No. 97.
Mr. Evarts
to Mr. Logan.
Washington, September 19, 1879.
Sir: You dispatch No. 24 of the 28th ultimo has been received. It is accompanied by a copy of a note of the 28th of July, addressed to you by the minister for foreign affairs of Honduras, in answer to yours requesting the recognition of Mr. William C. Burchard as consul of the United States at Truxillo and Omoa. Although the request was complied with, this was with hesitation, because Mr. Burchard was regarded as a citizen of Honduras, and it is contrary to the policy of that government to recognize any of its citizens as consul of a foreign government. Mr. Bam on Bosa claims that Mr. Burchard may be regarded as a citizen of that republic from his long residence there, and from his having discharged functions with which no one but a citizen of Honduras could be intrusted.
If Mr. Burchard was regularly naturalized, pursuant to the laws of Honduras, the hesitation of the minister may have been well founded. If, however, the change of his nationality is supposed to have been occasioned by the length of his abode there, or even by his having held offices for which citizenship was required, the objection to his recognition could not be considered as tenable. Mr. Burchard continued to be a citizen of the United States, whose rights as such could not be denied upon his return hither, at least, no matter how long he might have staid abroad, provided he should not have formally relinquished his allegiance to the United States. If it was contrary to the law of Honduras to confer a public office on him, he being a foreigner, the authorities there would have been justified in refusing him any such honor, and his commission might have been canceled in the way which, it is presumed, the law provides. The mere acceptance of an office, however, can scarcely be said to have denationalized him.
This government objects to receiving a citizen of the United States as a diplomatic representative of a foreign power. Such citizens, however, are frequently recognized as consular officers of other nations, and this policy is not known to have hitherto occasioned any inconvenience.
I am, &c.,