The weekly Placer herald., 1855-06-23

yes; but we say, mol Because, if America be
as we have shown, more than the soil of Amer
Ca, We do not see how mere coddy derva-
tOn from it entities one to the name of Amer
lean. Clearly, that title cannot enure to us
from the mere argillaceous or silicious CON-
pounds of our bodies clearly, it descends
from no vegetable anceStry-and it must dis
d lin to trace itself 10 that simple relationship
to physical nature which we chance to enjoy
in common with the skunk, the rattlesnake
and the catamount. All these are only the
only natural productions of rica-excel-
lent. no doubt, in their several ways--but the
American man is something more than nat
ural product. bOasting moral or sp ritual
genesis; and referring his birth-ri ght to the
immortal thoughts, which are the soul of his
institutions, and to the divine affections
which lift his politics out of the slime of
state-craft, into the air of great humanitary
purposes.
| The real American, then, is he-no matter
whether his cOrpOreal chemistry was first ig-
nited in Kamschatka or the moon-who. aban
doning every other allegiance. gives his mind
and heart to the grand constituent ideas of
the Republic-to the impulses and ends in
which and by which alone it subssts. II he
y
duces evidence of capacity to understand
the relation he undertakes-if he has resided
in the atmosphere of freedom long enough
| to catch its genuine spirIt-then is be an
American, in the true and best sense of the
tenn
| Or, if not an American, pray what is he?
An Englishman, German, an lrishman, he
can no longer be; he has cast the slough of
his old political relations forever; he has as
serted his sacred right of expatration (Which
the United States was the first of nations to
sanct8n> or been eXpatriated ny his too ar
dent love OF the cause which the United States
represents; and he can never return to the
ancient fold. 1t would spurn him more incon-
tinently than powder spurns the fire. He
must become, then either wander,r and q
nondescript on the face of the earth, or be
received into our generous republican arms.
1t is our habit to say that we know of no race
or creed, but the race of man and the creed
Of democracy. and if he appeals to us. as
man and democrat. there is no alternative
in the premises. We must either deny his
claims ogether-deny that he is son of
God and our brother-or else we must incor
porate him, in due season, into the household.
1t is not enough that we Offer him shelter
from the ran-not enough that we mcnd hs
lOOped and windOwed raggedness-nOt enough
that we replenish his wasted mdrff with ba-
con and hOminy, and open to his palsied hands
and opportunity to toll. These are commend
able charities. but they are such charities as
any one. not himself brute, would willingly
extend to a horse found astray on the COM
mon. Shall we do no more for our fellows?
Have we discharged our whole duty. as men
to men, when we have avouched the sympa-
thes we would freely render to a cat? do we.
in truth, recognize their claims at all. when
we refuse to confess that higher nature in
them. whereby alone they are men, and not
stocks or animals? More than that: we do
not. by refusing to confess mans manhood.
in reality heap him with the heaviest injury it
is in our power to in1ict. and wound him with
the bitterest insult his spirit can conceive?
We can easily conceive the business with
which an alien, escaping to our shores from
the expressions Of his own country or volun-
tarly abandoning it for the sake Of better
life, might reply to those who receive him
Hospitality. but deny him political association:
"For your good will, thank you-for the
privilege of toiling against the grim inclem-
encies of my outcast and natural condition,
which you offer, l thank you-for the safe
guard of your noble public laws. I thank you;
but the blessed God having made me a man.
as we'll as you-when you refuse, like the
lSetHl-nHrDaTlanS Oh sparta. all CIVIL IlIe--Wnen
with Jewish exclusiveness. you thrust me ont
of the holy temple. as a mere proselyte of the
gate-yOur intended kindnesses scum over
with malignity. and the genial winecup you
proffer. brms with wormwood and gall"
We are well aware of the kind of outcry
with which such reasoning is usually met We
know in what a variety Of tones.-from the
vulgar growl of the pothouse pugilist to the
mnatOry shrek of the polemc. frenzied with
fear of the Scarlet Lady,--it is proclaimed
that all foreign infusions into our life are
venomous, and ought to be vehemently re-
sisted. Nor do we mean to deny the right of
every community to protect itself from hurt
even to the fOrcible eXtrusion, if necessary, of
the ingredients which threaten it's damage.
But that necessity must be most distinctly
proved. The case must be one so clear as to
leave no doubt of it. as an absolute case of
selfdefense. Now there is no such necessity
with us, as to compel either the exclusion. or
the eXtrusiOn, of our alien residents. They
are such a violent Interpolation as when
grains of sand, to use Coleridge's figure, have
got between the she'll and the flesh of the
snail that they will kill us if we do not put
them out and keep them out. A prodigious
hue and cry against them wakes the echoes of
the vcinage just now, such as is raised when
pack of hungry foxes stray into the honest
hen roost. but the clamor is quite disprOpOr
tionate to the occasion. The foxes are by no
means so numerous or predacious as they are
imagined to be, and there is no such danger
of them for the future that we need to be
transfxed with fright, or scamper away in a