the United States regarding the prima facie evidence of foreign and American passports and documents proving the identity of persons." The Department of State, in referring to the termination of the case, replied that the precedent was "a valuable one, because in the Benich case and other cases the authorities of Austria-Hungary, while admitting that a passport of a friendly nation is prima facie evidence of citizenship and must be respected by administrative officers, have suggested that judicial officers might act in disregard of it. In this case you contended that when there is no charge of fraud in the procurement of a passport, or as to the identity of the person presenting it, it must be respected by judicial as well as administrative officers, and the correspondence shows that this view was shared by the Austro-Hungarian minister.” Mr. Tripp, min. to Aust. Hung., to Count Goluchowsky, min. of foreign May 1, 1895, Mr. Hengelmüller, minister of Austria-Hungary, transmitted to the Department of State a passport, which had been issued by it, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the bearer, from whom it had been taken in Austria, had "really become a citizen of the United States," so as to be exempt from military duty under the treaty of September 20, 1870. The Department of State replied that no previous instance was recalled of such a reference to it on the part of the Austro-Hungarian Government, and that it would be much regretted were it to form a precedent, since passports issued by the Secretary of State under the seal of the Department would fail of their purpose if foreign authorities were at liberty to disregard them till certified anew by the issuing authority. Attention was drawn to the correspondence between the two Governments in 1893, and particularly to the instruction of Mr. Gresham to Mr. Tripp, September 4, 1893, supra, and to the note of Count Welsersheimb to Mr. Tripp of August 18, 1894, admitting "the necessity that papers issued by the competent authorities of one country should be respected and recognized by the authorities of a third state as long as these documents do not bear unmistakable proofs of having been counterfeited or otherwise obtained by fraud." Having thus reaffirmed its views, the Department stated, without prejudice to its position, that the passport was duly issued upon proof that the applicant had been lawfully naturalized after more than five years' residence in the United States. Mr. Hengelmüller, Austro-Hungarian min., to Mr. Gresham, Sec. of State, May 1, 1895; Mr. Uhl, Act. Sec. of State, to Mr. Hengelmüller, May 8, 1895: For. Rel. 1895, I. 8, 9. In an instruction to Mr. Tripp of May 9, 1895, Mr. Uhl drew attention to March 25, 1896, Mr. Tripp reported that the cases of arrest of naturalized citizens of the United States in Austria for failure to perform military duty had become quite infrequent, as the local military authorities of the different provinces had instructions from the foreign office to give to American passports the credit to which they were entitled. A naturalized citizen of the United States, if arrested, was immediately released on the presentation of his papers, without recourse to a consul or to the legation itself, unless some peculiar facts existed in the particular case. For. Rel. 1896, 4-5. Complaint was made by Mr. Leopold Rieder, of Newark, N. J., that the Austrian authorities took possession of his passport and refused to return it, notwithstanding his frequent requests for it. On investigation it appeared that Rieder, when summoned before the military authorities in Galicia, did not appear in response to the summons, but instead gave up his passport, saying that that would explain the situation. Pending an investigation he returned to America, and when the magistrate ordered his passport to be returned to him he could not be found. The Austrian Government therefore turned over his passport to the United States legation in Vienna. Mr. Tower, United States minister, said that if Mr. Rieder had consented to appear and make a statement to the magistrate when he was summoned, he would have saved himself much annoyance and would have had his passport returned to him without delay. For. Rel. 1897, 5–7. In connection with the principle laid down in Benich's case, the following correspondence is to be noticed: By the naturalization treaties between the United States and the German States (just as by that between the United States and Austria-Hungary) both naturalization and residence of five years are required as conditions of recognized change of allegiance. Acting upon these stipulations, the Würtemberg authorities, in 1894, demanded of one Seifried, who had been arrested for failure to perform military service, independent proof, apart from his passport and certificate of naturalization, that he had uninterruptedly resided in the United States for five years, and, pending the production by him of such proof, admitted him to bail. He was afterwards released on showing that he had continuously resided in the United States thirteen years. With regard to this case, the Department of State observed that, although the fact of naturalization in the United States implied in the great majority of cases a continuous five years' residence, it did not imply such residence in all cases-e. g., minors, honorably discharged soldiers, merchant seamen, etc., naturalized under special provisions of law on less than five years' residence; that a passport, as a certificate of citizenship, did not disclose the statute under which the naturalization was effected, nor, in view of the varied and deficient forms of naturalization certificates and of other matters of record, on which the passport was issued, could it practically be made to do so; and that the question was further complicated by the circumstance that, even if the naturalization was effected under one of the statutes requiring less than a five years' residence, the person so naturalized was, after completing such residence, treated as having fulfilled the conventional conditions. In consideration of these things, and "in the absence of disrespect to the passport itself, as prima facie evidence of citizenship, or of any apparent purpose on the part of the governments of Germany to question the fact of naturalization when duly certified to have been performed in accordance with the statutes of the United States, it may not bet easy," said the Department of State, "to dispute the claim of those States, under existing naturalization treaties, to ascertain by some separate process whether the conjoint requirement of those treaties in respect to residence has been fulfilled. We can not, of course, admit any impugnment whatever of the validity and sufficiency of a passport as a prima facie certification of the fact of lawful citizenship, nor could we acquiesce in any proceedings in determination of the residential condition which would impose undue hardship upon the individual or exact of him proof of statutory naturalization, for this latter is abundantly covered by this Government's formal certification of the fact of lawful citizenship. We certainly could not question the competency of a German court to admit and pass upon proof of five years' total residence in the United States in the case of those persons acquiring our citizenship in less time and as to whom this Government might not be able to certify to the duration of any other part of their period of residence than that which antedated naturalization, and if thus admissible, and in such a case even necessary as to a part of the five years, the claim as to the whole period can not readily be contestable. "The newspapers recently published a telegraphic item reporting a decision by the imperial supreme court in Saxony which appears to relate to the present subject. If not already done, you will report to the Department the facts and circumstances of that decision. In the meantime, or until otherwise instructed, you may suspend action upon H. Doc, 551-vol 3-63 the Department's No. 238 and No. 445, unless it should appear that the courts go behind the passport as prima facie evidence of the fact of citizenship and require the bearer to prove naturalization. As stated in the instructions to the United States minister at Vienna, to which those dispatches refer, the attestation of citizenship contained in the passport can only be traversed by allegation of unlawful acquisition of citizenship, in which case it is the right and duty of the naturalizing Government to determine whether the party be or be not rightfully one of its citizens." Mr. Olney, Sec. of State, to Mr. Jackson, chargé at Berlin, No. 544, See, also. Mr. Uhl, Act. Sec. of State, to Mr. Runyon, amb. to Germany, As a general rule, a passport granted by the Secretary of State is not evidence in a court of justice [in the United States] that the person to whom it was given was a citizen of the United States. Urtetiqui v. D'Arbel, 9 Pet. 692. 2. VISÉ. $526. "Some foreign countries, before recognizing the validity of a passport, require that a visa, or visé, shall be, or shall have been, affixed to it. This is an endorsement denoting that the passport has been examamined and is authentic, and that the bearer may be permitted to proceed on his journey. Sometimes it is required that the visa be affixed in the country where the passport is issued, by a diplomatic or consular officer of the government requiring it; sometimes simply by such officer anywhere; sometimes at the frontier of the country to which admission is sought. It may even be required from a diplomatic or consular officer of the government which issued the passport." Hunt's Am. Passport, 5. See Dana's Wheaton, 298, n., there cited. 66 The visé is affected by endorsing the words Good for The legal charge for the visé of an American passport in Europe by a consular officer of the United States "is $1.00, which can be charged only once in the same country." Mr. Cass, Sec. of State, to Mr. Wilcox, Feb. 29, 1860, 51 MS. Dom. Let. 499. 66 Passports are to be verified only by the consular officer of the place where the verification is sought, for which a fee of one dollar in the gold coin of the United States, or its equivalent, will be collected. In the absence of such consular officer, or should the foreign government refuse to acknowledge the validity of the consular visé, it may be given by the principal diplomatic representative. A diplomatic representative or his secretary of legation may, however, verify passports presented to him when there is no consulate of the United States established in the city where the legation is situated. A consular agent may visé but can not issue a passport. "No visé will be attached to a passport after two years from its date. A new passport may, however, be issued in its place by the proper authority, as hereinbefore provided, if desired by a holder who has not forfeited citizenship." Printed Personal Instructions to Dip. Agents, 1885, See U. S. Cons. Reg., 1881, § 164. The legislation of the United States does not require a consular officer to visé foreign passports; but, if desired to visé such a passport, he may do so as a matter of courtesy, as had been the practice in Greece. (Mr. Cridler, Third Assist. Sec. of State, to Mr. McGinley, No. 6, May 21, 1898, 162 MS. Inst. Consuls, 14.) If a consular officer of the United States is asked by the foreign authorities whether a paper purporting to be an American passport is genuine, he may reply by letter, saying, if the case warrants it, that the form of the paper and its signature and seal are to the best of his knowledge, regular and genuine; and for such an answer he is to charge no fee. If the ordinary consular visé be desired on an American passport, he will affix it upon payment of the prescribed fee. (Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Harris, No. 59, Jan. 5, 1900, MS. Inst. Aust.-Hung. IV. 444.) General Otis having desired that the American consul at Singapore should visé the passports of all passengers for the Philippine Islands, including those of foreigners, it was decided to permit the consul to endorse foreign passports with the word "Seen," together with the date and his signature. To this endorsement he was to affix his official seal; and he was also to collect the official fee prescribed for viséing a passport, and turn it into the Treasury in the usual manner. Mr. Adee, Second Assist. Sec. of State, to Mr. Moseley, jr., consul at Singapore, No. 16, Sept. 21, 1899, 169 MS. Inst. Consuls, 317. See Mr. Cridler, Third Assist. Sec. of State, to Mr. Moseley, jr., Sept. 6, 1899, id. 206. "No one is admitted to Russia without a passport. It must be viséed by a Russian diplomatic or consular representative. Upon entering Russia it should be shown at the first Government house, and the holder will be given another passport or permit of sojourn. |