Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-07-23
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THE NArURALTxArroN QUESTION.
AttOrney-General Black on the Right OF
Expatriatfon.

| - AEe-tEteA1Ons
Attoraey-GeDeralB BLACK has, in compliance with
the request of the President Of the United staies
rendered sn opinion in the case of CHRISTIAN
ERNsT. native of Hanover. aud who emigrated to
this country in 1851, when he was about nineteen
years of age. The subject was recently made the
basis of communication 10 our Minister at Berlin,
who was instructed to demand the release of Mr..
ERNST.
It appears that he was nsturalized last February
and in March, after procuring regular passport,
he went back to Hanover on temporary visit. He
had been in the village where he was born about
three weeks when he was arrested, carried to the
nearest military station forced into the Hanoverian
army, and there he is at the present time, unable
to return home 10 his family snd business, but COM
peled against his will TO perform militlry service
The Attorney General says that this is "a case
which makes ii necessary for the Government of the
United States to interfere promptly and decisisey,
| or acknowledge that We have no power to protect
naturalized citizens when they return to their na-
tive country under any circumstances whatever.
What you WILL do mHst Of courte depend upon the
laws Of our own country as controlled and modified
by the laws of nations the constitution Of the Unit
! ed States and the acts Of Congress.
The natural rights of every free person who owes
no debts, and is not guilty Of auy crime, to leave
the country of his birth, and in good faith and for
an honest purPose-ths privilege of throwing off
his natural allegiance and substituting another allie
glance IN Its place-the general right in one word,
of eSpatraton, is ineontestble. know that the
common law Of England denies it; that the judicial
decisions OF that country opposed TO it, and that
some Of our own courts misled by British authori-
ty, have expressed Though not very deeisvely) the
same opinion. But ell this is very far from settling
/ the question. The municipal code OF England is
\ net one of the sources from which we derive our
knowledge OF international law. We take it from
natural reason and justice, from writer's of known
wisdom, and from the practice of civilized nation
All these are opposed to The doctrine of perpetual
allegiance. 1t is too Injurious to the general inter-
ests Of mankind to be tolerated Justice denies
that men should either be confined TO their native
soil or driven away from it against their will. A
man may be either exiled or imprisoned for an
ectual ofense against the law Of his country, but
| being born in it is not q crime for which either
punishment can be justly inflicted. Among writer's
on public law the prepOnderspee in weight Of ag-
thorty as well as the majority in number, concur
with Cicero, who declares that the right Of expsri-
alton is the frmest foundation Of human freedom,
and with Bynkershock who utterly denies that the
territory Of State is the prsion of her people In
practice, no nation on earth walks did walk,
by the rule of the common law. All the countries
of Europe have received and adopted and natural
lied the citizens Of one another. They have ali en-
oouraged the immigration of foreigners into their
territories, end many Of them have aided the emf
grafton of their people. The German States
have conceded the existence Of the right BY making
laws to regulate its exercise. Spain and the Span
ish-American States have always recognized it,
England, by recent statute, "a and Vic.,) has
established permanent system OF naturalization in
the very teeth Of her common Law rule. krapoe
has doue the same, and besides that has declared
in the code Napoleon Art III that the quality Of
Frenchman will be lost by naturalization in for
eign country. There is no government in Europe
or America which practically denies the right
Here, in the United States the thought Of giving it
up cannot be entertained for a moment. Upon that
principle this country populated. We owe it
our existence q nation. Ever since inde
perdehce have upheld and maini aimed by every
form of words and acts. We have constantly prom
issd full and complete protection to all persons who
should come here and seek it by renouncng their
natural allegiance and traJ sering their fealty to
We stand pledged to it in the face Of the whole
world. Upon the faith of that pledge millions Of
persons have staked their most important interests
If we Tepudiaie it noW. or spare one atom Of the
power which may be necessary TO redeem it, We
shall be guilty of perfiy great that American
can witness It without feeling Of intolersble
shame.
Expatriation includes not only emigration out of
ones natural country, but naturalzs stion in the
country adopted as the future residence. When
prove the right Of a to expatriate himself
we establish the lawfnl authority of the country
in which he set ties to DatuTslize him, if the gov
ernment pleases. What, then, is naturalization
There is no dispute about the meaning Of it. The
derivation Of the word alone makes it plain. All
photographers and all juries defLe it one way.
In its popular genealogical and lawful sense it
sifnfes the act Of adopting foreigner and cloth
ing him a0ith all the privileges Of nGtiUe citizen or
subject.
There can be no doubt that naturalization does
pro fdetO place the native and adopted citizens in
precisely the same relations with the government
which thew live in he
express and positive faW of the country has made
q distinction in favor of one or the other In
some countries immigration has been SO encourag-
ed by giving to adopted citizens certain immuni-
ties and privileges not enjoyed by natives. In
most, however, political faVors have gone the other
way. Here, none but native can be President In
some of our States foreign born citizens are inelh
gible to the Office Of Governor, and in Of them
they cannot vote for two years after they are
naturaiized. Bat if these restrictions had not been
expressly made by positive enactment they certain
ly would not have existed.
In regard to the protection of our citizens in !
their rights at home and abroad, We have no law |
which divides them into two classes, or makes any
difference whateSer between them. native and |
q snsuralized Americsn may therefore go forth with !
equal security over every aud through every lard
under Heaven, including the country in which the
latter was born. Either Of them may be taken up
under a debt contracted or g crime committed By !
himself but both absolutely free from all poti
cal obligations to every country but their own. They
are both of them American citizens, and their ex-
elusive allegiance is due the government Of the
United States. One Of them never did owe fealty |
elsewhere and the other the time Of his naturali
zstion solemny and rghifully, in pursuance of pub
lie law and mdnicipe regulation. threw of, renour
ced, and sbjured forever all allegiance to every
prince, poeniate Stale and sovereignty whatever,
and especially to that sovereign whose subject be
had previously been. If this did not work solu-
ten of every political tie which bound him to his
native country, then naturalization laws are
q bitter mockery, and the oath We administer 10
foreigners is deusion aud q snare.
There have been and are now persons Of a very
high reputation who hold that Daturalized citi-
zen ought be protected by the government of his
adopted country everywhere, except in the couu-
try Of his birth, but if he goes there or is caught
within the power of his native sovereign, his act
of naturalization may bs treated a nullity
and he will Immediately to have the rights
has no foundation to rest upon land its advocates
do not pretend that it has auy) except the dogma
which denies altogether tho right of expataiation
without the consent of his native sovereign,
aud that is untenabls, IS l think l have already
shown.
Neither is this view supported by the practice
Of the world. | need not say that naturaliza-
tOn laws opposed to it in their whole spirit as
well as in their express words. The States Of Eu-
rope are also practically committed against it. No
government would allow one Of its own subjects ts
divide his allegiance between it and another sover-
eign for they all know that no man can serve
tao masters. In Europe, as we'll here, the sllegi-