Mr. Adee to Mr. Terres.
Washington, September 26, 1893.
Sir: I have received Mr. Durham’s No. 244, of the 14th instant, reporting the request addressed to him by Mr. Goutier, consul of the United States at Cape Haitian, for the renewal of the certificate of citizenship given to his son by Mr. Douglass when minister to Haiti.
The only certification of United States citizenship permissible is by a regular passport issued in compliance with law and the regulations of this Department. It sometimes happens in Spanish-American countries that an alien is required to deposit his passport with the legation or a consulate and receive a certificate of registry according to local formula, but Mr. Durham’s dispatch does not intimate that the certificate was given to Mr. Goutier’s son under such circumstances.
I am, etc.,
Acting Secretary.