The energy and discretion exercised by Washington, in putting down that rebellion, must have had a salutary impression upon the mind of this distinguished Swiss, for his Congressional and Cabinet careers were marked with decided opposition to the maintenance of a national army and navy. This financial policy placed the country, at the beginning of the war of 1812, in an almost defenceless position; and was the natural outcome of a foreign born mind, thrown into a controlling position by mere mental honesty and strength above that of his neighbors. For Gallatin reached this country, near the close of the Revolutionary war, with no such patriotic motives as Lafayette; remained here and became naturalized, almost by force of circumstances; and afterwards rose to the highest legislative, financial and diplomatic positions from no especial love for this country, or of the future unfolding before its onward course of triumph in the arts of peace. One of the legacies of Gallatin's policy is the present fishery disagreement with Great Britain, which may result in another thing not favored by him—the annexation of Canada.

THE AMERICAN LAW REGISTER. 1889. The D. B. Canfield Co., Limited: Philadelphia. $5.

The bound volume for last year will be in course of delivery when this number of the CURRENT COMMENT reaches our subscribers, and is worthy of some notice, as the first complete volume issued by the new editors and publishers. The former are John B Uhle and James C. Sellers, who are the managers of the company. The relations of Judge Mitchell ceased in 1887, of Henry Budd, Esq., in 1888, and Mr. Canfield's prolonged absence from the office of the former publishers made his management merely nominal. The new publishers found affairs in great confusion, and have been able to do little more than untangle matters during the past year, preparatory to the carrying out, in the immediate future, of their plans for rendering their magazine a true register of the law. Still, the volume for 1889 has been praised above many of its predecessors, for practical value. It is a mere matter of industry for a literary lawyer to write a contribution upon any legal subject, but almost every published article lacks that same thing which a practicing lawyer needs. There is too much theorizing on too small a store of facts: too theoretical, or obscure, an arrangement of the matter: too little discretion in extracting quotations: too many references without any clue to their meaning, short of a personal examination of the authorities. With the disadvantage of an inadequate editorial force, and the difficulty of procuring careful and intelligent assistants, many of these evils have been corrected in the Register for 1889.

Almost without exception, the leading articles have been valuable for practical use. Thus, the articles discussing the privileges of Commercial Agencies, Statutory Liability for Death, Telephone Law, Privileged Communications to Lawyers, Doctors and Clergymen, and on Things Judicially Noticed, have met with great favor, as immediately practical.

LAWYERS' REPORTS ANNOTATED. Book IV. All current cases of general value and importance decided in the United States, State and Territorial courts, with full annotation by Robert Desty, Editor. Rochester, N. Y. The Lawyers' Co-op. Pub. Co. 1889.

The short memorandum of who are fellow. servants, appended to Byrnes v. R. R. Co. (p. 151), is substantially repeated on p. 173, R. R. Co. v. Rice, and the whole is noted more extensively on p. 793, under Lindvall v. Woods.

Appended to Usher v. R. R. Co. is a note on the liability for death caused by negligence, and, to Olive v. State, one on Judicial Notice. These may be compared with the leading articles on the subject in the American Law Register for 1889, where the subjects are more completely treated, and in a far more readable shape. The difficulty is that an "annotation" in this series cannot be more than a little digest, for want of space. The improvement recently made in Mr. Desty's notes is a silent assent to this objection.

Dobbin V. Cordiner (which is annotated in Amer. Law Reg. for 1889, by Mr. John F. Kelly) appears with a note on the estoppel of the owner to assert title, and on the necessity of attesting witnesses. This is common, but not commendable, because the principal subject of a case should be selected, or else almost any note could be appended. In fact, if a case is worthy of publication, it should be noted on the point which suggested its publication. The editorial responsibility thus assumed would considerably enhance the value of these Reports.

Otherwise this book is like its predecessors, a selection by a competent editor, from the current mass of decisions. It is a better series than that published by the Bancrofts, just as the Rochester reporters were more valuable than their St. Paul rivals. The reporters, the decisions and the annotated, all probably have a reason for their existence, though it is difficult to understand why less than all should satisfy, notwithstanding the expense.

THE CHRISTIAN PATRIOT is a new monthly, under the editorial care of the author of " Bible and Land," Rev. James B. Converse, of Morristown, Tenn. It will advocate the single tax on land values, the prohibition of the liquor traffic, and the protection of the Sabbath from worldly toil. It will oppose socialism, anarchism, communism, the confiscation of rent, and infidelity, though not entering into controversies which the editor esteems useless. Of course, there is the promise of being "undenominational," though that will probably turn out as usual, and the promise had better been omitted. What is needed is not undenominationalism, but a faith so firm that it needs neither crusades nor sneers for its preservation. And this is probably what the new editor means by his horribly long word. As he says, in his Prospectus, he has a field and time will show whether he can fill it. He should be given a good chance.

THE GREEN BAG.-A useless but entertaining magazine for lawyers. Edited by Horace W. Fuller. Vol. 1, covering the year 1889. The Boston Book Co.: Boston, Mass.

Editor Fuller has kindly sent, as a New Year's gift, the bound volume of The Green Bag, all in green (and gold), and certainly no magazine ever seemed better fitted for binding than this volume. The monthly numbers always seem like the "parts" of a subscription Dore—incomplete-wanting the neighbors and a home in some appropriate binding. The existence of such a magazine is some evidence that all lawyers are not merely case mongers, as was well said by the Central Law Journal in a recent issue. The necessity for some such complete system of reporters as that of the West Company, has become so apparent, that the true position of the different law journals ought to be reasonably well known to the profession. The Green Bag began in an admirable manner by declaring it was not a substitute for the reporters or any other working tool of the profession. So far as it succeeds in emphasizing the existence of a field outside of mere citation, it should receive the sympathetic support of the profession.

The physicians of the country are drawing ahead in the professional race for popularity, not because they have the ear of every household, but rather on account of their ready pens. The medical journals of the country are far more numerous than the legal, and they all afford a field for that exchange of thought which the true devotees of a liberal profession must require. Perhaps The Green Bag is the sign of the opening era when all counsellors will be, indeed, case lawyers, (because the judiciary is so generally devoid of legal courage,) but at the same time quite competent to discuss and marshal their cases so logically as to project the judges beyond the mere footsteps of some judicial wanderer.

TABLE TALK.-The Table Talk Pub. Co., 1602 Chestnut street, Philadelphia. $1 a year; 10 cents a copy.

Table Talk, bright, facetious, sensible, useful as ever, comes to us with its January issue. The present number, which is the initial of a fifth volume, is full of the spirit of the season, beginning with an excellent poem by William Struthers; then follow "Economy in Giving," by Mrs. Grayson; Tillie May Forney's "Fashionable Luncheon and Tea Toilets;" and a third paper by Mrs. Rorer, showing how it is possible to live comfortably on $500 a year; Kate Catherwood's "Fashionable Crazes;" "New Menus for the entire month of January, by Mrs. Rorer; "Spoon Dinners and High Teas," by Carrie May Ashton; "All Around the House," by Bella Blanchard; "Capricious Washington," by K. B.; "Housekeepers' Inquiries," by Mrs. Rorer; Sister Sybil's Fate," by J. Milner Fothergill; "New Year's Receptions," by Eliza R. Parker; "Seasonable Grocery Hints," by Epicurus; "Making and Renovating Picture Frames," "Rack-Brain Puzzle," etc.

Kent, Vol. II., 40-76.

Law Studies.

Aliens and Natives.

January, 1890.

"Natives are all persons born within the jurisdiction of the United States. If they were resident citizens at the time of the Declaration of Independence, though born elsewhere, and deliberately yielded to it an express or implied sanction, they became parties to it and are to be considered as natives."

The United States not considered an independent government until after 1776. "To create allegiance by birth, the party must not only be born within the territory, but within the legiance of the government."

English doctrine is that allegiance cannot be divested by the subject. Publicists generally favor the right of a subject to emigrate and abandon his native country.

"In American jurisprudence, the better opinion would seem to be, that a citizen cannot renounce his allegiance to the United States without the permission of government, to be declared by law; and that as there is no existing legislative regulation on the case, the rule of the English common law remains unaltered." Cannot throw off allegiance to avoid crime, but for commercial purposes the place of domicile determines the character of a party.

"The subject who emigrates bona fide, and procures a foreign naturalization, may entangle himself in difficulties, and in a conflict of duties, but it is only in very few cases that the municipal laws would affect him. If there should be war between his parent State and the one to which he has attached himself, he must not arm himself against the parent State; and if he be recalled by his native government he must return, or incur the pain and penalties of a contempt. Under these disabilities, all the civilized nations of Europe adopt (each according to its own laws) the natural born subjects of other countries.

"The French law will not allow a natural born subject of France to bear arms, in time of war, in the service of a foreign power, against France; and yet, subject to that limitation, every Frenchman is free to abdicate his country."

Students' Notes.

"An alien is a person born out of the jurisdiction of the United States." Disabilities, rights and duties of aliens.-Cannot acquire title to real property by descent, except by statute. A natural born subject cannot take by representation from an alien, because the alien has no inheritable blood through which a title can be deduced. Where a father was an alien and both his father and his son were subjects, the grandson could not inherit to his grandfather. See statute of 11th and 12th Wm. III, ch. 6.

The English law considered the people of the United States subjects up and until the treaty of peace, Sept. 3, 1783; it considers that as the era at which our allegiance ceased, but the American rule refers back to the date of our independence, 1776.

"Though an alien may purchase lands, or take by devise, yet he is exposed to the danger of being divested of the fee, and of having his lands forfeited to the State."

"Aliens are capable of acquiring, holding and transmitting movable property, in like manner as our own citizens, and they can bring suits for the recovery and protection of that property."

Alien residents owe local allegiance, and when involved in disputes, are amenable to the ordinary tribunes of the country.

"There is an easy and convenient mode provided, by which the disabilities of alienism may be removed, and the qualifications of natural born citizens obtained."

Declaration on oath before a State court of record, having clerk and seal, or before a U. S. Circuit or District Court, two years before admission, of intent to become a citizen and to renounce his former sovereign. Five years' residence, affirmed by two witnesses. If a minor, shall have resided three years before his majority in the U. S., declaration of renunciation not necessary, but is admitted on the five years' residence. Alien's country at peace with the United States. Oath to support the Constitution. Good moral characte Renunciation of title or order of nobility. Naturalization of parents confers same rights on their minor children. Widow and children, of alien dying after declaration and before admission, become citizens. Entitled to same privileges as native born, except seven years' residence required before eligible to a seat in Congress; and the Constitutional prohibition from the Presidency or Vice-Presidency.

An alien's property goes as he directs in his will; if intestate, according to law of the place of his domicile at time of his death. Students' Notes.

Questions.

1. Who are natives?

2. What of resident citizens at the time of the declaration of American independence ?

3. What two things necessary to create allegiance by birth? Children born while the army of conquest is in possession of a country, are in allegiance to what sovereign?

4. What the English rule as to such temporary dominion?

5. What is the English rule as to natural born subjects?

6. What inference to be drawn from the U. S. S. C. decisions as to a citizen's right to divest himself of allegiance to the country?

7. What is an alien?

8. What are some of the disabilities of aliens ?