Mr. Storer to Mr. Hay.

No. 478.]

Sir: I have the honor to report that the royal decree declaring the law on the subject of the change of citizenship, both as affected by, and limited by, the treaty of Paris, has been published officially in the “Gaceta de Madrid.”

As part of this dispatch, I beg to inclose a copy of the letter of the ministry to the Queen, containing the report of reasons compelling this royal decree, known as the “Exposición de los Motivos,” and the [Page 474] decree itself, adding thereto as an appendix the sections of the Spanish civil code, to which reference is made in the terms of the “Expositión” and of the decree.

In view of the difficulties of making a translation, at once accurate “and clear, of this important matter, on careful examination I think it has been very well done, and the legation is indebted to Mr. Bowler for it.

I have, etc.,

Bellamy Storer.
[Inclosure.]

office of the president of the council of ministers.

Your Majesty: Since the 10th of December, 1898, when the treaty of peace with the United States of America was signed, it has been a subject of constant preoccupation to the succeeding Spanish Governments to solve in a just and equitable way the important questions concerning the nationality of the natives and inhabitants of the territories ceded or relinquished by Spain arising in connection with the interpretation of the ninth article of that treaty. With this end in view the former Government entrusted the study of these important questions to a committee composed of learned functionaries from the ministries of state, grace and justice, hacienda, and gobernacion, which fulfilled its task by publishing a brilliant report wherein the various delicate aspects of the question are treated with the greatest clearness and accuracy.

The Government, desirous of reconciling the interests of private individuals with its international obligations, without increasing unduly the charges upon the national treasury, and at the same time attempting to harmonize the political and economical aspects of the question, has come to the conclusion that while there can be no doubt as regards the fact that natives and inhabitants of the territories ceded or relinquished lost their Spanish citizenship the moment that the sovereignty of Spain over those countries came to an end, nevertheless those, persons who while residing outside of the country of their origin made a clear manifestation of their desire to retain their Spanish citizenship, either by having themselves inscribed in a legation or consulate of Spain abroad, or by continuing to serve in the administration, or by establishing themselves within the actual dominions of Spain, deserve to be considered by the Government as Spanish subjects so long as the acts which manifest their purpose of retaining Spanish citizenship be not disavowed by the solemn declaration of the party in interest made within a certain period which will be fixed for this purpose.

A further point of real importance is that in regard to the exact moment when the fact of residing within or without the territories ceded or relinquished by Spain began to be a determining factor. As to this the Government takes the ground that it can be no other than the moment at which the change of sovereignty was judicially defined to have taken place, viz, the moment of the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of peace. Likewise it appears entirely free from doubt that all the persons who while they may have been born in the above-mentioned territories and living therein at said date are, nevertheless, still discharging official functions by virtue of appointment or commission held from the Spanish Government, should preserve their nationality.

There remained another point of great importance to be solved, viz, the manner in which those who have lost their citizenship by not availing themselves of the opportunity provided in the first paragraph of the ninth article of the treaty should recover the same, and nothing can be more just than to facilitate the recovery of citizenship by those who lost it in this manner, and that they should recover it by leaving said territories and fulfilling the requirements prescribed in the second paragraph of article 19a of the civil code; provided, however, that said persons have not held public office or taken part in the elections in the territories ceded or relinquished by Spain, nor exercised therein any right pertaining to the new citizenship since the extinction of the Spanish sovereignty, since such acts would prevent their being recognized as Spanish subjects, unless it be in the manner set forth in article 21b of the civil code.

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Finally, another object of especial care and attention to the Government of Your Majesty has been that which refers both to the right of many natives of our former colonies to continue to enjoy the fixed annual payments which they receive from the treasury in the nature of pensions, as well as to the right of others to demand, on account of eminent services rendered to the country in person or by those from whom their rights are derived, pensions to reward therefor. It is furthermore but right that those who recover their citizenship should be restored to the enjoyment of the pensions to which they are legally entitled, making the payment of these, nevertheless, depend, as only seems just, upon residence within Spanish territory and the previous examination of their respective claims; and it must be understood that the restoration of their pensions will commence only from the time at which application therefor is made.

Lastly, natives of the aforesaid territories who can not leave them and who may have rendered, as has been said before, distinguished services to the country, shall be entitled to obtain pensions as a reward, for the Spanish nation can not neglect to protect those who have nobly defended its interests; but the obtaining of said pensions must in every case be subject to the special proceedings prescribed by the law of the 12th of May, 1837, as the unusual character of this class of pensions calls for.

Carrying out the foregoing ideas, the undersigned minister has the honor to submit to the approbation of Your Majesty the following project of law.

Práxedes Mateo Sagasta.

royal decree.

Article 1. Natives of the territories ceded or relinquished by Spain by virtue of the treaty of peace with the United States of the 10th of December, 1898, who at the date of the exchange of ratifications of said treaty were residing in said territories and have lost their Spanish citizenship (la nacionalidad española), may recover it in accordance with the provisions of article 21 of the civil code prescribed for Spaniards who have lost their nationality by acquiring citizenship in a foreign country.

Nevertheless, persons referred to in the paragraph above, who were holding public office, civil or military, employment, or appointment by nomination of the Spanish Government, and who continued to exercise their official functions in the service of Spain, shall be held to have retained their Spanish nationality.

Art. 2. Natives of the territories ceded or relinquished, who at the date of the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of the 10th of December, 1898, as aforesaid, were residing outside of the country of their birth, and who at the time of the promulgation of this decree are found to be inscribed in the registers of the legations or consulates of Spain abroad or who were holding public office under the Spanish administration, or who were domiciled within the actual dominions of Spain, shall be held to have retained their Spanish citizenship, unless within the period of a year from this date they shall make an express declaration to the contrary before the proper authorities.

The persons referred to in the paragraph above, who at the time of the promulgation of this decree do not fall within any of the categories above mentioned, have lost their Spanish nationality. They may recover same in accordance with the provisions of the above-mentioned article 21 of the civil code.

Art. 3. Spanish subjects born outside of the territories ceded or relinquished, who were residing therein at the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of the 10th of December, 1898, and would have lost their Spanish citizenship by not exercising within the proper period the right of option set forth in article 9 of said treaty, may recover the same by leaving said territories and complying with the formalities established in the second paragraph of article 19 of the civil code.

The persons referred to in the present article who, contrary to their wishes, have not been permitted to inscribe themselves as Spaniards in the municipal registers, may do so within the period of one year from this date before the Spanish consular registrars, making a note of the inscription which was denied to them in the municipal registrars. Those who fulfill this requirement shall be held to have retained without interruption their Spanish citizenship. Nevertheless, the persons referred to in the first paragraph of this article who reside in the ceded or relinquished territories by reason of public office, military or civil, employment, or appointment, the functions of which they were discharging at the time and which they continued to discharge in the service of Spain, shall be held not to have lost their Spanish citizenship.

[Page 476]

Art. 4. The persons referred to in this decree who, subsequently to the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace with the United States, shall have held public office or taken part in the municipal, provincial, or general elections of the territories ceded or relinquished by Spain, or who shall have exercised in said territories any of the rights pertaining to citizenship therein, shall not be granted an option in favor of or a recovery of their Spanish citizenship, except as provided in article 23 of the civil code.a

Art. 5. Spanish citizenship retained or recovered by virtue of the provisions of this decree can not be set up as against the governments or authorities of the ceded or relinquished territories in which the parties concerned were born or reside, except by the express consent of said governments or by virtue of a stipulation in an international treaty.

Art. 6. The persons who (in accordance with the prescriptions of this decree) would have lost their Spanish citizenship and consequently the right to draw any retiring fund or pension whatsoever, whether the same may have been actually granted or not, shall recover said rights at the same time with the recovery of Spanish citizenship in the following cases and subject to the following conditions:

  • First. The payment of any retiring fund or pension necessarily demands the residence of the beneficiary within the actual dominions of Spain and submission to the regulations which govern or in the future may govern said pensions.
  • Second. All restorations or rehabilitations for the purpose of drawing retiring funds or pensions must be preceded by an examination and revision of the claims upon which it might have been granted. Said rehabilitation will be subjected in the various cases to the following rules:
    A.
    The persons referred to in the first paragraph of article 1 and in the second paragraph of article 2 of this decree may draw the retiring funds or pensions to which they are entitled, provided they recover Spanish citizenship within the period of one year from this date; the right to draw said pension, however, commencing from the date of the presentation of a petition requesting the examination and revision of their claims.
    B.
    Those persons referred to in the first paragraph of article 3 who within the period of two years shall recover Spanish citizenship in the manner therein prescribed, shall be completely restored to the enjoyment of their respective retiring funds or pensions.

Art. 7. The persons referred to in article 4, no matter what be the manner in which they may have recovered Spanish citizenship, shall in no case be restored to the enjoyment of the retiring funds or pensions to which they might have been entitled.

Art. 8. The persons referred to in this decree who, in accordance with the provisions of the same, shall have lost the right to any retiring fund or pension whatsoever, shall, nevertheless, be entitled to petition the Government to grant them, for special services rendered to the cause of Spain, pensions as a reward therefor, in accordance with the prescriptions of the law of the 12th of May of 1837, it being further permissible in such a case to waive the residence in Spanish territory which is prescribed as a condition to their enjoyment.

Art. 9. The ministry of state, grace and justice, hacienda, and gobernación shall draw up the necessary provisions for the application of this decree in their respective departments.


Maria Christina.

The president of the council of ministers,
Práxedes Mateo Sagasta.

Appendix.

I. Article 19 of the civil code prescribes that children of a foreigner born in Spanish dominions who desire to acquire Spanish citizenship shall, within the year following their majority or emancipation, make a declaration to that effect.

Those who are in the Kingdom should make this declaration before the official in charge of the civil registry of the town in which they reside; they who reside in a [Page 477] foreign country before one of the consular or diplomatic agents of the Spanish Government, and they who are in a country in which the Government has no agent should address the Spanish minister of state.

II. Article 21 provides that: “A Spaniard who loses his citizenship by acquiring naturalization in a foreign country, can recover it on returning to the Kingdom by declaring before an official in charge of the civil registry of the domicile which he elects that such is his wish, in order that the official may make the corresponding inscription therein and by renouncing the protection of the flag of such country.”

  1. See Appendix I.
  2. See Appendix II.
  3. Article 23 of the civil code provides that “any Spaniard who loses his nationality by accepting employment of any other Government, or by entering the armed service of a foreign power without the King’s permission, shall not recover Spanish citizenship without previously obtaining the royal authorization.”