Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-04-02


Those swiss FaupoTs.
The announcement OF the departure of three
hundred and twenty paupers from Switzerland ior
Hasre there to embark for New York, causes much
excitement In that city and throughout the State
The press with one accord, the Administration
organs excepted, speaks out in terms Of indigna-
ton against this new outrage upon the American
people.
The indefaugable Mayor of New York win be on
the g, vvs for the arrival of these Swiss paupers
and take good care prevent their decentralization.
But the closest vigilance cannot always prevent the
landing of paupers, when, as often happens, from
five thousand to ten thousand emgrants are landed
in New York in one day. The citizens Of the agri-
cultural and planting districts form but faint
idea Of the scene presented in the streets of the
lower part Of that city, on the arrival of large
feet of emigrant ships. Such filth, such squalor,
such deformty; such a conglomeration OF wretch
edness, misery, and stupidity such avalanche Of
ignorance, vice, and stoldity can be witnessed no
where else, thank Heaven, in this great country.
If that scene, almost daily exhibited in New York,
could be faithfully daguerreotyped and presented
to the gaze Of every Ame rican freeman, do not
believe a solitary vote would be cast in the whole
Union by native citizen, against the candidates Of
the American party.
These paupers and criminals come down upon
our coast in clouds--like locusts, or the uncean
harpies who befouled the food Of the wandering
Trojans. They fly upon the wings Of steam to
the utternost parts Of the republic, and become
part and parcel of its inhabitants They come
now at the rate of half million year. They
win come soon at the rate Of million year |!
Contemplate this fact, native citizens of America
Look forward two or three years, and behold one
million Of wretched outcasts from every European
country vomted annually on your shores.
Behold your alns-houses overfowing with for
eign paupers-your streets swarming with foreign
beggarsyour jails and prisons filed with foreign
criminals Yet you are told by Democrats" that
this state Of things is all right and proper-that
this country was intended by its revolutionary fa-
theirs to be an asylum for the poor, the wretched,
and the vicious of every clme-and that it is I'm
constitutional to prevent it. If these Democrats
as they falsely style themselves, in the right,
then Of course there is no help for us. We must
submit to be made receptacle for all the poverty.
vice, and crime Of Europe, for an indefinite period ;
and at last pay the penalty Of our submission, in
the lawlessness, confusion, and anarchy which
must inevitably ensue. But the Democrats" are
not right on this question.
Our Revolutionary Fathers were extremely APP
prehensive of the very evils under which we now
groan. Foreigners, like Conway, Lee, and Others,
conspired against Washington himself, and strove
to procure his removal from the place Of Comman-
der-in-Chief of the American army. Jefferson,
with all his predictions for France and French
men, wished that an /" ocean of fire might roll be-
tween Europe and America" He well knew that
the manners and morals of the people of Europe
were incompatible with the purity and integrity SO
essential to the preservation of republican form
of government. Fifty years ago, when the foreign
emigration was not hundredth part of what
it now is, the purest and ablest men this coun
try has produced regarded it with an anxious eye
and were filed with gloomy forebodngs for
the future. Yet they never anticipated its enor-
nous increase. They did not dream Of free farms,
steam navigation and railways, and all the other
modern incentives to the introduction of foreign
emigrants into the very heart OF the United States
Looking at the subject from the best standpoint
then presented, they were filed with apprehension
and alarm.
The men Of the present generation are now
called upon to legislate for themselves and their
children. If their ancestors were too liberal and
two incautous in admitting foreigners to the prvi-
leges Of American citizens it is their duty to apply
corrective. If the preceding generation regarded
the foreign element as requisite to build up our
waste places, and cultivate our unoccupied lands,
the present generation has no such plea to offer.
We have population Of twenty-six millions Our
largest cities are already overgrown. Many Of the
western States arc more densely inhabited than
Virginia, the Oldest member Of the Confederacy.
We have among our own population artisans skilled
in every kind Of labor. What more do we require'
Ia 1t necessary for comfort, our happiness,
or prosperity, that doors should be forever
set open to admit foreigners of every nation, with
out regard to character, or conditions In the
opinion Of the American party, II is not necessary
They are determined that Americans shall rule |
America" and this determination they intend to
consummate with all the energy Of men who know
and can appreciate the blessings Of constitutional
and religious liberty.