711.754/48
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Albania (Bernstein)
Sir: In considering the question of the submission to the Senate of the treaty between the United States and Albania concerning nationality and military service, which was signed at Tirana January 21, 1931, the Department has concluded that it is desirable to take steps to clarify the meaning of Article I, particularly with reference to the third paragraph thereof, in order that this Article of the treaty may not be open to misinterpretation. The first three paragraphs of Article I read as follows:
“Nationals of the United States who have been or shall be naturalized in Albanian territory shall be held by the United States to have lost their former nationality and to be nationals of Albania.
“Reciprocally, nationals of Albania who have been or shall be naturalized in territory of the United States shall be held by Albania to have lost their original nationality and to be nationals of the United States.
“The foregoing provisions of this Article shall cease to be in force as to either party to this convention whenever it may be at war.”
The third paragraph, just quoted, was proposed by this Government merely for the purpose of making the treaty coincide with the provision of Section 2 of the Act of Congress of March 2, 1907, “that no American citizen shall be allowed to expatriate himself when this country is at war”. The Department has construed this provision to [Page 838] mean that, if an American citizen obtains naturalization in a foreign state while the United States is at war, such naturalization does not have the effect of causing a loss of the nationality of this country while the United States remains at war, although it does have the effect of causing such loss as soon as the United States ceases to be at war. However, as the paragraph now stands, it might be construed to mean that, whenever either country which is a party to the convention is at war, it is not subject to the obligations contained in the preceding part of Article I, that is, while it is at war, it is not obliged to recognize the naturalization of its former nationals in the other country as having terminated their former nationality, and is therefore free to treat them as its own nationals, even though the naturalization was obtained prior to the time when the state of war began. Such a construction, if followed, would to a considerable extent nullify the objects intended by the treaty.
The Department desires that you discuss this matter informally with the Foreign Minister, with a view to reaching a satisfactory solution of the difficulty mentioned. In doing so, you may say that, in view of the difficulties arising out of the paragraph in question, this Government would be glad to sign a new treaty with the paragraph omitted entirely, if this should be agreeable to the Albanian Government notwithstanding the fact that it has ratified the treaty already signed. In this connection you may say that the Department is considering the desirability of omitting similar paragraphs in treaties to be negotiated with other governments, not only because they might be susceptible to misconstruction, but also because they might be regarded as being out of harmony with the Pact for the Renunciation of War,10 by unnecessarily anticipating the condition which all parties to the Pact desire to avoid.
If you ascertain that the Albanian authorities are ready and willing to sign the treaty again, with the third paragraph of Article I omitted, you are hereby authorized to sign such treaty, at the same time sending to the Foreign Office a note setting forth the reasons for the omission of the paragraph, as stated above.
The Department considers that it is unnecessary to effect a new exchange of full powers for the present purpose, and believes that the Albanian Government will share this point of view.
Very truly yours,
- Signed August 27, 1928, Foreign Relations, 1928, vol. i, p. 153.↩