Several months passed by, and the Imperial Government made the necessary investigations to enable it to make answer to the Peruvian note; finally, it decided to do so; it mentioned that the Lorton had been stopped and sunk for having had on board contraband of war, in conformity with Article 49 of the Declaration of London, and that the case would be settled by a prize court before which the parties interested might appear to justify their rights.

The Peruvian Government decided that such a decision was unacceptable and forwarded instructions to our minister at Berlin to transmit to the German Government a note in which our government maintained that in accord with the Declaration of London referred to by the Imperial note, the torpedoing of the Lorton was absolutely unjustified by reason of the nationality of the vessel, the nature and destination of the cargo, the place of the wrecking, the impossibility on the part of the vessel of knowing anything about the decree concerning the forbidden zones, which the Peruvian Government refused, moreover, to accept, and the principles governing maritime hostilities and protecting neutral vessels; for all these reasons Peru did not nor could she agree that the matter be taken before a prize court, and insisted in a decisive manner that the reparation and indemnification asked for should be complied with.

Subsequently, Germany declared herself ready to submit the matter to an arbitration in order to clear up the following point, to wit: whether the vessel had been sunk in Spanish waters, an insinuation which was repelled by our Minister for Foreign Affairs, who stated that the point was of no importance in view of the fact that, whether within or without these waters, the incontestable fact remained that the Lorton had been sunk within the twenty-mile maritime zone declared free by the decree of February 1st, and that the attack had been committed against a neutral vessel which was navigating in an absolutely licit commercial purpose and protected by the provisions of international law then in force.

As the efforts of our government remained ineffectual and our government could not secure from the Empire acceptance of the claim presented, Peru resolved to demand satisfaction within the space of one week from the German Government. The latter stated to the Peruvian representative at Berlin that it regarded the solution of the affair in peremptory terms as absolutely impossible. In possession of this answer, our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. F. Tudela y Varela,

requested a meeting of Congress in order to inform it of the resolution of the government to break diplomatic relations with Germany; this decision was approved by 105 votes against 6. Immediately thereafter the Ministry ordered our minister at Berlin to ask for his passports and handed to Mr. Perl, German Minister to Peru, his passports.

The attitude of the Peruvian Government and Congress has met with the most enthusiastic approval on the part of public opinion and the press, which were in full accord with the sentiments and sympathies of the leaders of the Peruvian people. From the juridical and diplomatic point of view the act of Peru was fully justified.

Before the break on September 5th, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, while ratifying the declarations contained in the last message read to Congress by the President of the Republic, Mr. Joseph Pardo, and confirming the ideas set forth in the course of the discussion anent external politics, declared that the international policy of the government had for its object Pan-American solidarity founded upon the principles of international justice as proclaimed by President Wilson. The Chamber of Deputies agreed, therefore, to the declaration of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. On September 8th the Senate of the Republic unanimously adopted the following declaration: the international policy of Peru must be inspired by the principle of the solidarity of the nations of the continent with the United States, in harmony with the idea of international justice proclaimed by President Wilson and the declarations formulated in the Chamber of Deputies on the 5th of the current month by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. In communicating to the different nations our break with Germany, the Minister stated in his important note on October 8th:

Peru, on her part, while endeavoring to realize the preponderance of a uniform continental policy, maintains with complete firmness the integrity of her national sovereign rights in the presence of the refutation made by Germany of the principles of naval warfare, and it is in defense of these same principles that Peru has been brought to break her relations with the Empire because of the act committed on the Spanish coast by the German submarine against the Lorton while this vessel was sailing between neutral ports, and exercising an authorized commerce in no way contrary to the German regulations with regard to forbidden zones which in themselves constitute a violation of the law of nations; an unjustifiable act for which the Peruvian Government was powerless to obtain the reparations which were due to it.

The resistance made by Germany against our just demand, in spite of the invocation of the general principles of international law, in spite of the consideration of this case from the point of view of these same arbitrary rules proclaimed by the German Government, the establishment of anterior facts for which a similar claim was favorably allowed, these are acts which brought home to Peru the want of justice with which German policy is carried on and led her to take just action to counteract this policy in order that there might prevail in the world a juridical standard which might forever establish the predominance of right in the relations between nations.

THE AMENDMENT OF THE NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP ACTS WITH RESPECT TO MILITARY SERVICE

It was foreseen by the framers of the Constitution, to whom we owe this more perfect Union, and indeed to whom we owe a more perfect union of States than has ever existed, that the government created by the States as their agent for general purposes should be invested with sovereign powers to handle matters of more interest to all States than to any one State; that matters of interest to the individual State should be determined by the sovereign powers of that State; and that the rules or regulations prescribed by the United States in the common interest should be uniform, whereas the rules and regulations prescribed by the individual States might infinitely vary, according to local conditions and circumstances. Among these general interests was that of naturalization, and to remove the subject from doubt it was provided in the eighth section of Article 1 of the Constitution that the Congress should have, among other grants of power, that "to establish an uniform rule of naturalization." In pursuance of this grant the Congress has from time to time passed naturalization laws, the most elaborate one of which is that approved by the President June 29, 1906, entitled "An Act to establish a Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization and to provide a uniform rule for the naturalization of aliens throughout the United States." The right of subjects or citizens to emigrate and to expatriate themselves is a logical consequence of the Declaration of Independence, which derives the powers of government from the consent of the governed.

While recognizing the right of expatriation in formal terms by Act of Congress of July 27, 1868, as "a natural and inherent right of all

people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," it was not until the passage of the Act of March 2, 1907, that the government recognized the right of American citizens to expatriate themselves in accordance with the theory which this government had invariably applied to foreigners wishing to become citizens of the United States. This Act provides that a citizen of the United States loses his citizenship by becoming a citizen or subject of a foreign country, and that he also loses his citizenship by taking an oath of allegiance to a foreign country, whether in so doing he does or does not acquire the nationality of the country to which he takes the oath.

The naturalization and the citizenship Acts, adequate enough for the piping times of peace, have proven defective in time of war, or rather the exigencies of the war have required provisions springing out of the newer and unforeseen conditions. Therefore an Act amendatory of both was passed by the Congress, and approved by the President May 9, 1918. The fundamental purpose of this Act is to enable noncitizens, whether born in American territory, such as the Philippines or Porto Rico, or aliens in the ordinary sense of the word, to become citizens of the United States with or without a declaration of intention, if they are serving the country in the crisis through which it is passing, either in the land or naval forces of the United States; and further to enable citizens of the United States who had before our declaration of war against the Imperial German Government expatriated themselves by taking the oath of service and serving in the armies of the countries now at war with the enemies of the United States, to resume citizenship upon terms which would seem not to penalize them for what must today be considered a patriotic, as it was then a praiseworthy act.

While the Act in question is too long to print in its entirety, and difficult to analyze in that its provisions are stated in summary terms, it is nevertheless desirable to quote in this connection the first part of the first seven subdivisions added to the Naturalization Act of June 29, 1906, which reads as follows:

Any native born Filipino of the age of twenty-one years and upward who has declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States and who has enlisted or may hereafter enlist in the United States Navy or Marine Corps or the Naval Auxiliary Service, and who, after service of not less than three years, may be honorably discharged therefrom, or who may receive an ordinary discharge with recom

mendation for reënlistment; or any alien, or any Porto Rican not a citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who has enlisted or entered or may hereafter enlist in or enter the armies of the United States, either the Regular or the Volunteer Forces, or the National Army, the National Guard or Naval Militia of any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, or the State militia in Federal service, or in the United States Navy or Marine Corps, or in the United States Coast Guard, or who has served for three years on board of any vessel of the United States Government, or for three years on board of merchant or fishing vessels of the United States of more than twenty tons burden, and while still in the service on a reënlistment or reappointment, or within six months after an honorable discharge or separation therefrom, or while on furlough to the Army Reserve or Regular Army Reserve after honorable service, may, on presentation of the required declaration of intention petition for naturalization without proof of the required five years' residence within the United States if upon examination by the representative of the Bureau of Naturalization, in accordance with the requirements of this subdivision it is shown that such residence can not be established.

It will be observed that these classes of persons have already declared their intention to become citizens, and because of service to the government their naturalization is facilitated by removing from them the burden of proving a residence of five years within the United States.

The next part of this section deals with the cases of aliens who have not declared their intention to become citizens, as well as with certain classes of declarants who are considered entitled to citizenship because of the services which they have rendered the government. The first portion of this part of the section is thus worded:

Any alien serving in the military or naval service of the United States during the time this country is engaged in the present war may file his petition for naturalization without making the preliminary declaration of intention and without proof of the required five years' residence within the United States; any alien declarant who has served in the United States Army or Navy, or the Philippine Constabulary, and has been honorably discharged therefrom, and has been accepted for service in either the military or naval service of the United States on the condition that he becomes a citizen of the United States, may file his petition for naturalization upon proof of continuous residence within the United States for the three years immediately preceding his petition, by two witnesses, citizens of the United States, and in these cases only residence in the Philippine Islands and the Panama Canal Zone by aliens may be considered residence within the United States, and the place of such military service shall be construed as the place of residence required to be established for purposes of naturalization; and any alien, or any person owing permanent allegiance to the United States embraced within this subdivision, may file his petition for naturalization in the most convenient court without proof of residence within its jurisdiction, notwithstanding the limitation upon the jurisdiction of the courts specified in section three of the Act of June twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and six,