Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1886
No. 151.
Mr. Pendleton to Mr. Bayard.
Berlin , December 25, 1885. (Received January 9, 1886.)
Sir: On the evening of the 23d instant I received a note from the imperial foreign office in reply to my several notes of intervention in behalf of certain American citizens, sojourning temporarily in the island of Föhr, in Schleswig-Holstein, who had been notified by the authorities that they must leave the country within very short periods as stated in my dispatches Nos. 108, 130, and 133.
Their names are Simon Meinert Boyen, Hans Peter Jessen, Peter Cornelius Andresen, Meinert Hinrich Riewerts, Ingwer Georg Jappen, Ocke Edward Nickelsen, Constantin Heinrich Edward Rohlffs, Frederick (H. N.) Rohlffs, Peter Jepsen.
Within a few hours and by the same messenger, I received the note verbale of same date in relation to the departure of Peter Jepsen, and on [Page 312] the following morning the note dated the 24th instant, in relation to the case of Hark Ocke Nickelsen for whom I had also intervened.
I thought it right to protest immediately against these adverse decisions and to set forth briefly some considerations which seemed pertinent to their review, before the orders of expulsion should be executed, without awaiting your instructions, and accordingly I sent yesterday to the foreign office my note of that date.
As I desire to lay these papers before you at the earliest moment, I send to day copies and translations of the three notes from the foreign office and a copy of my note in reply, without the delay necessary for the preparation of copiesof my several notes to the foreign office, which contain full statements of the cases to which they refer. These shall follow as soon as possible.
I have, &c.,
Count Bismarck to Mr. Pendleton.
In the course of the past month the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Mr. Pendleton has, in a series of cases, intervened in behalf of persons who, after they had become naturalized in the United States, have returned to their native province, Schleswig-Holstein, and have received notice from the authorities there to leave the country within a certain period.
The undersigned has not failed, after receiving the several notes in the cases, to place himself in communication with the appropriate royal Prussian authorities, and he now has the honor to communicate to Mr. Pendleton, as the result of the investigation instituted in the various cases in question, the following:
(1) Simon Meinert Boysen, mentioned in the note of the envoy, dated the 4th ultimo, foreign office, 115, emigrated in the year 1863, at the age of sixteen years, to the United States, with a passport, but without having been discharged from Prussian allegiance; in the year 1870, he spent from two to three months on a visit on the island of Föhr, and returned there with five children in September last. He is at the present time still within the age of liability to military duty, nevertheless the appropriate royal Prussian authority considers it admissible, in view of the other circumstances of the case, to permit to Boysen, in conformity with his wish, a further sojourn in his native place, until the spring of the coming year.
To the following persons it has not been found possible to accord the same indulgence:
(2) Meinert Hinrich Riewerts (note of the 11th ultimo, foreign office, No. 120).
(3) Ocke Edward Nickelsen (note of the 11th ultimo, foreign office, No. 122).
(4) Ingwer Georg Jappen (note of the 11th ultimo, foreign office, No. 121).
(5) Peter Cornelius Andresen (note of the 11th ultimo, foreign office, No. 119).
(6) Peter Jepsen (note of the 23d ultimo, foreign office, No. 129).
A short time before the attainment of the age of military duty, which begins with the completed seventeenth year of life, all those persons sought their discharge from Prussian nationality, and also received the same, as such discharge cannot lawfully, in time of peace, be refused to persons who have not yet reached the age of military liability.
At the time their discharge was applied for Riewerts was sixteen years and eight months old; Nickelsen, sixteen years and four months; Jappen, sixteen years and seven months; Andresen, sixteen years and eight months, and Jepsen, sixteen years and eleven months. The assumption seems, therefore, well founded that the persons in question sought discharge from their native allegiance and emigrated to the United States only for the purpose of withdrawing themselves from the performance of military duty in Germany.
This same purpose must be assumed in the cases of—
(7) Hans Peter Jessen (note of the 9th ultimo, foreign office, No. 116).
(8) Heinrich Friedrick Nikolaus Rohlffs (note of the 13th ultimo, foreign office, No. 124); and
(9) Constantin Heinrich Edward Rohlffs (note of the 13th ultimo, foreign office, No. 123).
[Page 313]These three persons emigrated to the United States after attaining the military age without permission and without having responded to the duty of presenting themselves for military service. Hans Peter Jessen, mentioned under No. 7, went to America in 1873 and returned to his native place at as early a period as 1878, equipped with an American citizen paper. After a sojourn there of almost two years, and a short time before the termination of the period designated in Article IV of the treaty regulating nationality, of February 22, 1868, he again left Germany, going to Denmark, where he has since carried on a mill business. He is manifestly far from intending to return to the United States.
The two Rohlffs returned to their native place in September last, after a sojourn in the United States of about six years. All of the persons mentioned under Nos. 2 to 9 have now been residing in their native place since September last. They have, therefore, had sufficient time in which to visit their relations and regulate such private matters as may have required their attention. Should a further sojourn, and one for an indefinite period, such as they desire, be permitted them, a furtherance would thereby be afforded to the purposes of those persons manifestly aiming at evasion of the performance of military duty, which does not appear to be in accord with the interests of the state and the public order.
The orders of expulsion issued against Riewerts, Nickelsen, Jappen, Andresen, Jepsen, Jessen, and the two Rohlffs, which have in the mean time remained unexecuted, in consideration of the intervention of the envoy, will, therefore, now have to be carried out.
While permitting himself to hope that the considerations upon which this decision is based will find an appreciation corresponding with the facts on the part of the envoy of the United States, the undersigned does not fail to return herewith the documents received with the notes above referred to.
The undersigned avails, &c.
Foreign office to legation.
foreign office—note verbale.
The foreign office has the honor, recurring to its note of the 21st instant, concerning the expulsion of the American citizens Simon Meinert Boysen and his associates from Prussia, to inform the legation of the United States of America that, pursuant to a more recent communication from the appropriate royal Prussian authority, Peter Jepsen, from Schottburg, designated under No. 6 in the note referred to, has left the territory of Prussia at as early a date as the 30th ultimo.
Count Bismarck to Mr. Pendleton.
The undersigned has the honor, while returning the inclosures of the note of November 28 last, foreign office, No. 130, to inform the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Mr. George H. Pendleton, that the application relating to the withdrawal of the decree of expulsion against Hark Ocke Nickelsen, sojourning at present at his native place, Toftum on Föhr, has been subjected to a close investigation.
The result of this investigatiou does not permit the existence of a doubt that the same views apply to him which were expressed in the note of the undersigned of the 21st instant concerning the persons designated in the same under Nos. 2 to 6.
The said Nickelsen, shortly before the attainment of the military age, received, upon his request, a discharge from Prussian nationality, and the assumption seems justified that in making this application for discharge he was actuated solely by the purpose of withdrawing himself from the performance of the general military duty in Prussia.
A sufficient sojourn, one of more than two and one-half months, having been permitted him for a visit to his relations and for the purpose of attending to any business matters claiming his attention, it appears to be requsite in the interest of the state to carry into execution the expulsion decreed at the end of the period of respite expiring on January 1 next.
The undersigned avails himself, &c.,
Mr. Pendleton to Count Bismarck.
Berlin , December 24, 1885.
The undersigned envoy, &c., of the United States of America, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of the 21st instant of Count Bismarck Schönhausen, under-secretary of the state in charge of the imperial foreign office, touching the notices heretofore given by the royal Prussian authorities to nine persons, citizens of the United States (whose names are therein enumerated) temporarily in their native province of Schleswig-Holstein, to leave the country within the several periods specifically designated, and the note verbale from the imperial foreign office dated the 23d instant, stating that Peter Jepsen, of Schottburg, left Prussia oh the 30th day of last month, and the esteemed note of the same date in relation to the case of Hark Ocke Nickelsen.
The undersigned desires to express the satisfaction with which he receives the information that the royal Prussian authorities accede to the wishes of Simon Meinert Boysen to remain in his former home until the spring of next year.
Reserving for another opportunity such further comments as he may desire to submit, the undersigned begs leave now, before the several orders of expulsion have been executed, respectfully to present to Count Bismarck some views which he deems pertinent.
The persons whose cases are under consideration are all citizens of the United States; they returned to Germany with the single purpose of fulfilling a filial duty, or attending to the settlement of their business affairs; they contemplated a return to the United States at various dates during the months of the spring or early summer of next year, and not later. Neither the purpose nor the duration of their proposed and desired sojourn was indefinite of uncertain. Both were specific and limited. They have obeyed all the laws and observed a decent and orderly behavior since their arrival in Germany.
The refusal to permit the longer sojourn in Prussia of Meinert Hinrich Riewerts (foreign office, No. 120), Ocke Edward Nickelsen (foreign office, No. 122), Ingwer George Jappen (foreign office, No. 121), Peter Cornelius Andresen (foreign office, No. 119), Peter Jepsen (foreign office, No. 129), Hark Ocke Nickelsen (foreign office, No. 130), seems to be based on the idea that the facts that they left Prussia shortly before they had attained the age of military service and returned soon after acquiring citizenship in the United States, one or both, constitute in some sort an offense, and that permission to remain longer would seem to be a furtherance by the authorities of an attempt to evade military duty, which would be detrimental to the general welfare and public order.
The undersigned respectfully submits that neither can be properly held to be a subject of reproach, inasmuch as the permission to leave Germany and discharge from Prussian nationality were expressly granted to them before their emigration to the United States, and their return as American citizens is expressly provided for by the terms of the treaty between Prussia and the United States of March 14, 1828, whereby liberty is granted reciprocally to all citizens of either country to reside in the territories of the other in order to attend to their affairs. Count Bismarck kindly imparts the information in the above mentioned note that permission to leave Germany and abandon Prussian nationality cannot be lawfully refused in time of peace to any person under the age of seventeen years.
Article 2 of the treaty of February 22, 1868, provides that persons abandoning their native allegience and acquiring another shall, upon their return, remain liable only for an action punishable by the laws of their original country, and committed before their emigration, and then only within the times provided for the limitations of actions.
In the cases of Hans Peter Jessen, Heinrich Freidrick Nickolaus Rohlffs, and Constantin Heinrich Edward Rohlffs there does not appear that permission to emigrate or discharge from Prussian nationality was either asked or granted, but the undersigned submits that such permission is not a condition imposed by the treaty of 1868, precedent to a lawful emigration and acquisition of citizenship in the United States, and that in respect to these persons the above considerations, based on that treaty as well as the earlier treaty of 1828, equally apply.
The undersigned will not now enter into a discussion of the right of each nation to decide for itself the persons who shall remain within its borders, but thinks it appropriate now to remember that the unlimited right to exclude from its territories citizens of the other country has been somewhat curtailed by the contracting parties to the above-named treaty of 1828. Such treaties are very frequently made by the most enlightened powers in the interest of a humane and profitable policy of commercial [Page 315] and social intercourse. That such policy is entirely in accord with the best spirit of modern civilization, and may not be needlessly violated without wounding national susceptibilities and pride, the undersigned most respectfully submits these considerations to Count Bismarck, and prays that he may give them due weight before final action in the case referred to, and avails, &c.