Speech #500010858

Neither of the distinguished gentlemen to whom I refer has produced. and I venture the assertion that neither of them can produce. thejudgment of any respectable court sustaining the position which they urge upon the House. The leading case relied upon is the case from New York. decided by Justice Blatchford. In that caseand I ask the House to bear it in mindthere was in the office of the clerk of the court a statement of the oath taken before the court and of all the proceedings requisite for the naturalization of the citizen. and this was identified by the initials of the judge. The judge who sat in the case put on the papers his initials. and Judge Bkmtchford held this to be competentevidence of the judgment of the court. In the case from Virginia there was found upon the minutes of the court an entry stating that the applicant for citizenship appeared and was naturalized. Sir. there can not be produced a single caseI appeal to any man on this floor who has made an investigation of the question to produce a casein which any respectable court has held that naturalization. the whole of it. can be proved by parol. Why. Mr. Speaker. a citizen must be naturalized in a court of record having a clerk and having a seal. Why this requirement of the law. but that such judgment may be entered of record bythe clerk and thus become a memorial for all time? If naturalization may be proven by parol. why does not the statute authorize courts not of record to hear such cases and give judgment? The conclusion is irresistible that j urisdiction was limited by Congress to such courts as had a clerk and seal in order that the judgment admitting a person of foreign birth to citizenship here might be enrolled for a perpetual memorial and testimony. The proceedings in cases of naturalization are strictly judicial. there must be. as inother judicial matters. that judgment which isthe" end of the law." A court of record can speak only by its dockets. minutes. or records. and in the absence ofany docket. minute. or record. its voice can not be heard. Air. Speaker. the proposition here is to prove by parol every single fact necessary to establish the naturalization of contestee.