Georgetown weekly news., 1855-04-19

tO De al essential ana fundamental princnh
of free government; and we declare that ~o
hold the right of conscience-by which va
mean especially the freedom of opinion and
the privilege OF every man to worship God
in such manner and according to such bo
lief as his own convictions dlctate-to ba
amongst the dearest and most sacred rights
Of treemen that we will defend these rigbts
against all assault, from whatever quarter
and that in this determination we know po
distinction of creed, nor sect, nor person
holding that the State should exercise M
other control over these rights than that
which may be necessary to guard the pub.
llc morals against iicentiOus abuse, and IA
secure to every one the full and peaceful en-.
joyment Of his religious opinions and wor
ship.
ITS OBJECTS AND AIMS
1t comes to silence the clamor of faction
to check the career of pernicious innova.
tiOns, to rebuke the busy intrigues of selfish
politicians. Its great purpose is to recall
the government to its time-honored and ar.
proved principles of administration. and n
express the authentic voice of the American
people In favor of thorough American pol.
ICY. We mean that henceforth, in the face
of all opposition, and all combinations
Americans shall govern their own country
and that every genuine American Interest
shall take It's paramount place in the coun
selS and thoughts ofthose to whom the man.
agement Of the public affairs shall be en-
trusted. We desire to see our internal re-
sources improved, our labor rewarded. our
genus tostered, our agriculture, manuiac
lures and commerce, guarded and sustained
by an intelligent American statesmanshn
We desire to see the children of our r.
public educated in American sentiment and
principle, and fortified by the wisdom Of
that sacred book from which our ancestors
drew the inspiration of the moral and reIic.
lous freedom which they infused into our
civil institutions.
We desire to see the right of suffrage con-
secrated in the veneration of the pe0nIe as
the bulwark Of liberty, and protected bv
laws which shall forever preserve it as the
popular medium through which none but
genuine American opinions and svmpatbie3
shall ind expression in the functions of gov.
ernment. We desire to see the federal con-
stitutlon faithfully administered in strict ac.
cordance with the view of its founders all
uSurpatlOnS Of power checked, all encroacb.
ments upon the rights of the States rebuked.
all forced constructions disavowed.
REPEAL OF NATURALIZATION LAWS.
That whilst we have full confidence in
the strength of nationality, as it is cherish,
ed and defended by our native citizens. and
with scarcely less attachment. maintained
by numbers of citizens of foreign birth, who
by long domestication have been identified
with our people, we are yet deeply impress
ed with conviction that, in the extraor-
binary concourSe of aliens which recent in
ducements have brought to our land: in the
peculiar lncompetency of many of them.
from education and habits of life. TO become
thorough American citizens; in the attrac.
ton which, both from their numbers and
their facility to be misled, they offer TO the
ambitious Of demagogues, who have not
Scrupled to make use of them as allies to Sc
cure selfish ends; in the frequent evidence
tney o11ord OF their incapacity to appreciate
the right OF suffrage, when they have OBJ
tanned it by the operation of our present
system OF naturalization, and to the mani
1old abuses to which this right is subject in
their hands, that the time has come when
1t is essential to the purity of our govern
ment and its wholesome administration, that
the laws regulating the admission of for
elgners to citizenship should be revised and
that either longer term for probation for
citizenship, and more rigid provisions for
comforting it, should be established, or that
the naturalization laws should be wholly re-
2ealed.
OBLITERATIoN OF PARTY DISTINCTIONS.
And as the American party is aware that.
in the duties here enumerated. there will be
different views honestly entertained at diff
tefent periods, and in different sections of
the country, on the question of the best
means OF securing some of the ends proposed,
we take the ground Of Congressional indie
pendence; that measures of temporary poll
cy, which from their very nature. are con-
stanely and yariously. affected by the chang
ing condition and circumstances of the na-
tlon should be committed to the free decis-
ION OF the people, to be made in accordance
Win thelr own sense Of what is best adapt
Oh TO the wants of each section of the cOur-
try-untrammelled by the influence of pal
W dlctation; that the opinions of the con-
stltuency of each State, so far as Senators
In Congress are concerned, or of each Con-
gresSlonal District, so far as members Of the