The following are the laws as to aliens in France and the United States of North America. two countries with which Eng lishmen are more closely connected than any other :— A child born in France, of foreign parents, may, within one year after he has attained the age of twenty-one, claim to be a Frenchman ; if he is not then resi dent in France, he must declare his in tention to reside there, and he must fix his residence there within one year after such declaration. An alien enjoys in France the same civil rights as those which Frenchmen enjoy in the country to which the alien belongs ; but be enjoys the right of succession in France, although this right may not be granted to French citizens in his own country. An alien is allowed by the king's permission (ordon nance du roi) to establish his domicile in France ; and so long as he continues to re side there, he enjoys all civil but not poli tical rights ; but this enjoyment ceases im mediately, the domicile is lost. After an uninterrupted residence during ten years. by permission of the king an alien may become naturalized. (Code Civil, liv. 1. tit. 1. a. 9.) A foreigner can buy and hold land in France without obtaining any permission from the crown or legis lature.
Upon the recognition of the indepen dence of the United States of North America by the treaty of Paris, 1783, the natural-born subjects of the king of Eng land who adhered to the United States became aliens in England ; and it was decided that they became incapable of inheriting lands in England. It had been previously decided in America that na tives of Great Britain were aliens there, and incapable of inheriting lands in the United States. Kent defines an alien to be "a person born out of the jurisdiction of the United States ;" but this definition is not sufficiently strict, for the son of an alien, which son is born in the United States, is also an alien.
Congress has several times altered the law respecting naturalization, but chiefly as to the period of previous residence. In 1790 only two years' residence was re quired ; in 1795 the term was prolonged to five years ; and in 1798 to fourteen years. In 1802 the period of five years was again adopted, and no alteration in this respect has taken place. The benefits of naturalization have always been con fined to "free white persons of mixed blood are excluded, as well as the African and other pure races, whether black or copper-coloured. At what point a person of mixed blood could claim natu ralization is doubtful. By an old law of Virginia, which was not repealed up to a recent period, a person with one-fourth of negro blood is deemed a mulatto. An alien in the United States cannot have full and secure enjoyment of free hold of land ; and if he does, the inhe ritance escheats. He can neither vote at
elections nor hold public offices. Two years at least before he can obtain the privileges of a natural-born citizen he must appear in one of certain courts, or before certain officers, and declare on oath his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and to renounce his allegiance to his own state or prince. When the two years have expired, and if the country to which the alien belongs is at peace with the United States, he is next required to prove to the court, by his oath as well as otherwise, that he has resided five years at least in the United States, and one year in the state where the court is held ; and he must show that he is attached to the principles and con stitution of the United States, and is of good moral character. The court then requires that he should take an oath of fidelity to the constitution, and likewise an oath by which he renounces his native allegiance. He must also renounce any title or order of nobility, if he has any. The children of persons naturalized ac cording to this form, if they were minors at the time, are deemed citizens if they are then dwelling in the United. States. If an alien dies in the interval be tween having taken the preliminary steps towards his naturalization and the time of his admission, his widow and children become citizens. If an alien resided in the United States previously to the 18th of June, 1812, the preliminary notice of two years is not necessary, nor if he be a minor under 21 and has resided in the United States during the three years pre ceding his In the case of an alien who has arrived in the United States after the peace of 1815, it is re quired that he should not at any time have left the territory during the five years preceding his admission to citizen ship. A naturalized alien immediately acquires all the rights of a natural-born citizen, except eligibility to the office of President of the United States and of governor in some of the states. A resi dence of seven years, after naturaliza tion, is necessary to qualify him to be a member of Congress. (Kent's Commen taries, vol. ii. p. 50-75.) In 1804 Congress passed an act sup plementary to the act of 1802, which contains a clause respecting the children of American citizens born abroad, but it applies only to the children of persons who then were or had been citizens ; and Kent remarks (Commentaries, vol. ii. p. 53) that the rights of the children of American citizens born abroad are left in a precarious state ; and in the lapse of time there will soon be no statute which will be available, in which case the Eng lish common law will be the only prin ciple applicable to the subject.