Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1890

Mr. Denby to Mr. Blaine.

Legation of the United States,
Peking, February 26, 1890. (Received April 15.)

No. 1058.]

Sir: I have the honor to suggest that it is desirable that a circular should be issued by the Department directed to the consuls in China particularly setting forth the manner of applying for passports and of issuing travel certificates.

My reasons for making this recommendation are the following:

While the rules concerning passports (paragraphs 133 to 149, Consular Regulations, 1888) are full, as applicable to other countries, no special mention is made of China.

Here the rules have been modified to suit pecular conditions, and in another revision of the Consular Regulations these modifications should be inserted. One modification is that at places where no notary or other official empowered to administer oaths can be found a certificate may be substituted for the ordinary jurat.

Another modification is that the applicant for a passport must forward to the legation his full Christian and surname in Chinese and English. In Chinese these names are called Hsing and Ming. The yamên will not countersign a passport unless this rule is complied with.

It happens almost every day that we are compelled to return applications for passports to the consuls because this rule has not been complied with.

Again, the occasions on which travel certificates may be issued are not defined in the regulations. Paragraph 138 provides for the issuance of certificates only in countries where the local laws require the deposit of a passport during the temporary sojourn of a traveler. But in China, by the direction of the Department, travel certificates are issuable in cases where the applicant has made application for a passport to the legation. In this connection, in my dispatch No. 1018 of December 30, 1889, covering a communication to the consul at Amoy, I recommend that travel certificates may in cases of emergency be issued by the consul when application is made for a passport. In such cases certificates should cover the proposed travel, and not for a year, as is now the rule.

I present, as a suggestion simply, a form of the proposed circular.

I have, etc.,

Charles Denby.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 1058.]

Circular to the United States consuls in China.

Consuls are directed that the rules hereinafter set out must he complied with in making applications for passports to the legation in China.

(1) Duplicate applications must be forwarded to the legation complying in all respects with the forms which are now in use for native and naturalized citizens, as the case may be.

(2) In cases where it happens that no notary or other officer before whom an oath may be administered is accessible to the applicant for a passport, a form of certificate for an applicant for a passport which is herewith inclosed may be adopted. Two persons should sign as witnesses.

(3) In all cases in which application is made to the legation for a passport, the Christian and surnames of the applicant in both the English and Chinese languages must be forwarded to the legation.

(4) Consuls have no power to issue passports; but they may in cases of emergency issue travel certificates. Such certificates shall only be issued by the consuls where the applicant applies for a passport. At the time that the travel certificate is issued the consul shall forward to the legation at Peking the duplicate affidavits mentioned in clause 1 hereof, and he will retain the passport issued by the legation as his voucher for the right to issue a travel certificate until the travel certificate is returned to him, and the passport may then be delivered to the applicant. Such travel certificates shall be good for the proposed trip only, and shall not specify that they are good for 1 year or for any other given time.

Form of approved certificate for applicant.

I, the undersigned, do hereby certify and affirm that the matters stated in my application for a passport of date —— are true, and that this statement shall in all respects be held and treated the same as if I had personally executed such application before a consul of the United States.

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Witness:

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