The daily union., 1852-01-16

board the Congress !" and that il there be one exeep
7 uon you may pick hun oat and know him from I'M
morals and manners at this very hour The honorable
senator from New Jersey Mr. SrocKToRl did not inc
the punishment neither did the commander did the
first lieutenant But the punishmens were inflicted and
where TO look for the responsibility Who could
have forbidden the punishment and did not do iP Who
was the person in command Why. all familiar
with the law on this subject and well know, every
case where responsibility rests.
have referred TO this matter simply for the purpose OF
opposing the practice OF the senator from New Jersey
Mr. STocKToN 10 his theory; and ask il this fact does
not furnish refuaton OF his present position. know
as every gentleman who understands the honorable
or from New Jersey knows-ihat the punshments were
inflicted very much against his feelings He did not
nhct them; but they inflicted board the ship OF
which he the chief, and with his knowledge OF
course. would not charge il upon any other officer
would not impue 1t TO the commander or the euen.
ants yet it done.
will advert briefly to another point which has been
dwelt upon by the honorable senator from New Jersey;
and that the alleged degrading effect of this punishment
to the character OF the American Ii this pun
shment does degrade the seaman abolish tn Heavens
name strike it iron the statute book Satisfy that it
is degrading and there is not the floor OF the
Senate who will sustain il, No could justify him
self in sustaining usage which degrading 10 any po
ton of the people of this country This therefore,
important matter.
, The senator places himself. he alleges, upon the
broad foundation that an American seaman is an Ame-
citizen, and that he should be scourged Before
discussing this subject at all beg leave TO object 10 this
word "scourge" object to il because it conveys 10 the
IHlHu ldhe IWWcSsion, anu lmpile5 which
does not exist With the honorable senator from North
Carolina, lMr BADGER appeal to "Rhilology" say
that the seamen are not scourged The word appeals
10 sympaihynot TO reasonand leads the mind astTay
And when legslating upon this grave matter, must
look at abuses they really if they be abuses and
must not throw any false sentmentality around them
object to the word "s "scourged like slave" In The
lrst place, seamen are not scourged and In the next
place, slaves not scourged We know but one kind
Of slavery this counlrythe slavery of the South. If
they are scourged, they are not scourged because they
are slaves any more than reemen are scouged because
they are freemen. II they scourged at all it is be-
"tortuIe," thumbscrew," and )" boot and all The
other terms known 10 ages OF barbarty as connected
with this system OF oggng because they leave false
impression and lead senators to believe that there is
horrible state OF cruelty in the navy which never has
| existed.
The honorable senator talked about tying to the
gratng and whipping them until the blood lrickled down
to their heels, and until the flesh scouged from their
ribs Are be told that any such cruelty this
pracsed the navy, and that the honorable gentle
man knew il and did not bring it before the conntry
will guarantee that he witnessed such scene |
know him, and know that if he had witnessed it his
generous would have held the recreant TO the
detestaon OF mankind. He would have exposed his
name and it would have been stricken from the navy
rolls in disgrace object to all this II we are TO egs
late upon this subject, let do il calmly III do not
know What the navy let inquire Let this matter
the naval committees and let them call for the papers
and investigate the whole subject lie, us look at il
straight in the face. | use the words " whip" and
fog" because they used by law writers in the de-
of courts and by the sailors and officers them
selves
1 "These American ctzens'-who are thcyi Are
they American citizens because they sail beneath the
stars and stripes Does that constitute American cill.
zenshp Certainly not No nation nterprets public
law, and we have expressly denied ii by our legislation
We all know that after the achievement of national
independence our merchant marine increased with extra.
ordinary rapidly Population did not increase as rapid.
1 y shipping, and we were without seamen 10 supply
our tonnage The law Of 1879 passed to encourage
and build up merchant marine Induced by The
agemens there held under the prospect OF fortunate
adventure the shortness OF the voyages and the superior
wages given service thousands of seamen LETT the
Old World TO enter into service.
Ii is known 10 the honorable senator from New Jersey,
perhaps better than TO any other gentleman on this floor
the assertion OF the right OF search on the part of Great
/ Britain as by anything else. She boldly accused
US OF eniicng her seamen from her, enrolling them
| as Americans, and putting them at our guns TO
light against her. To meet and obviate this COM
plant Congress provided that but American
men should be shipped for our navy: Theoretically.
therefore, the board American vessels are
American citizens. Our people well knew, however, that
we had not seamen enough TO meet the wants OF our
navy and our commerce Therefore il was prescribed
and such is the usage up this hourhat protection,
small piece OF paper OF some twelve lines, describing the
seaman his place Of BIRTH the color OF his hair his size
and forth, should be the evidence OF citizenship That
protection obtained from every petty collector every
petty port OF the Union IL is always granted to the party,
OF course upon certificate OF naturalization and also
upon evidence Of his former possession OF protection
Now, sir the practical operation OF this system is as fol-
lows Foreign seamen seeking employment IN our ser
vice apply at custom houses for projections and
Il
be OF the facility with which the requisite proof is
established And these projections certifying that the
person they describe American are loaned
by TO each other their necessities may require
III you would 60 TO the musterrols OF your navy, and
the lists OF the merchant marine, you wosd find many
who on three different voyages, go under three diff
/ feren names. On one voyage you would ind man
going under the name oil John Smith, on second
| OF Thomas Jones, and third under another
Does this change Of name degrade himl No this
very thing which would cast mpuation upon mans
character shore, and fix suspicion upon him there,
has eec, upon the American seaman The change OF
is superinduced by the borrowing OF The protection
The that has protection gets BERTH and when
4 he loans II 10 another man the borrower changes his
name Take any seamen, do not care from what port
they may come, and they will make the statement
that now do II is thing well understood; and our
merchant marine, and especially our navy, are made up
OF seamen from almost every commercial country upon
the habitable globe.
Now 60 further and look your laws for the natural
i ization OF Under those laws seamen may be
naualized who never trod American soil for thirty days
The recent amendment of naturalization laws, passed
some few years ago. provides in effect that absence on
voyages in American vessels shall affect residence
and the right OF naturalization Seamen sailing out Of
/ the port OF New York, but who while in port live
shore, may al the end OF five years, be naturazed,
though the aggregate OF their residence shore may
not have exceeded thirty days
Having explained this view OF the subject, take the
ground that foreign seamen thus Amerlcanized are
entitled TO neither more nor less consideration than
| those who native born. ! hold that the seaman
who quits his country and comes TO our shores shows
the bias of his mind for government But, sir, il
matter OF accident and though men are fortunate who
born upon American soil, yet those who come here
Had