have no right to have recourse to other measures than those which the laws grant to Mexicans. They may appeal to the diplomatic channel only in the case of denial of justice or intentional delay in its administration, after exhausting in vain the ordinary means created by the laws, and in the manner prescribed by international law. ART. 36. Aliens do not enjoy the political rights of Mexican citizens; hence they can not vote for, nor be elected to, any office filled by election of the people, nor can they be appointed to any other office or charge peculiar to the careers of the State; nor can they belong to the army, navy, or national guard; nor can they assemble to discuss the political affairs of the country, nor exercise the right of petition in that class of affairs. This is to be understood as not affecting the provisions of article 1, Section XII, and article 19 of this law. ART. 37. Aliens are exempt from military service. Domiciled aliens, however, are bound to perform police service when the security of property or the maintenance of order in the town in which they are residing is involved. ART. 38. Aliens taking part in the civil dissensions of the country may be expelled from its territory as mischievous aliens, and are subject to the laws of the Republic as to the offenses which they commit against it, without prejudice to the regulation of their rights and obligations during the state of war, by international law and treaties. ART. 39. The laws ordering the registration of aliens are repealed. The ministry of [foreign] relations alone can issue certificates of any given nationality in favor of the aliens requesting them. These certificates constitute the legal presumption of foreign citizenship, but do not exclude proof to the contrary. The final proof of any given nationality is made before the competent courts and by the means prescribed by the laws and treaties. ART. 40. This law does not grant to aliens the rights denied them by international law, treaties, or the legislation in force in the Republic. CHAPTER V. TEMPORARY PROVISIONS. ART. 1. Aliens who have acquired real estate, who have had children born to them in Mexico, or who have held any public office, being those referred to in Sections X, XI, and XII of article 1 of this law, are bound to declare within six months' after the promulgation of this law, provided they have not done so previously, to the civil authorities of their place of residence whether they wish to acquire Mexican citizenship or to retain their own. In the former case they must immediately ask for their certificate of naturalization in the form prescribed in article 19 of this law. If they fail to make the declaration in question, they shall be considered Mexicans, except in those cases where there has been an official declaration on this point. ART. 2. Colonists residing in the country, being those referred to in the last sentence of article 28 of this law, shall declare in the manner prescribed by the preceding This period was prolonged by the following decree : SECTION 4. DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND OF FOREIGN RELATIONS, The President of the Republic has been pleased to address me the following decree: Porfirio Diaz, President of the United States of Mexico, to its inhabitants, know ye that the Congress of the Union has decreed as follows: The Congress of the United States of Mexico decrees: Only article: The term fixed by article 1, Chapter V, of the law enacted May 28, 1886, is prolonged for eight months, counting from the date of the present decree, in order that aliens who have acquired real estate, who have had children born to them in Mexico, or who have held any public office prior to May 28, 1886, being those referred to in Sections X, XI, and XII of article 1, Chapter I, of the said law, may declare whether they wish to acquire Mexican citizenship or to retain their own. Wherefore, I order it to be printed, published, circulated, and duly executed. To the SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN RELATIONS. [Signed, etc.] PORFIRIO DIAZ. I communicate this to you for your information in order that the aliens referred to in the foregoing decree may make the declaration prescribed therein, before this ministry, or before the civil authorities of their place of residence, or of the place nearest to it, to the end that the said authorities may forward it immediately to this department, which will issue to them the document required, suitable to each case. I renew to you the assurances of my consideration, MARISCAL. article under what nationality they wish to be classed, and if it should be the Mexican, they shall also ask for their certificate of naturalization, as prescribed by the preceding article. ART. 3. The Executive, in issuing the necessary regulations for the execution of this law, shall be careful to give the proper directions in order that the local authorities, so far as they are concerned, may duly execute it. [Signed, etc.] Wherefore, I order it to be printed, published, circulated, and duly executed. To Citizen IGNACIO MARISCAL, Secretary of State and of the Department of Foreign Relations. PORFIRIO DIAZ. In communicating it to you for your information and for the necessary purposes, I assure you of my great consideration. MARISCAL. NETHERLANDS.1 SALT AND SUGAR DUTIES. Mr. Planten to Mr. Gresham. NEW YORK, August 31, 1894. SIR: In the Journal of Commerce of this day I read in a circular issued by the Secretary of the Treasury that some of our Dutch colonial islands impose a duty on salt. This is erroneous. The colony of Curaçao, comprising Curaçao, Buen Ayre, Oruba, St. Martin, St. Eustatius, and Saba, do not impose duties on salt, these duties having been abolished already six years ago. In behalf of the salt traders in those colonies, or their agents here, I beg you to advise the Secretary of this fact, so that the necessary alterations in the interest of commerce and navigation may be made in this circular. SIR: Replying to yours of the 31st ultimo, I have the honor to inform you that the Secretary of the Treasury has been notified as to your request, that the colonies of Curaçao, Buen Ayre, Oruba, St. Martin, St. Eustatius, and Saba do not impose duties on salt, those duties having been abolished six years ago. I have, etc., EDWIN F. UHL, Acting Secretary. Mr. Planten to Mr. Gresham. NEW YORK, September 14, 1894. SIR: In the Journal of Commerce of yesterday I notice that the Department of the Treasury at Washington, D. C., still persists that import duties on salt are levied in the Dutch West India Islands, Oruba, St. Martin, and Buen Ayre, and bases its decision on the official publication of the international customs bureau at Brussels. In my letter of August 31 last I wrote your excellency that this supposition was erroneous, because our minister of foreign affairs cabled me that import duties on salt in all our West India islands had been abolished six years ago. 1 Reprinted from Senate Ex. Doc. No. 58, Fifty-third Congress, third session. The international customs bureau at Brussels must be laboring under a mistake, for I cabled to the governor of Curaçao as follows: "Buen Ayre, St. Martin salt dutiable because you reimposed duties December, 1892," and I have just received the following answer: "Error; import duty on salt never reimposed;" which seems to leave no room for any doubt whatever. As there are some cargoes of salt expected here from these islands, I beg your excellency to inform the Secretary of the Treasury of the foregoing facts. Accept, etc., Mr. Gresham to Mr. Planten. J. R. PLANTEN. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Referring to your note of the 31st ultimo, in which you inform the Department, with reference to a recent United States Treasury circular, that no duty is now levied on salt in certain Dutch colonies, I have the honor to inclose a copy of a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury of the 10th instant, in which he says that the information relative to the Dutch colonies upon which they were included in the list in the circular in question was derived from the publications of the international customs bureau. Calling your attention to the statement of the Secretary of the Treasury that the colony of Curaçao is not included in the list of those colonies which were supposed to levy a duty on salt, I beg you to accept, sir, the renewed assurance of my high consideration. W. Q. GRESHAM. [Inclosure.] Mr. Carlisle to Mr. Gresham. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st instant, in regard to the inclusion of certain Dutch colonies in the list of countries imposing duty on salt, published by this Department in its circular of the 29th ultimo, and stating that you have been advised by the chargé d'affaires and consul-general of the Netherlands that "the colony of Curaçao, comprising Curaçao, Buen Ayre, Oruba, St. Martin, St. Eustatius, and Saba, do not impose duties on salt, these duties having been abolished six years ago." In reply I would state that the colony of Curaçao is not included in the list, and that from the International Customs Journal it appears that duty is imposed on salt imported into the Dutch colonies, East Indies, by ordinance of the governor-general, which went into force on July 1, 1886, and on salt imported into St. Eustatius, St. Martin, Oruba, and Buen Ayre by decrees of the governor of Curaçao of December 24, 1892. These decrees were issued subsequently to the exemption from duty of salt imported into the island of Curaçao by ordinance of the governor of August 28, 1888, and being contained in the official publications of the international customs bureau, from data furnished by the respective governments, were accepted by the Department as conclusive on the subject. Under the terms of paragraph 608 of the new tariff act each of the dependencies of the colony of Curaçao must be treated per se, and should any of them impose a duty on salt exported from the United States it would be necessary to treat salt coming from such dependency as dutiable, although the same merchandise coming from Curaçao would be entitled to free entry. J. G. CARLISLE. Respectfully, yours, Mr. Gresham to Mr. Planten. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 14th instant, stating that the duty on salt has been abolished in all the West India islands under the dominion of the Netherlands, and to state that a copy of your communication has been sent to the Secretary of the Treasury for his information and consideration. Accept, etc., W. Q. GRESHAM. Mr. Planten to Mr. Gresham. NEW YORK, September 25, 1894. SIR Referring to my letter of September 14 last, and yours of the 18th, I have the honor to inclose a decree of the governor of Curaçao, dated August 20, 1888, No. 14, whereby import duties on salt in the colony of Curaçao were abolished, and copy of a cable from our minister of foreign affairs at The Hague stating that import duty on salt was not reestablished by decree of December, 1892. Hoping that these facts will convince your excellency of the mistake of the international customs bureau at Brussels, I beg you to accept the assurance of my high consideration. TUNELESS, New York: J. R. PLANTEN. [Inclosure-Translation.] THE HAGUE, September 24, 1894. Import duty salt not reestablished by decree December, 1892. See letter. Mr. Gresham to Mr. Planten. ROELL. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 25th instant, relative to the question as to whether the Dutch colony of Curaçao imposes an import duty on salt, and to inform you that a copy of your communication has been sent to the Secretary of the Treasury for his information and consideration. Accept, etc., W. Q. GRESHAM. |