my Government to bring the foregoing to the knowledge of your excellency and courteously to ask that you will advise me whether the Government of the United States would raise any objection to the introduction of some such practice. Accept, etc., HENGELMULLER. No. 49.] Mr. Loomis to Mr. Hengelmuller. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 23, 1903. EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of December 15 and original inclosures, presenting the case of Joseph Fuchs, a naturalized citizen of the United States, formerly a subject of Austria-Hungary, who now desires to renounce his American citizenship and resume his allegiance to your Government. The consul of the United States at Budapest, it appears, declined to issue him a statement of his renunciation, and you ask whether there exists on the part of this Government any objection to the proposal of the royal Hungarian ministry of the interior to admit, without such renunciation, into the Hungarian community persons in Joseph Fuchs's category. Occasionally the Department has received a request from an American citizen desiring to become a citizen of another country for a certificate that his American citizenship has been renounced, but it has invariably refused to issue such a certificate. By the laws of the United States expatriation is declared to be an inherent right of all men, and when a citizen of a foreign power seeks naturalization as a citizen of the United States he is not required to produce a certificate that his parent country has accepted his renunciation of its citizenship. This Government applies the same principle to American citizens who wish to become the citizens of other powers. It recognizes their right to do so in time of peace, and does not issue to them a certificate of its consent, none such being provided for by our laws. The consul at Budapest was, therefore, not acting improperly when he refrained from issuing an official statement of Joseph Fuchs's renunciation of American citizenship. The laws and policy of this Government, however, interpose no obstacle to a recognition of the right of the Government of Austria-Hungary to admit as subjects American citizens who do not present a document from an agent of this Government showing that they have renounced their American citizenship; nor is it the opinion of this Government that the proposed action of the Austro-Hungarian Government will be repugnant to any of the provisions of the naturalization convention of September 20, 1870, between the two Governments. I have the honor to inclose the documents accompanying your excellency's note. Accept, etc., FRANCIS B. LOOMIS, Acting Secretary of State. BULGARIA. ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH BULGARIA. Mr. Jackson to Mr. Hay. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Sofia, September 19, 1903. (Mr. Jackson reports the presentation of his letters on September 19, and states that the Prince of Bulgaria expressed pleasure at the establishment of direct diplomatic relations, and hopes that increased commercial intercourse will result.) Prince Ferdinand to President Roosevelt. [Telegram.] SOFIA, September 19, 1903. It was with a real pleasure, especially in these sad times, that I received to-day from Mr. John Brinckerhoff Jackson your autograph letter. I am very content at the friendly and cordial feelings you transmit by him to myself and to my Government, and I hope that the good relations between the two countries shall still be more strengthened in the future. President Roosevelt to Prince Ferdinand. FERDINAND. [Telegram.] WHITE HOUSE, Washington, September 21, 1903. I cordially appreciate the friendly message of Your Royal Highness and share your good wishes. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Mr. Jackson to Mr. Hay. No. 11, Bulgarian series.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Sinaia, Roumania, September 24, 1903. SIR: I have the honor to report that I left Sinaia on the 15th, and, traveling by way of Bucharest and Rustschuk, the most direct line, reached Sofia, Bulgaria, on the 17th; that I left Sofia again on the 21st and arrived here yesterday. On the 19th instant I cabled you as follows: " On my arrival in Sofia, after conferring with Mr. Elliot, I called at the Bulgarian foreign office, made the acquaintance of the minister and several other officials, and left a formal request, in French, that arrangements be made for me to present my credentials to the Prince. The next day I was informed, verbally, and subsequently I was notified in writing, that an audience would be granted me on the afternoon of Saturday, September 19. At the time set I was called upon at my hotel by an adjutant (a colonel), who accompanied me to the palace in a court carriage, drawn by four horses, and with a cavalry escort. At the palace I was received with the customary ceremony, which was quite as much as that connected with the reception of an ambassador at Berlin. Having been told that it was usual to make a formal speech in connection with the presentation of my letters (a copy of my remarks having been asked for in advance by the foreign office), I spoke as follows, on being received by the Prince: MONSEIGNEUR: I have the honor to present herewith the President's letter accrediting me as diplomatic agent of the United States to Bulgaria. In delivering this letter it is my agreeable duty to convey assurances of the best wishes of the American Government for the prosperity of Bulgaria and of the cordial friendship which is felt in the United States for the Government of Your Royal Highness. I am charged to act in a manner to cultivate and maintain harmony and good will between the two countries, and I am happy to say that it will give me pleasure to use my best efforts to this end. A On receiving my letter (standing) the Prince replied in French. copy and translation of his remarks are appended hereto. Afterwards he gave me his hand, we sat down, and a general conversation followed, which lasted for about half an hour. General Petroff, the prime minister of Bulgaria and the minister of foreign affairs, was present at the audience, and a number of court and other officials were in attendance in the anterooms. I was escorted back to my hotel with like ceremony. In the evening a dinner was given in my honor at the palace at which were present, among others, the prime minister, Mr. Elliot the personnel of the British agency, and the "American colony" in the person of Doctor Wheeler (who was described as being interested in various kinds of mining enterprises). During our conversation in the afternoon the Prince learned of my fondness for Wagner's music, and in the evening a specially arranged programme included "Marching through Georgia," "The Belle of New York," Sousa's "High School Cadets," as well as selections from the Rheingold, Meistersinger, and Parsifal. During the dinner the Prince proposed the health of the President, in English (a copy of his toast is appended hereto), and after cheers were given the orchestra played theStar Spangled Banner." In reply, I proposed the health of the Prince, the royal family, and Bulgaria in a few words in French. The Prince had heard of the discomforts connected with my trip from Rustschuk to Sofia (there being no sleeping car, and my having to sit up all night in a compartment with five other people), and on my arrival at the station on Monday evening I found that, by his orders, a special car had been placed at my disposal. This I enjoyed a Printed ante. as far as the Danube, the Bulgarian-Roumanian frontier. The Prince had offered to give me a special train, as I at first thought of returning to Sinaia by another route, on which there were no good connections, but I was able to decline the honor, as I did not wish to put myself under any great obligation. In this dispatch I have gone into more detail than usual, as I wanted to show that everything possible was done to make it evident that great pleasure is felt at the naming of an American diplomatic agent to Bulgaria. In conversation the Prince referred to this fact repeatedly. The newspapers announced that he had returned from Eoxinograd for the express purpose of receiving my credentials. The Prince's secretary (Mr. Dobrovitch, "chef de la chancellerie") told me that hehad telegraphed an account of it to the New York Herald, and he also told me that the Prince had sent a telegram to the President, and subsequently he let me know that "a very amiable answer” had been received by his royal highness. The date of my reception was the anniversary of the "union of South Bulgaria to the principality" (or, as the Turkish commissioner called it with a different point of view-the "anniversary of the appointment by His Majesty the Sultan of the Prince of Bulgaria as governor-general of East Roumelia"), and considerable stress was laid upon my visit to Bulgaria "at this sad time." I have, etc., JOHN B. JACKSON. [Inclosure 1.-Translation.] Remarks of the Prince of Bulgaria. I am most happy, Monsieur l'Envoyé Extraordinaire, to receive from your hands the letter by which the President of the United States of America accredits you near my person as diplomatic agent. Deeply touched by the sentiments which you have expressed to me in behalf of the Government of the United States, as well as for its wishes for the prosperity of Bulgaria, I beg you to be my interpreter to its illustrious President, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, of my feeling of gratitude for the sympathy which the Government of the United States has shown my country in creating a diplomatic representation to which I attach great importance. I am the more pleased to see direct diplomatic relations established between Bulgaria and the United States, as they will not fail, I am firmly convinced, to advance commercial and industrial relations between the two countries. Noting also your own disposition in the same direction, I beg to inform you that my support and the assistance of my Government are at your disposition to aid in the accomplishment of the mission intrusted to you. It is with these sentiments that I bid you welcome among us. [Inclosure 2.] Text of toast of His Royal Highness the Prince of Bulgaria at the dinner at the palace, September 19, 1903. I am happy to see for the first time at my table a diplomatic agent of the United States of America to Bulgaria. You have transmitted, sir, to me the wishes of the American Government for the prosperity of my country. In return I propose to drink to the health of Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States and the American nation. Hip, hip, hip, hurrah! BRAZIL. MONROE DOCTRINE AND DIPLOMATIC CLAIMS OF EUROPEAN POWERS-PRESS COMMENTS ON NOTE OF ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. « No. 11.] Mr. Thompson to Mr. Hay. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Believing that it may be of interest to the Department, I inclose herewith a copy and translation of an editorial appearing in the prin cipal opposition newspaper of Rio, which criticises the action of the Argentine Government in regard to the Monroe doctrine, and elaborates views as to the attitude which ought to be taken by South America toward that doctrine, which are very generally held among certain classes of Brazilians. I have, etc., D. E. THOMPSON. [Inclosure.] Editorial from the Correio da Manha, of Rio de Janeiro, of March 30, 1903. THE MONROE DOCTRINE. The note directed by the Argentine chancellery to the United States of America seems to us a very good illustration of the extent to which, in this grave period of our international life, some of the statesmen of Latin America are being misled. It is certain that that error gives us the measure of the way in which, perhaps in all the South American countries, public opinion studies events and judges anomalous situations which in many parts of the continent the mistakes and wrongdoings of the governments are creating. The case of Venezuela, the most recent and of the most positive eloquence as a notice to the nations of South America, caused a kind of chorus of clamoring or of protests to explode that had been lying dormant in certain Americans who, with respect to the great power at the North, live forever midway between fear of the expansionist policy of Washington and the plaintive desire and request for Yankee tutelage. Unquestionably there has fallen upon the Argentine Republic a great responsibility from now on into the future. The responsibility in diplomatic history for the movement which is operating, or at least for the manifestations which are going on in almost all the Republics of Iberic origin in relation to the United States of America, will devolve upon Argentine statesmen. It is not only now, on the occasion of the original and very deplorable note to the North American Government, that the Argentine Republic has shown itself to be impatient to give proofs that it was not satisfied with any rôle but that of being among the first in the international relations of the continent. When a short time ago England and Germany did not hesitate to use force against the Caracas Government, the Argentine Republic even then, judging from the dispatches from Buenos Aires in the press of the whole world, showed certain veiled desires to intervene in the alarming conflict; upon seeing that the United States crossed their arms before the insolent aggression, the Argentine Government did not hesitate to direct itself to Venezuela, offering it generously resources that would rehabilitate it and cure promptly the evils and afflictions of that terrible emergency. There is evident in that beautiful stroke the insinuation of indirect a See also page 1. |