n the strength of which
the customs officers at the port of entry were to admit the bearer
without further adjudication of his status unless question should arise
as to the truth of the certificate itself.

It became, therefore, necessary to amend the circular of January 14,
1885, and this was done on the 13th of June following, by striking out
the clause prescribing original certification of status by the United
States consuls. The effect of this amendment is to deprive any
certificate the United States consuls may issue of the value it
purported to possess as sole permissible evidence under the statute when
its issuance was prescribed by Treasury regulations. There is, however,
nothing to prevent consuls giving certificates of facts within their
knowledge to be received as evidence in the absence of statutory
authentication.

The complaint of the Chinese minister in his note of March 24, 1886,
is that the Chinese merchant Lay Sang, of the house of King Lee & Co.,
of San Francisco, having arrived at San Francisco from Hongkong and
exhibited a certificate of the United States consul at Hongkong as to
his status as a merchant, and consequently exempt under the treaty,
was refused permission to land and was sent back to Hongkong by the
steamer which brought him. While the certificate he bore was doubtless
insufficient under the present law, it is to be remembered that there is
at Hongkong no representative of the Government of China competent or
authorized to issue the certificate required by the statute. The intent
of Congress to legislate in execution of the treaty is thus defeated
by a prohibition directly contrary to the treaty, and conditions are
exacted which, in the words of the Supreme Court hereinbefore quoted,
"it was physically impossible to perform."

This anomalous feature of the act should be reformed as speedily as
possible, in order that the occurrence of such cases may be avoided and
the imputation removed which would otherwise rest upon the good faith of
the United States in the execution of their solemn treaty engagements.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 9, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in relation to
the mercantile marines of France, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 14, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In response to a resolution of the Hou