of this act have been complied with, or to the effect that the agreement is in his office partially signed, waiting an engagement of a portion of the crew, as the case may be," has been produced by the master or proper officer of the ship. SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith for your information a copy of dispatch No. 310 of the 15th instant from our Consul General at Halifax in relation to a circular recently issued to the collectors of customs of Canada, by order of the minister of customs, instructing them to refuse clearance to foreign vessels unless the captains of such vessels shall produce a certificate from the shipping commissioner that such captains have complied with section 32, chapter 74, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1886. He also calls attention to the discrimination in pilot dues at that port. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 26th ultimo, with which you inclose for my information a copy of dispatch No. 310, from the United States consul-general at Halifax. The consul-general reports that a circular has been distributed to Canadian collectors of customs by the Government of Canada, instructing them to refuse clearance to foreign vessels, including those of the United States, unless the master in each case produces a certificate from the shipping commissioner that the captain has complied with section 32, chapter 74 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1886. The consul-general also refers to the fact that American vessels of 80 tons and over are liable to pilotage, which is practically compulsory, while Canadian vessels are exempted if under 120 tons in burden. The opinion of this Department, as regards the compliance by masters of American vessels with Canadian shipping regulations, was set forth in a letter addressed to your predecessor February 25, 1889, in which it was stated that the action of your Department in instructing the United States consul at St. John to discontinue the authentication of articles signed before the Canadian shipping officer accorded with the views of this Department, and was heartily approved. It was stated further that the existing instructions of this Government, as set forth in the Consular Regulations, should continue to be observed as necessary to the interests of American shipping in foreign ports. Respectfully, etc., No. 70.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Your dispatch No. 31 of the 10th ultimo, in relation to the appli cation of Mr. Rudolph E. Brünnow for a passport has been received. The Department is of opinion that Mr. Brünnow is not entitled to a passport. It does not appear to admit of a doubt that his father during the minority of the applicant renounced his American citizenship by abandonment of his adopted country and permanent residence abroad. Assuming, therefore, that the applicant acquired by birth a right to claim American citizenship, it is nevertheless true that during his minority his national status was affected by the conduct of his father. Upon attaining his majority, the son might have come to the United States and claimed his right of American citizenship, but having failed to do so, he must be held to have renounced it. I am, etc., ALVEY A. ADEE. No. 84.] Mr. Lincoln to Mr. Blaine. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, September 19, 1889. (Received October 1.) SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Wharton's instruction No. 68, of August 26, 1889, in relation to the subjection of American vessels in Canadian ports to the provisions of the Canadian "Seamens' act, 1886," and to the discrimination in the port of Halifax against American vessels of a certain tonnage, in the matter of pilot dues, and to acquaint you that I yesterday addressed to Lord Salisbury a communication on the subject, of which a copy is inclosed, and also personally pressed the subject upon the attention of Sir Thomas Saunderson, in the absence from England of Lord Salisbury. Sir Thomas stated to me that the matter was new to him, as he had assumed his present duties since March, but that he would see that it had immediate attention. I have, etc. ROBERT T. LINCOLN. [Inclosure in No. 84.] Mr. Lincoln to Lord Salisbury. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: On the 18th of March, 1889, Mr. White had the honor of addressing to your lordship a copy of a communication from Mr. Bayard, instructing him to bring to the attention of Her Majesty's Government the action of the Canadian authorities in extending the enforcement of the Canadian seamen's act of 1886 (originally of 1873) so as to require vessels of the United States in Canadian ports to conform, in respect to the shipment of crews, to the laws of the Dominion of Canada instead of the laws of the United States, and requiring the shipment of seamen by our vessels in such ports to be made before a Canadian shipping-master instead of the proper consular officer of the United States. In that communication it was observed that, while under a strict construction of the laws of the United States, shipments of seamen on foreign vessels in ports of the United States might be required to be made before United States shipping commissioners, yet it was understood that such a construction had never been adopted, but such shipments were invariably allowed to be made before the proper consular officer of his Government. This course of the United States is in accordance with an international comity which is reciprocated, as my Government is advised by every foreign government excepting that of Canada, and it was hoped that such reciprocal treatment for American vessels in Canadian ports would be secured by the presentation of the case to Her Majesty's Government. As no answer has been made to the complaint upon the subject, addressed to your lordship in March last, and as the minister of customs of the Dominion of Canada has since, in the month of June last, instructed the collectors of customs to enforce the thirty-second section of the seamen's act above mentioned, by refusing clearance to the vessels of the United States until the production of a shipping-master's certificate to the effect that all requirements of the act have been complied with, I am instructed by my Government to recall the subject to your lordship's attention, with a view to its proper adjustment between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the United States. I beg also to acquaint your lordship that I am further instructed to call the attention of Her Majesty's Government to a discrimination in respect to pilot dues at the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, by which American vessels of tonnage ranging from eighty to one hundred and twenty are subjected to pilotage dues from which Canadian vessels of like tonnage are exempt, and to express the hope that the removal of this discrimination may be secured. SIR: Referring to my dispatch numbered 84, of 19th instant, I have the honor to inclose the copy of a note which I have received from Sir Thomas Saunderson in reply to my note to Lord Salisbury of 20th instant, a copy of which was forwarded to you in my dispatch aforesaid, relative to the discrimination against American vessels in Canadian ports. I have, etc., ROBERT T. LINCOLN. [Inclosure in No. 86.] Sir T. V. Lister to Mr. Lincoln. FOREIGN OFFICE, September 21, 1889. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 18th instant, respecting the requirements of Canadian law in the matter of the shipment of crews by United States vessels in Canadian ports, and also respecting an alleged discrimination in the pilotage dues at Halifax, Nova Scotia. In reply, I beg to state that Mr. Henry White's note of the 18th of March was transmitted to Canada for the consideration of the Dominion Government, and that I have suggested that their attention should now be called to the matter by telegraph. I have, etc., T. V. LISTER. - No. 90.] Mr. Lincoln to Mr. Blaine. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, September 27, 1889. (Received October 7.) SIR: I beg to invite the Department's attention to the inclosed form of the information which it is necessary to present under oath in extradition cases here in order to procure a provisional warrant to prevent an escape before the application to the foreign office. In practice, Mr. Hodson, the messenger of the legation, signs and swears to the information and personally appears before the magistrate. In neither of the two cases which have occurred since my own arrival here was there information furnished the legation that a warrant had been issued in the United States for the arrest of the accused, and it was with great reluctance in each case that I assented to the making of the required statement in that regard by Mr. Hodson. It is, of course, probably true in each case that a warrant had been issued, but in order that the sworn information may be in all cases strictly true, as it should be, I suggest that the State authorities, in moving the Department of State, be required to make their applications in such form as will enable the Department to communicate the facts to be set forth in the information. I have, etc., [Inclosure in No. 90.] ROBERT T. LINCOLN. METROPOLITAN POLICE DISTRICT, to wit: taken on oath this The information of of day of, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and -, at the Bow street Police court, in the county of Middlesex, and within the Metropolitan police district, before me, the undersigned, one of the magistrates of the police courts of the metropolis, sitting at the police court aforesaid, who saith that accused [or convicted] of the commission of the crime of late of within the jurisdic is and now suspected of being in the United Kingdom. I make this application on behalf of the Government. tion of I produce has been issued in I am informed and verily believe, that a warrant for the arrest of the accused; that the said Government will demand h- extradition in due course, and that there are reasonable grounds for supposing the accused may escape during the time necessary to present the diplomatic requisition for h-surrender, and I therefore pray that a provisional warrant may issue under the provisions of 33 and 34 V., c. 52, s. 8. Sworn before me, the day and year first above mentioned, at the police court aforesaid. [Extradition forms. L. 12. Information.] No. 98.] Mr. Lincoln to Mr. Blaine. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, October 9, 1889. (Received October 19.) SIR: It is my understanding that, properly speaking, diplomatic duties in extradition cases begin with the formal request of the legation to the foreign office for the extradition of a person whose detention has already been procured upon the action of some one acting as the agent in that behalf of the authorities of the State to which the extradition is sought. Such person is required in England to present an information under oath, a draught of which I had the honor to inclose in my dispatch No. 90, of 27th ultimo. It seems that a practice has grown up here under which the state or local authorities rely upon this legation, without themselves being very definitely committed, to furnish a person to make oath to the information necessary for the arrest and detention, to await proper papers from the Department of State, and Mr. Hodson, the messenger of the legation, is accustomed to make the oath. It seems to me that in doing so he can not be considered as acting for the Department of State through this legation; but his actual connection with the lega tion is perfectly well known to the magistrates and the police authorities here, and he is no doubt considered by them as acting under the instructions of the legation so as to make it responsible. When, therefore, the proceedings become abortive by reason of the failure of the State authorities to follow up a case in hand after the police here have either arrested the accused with considerable trouble or have devoted much energy in following out clews which they still think good, not only must the dissatisfaction at having done useless work fall on this legation, but it may be that a claim for damages for wrongful arrest will be presented to it. These cases usually originate in a telegram from our local police authorities to the Scotland Yard officials, and I see no way to prevent such embarrassment to the representative of the United States Government and to place it where it belongs, on our local police, unless by requiring our local police to employ their own agents here to cause arrests and the messenger of this legation to cease acting in that capacity. I have, etc., ROBERT LINCOLN. No. 101.] Mr. Lincoln to Mr. Blaine. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, October 16, 1889. (Received October 26.) SIR Referring to my dispatches numbered 84 and 86, of the 19th and 26th of September last, relative to the subjection of American vessels in Canadian ports to the provisions of the Canadian seaman's act, 1886, as to the shipping of seamen, and also relative to the discrimination in the port of Halifax against American vessels of a certain tonnage in the matter of pilot dues, I have now the honor to inclose to you a copy of a note from the foreign office, of the 12th instant, including an extract from a report of a committee of the Canadian privy council, bearing date the 20th September last, from which it appears that the Canadian Government has directed the cessation, for an indefinite period, of the enforcement of the seamen's act as to shipping seamen before shipping masters, so far as American vessels are concerned. It will be observed that an answer to the complaint in respect to pilotage dues at Halifax may not be expected for a short time. I have, etc., ROBERT T. LINCOLN. [Inclosure 1 in No. 101.] Sir T. V. Lister to Mr. Lincoln. FOREIGN OFFICE, October 12, 1889. SIR: With reference to my note of the 21st ultimo, I have the honor to transmit herewith an extract from a report of a committee of the Canadian privy council, which I have received from the secretary of state for the colonies, upon the subject of the action of Canadian shipping masters in relation to the shipment of crews by United States vessels in Canadian ports. I beg leave to add that a further communication may be no doubt expected shortly |