Mr. White to Mr. Hay.
Berlin, September 29, 1898.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 23d instant, of the Department’s instruction of September 12, in regard to the expulsion from Hanover of Messrs. Charles Richards and Elijah A. Larkin, and to inform you that I at once communicated with our consul at Hanover in the matter.
Mr. Anderson had already reported the case to the embassy, and he had been informed in reply, on August 22 last, that although “in the absence of special instructions from Washington, it was not the policy to intervene in order to enable an American citizen to remain permanently or indefinitely in Germany, the embassy would endeavor to obtain permission for these gentlemen to prolong their stay in Prussia, if he were satisfied that real hardship would be incurred if they were forced to obey the orders of the Prussian authorities (which had already been modified upon his intervention), and if he were willing to set a time when they would agree to leave Prussia of their own accord.” It was known at that time that the gentlemen in question were Mormon missionaries, but that fact was not considered as affecting the merits of the case.
A letter has now been received from Consul Anderson, in which he says that the reasons given him by the police for the expulsion of [Page 354] Richards and Larkin were, “that they were troublesome foreigners, proselyting for the Mormon Church, an institution having a malodorous reputation in Germany, on account of its supposed advocacy of polygamy, breaking up congregations, and interfering with the peace of families by inducing young and inexperienced girls to leave their homes and emigrate to Utah.” He further says that they had written permission from the police to hold meetings, but that they were subsequently ordered to leave the country “because their doctrines were claimed to be pernicious and injurious to society.” Under the circumstances, the police apparently having acted after giving these gentlemen an opportunity to make the doctrines advanced by them publicly known, and as both of them have already left Prussia (Richards being understood to have gone to Stuttgart, and Larkin to England), after being, as Consul Anderson reports, entirely satisfied that he had done all that was feasible, and not wishing him to make any further efforts with the authorities to obtain permission to prolong their stay, I shall take no action in the matter at present. Consul Anderson also reports that he has been told that there are now two other young men from Utah, presumably to take the place of Richards and Larkin, living in Hanover “incognito,” but that he has not seen them and is unacquainted with their plans or intentions. Should these young men get into trouble, appropriate use will be made of the material accompanying the Department’s instruction mentioned above in regard to the character of the organization known as the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.”
In this connection I beg to state that considerable activity has been shown recently by the Mormons in Germany, and that a convention which was held in this city last July was quite largely attended by delegates from the United States.
I am, sir, etc.,