Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-05-08

'He HeLhoers ot this House to this point, at
the expiration of the first five years from the
settlement of foreign emigrants in the is
land, provided they pledged themselves to
remain there, they shall enjoy all the rights
and privileges of naturalization.
''rhe rights and privileges shall also be en-
JoyeuDy such children they may have abroad or
may lave been born 10 them in the island in order
i@s 20 the talent and capacity of each one.''
1t was under that royal decree that Dr.
1Ouard father emgrated as a colonist to
Cuba, received land, and settled there Be
loTc the expiration of the five years specified
IN tins article Of the royal decree ne died :.
Dat his widow re NAMED, his children remain
cd 50 tar as he was concerned, SO far as
any OF them were concerned, they complied
IN every particular with the requirements of
this royal decree; and under that decree
there can be no question, in my Judgment,
that DR.. lI0uard is to day subject Of Spain
Just rs much a. be would have been if his
/ iather had lived for the whole five years and
had then taken the oath which these ar
tlcles required to be taken et the end of that
time
But, MIR Speaker, let me call attention to
| the analogy between this case and that Of
Martin ko-zta Koszta had not taken the
hnal oath OF allegiance to the government of
the United States he had only declared his
Iatention to become citizen Of this coun-
try, and it was necessary that he should re-
main here five years before he could complete
his citizenship by taking the final oath In
that case we held that he was TO such an
extent a citizen Of the United states that the
government would interpOse its arm TO rescue
him from the soil OF his native country,
or from the deck OF an Austrian vcssci,
which Is constructiycly part of the soil Of
that country.
Now, here is an emigrlnt who goes abroad
with the intention OF remaining, Just as
Martin kOsz,a came to this country with the
Intention of remaining lie declared his
intention To remain abroad by the very fact
Of emigratins and taking this land as a
colonst. Tie died before his final and com
plete naturalization could take effect under
that royal decree. But the decree declared
that his children should be nataralized citi-
zens without taking any oath. His widow
rcIr aimed there more than the five years
his children remained there. this one, Dr..
uOuard, has remained there until this day
Sir, whether he is technically, as has been
stated here, a citizen of Spain or not, It IS
clear that he is IN every aspect much more
citizen cf Spain than Martin koszta was a
citizen Of the United States and that Spain
has infinitely more right 70 lnterpOse its arm
IN defense of him ii he should be claimed by
t.iio EtF Il Iutt-tk Dl any bLlCA LLhI WE uiQ 10
interp0se IN the case of koszta- Yet gentle
men oD the other side to-day, and not to-
day for the first time, have held up Captain
lngraham before Us as the model officer in
this matter of protection of American cti-
Zens. say, then, looking at that alone, if
we had nothing else in this case To act upon.
We should be obliged u say that Or. Hcuard
Is a Spanish subject. But | do not rely
wholly upon that; as 1 have already said it
Is not necessary to the view which / take of
this case. Bat IL is, nevertheless, clearly
established by the facts presented here.
Besides, SIR we have IN THE case state
mcut of the la1 Of spain in respect 70 this
subject. There are sad to be three classes
of foreigners in Spain, the nalural.zed for
eI5ners, the resident foreigners, and the
transient foreigners The resident foreign
ers are those VINO have established their dom
iciic anywhere in the monarchy; they are
considered as residents, that word having
evidently a particular signihcation in this
connection, 4 siGuiIcatiOn as giving a char
Gcter of citizenship, not the fun citizenship
ot "a naturalIzed citizen or a native citizen,
but qualified citizenship much higher than
that OF the transient resident. Those who
have resided there for ten years have this
character Those who marry Spsniards and
i've d0miciled IN Spain have this character.
and lived domiciled in Spain with his wife
until looS or lSG3. They had children born
10 them there His wife died there and was
buried there; and, SO far as this case is con
cerned, ! do not understand there Is any
question that his children reside there to-
day.
Nr. L. MYERS one OF his sons is
Iblladclphiau.
MIR WILLARD. Docs the gentleman claim
as. B.
Mr.. L. MYRRs. ] 10 not know as to that;
but one Of his sons is PhiIadelphian.
Mr.. WILLARD J have stated what the
case contains. If the gentleman from Penn
syvania NJ. l.. Myers has within his pri-
vate knowledge other Information, | think 1t
would have been very proper for him to have
submitted it to Us ID the committee, so that
we might have been possessed OF 1t. though
do not see that the fact he suggests makes
any difference.
Mr.. L. MYERS This is the first time the
statement has been made.
Mr.. WILLARD. My time is limited and
| must decline to yield for further interrupt
ton.
Now, sir, we have, as l stated little
while ago, this state of facts. Here is this
father OF DR.. uOuard going to Cuba as an
cmigrant, taking his family with him, set
thing there, his widow remaining there alter
his deceese, DR.. Houard himself marrying
there, his family living there, he only COM
ing 70 this country for the purpose of educa-
ton, as soon as he graduated returning there,
and receiving a diploma from medical in
stitutlOn there, prdctlclng his profession
there from that day to this, taking out from
time to time a cedula or certificate of resi-
dcnce there, never claiming so far as any
testimony in this case is concerned, until
1869 or 1870, American citizenship, and
never saying to anybody, so far as we can
learn, that lie ever had the intention of re-
turning to the United States.
Mr. ELDREDCE. Let me ask the gentleman
a question right here at this point.
Mr. WILLARD. My time Is limited and
would rather not be interrupted
Mr. ELDREDcE. will be brief | un-
derstood it was conceded Yesterday by the
gentleman from Ohio, Mr.. Amber who
spoke very ably upon this question, that this
man Houard was once citizen OF the Uni
ted States. Now, allow me to put this in
quiry to the gentleman from Vermont,
whether it is not well settled rule of law
if the fact be once conceded it existed at a
particular point, must it not be considered
to have existed forever unless the contrary
appears? Is not that the general rule of
law in reference TO all such questions
Mr.. WILLARD. The gentleman from Wis
consln calls my attention to subject which
| expected to speak Of later on in this dis
cusson but inasmuch as he has brought it
to the attention of the House now, may as
well, perhaps, speak of it here My col
league on the committee on foreign affairs,
the gentleman from Ohio, Mr.. Amber,
referred yesterday to the case of the Venus,
decided By the Supreme Court. 1t is a case
exactly in point, as reply to the question
of the gentleman from Wisconsin. This ship
Venus was an English vessel, captured by
an American privateer early in the war with
Great Britain. The vessel had sailed from
England before the declaration of war was