File No. 4908/1–2.
Ambassador Tower to
the Secretary of State.
American Embassy,
Berlin, March 15,
1907.
No. 1121.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of Mr. Bacon’s dispatch No. 615, of the 27th of February, 1907,
by which I am instructed to open negotiations with the Imperial German
Government for the extension to the territory of Alsace-Lorraine, called
“the Reichsland,” of the provisions relating to naturalized American
citizens contained in the treaty of 1868, known as the “Bancroft
treaty,” now applicable to other parts of the German Empire; and I am
further instructed to endeavor to secure form the German Government an
arrangement, conventionally or otherwise, which shall put American
citizens born in Alsace-Lorraine upon the same footing as other American
citizens of German origin returning to Germany for legitimate
purposes.
In accordance with these instructions, I have addressed to-day a note to
the imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs. Herr von
Tschirschky und Bögendorff, a copy of which is respectfully herewith
inclosed. And I have had a personal interview with Herr von Tschirschky
in which I handed to him my note and a copy of your instructions to me
and requested of him that he would give immediate [Page 513] and personal attention to this subject
in order that an agreement may be arrived at between the Imperial German
Government and the Government of the United States under which the
rights of naturalized American citizens shall be recognized within the
territory of Alsace-Lorraine in the same manner as they are now
recognized in other parts of Germany.
The imperial secretary of state expressed an interest in this question,
with which he is entirely familiar, and he recalled the fact that he had
suggested the possibility of a treaty upon this subject in the note
which he addressed to me on the 22d of May, 1906, a copy of which I
inclosed to you in my dispatch No. 972, of May 30, 1906.a He promised that he would
take up the subject at once with the chancellor of the Empire, the
minister of justice, and such other authorities as will necessarily have
to be consulted under the German procedure, and that he hoped to give me
a reply as to the likelihood of our being able to establish such an
arrangement as the treaty proposed within the course of the next
week.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Ambassador Tower to the Minister for
Foreign Affairs.
American Embassy,
Berlin, March 15,
1907.
F. O. No. 1025.]
Mr. Secretary of State: I have the honor to
inform your excellency that I have been instructed by the Government
of the United States of America to call to the attention of the
Imperial German Government the question of the extension to the
Reichsland, of Alsace-Lorraine, of the provisions of the
naturalization treaties entered into between the two Governments on
the 9th of May, 1868, known as the “Bancroft treaties.”
The Government of the United States expresses its gratification at
the intimation which I had the honor to convey last summer upon the
receipt of your excellency’s note, addressed to me on the 22d of
May, 1906, relating to the case of one Maurice Kahn, a native of
Alsace-Lorraine, in which your excellency took the opportunity to
declare that “the provisions of these treaties can be extended to
Alsace-Lorraine only by means of a treaty to be hereafter entered
into by the United States of America and the German Empire.”
The Government of the United States recognizes the fact that, in its
relations with the German Empire and the German States which were
formed into the Empire, the circumstance which has had the greatest
influence in drawing the people of the United States and of Germany
into friendly accord is the negotiation, in 1868, of what are known
as the “Bancroft treaties,” and that the fact of the existence of
these treaties has been an important contributory cause to the
increase in commerce and trade between the two peoples, which has
resulted in the material benefit of both. The beneficent influences
arising from the establishment of this international accord based
upon the Bancroft treaties have not been extended, as your
excellency will recollect, to the territory of the Reichsland, and,
therefore, the question of the rights of American citizenship
acquired by natives of Alsace-Lorraine who have been naturalized in
the United States has given rise to perplexing and difficult
questions which have extended through many years. Although these
questions have ultimately been adjusted by diplomatic negotiation
and correspondence based upon the continued friendly relations which
have always subsisted between Germany and the United States, yet it
is the desire of the United States Government that such questions
may be finally disposed of for the future by common accord beween
the two Governments.
[Page 514]
The United States Government has no desire at present to reopen what
would probably prove to be a fruitless discussion of the question of
the applicability of the existing treaty stipulations to the
territory of Alsace-Lorraine, and I have the honor, therefore, to
inform your excellency that I am instructed by my Government to open
negotiations with your excellency for the purpose of establishing
with the Imperial German Government an arrangement, by treaty or
otherwise, which will put American citizens born in Alsace-Lorraine
upon the same footing as other American citizens of German origin
returning to Germany for legitimate purposes.
I beg that your excellency will take this matter into your personal
consideration, and I trust that as a result of this step upon the
part of the United States Government an agreement may be reached
upon which this question may finally be decided to the advantage and
continued relations of both countries, and in this connection I am
confident that I need not assure your excellency that I am always
entirely at your service and ready to assist in any way toward the
attainment of that end.
I have the honor to inclose to your excellency herewith a copy of the
instruction which I have received from the United States Government
in this connection in a dispatch addressed to me by the Hon. Robert
Bacon, Acting Secretary of State, on the 27th of February, 1907.
I avail myself, etc.,
