United States by reason of being in distress or in stress of weather, or touching at any port of the United States on its voyage to any foreign port or place: Provided, That all Chinese laborers brought on such vessel shall not be permitted to land except in case of absolute necessity, and must depart with the vessel on leaving port.

Section four of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

[SEC. 4. That for the purpose of properly identifying Chinese laborers who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of the act to which this act is amendatory, and in in order to furnish them with the proper evidence of their right to go from and come to the United States as provided by the said act and the treaty between the United States and China dated November seventeenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, the collector of customs of the district from which any such Chinese laborer shall depart from the United States shall, in person or by deputy, go on board each vessel having on board any such Chinese laborer, and cleared or about to sail from his district for a foreign port, and on such vessel make a list of all such Chinese laborers, which shall be entered in registry books, to be kept for that purpose in which shall be stated the individual, family, and tribal name in full, the age, occupation, when and where followed, last place of residence, physical marks or peculiarities, and all facts necessary for the identification of each such Chinese laborers, which books shall be safely kept in the custom-house; and every such Chinese laborer so departing from the United States shall be entitled to and shall receive, free of any charge or cost upon application therefor, from the collector or his deputy, in the name of said collector and attested by said collector's seal of office, at the time such list is taken, a certificate, signed by the collector or his deputy and attested by his seal of office, in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, which certificate shall contain a statement of the individual, family, and tribal name in full, age, occupation, when and where followed, of the Chinese laborer to whom the certificate is issued, corresponding with the said list and registry in all particulars. In case any Chinese laborer, after having received such certificate, shall leave such vessel before her departure, he shall deliver his certificate to the master of the vessel; and if such Chinese laborer shall fail to return to such vessel before her departure from port, the certificate shall be delivered by the master to the collector of customs for cancellation. The certificate herein provided for shall entitle the Chinese laborer to whom the same is issued to return to and re-enter the United States upon producing and delivering the same to the collector of customs of the district at which such Chinese laborer shall seek to re-enter, and said certificate shall be the only evidence permissible to establish his right of re-entry; and upon delivering of such certificate by such Chinese laborer to the collector of customs at the time of re-entry in the United States, said collector shall cause the same to be filed in the custom-house and duly canceled."]

Section six of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 6. That in order to the faithful execution of the provisions of this act, every Chinese person, other than a laborer, who may be entitled by said treaty or this act, to come within the United States, and who shall be about to come to the United States, shall obtain the permission of and be identified as so entitled by the Chinese Government, or of such other foreign government of which at the time such Chinese person shall be a subject, in each case to be evidenced by a certificate issued by such government, which certificate shall be in the English language, and shall show such permission, with the name of the permitted person in his or her proper signature, and which certificate shall state the individual, family, and tribal name in full, title or official rank, if any; the age, height, and all physical peculiarities; former and present occupation or profession, when and where and how long pursued, and place of residence of the person to whom the certificate is issued; and that such person is entitled by this act to come within the United States. If the person so applying for a certificate shall be a merchant, said certificate shall, in addition to above requirements, state the nature, character, and estimated value of the business carried on by him prior to and at the time of his application as aforesaid: Provided, That nothing in this act nor in said treaty shall be construed as embracing within the meaning of the word "merchant," hucksters, peddlers, or those engaged in taking, drying, or otherwise preserving shell or other fish for home consumption or exportation. If the certificate be sought for the purpose of travel for curiosity, it shall also state whether the applicant intends to pass through or travel within the United States, together with his financial standing in the country from which such certificate is desired. The certificate provided for in this act, and the identity of the person named therein, shall, before such person goes on board any vessel to proceed to the United States, be vised by the indorsement of the diplomatic representatives of the United

See act approved October 1, 1888, which prohibits the issuance of certificates of identity of Chinese laborers and declares void such certificates theretofore issued.

States in the foreign country from which said certificate issues, or of the consular representative of the United States at the port or place from which the person named in the certificate is about to depart; and such diplomatic representative or consular representative whose indorsement is so required is hereby empowered, and it shall be his duty, before indorsing such certificate as aforesaid, to examine into the truth of the statements set forth in said certificate, and if he shall find upon examination that said or any of the statements therein contained are untrue, it shall be his duty to refuse to indorse the same. Such certificate vised as aforesaid shall be prima facie evidence of the facts set forth therein, and shall be produced to the collector of customs of the port in the district of the United States at which the person named therein shall arrive, and afterward produced to the proper authorities of the United States whenever lawfully demanded, and shall be the sole evidence permissible on the part of the person so producing the same to establish a right of entry into the United States; but said certificate may be controverted and the facts therein stated disproved by the United States authorities."

Section eight of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 8. That the master of any vessel arriving in the United States from any foreign port or place shall, at the same time he delivers a manifest of the cargo, and if there be no cargo, then at the time of making a report of the entry of the vessel pursuant to law, in addition to the other matter required to be reported, and before landing, or permitting to land, any Chinese passengers, deliver and report to the collector of customs of the district in which such vessels shall have arrived a separate list of all Chinese passengers taken on board his vessel at any foreign port or place, and all such passengers on board the vessel at that time. Such list shall show the names of such passengers (and if accredited officers of the Chinese or of any other foreign government, traveling on the business of that government, or their servants, with a note of such facts), and the names and other particulars as shown by their respective certificates; and such list shall be sworn to by the master in the manner required by law in relation to the manifest of the cargo. Any refusal or wilful neglect of any such master to comply with the provisions of this section shall incur the same penalties and forfeiture as are provided for a refusal or neglect to report and deliver a manifest of the cargo."

Section ten of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 10. That every vessel whose master shall knowingly violate any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed forfeited to the United States, and shall be liable to seizure and condemnation in any district of the United States into which such vessel may enter or in which she may be found."

Section eleven of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 11. That any person who shall knowingly bring into or cause to be brought into the United States by land, or who shall aid or abet the same or aid or abet the landing in the United States from any vessel, of any Chinese person not lawfully entitled to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year."

Section twelve of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States by land without producing to the proper officer of customs the certificate in this act required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel. And any Chinese person found unlawfully within the United States shall be caused to be removed therefrom to the country from whence he came, and at the cost of the United States, after being brought before some justice, judge, or commissioner of a court of the United States and found to be one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United States; and in all such cases the person who brought or aided in bringing such person to the United States shall be liable to the Government of the United States for all necessary expenses incurred in such investigation and removal; and all peace officers of the several States and Territories of the United States are hereby invested with the same authority as a marshal or United States marshal in reference to carrying out the provisions of this act or the act of which this is amendatory, as a marshal or deputy marshal of the United States, and shall be entitled to like compensation to be audited and paid by the same officers. And the United States shall pay all costs and charges for the maintenance and return of any Chinese person having the certificate prescribed by law as entitling such Chinese person to come into the United States who may not have been permitted to land from any vessel by reason of any of the provisions of this act."

Section thirteen of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 13. That this act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the Chinese or other Governments traveling upon the business of that government, whose credentials shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate in this act mentioned, and shall exempt them and their body and household servants from the provisions of this act as to other Chinese persons.'

Section fifteen of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 15. That the provisions of this act shall apply to all subjects of China and Chinese, whether subjects of China or any other foreign power; and the words Chinese laborers, wherever used in this act shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining."

SEC. 16. That any violation of any of the provisions of this act, or of the act of which this is amendatory, the punishment of which is not otherwise herein provided for, shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment.

SEC. 17. That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to affect any prosecution or other proceeding, criminal or civil, begun under the act of which this is amendatory; but such prosecution or other proceeding, criminal or civil, shall proceed as if this act had not been passed.

Approved, July 5, 1884.

AN ACT a supplement to an act entitled "An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese," approved the sixth day of May, eighteen hundred and eighty-two.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, it shall be unlaw. ful for any Chinese laborer who shall at any time heretofore have been, or who may now or hereafter be, a resident within the United States, and who shall have departed, or shall depart therefrom, and shall not have returned before the passage of this act, to return to, or remain in, the United States.

SEC. 2. That no certificates of identity provided for in the fourth and fifth sections of the act to which this is a supplement shall hereafter be issued; and every certificate heretofore issued in pursuance thereof is hereby declared void and of no effect, and the Chinese laborer claiming admission by virtue thereof shall not be permitted to enter the United States.

SEC. 3. That all the duties prescribed, liabilities, penalties, and forfeitures imposed, and the powers conferred by the second, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth sections of the act to which this is a supplement are hereby extended and made applicable to the provisions of this act.

SEC. 4. That all such part or parts of the act to which this is a supplement as are inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. Approved, October 1, 1888.

No. 1534.]

Mr. Denby to Mr. Blaine.

UNITED STATES,
(Received June 28.)

LEGATION OF THE
Peking, May 18, 1892.

SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of a dispatch sent by me to Consul-General Leonard, on the subject of his jurisdiction to try an American citizen, James A. Frame, on a charge of murder, for a homicide committed at Shanghai. The facts and conclusions of law are fully set out in the inclosure. As there may be some delay in the action of the consul-general, I would be glad to know whether the Department agrees with my opinion.

I have, etc.,

CHARLES DENBY.

No. 241.]

[Inclosure in No. 1534.] Mr. Denby to Mr. Leonard.

LEGATION OF THE THE UNITED STATES,
Peking, May 18, 1892.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 106 of May 10, 1892.

You therein inform me that James A. Frame, an American citizen, did, on the 1st instant, at Shanghai, shoot and kill George Lemon, an American citizen.

FR 92

At the time of the killing Frame was the jailor of the American consulate, and was acting as deputy marshal. You set out the verdict of the jury at the inquest held on the body of the deceased. You proceed to state that doubts have arisen in your mind whether the case is triable by the minister or the consul-general. You quote section 4109, 2 R. S. U. S., 2d ed., 1878, which provides: "That in cases where a consular officer is interested, either as party or witness, such minister shall have original jurisdiction." You express the opinion that the words "consular officer" are applicable to Mr. Frame, and define his status, and are to be held as ousting you of jurisdiction and conferring it on the minister. You further state that the deceased is said to have applied vile epithets to the officers of the consulate-general, and that these utterances will probably be brought out in evidence. You suggest that you might be "biased” by such language, and that you are disqualified to try the case as judge.

I have uniformly refused to give any opinion on the merits of any case which might be tried before me on appeal in advance of the submission of such case to me after the trial thereby and in due course of procedure. If there were, in my view of the questions presented by you, any possibility that the accused could suffer any injury by my giving to you advice on the technicalities suggested should such advice prove to be erroneous, I would, undoubtedly, withhold any advice whatever, and leave you acting judicially to decide on questions as they arise in the case without the shadow of any interference by me, as is your undoubted right so to do. But it is difficult to to see how Frame can be injured by your retaining jurisdiction. If he is convicted of a capital crime the law (sec. 4102, R. S. U. S., 2d ed., 1878) requires that the minister shall approve the conviction. I should certainly not approve a conviction in a case in which I thought a trial court had no jurisdiction. If he is convicted of a less offense and sentenced to imprisonment only he has his remedy by habeas corpus, if there were no jurisdiction. Nor can he be injured by the proof of the language uttered by the deceased embodying abuse of the officers of the consulate. Such utterances might injure the prosecution, but certainly would not injure the defense. Having undertaken to show that no possible harm can befall Mr. Frame by my advising you that you have jurisdiction, I now proceed to state the grounds of my opinion on the facts stated by you, that you alone can try the accused. I give such opinion from a sense of duty, because as nobody else can legally hear and determine the cause, if you decline to do so there may be a failure of justice.

If on the trial proof were made of the occupation of the defendant and such proof caused you to decide that you had no jurisdiction and that you discharged him, he would go forever acquit if your decision were erroneous, because he would have been once in jeopardy.

The plain and simple answer to your doubts as to jurisdiction is that the words "consular officer" used in section 4109, above quoted, mean a consul, and not the employés or subordinate officials of the consulate.

Webster's definition of the word "consular" is "pertaining to consul, as consular power, consular dignity, or privileges." A jailor or marshal can not be said to pertain to a consul. The offices of jailor and marshal are distinct and separate from the office of consul. The holders of them do not pertain to the consul any more than the interpreter or the Chinese writer do. The consul is charged by law with the duty of hearing and determining all cases. He is relieved from this duty only when he is a party to the action or an interested witness in the cause. As a man ought not to be allowed to decide cases in which he is personally interested, ex necessitate, some other official must hear such cases. This is the reason of the law. There is no reason why a consul should not hear canses in which his subordinates are interested. It is to be noticed that in the United States practice there is no change of judges allowed on account of bias. In the State courts there is. The Government can never object to bias of the judge even in the State courts. It does not at all matter in considering the question of jurisdiction how much a judge is biased against the Government. The defendant is not hurt by such bias. He can not, therefore, complain of it, and the Government has no remedy against its effects, whatever they may be.

As I look at sections 4102 and 4106, R. S. U. S., 1878, 2d ed., it seems to me that capital punishment can not be inflicted on an American in China unless six men concur in the judgment. Four citizens are to sit on the trial with the consul, who shall himself render the judgment, the assessors concurring. Then the minister must approve the sentence.

I have thus given you my opinion in the interest of justice, but without prejudice to the accused. Should you become convinced that you have no jurisdiction, care should be taken that such decision be announced before the impaneling of the assessors, who act in China as jurors. The accused should be kept in jail or released on bond, as you may decide, until some arrangement can be made for his trial. I am thoroughly satisfied that I have no jurisdiction to try him, but I am not infallible. It may be that discussion of the question, with the aid of legal opinions from Wash

ington, may change my views. Please understand that while I give you my opinion I do not expect you to act upon it unless it, upon reflection, satisfies your mind that you have jurisdiction. You are charged with the responsibility of life and death, the heaviest that ever rests on any judge. A serious doubt as to jurisdiction should certainly prevent any judge from awarding capital punishment. You can throw the ultimate responsibility on me, but if the serious doubt remains in your mind subsequent regret and possibly self-reproach will not be prevented by my decision. Entertaining such a view the case should be continued and should be referred to the State Department. While the Department has no right to control you when acting judicially, still it is likely that its carefully prepared argument would settle the point one way or the other and relieve you from all doubt.

I am, etc.,

Mr. Denby to Mr. Blaine.

CHARLES DENBY.

No. 1535.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Peking, May 23, 1892. (Received June 28.) SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a translation of a decree which was issued by the Emperor the 21st instant. This decree may be taken in some sense as an answer to my late request that strenuous action be taken with regard to the "Hu-Nan publications," a copy whereof was inclosed in my dispatch No. 1514 of April 12. It will be seen that the Taotai Chou Han who was supposed to be chief circulator of the "Hu-Nan publications" has been degraded. He is to be sent to his native place and kept under surveillance.

I have, etc.,

CHARLES DENBY.

[Inclosure in No. 1535.-Translation.]

Imperial decree of May 21, 1892.

Sometime since Chang Chih Tung and others memorialized the throne that they had investigated the case of the Hu-Nan publications and the counterfeiting of ofcial documents.

At the time we instructed the yamên of foreign affairs to consider the matter and report to us. The yamên has now requested us to take action in accordance with the suggestion of the memorialists. In this case, although the Taotai Chou Han did not publish and circulate the placards or counterfeit official documents, still he is an officer, and his words were false and exaggerated like those of an insane person, and rowdies used his name as an excuse to circulate stories that were calculated to excite the feelings of the people. He is decidedly guilty of an offense that can not be overlooked. Let Chou Han, an expectant taotai of the province of Shensi be at once degraded. He is to be sent to his native place and the local officials are to keep him under surveillance and not allow him to go away and cause trouble. Regarding other matters presented in the memorial, let action be taken as decided on by the memorialist. Let the proper board take note.

No. 1537.J

Mr. Denby to Mr. Blaine.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Peking, May 28, 1892. (Received July 14.) SIR: I have the honor to inclose a clipping from the North China News, of the 21st instant, giving an account of two antiforeign riots,