Mr. Storer to Mr. Hay.
Madrid, December 20, 1900.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Department instruction No. 244,a bearing date November 9, and containing the reading of cablegrams exchanged between this legation and the Department on the subject of evidences of citizenship presented by natives of Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands.
While the final sentence of the instruction does not seem to be entirely in accord with the telegrams, so specific, which preceded that instruction upon the same subject, I have presumed that it was not intended to repeal or modify the purport of those telegrams, and have not, therefore, in any way informed the consular officers in this country of any instruction later than that of your telegram.
The importance of this subject and the complications continually arising, both at this legation, at our various consular offices, and in the Government of Spain itself, leads me to lay before you as clearly as possible the problems presented. I do this also at the suggestion of more than one consular officer in Spain, who are of opinion that the Department may not be exactly advised of the details of the system recognized in your circular letter of May 2, 1899, and the changes that have been made, either by the authority of the War Department or of the provisional authorities, in the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico since the date of that circular letter.
The theory, as it has been gathered by all the consular officers to whom it has been sent, as well as this legation, on which was based that instruction, was that the “cedula de vecindad” presented by natives of these islands, would be one issued by the authority in these islands. That, of course, was the case on my first arrival, and that equally, of course, by lapse of time has ceased to be the case at present. The “cedula de vecindad,” under Spanish law which heretofore governed in all her colonies and still remains the law in Spain, is that a cedula of this character must be applied for by every citizen or native, of either the home country or of the colony, in which the applicant was resident at the time of the expiration of his former cedula. These papers have been and are issued for one year only, and the Spanish law has been quite severe, apparently, in punishing, both by fine and by indirect legal consequences, the failure to procure a new one at the end of the life of the old one.
[Page 458]During the first few months of my stay there were presented to me for visé and registration, pursuant to your circular letter of May 2, 1899, only cedulas issued by what purported to be the competent authority in Cuba and in Porto Rico. Sometimes these persons presented also their birth certificate as the best identification, or had presumably done so at the time of granting the original cedula; and all subsequent cedulas were granted, as in our own passport system, on the presentation and surrender of the former. At divers times these cedulas were presented, in some cases without the addition of further evidence, and in some cases together with other evidence, after the lapse of one year from their date. In all these cases I have endeavored to exercise my best judgment to carry out the instruction of the Department to exercise the good offices of the legation for the protection of bona fide applicants, and refused to register or visé cedulas expired already, except where they were accompanied by satisfactory evidence of some other kind. The excuse was universally made by these people, and I have no doubt generally with entire accuracy, that this was all the cedula they could have, as they had been absent more than a year from Cuba or Porto Rico, as the case might be.
After the lapse of a few months the applications began to come in to register and certify cedulas issued to persons described as natives of Cuba or Porto Rico, but issued here in Spain by the competent authority, which, generally speaking, are the municipal authorities of the various wards of a city like Madrid, the mayor of smaller cities, or the civil administration of provinces. I never have seen any cedula or other certificate of any kind issued to such people by any bureau or official of the Spanish General Government.
I at first declined to recognize these, and even after I consented to allow them to be registered and noted I have always insisted on the production of other evidence, either written or oral, as to the real nativity of the applicant. The pressure was always brought to me that the applicant desiring to go either to Cuba or to Porto Rico had been or would be refused passage on any Spanish steamer without the visa of the cedula by some officer of the Government of the United States authorized for that purpose. I refused to believe this, as I could not understand why any paper issued by any authority of the Spanish Government in Spain should require the certification of the officer of any other nationality; but I was personally assured by Mr. Dupuy de Lome, when he was under secretary of state, that it was some maritime regulation of each port with which the General Government had nothing to do, and out of compassion for these people presenting these cedulas, who were helpless, having generally left the matter of visa until a day or two before they intended to sail, I have dealt with this matter liberally.
From reports of consular officers, as well as inquiries made at the legation of applicants presenting these cedulas, I am convinced that there is a curious entanglement in all this procedure. The General Government of Spain informed me that so far from compelling any foreigner residing in Spain to pay for and receive a cedula de vecindad each year, that in their point of view no need exists for such foreigner either to demand or receive any such cedula. The authorities of the foreign office take the ground that the cedula de vecindad is intended only as a method, long recognized, of identification and protection in Spain of Spanish citizens or subjects, and also an indirect means of taxation for municipal and provincial purposes. They say that the [Page 459] Spanish Government neither asserts the right, nor is willing to assume the duty, to demand such revenues from foreigners residing in Spain, or afford them of its own motion either the means of identification or protection; that, they say, should be extended only by some certificate, answering to a passport, issued by the proper authority of the country to which such foreigners owe allegiance—as, for example, the certificates of nationality which consular officers of Great Britain are authorized to issue in all parts of the world to citizens of that Empire.
The question is full of difficulty, and I do not intend to go deeper into it than I can help in laying this subject before you for consideration; for the Spanish law authorizes, in theory, the issuance of such certificates by foreign consular or diplomatic officers to foreigners resident in Spain only for a certain length of time, after which time if they remain they are supposed to have elected to become Spanish citizens. This consequence, very like many parallel cases in Spain, practically never follows very rigidly, as the condition in practice of such persons seems to be left very much at loose ends. Thus the Spanish Government, so far as the foreign office speaks, holds that these Cubans and Porto Ricans are under no obligation to obtain these cedulas which they offer for registration. On the other hand, as I have said, the steamship companies refuse to give passage without the exhibition of such a cedula, or embarkation on one of their vessels without the visa from some authority of our Government. Many of these Cubans and Porto Ricans have already taken out a cedula of a year ago, which they say they are informed by the local authorities, municipal and provincial, they must have for their identification, to show at any time it is asked of them. It is a fact always stated to me, which I presume to be true, that it is necessary to show such a cedula at a bank, as identification, at arrival at any city in Spain, should it be demanded, and generally at all times to have that or something similar to prove the official existence of the bearer of it if that be officially put in question, which in this country may be a matter of very frequent occurrence, though with equal probability it may never be asked for.
In Barcelona and in Madrid, with the utmost frankness and entire innocence, people have come to obtain passports from this legation or the consulate, representing that they are natives of Cuba or Porto Rico, and asking some kind of a certificate to enable them to embark on the steamer. But being informed of the restriction put upon your officers by our circular instruction, they are perfectly willing to go and apply to some Spanish officer, without any proof whatever to identify them, and as a matter of course, they tell me, obtain a cedula stating that the bearer is a native of Cuba or Porto Rico or the Philippine Islands, as they may desire to have inserted in this document. This I am assured is done without any inquiry or evidence for identification on the part of any official of Spain, and this cedula is then brought to us as official conclusive evidence of the nationality of the bearer, which we are supposed to accept and verify. In such cases the consul-general, as well as this legation, have refused to have anything to do with such a cedula unless supported by either oral or documentary evidence tending to show that the person carrying it was really entitled to it; and yet, as I have observed, under special law and custom such a cedula presupposes the presentation of evidence before it has been issued, and to all the rest of the world except ourselves must be considered conclusive as to what it recites.
[Page 460]I may add that not only the foreign office claim that no necessity exists and no urgency should be given of any kind to the taking out of such cedulas on the part of persons not citizens of Spain, but also reprehend in very strong and decided terms the visaing or certification of any such paper by any consular officer of any foreign power. Their ground is, that once taken out under special authority, be that authority one from the General Government or one vested in provincial or municipal officers, it becomes something that can not be made any stronger by the addition of any certification from any foreign power, and that any attempt so to make it is in the nature of a discourtesy. I am informed by our consuls that the local authorities in their places of residence are quite disposed to resent the affix of any visa or cedula on any official paper issued by any Spanish authority, be that general or provincial; and yet, as I have said, there is no doubt that the regulations of the steamship companies are in direct contradiction to this theory, held by the officials of Spain. It would seem if a decided ruling was once given on this subject by the Department action taken thereunder would of necessity bring these conflicting regulations, which concern people claiming our good offices, into direct and formal collision, and some solution might be hoped for.
I have inquired of the Department several times what was to be done, and what instructions given consular officers regarding this question, which some time or other must be met and explained, and I now beg to ask again, on consideration of the facts that I have stated, whether your instruction of May 2, 1899, is intended to cover the present existing state of affairs, as would seem to be the idea of the Department from its instruction No. 244.
Since the occupation of Cuba and Porto Rico by our authority no cedulas appear to have been issued in either of those islands, but during the last six or seven months there have been brought to this legation and various consular officers entirely different forms of paper, which purport to be passports or certificates of identity.
These papers, of which I have already transmitted copies to the Department, asking instructions, are issued, so far as we have seen them, by the “alcaldes” in Porto Rico, and by provincial governors of provinces in Cuba. Those from Porto Rico do not contain any personal description, give no recital of citizenship, but describe the holder only as “vecino” of the city of which the “alcalde” issues the paper. The word “vecino” in Spain may be translated properly “resident of,” but gives no legal affirmation of citizenship. Those issued by the provincial governor of Habana, so far as we have seen, contain a full description of the bearer by way of identification; but with no” positive affirmation as to citizenship or residence, further than the filling in a blank after the printed word “nacionalidad “with the word “Cubana.” The provincial governor of Santiago, on the contrary, issues an official document containing an even more detailed personal appearance list than the other, but with no blank to be filled in, or any other word regarding nationality or residence, and in the body of the paper grants passport to bearer as a native of the city, who can travel freely where-ever he pleases, and asking all the authorities of Cuba and all diplomatic officers (los señores agentes diplomáticos del exterior) to afford protection and aid if needed. Again, there appears a certificate signed officially by the secretary of state and interior of the island of Cuba, who certifies that the bearer, born in Spain, has not exercised a right of option for Spanish nationality provided for in Article IX of the Treaty of [Page 461] Paris—“which fact constitutes the tacit renunciation of his nationality and the protection of the flag of Spain”—and that this paper is given him to prove that fact wherever he may go. This paper was considered by the bearer to be a passport, though it contained no personal identification whatever, and he had demanded the visé of it as such.
No passports have been called to my attention as yet issued by the authorities of the Philippine Islands; but the consul at Cadiz had demanded my opinion as to his proper course should a passport, in any form, purporting to be issued by some authority in the Philippine Islands and countersigned by the military authorities, be presented to him for registration and visé, while he, the consul, had direct knowledge that the bearer was born in Spain, had been in the Philippine Islands a very short time before the taking possession of them by the United States forces, and had been attempting, in vain, in the Philippines, to obtain naturalization as a United States citizen, or even to have some overt act pointed out to him by which he could legally and safely renounce his Spanish citizenship. Should this passport be presented, it probably will be in a different form, and certified to by a different class of officers than any of those I have above mentioned.
It was in view of all these differing classes and kinds of official papers, and the fact that every consular officer in Spain has repeatedly asked me for instructions on this subject, and as well upon the earnest and often repeated request of the consul-general at Barcelona and the consul at Cadiz, the two places most largely interested outside of Madrid, that I wrote my dispatch No. 306, of November 6. It was then, it is even more so now, very necessary, for the protection of persons entitled thereto; for the refusal to protect persons not entitled to ask our interference; for the smoothness of relations between the consular officers of the ports and the Spanish local authorities, and to enable me to speak authoritatively and clearly to the foreign office on this general subject, that an explicit, clear instruction, covering all the cases that have come to my notice, as well as cases parallel which obviously may arise, be prepared by the Department.
I am fully aware of the complicated condition of affairs in these territories, and the fact that the Department is depending in great measure for advice on this subject upon the War Department. Nevertheless, the officers of the United States in Spain should be informed what officials in Cuba, or in Porto Rico, or in the Philippines are authorized to issue certificates of identity, which we should recognize, be such papers called cédulas, passports, certificates, or any other name that may be given to them. We should also know what these papers should contain in order that we may give them in Spain the fortification of the seal of the legation or consulate, as the case may be.
I am expecting at any time that we may be brought face to face with the case that some Spanish official, whether general or local, or some steamship company, thereby being a semiofficial personage, may refuse to recognize our visé on the ground that it is interfering with what is simply and purely a Spanish paper, and I shall not be in any position to answer inquiries addressed to me of such a case.
I have been asked verbally, over and over again, by the foreign office and various members of the diplomatic corps, how far we considered the governments of Cuba and Porto Rico governments either under or concurrent with that of the United States, so as to expect their acts should certify their official seals.
[Page 462]It would appear from the nature of some of these passports from Cuba that it is taken for granted the government in Cuba has the right to call upon foreign diplomatic officers outside of Cuba to recognize its seal and the signature of its officers. I presume that that is intended to apply to diplomatic officers of the United States, although the recital in such passports is a question to be entirely open; and yet I can hardly suppose it is to be considered that by such recital we officers of the United States become diplomatic officers of the Cuban government.
I only cite these instances to show how circumstances have changed since your general instruction of May 2, 1899, and the advisability of the Department’s taking up these questions and deciding them once for all, instead of leaving us in the possibility of taking some action which will hereafter be disavowed.
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I have, etc.,
- Printed Foreign Relations, 1900, p. 893.↩