No. 294.
Mr. Nelson to Mr.
Fish
No. 429.]
Legation of the United States, Mexico,
August 10, 1871. (Received August
26.)
Sir: The Mexican department of foreign affairs,
under date of the 28th of July ultimo, issued a circular to the governors of
States upon
[Page 651]
the subject of foreign
citizenship, a copy and translation of which are herewith inclosed, (A and
B.)
The object of this circular is stated to be to procure the readier and more
punctual observance of the accompanying decree of March 13, 1863, upon the
same subject, and to prescribe certain new rules and regulations for the
registration of foreign residents. Of these, the most important are those
which concern those foreigners who have acquired their citizenship by
naturalization, in respect to whom it is provided that for the purpose of
registration and the consequent recognition of their actual citizenship by
the Mexican government, they must present, not merely the diplomatic or
consular certificates required in all cases, but also their original
naturalization papers, and only when the loss or destruction of such papers
is sufficiently proven will other proofs of equal force be admitted to show
that the interested person legally obtained his naturalization, after
observing the conditions of residence and the other conditions required by
the laws of the country in question.
Moreover, the fact of such registration at the department of foreign affairs
is to be considered as affording only a legal presumption of the citizenship
therein ascribed to any foreigner; the government reserving to itself the
right to ignore such registered citizenship whenever it may, by any means,
become satisfied that the entry was unduly made.
Your obedient servant,
[Translation.]
Department of Foreign Affairs, Chancery
Section.
This ministry has noticed that the governors of States, when they call
for certificates of matriculation, in conformity with the third article
of the law of March 16, 1861, they frequently do not keep in view the
explanation of the eleventh article thereof, contained in the decree of
March 13, 1863, which is inclosed with this circular for its readier and
more punctual observance.
It is ordered therein that for the registration of any foreigner, it
shall be sufficient that there be presented at this ministry a proof of
his nationality certified by the proper diplomatic or consular agent,
when the said individual possesses by birth the nationality attributed
to him in the certificate, but not when he has acquired it by
naturalization, and that in the latter case there must be presented to
the government an incontrovertible proof that the interested party has
complied with the conditions regarding residence and the other
conditions prescribed by the naturalization laws of the country in
question. It is, therefore, indispensable for the ready fulfillment of
the said decree, that the governors and other functionaries through
whose agency foreigners may solicit the certificates of registration
contemplated by law, shall take care that the proofs of nationality sent
in such cases to this ministry possess the necessary conditions, for
which purpose the following rules are to be observed:
1. The certificate of nationality issued by a diplomatic or consular
agent will be sufficient, whenever it is expressed therein that the
person interested is a native of the country represented by said
agent.
2. Whenever the passport mentioned in article 11 of the law of March 16,
1861, shall be presented as a proof of nationality, the said document
shall be legalized by the proper diplomatic or consular agent, and
accompanied by a certificate that the interested person is a native of
the country represented by said agent.
3d. The proof to be presented by persons naturalized in a foreign country
shall be the naturalization paper, duly legalized; and only when its
loss or destruction shall be sufficiently proved, or that such document
was not necessary under the laws of the country in question, other
proofs of equal force may be admitted to show that the interested person
legally obtained the alleged naturalization.
4th. Every proof of foreign nationality which shall not combine the
requisites specified in some one of the preceding rules shall be of no
value when presented for the purpose of obtaining a certificate of
matriculation.
It is proper to note in this circular that a registration constitutes
merely a legal presumption that a foreigner possesses the nationality
therein assigned to him, and by
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virtue of such presumption he shall receive the legal treatment to
which he is entitled by international prescription or by special
treaties; but whenever it shall be discovered that, by a mistake of
whatever kind, he has been registered in this ministry under a
nationality which he does not possess by the laws of the country in
question, the government of the republic cannot continue to treat him as
possessing such nationality.
All which I communicate to you by order of the citizen president of the
republic, for your information and observance in the part corresponding
to your official functions.
Independence and liberty!
Mexico, July 28, 1871.
MARISCAL.
[Untitled]
Department of Foreign Affairs and of the
Interior.
The president of the republic has been pleased to address me the
following decree:
“The citizen Benito Juarez, constitutional president of the United States
of Mexico, to all the inhabitants thereof:
“Know ye that, by virtue of the extraordinary faculties with which I am
invested, I have been pleased to promulgate the following decree:
“Article 1. It is hereby declared that in the
eleventh article of the law published on the 16th of March, 1861, which
provides that for the inscription of an individual in the register of
foreigners, and the issue to him of a certificate thereof, it shall
suffice that he present to the ministry of foreign affairs a declaration
of his nationality, certified by the proper diplomatic or consular
agent; it is to be understood to imply ‘when the person interested shall
have originally possessed the nationality attributed to him by the
certificate,’ but not when he shall have obtained it by naturalization,
in which latter case, in order to be recognized as possessing such
nationality, he shall present to the government an indisputable proof of
having fulfilled the conditions of residence and the other conditions
prescribed by the naturalization laws of the country in question.
“Article 2. As the government of Mexico has
neither the power nor the will to alter the legislation of other
countries in regard to the requisites therein prescribed in order to
obtain naturalization, all the declarations and recognitions of
nationality as obtained by naturalization, without the proof of previous
compliance with such requisites, shall remain without effect until such
proof shall be presented.
“Article 3. The declarations of Spanish
nationality made in consequence of steps which have been taken in the
time and manner prescribed by the decree of August 10, 1842, are hereby
confirmed.
“Article 4. Mexicans are prohibited from
executing or alleging an irregular naturalization, under penalty of
deportation for five years.
“Article 5. The Mexicans who, during the
present foreign war or any other of the same character, shall renounce
their nationality, shall be punished as traitors, and their property
confiscated to the extent determined by the civil authority, to be
applied to the expenses and damages of the war.
“Therefore I order the above decree to be printed, published, circulated,
and duly obeyed.
“Given in Mexico, the 13th of March, 1863.
“BENITO JUAREZ.
“The citizen Juan Antonio de la Fuente,
“Minister of Foreign Affairs and of the
Interior.”
And I communicate it to you for its observance and other legal
effects.
God and liberty!
Mexico, March 13, 1863.
FUENTE.
