Lord Broughamsaid, that in moving the Second Reading of the Bill, of which, originating in the other House, he had taken charge, he would state as shortly as he could the nature of this Bill. Their Lordships were, no doubt, aware that in all times the law of this country with respect to Aliens had been, that until they were naturalised by Act of Parliament, or denizened by letters of denization from the Crown, they were debarred from enjoying almost all the rights which belonged to British subjects. They could not hold any office, they could not sit in the House of Commons. They could not inherit or possess by purchase one single acre of real property, or chattels real which savoured of the reality, and to this had been added some other restrictions and regulations which he considered very discreditable and impolitic to the country. They could not, for instance, register themselves as owners of vessels, these were the common and ordinary disqualifications of Aliens—but there were also several Acts, passed at different times, imposing other restrictions. By the Act of Settlement, and again by an Act of George I, it was ordered that Parliament should include in all facts of naturalization a Clause prohibiting the holding of office and the sitting in Parliament. By subsequent Acts these regulations had been in some degree modified; the sons and grandsons of British subjects both abroad were declared to be British subjects; but still with respect to female issue, the old law remained in force. Another anomaly was this. If an Engglish woman married a foreigner, the issue would not be considered British subjects. According to this, a lady whom he had the pleasure of knowing, the Countess Flahaut, who was a Scotch Peeress in her own right, and who had married a foreigner, could not be succeeded in her property in this country by any son which 996 she might have of her present marriage. And what was the consequence? Her property would not go to the next heir, but would go to the Crown. It was said that the object of the Aliens Act, was the apprehension that, upon the accession of a foreign family to the Throne, the offices in service of the Crown would be overrun with foreigners, and her destinies swayed by foreign influence in Parliament. With others, who desired to be naturalised, the expense was 100l. on each individual, and the consequence was, that the average number of Naturalization Bills was not more than eight in the year. Now they would not allow a foreign artificer, who might come to this country, and who by his skill, might confer a benefit on it, to hold even the office of a petty constable, but directly a great case occurred, such as the marriage of Prince Leopold to the heiress presumptive to the British Crown, or the marriage of Prince Albert to Her present Majesty, the Standing Orders in both Houses were suspended, and a Naturalization Bill passed in the course of twenty-four hours. The conclusion to which the Committee of the House of Commons had come on this subject was, he believed, a correct one. The Bill enabled Aliens to be naturalized without the necessity of coming to Parliament, subject to a discretionary power vested in the Secretary of State for the Home Department; and on being naturalized they would enjoy all the privileges of natural born subjects, with the exception of the right to vote for Members of Parliament, an exception, however, the expediency of which he did not perceive. Aliens, on being naturalized, were to take a most minutely framed oath of allegiance. The Bill also enabled every person born out of Her Majesty's dominions of a British mother to enjoy all the rights of a natural born subject; and in Committee he should propose to add, that the foreign wives of British subjects should also be taken to be naturalized by their marriage ipso facto. There was one defect in the Bill, namely, that it had no compensation clauses; but these must be left to be added by the House of Commons, as their Lordships could not supply that deficiency. He now moved that their Lordships would allow the Bill to be now read a second time.
§ Bill read a second time.