The native American. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1840, 1837-12-30
From TIE NeD York Mercantile Advertiser
NATU RALIZATION LAWS

| We are pleased at finding the subject Of our
naturalization laws, awakening that interest to
which they are so prominently entitled. We
ask the attention Of readers to the following,
which cannot fail to find response in every
bosom alive to the evils which the abuse Of the
law is calculated to bring upon the country; and
the warning of the last election, when over two
thousand votes were manufactured purposely to
bear upon it, should not be lost upon us. No
bringing up foreigners to the polls to put down
the voice of the people, it an outrageous i'm
reference with the purity of our elections, and
there can he no doubt that an immense amount OF
fraud and perjury was perpetrated. 1t will ne
cessarily be so SO long the laws remain un-
altered; and however the charge may be banded
from party to party, it is disgrace to society,
where such things are suffered to exist, rendering
the elective franchise mockery, degrading our
national character, and prostrating our republican
institutions. 1t may not be amiss for us here
to observe, that the evil effect of our naturaliza-
ton laws upon our institutions originated the
Native American party in this city, and that their
constitution and views will be given to the public
tomorrow, if we can make room in our columns,
when we are assured that they will meet the
appreciation Of our fellow citizens, as eminently
calculated to abate an evil which has become so
crying as to call for presentment by the Grand
Inquest Of the United States in and for the SOUTH
ern district of our State.
The following important document was pre-
sented by the Grand Jury to the United States
District Court.
w. The Committee to whom was referred
the matter of reporting upon the necessity of
presenting the present mode Of administering the
Naturalization Laws, and framing bill having
reference to that subject,
REPORTS:
That, after mature consideration, they deem it
necessary that some action should be had in the
premises by the Grand Inquest now in session;
and to this end, they have framed bill, which
is herewith submitted, and which, if approved,
should receive the signatures of the members
present, and be put in channel, best calculated
to effect the object invented by it.
CHAS. AUG. DAVIS, Chairman.
GRAND JUar RcoM, N. Y, eth Dee, 1887.
The Grand Inquest Of the United States, in
and for the Southern District of Ncw Fork,
in the City Of Ncsc Fork, the 9th dan of
November, 1897,
Present, as grievance of serious and increas-
ing magnitude, the present mode Of administering
the Naturalization Laws, which calls upon the
competent tribunals for speedy correction Of
the evil.
AS the law is now administered, it is evident
that the great and important rights and privileges
Of citizenship be obtained with facility not
contemplated by the law itself, which is thereby
abused to an extent, involving consequences the
most deporable.
The privileges Of citizenship in our happy
country, constitute the value of the title; and we
regard those privileges sacred to the possessor
as his claim on the nation for their protection is
paramount. But if these privileges are to be
granted in disregard Of the salutary requirements
indicated by the spirit Of the law, it is evident
that the law or its administration must be defec-
tive; and if not corrected the time cannot be far
distant, when the title of citizen of the United
States will surely cease to be the pride Of
its possessor, the nation will become incapable
Of protecting it from insult
In a republic SO happily constituted as ours,
the people are properly recognized as sovereign
the source and fountain Of honor and power.
Here, then, most obviously and reasonably, are
the people entitled to the right Of having laws
accurately framed and administered in all matters
touching participation by aliens in this right and
privilege of sovereignty.
There can be but slight reliance on the inte-
gritty of public servants called on to frame or adj
minister the laws, if their masters who select
them to perform these duties be not themselves
in the abiding possession Of the reliable principles
of virtue and patriotism. All laws then, which
are intended to keep this fountain pure, cannot
be framed with too much care, or administered
with too much caution.
This is due to the native born citizen, as well
as to the virtuous alien who seeks from choice
a home and asylum here; and who, in conse-
quence of the notorious abuses practised under
the present naturalization law by the INSCRIPTIONS
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