The native American., 1838-01-27


gious amount, may eventually be imbodied by
some ambitious and INSCRIPTIONS leader, and
used as the instruments Of the overthrow of this
now happy and envied republic. Theexperience
Of all past times should not be disregarded. The
liberties Of Rome were not seriously endangered
until the policy of her ambitious chieftains in
troduced large bodies Of armed foreigners
amongst them, and clothed them with many Of
the privileges, if not the dignity, Of Roman citi-
zens. And the people Of England are now main
lily indebted for the large share Of liberty they en-
10y, and the restrained and limited power Of their
monarch, to the ever-watchful jealousy Of their
bold and sturdy ancestors, and their resolute and
unfnching resistance to the admission of foreign
/ ers to the immunities of English subjects. is,.I
This paper would be swelled to an inconve-
nent size were Your melnorialiss To- cite from the
histories other nations the numerous proofs with
(which they abound, Of the advantages resulting
from the strict observance of this great principle
Of selfprotection, and the injuries suffered from
disregard Of the obvious course dictated by the
lessons of true wisdom and experience. Wash
virtue-the leader of our armies in war, and the
director and guide Of our councils in peace, whose
heart overAowed with universal benevolence, and
whose hospitable doors were ever open to receive
and shelter the stranger from foreign climes, as
widely as for his own friends and countrymen,
has left on record solemn warning of the fate
that awaits the beloved institutions which, in the
hands of Providence, he was the chief nstru-
ment in establishing, if the admission of fo-
reigners to office, and the elective franchise,
and the sleepless vigilance of the people. Jefer-
son, the patriot philosopher, and sage, the friend
and chosen counsellor of Washington, lived long
enough to repudiate the error of his early and en-
thusiastic sentiments on this subject, and to add
the testimony of his later experience and observa-
ton to the warning voice of his illustrious pre-
decessor. It is too well known to be repeated
here, that the opinions of ALL or nearly all, Of the
wise and distinguished men whose counsels ruled
the destinies of this republic in the earliest days
|of its present Government, conceded, soon or
late, with those of the eminent men here named
on the subject of this memorial. at'1t
1t would not become your memorialists to
question the purity or the wisdom Of those who
enacted the laws Of NATURALIZATION, as they now
exist. Of the one, we have ample testimony in
the respect and honor they reaped in their labors
for the advancement Of the interests of their coun
try: and however the other may have been viewed
at the period of the enactments of those laws, it
is humbly believed that fit time has arrived
when they should be carefully revised and amend
ed, or altogether repealed.
AS intimately connected with the subject of
the naturalization laws, your memorialists re-
specfully call the attention of your honorable
body to one of deep concern to the welfare of
their fellow citizens, and to the honor and dignity
Of the Government itself.
The nations Of Europe, by the cessation of
resulting from the nature of their governments and
institutions, but which it would not be proper
here to discuss, have, of late years. been burden
ed with vast increase of pauperism and crime.
To diminish this burden, various plans have in
turn occupied the anxious reflections Of the ablest
dIlu WIScSI statesmen OF Europe. none nave ap-
peared to them SO practicable and effectual as
the transportation of vast multitudes from their
overgrown population to foreign countries; and no
foreign country presents easy an access to them
as the United States. Therefore, without i'm
putting to them more unworthy motive, or 81
mister and base designs, they have chosen to make
this free and happy land the receptacle of those
whose crimes have rendered them dangerous,
or who have become, through want and desttu-
ton, expensive and burdensome to the States in
which they were born, to which they owe their
natural allegiance, and from which they are ent-
tied to claim shelter and protection.
Your memorialists will not overload this paper
with any statement of the numbers of paupers
who are at some seasons cast upon our shores in
condition of utter desttuton and helplessness;
nor can they refer your honorable body to the
official records in the Executive Departments of
the Government for any certain or satisfactory
information; those reported at the custom-houses,
in conformity to law, bearing, it is believed, but
a small proportion to the vast multtudes who