172 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -XVI 



casts in his lot with us, to take his share not only of privi 

 lege but of duty, I have the fullest respect and sympathy, 

 and have always been glad to intervene in his favor ; but 

 intervention in behalf of those fraudulent pretenders I 

 always felt to be a galling burden. 



Fortunately the rules of the State Department have 

 been of late years strengthened to meet this evil, and it 

 has finally become our practice to inform such people 

 that if they return to America they can receive a passport 

 for that purpose ; but that unless they show a clear inten 

 tion of returning, they cannot. Very many of them persist 

 in their applications in spite of this, and one case became 

 famous both at the State Department and at the embassy. 

 Three Russians of the class referred to had emigrated 

 with their families to America, and, after the usual man 

 ner, stayed just long enough to acquire citizenship, and 

 had then returned to Germany. One of them committed a 

 crime and disappeared ; the other two went to the extreme 

 eastern frontier of Prussia and settled there. Again and 

 again the Prussian Government notified us that under 

 the right exercised by every nation, and especially by our 

 own, these &quot;undesirable intruders &quot; must leave Prussian 

 territory or be expelled. Finally we discovered at the 

 embassy that a secret arrangement had been made be 

 tween Germany and Eussia which obliged each to return 

 the undesirable emigrants of the other. This seemed to 

 put the two families in great danger of being returned 

 to Eussia; and, sooner than risk a new international 

 trouble, a proposal was made to them, through the em 

 bassy, to pay their expenses back to America; but they 

 utterly refused to leave, and continued to burrow in the 

 wretched suburbs of one of the German cities nearest 

 the Eussian border. Eeams of correspondence ensued 

 all to no purpose; a special messenger was sent to in 

 fluence them all in vain: they persisted in living just as 

 near Eussia as possible, and in calling themselves Ameri 

 can, though not one of them spoke English. 



From time to time appeared in our own country attacks 



