File No. 8291/32–34.
If it be in accordance with the wisdom of the department, I shall forward
to the Department of State the medal referred to through the kindness of
Hon. Jens I. Westengard, a citizen of the United States and an official
of the Siamese Government.
The department will please keep the same for me to be delivered to me or
to my assigns at such date and under such circumstances as I may
direct.
[Inclosure 1.]
The Acting Secretary of
State to Minister King.
Department of State,
Washington, January 27,
1904.
No. 112.]
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of
your No. 172 of November 21, 1903, in regard to the medal presented
to you by the King of Siam as a souvenir of the King’s jubilee.
Your dispatch presents for the department’s consideration:
- 1.
- Whether this medal comes within the prohibition of the
Constitution and the act of Congress approved January 31,
1881; and
- 2.
- Whether it may be displayed on your person.
The first of these questions the department answers in the
affirmative, and the second in the negative.
It has been held by the Acting Attorney General (Opinions of the
Attorney General, Vol. XXIV, p. 116) that a simple remembrance of
courtesy, even if merely a photograph, falls under the inclusion of
any present of any kind of article 1, section 9, clause 9, of the
Constitution.
Even were it permissible for you to accept the medal, the wearing of
it would be prohibited by section 2 of the act of January 31,
1881.
[Page 543]
Section 3 of the same act provides “That hereafter any present,
decoration, or other thing, which shall be conferred or presented by
any foreign Government to any officer of the United States, civil,
naval, or military, shall be tendered through the Department of
State, and not to the individual in person, but such present,
decoration, or other thing shall not be delivered by the Department
of State unless so authorized by an act of Congress.”
It would seem to be proper for you, under this provision, in order
that it may be constructively complied with, to transmit the medal
to the department which will, as you may desire, either apply to
Congress for permission to deliver it to you, or hold it until such
time as you may be no longer in the service.
I shall be pleased if you will make the contents of this instruction
known to your secretary of legation, Mr. Nash, and to the vice
consul general, Mr. Selden, each of whom your dispatch states, is
aso the recipient of a medal from the King.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Minister King
to the Secretary of State.
Legation of the United States,
Bangkok, April 1, 1904.
No. 195.]
Sir: Replying to the department dispatch
No. 112, dated January 27, 1904, in regard to the medals presented
to myself, Consul General Paul Nash and Vice Consul General Joseph
P. Selden, as a souvenir of the King’s jubilee, permit me to say
that I am forwarding the same to the State Department through the
kindness of Dr. George B. McFarland, a citizen of the United States
and an official of the Siamese Government. The department will
please keep the same for us to be delivered to us severally or to
our assigns at such date and under such circumstances as we may
direct.
I have, etc.,
