852.00/4327: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Consul General at Barcelona ( Perkins )
Your January 11, 5 p.m.23 We have had until now no information that Americans in any considerable number were taking part in the present civil strife in Spain. In the circumstances you may deem it [Page 472] advisable to bring the provisions of Section 5282 Revised Statutes of the United States (Title 18, section 22 United States Code) and Section 2 of the Act of March 2, 1907,24 to the attention of such Americans as you may have reason to believe are contemplating entering the military service either of the Spanish Government or of the Spanish insurgents. You may point out to these persons also that the enlistment of American citizens in either of the opposing forces in Spain is un-patriotically inconsistent with the American Government’s policy of the most scrupulous non-intervention in Spanish internal affairs.25
- Not printed; it confirmed the report contained in his despatch No. 180, January 8, that 76 American volunteers had recently passed through Barcelona. coming from France.↩
- 34 Stat. 1228.↩
- By Department’s telegram No. 33, January 22, 7 p.m., the Ambassador in France was instructed to inform all American diplomatic missions and supervisory consulates in Western Europe that the Department desired them and the officers under their supervision to take the same action with regard to the participation of American nationals in the civil strife in Spain (852.2221/179).↩