File No. 19913/4–7.
The Chargé of Austria-Hungary to the Secretary of State.
Manchester, Mass., September 25, 1909.
Your Excellency: In your esteemed communication No. 457, of July 23 last, your excellency had the kindness to inform me that the Department of Commerce and Labor had, since September 27, 1906, adopted a new wording of the renunciation clause contained in American certificates of citizenship, in which the title of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty now reads “Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria,” in the case of the naturalization of an Austrian, and “Francis Joseph, Apostolic King of Hungary,” in case of the naturalization of a Hungarian.
I brought the contents of said note to the knowledge of my Government and am now instructed to call your excellency’s attention to the contents of the note, of which an English translation is inclosed, [Page 32] which was sent to Secretary of State Olney on June 8, 1896, by Prince Wrede, at that time Austro-Hungarian chargé d’affaires, and which was made known to the American authorities concerned by means of the memorandum of the State Department under date of June 22, 1896,1 of which a copy is likewise inclosed.
From this correspondence it is to be seen that the only form of oath that will take into account the political status of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy will be one which, on the one hand, recognizes the fact of a separate Austrian and Hungarian citizenship, and which, on the other, recognizes the fact that the ruler to whom the Austrian or Hungarian citizen renounces his allegiance unites both the States of the Monarchy under his scepter in common.
Just as in 1896, my Government still considers it to be of the greatest importance that the title of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty should always read “His Majesty the Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary “in American naturalization certificates, regardless of whether the person being naturalized is an Austrian or a Hungarian citizen.
While taking the liberty of requesting your excellency’s kind offices in communicating the foregoing to the Department of Commerce and Labor and in having the latter resume the practice which prevailed from 1896 to 1906 with regard to the form of the renunciation clause, I beg of your excellency to kindly notify me of whatever steps you take in this matter and the results thereof.
Please accept, etc.
- See For. Rels., 1897, p. 24, for note re memorandum.↩