File No. 4567/1.

The Acting Secretary of State to Chargé White.

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your unnumbered dispatch of the 7th ultimo, transmitting for record a copy of the official registration of the birth of your son and requesting information as to the proper method of recording the birth in foreign countries of children of diplomats.

In reply I have to say that the department has no prescribed formality for establishing the citizenship of the foreign-born children of diplomatic and consular officers. Common notoriety and the ready proof of the fact in case of need are all that are necessary.

The certificate of registry you send is, however, faulty, in that it does not state the official quality of the father as well as his nationality. It appears to follow the ordinary civil registry of birth and on its face, according to existing Argentine law, treats the child as an [Page 39] Argentine citizen. You were entitled under that law to receive a certificate that the child is exempt from Argentine allegiance, being born to a member of a foreign legation residing in the Republic.

The certificate forwarded by you is returned herewith, in order that you may have it canceled and a proper certificate, certifying to the diplomatic office held by the father, issued in its place.

Should the authorities interpose any objection, the minister can doubtless set the matter right by applying to the foreign office for a certificate in due form.

I am, etc.,

Robert Bacon.