PART 6. fraud, to prescribe such rules and mode of proceeding, to ascertain the facts, as, in his opinion, may be convenient and proper, without regard to the provisions of the act above referred to; and upon said facts so to be ascertained as aforesaid, the said secretary may exercise all the power conferred upon him, in and by the said act, as fully as he might have done had said facts been ascertained under and according to the provisions of the said act." The sole design of this act, it will be observed, is to dispense in the cases therein specified, with the judicial inquiry prescribed by the original act. Whether the secretary of the treasury has seen fit to prescribe and promulgate prospectively any "rules and modes of proceeding to ascertain the facts;" or whether in each case, on being applied to for information, he indicates what will be required of the petitioner in the particular case; or, lastly, whether the petitioner is left to follow the dictates of his own judgment in the first instance, relying on his own oath alone, or supported by the oaths of others, for the verification of his petition, until the secretary shall either adjudge the evidence sufficient, or pronounce it unsatisfactory, and, in his discretion, either deny the petition absolutely, or indicate the deficiency, and afford to the petitioner an opportunity to supply it, I am not apprised. CHAPTER IV. OF NATURALIZATION. Among the powers confided by the constitution to congress, is that of establishing a uniform rule of naturalization throughout the United States. This naturaliza power is now well understood to be in its nature exclusive; and considered in all its bearings, is cer No state can pass tion laws. tainly one of great importance. In pursuance of it CHAP. 4. an act was passed at the second session of the first congress. Since that period the subject has repeatedly occupied the attention of the national legislature, until at length a long series of conflicting legislation has involved it in considerable apparent perplexity. This is the more to be regretted on account of the great disadvantages, as it respects the means of obtaining correct information, under which the class of persons labor whose rights it is the object of these laws to regulate; and on account of the frequency with which the courts of record of every grade throughout the Union are called upon to act upon the subject. So far, however, as it concerns merely the condition of admission to the rights of citizenship, and the proceedings requisite for that purpose (a clear explanation of which is all that will here be attempted), the law as it previously stood, has been much simplified by the last act upon the subject, of May 24, 1828.1 The following exposition of the existing law relative to this subject is believed to be accurate, and it is hoped may prove intelligible and useful. Provision is made for the naturalization only of "free white persons."" courts ap may be Application for this purpose may be made to any To what circuit or district or territorial court of the United plication States, or to any court of record having a common made. law jurisdiction, and a seal and clerk or prothonotary, of any individual state. Act of April 14, 1802.3 The applicant must have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States, for 'Ch. 116: 4 Stat. at Large, p. 310. 2 As to the description of persons who are to be considered as falling within this designation, see 2 Kent's Commentaries, 8th ed., p. 36. Ch. 28, sec. 1, 3: 2 Stat. at Large, p. 155. Previous residence PART 6. at least five years, immediately preceding the time of his application; and must also have resided one in all cases year, at least, in the state or territory in which the required. court to which his application is addressed, is sitting.1 How proved. In proof of such previous residence, the courts are expressly prohibited from receiving the oath of the applicant, but are directed to require "the oath or affirmation of citizens of the United States;" that is, it is presumed, of at least two citizens; and the names of these citizens as witnesses of the fact of such residence, and also the place or places, of the applicant's residence for the last five years, are to be stated in the record to be made of the proceeding by the clerk of the court.2 It is proper now to notice and explain a distinction made by the existing laws between the case 'Id. The act does not, in terms, require such residence to have been during the last preceding year. But from the obvious policy of this provision, there is much reason to conclude that such was the intention of congress, and such it is apprehended is its true construction. I have stated the latter requirements, of obtaining the testimony of citizens to the fact of residence, and of inserting the names, &c., in the record, as applicable to all cases, upon the authority of the second section of the act of May 24th, 1828 (chap. 106), as upon the whole the safer construction of it; though it is certainly questionable whether it embraces by far the most numerous class of applicants, viz., those who have come to reside in the United States since the 18th day of June, 1812; and of whom, as we shall presently see, a condition is required, which is not exacted of those who came at an earlier date. In effect, however, the question is not very important; because by the act of 1802, which governs the rights in this respect, of those who arrive subsequently to 1812, the oath of the applicant cannot be received to prove his residence, but the court is bound to require satisfactory proof, by other evidence. This, it is true, would leave the court at liberty to receive the testimony of aliens, and, if it thought proper, to rely upon the evidence of only one witness. But in regard to a fact in its nature of so much notoriety as the residence of an individual, there would in general be no hardship in requiring the evidence of two citizens to prove it; and indeed, to do so, would be but a reasonable exercise of discretion, under the act of 1802; requiring, in general terms, only satisfactory proof. of those who arrived in the United States before, CHAP. 4. and those arriving after the 18th of June, 1812. tion of in tention to be made before The first condition of admission imposed by the Declara act of April 14, 1802, above cited, is as follows, viz.: that the applicant shall have declared on oath or two years affirmation, before one of the courts above men- admission. tioned, three years at least before his application for admission, that it was bona fide his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty whatever, and particularly by name, the prince, potentate, state or sovereignty whereof he may at the time be a citizen or subject. But by the act of May 26, 1824, this declaration may be made before the clerk of one of those courts, as well as before the court itself; and may be made only two years, instead of three, before the time of admission.1 As thus modified, the condition is still obligatory upon those aliens who did not arrive in this country before the 18th of June, 1812. May be made be fore court or clerk. A compliance with it must therefore be proved at How proved. the time of the application. The mode of proof is not prescribed by any law now in force. Where the declaration was made before the court, or the clerk of the 'Ch. 186, §§ 3, 4: 4 Stat. at Large, p. 69. 'The act of 1802, § 2, also requires that aliens who should arrive in the United States subsequent to the date of its passage, should, if of the age of twenty-one years, report to the clerk of one of the above mentioned courts, his or her name, birthplace, age, nation, allegiance, the country whence he or she emigrated, and the place of his or her intended settlement; all which was to be recorded by such clerk; who was to furnish a certificate of such report, which the alien was required to produce to the court at the time of his application. Those who were under the age of twenty-one or were held in service, were in like manner to be reported by their parents, &c. This provision, after undergoing a modification by the act of March 22, 1816, was, together with the enactment by which it was modified, wholly repealed by the act of May 24, 1828. PART 6. court, to which the application for admission is made, doubtless the exhibition of the original record of it would be sufficient. If it was made before a court, or a clerk of a court, other than that to which the application is made, an exemplification of the record of it, under the hand and seal of the clerk of such court, would be competent, and probably the only competent evidence. From aliens who came be fore 1812, declara tion re quired: &c. Time of arrival and how But by the act of May 24, 1828, those aliens who arrived in the United States before the 18th of June, no previous 1812, are exonerated from the performance of this condition: Provided, that the applicant, when he Provided, presents himself for admission, shall, (in addition to what is above stated as required in all cases,) prove, to the satisfaction of the court, that he was residing within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States, before the said 18th day of June, 1812, and has continued so to reside. We have already seen that the last five years of such residence must be proved by the oaths or affirmations of at least two citizens of the United States. But this requirement residence, does not extend to the antecedent portion of such residence. That is only required, in general terms, to be proved" to the satisfaction of the court." This continued residence, (as it is understood, for the whole period commencing prior to the 18th of June, 1812,) is required to be stated and set forth in the record, together (as above explained), with the place or places of the applicant's residence for the last preceding five years. By the act of March 13, 1813, it was declared that no person who should have arrived in the United States, from and after the termination of the war in which the United States were then engaged with England, should “be admitted a citizen of the United States, who shall not for the continued term 'Ch. 114: 4 Stat. at Large, p. 310. proved. To be set forth in record of admission. |