Office of the Historian

No. 41.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. Bounder de Melsbroeck.

Department of State,
Washington, April 11, 1887.

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your note of January 19, 1887, making certain inquiries as to the citizenship of Charles Dewaele and of Emile Dewaele, his son.

Great as is my desire to give any information which it is within the range of my duties to communicate I feel compelled to say that the information you request is not within such range. She reasons are as follows:

(1)
When there is an issue likely to arise between an alleged citizen of the United States and the Government of a foreign country in which he resides, the question whether the position taken by the foreign Government is to be resisted by such citizen, as well as the qualifications attending his position in such respect, are to be determined primarily by himself. This Government, for instance, would say to such a party, “Whether you abjure your allegiance to us, or whether you render a qualified submission, in the performance of local civic or military duties, is for you, in the first place, to determine.”
(2)
Questions of this class are acted on by this Department, adopting the practice of the judiciary under similar circumstances, on the basis of affidavits and other documentary evidence, exhibiting the exact state of facts; which affidavits and evidence a foreign sovereign could not be called upon to produce.
(3)
It is not in accordance with the polity of our institutions that the question of the citizenship of a person claiming, or likely to claim, the protection of the United States should be determined ex parte by this Department on the application of the Government against whom such protection may be sought. Citizenship in the United States has two aspects. On the one side, in this country, it carries with it electoral privileges and other prerogatives and immunities, as to which the naturalized citizen, no matter how destitute in other respects, has the same political rights with native-born citizens, no matter what may be their other advantages. On the other side, it gives such citizens, when abroad, the right to the protection of the United States to the full extent of its capacity against foreign powers, Such rights can not be divested unless on a hearing, in which the party whose citizenship is questioned is notified to appear; and, so far as the question of protection is concerned, they can be denied in this Department only on issue made by the party himself, after a full hearing of his case, with every opportunity given to him to present it in detail.

Accept, etc.,

T. F. bayard.