The Placer herald., 1855-11-03
Foreign Emigratiou,

Judge Murray, in his very able opinion
rendered in the Leidsdorff estate case, de-
clares that 'the policy Of the Government Of
the United States has been to encourage the
emigration of foreigners" AS an evidence
of this he states that "a system of pre-emp.
ton has been adopted in all the Territories
and new States, in which there is no discri
mination between foreigners and native citi
zens."
That this is the policy indicated by the
authors of our government, no man at all
conversant with the history OF our federal
legislation, or with the teachings Of Washing
ton and his associates, will for a moment
deny.
Indeed when we recur to the writings Of
the Fathers of the Republic, we are forcibly
impressed with the fact that the emigration
of foreigners was the chief source upon which
they depended for the necessary means of sub
DUNG and cultivating the rich and boundless
plains and valleys, then comparatively un-
known, now supporting in wealth and luxury
a population of millions of treemen. Even
in the Declaration of lndependence-that
document fraught with more Importance to
the world than any State paper ever before
penned-among the long catalogue of gov
ernmcntal "injuries and usurpations" upon
which the patriots of the Revolution depend
ed for justification, in the eyes of the civilized
world, for falling back upon that dernier re-
sort of an oppressed and ensaved people,
Revolution-evcn in this paper we find
among the first, the one that the British
King had thrown obstacles in the way of
that living stream which was flowing to-
wards our shores from the Kingdoms Of the
old world, and upon which they seemed so
confidently to rely for the necessary supply
of human muscle with which to conquer the
wild lands of America to fell her forests,
cultivate her broad vallies and green hills,
and rear her towns and cities. What says
that matchless paper' Read
"He has endeavored to prevent the popula-
ton Of these States; for that purpose, OBJ
structing the laws for naturalization of for
eigners; refusing to pass others to encourage
their emigration hither, and raising the con-
ditions of new appropriations of lands"
Thus spoke the men, who knew, unless
they won success, that the loss of their heads
would be the penalty. Thus spoke such
men as Jefferson, Franklin, Lee, Carroll,
Adams, Hancock, and their associates
Were they not worthy of being American
citizens? ay, even those of them who were
born in other lands?
But the Convention whose language we
have quoted, met a long time ago-in 1915.
Since then, in 1855 another convention of
Americans assembled in the city of Philadel-
phia, and promulgat to the world new
political faith. Let US see how the opinion
of the convention of 1915 accords, in spirit,
with the eleventh article of the platform
adopted by the Convention Of 1855. Here
is article llth:
eligibility to office, both in the States
and nation should be restricted to persons
born within the jurisdiction or ON some part
of the territory included within the existing
bounds of the United States"
Now let the reader pause and calmly ask
himself the question, How would this new
and strange doctrine of Know -Nothingism
have been received by the Ana11conS assem-
bled in Philadelphia in 1870! Would they
not have secuted it with Indignation! thrust
it beyond the precincts of the sacred hall
in which they were gathered! Who can
doubt that such would have been their course!
No one. If so, then how could they, if now
living, be co-workers with the Know No
things of the present day! If they could
not, then would our KNOWN Nothing friends
dare say they were not true Americans! If
so then, they might place Washington in
the same category, for he, in language both
beautiful and forcible, used the following
sentiment:
"The bosom of America is open to receive
not only the opuent and respectable stranger,
but the oppressed and prosecuted of ALL Ma
TONS and ALL RELIGIONS, whom we
shall welcome to a participation in ALL
OUR RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES"
Thus it will be seen that the signers of the
Declaration of Independence and Washing
ton, entertained and declared sentiments d.
rectly at variance with those now deemed
purely american by the Known othing party.
For one we are satisfied with the company
in which we are placed by the opponents of
the Democratic party. If Washington was
unworthy to be called an American then do
we eschew the name. "If this be treason,
make the most of it."-iShasta Courier.
SIDNEY SMITHS description of himself in
eighteen hundred and forty-four:
am seventy four years of age, and being
Canon of St. Paul's in London, and rector
of parish in the country, my time is divided
equally between town and country. | am
| living among the best society in the metropo-