identification issued by officials of French Indo-China with visas by the American Consul at Saigon, French Indo-China. They were denied admission on the ground that the certificate of identification required by § 6 of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Act of May 6, 1882, c. 126, 22 Stat. 58, 60, as amended by the Act of July 5, 1884, c. 220, 23 Stat. 115, 116, 117; U.S.C., Title 8, § 265, was a certificate of the government of which respondents were subjects, in this case the Chinese government, and not a certificate of the government of French Indo-China, where respondents merely resided. Their petitions for writs of habeas corpus were denied by the district court for northern California. On appeal the two cases were consolidated in the court ofin his special message of April 6, 1886.[5] 8 Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 391. He recommended legislation permitting the certificate in the case of Chinese nationals, resident in other foreign countries where there were no Chinese consular officers, to be issued by United States consuls in those countries. The Chinese government has uniformly authorized its diplomatic and consular officers in foreign countries to issue such certificates in the case of Chinese subjects resident there.[6] The validity of such certificates issued to Chinese subjects by consular officers of China in other foreign *481 countries has been recognized by the Department of State and upheld by the Attorney General.[7]
Added weight is given to this course of practical construction by the history of Article III of the treaty