Protection of American Citizens It is the duty of consular officers to endeavor to maintain and promote the rightful interests of American citizens and to protect them in all privileges provided for by treaty or to which they are entitled under the law of nations. If representations are made to the local authorities and fail to secure the proper redress, the consul should report the case to the diplomatic representative of the country and to the Department. Registration of American Citizens Principal consular officers are required to keep at their offices a Register of American citizens residing in their districts, and to make it known that such a Register is kept and invite all resident Americans to cause their names to be entered therein. The same principles govern applications for registry which govern applications for passports. Consuls are authorized to issue certificates of registration for use with the authorities of the place where the person registered is residing. Returns of registration made and of certificates issued, must be made to the Embassy or Legation in the country in which the consulate is situated and to the Secretary of State. The Act of March 2, 1907, provides that children born abroad to an American father, in order to receive the protection of the United States, must register in an American Consulate when eighteen years of age and at the same time declare their intention to become residents and remain citizens; and upon reaching majority they are further required to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. The same law, which expressly declares that an American woman who marries a foreigner shall take the nationality of her husband, also provides that at the termination of the marital relation she may resume her American citizenship, if abroad, by registering as an American citizen within one year with a consul of the United States. Report of Naturalization of American Citizens Abroad Whenever a diplomatic or consular officer learns that an American citizen has secured naturalization or has taken an oath of allegiance in a foreign state, he should certify to the fact under his seal and transmit the certification to the Department of State. Reports of Fraudulent Naturalization Under the provisions of the Act of June 29, 1906, when an alien who has secured naturalization in the United States proceeds abroad and takes up his permanent residence in any foreign country within five years after the date of his naturalization, it shall be deemed prima facie evidence that he did not intend in good faith to become a citizen of the United States when he applied for naturalization, and in the absence of countervailing evidence it is sufficient in the proper proceeding to authorize the cancelation of his certificate as fraudulent. Diplomatic and consular officers are required to furnish the Department of State, to be transmitted to the Department of Justice, the names of those within their jurisdictions, respectively, who are subject to the provisions of the requirement referred to, and such statements under their official seals, are admissible in evidence in all courts to cancel certificates of naturalization. The officer is required to state: First, that the person is a permanent resident in a foreign country; and, second, that the permanent residence was taken up within five years after naturalization was conferred; and to certify to the facts and to the means of his knowledge. Passports Under the existing regulations, passports must be obtained from the Department of State if the applicant has time to apply there. But certain consular officers are authorized to issue emergency passports in cases where inconvenience or hardship would result to a person entitled to receive a passport unless he received it at once. Such passports are good for a period not to exceed six months and are to be used only for a purpose to be stated in the passport. Consuls at the following places are authorized to issue emergency passports :-Adis Ababa, Barbados, Calcutta, Colombo, Curacao, Kingston (Jamaica), Nassau, St. Michael's, Seoul, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Tahiti and Tamatave. A consul in a country where there is a diplomatic representative of the United States may issue passports during the temporary absence of the diplomatic representative. All consular officers may receive applications for the issuance of passports. Each such application must be forwarded by the consular officer to the Department with the evidence of the right to secure the passport. Principal consular officers are also authorized to extend for a period of two years passports issued by the Department which are about to expire, presented to them for extension. The consul is required to give immediate notice to the Department of such extension. For Rules governing the issuance of Passports, see p. 181. Extradition It is sometimes the duty of consular officers to make formal requisitions for the extradition of fugitives from the United States. The matter is regulated by treaties which usually provide that requisitions shall be made by the diplomatic representative of the demanding government, or in the absence of such representative by the "superior consular officer." Occasionally, consuls are requested by the police authorities of cities in the United States to secure the apprehension of fugitive criminals, but as extradition is a national matter and, so far as the United States is concerned, governed entirely by treaty, a request for arrest or surrender can properly be made only through the diplomatic channel; and in the absence of instructions from the Department of State a consular officer is not authorized to intervene in extradition matters, nor ask for the arrest and detention of a fugitive. Our law (Act of Aug. 3, 1882) provides that documentary evidence offered by foreign governments in support of requisitions for the extradition of criminals from the United States, if properly and legally authenticated so as to entitle it to be received for similar purposes by the tribunals of the foreign country, shall be received and admitted as evidence on the hearing in the United States for all the purposes of such hearing, and that the certificate of the principal diplomatic or consular officer of the United States resident in such country shall be proof that any deposition, warrant or other paper, or copies thereof, so offered are authenticated in the manner required by the law. A form of consular certificate which has been tested and found to be legally sufficient, is printed in the appendix, at p. 283. Marriages While consular officers are prohibited from solemnizing marriages in any case, they may, when requested, act as official witnesses of the ceremony of marriage where one of the contracting parties is a citizen of the |