officials to aliens; and the cedulas in question were issued under the circumstances by the Spanish municipal officials without inquiry or evidence of identification. The Spanish authorities, besides, reprehended the viséing of their official certificates as a sort of discourtesy. Mr. Storer inquired whether the circular was intended to cover the existing state of affairs, as would seem to be indicated by Department's No. 244.

Mr. Storer also stated that, since the occupation of Cuba and Porto Rico by the United States, no cedulas appeared to have been issued there, but instead certain papers by alcaldes in Porto Rico and by provincial governors in Cuba, varying in form and in contents, those from Porto Rico containing no personal description or recital of citizenship, the holder being described merely as "vecino" (resident), while those from Cuba gave a personal description, sometimes with the statement that the bearer was of " nacionalidad Cubana," or that he was a native of a certain city. Again, there was a certificate signed by the secretary of state and interior of Cuba, to the effect that the bearer, born in Spain, had not exercised the option of Spanish nationality under Art. IX. of the treaty of peace, “which fact constitutes the tacit renunciation of his nationality and the protection of the flag of Spain.”

Mr. Storer asked for further instructions.

Mr. Hay, in his No. 283, of January 16, 1901, replied that, in view of the transitory conditions in Cuba, the uncertainties as to the actual and legislative future of the Philippines, and the pendency of the Porto Rican cases before the Supreme Court, the time was not thought to be ripe for formulating a general and permanent plan; that his course in authenticating the cedulas and passports, when it could not be avoided, was approved, and that the telegram of Nov. 6, 1900, was meant to authorize the visé of cedulas and passports when presented by Cubans and Porto Ricans, and by Filipinos when issued or countersigned by the military authorities in the Philippines. (For. Rel. 1901, 462.)

The consuls were authorized to certify only as to Cubans and Porto Ricans who were bona fide residents of those islands temporarily sojourning abroad. (For. Rel. 1901, 480-482.)

By the act of April 12, 1900, providing a civil government for Porto Rico, the inhabitants of Porto Rico continuing to reside therein, who were Spanish subjects residing in Porto Rico at the date of the ratification of the treaty of peace, were declared to be "citizens of Porto Rico," and as such "entitled to the protection of the United States."

66

'Passports are issued by the Department to persons entitled thereto, declaring that they are citizens of Porto Rico, and as such entitled to the protection of the United States."

Mr. Adee, Act. Sec. of State, to Mr. Vilas, Aug. 30, 1900, 247 MS. Dom.
Let. 448.

As to the form of application for such a passport, see Mr. Hay, Sec. of
State, to Mr. Schomburg, May 17, 1900, 245 MS. Dom. Let. 155.

The Department of State deems it wise to decline to issue passports to Porto Ricans as citizens of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States shall have rendered a decision defining their status. (Mr. Hill, Act. Sec. of State, to Mr. Lenderink, chargé in Chile, April 29, 1901, For. Rel. 1901, 32.)

See, further, as to the status of Porto Ricans, supra, § 379.

For the act of July 1, 1902, declaring the people of the Philippines, etc. to be citizens of the Philippine Islands, see supra, § 379.

In respect of passports, natives of Guam were to be treated in the same manner as inhabitants of Porto Rico or the Philippines.

Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Storer, min. to Spain, Dec. 24, 1901, For.
Rel. 1901, 485.

"Referring to your No. 1169 of January 25 last, touching the application for a passport made by Bernard Ehlers, a native of Honolulu, I inclose herewith copy of a dispatch from the special agent of the United States at Honolulu transmitting the reply of the Hawaiian minister for foreign affairs to the inquiry made by this Department as to whether the Hawaiian government considered Ehlers a bona fide citizen of those islands.

"As Mr. Ehlers's Hawaiian citizenship appears to be treated by Mr. Mott-Smith as an established fact, you may issue to Mr. Ehlers a document declaring that the bearer, Bernard Ehlers, is a citizen of the Hawaiian Islands, and as such is entitled to the protection of the United States.

"As in the case of Porto Ricans (Circular of May 2, 1899), United States passports can not be issued to natives of the Hawaiian Islands until their civil and political status has been determined by Congress."

Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. White, amb. at Berlin, April 2, 1900, For.
Rel. 1900, 521.

But, see supra, § 379, where it is shown that citizens of Hawaii were
afterward declared to be citizens of the United States.

Section 4076 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, based on the act of August 18, 1856, provided that no passport should be "granted or issued to or verified for any other persons than citizens of the United States." As we have seen, the inhabitants of Porto Rico were, by the act of April 12, 1900, supra, declared to be "citizens of Porto Rico;" while the people of the Philippines were, by the act of July 1, 1902, declared to be "citizens of the Philippine Islands; " and passports were issued to them accordingly. In order to cover, generally, the case of the inhabitants of the insular possessions of the United States, who, while they had not been declared to be citizens, were declared to be entitled to the protection, of the United States, Congress, by the act of June 14, 1903, amended § 4076 so as to read: "No passport shall be granted or issued to or verified for any other

persons than those owing allegiance, whether citizens or not, to the United States."

Act of June 14, 1902, 32 Stat., part 1, p. 386.

"2. To whom issued. The law forbids the granting of a passport to any person who is not a citizen of the United States, or who is not a loyal resident of an insular possession of the United States."

"9. A resident of an insular possession of the United States who owes allegiance to the United States. In addition to the statements required by rule 3 [prescribing the contents of applications for passports], he must state that he owes allegiance to the United States and that he does not acknowledge allegiance to any other government; and must submit affidavits from at least two credible witnesses having good means of knowledge in substantiation of his statements of birth, residence, and loyalty."

Rules Governing the Granting and Issuing of Passports in the United
States, September 12, 1903.

3. INDIANS.

$497.

"I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 506, of the 11th ultimo, reporting the application of Humper Nespar, or Wadded Moccasin, a Sioux Indian, for a passport.

"In reply I have to say that Indians are not citizens of the United States by reason of birth within its limits. Neither are our general naturalization laws applicable to them, but various Indian tribes have been naturalized by special acts of Congress. Section 6 of the act of February 8, 1887 (24 Stat. 388), provides that every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States to whom allotments shall have been made under the provisions of this act, or under any law or treaty, and every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States who has voluntarily taken up within said limits his residence separate and apart from any tribe of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits of civilized life, is hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States.'

"Section 43 of the act of May 2, 1890 (26 Stat. 99), provides that any member of any Indian tribe or nation residing in the Indian Territory may apply to the United States court therein to become a citizen of the United States, and such court shall have jurisdiction thereof and shall hear and determine such application, as provided in the statutes of the United States."

"Unless Humper Nespar was naturalized in one of the above modes, he is not entitled to a passport as a citizen of the United States.

"A copy of your despatch will be sent to the Interior Department and an effort made to determine definitely what his status is, as some Sioux tribes have been naturalized by special acts. Even if he has not acquired citizenship, he is a ward of the Government and entitled to the consideration and assistance of our diplomatic and consular officers. Your action in the case is therefore approved.

"In this connection reference to the case of 'Hampa,' reported in despatch No. 453, of May 7, 1896, from the consul at Odessa, is pertinent. Hampa, an American Indian, a member of a cowboy company which performed at Odessa, was discharged on account of drunkenness. The consul aided him, and upon the police requiring of Hampa a passport or document from the consulate, certifying to his identity, the consul issued the following:

To whom it may concern:

"The bearer of this document is a North American Indian, whose name is Hampa. This Indian is a ward of the United States and is entitled to the protection of its consular and other officials. He is not, however, entitled to a passport, as he is not a citizen of the United States. This consulate has the honor to request the Russian authorities to grant Hampa all necessary protection during his stay in Russia and grant him permission to depart when he requires it.

Consul.

"As the document expressly stated that Hampa was not a citizen of the United States and not entitled to a passport, its issuance could not be regarded as a violation of R. S. 4078. That section prohibits the granting by consular officers of passports to or for any person not a citizen of the United States. The same section also provides that no person not lawfully authorized so to do shall issue any passport or other instrument in the nature of a passport to or for any citizen of the United States, or to or for any person claiming to be or designated as such in such passport.

"The Department, at least tacitly, approved the consul's action in this case, and sees no valid objection to your issuing a similar document to Humper Nespar in the event of his failure to show that he is actually a citizen."

Mr. Sherman, Sec. of State, to Mr. Breckinridge, amb. to Russia, No. 391,
April 3, 1897, MS. Inst. Russia, XVII. 558.

This instruction is also printed in Hunt's Am. Passport, 146.

4. PERSONS OF COLOR.

$498.

Since, by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment and the naturalization laws, persons of African descent, if born or naturalized in the United States, are citizens thereof, no question as to their right to

receive passports any longer exist. Prior to the Civil War, however. passports in the usual form were not issued to them, though in some cases papers in the nature of passports, which were indiscriminately referred to as "passports" and "protections," were granted to free persons of color. These papers stated that the individuals to whom they were given were "free persons of color, born in the United States," and invoked for them all lawful aid and protection.

The Department of State did not consider these papers as being, in the proper legal sense," passports."

"Your letter of the 4th instant, enclosing an extract from the Free Soil Courier,' relative to my not granting a passport to Henry Hambledon, a colored man, was this day received. In reply to your first enquiry, I am sure that there is no law requiring or authorizing me to grant a passport to a colored person, and applications for such a passport as was asked in this case have always been refused by every other Secretary of State. Enclosed is the certificate of the passport clerk of this Department who occupied that place under my predecessor. In answer to your second question, I reply that I am not a slaveholder, though I do not perceive of what importance it can be to know it."

Mr. Clayton, Sec. of State, to Mr. D. W. C. Clark, Burlington, Vt., Aug. 8, 1849, 37 MS. Dom. Let. 269.

For certain forms used, see Hunt's Am. Passport, 15-18.

Mr. Gadsden, minister of the United States in Mexico, issued, June 28, 1854, a circular to the American consuls in that country forbidding them to interfere in future in behalf of persons of African descent, born in the United States. Mr. Marcy, however, declined to accept this view, and gave instructions that, while a consul might not certify that such persons were citizens of the United States, he might certify that they were born in the United States and were free, and that the Government would regard it as its duty to protect them, if wronged by a foreign government, when within its jurisdiction for a legal and proper purpose.

Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to U. S. consul at Matamoras, Jan. 18, 1855,
Moore, Int. Arbitrations, III. 2462.

By the Constitution, as construed by high authorities, free persons of color are not citizens of the United States and therefore cannot receive "passports," or claim when beyond the jurisdiction of the United States "the full rights of citizens;" but "the Secretary directs me to say that, though the Department could not certify that such persons are citizens of the United States, yet, if satisfied of the truth of the facts, it would give a certificate that they were born in the United States, are free, and that the Government thereof would