Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-06-27
nRrT1s8 NATURALIZATION Law

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BRITISH NATURALIZATION Law
The British Legislature has, by a re-
cent Act, passed with very little oppo-
sition and supported by the ablest law
yers. cut the Gordian knot Of many
complications respecting domicile,
the rights of aliens, and the status Of
English women married to foreigners
and 1t has yielded at last to the de-
mands Of common sense a well as to
those Of international policy, by allow
ing British subjects to renouncs their
allegiance to the crown and become
naturalized in any other country they
may choose. Had this been done sixty
years ago, there might have been no
war of 1912 which, as all the world
knows, was to a large extent provoked
BY the persistence Of British cruisers
In overhauling u merchant ships in
search Of British seamen. The change
which has come owe England In re-
gard to this subject is very striking.
The bill passed intoa law almost with
out notice by the public at large. In
the House of Commons 1t went through
a very thin committee in little more
than an hour. Whereas twenty years
ago the feeling was 80 strong against
any infringement Of what was consid-
cred the almost sacred priyile &c OF be-
ing an Englishman, that no measure
like that which has just passed would
have been listened to. The old law,
permitting foreigners to become den
liens, under certain conditions, and to
hold personal property, was not passed
without considerable opposition, nor
without alarming predictions that 1t
would enable the foreign enemies OF
the country to gain a foothold In it,
which might some day be used with
fatal effect by them. This was the
reason why they were not permitted
to hold real property, and why they
were not eligible to Parliament or the
Great Council. But it should be re-
membered that there was plausible
reason for this hostility to foreigners
at the time of the enactment of the law
excluding them from holding high
office. Many ofthe former kings Of Eng
land YER foreigners, or even If born i'll
the country, they had foreign prcdi-
lections, and they almost always mar
ried foreign ladies. Hence they were
surrounded by persons who had but
little in common with Englishmen,
and were frequently hostile to them.
At n period the English dislike of
the French amounted to hatred. Mel
son, indeed, at quite a recent day,
taught his sailors and young officers
"to hate a Frenchman." This feeling
lasted all through the long war which
began In 1898 and ended In 1915.
Then steamboats, and railways came
into operation, and the interchange Of
visits became common between the
two peoples. Old prejudices gradually
disappeared, and Frenchmen and other
foreigners we're admitted to denizen-
ship. 1t Is evident from the foregoing
why the admission Of them to full
citizenship could not have been OBJ
tanned from the English people much
O n than it has been. 1t has fire.
quently been asserted that the progress
now made has been mainly owing to
the representations made by the United
States OH the subject. This Is In large
part true. The immense emigration
from the British islands into this coun-
try of late years has accelerated the
change; but it should be borne in mind
that at the close Of the war Of 1872
England refused to give up the right
of search, and it was not until 1872,
the period Of the Ashburton treaty.
that 1t was modified into the right Of
visit, although it had been for some
time practically abandoned. The act
IS an act of justice, as well as Of Par
lament. It gives aliens the fullest
rights Of property and citizenship. 1t
enables any person formerly held to
be a British subject (such as the chill
dren, born abroad, of Englishmen) to
cast off his allegiance to the crown,
and 1t requires that the wife Of n
n~aturalized person shall acquire the
nationality Of her husband. This IS a
triumph of enlightened patriotism
over the insular narrow-mindedness OF
former times, and its operation will be
further aided by the treaty on natural
ization which has just been signed be-
tween this country and Great Britain.