Mr. Hill to Mr. Beaupré.

No. 410.]

Sir: Your dispatch No. 622 of the 8th ultimo, reporting the political situation in Colombia up to that date, was received here on the 16th instant, thus bearing out your statements touching the delays of the mails owing to the disturbed condition of the country. * * *

Your remarks in regard to the difficulties of individual travel have attracted attention in view of the extraordinary measures affecting foreigners. You say:

In the case of foreigners desiring passports the authorities are very strict indeed. On the appointment of General Fernandez as minister of war he issued a note stating that all foreigners were to be considered as enemies of the Government and that passports were on no account to be granted to them. This order had the effect of confining foreigners to the capital for a time, although it is a notorious fact that native “amigos del Gobierno” were allowed free transit during that period. Fortunately, before the result had become seriously prejudicial, an arrangement was made that all foreigners requiring passports should produce a certificate of neutrality from their respective legations, countersigned by the minister for foreign affairs. Up to the present this procedure has worked successfully. The Colombian foreign office has been notified that all foreigners applying for such certificates will be considered as neutral as long as no proof shall be shown to the contrary.

The declaration of the minister of war that all foreigners should be deemed public enemies can not but be regarded as gratuitously offensive, and this Government must remonstrate against such characterization of its citizens availing themselves of their conventional rights of visit and sojourn in Colombia. It should have been made the occasion of instant and vigorous protest. Even though the immediate urgency seems to have passed with the adoption of the scheme of diplomatic certification which you report, the Colombian Government should be energetically advised that this Government can not acquiesce in such an extraordinary measure toward citizens of the United States.

Moreover, this Department is unable to approve the wholly irregular and unauthorized certification of the neutrality of its citizens. As good citizens they are bound by the laws of neutrality which the United States aims to uphold, and if they are unlawfully molested this Government will protect them. If they engage in proven acts violative of neutrality they do so with full liability for the consequences, but even then it is the duty of this Government to see that full justice and opportunity of defense are assured to them. This normal treatment of the matter is not to be set aside for the abnormal procedure you report. It is not deemed competent for the diplomatic [Page 315] agent to certify to the neutrality of his countrymen. That must be presumed until the contrary be shown. The fact which the certificate purports to certify can not be within the official knowledge of the legation. If within the personal knowledge of the diplomatic agent, he can not be expected to make official certification thereof. The absence of any extraterritorial jurisdiction over the acts of the citizen excludes responsibility on the part of the legation for the repression or chastisement of any unlawful act done by the citizen. The certificate is, in its nature, alike incompetent and irresponsible, and, therefore, an absurdity.

You do not give the language of the certificate, and the Department would like to be assured that it does not exceed hour authority by implying accountability on the part of the legation.

Your statement that the Colombian foreign office had “been notified that all foreigners applying for such certificates will be considered as neutral so long as no proof shall be shown to the contrary” is not clearly understood. The presumption of alien neutrality exists under international law and comity. Application to the legation for the certificate in question does not fortify the presumption which the legation is bound to entertain, it is its duty to consider the individual neutral until the contrary be shown.

You are instructed to communicate the substance of this instruction to the Colombian Government in order that the attitude of this Government may be clearly and firmly defined, and that the Colombian Government may be informed that the legation’s action thus disapproved should not be taken as a precedent.

I am, etc.,

David J. Hill,
Acting Secretary.