Mr. Blaine to Mr. Phelps.
Washington, November 11, 1891.
Sir: Your No. 342, of October 17 last, transmitting copy of the application of Mrs. Wilhelmine S. Cadmus for a passport for herself and her six minor children, and requesting instructions thereupon, has been received.
Mrs. Cadmus, being the widow of a citizen of the United States, would prima facie seem to be entitled by our statutes to the rights and privileges of American citizenship, and accordingly to a passport within the discretion of the Department, and such passport would, of course, properly include her minor children. But the facts as they are related in her case require a very liberal exercise of that discretion on my part or the denial of her application.
From your dispatch and her application it appears that Mrs. Cadmus is of German birth; that she has resided abroad since 1873; that she is now domiciled at Hamburg, in her native country; that all her children were born abroad; and that it is her intention to remain there until their education shall be completed, the eldest being 18 and the youngest but 3 years of age.
The advantages derivable from the foreign upbringing and education of the children of American citizens are not apparent, and this view of the case is rather emphasized than mitigated by the reflection that the children were born out of the country; but the fault is that of the parents or guardians, not that of the children. In other circumstances I would be inclined to deny the application of Mrs. Cadmus; but as the case stands I am disposed to instruct you to grant her a passport at this time, that the right of her sons to elect American citizenship on their majority may be preserved unimpaired. As they come of age, however, and separate passports become necessary to them, their right thereto must be determined independently and upon their own merits.
You may therefore comply with the pending request of Mrs. Cadmus.
I am, etc.,