The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-05-23


il Office of the Secretary,
i Washington, d. c., April %, 1904
Sir:-Under cover of your letter o
the 21st instant, No. 629.C, the Depart
ment has received the record on appea
in the case of Sun Vat Sen, who ar
rived at your port April 6, per steam
ship Korea, claiming admission to the
/ United States as a citizen thereof By
reason of birth in the Hawaiian Is.
| lands, and who was rejected by you or
the ground that, having been (accord-
/ ing to the records and his own admis-
sion3 allowed to enter the United States
on June 10, 1896, as a student presenting
a certificate of the Chinese Government
prepared in accordance with section {
OF the act of July 5, 1884, he could not
now be admitted as a citizen of the
| following language being used in your
rejecting decision:
One of the agreed statements of fact
upon which the case of the United
States against Wong Kim Ark was de-
cided is as follows:
THAT ever since the birth of said
Wong Kim Ark at the time and place
hereinbefofe stated and stipulated he
has had but one residence, to wit, a
residence in said State of California in
the United States of America, and that
he has never changed or lost residence,
or gained or acquired another residence
and there resided, claiming to De a citi-
zen of the United tStates.''-(U. S. "
Wong Kim Ark, 1859 u. s., 651.)
This, in my opinion based upon a
careful reading of the decision in this
leading case, was considered by the
court a material fact IN deciding the
case. The case before me, however,
shows the peculiar condition of a man
claiming citizenship from two distinct
nations. one who, according to his
birthright, might undoubtedly have
claimed citizenship in this country but
who waived his right and became a
subject of China and now seeks rein
statement as a citizen of the United
States merely by taking the oath of al
legiance.
My understanding is that citizenship
can only be acquired by a person of
Chinese descent by the right of birth,
and this having been waived by appli-
cant, he stands upon no better basis
than any other Chinese subject seeking
admission at this port from the Ter
ritory ofgHawaii, and accordingly has
no legal right to admission.
The facts in the case as shown by the
record are as follows:
The appellant, Sun Vat Sen, was born
in Kula, Maui, H. l.. November "a. 1870
When about four years of age he ac-
companied his parents to China. when
about ten years old he returned with
his mother CHS father having died in
the meantine) to the Hawaiian Islands,
where he remained until he was sixteen
or seventeen. when he went again to
China and stayed there about seven or
eight years. On June 10, 1896. he was
admitted at San Francisco as student
and traveller on a certificate procured
by him in China, and after travelling
in the United States and Europe, he
returned to the Hawaiian Islands, where
he has since resided, making occasion
al visits to Hongkong. In substanti-
alton of his claim to American citizen
ship he presents a birth certificate of
the Territory of Hawaii, issued in prop
er form, a passport of the said Terri
tory describing him as a citizen of the
United States, signed by the governor
of said Territory, and a report of the
Chinese inspector in charge at Homo
lulu to the effect that the statements
been investigated by that officer and
found to be true; and he claims that
some time after the annexation of the
Hawaiian Islands to the United States,
registration was taken of all the resi-
dents and that he was then registered
! as an Hawaiian-born Chinese, and that
Immediately prior to his departure
from Hawaii on his present trip he
took the oath of allegiance to the Unit
ed. States.
In view of the said facts and the man
ner in which they are substantiated.
the Department does not believe that
the position taken by you in regard
to this case is tenable. for it is not
thought that the decision of the Su-
pr-eme Court in the Wong Kim Ark
case, upon which you rely for author
ity 10 reject the appellant, is appli-
cable. 1t is pointed out in an opinion
of the Attorney General, dated January
10. 1901, that
The constitution of the Republic of
Hawaii (sec. /, art. III provided that
'all persons born or naturalized in the
Hawaiian Islands and subject to the
jurisdiction of the Republic are citizens
thereof The act of April 80. 1900 (3I
Stat. 141), providing a government for
the Territory of Hawaii declared (sec.
- that all persons who were citizens
'of the Republic OF Hawaii on August