Mr. Bayard to Mr. Pendleton.
Washington, July 9, 1885.
Sir: Your dispatch No. 13, of the 22d ultimo, in relation to the expulsion of Meyer Gad from Prussia, has been received and considered by the Department.
It seems from the accompanying correspondence that Meyer Gad, whose expulsion from Germany is the ground of complaint, was originally a Russian subject, who settled in Kempen, in Prussia, from which country he was expelled in 1878 as guilty of various acts of dishonesty towards his employer. He then made an excursion into Austria, and afterwards visited the United States, where he claims to have been naturalized. He afterwards went back to Kempen, the scene of his former alleged misconduct where he was notified by the Government that he must leave the country at the end of six weeks.
This is his grievance, and as to this I have to say that on general principles it is within the power of the General Government to make and enforce such a decree of expulsion, nor can this Government object, unless the exclusion be enforced with undue harshness. The same prerogative was asserted by our Government in the alien act; and we have recently taken measures to exclude paupers and convicts from our shores.
It does not appear, therefore, that we can object to the German Government refusing to receive back to the scene of his alleged former depredations Meyer Gad, who appears to have been a wandering if not predatory Polish Jew, Russian by allegiance of birth, American by allegiance of naturalization, Austrian by allegiance of residence, and German, if he could be, by allegiance of present election.
It may be observed that there is no treaty that covers the case of Mr. Gad, since he was not a German subject by origin, but the subject by origin of Russia.
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