No. 166.
Mr. Bayard
to Mr. Denby.
Washington, April 18, 1887.
Sir: I have received your No. 320, of February 25, 1887, relative to the claim of a Chinaman, Ae Teck, who, it appears, has declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and returned to Amoy, his native place, to be registered as an American citizen.
It has never been supposed that the act of Congress of May 6, 1882, relative to the naturalization of Chinese in the United States, was in conflict with Article II of the treaty of 1880, or with any other conventional provisions respecting the treatment of Chinese subjects in the United States. In the view, however, that the Department takes of the case of Ae Teck, it is not deemed necessary to raise that question. Naturalization is, as you say, a matter of judicial and not of executive cognizance, and it would be for the courts to say whether Ae Teck could, if he desired, be naturalized under the laws of the United States. At present it is clear that he is not a citizen of the United States, and, having returned to China, is not entitled to be registered there as such by the consuls of the United States.
Your action on the case is therefore approved.
I am, etc.,