between the two countries proposed, which, when accepted by both, became the basis of a permanent peace. The objections to this species of interference, and the difficulty of reconciling it with the independence of the smaller powers, are obvious; but it is clearly distinguishable from that general right of superintendence over the internal affairs of other States, asserted by the powers who were the original parties to the Holy Alliance, for the purpose of preventing changes in the municipal constitutions not proceeding from the voluntary concession of the reigning sovereign, or supposed in their consequences, immediate or remote, to threaten the social order of Europe. The proceedings of the conference treated the revolution, by which the union between Holland and Belgium, established by the Congress of Vienna, had been dissolved, as an irrevocable event; and confirmed the independence, neutrality, and state of territorial possession of Belgium, upon the conditions contained in the Treaty of the 15th November, 1831, between the five powers and that kingdom, subject to such modifications as might ultimately be the result of direct negotiations between Holland and Belgium.1

1 Wheaton's Hist. Law of Nations, pp. 538-555.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX, NO. I.

ADDITIONAL NOTE ON NATURALIZATION, BY THE EDITOR.1

[By the Constitution of the United States, Congress have power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization; and this power is recognized by the Supreme Court, as being exclusive of that of the individual States. Kent's Commentaries, vol. i. p. 424. Wheaton's Rep. vol. ii. p. 269, Chirac v. Chirac. Ibid. vol. v. p. 49, Houston v. Moore. The following is the substance of the laws passed by Congress in pursuance of this provision of the Constitution : —

By the act of March 26, 1790, it is provided that any free white alien, who had resided two years within the United States, may become a citizen on application to any court of record of the State where he had resided one year, making proof to the satisfaction of the Court that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law, to support the Constitution of the United States; and the minor children of such persons so naturalized, and the children of citizens that may be out of the United States, were to be considered citizens. This act requires no abjuration of former allegiance. United States Statutes at Large, vol. i. p. 103. The act of January 29, 1795, requires a preliminary declaration of intention to become a citizen, and to renounce all foreign allegiance, particularly to the Prince or State of whom the applicant was a subject or citizen, three years before admission, and a residence, at the time of admission, of five years within the United States, and of one year within the State. This act also requires that the alien should renounce any title of nobility, and that the Court admitting him should be satisfied of his good moral character, that he was attached to the principles of the Constitution, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same. The aliens, then, residing in the United States, might become citizens on a residence of two years, one of which was in the State where applying, according to the law previously in force, and on complying with the other requirements of the new act. There are the same provisions as before, as to the minor children of naturalized citizens, and the children of citizens born abroad. Ibid. p. 414. By the act of June 18, 1798, no alien could become a citizen, unless he had declared his intention five years before his admission, and proved a residence of fourteen years in the United States, and five years in the State where

1 See Part II. c. 2, § 5, p. 122, also Introductory Remarks, p. cxvi.

he applied. This law contains a saving in favor of those who became residents during the operation of the previous laws, and who were still to be admitted according to the terms required by them. No alien, a subject or citizen of a State at war with the United States at the time of his application, could be admitted to become a citizen. The declaration, renunciations, and proofs of the former act are retained. Ibid. p. 566. By the act of April 14, 1802, and which is the law now applicable in ordinary cases, a free white person may become a citizen, by declaring, three years before his admission, his intention; and on the Court being satisfied that he has resided, at the time of his admission, five years in the United States, and one year in the State where the Court sits, and complied with the other conditions of abjuration, &c., which are the same as prescribed in the act of 1795. Minor children, whose parents had been naturalized citizens, and children of citizens that had been born out of the United States, were not to be deemed aliens. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 153. By the 12th section of the act of March 3, 1813," for the regulation of seamen on board the public and private vessels of the United States," five years continuous residence was required for naturalization. Ibid. p. 811. But this provision was repealed, June 26, 1848. Ibid. vol. ix. p. 240. By the act of May 26, 1824, minors, who shall have resided in the United States three years next before they are twenty-one years of age, after a residence of five years, including the three years of minority, may, without having made the previous declaration, be admitted by taking the oath of abjuration, &c., as in other cases. Ibid. vol. iv. p. 69. And, to meet a supposed defect in the act of 1802, by the act of February 10, 1855, persons heretofore born or hereafter to be born out of the United States, whose fathers were, or shall be, at the time of their birth, citizens of the United States, shall be deemed citizens, but the rights of citizenship shall not descend to persons, whose fathers never resided in the United States; and a woman, who might be naturalized under existing laws, who is married, or who shall be married, to a citizen, shall be deemed a citizen.

It will be perceived, by comparing the provisions of these naturalization laws with those of the principal countries of Europe, that our requirements are more severe than theirs; while, with us, not only is an oath of allegiance to the United States required, but what is omitted in the naturalization law of England, and of many other countries, an abjuration of all other princes and States, and especially of the one of which the applicant was a subject or citizen, is necessary. The following decisions under these statutes have been rendered by the Supreme Court of the United States, viz.:- The various acts on the subject of naturalization submit the decision upon the right of aliens to courts of record. They are to receive testimony; to compare it with the law; and to judge both on the law and the fact. If their judgment is entered on record in legal form, it closes all inquiry, and like other judgments, is complete evidence of its own validity. Peter's Rep. vol. iv. p. 393, Spratt v. Spratt. It need not appear by the record of naturalization that all the requisites prescribed by law for the admission of aliens to the right of citizenship have been complied with. Cranch's Rep. vol. vii. p. 420, Starke v. The Chesapeake Insurance Company. A certificate by a competent court that an alien has taken the oath prescribed by the act respecting naturalization, raises the presumption that the Court was satisfied as to the moral character of the alien, and of his attachment to the principles of the Constitution of the United States. The oath, when taken, confers the right of a citizen. It