614 



NATURALIZATION IN THE. UNITED STATES. 



sion as an American citizen. Mr. Blaine took 

 the ground that a certificate of naturalization 

 was conclusive evidence of citizenship. To 

 get a clear understanding of the issue thus 

 raised, it is necessary to give some facts con- 

 cerning the arbitration agreement, and the dip- 

 lomatic correspondence which preceded it. 



The commission was created in 1871, "for 

 the settlement of the claims of citizens of the 

 United States, or of their heirs, against the 

 Government of Spain, for wrongs and injuries 

 committed against their persons and property 

 by the authorities of Spain in the Island of 

 Cnba, or within the maritime jurisdiction there- 

 of, since the commencement of the present in- 

 surrection." One of the points most discussed 

 in the diplomatic correspondence that preceded 

 the agreement related to Cubans claiming to 

 be naturalized citizens of the United States. 

 Spain did not deny that a Spanish subject who 

 had been duly naturalized in the United States 

 and had become a citizen of this country in 

 good faith, would be entitled to recognition as 

 an American citizen. But it alleged that no- 

 torious frauds had been practiced by Cubans in 

 getting naturalized for no other purpose than, 

 while living and carrying on business in Cuba, 

 to escape the duties and penalties of Spanish 

 subjects under the cloak of American citizen- 

 ship. It asserted that in many cases natural- 

 ization papers, though regular on their face, 

 had been obtained fraudulently or without due 

 compliance with the American laws. On this 

 point Mr. Sagasta, the Spanish Minister of 

 State, in a note, dated September 12, 1870, to 

 Mr. Sickles, the American Minister at Madrid, 

 said : " The good faith of the United States 

 Government has been imposed upon and made 

 use of by worthless men, whose only object is 

 to create international complications and con- 

 flicts. The data and official documents of the 

 Spanish Government enable it to make a classi- 

 fication of the greater part of these claimants, 

 reducing them to three classes, namely : first, 

 claimants who have never possessed a right to 

 foreign nationality ; second, individuals who 

 enjoy its benefits, but whose property has 

 never been embargoed ; and, third, persons to 

 whom, in consideration of their being for- 

 eigners, their embargoed estates have been re- 

 stored on the least evidence. Moreover, the 

 Government of the United States can not be 

 ignorant of the fact that the greater portion 

 of the natives of Cuba, who have given al- 

 legiance to the American flag, have done so 

 with the studied intention of making use of 

 it at some future day as a shield for their 

 criminal designs. Many cases might be cited 

 of individuals who have lived in the Island 

 of Cuba as Spanish citizens, and did not re- 

 member their American citizenship until affairs 

 went against them. These abuses caused the 

 issue of the important instructions concerning 

 the rights of citizenship communicated by the 

 Department of State of the United States, on 

 the 3d of May, 1869, to their consul-general 



at Havana, it being noticeable that these in- 

 structions were given at the request of the 

 said officer, who continually found himself em- 

 barrassed by the reclamations of Cubans natu- 

 ralized as Americans, who had returned to 

 Havana and resided there permanently with- 

 out disclosing their change of nationality; 

 some of them having accepted employment as 

 officers which Spanish subjects are alone en- 

 titled to hold." 



In reply to this, Mr. Sickles, on October 14, 

 1870, under instructions from Secretary Fish, 

 wrote that " in regard to the first classification, 

 that is to say, those ' claimants who have never 

 acquired a foreign nationality,' the Government 

 of the United States will not be found disposed 

 to extend its protection to persons who have 

 not the right to invoke it. It is to be pre- 

 sumed, until the presumption is overcome by 

 proof, that aliens who have deliberately re- 

 nounced, after an uninterrupted residence of 

 five or more years within the territory of the 

 Union, all allegiance to any other government, 

 and have thereupon become citizens of the 

 United States, are sincere in their solemnly- 

 avowed purpose. If it shall be made to ap- 

 pear that any one of the claimants in whose 

 behalf the Government of the United States 

 intervenes is not a citizen thereof, or, having 

 been naturalized in conformity with its laws, 

 has by any act of his own forfeited his ac- 

 quired nationality, or that he has voluntarily 

 relinquished it, your Excellency may rest as- 

 sured that the case of such claimant will be 

 dismissed from the further consideration of 

 the American Government. The Government 

 of the United States, having satisfied itself 

 that the parties in whose behalf reclamations 

 have been addressed to the government of his 

 Highness the Regent are entitled to claim the 

 protection due to American citizens, awaits 

 the production of such proofs as may be ex- 

 hibited on the part of the Spanish Government 

 to show that sucli protection is not rightfully 

 solicited and granted." 



Subsequently (November 18, 1870) Secretary 

 Fish instructed Mr. Sickles that "the President 

 contemplates that every claimant will be re- 

 quired to make good before the commission his 

 injury and his right to indemnity. Naturalized 

 citizens of the United States will, if insisted 

 on by Spain, be required to show when and 

 where they were naturalized, and it will be 

 open to Spain to traverse this fact, or to show 

 that from any of the causes named in my cir- 

 cular of March 14, 1869, the applicant has for- 

 feited his acquired rights ; and it will be for 

 the commission to decide whether each ap- 

 plicant has established his claim." These views 

 were communicated to the Spanish Minister of 

 State by Mr. Sickles in his note of January 8, 

 1871. 



In the light of this correspondence the ar- 

 bitration agreement was made. It created a 

 commission to consist of two arbitrators, one 

 chosen by the United States and the other by 



