File No. 136/194
The British Ambassador on Special Mission ( Reading) to the Acting Secretary of State
Sir: I have received instructions from my Government to bring to your attention two communications, copies of which are enclosed,2 [Page 827] from the United States Consul General at Cape Town to the Governor General of the Union of South Africa, in which it is stated that the United States Government do not recognize the naturalization of American citizens as British subjects during the war as having any effect on the status of such persons in United States law.
In this connection I have the honour to refer to article 1 of the convention between the United States and Great Britain of May 13, 1870, under which it is laid down that citizens of the United States of America who have become, or shall become, and are naturalized according to law within the British Dominions as British subjects, shall be held by the United States to be in all respects and for all purposes, British subjects, and shall be treated as such by the United States.
His Majesty’s Government are of the opinion that there is thus a conventional obligation resting upon the United States Government for the recognition of British nationality legally acquired by United States citizens in the British Dominions, and it would further appear that such an obligation can not properly be overridden by any provision of municipal law. I have therefore been instructed to bring this matter to your notice and to suggest that the position set forth in the enclosed communications from the American Consulate General at Cape Town are not consistent with the treaty obligation in this matter assumed by the United States Government under the convention of 1870.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩