Mr. Gresham to Mr. Tsui Kwo Yin.
Washington , March 21, 1893 .
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 13th instant, in which you advert to the effort now being made in the interest of certain Chinese persons to present a case to the Supreme [Page 247] Court for the purpose of testing the constitutionality of certain provisions of the act of May 5, 1892, and ask, in view of certain reasons stated by you, “that the Attorney-General may, if not inconsistent with propriety or his duties, join the counsel of the Chinese people in a request to the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the argument in a test case not later than May 12 next, and that a decision may be delivered therein before the adjournment of the court for its present session.”
Upon your previous oral presentation of this request, this Department addressed the Attorney-General on the subject under date of February 21 and was informed in reply, as you were advised by Mr. Wharton’s note of the 1st instant, that the matter seemed proper to be determined by the incoming Attorney-General, to whose attention it would be promptly brought.
I have now the pleasure to advise you that I have received from the present Attorney-General a letter dated 17th instant, in which, referring to the previous correspondence on the subject and to the case now pending in the Supreme Court involving the constitutionality of the Chinese restriction law known as the “Geary act,” he states that if counsel representing the Chinese will make a motion to advance the case and advise the Attorney-General thereof, he will be glad to concur therein and do all in his power to secure the advancement of the case and its early determination.
The statement thus made by Mr. Olney appears to meet the request contained in your note of the 13th instant.
Accept, etc.,