Gentlemen advocating these clauses, say they would not allow of expatriation in time of war. He would go further and say he would not allow of it when there was a prospect of war, for it is idle to prohibit it in one case and not in the other. He then asked if this was not the very state in which we now were? If it were, why pass such a bill at this time, when it could not go into operation? He thought this a good reason for rejecting these clauses.
There was a mutual obligation, Mr. S. said, between a Government and all its citizens. The Government owed protection to its citizens, and citizens owed obedience to their Government. These duties were mutual and co-extensive; and they might as well say that Government could abandon its citizens when it pleased as that citizens could desert their Government when they pleased. Yet he would allow that Government might, on certain occasions, legalize expatriation, but not on the ground of a citizen's having a right to expatriate when he pleased. He should have no objection to take up the subject at a time when they could do justice to it, but he thought the present was not that time.
The question for striking out the 6th section was put and carried, 45 to 41.
The committee accordingly rose, and the House took up the amendments. Having come to that part for striking out the 6th and 7th sections,
Mr. Dent called for the yeas and nays, which were agreed to be taken.
Mr. Venable said, it seemed to be admitted that a right of expatriation existed in our citizens; and if so, he thought there should be some mode of exercising that right. He had no particular objection to the mode marked out in these clauses. It had been said this was not the proper time; but he thought it was, since it was in some degree connected with the present bill. The gentleman from Connecticut had stated allegiance and protection to be mutual. He did not think they were so, to the extent which he stated. This Government was not bound to protect citizens who went into foreign service, as in doing so they chose the protection of another Government.
Mr. Harper asked for an instance in which the Executive and Judiciary had countenanced the doctrine of expatriation.
Mr. W. Smith, in answer to his colleague, produced the case of Talbot, and the opinion given by the Secretary of State and the Judiciary Court, on that occasion, in favor of the right of expatriation.
Mr. Giles thought there could not be a doubt in the minds of Americans on the subject of expatriation. Indeed, he said, this was the foundation of our Revolution; for they were not now to be told they owed allegiance to a foreign country. It had not only been the ground of the Revolution, but all their acts had been predicated upon this principle. He referred to the act respecting the rights of naturalization, which makes every new citizen swear to support the Constitution of the United States, and to renounce all other allegiance.
Mr. Gallatin was opposed to these sections. With respect to expatriation, having himself exercised the right, he could not be supposed to be opposed to that right. Perpetual allegiance was too absurd a doctrine to find many advocates in this country. The question was not whether citizens had a right to expatriate, but whether they should in this law prescribe a mode of doing it. The right seemed to have been recognized by the Executive and Judiciary. He was against going into this business, because he thought it unnecessary. He believed the determination of who were citizens, and who were not, might be safely left with the Judiciary. He had also his doubts whether the United States had a right to regulate this matter, or whether it should not be left to the States, as the constitution spoke of the citizens of the States. It was a doubtful matter, and ought to undergo a full discussion. The emigrants from this country to foreign countries were trifling; but from ten to twelve thousand of our citizens had gone to Canada, and upwards of five thousand beyond the Mississippi, four thousand of whom would be got back by the running of the lines. A number of these men hold lands in the United States; some have sold their lands and become citizens under another Government. This subject would, therefore, require considerable deliberation at a future day. He wished the amendment of the Committee of the Whole to be adopted.