The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-07
Vol. XIII.

others in some provinces in the North; but he
adds that that is because the former siQres
and the latter belong to the soil.
He further says: In England, the subjects
are under a stronger and more particular obi
cation to the sovereign than elsewhere in viz
tue Of right which they there call allegiance
but this does not prevent the English from with
drawing from the kingdom without the permis.
sion of the King and when they have estab
lished themselves elsewhere, neither the author.
ity of the King nor the laws of the kindom have
any farther power over them"
Heineccus, book ?, Sec 23O holds the right
of expatriation to be clear. He says: "Agaip.
since one is a subject, in regard that he consti.
tutes, with others, one republic, into which h..
willingly eaters, it follows from thence that one
ceases to be citizen so soon as he willingly r..
moves with that design from his native countrv.
and joins himself to another State, settling there
his fortune and family, unless the laws forbid
subjects to remove" That also was the opip.
ion Of Puffendorf book 8, ch. IL " Where the
liberty Of removal hath been promiscuouslv a.
lowed and the subject settles himself and his
effects under the protection of a foreign Stat
the Commonwealth which he left hath no Ion.
ger any authority over him" Locke also de-
MED the English doctrine of perpetual allegi
ance because Of birth.-On Gov, vol. 2. D. 2O-.
Vattel mentions three cases, says the Press
in which this right Of expatriation exists in de.
fance even Of a positive local law to the COL.
trary /. Where the subject cannot find suL.
sistence at hume. 2. Where society fails in
its obligations 10 him. 3. Where there Is any
oppression in matters Of conscience. These.
however, are bat examples of a much wider rule.
viz The right Of every man to promote his
own happiness and he, aud not his sovereign.
is the only and exclusive judge of what will
best promote that. Bynkershock, ch 2, Whose
translator, Duponceau, had expatriated him
SELF says: If there be no law to prohibit
expatration, it is lawful for a subject to trans
fer his allegiance. And this The saysl is the
case 'oheTerer tie country as not a prison"
The Press also cites l Blackstone's Com
mentaries, 374, to show that naturalization in
England, and also under the civil law, placed
the alien on the same footing with the native
allied all foreign Protestants. In the reigns Of
Georges II and III, foreign seanen who should
serve two years in British merchant ship or
ship of war were naturalized as British subject.
by that act, even without an oath Of allegiance.
Naturalization in England, SAYS Woodeson.
eonfers the fill and unqualified privileges Of
a subject born within the Kings dominions,"
(vol l, p. 232 } and Blackstone says, "he is
put exactly in the same state as if he had been
born in the Kings legiance-Vol. l, 374. So,
too, by the civil law: Naturalization makes
the persons naturalized of the same condition
with the natives. '-Demot, part ., p. IL sec. 9.
While Secretary of State under Washington,
Mr.. Jefferson wrote to Mr. Morris, our Minis.
ter to Paris, respecting Mr. Genet: " Our citi.
zeus are certainly free to divest themselves Of
that character by emigration, and other acts
manifesting their intention, and may then be-
come the subjects of another Power and free 10
do whatever the subjects of that Power NAV
do."-Am. State Papers, vol. l, p. lG9.