German army on account of his American citizenship. In accordance with this instruction the ambassador addressed a communication on September 6 last, to Count von Pourtalès, at that time imperial acting secretary of state for foreign affairs. In this communication, after giving the facts of the case, so far as they are known to the embassy, the ambassador stated that there seemed to be some doubt as to the facts concerning Peters's enlistment in the German army, as well as some question as to whether he did not represent himself to the German military authorities to be a German subject, and whether he did not voluntarily enlist. The ambassador further stated: If he returned to Germany during his minority, with the intention of remaining here, he would be obliged by the laws of the United States to elect, at the time when he reached the age of 21 years, whether he would conserve the citizenship acquired by him through the naturalization of his father or return to the nationality conferred upon him by his birth. In consequence of this, if Hans Wilhelm Peters enlisted voluntarily in the German army just after he had attained his majority, that act may be regarded as an indication that he had chosen German nationality, and that he is not now entitled to the protection of the Government of the United States. The ambassador accordingly requested that he might be furnished with the facts in regard to the enlistment of Peters. To-day a reply to this communication has been received from Dr. von Mühlberg, imperial under secretary of state for foreign affairs, of which a copy and English translations are annexed. This communication states that Peters was admitted on April 11, 1903, by the Regierungs-Präsident of Schleswig-Holstein to Prussian allegiance again, at his own request, and that as he is therefore a German his request through the embassy to be released from German military service can not be acceded to. It is noted that as Peters was born on January 24, 1883, he was still a minor at the time he is stated to have been naturalized a German. He was therefore not then competent to renounce his American citizenship, and accordingly would still have been considered to be an American citizen. Upon becoming of age, however, on January 24, 1904, he continued living in Germany, and that in connection with his previous voluntary German naturalization and the other facts of his case would seem to show that he had intended to renounce his American citizenship before his enlistment in the German army. I have, etc., [Inclosure. Translation.] H. PERCIVAL DODGE. The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Chargé Dodge. BERLIN, December 12, 1905. The undersigned, referring to his excellency the ambassador's note of the 6th September last, has the honor to inform Mr. H. Percival Dodge, chargé d'affaires of the United States of America, that Hans Wilhelm Peters, now serving in Infantry Regiment Graf Bose (1st Thuringian) No. 31, was, at his own request readmitted to Prussian allegiance by the Royal Prussian Regierungs-Präsident at Schleswig on the 11th April, 1903. Since Peters is therefore a German his request made through the embassy for release from military service can not be acceded to. The undersigned avails himself, etc., MÜHLBERG. No. 798.J MILITARY SERVICE CASE OF MAURICE KAHN. Ambassador Tower to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN EMBASSY, SIR: I have the nonor to report to you for your information the case of one Maurice Kahn, a native of Alsace naturalized as an American citizen, who has been fined 600 marks for nonperformance of military service and whose application for the removal of that fine has recently been rejected by the German authorities upon the ground that as he was born in Alsace he is held to be still a German subject. It appears that Maurice Kahn was born at Biesheim, Kreis Colmar, in Ober-Elsass, on the 30th of June, 1879, and emigrated to the United States in 1891 or 1892. He does not remember the exact date of his emigration, though he says that he was 12 or 13 years of age at the time. Since the date of his emigration he has not returned to Germany, but was naturalized as a citizen of the United States before the district court of the third judicial district of Oklahoma on October 18, 1904, in proof of which he has exhibited at this embassy the certificate of his naturalization in due form issued by that court. He applied to this embassy in June, 1905, for permission to return to Alsace-Lorraine for the purpose of making a visit, and I addressed a note to the Imperial German ministry for foreign affairs on the 25th of July, setting forth his request for permission to revisit his former home and asking that, if the facts of his case as presented by him were found to be substantially true, his desire might be acceded to. I have received a reply from the ministry for foreign affairs, under date of the 28th of October, 1905, in which the ministry declares that Maurice Kahn was condemend by the Imperial provincial court at Colmar on the 9th of December, 1903, to pay a fine of 600 marks for evasion of military service and that orders were issued to the police officials for his arrest. The ministry declares that "as Kahn is still a subject of Alsace-Lorraine he requires no especial permission to reside within this country, but if he should return he would be liable to fulfill the sentence passed upon him, as well as to the ultimate performance of his military service." This case, which is similar to those of Emil B. Kauffman (Foreign Relations, 1896, p. 186), Casimir Hartmann (Foreign Relations 1897, p. 230), Jacob Roos (Foreign Relations 1903, p. 442), and Emil Vibert (Foreign Relations 1904, p. 317), indicates that the German Government still maintains its attitude in regard to the connection of the Reichsland provinces of Alsace and Lorraine with the Empire and confirms its determination hitherto frequently announced not to admit that the treaty of naturalization with the United States entered into in 1868 extends to those provinces as well as to other portions of the Empire. Since receiving the note of the 28th of October from the Imperial ministry for foreign affairs I have made a verbal inquiry there as to whether the authorities would be willing to grant permission to Mr. Kahn to return to his native country upon a further request of this embassy and in view of his naturalization as an American citizen: but I have received a verbal reply that as the naturalization treaty with the United States is not considered by the German Government to apply to Alsace-Lorraine the German authorities still regard Kahn as a subject of those provinces. The situation is a singular one in view of the extraordinary privileges of autonomy and protective control enjoyed by the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which were fully discussed in Mr. Olney's dispatch of the 3d of March, 1896, to Mr. Jackson (Foreign Relations 1896, p. 187). But until the United States and Germany shall agree upon some terms by which American naturalization may be recognized equally throughout the whole Empire there appears to be no method by which a native of Alsace-Lorraine can claim in those provinces the privileges of American citizenship, even after his naturalization in the United States. I have discussed this question at considerable length with the authorities at the Imperial German ministry for foreign affairs upon several occasions since I have been at this post, and the general impression that I have obtained is that the difficulty does not arise exclusively in regard to the naturalization in America of subjects of those provinces, but that the relation of the Reichsland to the whole of the Empire is such in view of the fact that when Alsace and Lorraine were ceded to Germany the present federation had already been formed and the Empire established, in consequence of which the provinces belong to the federation as a whole and not to any particular state, no one of the federated states of the Empire having any greater rights or authority in the Reichsland than has any other; that consequently there are a number of quite delicate questions in connection with these provinces still in abeyance between the different federated states of the Empire which the government is unwilling to take up at present and which may not be definitively settled for some years to come. gained the impression that it is chiefly this consideration which prevents an agreement with us in regard to Alsace-Lorraine, lest the extension at present of our treaty of naturalization to the provinces of the Reichsland should create a precedent that might be found embarrassing hereafter in the adjustment of certain unsettled claims between the States of the Empire themselves. No. 438.] I have * CHARLEMAGNE TOWER. The Secretary of State to Ambassador Tower. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 13, 1905. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 798, of the 14th. ultimo, reporting the case of Maurice Kahn, a native of Alsace, naturalized as an American, who has been fined 600 marks for nonperformance of military service, and whose application for the removal of that fine has recently been rejected by the German authorities on the ground that as he was born in Alsace he is held to be still a German subject. You refer to this case as being similar to those of Emil B. Kauffmann (Foreign Relations 1896, p. 186), Casimir Hartmann (Foreign Relations 1897, p. 230), Jacob Roos (Foreign Relations 1903, p. 442), and Emil Vibert (Foreign Relations 1904, p. 317), and note that the German Government's action in Kahn's case indicates its attitude in regard to the connection of the Reichsland provinces of Alsace and Lorraine with the Empire and confirms its determination, hitherto frequently announced, not to admit that the treaty of naturalization with this country, entered into in 1868, extends to those provinces as well as to other provinces of the Empire. You will, notwithstanding the present status of the matter, keep Mr. Kahn's case in mind and continue your efforts in his behalf, making it clear that this government does not acquiesce in the contention. of the German Government as to the nonapplicability of the Bancroft naturalization treaties to Alsace-Lorraine. I am, etc., ELIHU ROOT. MILITARY SERVICE CASE OF JOSEPH A. DECKER. No. 824.] Chargé Dodge to the Secretary of State. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to inform you that on September 18 last Mr. Joseph A. Decker requested the embassy to obtain permission for him to make a visit of a few months' duration during the coming winter at Blodelsheim, Kreis Gebweiller, Canton Eusisheim, Alsace, in order to see his parents. After some correspondence Mr. Decker submitted his naturalization certificate, by which it appeared that he was naturalized a citizen of the United States before the district court of the third judicial district of Oklahoma, October 18, 1904. He also stated that he was born at Blodelsheim on March 19, 1869, and emigrated to the United States February 2, 1888, where he has since continuously resided. A communication was accordingly addressed, on October 24 last, to the Imperial foreign office, inquiring whether there was any reason to prevent Mr. Decker from making his visit as desired. A reply to this communication has been received to-day, stating that- Joseph Alexander Decker, who was born on December 9, 1869, at Oberschaffalsheim, emigrated to France in 1888, and since then has not returned to Germany. The judgment of the Imperial Landgericht at Strassburg in Alsace, of February 14, 1894, imposed upon him on account of evasion of military service and sentencing him to a fine of 600 marks or forty days imprisonment, has not yet been executed and is not yet invalid through lapse of time, therefore the warrant issued against him is still in force. On the 9th of December, 1900, Decker lost his Alsace-Lorraine nationality through lapse of time. The Imperial Statthalter, according to the rules in force, does not consider himself able to grant to Decker a temporary residence in Alsace-Lorraine in order to visit his parents. In this connection it may be well to refer to the somewhat similar case of Maurice Kahn, reported by the ambassador in his dispatch No. 798 on November 14 last. I have etc., H. PERCIVAL DODGE. GREAT BRITAIN. REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE FIRING ON BRITISH FISHING VESSELS BY RUSSIAN WAR VESSELS IN THE NORTH SEA. No. 1539.] Ambassador Choate to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN EMBASSY, London, March 1, 1905. SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith as of interest two copies of a parliamentary publication (Russia No. 3, 1905) containing the dispatch from the British agent, forwarding the report of the commissioners in the International Commission of Inquiry into the North Sea Incident. I have, etc., JOSEPH H. CHOATE. [Inclosure. Translation.] Report of the commissioners, drawn up in accordance with article 6 of the declaration of St. Petersburg of the 12th (25th) November, 1904.a 1. The commissioners, after a minute and prolonged examination of the whole of the facts brought to their knowledge in regard to the incident submited to them for inquiry by the declaration of St. Petersburg of the 12th (25th) November, 1904, have proceeded to make in this report an analysis of these facts in their logical sequence. By making known the prevailing opinion of the commission on each important or decisive point of this summary they consider that they have made sufficiently clear the causes and the consequences of the incident in question, as well as the deductions which are to be drawn from them with regard to the question of responsibility. 2. The second Russian squadron of the Pacific fleet, under the command in chief of ViceAdmiral Aid-de-Camp General Rojdestvensky, anchored on 7th (20th) October, 1904, off Cape Skagen, with the purpose of coaling before continuing its voyage to the Far East. It appears from the depositions made that from the time of the departure of the squadron from the roads of Réval Admiral Rojdestvensky had had extreme precautions taken by the vessels placed under his orders in order that they might be fully prepared to meet a night attack by torpedo boats, either at sea or at anchor. These precautions seemed to be justified by the numerous reports received from the agents of the Imperial Government on the subject of hostile attempts to be feared, which in all likelihood would take the form of attacks by torpedo boats. Moreover, during his stay at Skagen Admiral Rojdestvensky had been warned of the presence of suspect vessels on the coast of Norway. He had learned also from the commander of the transport Bakan coming from the north that he had seen on the previous night four torpedo boats carrying a single light only and that at the masthead. This news made the admiral decide to start twenty-four hours earlier. 3. Consequently, each of the six distinct divisions of the fleet got under way separately in its turn and reached the North Sea independently in the order indicated by Admiral Rojdestvensky's report; that flag-officer commanding in person the last division formed by the four new battle ships Prince Souvoroff, Emperor Ålexander III, Borodino, Orel, and the transport Anadyr. This division left Skagen on the 7th (20th) October at 10 o'clock in the evening. A speed of 12 knots was ordered for the two first divisions and of 10 knots for the following divisions. a Printed in Foreign Relations, 1904, p. 342. |