Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1855-07-20
:. American NatIonaI,ty..,

suggestive only of ideas of justice and magnanimity
has been perverted into the warcry OF proscriptive
party, made the pet weapon of the small-souled
and malevolent in the pursuit of their own schemes
of ambition in furtherance of their malicious de-
sires to njure private individuals by exciting against
them unjust prejudices and awakening angry feel
ings.
What was the nationality established by the Revo-
lution and permanently embodied in the several con-
stuGons, State and National and still further Illus
trated in the history and progress of the country 3
Was it inherent in the SOIL in the institutions and
spirit of the people Did the soil of the thirteen
original States constitute and bound that nationality,
or did the founders of the government contemplate
something broader and deeper and stronger! Has
not that nationality already over-leaped the barriers
of mountains and rivers, and taken in regions not
even thought of i'll the territory of the infant con-
federacy' Has it not planted its foot upon what was
then foreign soil. American Nationality is not, then
matter of the soil only, else would the people OF
Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas Cali
forna etc, be still Mexcans, Spaniards, or French
men. Nay, the trainers of our government did not
even make it a matter of birth in any way. His re-
fusal 10 pass la US for the naturalization of foreign
ers, and to encourage their migration here one
Of the most serious charges preferred against George
| III. in the Declaration of Independence The Con-
situtiOnal Convention which met to frame a Federal
Constitution in Philadelphia, in 1899, composed, "a
ii was, of men who had passed through the fires of
the Revolution, bore high testimony TO the character
and conduct of adopted citizens during that struggle
In imposing the solitary restriction which the great
instrument, then framed, contains in regard to naur
aliZe} citizens holding office, that in regard to the
Presidency or Vice Presidency, an exception is made
in favor of those already citizens al the time Ct the
adoption of the Constitution. While the COnstitu
ton and the Declaration survive, they will stand
as monuments to mark the estimation in which
the spirit and the services of adopted citizens
in the Revolution held by men who qcere
men, who anonymous assailants but
signed their names to their productions, or, as
in the case of Charles Carroll, added of of arroll
ton,' to prevent any mistake One of the acts ap-
proved by the immortal Washington, during his first
term, was one for the naturalization of foreigners in
tcU0 years; while of his first and most trusted
ministers and counselors fOrei gner by birth
one whose devotion and invaluable services to the
country have been embalmed in the burning words
of the mighty Webster. Aye, look to the earlier
and purer days Of the Republic-look to those who
framed Constitution and first successfully applied
its provisions, and you will look in vain for any war
rant for the of the petty demagogues who
would vaunt themselves wiser and better than the
trainers Of the Constuton-purer and more national
in their policy than Washington. Who would stig-
matise the foreign born citizens Of the Revolution
in whose behalf the trainers of the Constitution
relaxed the only restriction imposed by that nstru
ment upon the eligibility to Office of those born abroad
These the days that tried mems souls, as
were also the days of the ' Second war Of Indepen
idence," the with Mexico OF the fidelity of
naturazed citizens in defence of their adopted coun
t1y, General Scott, who commanded them on both
occasions, has spoken out so plainly and unequivo-
caly to express his opinion that one year of such
service ought to amount to q naturalization, and he
is no anonymous, petty scribber or babbling prater
about nationality, the and high and glorious
elements of which neither birth nor descent could
confer upon those souess beings, who naturally
unable TO comprehend noble and generous idea.
. This talk about birthplace and nationality is a
" twoedged sword. Owing to the migratory habits of
. our people, the man who first draws his breath amid
! the Green Mountains of Vermont, the bleak
shores of Massachusetts, may, perhaps end his days
on the prairies of Texas the banks of the Mississippi
4 pi, the cotton fields of Alabama, the pine woods
- of North Carolina. Born and raised under the
# lnuuenceS anu VIC PItJuUICeS VI AVG" L-n5iduu
- Abolitionsm, with all his early associations and
. ties of kindred there within easy reach, and with
- constant communication to keep alive these early
r. pre- udices and impressions may yet become
good citizen of a section whose institutions he has
been taught to regard with horror and yet the
: man of foreign birth, no matter how fully he may
be identified with the place of his residence and how
RS completely he may be severed from all other ties is
still to be regarded unworthy of trust ant an oh
iect of prescription and secret society banded to-
gether to put him down, even in State where there
are not foreigners enough to make mile posts
as Railroad from the seaboard 10 the mountains
G We have wish to say word against o
re- Northern BIRTH any other birth, but it does some
ID times strike passing strange that this prejudice
he of birth should be zeaously propagated from thu
80 North into the South, and that many Northern mel
at at the South emgrants themselves from land of diff
ia ferent social in Institutions, with many of their friend
IT and relatives there allied in bitter hostility 10 tn
50 South and It's interests should be so very active il
q disseminating the doClne of prescription on aCcoun
It of birth. Do the starters of this thing ealcuat
Us where it is to stop, do they care? Some do not
Evidently. their only object is TO serve their ow
al ends of ambition Or revenge.
t Gs- The I" Organ of the town authorities Of ye:
terday has characteristic article with references
- this paper, wherein it attributes to language
have never used and course we have pursued
~ while, at the time, it, the peculiar advocate
-. the election of Mr. Reid, who Vaunts his Democrat
IF OO1U cfra oh