File No. 1012/16.
Chargé Sands to the Secretary of State.
Guatemala, December 21, 1907.
Sir: Referring to my Nos. 42, of December 6, and 45, of December 13, last, concerning the Chinese-exclusion decree issued recently by the President of Guatemala, I have the honor to inform the department that the manager at this capital of the Pacific Mail Steamship [Page 598] Company called upon me on the 19th instant with the request that I obtain permission to land at a Guatemalan port for a Chinese, formerly resident in this Republic, who was provided with all the documents required by the law of Guatemala for his return to the country.
I brought this case informally to the attention of the minister for foreign affairs, who informed me that the recent decree must be considered retroactive, and that henceforth, in view of abuses on the part of Chinese seeking to gain admission to this Republic, all documents issued by this Government before the date of the decree referred to must be considered void.
I have so informed the Chinese colony at this capital.
I have, etc.,