File No. 15971/2–3.
Ambassador Hill to
the Secretary of State.
American Embassy,
Berlin, December 1,
1908.
No. 153.]
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 80 of
September 22, 1908, and to your reply, instruction No. 49, of October
16, 1908, I have the honor to inform you that after reading over
previous correspondence on the subject of the status of Mormon
missionaries in Germany, as indicated in communications from the German
foreign office, and apparently assented to in the instructions of the
Department of State, I have deemed it expedient to address to the
imperial German Government the signed memorandum of which a copy is
herewith inclosed.
It will be noted that after stating that Messrs. Taylor and Rich have
been arrested, imprisoned, and expelled from Germany, I inquire whether
this was owing to the fact that they were Mormon missionaries or to some
other circumstance, and also that I direct the attention of the imperial
German Government to the fact that the Mormon Church not only professes
to have discontinued the practice and teaching of polygamy but that
polygamy is contrary to the laws of the United States of America; and,
further, that since the name “Mormon” can not properly be understood to
imply any immoral practice, our Government desires that this name should
give rise to no misunderstanding, and that in this connection it would
be a satisfaction to me to be able to report to my Government that
American citizens are not expelled from Germany on account of their
adherence to particular forms of religion without moral grounds of
objection.
The answer to this communication will be sent to the department as soon
as it is received, and in the meantime I trust that the step I have
taken will receive your approval.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Ambassador Hill
to the Foreign Office.
[Memorandum.]
American Embassy,
Berlin, November 30,
1908.
The undersigned American ambassador has the honor to state to the
imperial German acting secretary of state for foreign affairs that
he has been informed of the arrest and imprisonment on August 14,
1908, at Breslau, and subsequent expulsion from Germany, of Adelbert
A. Taylor and Henry A. Rich, American citizens and bearers of
American passports. These persons, it is understood, are Mormon
missionaries, but it is not known whether this fact alone or some
other circumstance was the ground of their arrest, imprisonment, and
expulsion.
It is perhaps proper that the attention of the imperial German
Government should be called to the fact that the Mormon Church not
only professes to have discontinued the practice and teaching of
polygamy, but that polygamy is contrary to the laws of the United
States of America. By a manifesto issued October 9, 1890, the Mormon
Church, or Church of the Latter-Day Saints, declared the purpose of
that church no longer to sanction the practice of polygamous
marriage.
[Page 371]
Since the name Mormon can not be properly understood to imply any
immoral practice, it becomes the duty of the American Government to
cause this fact to be made known in foreign countries and to use all
proper means to protect those of its citizens who bear this name
from misunderstanding on account of it. It would, therefore, be a
great satisfaction to the American ambassador if he were able to
report to his Government that American citizens are not expelled
from Germany on account of their adherence to particular forms of
religion without moral grounds of objection, and that expulsion is
resorted to only on definite grounds of objectionable conduct or
doctrine.
The undersigned avails, etc.
