempted to register their names in the office of the consul at Buda-Pesth as American citizens in 1880, soon after the correspondence with Mr. Kasson, and failed to have it done, because he had not his naturalization papers, and the consul, for that reason, would not allow it. In 1882, however, through the aid of the consul, he obtained a copy of his certificate of naturalization from Washington, and then, I suppose, did have himself and sons registered as American citizens on the book of the consul.

In December, 1879, the Diet of Hungary enacted a law by which (section 48) it was provided—

That those persons should be considered Hungarian citizens who had lived in the territory of the provinces of the Hungarian crown, up to the coming in force of said law, at least five years without interruption, and were received in a native community in the list of taxpayers, when they do not prove within one year, reckoning from the coming in force of this law, before that district bureau or town magistrate in whose territory their last place of residence is, that they have retained their foreign citizenship.

In 1883 his son Anton, who had arrived at the age of twenty years, when by the law of the Empire a citizen of Hungary is liable to military duty, was summoned for that purpose, and his father protested on account of his American citizenship. His case was, through the consul at Buda-Pesth, presented to Count Tisza, the secretary of the interior and minister-president of Hungary, who, upon the statements and evidence submitted, and such investigations as he deemed necessary, concluded that Wurglitz had renounced his American citizenship and was a citizen of Hungary, under the treaty existing between the United States and Austria-Hungary, and that, as the domicile and citizenship of minor children follows that of their father, their sons are citizens also of Hungary, and subject also to military duty under the laws of the Empire.

An order was accordingly issued by the Hungarian Government, December 28, 1883, to the chief officer of the county, declaring that Anton Wurglitz, together with his minor sons, Atilla, Anton, and William, were Hungarian citizens.

From the statement and opinion of Count Tisza it appears that not only did Wurglitz make no proof and give no notice to the authorities in Hungary, as this law of Hungary required, but that none of the county or municipal officers had any knowledge that he claimed to retain his [Page 8] American citizenship; that be had been regarded as a citizen of the county where he resided, had his real estate there, had his name in the list of tax-payers and in the list of voters, was elected chief magistrate of the town, accepted the office and performed its duties for the year 1879; that he had claimed and enjoyed the privileges of a Hungarian citizen for many years, and that this course continued until his sons came to the age of military duty.

The question to be determined is, whether under this state of facts the Government of the United Stated is bound to interpose and protect the sons of Anton Wurglitz from the performance of military duty in Hungary.

It seems to me that this question must be answered in the negative.

I infer from the statement of Wurglitz that, if he had property in America, he had sold it, and come to Hungary, the place of his origin, and purchased a farm, on which he reared and educated his children. He was beyond the reach of the American Government, so that no duty toward that Government could be enforced against him. Twelve years he lived in Hungary without giving any notice that he claimed to be an American citizen, had his property there, was on the tax-list and paid taxes, was put upon the list of voters and voted, as appears from his letter just received in answer to my inquiry on the subject. In 1879, the very year in which by the Hungarian law he was required to give notice to the Hungarian authorities that he had claimed foreign citizenship, he was discharging the duties of the office of burgomaster, to which he had been elected by the voters of the town in which he resided. His statement to Mr. Kasson in 1880 left out the important circumstance that he was at that time a voter in the county where he resided, and holding office. Another circumstance showing a different case from that which he presented to Mr. Kasson in 1880 is that, although he informed Mr. Kasson that his sons considered America as their home, and were soon going to America, neither he nor either of them have gone, but they have chosen to incur the risk of being claimed as soldiers here rather than go to America.

I have taken legal advice, and have myself examined the laws of Hungary as to the question whether citizenship is a necessary prerequisite to voting and holding office in Hungary. The conclusion is that the statutes of Hungary require that all voters should be citizens. Some classes of citizens are not entitled to vote, but voters must be citizens. The fact, therefore, that Wurglitz voted at the elections of members of the National Legislature and at local elections, and held the office of presiding officer of the town, is incompatible with his claim to retain his American citizenship.

Nor can we overlook the circumstance that the Government of Hungary, in whose jurisdiction he had voluntarily placed himself, provided a mode in which he could assert his foreign citizenship, and declared that unless such provision was complied with he should be considered and treated as a citizen of Hungary. He had totally failed to comply with the requisitions of that law.

Meantime he and his sons have been judicially declared by the authorities of Hungary, in whose jurisdiction they were, to be citizens of Hungary, and that declaration was made by the secretary of the interior and minister-president, who is by the law of Hungary authorized to decide such questions.

I conclude, therefore, that Wurglitz has so far renounced his American and resumed his original Hungarian citizenship, within the meaning of article 4 of the treaty of September 20, 1870 (17 U. S. Statutes [Page 9] at Large, 836), “as to absolve the Government of the United States from the obligation to protect him as a citizen while he remains in his native land.”

The sons are minors, or if either of them has attained his majority it has been in Hungary, and their condition as to citizenship and allegiance must be held to follow that of their father. It is not necessary to decide what would be the condition of Wurglitz and his sons if they were actually in the United States with the purpose of there remaining.

Without desiring to prolong this dispatch, I wish only to add, that I have found the Government of this realm candid and just in meeting the questions arising under the naturalization treaty.

While, therefore, I would maintain with energy and decision the rights of our foreign-born citizens under the treaty, I am reluctant to insist upon such a construction of the provisions of the treaty as may facilitate the accomplishment of a fraud upon either Government, which certainly was not intended by either.

I should have acted upon the view of this case which I have herein expressed, and so answered the communications of Wurglitz and the consul at Buda-Pesth, had it not appeared from the letters of Wurglitz that he had written to you on the same subject, and, as I am not fully informed what papers he may have submitted to you, and as I should be unwilling to come in conflict with any opinions which you might come to upon the statement he may have made, I have thought it expedient to communicate my view of the case to you in the first instance for your approval or correction.

I have, &c.,

ALPHONSO TAFT.