Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-09-05

and he solennly swears TO be faithful and trne 10
the said Coinmonwealth and that he win sup
port tire Constitution thereof 80 long as he con-
tinues citizen OF the same.
! In what manner do the Know.noihings here
in Virginia expect 10 carry out their principles?
| We are reasoning with our own fellow-cti-
zens, but the same reasoning which applies
here applies equally in each State. Will they
call a convention TO amend the Constitution OF
the State2 VIII they say that a naturalized
citizen shall not vote, but native citizen may ?
The Constitution of the United States provides
that citizen, Git matters not whether native or
naturalized) of each State shall be entitled to
| all privileges and immunities Of citizens in the
several States. So that to deprive naturalized
| citizens of rights which have once attached to
them, you must deprive native citizens of the
same rights. Your laws have provided that
all free white citizens possessed of certain
qualifications shall exercise the right of suf-
frage The Constitution of the United States
again provides that the electors in each State
shall have the qualifications requisite for cleo
tors Of the most numerous branch of the State
legislature The naturalized citizens have
been given, therefore, the right to vote for
members of Congress. Will you upturn to
carry out prejudice and to right an imaginary
evil, our whole system of polity? And why,
if you can obtain talented, high minded, hon.
orable naturalized citizen, to perform repre-.
sentative or any other ministerial Office for you,
should you not avail yourself of his talents
and requirements? If you do not like him,
exercise your right as you do against ma.
tive citizens, when you dislike them, and
vote against him, but do not band to-
gether secretly against him, when you do
not and ought not to tolerate such machinery
applied to yourself Do you not see that, hay
ing rights already given him by your Constitu-
ton and laws, you are setting him an example
to band secretly against you to deprive you of
the power to injure him? All such organiza-
tons are wrong. In free country, reason and
argument are the weapons of truth, and the
polls the place where the power Of truth is to
be demonstrated. The same argument which
would induce you to band together secretly
against foreigners to carry any other point,
might induce you or them, or both combined,
to unite to carry out any principle, however
obnoxious to the theory Of republican govern
ments. You first apply your machinery to the
friendless alien. lie is selected as the safest
subject of first experiment. Then you apply
it against the man who has property. Rather
let your sympathy be extended over the friendly
strangers, to whom the mild spirit of our coun
ny anu us laws nave Pleugeu hospitality ana
protection, and to whom, when certain required
provisions are complied with, you have prom
ised equal rights and privileges.
The spirit upon which such'a party acts, and
the results to which their doctrines tend, must
bring back the old reigu of terror, when the
old alien act undertook ITO authorize the Pre-.
sident to remove foreigner from the United
States, who has come here on the protection of
the law, on his own suspicion, without accusa-
ton, without jury, without public trial, without
conformation OF the witnesses against him,
without having witnesses in his favor, without
defence, without counsel"
We cannot but ardently hope that such
spirit will not prevail, and that all parties will
unite to put it down, that it may sleep the
sleep of death, without the power of resurrec-
ton.