The American patriot., 1855-07-14
An Englishman's Opinion of the Ameri.
can Party.

We publish below communications from an
Englishman, a resident of Montgomery coun-
try, Maryland, on the principles of the Ameri-
can party. The author had originally oppo-
sed this party as he admits, and now states
the reasons wich induced the change, as fol-
lows:
AT first supposed that some of the objects
of the Know Nothings were at variance with
the Constitution of the country but after read
ing attentvely both the Constitution and the
principles in the american Organ, especially
the 10th, was convinced they were not; and
thus the greatest objection | had to Know
Nothingism was at once removed, for no man
in his senses will deny that the legislature of
any country has Alright to pass any law that is
constitutional Now, the Constitution does
not say what privileges and rights foreigner
shall have; it merely says what they shall
not have, and has left it entirely at the discre-
ton of the legislator to fix the time of probation
&c. But this fact is so plain and so self-evi-
cent, its opponents have given up the plea that
it is unconstitutional to repeal or modify the
naturalization laws. and now ask would it be
good policy to do so?
In answer to this question, / would refer
them to the 100000 foreigners that annually
come to this country, speaking different Ian
guages, brought up under institutions distinct
from from each other, and distinct from the
institutions Of America, protesting different re-
ligious, educated with different notions, man.
ners, customs, and usages of society, and
would ask if it is not moral impossibility that
there should exist among them such harmony
of feeling and such unity of sentiment as is
needful to make them good lawmakers, or
even as good private citizens as native Ameri-
Uhn 1ovn of thniy nj 1-po
edge of their institutions have grown, and is, in
deed, part of their very nature? As for
eigner, / boldly assert that it is. There is in
every man, care not how much of oppression
he may have endured in his native land-how
much he may have been downtrodden-hQw
much misery and want he may have suffered
there is that love of country, there is that
instructive fondness and attachment for the
place where he first saw the light, that he can
not, under any circumstances, get rid Of I'M
migration, or perhaps other circumstances,
may prevent its further growth, but it cannot
and does not destroy it they may love the
land of their adoption, but they cannot look
with an eye single to it's interests, at least not
as can native; and therefore say that liber-
ty for which their forcfathers paid their lives
those institutions which Americans and we'll
disposed foreigners so highly value, are safest
in the hands Of Americans, and in their hands
l would rather they should remain. Imagine
the reins of government in the hands of such
men as Soule, Kossuth, John Mitchell Francis
Meagher, and where should we, Americans and
foreigners altogether, go? don't know, but
for one, should be for shutting my eyes, that
l might not see "my own destruction
Now, if [ understand the subject Alright
Americans are willing to live under the same
la aL.a forn ~
claim the right to make them. That right is
undsputabe theirs, and let them enjoy it.
Well-disposed foreigners will not fail to see the
danger of letting foreigners ocnupy Offices, &C.,
and am sure will cheerfully bow their heads
III submission. Some of them may claim that
they have forgotten all about their native land;
that they have no love remaining for the place
OF their birth: that memory never carries them
back to that stages whereon they enacted the
scenes of their carly childhood; that they
never, in imagination, wander in its fiowerv
wales, and by its ripping streams; that they
never, in imagination, inhalc the perfume of its
wild flowers and accompany its wild birds in
their songs ofpraise to the God of nature. To
such would say, you are by nature so base
and your sensibilities are so blunted, that you
are not fit to be- citizens ofany country.
Again it is sad the Know-Nothngs do the
foreigners an injustice Now, claim that, in
coming to America, was prompted bymotives
as good as foreigners generally, and came ex-
pressly for my own benefit. Others 90 the
same, and if they are benefited by coming, let
them stay and be contented and if not, return
to the place from whence they came. 1t is an
absurdity to suppose they come here to bene-
fit Americans, for they have no notion of it
1t will do very we'll to talk to school boys about
disnterestedness of motive, &C., but facts are
stubborn things, and the fact is, that though
good foreigners do benefit America by improv-