Mr. Foster to Mr. Coolidge.

No. 119.]

Sir: Your dispatch No. 77 of the 12th ultimo, relative to the application of Mr. Robert M. Thompson, of New York, for a passport for his ward, Mr. J. Maurice Hubbard, has been received.

The Department assumes that the statement of Mr. Thompson that he is trying to get a position for young Hubbard in the United States, is a bona fide evidence of intention to come and make a home in this country; and a passport, good for one year only, may be given him to assist in the accomplishment of that end.

A passport is the only formal evidence the Department can give that the United States claims Mr. Hubbard as a citizen. If the French Government requires any other proof of claim, it would doubtless be [Page 170] fully developed in the correspondence which would follow any attempt of the French authorities to disregard the evidence of a passport. But Mr. Hubbard and his guardian should be distinctly advised that this Government can not be expected to manifest any interest in claiming as a citizen a person who is voluntarily withdrawn from the jurisdiction of our laws, and who exhibits no practical intention to fulfill the duties of citizenship. Unless Mr. Hubbard makes good his citizenship within the year, no new passport will be granted him.

I am, etc.,

John W. Foster.