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NATURALIZATION.

Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, has written a letter to Mr. Hopfer of Cincinnati, in which it is conceded that French or Austrian subjects, or the subjects of any European power having a compulsory military system, may be forced to service in the French or Austrian armies after their naturalization in this country, if they should voluntarily place themselves within the jurisdiction of their native country. This idea would seem to deny the right of expatriation, and that the oath taken in our courts renouncing allegiance is a mere mockery. We can understand him when he says that fugitives on account of offences against the laws of their native land, make themselves subject to the penalties of their crimes by voluntarily returning to its jurisdiction; but we cannot comprehend why a returned native should be subject to penalties which had not been incurred by any default of his prior to the time of his expatriation. If this doctrine is true, then all natives leaving Austria or France before they had served in the army as required by law, could not become citizens of this country according to the political interpretation of that term in the United States. The applicant for citizenship is required, under the sanctity of an oath, to renounce all allegiance to any other power, but under the view taken by the Secretary of State, he may by a forced service and allegiance be compelled to violate his obligation, and will not be entitled to the protection of the government of his adopted country.