Citizens going abroad for business or pleasure may find it to their
advantage to inquire into the consideration that Uncle Sam is prepared
to show them when abroad. The freedom of travel you enjoy at home is a
small thing until, in a foreign land, you find yourself confronted by an
officer of the law demanding your passports. Besides, there are numerous
little official courtesies for which the traveler or sojourner will be
very grateful, and in cases of emergency assistance may be rendered far
beyond all adequate reward.
As was said before, passports may be procured from the State Department,
otherwise through the diplomatic officers, or in their absence, through
the consular service. If the applicant is accompanied by his wife, minor
children, servant, etc., the one passport answers for all.
A consular officer may verify or visé (pronounced vee-záy) a passport by
writing on it the word “good” in the language of the country, and
affixing his official signature and seal. Diplomatic representatives
should visé passports only when there is no consulate in the city where
the legation is situated. A visé is good only in the country where it is
given.
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[Illustration:
Restricted
Immigration
See page 101.
]
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The government affords all the protection it can under the
circumstances. Of course it can have no jurisdiction in criminal cases,
except in uncivilized countries, and it can have no civil jurisdiction
except by treaty or by the law of the land. “The right of a citizen to
claim protection is founded upon the ‘correlative right’ of his country
to his ‘allegiance and support.’” Consuls are “particularly cautioned
not to enter into any contentions that can be avoided, either with their
countrymen or with the subjects or authorities of the country. They
should use every endeavor,” continues the “Regulations”, “to settle in
an amicable manner all disputes in which their countrymen may be
concerned, but they should take no part in litigation between citizens.
They should countenance and protect them before the authorities of the
country in all cases in which they may be injured or oppressed, but
their efforts should not be extended to those who have been wilfully
guilty of an infraction of the local laws. It is incumbent upon citizens
of the United States to observe the reasonable laws of the country where
they may be. It is their duty to endeavor on all occasions to maintain
and promote all the rightful interests of citizens, and to protect them
in all privileges that are provided for by treaty or are conceded by
usage. If representations are made to the local authorities and fail to
secure the proper redress, the case should be reported to the consul
general, if there be one, or to the diplomatic representative if there
be no consul general, and to the Department of State.”
I have quoted this passage almost entirely because it is the best
expression to be found, probably, of the general attitude of the
Government of the United States toward its citizens abroad.
Citizens intending to sojourn abroad should register at the consulate
within which they are to reside. This is not required, but it may be a
great convenience both ways.
Who are citizens? (1) “All persons born in the United States and subject
to the jurisdiction thereof”; (2) all children born to such natives,
even if beyond the jurisdiction of the United States; (3) “any white
woman, or woman of African nativity or descent, or Indian woman, married
to a citizen of the United States, is a citizen thereof”; (4)
naturalized citizens; (5) the minor children of naturalized citizens.
“An official letter of introduction, when given to a citizen of the
United States, is valuable to the holder for prompt identification in
case he needs the intervention of a consular officer in his behalf. But
in no case must the letter be understood or taken as implying any claim
upon the consul for hospitality or personal courtesies beyond the
politeness always due to citizens of the United States when they have
legitimate business with a consulate”.
Consuls are not allowed to give their names as business references, nor
to report the financial standing of houses in their districts. Such
requests should be referred to banks or business agencies.
“Consular officers are not authorized to indorse notes or bills of
exchange, nor in other ways to become responsible pecuniarily for
American citizens or others who have no personal claims upon them.” Such
transactions are not a part of the official duties of a consular
officer. He is “not authorized to lend money to indigent citizens of the
United States or others, nor to incur expenses or liabilities for any
persons except seamen of the United States, in the expectation of
reimbursement by the Government”.
Consular officers are forbidden to solemnize marriages. A marriage may
be solemnized in the presence of a consular officer as a witness, and in
that case it has certain peculiarities, as will be seen from the
following:
According to international law the mode of solemnizing marriage conforms
to the law of the place where it is performed. But there are many
conceivable circumstances which might make this undesirable, and in such
cases it is declared by the statutes that “marriages in presence of any
consular officer of the United States in a foreign country, between
persons who would be authorized to marry if residing in the District of
Columbia, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, and shall have the
same effect as if solemnized within the United States”. In all such
cases the consul must give a certificate to each of the parties and
forward a copy to the Department of State.
In case of the death of an American citizen abroad, it is the duty of
the consul to take possession of his estate, provided there is no other
legal representative, and provided, also, the laws of the country so
permit,—to inventory the same with the help of two merchants (Americans,
preferably), to make collections and to discharge the debts due from the
estate, to sell at public auction such part as is of a perishable
nature, and at the expiration of one year the remainder, and finally to
transmit the proceeds to the Treasury of the United States to be held in
trust for the legal claimants, who, however, are at liberty to appear at
any time and take charge of the proceedings and the estate themselves.
This applies to personal property only—real estate being administered
according to the laws of the locality. In the absence of a treaty
covering such points the consul is to proceed in the above manner unless
it is known that the local authorities are unwilling, for “he should
avoid the appearance of opposing or disregarding actual local
requirements”.
The same proceedings as the above are followed in case a citizen dies on
the high seas “on either an American or a foreign vessel, and his
effects are brought within a consular district”.