Bancroft Davis to consuls, June 14, June 14, 1875

Circular to consuls, June 14, 1875.

To the Consular Officers of the United States in Germany:

All consular officers of the United States, on receiving an application for protection or for a passport, from a person claiming to be a citizen of the United States, should proceed at once to take proof of the citizenship of the applicant. The statutes of the United States make it the duty of all officers to afford to naturalized citizens the same protection of persons or property which is accorded to native-born citizens.

If the applicant be a native-born citizen, and be not personally known to the consular officer, satisfactory proof must be furnished of the place of his nativity, and also of his age; and he must satisfactorily identfy himself.

If he be a naturalized citizen, the consular officer should ascertain, by similar proof, the date and place of his birth, the court where he was naturalized, and the date of the naturalization.

The best proof of the naturalization is, in all cases, the certified copy of the record of court, commonly called a certificate of naturalization. In the absence of that paper a passport from the Department of State, or from a legation of the United States, may be accepted, but the applicant should in all cases be required to state under oath the time and place of naturalization, and to account for the want of a citizen-paper. Should the applicant have neither a certificate of naturalization nor a passport, his application for a passport must be refused. The instructions from the Department of State are positive on this point, and admit of no exception. (But an application for protection will be differently dealt with, as hereinafter stated.)

Should the application be made by the widow of a naturalized citizen, it will be necessary to prove in the same way the naturalization of the husband, and that the applicant was his wife and remains his widow.

Should the application be made by a person whose father was a naturalized citizen, and who was a minor at the time of his naturalization, it will be necessary to prove in the same way the naturalization of the father, and that the applicant is his son, and resided in the United States.

Should the application be made on behalf of minor children of an American citizen, the consular officer must inquire how many children there are, the name of each, and where each was born; and should it appear that any one was born during the temporary domicile of the father in Germany, the officer must inform the applicant of the instructions in paragraph 115 of the new Consular Regulations. This rule applies equally to the children of native and of naturalized citizens.

The naturalization treaties with the German states contemplate that the return and domiciliation of a naturalized citizen in his native land, without intent to return to America, are to be taken to work a renunciation of the naturalization. They also provide that a continued residence of two years may be regarded as evidence of an intent not to return.

There are many reasons why a naturalized citizen may in good faith remain in his native country as a resident more than two years, and yet intend in good faith to return to America. Consular officers must be careful, therefore, not to assume from this fact that a naturalized German has lost his acquired nationality.

On the other hand it is unfortunately true that there are persons residing in Germany who have been naturalized in America for the sole purpose of returning here and taking up a permanent abode, in the hope of escaping duties to the state of their nativity by public professions of a purpose to return to the state of their adoption.

Such persons forget that citizenship is a privilege which calls for the performance of duties. By their fraudulent conduct they affect injuriously the situation in Germany of bona-fide naturalized American citizens who return here to visit their friends and relatives, and thus innocent persons become exposed to unjust suspicion and sometimes to annoying treatment.

Consular officers must, therefore, carefully inquire into the facts and circumstances in each particular case, as, for instance, whether the applicant is married or single; if he be married, whether his family or any part of it is domiciled in Germany; whether he has a domicile in America; if he has none, then where his domicile was when he last resided there; how long he resided in America, and where; what his business was there; whether he has still any business there, and generally as to all matters tending to show good faith on the part of the applicant. The honest emigrant will not fear such an inquiry, for it is made in his interest. If the officer have cause to doubt the truth of any statement, he may require it to be sworn to before some local German officer qualified to administer oaths.

Unless the result of such inquiries show that the applicant has returned to Germany with a purpose of living here, and without an intent to return to America, the applicant must be regarded as an American citizen, and the case must be referred to the legation. Indeed, all cases should be referred to the legation for final settlement, but in so referring them consular officers should set forth all facts bearing upon the right of an applicant to ask for protection or for a passport.

In all cases of applications for passports, the consular officer must ascertain whether the applicant has already one or more passports, and must take up all outstanding passports more than two years old, and return them to the legation with the application for a new passport.

But if the applicant is in possession of a passport which is not two years old, the consular officer must tell him that his passport is still valid, and that he will not require a new one until the expiration of two years from the date of the old one.

Should the application be for protection against an attempt to compel the applicant to do military service in Germany, or against an act of local officers, the consular officer in addition to personal efforts in support of the application should (unless he be satisfied that his personal intervention will accomplish all that may be desired) also report the case to the legation, accompanied by proper proof of the citizenship of the applicant, and by a statement of any other facts important to be known.

If the applicant has a citizen-paper or a passport, they should be forwarded with the report. If he has neither, the best proof of citizenship possible under the circumstances must be forwarded for the consideration of the legation. And in all such cases the consular officer in addition to the proof of citizenship should forward evidence that the applicant has resided five years in the United States, as required by the treaties.

If there be any facts tending to throw doubt upon the good faith of the applicant, they should be set forth fully; and all these reports should be made by the earliest possible mail to the legation direct.

The responsibility of deciding upon the propriety or justice of these various applications is placed by law in the legation. But consular officers must be held in the responsibility of making the investigations on which the applications are founded, of carefully inquiring into all the circumstances, and of bringing to the notice of the legation all facts bearing favorably or unfavorably upon the requests of the applicants