AT EVENTIDE.

At eventide, when lights are low,

Within the mind kind memories glow,

And thoughts of friends that once were here
Bring sorrow's sigh, mayhaps a tear,

For those of days of long ago.

Comrades and friends whose love so grows

Within the heart that one but knows
Their loss, and fain would have them near
At eventide.

Still-God knows best.

And should we choose

To bring them back from bliss to woes

Of earth? Why rather not, with kindest cheer,
Believe and trust that they'll be near

To lead us o'er at this life's close,

At eventide.

JOHN ALDEN.

CITIZENSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES.*

When your society, through your worthy pastor, asked me to come here and have a talk with you on some instructive subject, I readily assented, because man does not live for himself alone, but for all others. I feel a great interest in young men, I take an especial pride in their self-improvement, and I am always willing and ready to help them in any way that I can in their praiseworthy efforts to better themselves physically, intellectually and morally.

You young men of to-day are the fathers of the future, destined in the natural order of things to become a part of the fibre of the pillars upon which rest the family and society, -the church and the state; by your individual intellectual and moral strength, or weakness,-whichever it may be, you must either help to make strong the basis upon which society and the state rest, —or else you must impart your own dry rot to your fellow men who side by side with you are part and parcel of the foundation upon which society leans and upon which the state is builded.

* Address by Hon. John J. McDonough '80, before the Holy Name Society of SS. Peter and Paul's Church, Fall River.

It would be presumptuous for me in this presence and in this beautiful hall,-made a very part of the church of Saints Peter and Paul, for whom your society is named,-to speak to you of the duty you owe to your church as men, as Christians, as Catholics, but to you as members of a municipality and as citizens of the Great Republic, I may with propriety address a few chosen words upon citizenship in the United States.

As you know, before the American revolution of 1776, the North American colonies were provinces of Great Britain, just as Britain herself, and France and Spain, were at one time provinces of imperial Rome, "that sat upon her seven hills and from her throne of beauty ruled the world." The American colonies, although governed by the crown and parliament of Great Britain, still up to the time of the revolution were supposed to govern themselves in internal affairs, in matters peculiarly and exclusively their own; in other words, they were supposed to enjoy the benefits of home rule; as a matter of fact, however, they did not enjoy home rule,-taxation without representation is despotism,-not home rule, not self-government, - not democracy. The continued abuse of the colonies by Great Britain engendered a feeling of unrest and bred a revolutionary spirit, and as a result the American congress of 1775 took to itself those powers of external control which before that time had been conceded to the crown or the parliament of England, together with such other powers of sovereignty as it seemed essential a general

government should exercise, and thus it became the national government of the united colonies.

By this congress of 1775 and 1776 war was waged, independence declared, treaties formed and admiralty jurisdiction exercised. The colonies were made sovereign and independent states, abolished all foreign jurisdiction, and substituted a national government of their own creation, when the fathers of the Continental Congress issued from that old hall in Philadelphia the Declaration of Independence, that immortal document, which, however much was said against it in the late campaign, will live as long as liberty is cherished by freemen, and is fought for and bled for and died for by the bond and the serf, the vassal and the slave. This congress of 1775 and 1776 was revolutionary in its character, and, like all revolutionary bodies, its authority was undefined and could be limited only, (first), by instructions to individual delegates by the states choosing them, (second), by the will of the congress itself, and (third), by the power of that congress to enforce its will, and in this last respect the Continental Congress was essentially feeble, and this fact led to the adoption of the articles of confederation of the thirteen colonies. But even this compact of confederation did not concede the plenary power necessary to the efficiency of a national government at home, the enforcement of respect abroad and the preservation of the public credit, and these difficulties led to the election by the

states of delegates to the constitutional convention held in 1787, by which a constitution was formed which went into effect in 1789. This constitution vested much larger powers in the general government than had ever been exercised in this country by the British crown or parliament, or the revolutionary congress, and larger than those conceded to the congress under the articles of confederation. The ratification of this constitution by the several states was made essential to its acceptance, and furnishes the first example in American history of the principle of the referendum, or the submission for approval or rejection by vote of the people of the acts of their representatives and servants in legislature or congress assembled.

Congress under the constitution enacted laws defining citizenship, but in such a vague manner that for many years citizenship in the United States was a thing of very imperfect definition. The word "citizen" occurs many times in the constitution of the United States as regarding both the citizens of the states and citizens of the United States. Up to the time of the adoption of the fourteeenth amendment to the constitution it was contended that there was no such distinctive character as "a citizen of the United States," that on the contrary the designation "citizen of a state" had long been known and understood, and as such, and because a person was a citizen of a state, he was a citizen of the United States. But by that definition all the people of the District of Columbia and of the territories were left out, because they were not