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notice was issued that foreigners desiring to travel in the Empire might"in future obtain local passports on producing an ilmu-haber (application) from the consulate of their country, setting forth their identity, the object of their journey, the places to which they wish to go, as well as the approximate duration of the stay they intend making."

For. Rel. 1898, 1100.

The requirement that a foreigner traveling in Turkey must have a Turkish teskéréh, or travel permit, “has been inforce for many years, and as long as it is not abused is no doubt a very sensible and proper police regulation, as few if any of the Turkish agents can read either English or French."

Mr. Leishman, min. to Turkey, to Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, July 5, 1901,
For. Rel. 1901, 523.

In October, 1900, complaint was made to the legation of the United States at Constantinople by the United States consul at Ezerum, that the Rev. Mr. Cole, an American missionary at Bitlis, was deprived of his treaty rights by the refusal of the governor-general to grant him a teskéréh or traveling passport. As the governor stated that he was acting under orders from Constantinople the legation asked that he be directed to issue the teskéréh. Such a direction was promised, and it seems to have been given, but to have been afterwards countermanded. On learning this fact, Mr. Leishman, the American minister, authorized Mr. Cole, who had then been unable to attend to his affairs in various places outside of Bitlis for nearly a year, to travel with his American passport wherever his duty or interests might require, always taking care to advise the governor of his movements, and informed the Porte that he should hold the Government responsible for Mr. Cole's safety and strictly accountable for any damage, annoyances, or inconveniences which he might suffer. It seems that the course of the Turkish officials was due to Mr. Cole's active interest in the Armenian cause.

For. Rel. 1901, 523-529.

2. AMERICAN COUNTRIES.

§ 530.

"It sometimes happens in Spanish-American countries that an alien is required to deposit his passport with the legation or a consulate and receive a certificate of registry according to local formula.”

Mr. Adee, Acting Sec. of State, to Mr. Terres, Sept. 26, 1893, For. Rel. 1894, 346.

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I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 33 of the 2d instant. You therein call attention to the general Argentine Republic. use by all foreign consuls at Buenos Ayres, excepting the consul of the United States, of forms of certificates of nationality, known as "papeletas," and you state that under the regulations governing the mobilization of the national guard the police have authority to arrest persons not reporting for duty unless they present a "papeleta" evidencing the fact of foreign birth or citizenship, which being the only form of certificate known or accepted by the police, is considered preferable to a regularly viséd passport. You inclose the forms of certificates used by the foreign consuls and recommend, in view of their general use, the adoption of some such certificate for your legation and our consulate at Buenos Ayres. You also ask, in the event of the adoption of such form, for instructions as to its use, and request information on several points which relate to the subject.

"The proposed form which you inclose (inclosure No. 4) is quite inadmissible. It is simply a passport in Spanish. There are only two ways of certification of American citizens available:

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(1) Deposit of regular passport in the legation or consulate and the issuance to the bearer of a certificate of such deposit and of his registration in the legation or consulate. The French form (inclosure No. 2 to your dispatch) might serve.

"(2) Indorsement on the passport itself of a certificate in Spanish. A Spanish translation of the following form might be used:

The within passport, issued by

dated

attests that

is

a citizen of the United States of America, and as such is entitled to the rights and privileges of such a citizen in a foreign country.

Seen and noted in this legation (or consulate).
Good for all the territory of the Argentine Republic.

"No person can receive a certificate of citizenship in lieu of a passport. Whatever certificate is given must be predicated upon a regular passport."

Mr. Gresham, Sec. of State, to Mr. Buchanan, min. to Arg. Rep., No. 24,
Aug. 15, 1894, For. Rel. 1894, 19. See infra, § 542.

Guatemala.

The laws of Guatemala requiring all foreigners to be registered as such and to produce evidence of their alienage in the form of a passport, or a certificate from the diplomatic or consular representative of the country to which they belong, the minister of the United States, who was then charged with the protection of Chinese in Guatemala, was instructed that the diplomatic and consular officers of the United States, it being understood that they were not acting as representatives of China, and therefore could not grant original certificates of Chinese citizenship, might, with the

concurrence of the Guatemalan minister for foreign affairs, certify substantially as follows: "That claims to be a subject of His Majesty the Emperor of China, resident in Guatemala, and that upon proving his status as such Chinese subject, he is under the protection of the Government of the United States and entitled to the good offices of the diplomatic and consular officers thereof in case of need, in pursuance of an understanding between the Governments of Guatemala and China to that end."

For. Rel. 1896, 379–380.

Hayti.

"The fee of $4 prescribed for the issuance of the Haytian certificate of travel and residence is presumably what is objected to by persons resorting to Hayti, but as this is a purely municipal -tax imposed indiscriminately, there is no ground for contesting it."

Mr. Uhl, Acting Sec. of State, to Mr. Terres, Aug. 24, 1894, For. Rel. 1894, 347.

Uruguay.

Mr. Stuart, minister of the United States at Montevideo, reported, April 9, 1897, that, in view of the civil war then raging in Uruguay, he had issued to various citizens of the United States "protection papers " in the following form:

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"It is supposed that these certificates of protection are required by the local authorities in pursuance of some rule of registration or matriculation such as prevails in the various Spanish-American countries.

"The question of the issuance of such certificates came up for consideration in 1894, when Minister Buchanan reported the custom of the foreign consuls at Buenos Ayres to issue forms of certificates of nationality known as 'papeletas' in consequence of the regulations governing the mobilization of the national guard, under which the police had authority to arrest persons not reporting for duty unless they presented a papeleta' evidencing the fact of foreign birth or citizenship, which, being the only form of certificate known to or accepted by the Argentine police, was considered preferable to a regular viséed passport. Those papeletas were required to be in the Spanish tongue, and Mr. Buchanan submitted a proposed form for

the stated purpose. The Department ruled that any form which originally certified the fact of citizenship was quite inadmissible, being simply a passport in the Spanish language. The only certificate of citizenship issued by the United States is a passport, and the giving of any document of the nature or in lieu of a passport is not authorized. Mr. Buchanan was instructed that only two ways of certification or matriculation of American citizens were available— either (1) deposit of the regular passport in the legation or consulate and of his registration in the legation or consulate, or (2) indorsement on the passport itself of a certificate in Spanish to the effect that the within passport attests that A. B. is a citizen of the United States of America, and as such is entitled to the rights and privileges of such a citizen in a foreign country.

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In view of this rule, the Department can not approve the ' protection papers' which you report having given to the fourteen persons named. They should have applied for and received regular passports. If a further protection paper in Spanish is needed, the form prescribed for use in the Argentine Republic might conveniently be followed by you upon the deposit of the regular passport in the legation or a consulate of the United States, such certificate being given free of charge. The form so authorized is as follows:

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El infrascrito

certifica que

consul de los Estados Unidos de America, en esta matriculado en este consulado como ciudadano

de los Estados Unidos de America, y que es portador del pasaporte No.

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Mr. Sherman, Sec. of State, to Mr. Stuart, min. to Uruguay, May 25, 1897,
For. Rel. 1897, 593, 594.

3. CHINA.

§ 531.

In China three different kinds of documents, in the nature of passports, are to be distinguished-passports, travel certificates, and transit passes.

Passports are issued by the American minister, in the usual form. Travel certificates are issued by the consuls, in order to satisfy the requirements of the local authorities.

Transit passes are issued for the exportation of native produce, in order to avoid the likin exactions.

Owing to the long distances and the difficulty oftentimes of communicating with Peking, the custom grew up in China of sending to the

H. Doc. 551-vol 3- -64

consuls blank passports, signed and sealed by the minister, to be issued as occasion arose. This custom was approved by the Department of State, in its No. 79, of Sept. 11, 1876, to the American minister in China. In 1884, however, the practice was discontinued, and all blank passports entrusted to the consuls were recalled by the legation, under instructions of the Department of State."

In view of the difficulty an applicant for a passport might encounter in China, at places remote from a consular office, in executing the oath prescribed by the Department of State's passport circular of Feb. 23, 1887, as a condition of the issuance of a passport, Mr. Denby, then American minister at Peking, suggested a form of certificate, to be signed in the presence of a witness, in places where no consular officer was accessible. This form, with certain modifications, was approved.

In 1890, instructions were given to require the attestation of two witnesses, instead of only one.

In terminating the practice under which passports were issued by the American consuls in China, the Department of State took steps to authorize the issuance by consuls of travel certificates, in conformity with the system in vogue under the stipulations of Art. IX. of the British treaty of 1858, the benefits of which the United States invoked under the most-favored-nation clause. By this treaty British subjects may "travel, for their pleasure or for purposes of trade, to all parts of the interior, under passports which will be issued by their consuls, and countersigned by the local authorities." d

"These so-called passports, issued under the British treaty,

are not passports in the international sense, but local certificates or passes granting permission to the bearer thereof to go into the interior from the treaty port where they are issued,

a Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. Young, min. to China, No. 379, Jan. 19, 1885, MS. Inst. China, III. 681, referring to instruction No. 342, by which the discontinuance was ordered.

Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Denby, No. 225, Aug. 24, 1887, MS. Inst. China, IV. 300.

c Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Denby, min. to China, No. 523, May 6, 1890, For. Rel. 1890, 182. See Mr. Denby's No. 1058, Feb. 26, 1890, and No, 1061, March 6, 1890, For. Rel. 1890, 174, 175. Accompanying Mr. Blaine's No. 523, of May 6. 1890, For. Rel. 1890, 182, is a circular of the Department of State to the consuls in China, of May 1, 1890, which is cited in Mr. Gresham, Sec. of State, to Mr. Grip, Swedish & Nor, min., Oct. 7, 1893, MS. Notes to Sw. & Nor. VII, 530;

“I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 23, of the 10th of August last, reporting that the Chinese Government has instructed its officials at Canton to recognize American passports issued by our diplomatic and consular officers outside of China who are authorized to issue such documents. The consuls at Hongkong and Canton have been informed by the Department of this satisfactory disposition of the matter." (Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Conger, min. to China, No. 62, Oct. 15, 1898, MS. Inst. China, V. 611.)

d 48 Brit. and For. State Papers, 49.

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