The native American. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1840, 1839-03-02

citizen. We. wish to secpro to fhs.a all those
privileges which we ourselves emily '-bnt..we
desire also TO have ourselves and our posteFity Sc
cured from the future influence of strangers. alters
and enemies now in distant land--for we cam
not close our eyes to the dangers which are ga
thering around us-and wish to procure the passage
OF such law as will be calculated to put native born
and natuTalized citizens at least unequal footing:
Tor we conceive that man born in this country,
Graded in the lap of Liberty, nursed under The
auspices of cur free institutions, who, when the
hrst burst OF patriotism awoke in his youthful
mind, thought Of and gloried in The deeds Of his
ancestors-whose tongue scarce could lisp ere it
was taught the halowed name Of Arlington
ana who never knew any save those principles,
acquired under the glorious blessings Of liberty,
the history OF hlsscountry taught him in his early
youlh-and familiar with her laws and institIl-
tlons--when arrived at the age of manhood. if he
wanted but one month, or one day, of being
twenty-one years Of age, is denied the right of
suffrage; whilst foreigner, coming to this coun-
try imbued with all the feelings Of the. land n
which he was born, and unacquainted with orr
laws and institutions, if he happened to be I'M
der the age of eighteen at the time of his arrival.
is entitled, without any formality, the moment he
arrives at the age Of twenty-one, to the right Of
vollng-thls we call unnatural and unjust. Again:
native American is bound to attain the age of
twenty-five years before he can become mem-
Der Of Congress. or lhirty-fve before he can be-
come Senator of the United States bat TO-
reigner who arrives at the age of twenty need only
remain long enough to become citizen, and is
eligible to a seat in Congress, or thirty, and. be-
come United States Senator. This, il might be
said, had not, or would never happen; but, with
the number Of foreigners daily becoming natural
lied. such circumstance might readily occur.
These are a few amongst the many evils which
might arise out of the present system Of natura-
cation; and as a natural consequence, as they
increase in numbers, so will they desire political
power in proportion to those numbers and It
may not diverge far from correct calculation,
when we say there in this country five
millions of foreigners, ready, at any time, to fol-
low the bidding Of their leaders, and sustain one
Of their own class who might be a candidate for
any Office.
The arrogant assumption of political power
with which a public meeting of adopted citizens
(although acting as his friends) recently dared 10
ca'eGhise the high executive of an independent
American State, regards his official course to-
wards foreign criminal, who had escaped from
punishment III his own and-from which insolent
examination, even by his own native countrymen,
his conscientious Interpretation Of the laws of
our country should have been an adequate pro-
tection--was a manifest breach of privilege, and
has been powerfully expressed, by an eloquent
writer, as but the first ripple of that gigantic flood
which, if we neglect the warning, will ere long
sweep away every vestige Of our country's hal
lowed institutions.
Your menoriasts have endeavored thus briefly
to lay before you the views we have adopted or
this, to us, highly important subject; and, in APP
preaching your honorable body, while they dis
claim in toto any attempt to dictate the course
which you should pursue, yet. long as they
can appeal to your honorable body as friends,
brothers and native countrymen, they will venture
to address you with the utmost confidence they,
therefore, solicit the entire repeal Of the acts now
in force providing for the naturalization of To-
reigners, and that your honorable body will make
ample provision, by law, for the protection Of the
United States from the indiscriminate influx TO-
reign mmgrants-both of which they deem ne
cessary for the preservation Of our republic and
her glorious institutions.
Your memorialsts cannot doubt should their
requests be delayed, that ere long, in appealing to
your honorable body, or your sncct ssors, them
selves or their children will have to sue at the
footstool of power whose feelings, preiudices
and aspirations will be alien TO their own--they
cannot but believe that, ere long, the masses Of
foreigners in the United States will, under the an
spices Of their foreign leaders, array themselves
as a distinct party in our country. When that
period shall arrive which the facility Of foreign
naturalization cannot long postpone, in vain may
they ask exemption from the dangers Of foreign
influence which now surround them: they will
have been already consummated-- already will the
liberties Of our country have been overthrown.
And, in duty bound, your petitioners will
ever pray, &c.
w. have met a;vad.