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10 CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE I\ -MARYLAND.
alsoe to the deterring of divers others of the forrei-n ncons from coming
into this Province and, by consequence, foreslowing the peopleing of this
Province with usefull artificers a.nd handicraftsmen. Itt may, therefore,
please
yor Lop, " that it might be ordeyned and enacted. by your Lop, with the
assent
of the Upper and Lower House of this prest Genill Assembly ; that your
Lop humble peticoners ` T shall from henceforth be adjudged, reputed and
taken as Nrall borne people of this Province of Maryland and that they
may * * be (established), enabled and adjudged able to all intents and con-
struccions to demand, challenge, aske, have, hold and enjoy lands, tenemts,
hereditamts and rents within this Province, as heire or heires to any of
their
ancestors, by reason of any dissent, * * or by any other- la~-fllll
conveyances or
meanes whatsoever, as if they ' '"' had been borne within this Province, or
were of British or Irish dissent aforesaid. And alsoe that they` shall be
enabled to presente, inaynteyne and avowe, ,justify and defend all manner of
accons, suites, plaints and other demands whatsoever as liberally, frankly,
fully, lawfully, securely and freely " and as any other person or persons
naturally borne within this Province, or of British or Irish dissent, may in
any wise lawfully doe."
V In May, 1669, such was the progressive spirit of the Assembly, that; a
" Bill for free Naturalization " was introduced in the Upper llouse.' It
passed
its third reading there, but did not become a law. If it had passed, Mary-
land would have had, to the best of my information, the first general
Nlatll-
ralization law of any Colony.
On March 31, 1671, the Upper House sent to the Lower the draft of -.In
"Act for the Naturalization of Foreigners."z It was returned on April 3,
tile
Lower House stating it wished the Act to continue for two years only, and
that there lie a. proviso that all born in Mary land, though of
ilnnaturalized
parents, may hold lands by descent or otherwise, as if their parents and
themselves had been naturalized. '1 'he Upper House sent the Bill back for
further consideration, and we hear no more of it, nor was there a general
Naturalization Law passed until 1692.
Private naturalization, however, continued regularly. At this same ses-
sion, an important case came up. Ignatius Causin, born on St. George's
riN-er.
Maryland, of a French father, Nicolaus Causin, and an English mother, peti-
tioned to be na.turalized.3 1Vicolans had laid claim to certain lands and
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