The Yazoo City weekly Whig. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 18??-1855, 1854-12-22
TIRE AMERICAN MovrErz

i Nas met with singular Uniform success md render
"a al other ssues 81 minor importance, thinks At
le aame time that Il i the result Of circumatan-
les which cannot long exist We sincerely trust
that the Union may prove prophet, and that
aliens Who seek our land. nay Be content to enjoy
tie blessings 81 constitutional liberty and repub-
lean freedom without interfering ii the govern
ment 81 ne country, or suffering clannish preju-
diees 70 seek The control Of our elections Ameri-
canIsm has but one course Of duty to perform; it
does not seek to Be ntoleFant, though IL may APP
pear 80; It has no wish to be proscrptive, though
its opponents would make such charge against It.
Even cur Pittsburg contemporary. while making
the confession chat Amercanism IS ID the majority,
and therefore It's principles should Be respected.
even though It may Be error, which popular opin-
Ion would correct III IT'S own good time, misstates
its objects and designs. Il says:
1--WE are at loss to know what good o. solid
argument can be adduced ID favor 81 3 total pro-
hibiti0n Of foreign emigration. Il contrary 70
natural right. The first ten settlers on the Amer-
can shore might as well have claimed the sole au-
thority to appropriate the continent 70 them and
their descendants, and could we now attempt 20
arrest the progress of emigration, and declare that
hereafter 40 foreigner should set foot % American
soil. We deny tie right Of any nation to possess
millions on millions OF acres of apublc domain,
and to maintain Il III an unimproved and unentur-
ed state forbidding the starving millions e other
lands to enter upon il and procure q subsistence.
When population had extended over the old world
until its rapid increase threatened ere long to prove
too much for the oyerburdened earth, an overrul-
ing Providence kindly opened up as gift to COM
mon humanity the mighty fields Of the Western
continent. Did it lie 10 the win Of any single ma
ton then to lay claim to the entire continent and
exclude all others from the worlds common trea-
gurel Spain arrogantlY attempted this, and now
her feeble, trembling hand is relaxing its expiring
grasp on the last foot of American soil Who
can say the punishment not just9 Who can say
that had AmeTicansn this selfish spirit Of aggran-
dizement, excluded the poor, the oppressed, and
the starving exiles Of other lands from their share
il the common heritage that God had reserved
for them, they might not now be confined within
their original narrow limits, contemplate ID their
selfshness as vel as their weakness
We cannot With our con poraI deny our
right e prohibit immigration le Constitution
s Sc United States c6a Lat riislht when It
says Ait. /, Sect. 8, atle migration or impor-
tation d such persons g any Of the States now
existing shall think proper to admit shall not be-
prohibited By the Congress prior to year 1908,
but we are not prepared to contest the policy
True, it may be said that the Constitution refers
to slaves, but it is not so stated, and we have a
right to construe its letter as we choose. Ameri-
canism never sought TO arrest immigration, except
where It becomes curse, and nuisance, and then
It should be abated for the common good. No
one has ever argued for "total prohibition
foreign emigration" JEFFERSON came nearest to
it, when he wished that an ocean of FIRE divided
the Old aud New Worlds, and JACKSON showed
where the limitation should be made, when he said
we should become more Americanised and not al
low the pauper labor Of the Old World to bring
the free labor Of the new down to its own degrad
ed and selflike standard. The Union argues up
on natural right; that is the law Of unciviIized
savages, or the "higher law which has been So
roundly abused; we have constitutional rights ii
which all our natural rights are merged. We
agree with the Union in all it says as to the kind
II Providence, which opened up this Western
World as the asylum for common humanity. But
sGod works in mysterious way, and By human
agencies; he sent our fathers into the wilderness
to prepare the way, as ST John the Baptist was
sent before to declare the EyangeI, and tie infer
ance IS fir that, as d, cannot enter His kingdom
. all are not fitted to enter the land which He
has prepared for his chosen people. We do not
apprehend we commit any national sin, or do des-
Dite to the Providence Of God By any selfish
Ipirit Of aggrandizement," when We demand to
render unto Caesar the things that are Cassars,''
i to uphold for America the rights that are
Americas Neither ore We disposed to do such
liscredt to our country as it came TO rs from the
leroes Of the revolution, and the sages who fts
d our Constitutions to believe that the original
thirteen States were contemplate in their selfish
less as well as IN their weakness. They we're not
elfsh because they passed all the laws which Ell
outraged immigration, and granted naturalization;
hey we're not weak, for the war of 1919 against 1
treat Britain, vas gloriousIy concluded before !
their original narrow limits had been increased /
j the addition Of any territory except that ced.
q By France under The treaty of 1903 and from
lis Louisiana alone was created as State ii
SO. previous to the Wal, and the next addition :
8 their limits vas 81 TIE admission Of Missouri
! 1921. :
The parallel which the Uniol1 draws between =
pain and Americanisn. Is far from logical The 8
Omission that foreign influence 81 American soil
arrogant. and chat retributive justice Is snre to
,llow any exclusive effort 70 appropriate the
worlds common treasure, comedies 70 the Amer 4
an principle as high and patriotic position s. Il
$ most jealous duocate could desire The aoYer- q
llling Providence which kindly opened up as s &
It to common humanity the mighty fields 81 tie &
Western contnont effected It by tie agency of =