The legation of the United States at Vienna in 1899 cancelled a passport which had been found to have been obtained by false swearing. Subsequently, the individual who had obtained it and who had a criminal record in Austria was arrested in that country, and the Austrian authorities, who desired to prosecute him for having had in his possession for use a document fraudulently obtained, applied to the legation for the false papers on which the passport was issued. The legation having applied for instruction, the Department of State replied that if a foreign court, in its endeavor to convict a person of the offense of possessing a passport said to have been obtained by fraud could" adjudge whether the passport was rightly or fraudulently obtained, it could, in like manner, assume to pass upon the legality of an act of naturalization, an assumption that we have always strenuously contested," and that consequently the turning over of the papers to the Austrian authorities could not be authorized. Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Harris, min. to Austria-Hungary, Nov. 7, 1899, For. Rel. 1899, 78. Where a foreign-born person, who claimed to have been naturalized in the United States, fraudulently obtained a passport as a native citizen, and when questioned on the subject in Germany was unable to exhibit a certificate of naturalization, the embassy in Berlin was instructed to notify the proper authorities in Germany that he was not a citizen of the United States and that his passport had been withdrawn. For. Rel. 1904, 315-316. VIII. SPECIAL PASSPORTS. § 528. Special passports, stating the official position or the occupation of the holder, and omitting his physical description, have from time to time been issued by the Secretary of State to citizens of the United States. Aug. 19, 1874, Mr. Fish, as Secretary of State, made it a rule to issue such passports "only to prominent officials about to visit foreign countries on public business" and to officers not below the rank of major in the Army and relative rank in the Navy. This limitation was, after Mr. Fish's time, disregarded. In May, 1897, the rule was established of granting special passports to officers of the Army and the Navy, for whom the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, respectively, might request them, with the understanding that they would not be solicited for purposes of purely private and personal convenience. In all cases the statutory fee of a dollar is required. Safe conducts, in a form similar to that of special passports, have also been issued to aliens, especially as bearers of dispatches. So, also, letters of safe conduct, commonly called passports, are given to foreign ministers traveling in or departing from the United States. Hunt's Am. Passport, 7-35. The following is an interesting example of a document partaking of the "To all whom these presents shall come, greeting: “In faith whereof, I, James Madison, Secretary for the Department of (L. S.) 14 MS. Dom. Let. 331. "JAMES MADISON.” "Within the last few years the subject of the issuance of special passports of this character [to unofficial citizens of the United States] has had careful examination, with the conclusion that they do not satisfy the statutory definition of a passport as regards the certification of citizenship. For such certification but one form of passport is authorized, and this the Department issues upon due proof of citizenship and payment of the prescribed fee. The special passport appears properly to be limited to the cases of persons going abroad in fulfillment of some official trust or duty, and in such cases is necessary as a certification of the bearer's public character." Mr. Olney, Sec. of State, to Mr. Wagner, Nov. 25, 1895, 206 MS. Dom. "The Department does not question the exigency which required the employment of a bearer of despatches, the legation necessarily being the best judge on this point, but any document given him by the legation for his safe conduct was not, properly speaking, a passport, if he was not an American citizen, and no fee was charged, as appears to have been the case. The law, section 4076, Revised Statutes, forbids the issuing of a passport to any one who is not a citizen of the United States, and it is not permissible to issue one without collecting the fee. (See Secretary Sherman's decision, page 25, 'The American Passport.')" 66 Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Storer, No. 313, March 25, 1901, MS. Inst. Special passports are not to be issued by our agents abroad, and no passport whatever is to be issued without collecting the fee of one dollar required by law." Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Storer, No. 313, March 25, 1901, MS, Inst. Mr. A. Dudley Mann having complained of the refusal of the Russian legation in Paris to visé his passport, Mr. Everett said: "As you had no despatches for Russia, the President entirely approves your conduct in not claiming any favor as a bearer of de-. spatches, although you were in possession of a passport in that capacity. Some looseness of practice has crept in, with reference to passports of this kind, of an injurious tendency. Originally given to those actually charged with despatches, they have been retained for ordinary use after the despatches have been delivered at their destination. This circumstance has sometimes given an unreal character to these passports, which tends to impair their value in the hands of those entitled to them, besides being objectionable in other respects." Mr. Everett, Sec. of State, to Mr. Mann, Dec. 13, 1852, 41 MS. Dom. Let. 138. Germany. IX. LOCAL PAPERS. 1. EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. $ 529. The meaning and interpretation of section 163, Consular Regulations, "seems very plain and obvious. In cities or towns in Germany where, for purposes of identification, sojourning foreigners are required by the local laws or municipal regulations to deposit their passports with the police or other local authorities, as is understood to be the case in Hamburg, Berlin, and generally in cities and towns throughout Germany, a consular certificate may be granted setting forth the facts as appearing from the. passports, but only with a view of complying with the law or regulation.' "The person seeking such certificate there must present to the consul a passport, and the passport must not be over two years old. The certificate should be confined in its statements to the facts appearing from the passport.' It should also state the time at which it (the certificate) will cease to be effective, which time is to be limited by the date at which the passport will be two years old, and it should also state expressly and explicitly that it is only to be used in the locality where it is issued, and there only for the purpose of compliance with the local laws and regulations of such locality. Moreover, in no case is such consular certificate to take the place of or to be used in lieu of a passport." Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. Sargent, July 26, 1883, MS. Inst. "No passport is good in Russia for more than six months, and must then be replaced by a Russian local permit to reside or travel, renewable from time to time, and always liable to be demanded by local officials or hotel keepers." Russia. Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Straus, min. to Turkey, No. 14, May 10, 1887, MS. Inst. Turkey, IV. 573. For a case of the arrest of an American citizen in Russia, with a passport, for having failed to exchange his passport for a Russian permit in the first province of the Empire which he entered, see Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. Hunt, No. 7, July 22, 1882, MS. Inst. Russia, XVI. 287. Turkey. The American consul at Beirut, having protested against the Turkish regulation requiring local passes or teskéréh, to be obtained for traveling in the interior, under penalty of a fine of two Turkish livres, or about 8 cents, as an annoyance to travelers as well as an infraction of Art. IV. of the treaty of 1830, the Department of State said: "It is probable that in Turkey the variety of languages and races to be found in her dominions renders a foreign passport, which is in a language utterly unintelligible to local officials in districts remote from Constantinople, much less efficient and useful in protecting travelers than a Turkish teskéréh, with familiar language, seals, and signatures. Such a document may fairly be considered as a safe conduct, and on the ground of personal safety alone it might be wiser for travellers to take pains to inform themselves of the rules enforced in Turkey and waive the slight annoyance and expense attendant on observing them, in consideration of the additional feeling of security therefrom. . Article I. of the treaty [of 1830] says: On The small both sides travelling passports shall be granted.' penalty exacted for the absence of a teskéréh is not applied as the result of a trial by court, but is merely a police regulation. The consul says that other powers have acquiesced in these passport regulations, and it might be better, as long as there is no national discrimination in the treatment of our citizens, to reserve the enforcement of our judicial privileges for graver questions. The enlightened city of Berlin enforces a fine against any one, whether foreigner or citizen. who, after being twice summoned, neglects to appear in person with their papers at the police office, and a third summons renders the delinquent liable to imprisonment. The theory of foreign governments is that stringent passport regulations protect innocent travellers against troublesome mistakes in identity for guilty ones or from other annoyances to which strangers are everywhere liable. "It might, however, be well for you when, in your judgment, a favorable opportunity offers, to represent to the Turkish Government that while our countrymen are scrupulously desirous of observing all the laws and ordinances of the countries in which they travel, yet that it is hoped that some mitigation would be acceptable of the present Turkish passport regulations, which are found to be oppressive for citizens of a country so distant as our own, and to persons so little accustomed to any travelling restraints. "You may suggest, for instance, that the visé of the consul at the last port should be dispensed with, and the fine remitted in cases where through ignorance of regulations the local teskéréh has not been procured. It would also perhaps be useful to our citizens if your legation and the consulates in Turkish dominions could have a translation of the Turkish passport regulations printed in good sized type, to be displayed in a conspicuous place for the benefit of our travellers." Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Straus, min. to Turkey, No. 14, May 10, 1887, MS. Inst. Turkey, IV. 573. "The requirement of Turkish teskéréhs for traveling Americans, of which you complain, is not regarded by the Department as unreasonable, in view of the general inability of the native Turk to comprehend the purport of a United States passport. Such travel permits are recognized in China and Japan, and the laws of some European and South American countries require locally issued certificates for traveling or sojourning foreigners." Mr. Uhl, Acting Secretary, to Mr. Metheny, March 8, 1895, 201 MS. Dom. In consequence of the Armenian troubles, the Turkish Government suspended for a time the authority of the teskéréh office or bureau at Constantinople to issue travel permits for the interior on a consular application, and required an iradé to be obtained from the palace. In November, 1898, however, the former practice was restored, and a |