The native American. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1840, 1840-02-15

auxlllaileS IN the cause. MT. W. taxes Just tnat
plain, common sense view of the subject of for
eign immigration and foreign interference, which
will naturally arise in the bosom of every man
who is accustomed to habits of reflection on sub
words, no efforts at labored argument no attempt
at metaphysical reasoning. The views here
expressed, addressed as they are to the common
understanding Of the people, will find ready
response IN the breasts Of the honest working
men Of the country, those who sustain by their
labor and virtues, the burdens of Government,
md most deeply interested in It's healthy ac-
ion. We recommend the. letter to the attention
# our readers, and hope it will not be lost upon
,ur contemporaries, who Sre becoming interested
the great cause.
81 need not tell YOU how entirely concur in
the main design Of your Association. OF that
YOU have been made fully aware, in the CONVEX
sations we have had or the subject. Long be-
fore | was Informed of any effort being made 10
obtain repeal or modification OF the naturaiza-
ton laws, was fully satisfied thAt something Of
the kind was indispensable, MOTT the yell being
of our institutions merely, but to the .perpetuity
10Y IUCT tItSt6HCC. Anu SHOulu Dc tSlo ui~Htu W
know that any American, who is at all capable Of
reflection, should have failed to be i'm pressed
with like conviction. My persuasion tn at this
law should be repealed, does not procsed from
the suppositon that foreigners who immis crate
to this country are wicked, though it will no. be
denied that very many Of them are so. but from
the Indispensable fact that nine in ten Of them are
not, and in the nature Of things, cannot be eithe'
acquainted with or habitualed to our insitu-
tons and cannot, therefore, be safely entrusted
with their guardianship, in the exercise Of the
right of suffrage 1t is, l believe, an admitted
principle that no measure of general intelligence
secures qualification for particular Office. Who
for instance would feel himself safe in steam
boat, whose engine was under the control Of. the
literary or scientific man of the age, if the knowl-
edge of the steam engine and the boat machinery
were not part of his accomplishments But,
supposing it possible that the scientific man could
apply the principles of general science to the
business Of conducting the engine safely, would
it thence be inferred that anY and euery man
might be safely entrusted with the charge Of a
steam engine Allowing that small portion Of
those who immigIate to the United States are
sufficiently informed in political science to be
able to understand the principles of our Govern
tneut are wc to conclude that all who immi-
CRATE, should therefore be allowed to conduct
the machinery OF our State and National Gov
ernments' Is there danger that some mis-,
management, resulting from ignorance, should
cause explosion and ruin to the vessel Of the
|S,ate2 Who does not know that knowledge
OF the genius, the princip and the details OF
government, necessary to its safe admins
tration? Or will any one pretend that one in a
thousand Immigrants have any such knowledge ?
Or will it be contended that the five years no.
Al.
sufficient to Undue them with the requisite sci
ence? This could hardly be supposed if those
Immigrants were generally intelligent, and should
devote themselves to the acquisition Of such
science-how much less reasonably can it be
supposed in regard to those, who come here in
gross ignorance, and whose circumstances and
habits almost entirely prevent any application to
the means Of such acquisition? And is not this
the case with thousand to one of those who
come to the United States from foreign countries?
Will it be said that upon these principles Of
reasoning, the ignorant Native american should
be denied the right of suffrage? This does not
follow. A man brought up in an engine-room
familiar from infancy with all the details of the
operations to be performed, might be safely en-
trusted with the conduct of the engine, though
utterly unable to answer scientifically one ques-
ton in regard to the chemical or mechanical
principles lnFOiFtu III tue OpcldliOHS uHueI HIS
direction. So, he who has grown up amidst the
institutions of his country, though ignorant of
general science, and even of letters, may have
that sort of acquaintance with those institutions
which result from early and constant association
and observation,-an acquaintance often of far
more practical Importance than that which is the
result ofthe most diligent and laborious abstract
speculation upon the theory of government. Be-
sides, the affections of the Native determine to,
and rally around, these institutions warranting
in the most ignorant of them, if virtuous their
hearty support. This cannot with any reason,
be expected of the foreign immigrant Either
his early, and therefore stronger affections, were
consecrated to other and different Institutions ;
or, if his early associations taught i'm to abhor
the Government under which he grew up, the
probable effect to render him FESTIVE to all gov
crnmenta restraint: so that no calculation can
reasonably be made on the afectionate attach
ment of the foreign immigrant, to the institu-
tons of our country; whether he come from a
country where he grew up under oppression, or