Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1855-02-28


bic as their chief cornerstone, have grown up
! and spread abroad, from where the Atlantic
| leaves our Eastern shore, to where the peace
| full pillows of the great Pacific dash, and break,
and die away. And the sun Of heaven never
| shone upon happier land. Here every man
can seat himself beneaths|his own vine and his
own fig-tree,' and looking around him may
proudly eXclaim, call this is mine. Not SOW
ercign or ruler on the face of Gods earth can
molest me in the possession of a single article
Of property here.'' And when his little infant
climbs upon his knee, and he feels its breath
sweeter than the odor Of roses upon his cheek,
how proud must be the reflection, that it, too,
will grow up with unshackled limbs, aud that
day may come when that infant prattlcr will
sway the destinies of one of the mightiest ma
tions on the face of the globel Who can look
down the long vista Of coming years and pre-
dict the power, the greatness, and the grandeur
which this country viii attain, and the happi-
ness future generations win enjoy, if we re-
main free and a united people.
But as disease may be preying upon the Vi
tails Of the strong brawney man in the midst of
all the cnjOyments Of life, so too the grandeur,
the power, and the yigor Of our nation cannot
protect it from those political maladies that,
quietly, but surely, destroy the germ from
whence it draws the very essence of its being
These present themselves in two forms-the one
Of ignorance and indiference-the other of
direct and open hostility to the fundamental
principles of the government.
The cause of the first is to be found in the
ceaseless tide Of emigration pouring upon our
shores, and the almost immediate incorpora-
ton of these strangers and aliens into the pol
itic. They come among us not only ignorant
Of our history, and unacquainted with our in
stitutions, but imbued with the principles of
monarchical anddespotic governments, ,imbibed
in their early youth, and oiten-times having no
God, no Bible, and no Sabbath. Unable then,
to comprehend the great principles that lie at
tie foundation of all our institutions, and ut
tery ignorant of the causes that called them
into being, they are wholly uprepared and un-
fit to become American citizens. l Would not
be understood as desiring to prevent the op-
pressed of other lands from finding an asylum
and ahome beneath the broad folds ofthe Ameri-
can flag. God forbid! But while would freely
open my doors and welcome the poverty strick-
en- stranger to seat himself at my ireside and
partake of the food provided for my children,
so, also, would l desire to prevent his interfe-
renee in the domestic affairs of my household.
Let them come. Let them enjoy all the unal-
ienable blessings of life liberty, and pursuit of
happiness, but let Americans gorera their own
country, We hold the doctrine that, other
circumstances being equal, the native born ci
tizen is fairly entitled to the preference, in
the distribution of offices and honors in the
land which gave him birth. In the language
Of the illustrious WASHINGTON, the anniversary
of whose birth we are now commemorating,
(in a letter to John Quincy Adams, then
American Minister at Berlin,) sit is not the
policy Of this government to employ foreigners,
when it can well be avoided, either in the civ |
il or military walks of life. There is spe-
cies of selfimportance in all foreign officers
that cannot be gratifed without doing injustice
to meritorious characters among our own coun-
trymen, who conceive, and justly, where there |
is no great preponderance Of experience and |
merit, that they are eutitled to ALL the offices |
in the gift of their governmental
Our naturalization laws are most undoubted-
ly defective, and are fast making our country |
a mart for the discharge of European criminals |
and paupers Of every description. The feon |
convict, reeking from murder in the Old |
World, soon finds here the right of citizenship |
and consequently the annals of crime have in |
creased in proportion as the prisons of Europe |
have discharged their promiscuous contents |
upon our shores. They come among us, and |
forgetting they are guests, demand that our
country shall yield up its nationality to them
that the stream Of its national life shall be di
vcrted from its proper channel merely to graf
ify their peculiar tastes, manners, customs, or
habits They even go so far to assume the |
airs of natural born citizens, and take upon
themselves the exclusive management of our
affairs! We hold, then, that it is our duty, in !
obedience to the injunctions of WASHINGTON, |
to protect our republican institutions, by |
against this vast influx offoreigners, |
which is utterly incompatible with the main
tenance of our American nationality.
But another and more dangerous evils to be |
found in the fact, that we have among us class |
of persons openly hostile to the fundamental
principles of our government,-who owe allie |
ciance =, foreign power, and who are seek |
ing to destroy the greaat cornerstone OF our ma
tional structure, the bible, or To ioch IL up III
to the DEGREES infallible Of Councils,
M ~. the commands ot foreign potentae.
1 would be the last to chertsh hostiity 10 any
- 80. Or sect, on account of their reHsion' ana
+bst men OF every faith and inspiration are
;, ,;hartv 70 erect their aitars, and to pour