Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1814-10-27


proves how sincerely DESTROYS the legislative
as we'll as executivs branch of our govern
ment is. to adjust this controversy on condi-
tons which may be satisfactory to Great
Britain. BY that law it is made indispensa-
BILE for every British subject who may
hereafter become citizen, to reside hve
years without intermission within the Uni
ted States, and so many guards are impos-
ed to prevent frauds, that 1t seems 10 De IN
possible that they should be eluded. No
British subject can be employed in public
or private ship OF the United states, unless
he produces to the commander in the one
instance, and to the collector in the other, a
certified copy of the act by watch he be-
came naturaliaed A list of the crew, II
the case of private ship, must be taken,
certified, and recorded by the collector, and
the consuls or commercial agents of Great
Britain may object to any seamen, and at
tend the investigation. The commander
of public ship receiving person not du-
ly qualified shall forfeit thousand dollars,
and the commander or owner OF private
chip, knowing thereof, five hundred dollars,
to be recovered in an action of debt, one
half to the informer, and one half to the
United States. 1t is also made penal, pun
ishable as felony, by Imprisonment and
labor from three to five years, or by fine
from five hundred to one thousand dollars,
for any person to forge or counterfeit, or to
pass or use any forged or counterteited GER
tifcate of citizenship, or to sell or dispose
of one.
1t may fairly be presumed, that if this
law should be carried into effect, it would
Ill "a 4,
By requiring five years continued resi-
dence in the U. S. as the condition of citi-
zenship, few if any b. seamen would ever
take advantage of it. Such as had left G.
Britain, and had resided five years in this
country, would be likely to abandon the
sea forever. And by making it the duty of
the commanders of our public, and of the
collectors, In the case of private ships, to
require an authenticated copy from the
| clerk of the eotrt, before which British
subject, who offered his service, had been
naturalized, as indispensable to his admis
sion, & highly penal in either to take per-
san net duly qualified, and by allowing al
| so British agents to object to any one offer
! ing his service, and to prosecute by suit the
| commander or collector, as the cast might
be, for receiving an improper person, it
seems to be impossible that such should
| be received.
| Ii the second alternative is adopted, that
, is, if all native British subjects are to be
! hereafter excluded from our service, it is
| important that the stipulation providing for
| it should operate so as not to affect those who
have been already naturahzed BY our law
all the rights of natives are given to natu-
| rallied citizens 1t is contended by some
! that these complete rights do not extend
beyond the limits of the U States; that in
naturalizing a foreigner, no state can alb
solve him from the obligation which he
owes to his former government, and that he
becomes citizen in qualified sense only.
! This doctrine, if true in any case, is less
applicable to the IT, States than TO any O.
( Their power REPATRIATION seems to be a
natural right, and by the original character
of our institutions, founded by compact, on
principle, and particularly by the unquali-
fled investment of the adopted citizen with
the full rights of the native, all that the u.
States, could do to place him on the same
footing, has been done. In point of interest,
the object is of little importance to either
party. The number to be affected by the
stipulation is considerable; nor can that be
a cause of surprise, when the character OF
that class of men is considered. 1t rarely
happens that a seaman who settles on a
farm, or engages in a trade, and pursoes it
for any lenght of time, returns to sea. His
youthful days are exhausted in his first oc-
cupation lie leaves it with regret, and a.
dopss another, either in consequence of mar
riage, of disease, or as an asylum for age.
To a stipulation which shall operate pros
pectively only, the same objection does not
apply. In naturalizing foreigners, the Uni
ted States may prescribe the limit to which
their privileges shall extend. If it is made
a condition that no native British subject,
who may hereafter become citizen, shall
be employed in our public or private ships,
their exclusion will violate no right. Those
who might become citizens afterwards
would acquire the right subject to that con-
l 4 4 - " s.pl&