Mr. Gresham to Mr. Bayard.

No. 154.]

Sir: Acknowledging the receipt of your dispatch No. 70 of the 26th ultimo, I have to inform you that your course in declining to issue a passport to Mr. Fielder J. Hiss is approved by the Department. Your statements show conclusively that he has voluntarily transferred his domicil to England, that he does so permanently, and that he has no intention to resume here the resident obligations of citizenship. He does this, not in representation of any American interest, but to identify himself with British interests. These facts completely negative the applicants’ right to an American passport.

I am, etc.,

W. Q. Gresham.