Mr. Uhl to Mr.
Sherman.
Embassy
of the United States,
Berlin, May 4, 1897.
(Received May 21.)
No. 338.]
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that in
February last a letter was received from a Mr. Jonas Lippmann, in which
he asked that the embassy give its support to a petition which he had
addressed to the Imperial statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine, asking for the
removal of an attachment which had been put upon certain property coming
to him from his deceased mother, in order to secure the payment of a
fine of 600 marks, to which he had been sentenced on account of his
failure to perform military service in Germany, and that on February 24
last I addressed a note to the German foreign office in the case, a copy
of which is inclosed herein.
Mr. Lippmann was born in Alsace and emigrated, with the permission of the
German authorities, from whom he obtained a certificate of release from
allegiance, to the United States, where he duly became naturalized as a
citizen. He subsequently returned to Europe, remained for a year or two
in his former home, and then established himself in business in
Brussels, where he at present resides. In 1888, after he had left Alsace
for the second time, he was sentenced by the court
[Page 233]
at Strassburg to pay the fine complained
of, and later, upon the death of his mother, property left by her was
attached.
A reply to my note has now been received, and I have the honor to I
transmit herewith a translation of the same, as well as a copy of a
second, note, which, after communicating with Mr. Lippmann, I have
to-day sent to the Imperial foreign office in the case, and to be, sir,
etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
338.]
Embassy to Foreign Office.
Embassy of the United States,
Berlin, February 24, 1897.
note verbale.
F. O. 184.]
The embassy of the United States of America has the honor to invite
the good offices of the Imperial foreign office in behalf of Mr.
Jonas Lippmann, who was born in Elsass, who emigrated to the United
States after having obtained his release from German allegiance, and
there became naturalized as a citizen in 1879, and who has recently
addressed a petition to the Imperial statthalter, asking for the
removal of an attachment which has been put upon certain property
coming to him from his deceased mother at Weissenburg as security
for the payment of a fine of 600 marks, to which he has been
sentenced on account of his failure to perform military service in
Germany.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
338.—Translation.]
Foreign Office to
Embassy.
Foreign Office, April 27, 1897.
note verbale.
Referring to the note verbale of the 24th of February last (F. O.
184), the foreign office has the honor to inform the embassy of the
United States of America that the Imperial statthalter of
Alsace-Lorraine does not find it permissible to comply with the
request of Jonas Lippmann to release a piece of property at
Weissenburg which belonged to the estate of his mother, and which
had been attached in order that the amount of the fine (600 marks
and costs) be served, to which he had been sentenced by the
landgericht at Strassburg on March 3, 1888, for avoidance of
military duty. On a petition for pardon made by Lippmann he was, as
early as the year 1892, asked to furnish authoritative proof that he
still possesses American nationality and that he possessed this
nationality in 1887. This demand he has not complied with. The
following has been ascertained as to his private affairs:
Jonas Lippmann, born on April 15, 1858, was, on November 27, 1874, on
a petition made by his father, released from Alsace-Lorraine
nationality, and immediately thereafter emigrated to the United
States of America, where he became naturalized in 1879; but as early
as August, 1884, he returned to the place of his present residence,
Strassburg, and has made it his permanent home. He held the position
of a clerk in
[Page 234]
the
beginning, but after his marriage, which took place in 1887, he
became a partner in the dry goods business of his mother-in-law. As
it was to be assumed that he, in accordance with the spirit of
article 4 of the treaty of February 22, 1868, after making Alsace
his permanent home, had renounced his American citizenship, the
possession of which it was impossible for him to prove, it was
ordered in 1887, in accordance with legal regulations, that he be
mustered into the army. But Lippmann neither presented himself for
examination in the spring of 1887 nor to the special mustering out
of the same year, but went off on a journey. In November, 1887, he
made his home in Paris. After being asked to return to Germany he
was, as stated above, sentenced, and measures have now been adopted
to collect the fine and costs of said proceeding.
The foreign office regrets that under these circumstances the wish of
the embassy can not be complied with.
[Inclosure 3 in No.
338.]
Mr. Uhl to
Baron Marschall.
Referring to the esteemed note verbale of the 27th ultimo, the
undersigned, ambassador, etc., of the United States of America, has
the honor to invite the attention of His Excellency Baron Marsehall
von Bieberstein, Imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs, to
the statement made in the note from the Imperial foreign office, of
January 25, 1896, in the case of the American citizen Johann (Emil)
Baptiste Kauffmann, in regard to the extension of the treaty of
February 22, 1868, to Alsace-Lorraine, and, while stating that it
can hardly be expected for the United States Government to advance
or admit the proposition that the existing treaties of
naturalization are not applicable to the case of a former resident
of these provinces, ventures to call attention to the apparent lack
of consistency on the part of the Imperial Government in declining
to apply these treaties in the one case, where benefit would result
from such application to the American citizen, and in spontaneously
applying them in the other case to the detriment of the person
concerned.
According to the laws of the United States, American citizenship is
lost only by a voluntary renunciation of the same or through the
acquisition of another nationality, and not, except in cases which
are governed by treaty provisions, through residence abroad for any
given length of time; and that Jonas Lippmann in 1893 was still
considered an American citizen is shown by the inclosed passport,
which was issued to him by the United States minister at Brussels on
January 16 of that year. From Mr. Lippmann the embassy learns that
he never knew of any request by the authorities of Alsace-Lorraine
in 1892, or at any other time, for him to furnish proof that he was
still a citizen of the United States, and this statement seems
credible, as it would have been a simple matter for him to have
complied with such a request. Mr. Lippmann further states that since
1887 he has resided in Brussels, where he is engaged in business,
and that he had already left Alsace-Lorraine—after his return and
temporary residence there after his naturalization in the United
States in 1884—before the sentence now complained of had been
passed.
The undersigned therefore requests that his excellency will kindly
[Page 235]
cause this case to be
reopened and such measures to be taken, by telegraph if necessary,
as may be required to prevent the execution of the order which has
recently been served upon the father of Mr. Lippmann, at
Weissenburg, to pay, “within eight days,” the fine of 677 marks,
under certain penalties in case of failure to do so; and in view of
the fact that Mr. Lippmann had been released from German allegiance
and had become an American citizen before the date of the sentence
of the Landgerichs at Strassburg, and that he has not in the
meantime reacquired German nationality and the consequent liability
to military service, he further requests the good offices of the
Imperial Government to the end that the attachment complained of may
be removed and all proceedings against Mr. Lippmann may be brought
to a close.
The undersigned avails himself, etc.,
