A violation of allegiance is treason, the highest offence which a subject can com mit. [TREASON.] The law of England permits a foreigner to be naturalized here, by which natu ralization the foreigner owes allegiance to the British crown. If, as is nearly always the case, he still continues to owe allegiance to his former state or sove reign, it may happen that his new alle giance may, under certain circumstances, as for instance in time of war, place him in a difficult situation. This, however, is a matter that concerns himself mainly : the state which receives him as a subject, is willing to do so, if he will accept the terms of naturalization.
Those who wish to become more fully acquainted with this subject and with the distinctions between liegefealty, or allegi ance, and simple fealty, or fealty by reason of tenure, may consult Hale's Pleas of the Crown, vol. i. p. 58, et seq., and Mr. Jus tice Foster's Discourse on High Treason.
It is not yet absolutely settled whether a citizen of the United States of North America can divest himself of his allegi ance. The law of the United States allows foreigners to be naturalized, but first re quires them to abjure their former alle giance, and does not require any evidence that th' state or sovereign to whom the foreigner owes allegiance has released him from it. But it cannot be inferred
that, because the United States allow foreigners to become American citizens, they also allow their own citizens to di vest themselves of their allegiance. The vague expressions used in some of the State Constitutions, that the citizens have a natural and inherent right to emigrate, do not decide the question, even if the words mean that a citizen can renounce his allegiance to his State ; for an Ameri can citizen owes allegiance to the United States primarily, as it is said. The best opinion is, that in the matter of allegiance the rule of the English common law pre vails in the United States, and that an American citizen therefore cannot re nounce his allegiance to the United States without their expressed consent, which can be given in no other way than by a law. The cases relating to this subject which have been brought before the federal courts of the United States are discussed in Kent's Commentaries,' vol. ii. 4th edition.