EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to inform your excellency that my attention has been called to the following facts: Some time ago a lady by name of Amelia Rizner died, leaving as her heir her son Ignazio Sarzana, who resides at present in Marsala, Italy. Said lady was married in Paris to an Italian citizen, a Mr. Giuseppe Sarzana, and from there went with him to Italy, where their son Ignazio was born. Neither husband nor son ever came to America, and consequently remained Italian subjects. The husband died before the wife, and the son, as lawful heir, is now entitled to his mother's estate, which consists of immovable property situated in New Orleans, valued to the amount of $67,848. The administrator of the succession here has been notified that by virtue of law 130 of the general assembly of the State of Louisiana, enacted in 1894, he is compelled to pay 10 per cent on the amount realized to the Charity Hospital. The last paragraphs of article 22 of the treaty dated February 26, 1871, existing between Italy and the United States, reads: Regarding the possession of immovable property, citizens of the two contracting parties shall be treated on the same footing as those of the most favored nation. And article 10 of the treaty between the German Empire and the United States provides, viz: In all successions to inheritances citizens of each of the contracting parties shall pay in the country of the other such duties only as they would be liable to pay if they were citizens of the country in which the property is situated, or the judicial administration of the same may be exercised. As no State, according to the Constitution of the United States, can pass a law contrary to the laws and treaties of the Union, said law 130 of the general assembly of Louisiana appears to be unconstitutional. In accordance with the provisions of said two articles I have the honor to apply to your excellency, in order that the rights of the abovementioned heir may be guarded. Said heir has secured the services of an attorney, who will test in these courts the case in question, and I think that it would help matters should your excellency call the attention of the Department of State in Washington to said case, so that proper steps may be taken for the observation and fulfillment of our treaty. I have, etc., NASELLI, Acting Consul of Italy. Mr. Adee to Baron Fava. No. 53.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of May 16 last raising the question of the constitutionality of the act of the general assembly of Louisiana, No. 130 (1894), imposing an inheritance tax on estates passing to foreign heirs or legatees not domiciled in the United States. Copy of your note was at once transmitted to the governor of Louisiana and referred by him to the attorney-general of that State. That officer has replied to the Department that the question, being judicial, is for the construction of the courts, whither the heir to the estate of the late Mrs. Rizner is prepared to carry it, and that, while it is impossible for him to assure the representative of any foreign Government that no improper claim will ever be made against its subjects under this law, he is confident no such claim will be allowed by the courts. The Department is of opinion, therefore, that their decision should be awaited. SIR: I have received your No. 103, of the 5th ultimo, reporting the application of Mr. James Hillhouse Fuertes for a passport. Mr. Fuertes states that he was born at Ponce, Puerto Rico, August 10, 1863; that his father was a naturalized citizen of the United States and is now residing in this country; that he (the applicant) was brought to the United States when he was about a year old, and has continually resided here since, with the exception of journeys of a few months abroad. Mr. Fuertes says he is unable to present his father's certificate of naturalization. Your dispatch presents the question whether a person born abroad to a father who was at the time and has ever since been a naturalized citizen of the United States should be required, when applying for a United States passport, to produce the certificate of his father's naturalization, as is required of a person claiming citizenship through naturalization of parents during his minority. The Department is of opinion that he should not be required to produce the certificate nor to furnish any other evidence than that required of a person born in a foreign country to a native-born citizen of the United States. I am, etc., W. Q. GRESHAM. JAPAN. GOOD OFFICES TO JAPANESE SUBJECTS IN CHINA. Thanks of Emperor.-Translation. [Delivered to the President by the Japanese Minister, November 1, 1895.] Mutsuhito, by the grace of Heaven, Emperor of Japan and seated on the throne occupied by the same dynasty from time immemorial, to His Excellency Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of America. GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND: During the war between our Empire and that of China, which has now happily been brought to an end by the conclusion of a treaty of peace, the diplomatic and consular officers of the United States in China, with Your Excellency's gracious permission and acting under Your Excellency's wise direction, extended their friendly offices to our subjects in China and on many occasions afforded them succor and assistance. Again, as the war was nearing its final stage, the representatives of the United States at Tokyo and Peking, by Your Excellency's authorization, provided the way whereby China was able to approach directly our Government, and it was through the facilities afforded by those two representatives by direct reciprocal communication between the Governments of Japan and China that all the preliminaries looking to the opening of negotiations for the definite termination of hostilities were adjusted. The manner in which those delicate services in the interest of peace were performed left nothing to be desired. And we make this opportunity to express to Your Excellency our high appreciation of those acts on the part of Your Excellency as well as on the part of Your Excellency's officers, acting under Your Excellency's wise directions, which not only tended to mitigate the severities and hardships of the war and finally to promote the successful issue of the negotiations for peace, but served to draw still closer the bonds of friendship and good neighborhood which happily unite our two countries. We assure Your Excellency of our highest regard and esteem. MUTSUHITO. Done at our palace at Kioto the twelfth day of the fifth month of the twenty-eighth year of Meiji. VISCOUNT MUTSU MUNEMITSU, GOOD RELATIONS. Mr. Kurino to Mr. Gresham. LEGATION OF JAPAN, Washington, March 23, 1895. SIR: I have just received by telegraph from His Excellency Viscount Mutsu, His Imperial Majesty's minister for foreign affairs, instructions which read as follows: Inform the Secretary of State that I have received with much satisfaction your telegram announcing the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty. You will express to him our high appreciation of the friendly attitude continually maintained by the United States of America throughout the protracted negotiations for treaty revision, and assure him that the result will certainly draw still closer the bonds of cordial friendship which have ever existed between the two countries. I have great pleasure in communicating this message to you, and in adding to it the expression of my own gratification at the conclusion of a treaty so just to Japan, and so well calculated to foster and perpetuate those relations of sincere good will which have always been such a notable feature of the intercourse between Japan and the United States. To you personally, Mr. Secretary, I beg to express the sense of obligation I entertain of your effective efforts to bring about the successful consummation of the task with which we were intrusted by our respective Governments, as well as my cordial thanks for the considerate and appreciative attitude on your part which has so largely tended to make the performance of that task a most agreeable duty for me. Accept, etc., S. KURINO. Mr. Gresham to Mr. Kurino. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 23d instant, by which you convey to me, under instructions by telegraph from His Excellency Viscount Mutsu, an expression of the high appreciation felt by your Government in view of the exchange of ratifications of the recently negotiated treaty between the two countries, adding your personal gratification at the agreeable outcome of your and my endeavors to reach conclusions in accord with the mutual friendliness and interests of the United States and Japan. It affords me sincere pleasure to receive the cordial assurances you thus communicate, and to express in reply the reciprocal satisfaction I feel in having contributed to bring about a fuller recognition of the high principles which have long controlled the relations of the United States and Japan and to embody them in conventional engagements which I am happy to believe will prove advantageous to both. Accept, etc., W. Q. GRESHAM. BERING SEA REGULATIONS. Mr. Uhl to Mr. Dun. [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 18, 1895. British Government informs the Department that the sealing regulations for 1895 are not agreed to. Instruct consuls in Japan to refuse privilege to British vessels in future under articles 4, 5, and 6, and that regulations are still in force as to American vessels. UHL, Acting. No. 87.1 KOREA. KOREAN INDEPENDENCE. Mr. Adee to Mr. Sill. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 120, diplomatic series, of the 7th ultimo, in regard to recent political changes in Korea. Your action in refusing to recognize that Korean independence dates from the 6th of June, 1895, is approved. The position assumed by this Government toward Korea since contracting a treaty with it in 1882 has in no wise been affected by recent events. Korea's treaty independence since then has been for us an established and accepted fact. I am, sir, etc., ALVEY A. ADEE, Acting Secretary. POLITICAL EVENTS. Mr. Dun to Mr. Olney. TOKYO, October 9, 1895. The following telegram has been received from Allen, dated Seoul, October 9: Yesterday morning King's father, with the assistance of Japanese, forcibly entered into royal palace. Two officers killed in attempting to save Her Majesty. Queen and three ladies murdered. Murderers were Japanese in civilian dress. King's father is making a great many changes in the administration. The people are quiet. Royal palace in charge of Japanese troops. DUN. The following telegram has been received from Allen, dated October 11: I have received to-day a detachment of marines from the Yorktown. Chargé d'affaires of Russia the same. English consul sent immediately for a war vessel. Missing Queen deposed. Succession of Her Majesty's family will be discontinued and three years' mourning can be avoided, and therefore Her Majesty's demise not yet announced. But notwithstanding it is generally believed cabinet ministers are in sympathy with Japanese. DUN. |