citizens going abroad, as an evidence to foreign governments of their nationality, was a passport. Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Butterworth, March 4, 1890, 176 MS. "A passport is the only paper issued by the Department for the protection of a citizen " abroad. Mr. Foster, Sec. of State, to Mr. Clarke, M. C.,Dec. 20, 1892, 189 MS. Dom. "Passports are issued by this Department to naturalized citizens upon the production of the certificate of naturalization. There is no law of the United States requiring a passport to state when a naturalized citizen left the country of his birth, or to embody that statement in the passport. It has not been the practice of this Department to insert such a statement in the passports issued to former Turkish subjects or to any other naturalized citizens. A different course might imply that the right of the foreign government to participate in or to make the naturalization of its subjects conditional was acknowledged here. This it has never been and probably never will be." Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Emmet, May 20, 1885, For. Rel. 1885, 847. "There is neither law nor regulation in the United States requiring those who resort to its territories to produce passports. Since the foundation of the Government such documents have never been required save in time of war, and resort to this restriction upon the freedom of travel was happily not found to be necessary during the recent hostilities with Spain. Neither is the production of a passport as evidence of identity or civil condition a requisite to residence in any of the several States of the Union. "The certificates issued to Chinese subjects coming to the United States are hardly an exception to this rule, being in the nature of certificates of identity and of individual right to enter the United States under the privileges granted by treaty between the United States and China to certain classes of Chinamen." Mr. Adee, Act. Sec. of State, to Sir J. Pauncefote, Brit. min., No. 1194, "It has been determined to inaugurate a new system by which no American citizen of foreign birth shall receive passports without being informed of those general provisions of law of the land of his birth which it is important for him to know before he returns to it. He will therefore receive with his passport a brief and easily comprehended statement applicable to his case." Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Herdliska, chargé at Vienna, Dec. 10, 1900, For the statements applicable to the various countries, see For. Rel. 1901, See, also, the chapter on Nationality, title Expatriation, supra, § 431 et seq. "As a means of controlling individuals, the efficacy of passports is questionable, for little or no impediment can exist to their procurement, either in a regular way upon proof of citizenship, or by subterfuge, by the few to whom precautionary measures might apply and who are interested in avoiding them, while upon the mass of honest travelers they impose an expensive and useless burden. Admitting that passports may serve as a check in certain cases, their usefulness in this sense is more than counterbalanced by the international considerations attaching to such documents. Passports are prima facie evidence of the individual's right as a citizen to the protection of the Government which issues them, and a special responsibility rests upon the Government that disregards such evidence. . . . The modern systems of travel, moreover, are on definite and regular lines of communication. Individuals traveling by separate conveyance from one country to another are rarely encountered, and to them the conditions of the passport system do not apply. By the aid of the electric telegraph instant notice can be given of anything like the formation of a hostile expedition, or even of the embarkation of a single dangerous individual." Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Muruaga, Span. min., May 19, 1886, MS. "Requiring on their part no such documentary evidence from persons landing in the United States from Spain or any of the Spanish dependencies, the United States cannot view the exaction of passports by Spain in the light of reciprocity; but, on the contrary, as a positive discrimination against their citizens, inasmuch as no passports are required in the Antilles of passengers from Europe or the British possessions in North America. "No interference is intended with the option of the individuals in providing himself with any convenient means of establishing his citizenship and identity. In the event of proof of American citizenship becoming necessary, proper identification can be made, or a passport issued whenever specially required. I draw a distinction between the right of the citizen to obtain from his government evidence of correlative allegiance and protection and the exaction by a foreign govern ment of such evidence in respect only of the citizens or subjects of a particular country." Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Muruaga, Span. min., May 19, 1886, See, also, Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Foster, min. to Spain, No. 336, "The question of national discrimination is broadly involved, and I do not understand Señor Muruaga's declaration as meeting the disfavor shown by demanding from travelers leaving the United States passports which are not required in the case of persons going to Cuba from other countries. My recent note to the Spanish minister has intimated the indisposition to accept as a reason for such discrimination the suggestion he appeared to imply, that residents in the United States are, more than in other countries, a source of peril to peace and order in the Antilles. This Government, of course, objects to any discrimination, no matter in what manner expressed, against its citizens." Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Curry, June 14, 1886, MS. Inst. to Spain, "A recent dispatch from the United States consul-general at Havana communicates to me a number of letters addressed to him by American citizens who, having entered the island without the production of a passport being required as a condition of landing, have suffered considerable delay and some expense through the exaction of a passport as a condition of being permitted to quit the island. This rule appears to be enforced even when the, passenger is merely in transit and transferred from one vessel to another for the purpose of making the continuous voyage between ports of the United States and Mexico. In nearly every instance the writers state that they had made inquiry at the United States port of sailing, and had been there informed that no passport was needed by them upon landing in Cuba, and that a permit to depart could be obtained through the consul of the United States, at a trifling cost, said in several of the letters to be 30 cents. The consul-general, however, reports the charge to be 30 cents for visé of a passport, and $4.05 for the issuance of a permit of departure when the party is unprovided with a passport. I fail to see the justice of imposing restrictions and burdens upon the departure of American citizens from the island which are not imposed upon their landing, and I should be glad to hear that a more uniform and conspicuously rational rule has been adopted. May I trust that, in the interest of the large and mutually beneficial inter course between the United States and the Antilles, you will use your good endeavors toward a change in this regard?" Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Muruaga, Span. min., April 11, 1887, See, as to the complaints referred to, Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. "It appears from explanations forwarded to me by the captaingeneral of Cuba in reference to passports, that these are not required from foreigners during a month's travel. Beyond this time, according to the alien law, they must provide themselves with a passport. This is more or less a measure of internal policy. In the first case they are considered under the law as transients, in the second as residents. "Against this I have already remonstrated in Madrid, but to avoid in the meantime all source of trouble, I deem it necessary to instruct all our consuls in the United States to furnish a visé to American citizens going to Cuba at a cost of $1." Mr. Muruaga, Span. min., to Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, June 10, 1887, "The requirement of a passport or permit to quit a country is common and is enforced at the present time by important states, such as Russia, Turkey, and Spain in the Spanish Antilles. The right to prescribe such a formality can not well be disputed, but the amount of the fee (6 gourds) may warrant friendly representations against so onerous a charge.” Mr. Sherman, Sec. of State, to Mr. Powell, min. to Hayti, Oct. 23, 1897, See, also, Mr. Uhl, Act. Sec. of State, to Mr. Terres, No. 57, Aug. 24, 1894, "No passports are necessary for the entrance into Cuba and Porto Rico II. AUTHORITY TO ISSUE. 1. IN THE UNITED STATES. § 493. Down to the act of Aug. 18, 1856, the issuance of passports was not regulated by law. While they were granted by the Secretary of State, in the exercise of his proper functions, papers designed to serve the same purpose were issued by the governors of States and other local authorities, and even by notaries public. The practice of the Department of State itself in such matters was, however, exceedingly loose. Passports were on occasion sent out to a collector of customs or other official, with instructions to hand them over, on "satisfying" himself that the applicants were citizens of the United States." Complaints of the Mexican Government that passports were fraudulently obtained led to the adoption of special precautions in regard to persons who claimed American citizenship by virtue of residence in Louisiana at the time of its cession to the United States." The first step taken toward preventing the issuance of passports in the United States by local authorities appears to have been due to the refusal of foreign governments and their representatives to recognize such documents. The Department of State issued a notice calling attention to the facts. "Your letter of the 15th instant has been received. The notice from this Department in relation to passports, which is referred to by you, was not issued in consequence of any arrangements with foreign governments, nor was it founded on any information having particular reference to passports given by the executive of Massachusetts. "It is within the knowledge of the Department that the diplomatie agents of foreign governments in the United States have declined authenticating acts of governors or other State or local authorities; and foreign officers abroad usually require that passports granted by such authorities shall be authenticated by the ministers or consuls of the United States. Those functionaries, being thus called upon, find themselves embarrassed between their desire to accommodate their a Mr. Brent to Mr. Swartwout, collector at New York, April 24, 1832, 25 MS. Dom. Let. 79; Mr. Forsyth, Sec. of State, to Mr. Swartwout, May 13, 1836, 28 id. 315. Mr. Livingston, Sec. of State, to Gov. Roman, of La., Aug. 16, 1831, 24 MS. Dom. Let. 201; Mr. Brent, chief clerk, to Mr. Hurst, Feb. 11, 1832, 25 id. 15; Mr. Brent to Lieut. R. B. Lee, April 20, 1833, id. 293. |