No. 453.
Mr. Manning to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
Mexico, April 15, 1887.
(Received April 23.)
No. 117.]
Sir: Calling attention to my No. 35, of December
11, 1886, in which I reported to you an interview had with Mr. Mariscal,
touching the need of some provision for Americans obtaining certificates of
nationality who had not applied prior to December 6, 1886. I have the honor
to inform you that I addressed a note to Mr. Mariscal on the 6th of the
present month, copy of which I inclose, repeating the observations made by
me in that interview, and renewing and pressing the request I had made for
some provision to be speedily mad£ by the Mexican Government in relation to
that matter.
I now inclose herewith translation of a note from Mr. Mariscal, advising me
that President Diaz has decided to memorialize the Mexican Congress to the
effect that a new term may be designated within which foreigners who, having
acquired real estate or having had children born to them in Mexico, desire
to retain their nationality may apply for certificates of their respective
citizenship.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure in No. 117.]
Mr. Manning to Mr.
Mariscal.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, April 6,
1887.
Sir: I had the honor last December to call your
excellency’s attention in a personal interview to the fact that a number
of Americans had not applied for certificates of nationality within the
time fixed by the act of Congress of June, 1886, and that their failure
to obtain certificates was not caused by their apathy or inexcusable
procrastination. I stated in the same interview that the act of Congress
provided for the formation of certain regulations for the guidance of
foreigners who intended to apply for certificates of nationality, and
that my countrymen had waited for the publication of those regulations
until the time within which applications could be made had nearly
elapsed. So that it was not so much their fault as the omission of the
Government to make regulations that caused the applications of so many
of them to be postponed until the time had nearly passed by.
I took occasion at the same time: to say that this was a matter of
greatest importance to my countrymen, because some of them might be
involved in civil litigation, or in some way might be brought before the
criminal tribunals of the country, or might find themselves placed in
other positions wherein their nationality would be a fact of great
consequence. The Mexican authorities might claim they were Mexican
citizens because they had not obtained their certificates of
nationality, as prescribed
[Page 713]
by
the act of the Mexican Congress. My own Government could not admit that
claim, but would hold them to be American citizens.
Your excellency will therefore see that I am only foreseeing future
complications and am endeavoring to avoid them by timely action now when
I suggest that some mode of egress from the present situation “be
discovered. In reply to an inquiry made in that interview as to how many
Americans were too late in their applications, I have the honor to
inclose herewith a list of those that are now on file in this legation,
and that came in after the 6th of December last. [Here follows a list of
forty applicants.]
I beg, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
117.—Translation.]
Mr. Mariscal to Mr.
Manning.
Department of Foreign Affairs,
Mexico, April 13,
1887.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your excellency’s note, dated the 6th instant, in which you
refer to an interview you had with me last December touching the fact
that many American citizens had not applied for certificates of their
nationality within the time fixed in the law of May 28, 1886, among
other reasons because they had awaited the publication of the
regulations provided for in the fifth chapter and the third article of
said law, and as the Mexican authorities, according to your excellency,
might claim that Americans who had not obtained their certificates as
prescribed by that alien law were Mexican citizens, a claim that your
excellency’s Government would not admit, but would continue to hold them
to be citizens of the United States, you were pleased to suggest that
some mode of egress from the present situation of the parties in
question should be discovered in order to avoid forthwith future
complications.
In reply I have the honor to state to your excellency that in view of the
facts in the case, and being especially impelled by a desire to avoid
every complication with the Governments of friendly nations, the
President of the Republic has seen fit to order a memorial to be sent to
Congress to the effect that a new term may be designated within which
those foreigners who, having acquired real estate, or having had
children born to them in Mexico, desire to retain their nationality, can
present their applications.
I renew, etc.,
