Mr. Moore to Mr. Conger.

No. 9.]

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Denby’s No. 2939, of the 6th ultimo, in which, referring to the construction placed by him in his No. 2937, of June 1, upon the circular issued by the Russian legation at Peking, in relation to the visaing of passports of persons going to the territory ceded by China to Russia, that it seemed to require [Page 187] that such passports should be visaed by Russian consuls in China, he states that this construction was erroneous, as it is understood that the visaing of passports is not compulsory.

If Mr. Denby’s understanding is correct, the Russian territory in China is excepted from the regular Imperial regulations which require passports to be visaed by Russian diplomatic and consular officers before they will admit the bearer into Russian territory.

Respectfully, yours,

J. B. Moore,
Acting Secretary.