Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1855-03-02

ten besides that gross InlStake IS aulohu III re-
gard to the intelligence of our European population.
MANY of the best scholars in the Union graduated
at Leipsic, Dresden Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, or
Dublin, and Immediately after receiving their de-
grees took the oath of allegiance to our govern
Inent. Even the mass of foreigners living under I
our lsg are unusually intelligent; indeed, Ger
man can hardly be found unable to read or write
the language of his country, while thousands from
beyond the Rhine, are intimately acquainted with
our history, and the principles of our Constitution.
But,
ID A powerful, we think convincing, reason
why foreigners should vote after short residence
10 the country is, that by extending the privilege
of the elective franchise to any class Of citizens
we interest them in the support of the government
a powerful incentive to honorable conduct in the
citizen is the consciousness that upon his action IN
part depends the well.being of the nation, and the
perpetuity of our institutions No population is
half so dangerous in community class Of ab-
soue Aliens having no feeling common with
their fellows and under no moral obligation to sup
port the laws.
Before passing from this branch of our subject,
we desire to call attention to matter which has
entirely escaped the attention of many that have
written upon the question; we refer TO the fact
which must be forcing itself upon the common sense
ofhe people Of this country, that the present ratio
of immigration from Europe to the United States
| cannot long continue. Impelled by necessity, the
European rulers are remodeing the constitutions
| of their governments, and in thousand respects
| bringing them up to the republican standard. The
| present war between Russia and Turkey, which
threatens to involve the whole continent will tend
undoubtedly to pave the way for such improve
ments in European poltics will ere long make
| Austria, France, Spain, and even Turkey, hardly
less desirable. democratic homes, than the Uni
ted States The Europeans leave their native land
on account of intoerable oppression they will cease
to migrate Sc soon as the chains shall be removed
| from their necks.
When we look around US, We find ,se are all for
] eignerS; some Of US have fathers some mothers,
| born beyond the briny deep. Shall we forgetting
to be true to ourselves brand with infamy the very
blood that flows in our veins Only two or three
| centuries since, our ancestors landed upon these
shores and erected the first temple to liberty and
chauted the first anthem of praise to Almighty God;
shall they be denounced as not worthy to form the
associates Of their descendants of the nineteenth
century? Shall miserable conclave of cowardly
| bieots presume to brand them as meriting execra-
| ton because they were once strangers upon the
| American shores? O God IL what time we livei
what shadows we and what shadows we pur
| suel ...
! A little while ago a noble band of foreigners,
! headed by such men as Baron De -Kab, Pulaski,
| and Montgomery, aided us in achieving the great
victory of the Revolution should not suffer the
grass to grow green above their graves before pro-
ceeding by congressional enactment to insult their
| memories Are we so lost to every sense OF honor
| as to dig from the halowed graves OF 10 and 83
the bones of the noble dead, and scatter them upon
| the earth prey to the bleaching elementsl Me-
| thinks voice. loud as the Archsngels trump sum-
! moning universe to the bar Of God, calls upon US
to desst from the pursuit of this unholy thing Who
will be tie first to lay ruthless hands upon the hal
! lowed remains OF the noble Pole, Pulaski, or the
! brave German, De Kab! Who viii dare TO touch
! the sacred dust of Montgomery THAT Montgom-
! cry who at the dead of night, in the depth of
| northern winter standing on the ramparIs Of Que
| bee, with the American flag in his hand, fell in de-
! fence Of American liberty! Those monsters of in
! EQUITY who have dreamed they can brand infa-
nous such characters as these, deserve to sink
"Back to the vile dust from whence they sprung,
| unWept unhOnored, and unsung'
| The very earth which they tread is too pure TO
receive their bodies, and perdition would reject
with loathng their malignant spirits; the angel of
justice would starte at such spectacle Of vice. and
the sexton Of the universe would turn away IN dis
gust from such embodiments OF couuptonl
We have no fear that such an organization as the
Know-Nothings can ultimately triumph because
God Is just and will deal justly with the children Of
men, and cecause we believe the Bible is true and
know that all its teaching stand in direct antago-
! nism to the creed of the Know. Nothings. The
/ Bible speaks of period when all the scattered
ulUtS Ol Ulhli De uUlLeu III UTOal-
! erhood, when there shall be 20 more sin, and no
/ more death
1.-THE lambs with wolves shal Craze the verdant mead
And boys in foWery bands the tiger lead;
The steer and lion at one CRIB shall meet,
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrims feet;
Tie smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested baSisk and speckled snake;
Pleased the green luster of the scales survey
Aud with their forked tongues shall innocently play"
We know that such period as this can never ar
i've while Know othingism, il any of its lOath-
! some forms shall find home among men
The internal organization OF which we write is
opposed 10 the plainest of the natural laws which
/ operate upon the constitutions of governments
Every people under heaven that have attempted to
live by cutting Of, communication with the outside
world, have sunk into the yeriest depths of degra-
| daton, and from absolute want OF vitality have
fallen into decay and ruin 1t Is law of nations as
well Of individuals, that they must commune
with strangers, if they would encourage healthy
organization, and reach that high standing of ply
steal, intellectual, and moral greatness which ia at
tainable Sparta attempted to shut herself up from
/ the world, dlscouraging in every possible manner
communication with other nations Sparta found
when late to retrace her steps, she had adopted
the wrong policy; her statesmen attempted to alter
her constitution, but the hand of disease was upon
its vitals, and it declined regularly and almest
rapidly a victim o. the terrible malaria of the
east. Rome, in her primitive days, operated upon
the principle of encouraging to the greatest posi-
bic extent, foreign immigration; the gates of the
early kingdom were thrown open and all the tribes
of men invited to come and live in Latium. Even
the women, who formed the first wives of Rome,
were ravished from foreigners In these early times,
there were no subects-ah were citizens, all par
tic.pated alike in the blessings of government all
sat at common tables, and INDUCED common hope
for themselves and their country. As might be ex-
pected the greatest empire grew up that was ever
known in this world. 1t was the peculiar glory Of
Rome that all her statesmen were patriots, all her
soldiers brave, and her people, generally, the most
Industrious, rugged, and hardy on earth. The day
of Roman trial, however, came; the purity, human
ity, and universal equality OF the republic were ex-
changed for the corruption, the sefshness, and the
division into classes of the empire. The upper and
the lower strata of society were separated by an
almost impossible gulf The nobility seldom in.
termarred with the plebeans and, gradually grow
ing less intellectual less hardy, less capable of
during fatigue, and more vicious from age to age,
they finally degenerated into semi barbarous set |
of villains and assassins, dsgracing humanity and