Year: 1870

to be every way worthy and entitled to
citizenship in this country, and has sworn
allegiance to this Government, he has ab-
jared and renounced allegiance to every
ether Power on earth, and yet by this bill
te is debarred the privileges of citizenship
br six months in the only country in the
world to whose protection he is entitled!
tor SIX months he is a citizen of no coun-
TRY, he has no country to love and no coun-
try to protect him!


This provision, which the gentleman
from New York Mr.. DAvIsl tells US is the
grand conservative provision of the bill, In
my judgment may very properly be de-
nominated the purgatory creating section
of the bill The genius, originality, and
craftsmanship Of its author will, trust,
stand uudeni ed and unchallenged for all
time to come! The faith of the alien who
can thus cut himself loose from all country
and all citizenship, and step forth into this
gloomy abyss OF nothingness for six months
is grander and more sublime than that
which animated him who walked out in
the darkness from the ship upon the bois-
ferrous waters Of Gali!ee, crying Lord save
mel"


Mr. Speaker, there is another provision
CT the bill to which wish to call attention.
The gentlemen who advocate and urge this
bill profess great love for the soldier who
helps to fight our enenies. In the ex-
uberance or their affection they talk very
much and do very little. Under the law
as 1t now stands any alien of the age of twen-
ty-one years or upward, who has enlisted in
the armed forces Of naval services of the
United States and shall be or shall have
been honorably discharged .herefrom, may
be admitted to become a citizen after one
years residence. By this bill he cannot
make his application till after one years
residence, and then he must give the no.
tice and pass through the same ordeal |
have already described. And if at the
end of such trial he shall be fortunate
enough to obtain judgment in his favor
he must wait for six months thereafter in
the purgatorial condition Of having sworn
allegiance to a country OF which he is not
a citizen, and fought its battles without
being entitled to the benefits and prvile ges
Of citizenship.


Thus it will be seen the time which the
soldier, discharged from the Army on &C
count of wounds or Injuries received in the
service OF the country, must wait before he
can become citizen, Is heightened by this
bill at least more than six months, and it
may be for years, dependent on the coutlnu
ances and delays of the trial


Mr.. Speaker, L have no words of de-
nunclatlon and contempt with which to
characterize this section of this BILL | have
no respect for the head and heart that
would enact into law so internal proviS-
ion. 1t is in utter and absolute violation
ST ef sygeeFFy bpriRsple Of sa Spr government. and
it be borne in mind that the trial is passed.
All have been heard, and no citizen has
aught to allege against the man. Every
objection that can be made has been urged,
Nothing can be found against him, and
the court has so solemnly pronounced. He
is then required on his oath to absolutely
aud entireI Iy renounce and abjure all allie
glance and fidelity to every foreign Gov
ernment, prince, potentate, State, or SOW
creignity whatever, and to swear allegiance
to the Constitution and Government of the
United States.


1t is then provided that the judgment
of the court and all these proceedings
shall be of no legal force or effect to make
such alien citizen until the expiration o!
ak months after the date thereof? What
Is this man during these six months? To
what country does he belong ? What
State can command his services, and
what obliged, in the light Of international
law, to protect him? He has abiurcd all
others and sworn allegiance to this, and
yet by this most monstrous and inhuman
provision he is for six months an outcast,
Wanderer, recognized as child of no
country, spurned and repudiated by ALL -
ln the honor OF his prosperity or his mis-
fortune, his joy or his despair, there Is not
of the nations Of the earth one Of which he
can explain, Il am citizen !"


There is another iost o0;ous feature Of
this odious bill. After providing all sorts
Of fines, penalties, and personal punish
ments for the use or possession of any false,
forged, counterfeit, or fraudulent certiG
cate of naturalization, it also provides for
subjecting every holder of any certificate
whatsoever to a trial in the United States
courts, wherein It's proper issue and the
holder right to the same must be estab-
llshed to the satisfaction of the court, or it
may be annulled and set aside The citi
zen OF fifty or more years may thus, failing
to satisfy the court of the regularity Of his
naturalization, be declared an alien.
Against this vexatious proceeding there is
really no protection. Any and every citi-
zen naturalized since the first law on the
subject Is liable to be called into court to
establish the validity of his naturalization.
The oath of any perjured political party
hack, that he believes that the certificate
Of any citizen was knowingly obtained
contrary to the existing laws at the date
thereof, " will cause the party to be called
into court under pain Of attachment and to
deposit his certificate with the clerk there
of, to be adjucated upon again by the
court.


Here again witnesses may be called and
a regular trial had Who can estimate the
cost, expenses, and annoyance Of such pro-
eeedings? Parties may be summoned hun
dreds of miles away from the court, and
obliged, rich or poor, to attend or be ian
prlsoned. And when these parties appear
in court wha: are they to do? Non profes-
slonai men, farmers, mechanics. and day
laborers, dragged from home and forced to
employ counsel at large expense, and when
the trial is over and their certificates are
pronounced genuine and valid, they 20
without reward, remuneration, or compeu-
sation for all this vexation, loss of time
and money. The pretense for these
sweeping changes and incongruous and op-
pressive proceedings is that frauds have
been perpetrated i'm the elections bv means