Office of the Historian

No. 401.
Mr. Morgan to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Legation of the United States,
Mexico, May 28, 1883. (Received June 14.)
No. 627.]

Sir: Calling your attention to my dispatch No. 625, May 23, 1883, in which I informed you that the foreign office had refused to grant a certificate of matriculation to Mr. Zuber upon a passport issued to him from this legation, upon the ground that Mr. Zuber had purchased real estate in Mexico without having declared his intention of conserving his foreign nationality, and had, by the act of purchase, become a citizen of Mexico, I inclose herewith a copy of a circular which I have considered it proper to address to our consular officers in Mexico, advising them to [Page 654] make the decision of Señor Mariscal known, as far as possible, to our fellow citizens in Mexico who contemplate purchasing real estate therein. I have also caused the circular to be published in the Two Republics of the 27th instant.

It is important that citizens of the United States in Mexico should be made aware of this law. It is true, perhaps, that they are presumed to know it, but few of them who reside here are familiar with the provisions of the federal constitution of Mexico, and an ignorance of the article relating to this matter might bring them into trouble. For instance, a matriculated citizen of the United States purchasing real estate here becomes, according to the interpretation put upon it by Señor Mariscal, a citizen of Mexico, and would thus, if forced into the military service of the country, be debarred from the right of claiming the protection of the United States.

I am, &c.,

P. H. MORGAN.
[Inclosure in No. 627.]

Circular addressed to the consular officers of the United States in Mexico.

Legation of the United States,
Mexico, May 24, 1883.

Sir: I have to request that you will, as far as possible, inform citizens of the United States who propose to purchase real estate within the Republic of Mexico that unless they del are it to be their intention to conserve their nationality as citizens of the United States, they become, under Article XXX, Section III, of the federal constitution, in the opinion of the Government of Mexico, citizens of Mexico, and that to such persons no “carta de matricula” acknowledging their foreign nationality, will be issued from the department for foreign affairs. To avoid all question, the reservation of citizenship should, in my opinion, be made in the act of purchase.

I am, &C.

P. H. MORGAN.