The Sun.
London, England, 1818-11-20 00:00:00

[PRICE SEVENNENCE.

EMIGRATION.

Mr. EDlTOR)—Amongst the many agreeable
things that must render Emigration to America
delightful to an Englishman, is a new idea which
these soi digant Columbian votaries of St. Tam-
many have recently taken up respecting " native
horn Americans," who arc now considered as alone
eligible to office and power ; though, by a curious
species of Transatlantic liberality, Foreigners are to
be respected. In short, the nineteenth century is
to exhibit a new edition of Spartans and Helots,
according to the jurisprudence of the Occidental
LYCURGI

Those who doubt the tact, the fact so impor-
tant to all who, despairing of universal suffrage
at home, are about to seek for equal rights on the
Atnericsn wilderness, may consult the fifth chap-
ter of liftrsTED's recent work, where they will find
little cause to envy those izavi Homines the extra-
ordinary distinction of being '' native Ameti-
cans."

Since the title of " native horn" is so glotiow,
'tis pity that the records of early American popu-
lation have not been preserved with more accu-
racy. When another of our Colonies, in Aus-
tral- asia, at present vulgarly called Botany Bay,
shall arid/ into independence, the descendants
of its earliest settlers will have the advantage of
consulting the lists which were published along
with the first voyages ; and provided London is
not swallowed up at that period by the Levia-
thans of the would-be-Brobdignag, .they Hlay
have their genealogical claims verified at the of-
fice of the Home Secretary, or at their own pe-
culiar new South Welch Herald's College in tl►e
Old Bailey. But 1 doubt whether any very early
transatlantic records can now be referred to, with
the exception of the Calendar; though many
proofs of the religious liberty and tolerance of
the first inhabitants of the Eastern States may he
found in a geographical work written by a '' na-
tive born American," Mr. Monsa, who tells 'pot.
the Puritans, that fled from what they deemed
religious tyranny at home, stripping women naked
and flogging them publicly, in order to correct
their Theological Errors I
But, to he brief, Sir, I am puzzled to think
how the " native born Americans" must be puz-
zled in forming or arranging their new aristo-
cracy. When the Colonists of British North
America first burst into riot and rebellion to the
tune of Yankee Doodle, they called themselves
" free, equal, and independent," which titles they
claim at the present day ; and long may they con-
tinue to do so, fur I wish to see America great
and happy, but not at the expence of Britain ! Now,
Sir, being all eqnal, all hail fellows well met, all
American Citizens—a title, by the bye, which
vvoold puzzle a resident of Bearbinder-lane, who
twice a-year, Easter Monday and Lord Alayw's
Day, thanks Heaven that he is a native bout
Citizen, particularly if claimed by a shepherd on •
Salisbury Plain, or a cottager in Epping Forest,
where so many honest Citizens have lost both
themselves and their horses—being 411 equal, Sir,
they must have been all Esquires, or no Esquires,
all Gentlemen, or not a Gentleman amongst them!
Here is a dilemma, without a hole to creep our at,
American Citizens ate equal, or not equal ! They
must either give up equality or• aristocracy.—Be-
fore the Revolution, English Gentlemen and
Esquires may have settled in America ; and
numbers. agreeable to English courtesy, or
through official rank, may have claimed the dis-
tinctionot Esq.; but all these were derived front the'
Crown, the fountain of honour ; titles of coar-
tesy, though given by the people, springing from
the same source, for titles of courtesy can only
issue out of titles of right ; and, as those who
refuse allegiance forfeit all savour, the independ-
ent Americans, of course, fOrteited all feudal Ii: les
or distinctions derived from the Sovereign agitioNt
whoa► they rebelled. This is Eogli,h law, I be-
lieve; nay, it is also American law, lot' BRISTED
expressly quotes from their own legal constito-,
titans, that " every part of the English Common*
Law relating to the Sovereign was abolished by
the Revolution, which fixed the Sovereignty
in
the American People." Now, Sir, I have hot
yet heard of this many-headed Sovereign dubbing
any Knights, though there was an abortive at-
tempt to found an order of Cincinnati's ; and
without Knights there can he no Esquires, except
of American manufacture. It is, however, a cu-
rious fact, that a few years after the Revolution,
a motion► was made in Congress for the abnlition
or rather disuse of all titles, such as Honourable,,,
Esquire, &c. but the American Noblesse passed
to the Order of the Day. It is an express sti•
potation of the American Constitution, that nei-
ther the Executive or the Legislature, whether
State or Federal, shall cooler any titles ; this or-
der• of die day, therefore is mere " matter of
moonshine ;" Ccrogress-men may- be Congress-
men; Judges may be Judges ; Captains may he
Captains ; but there are no Esquires. There are
however• many Gentlemen. Thank Heaven, no
modern principles of Equality can destroy that
Heaven-descended title ! May the number in-
crease, and may their descendents continue so,
until they become Gentlemen of ancestry and of
blood—though, 1 fear, not of coat armour, for
that also springs from the Crown, and was like-
wise forfeited—may they do t'r►us until they can
produce a noble aristocracy as a counterpoise to
popular rights and popular wrongs; but in the
meantime they must wake all " handles to their
names," for• where there are neither masters ow
servants, even Mr. becomes unconstitu ionat !
IGNOTCS.