Jules Ferry to James C. Morton, May 1, 1884
Mr. Ferry to Mr. Morton.
Monsieur: You were good enough to write to me on the 7th of last month with the view of obtaining the erasure from the lists of our army of Mr. Alfred Jacob, born at Philadelphia on the 10th of July, 1858, son of Pierre Jacob, of French origin, naturalized a citizen of the United States December 2, 1874.
One of your predecessors, General Noyes, had already made an application to my department in 1879, on behalf of this young man, then serving in the army, but the matter was not followed up as his alienage could not be established.
The personal status of Alfred Jacob could not be considered, according to our law, as having been modified by the change of nationality of his father, which change occurred subsequent to his birth. The question which arose was, besides, of the exclusive competence of the civil tribunals to whom the interested party has not seen fit to apply.
At the present time Mr. Alfred Jacob has completed his term of active service in our army, and he has retired to the United States. The Government of the Union requests that he may be definitively erased from the lists of our army, as a foreigner, in order that he may enter our territory without having to fear that lie will be called upon for the fulfillment of his military duties.
The minister of war, to whom I hastened to submit this application, states in his reply that he finds, to his regret, that it is legally impossible for him to comply with the wish of the American Government.
According to the terms of article 10 of our Civil Code, Alfred Jacob is French as having been born of a Frenchman in a foreign country.
The military administration is no more authorized to-day than it was five years ago, in the absence of a contrary decision made by the civil tribunals, alone competent to deal with questions of personal status, to consider the applicant as having lost his French nationality, in consequence of the naturalization of his father, which happened after his birth.
Our legislation does not admit in fact, like that of the United States, that the naturalization of the father applies to his children, born before the naturalization, no one in France having the right, by his act alone, to modify the status and qualifications of others.
Mr. Alfred Jacob is, then, French in our view, and he remains, in France, submitted to the obligations of the reserve and territorial army set forth by article 37 of the law of the 27th July, 1872; he could not be erased from our lists, except under a judgment declaring him a foreigner, or unless he became naturalized an American citizen after having obtained permission to do so from the French Government, but as he has finished his time of active service General Campenon would be quite willing to give his support, by a favorable note, to the application which the interested party would address, with that object, to the minister of justice.
Receive, &c.,