Speech #470032054

Vernon Harcourt. (late so. licitorgeneral of England. and better known here as "Historicus." This commission examined the whole subject thoroughly. and concluded to abandon the old commonlaw rule of perpetual allegiance. It adopted the American doctrine as eminently in accordance with the enlarged freedom of the age. and applicable also to Great Britain hereafter. Theh- recommendation was subsequently approved and confirmed by Parliament in the passage of the naturalization act of 1870. the sixth section of which reads: "Any British subject who has atany time before. or may at any time after the passing of this act. when in any foreign state and notunder any disability. voluntarily become naturalired in suel state. slrall from and after the time of his so having become naturalized in such foreign state be deemed to have ceased to be a British subject and be regarded as an alien." Mr. Speaker. you will observe from this that it is precisely te ground taken by Secretary Cass and AttorneyGeneral Black. to wit. that naturalization invests the foreigner with complete citizenship the same as birth. and that as to all other countries. oven that of his nativity. Can the United States afford to beless liberal than Great Britain. can we bo less liberal than Great Britain. which regards a British subject naturalized hereas an alhen thereafter within its tenitolies? Why should Congress. then. make a distinction between these two classes of citizens as if the rights of the one were not the same but less than those of te other ? This is done most unequivocally by the languago of the fifth clause of the third subdi. vision of section two of tie substitute I lsave quoted. that a naturalized citizen becoming domiciled in the country of his nativitywhich by section 3 means a contiious residence of twe yearssial cease to bounder the protection of the United States. be arbitrarily deprived of his rights acquired by naturalization. and aban. doned to the very psower all allegiance to which ie had under oath renounced in accordance with the laws of the United States. No native citizen can possibly be exposed to any such difficulties. do ands. rnd entanglements. although under the bill now pending even he may often be unreasonably vexed and harassed. Why not place or rather leave the naturalized citizen upon the same footing as originally intended. as lucidly expressed by Cass and Black. tardily adopted by England. and authoritatively confirmed by act of Congress in 1868 1 Why change it now in 1874) Has any new light dawned upon our :fedonil Legislaturethe great Sanhedrim of thirtyseven Statesthat makes it desirable to enter ow upon such a retrograde movement) I believe I can discern far across the Atlantic the true source of this intended reactionary legislation. The Bancroft treaty with the North German Confederation. concluded in 1868. does now apply to all the states comprised within the limits of the newlyconstituted GermanEmpire. including Alsace and the annexed portion of Lorraine. A native of any part of that country. being naturalized hers. is by the terms of that treaty reincorporated in among the subjects of the emperor after a residenco anywhere in Germany. though hundreds of miles away from the place of his birt. for even a day over two years. He may be a native of Bavaria. and if. after his naturalization in the United States. he enters into business relations at Hamburg or Bremen. a residence of two years in either of these cities. far remote front the country of his nativity. or elsewhere within the empire. makes him a subject of the emperor. of whom he never was a subject before. end divests him of th. charactor of an American citizen without his consent. and possibly against his will. And it need occasion no surprise were it to appear that this very bill has been suggested in the interest of that policy which seeks by every means to render emigration from Germany to the Unite States. and the naturalizatin of native Germans as American citizens. less desirable and popular in the country under its sway. That Bancroft treaty might be terned a convention to inpeds German ininigration to this country. and the bill before the House. begotten in the spirit of that and other similar treaties. could appropriately be entitled "An act to discona go immifrato tire United States." For myself. and representin. a hundred thousand Germans. I do desire to bring the kith and kinall tho god folk of Germany to this land. to meet and kiss their kith and kin here.