Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1855-09-13

our emigronts are needed here TO build up th
cause of free laoor. As q matter of fact
shown by the census returns, the growth o
the foreign elements among Us Has kept pac,
with that of the slave power, and thus preven
ted that more complete supremacy over vi
which other wise would have been secured
II is sometimes iaid, know, that our foreigr
vote is uniformly thrown on the side eff the
Pro-Slevery Dsmoc acy; but answer, that
in this respect, our adopted citizens are in the
company Of very large division of our ma.
tive population, including many enlightened
! and good men. answer, further, that voting
with the Pro-Slavery Democracy is not much
worse than voting with the pro-Slavery
Whiggery. which has likewise been ralirg
to receive foreign aid and comfort. would
| not disfranchise men In either case, howeve
wrong I might regard their action.
IL is further insisted, that our emigrants are
intensely hostile to the cause of freedom ,ant
the most inveterate haters of the negro. This,
at best, can only be partially true. 1t is re-
futed by their choice OF the free States as
their home, and by the known opposition Of
Ne South to their migration to our shores
II is contradicted by other facts. The States
that have been most Apti-Slavery, as Massa-
chrsetts, New York, Ohio, ard Wisconsin.
give the largest foreign vote; whilst those
which have been most Pro- Slavery as New
Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, Iowa,
and Indiana, gives the smallest foreign vote
These facts are significant. They account
for the prevalence of Know Nothngism in
the South, where the proportion of foreigners
to the native white population is only as two
to one hundred, and prove the movement to
be, in fact, crusade against the growth Of
free principles in the Northern Sta'es; for
the meager force of foreignism in the South
can obviously occasion no local mischief
Taat Anti-Slavery men, therefore, should
actively oppose the settlement of foreigners
among US, or even thrown the slightest obsta
cles in the way oft, seems to me perfectly
unaccountable. But were it granted that all
the emgronts landing on our shores are Pro-
Slavery it would not warrant the policy OF
prescription Of our natives would fall within
its mischief, including very many whose hy-
pocrisy in urging this objection is beyond
dispute. This nat ion is most undenably Pro-
Slavery.
Similar reasoning applies to the argument
often urged that our emigrants are unit TO
exercise the privileges of citizenship. That
this is true of many of them, do not deny;
but it is likewise true ofmany of our natives.
Foreigners are not the only men among Us
who got drunk; they are not the only men
who profane the Sabbath and Gods name /;
they are not the only ruffians and vagabonds;
they are not the only pngilists and mobocrats
they are not the only men who cannot read
nor write; they are not the only men whom
demagogucs can dupe. In all that consttu-
tes thorough viciousness, corruption, bru-
talty, and the most stupid incompetency,
multitudes of our much-lauded native Amer-
cans can cope tolerahy well with our adop-
ted citizens. 1t seems to me thai real pa
triot should have less desire to see
Ams-ica ruled by Americans, than to 'e
Americans themselves improved in character,
loving justice, thoroughly imbued with the
spirit of freedom sternly demanding all rights
for all, rigidly squaring our democratic theory
of equality, both in our foreign and domestic
policy, by the precepts of Christianity, and
thus makingI themselves an example and q
power on the earth. This would be an objec
worthy of the purest ambition. Without thi;
qualification, the demand, "Let America be
ruled by Americans" is the meanest OF twad
die. 1t is tantamount to saying, "Let Amer
ca be ruled by Shareholders and doughfaces
let our Government continue to espouse the
cause Of despotism, at home and abroad; let il
trample upon justice and humanity; let it SCOT
at the Declaration Of Independence, and
verge farther and farther from the landmarks
of our Fathers; let nationality, not character
be the touchstone of merit" Sir, if any
class is to be disfranchsed, the rule ought &c
be, "Let America be governed by the In
te!ligent and the viriuous;" for,on principles
the vicious and ignorant foreigner should fare
precisely as well as the vicious and ignorant
native.
Las,ly,I wage war against Know Nothing
ism because it ignores the Slavery issue, ant
thus becomes the practical foe of the Anti
Slavery cause. Nothing could have beer
more wisely planned or more opportune'y con
cocted by the shareholders and their allies
Having sown the wind, 10 the passage oil the
Nebraska bill, something must Ue d1Eo to a
void reaping the whirlwind. They saw the
Northern sky darkened by omens of com
ing tempest, and something must be done t'
break its surges. The people could no lon
ger be humbugged about banks and tariffs
the old party lines were crumbling, and tempt
ing the people to escape from their Politica
keepers; and the great crisis between Slave
ry and Freedom was rapidly nd unmistakabll
approaching. All eyes were turning to th'
struggle which at last seemed inevitable
Sir, does anybody, familiar with the tactics
the STAKEHOLDER, believe that the birth of tn
Know Nothing Order, just at this crisis wa
an accidantl There is 10th inter nal and ex
ternal evidence that it was design II th'
Protestant jealousy of our people, ever read!
to take fire, could be kindled against tn
Pope, it would divert their minds frop th
Shareholder. If they could be enlisted in
crusade against foreigners it would have tn
same happy result. 1t mattered not tina
there were miserable bugbears, and woui
uti imately be seer as such, if they could onl
be temporarily used in distracting the peo
pie, and complicating the Slavery question: