No. 391.
Mr. Bayard
to Mr. McLane.
Department
of State,
Washington, June 14,
1888.
No. 344.]
Sir: There is on file in your legation certain
correspondence relative to the case of Alfred Pierre Jacob, between 1879 and
1884, and the facts of his case may be conveniently consulted in the volume
of Foreign Relations for 1884, where the latest
phases thereof are summarized.
I inclose herewith a copy of a letter recently addressed to me by Mr. Jacob,
in which he renews his request to procure the erasure of his name from the
rolls of the French military service and the recognition of his citizenship.
I also inclose for your information a copy of my reply to Mr. Jacob.
In the present aspect of the question between this Government and that of
France, concerning the establishment of the status of American citizenship
on the part of those who by birth or descent may also be claimed as French
citizens, it does not seem necessary or proper for this Government to make
any formal application in the sense of either of the alternatives suggested
by Mr. Ferry in his note of May 1, 1884, to Mr. Morton, but in view of the
fact that no practical issue remains in this particular case, inasmuch as
Mr. Jacob has served his term, and in view, moreover, of the good
disposition shown by Mr. Ferry and by the then minister of war, in 1884, it
is hoped that the French Government will erase Mr. Jacob’s name from the
list of reserves, and to this end you are instructed to employ your good
offices.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 344.]
Mr. Jacob to Mr.
Bayard.
Philadelphia, May 14,
1888.
Dear Sir: About four years ago on returning to
the United States after my release from the French army, into which I
had been forced notwithstanding my rights as an American citizen, I
applied to the Government at Washington in order to have the matter
settled.
[Page 544]
The following is a summary of my statements: I was horn at Philadelphia
on July 10, 1858, and my father was naturalized when I was a boy; I
remained in said city until the age of nineteen, when I sailed for
France with my parents intending to remain there several years to
acquire experience in my profession of civil engineer.
While at Paris I was drafted and forced into the army despite the
protests of the American minister at Paris.
After completing the required time of four years I returned to my native
country and complained to the Government of the way in which I had been
treated abroad, asking that immediate steps be taken to have my name
erased from the army rolls.
In reply to my letter of January 9, 1884, I received from the Department
of State a letter dated January 22, 1884, and a second letter dated May
28, 1884, which informed me that I had only two ways of establishing in
France my change of nationality.
- (1)
- By applying directly to the French Government for permission to
acquire another citizenship.
- (2)
- By obtaining from a court of justice a declaration that I had lost
my French citizenship.
To this I replied by letter of July 12, 1884, that I did not consider
that I should be obliged to ask the permission of a foreign government
to acquire that which had long since been acquired by right of birth,
and that I did not ask for a change of nationality but for a recognition
of my rights as a citizen of the United States.
I received in reply a letter dated July 22, 1881, in which I was informed
that, being an American citizen, this Government did not deem it
necessary for me to take any steps in France to establish my American
citizenship, but would extend to me as such all proper protection. And
that is where the matter now stands; my name is still on the army rolls,
and I am therefore still liable to military duty. I am about to be
called upon to represent American interests at the Paris Exhibition; can
I safely do so? And will the Government of the United States have the
power to extend to me the proper protection due to citizens abroad?
It seems to me that, under the existing circumstances, unless my name is
definitely erased from the rolls, I will have trouble.
Since my return to this country I have, of course, ignored everything
concerning military duty in France.
You will greatly oblige me by securing the erasure of my name from the
rolls and the recognition of my citizenship.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 344.]
Mr. Adee to Mr.
Jacob.
Department of State,
Washington, June 14,
1888.
Sir: Your letter of the 14th May has been,
received. You therein refer to the correspondence had in 1884 concerning
your service in the French army, and your request then made for the
cancellation of your name in the French army list on the ground that
you, although born of French parentage, were lawfully a citizen of the
United States in pursuance of the statutes applicable to the case: and
you now repeat your request that your name be definitely erased from the
French rolls. You ask this in view of the fact that you are about to be
called upon to represent American interests at the Paris Exhibition and
desire to know whether you can safely do so.
Upon an examination of the facts in your case, which sufficiently appear
in the published correspondence found in the “Foreign Relations” for
1884, a copy of which I herewith send you, it will be seen that having
served out your full term of conscription in the French army, no
practical issue remains beyond the circumstance of your name being borne
upon the rolls of the reserves. From the note of Mr. Jules Ferry to Mr.
Morton, of May 1, 1884 (which has heretofore been communicated to you),
it appears that the French authorities were favorably disposed in your
case, and that they suggested as a most expeditious method an
application by you to the minister of justice for a recognition of your
change of allegiance, which application, it was stated, would have the
active support of the then minister of war.
A copy of your letter, with proper instructions in the premises, will be
sent to Mr. McLane, the United States minister at Paris.
I am, etc.,
Alvey A. Adee,
Second Assistant
Secretary.
