Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1855-03-16
THE ESov-EOTUISG ISSUE.

| We have generally aLstailed from discussing the
ostensible principles of the KnowNothing party be-
cause we conceive it to be the duty OF all good citizens
to resist the imposition upon the country of any sys-
tom of public policy by the ud of secret political So
ceties. We think so still. To our mind the preco'
dent now attempted if successful fraught WIN con-
sequences of unmixed evil. We have suiiiceht con-
fidence in the virtue and capacity OF tho America"
people 10 govern thensclvos-to believe that any
salutary measures of public interest may he ana VIII
be adopted without resort 10 such dangerous eHpe-
djents We can see in the future no possible good
that may be eaccomplishcd-w M man can ia ~
apprehcnd much evil, from the adoption OF Tic de'
vices now suggested by Acknowledgment. lhe
success of the present movement To amend tie nat'
| ralizaton laws, and 10 establish religious ln'"e-
rance, must necessarily induce the frequent re-
sort hereafter to means which, in this case, prove ~
smneptly successful: and results possibly to bo ac-
| comp)isbed in this mannor at the bare suggestion
of which we shrink affrighted and horror struck, will
Justly fall chargeabe upon the sympathiscrs and sup
uorters of Know -Nothingism now. If our words
could reach many who are enlisted in this present
movement, whose characters forbid any other suposl
ton than that of pure and unsclsh patriotism upon
their part We would invoke them by all that sacred
in the past or desirable in the future TO weigh we'll these
considerations With no intentional diseespect we
warn them, they know not what they do. child
striking match III Il powdcr-mngnzInr, may be th'
unnclligcnt author OF ruin and devastation. SO there
are men in this good commonwealth who would bc
the first and foremost TO resist treason disorder
! now nady intent upon the Accomplishment of a TEN
porary purpose and seduced by the excitement OF tho
| moment, to countenancc and encourage movement
the ultimate consequences Of which fatal 10 al
healthy and secure republican government
But we tempted to 30 farther aud TO enquire what
good result is promised as the immediate consequence
Of present success. The ostensbe end in view is the
amendment OF the naturalization laws and the cxcu
sion from the polls of the cmisrant population. If the
latter object DO attained by success in the
former, then the agitation is to minds unreasona
bic in every point of view. If you cannot exclude
Objectionable class, docs not the unsuccessful ef
fort necessarily increase thsir unanimty their resou
ton, aud, consequently, their political power Is il
not apparent to every one, that the nborvC effort OF
the Native American party of Philadelphia and New
York in lSi3 md 1914, essentially enhanced the evil
to remedy which the excuse for the crusade oi
that time!
II citizenship were necessarily requisite qualifca-
ton for the exercise OF the right of suffrage there
might be propricty in the present canvass in
Virginia. But il il not. Tho Constitution of the
United States while it contcrs upon Congress tho
power to pass uniform laws Of naturalization, leaves
the regulation Of the qualification Of voters with the
individual States, and with them only. Most of the
States it s rue require citizenship-others do not
lT. II.
three years, suticos, and the people of Virginia
have more powor to amend this matter than tho
people of those States have to regulate our pc
culiar institutions. Congress. may tomorrow amend
the naturalization laws, by the unanimous vote of
the Virginia delegation in both branches and in the
face Of il, non-naturalizcd citizens will continue to
vote they vote in al least half dozen States
Of the Union.
The issues Of the present canvass might DO very ap,
propriae in the Northwestern States in the election
of delegates to remodel their State Constitutions but
it ia than idle distract and divide the people
of Virginia upon auch matters at such time 10 the
present The signs Of the times ioreshadow assault
upon her institutions which it bchoves her to meet
with unbroken front And how is she preparing for it!
BY internal euds and intestine brols about matters
over which she can have control. But we have
an abiding confidence in tho sound sense and sterling
Democracy of the masses of Virginia, and we look
forward to the dawn of the 9TH Thursday in May
with the same confident expectation of glorious tri-
umph, as tho French Emperor gazed upon the rising
of the sun that set upon tho field of Austerlitz II
friends are but true to themselves, the day Is
ours, and this first importation oil Yunkeeisms will be
trampled on Virginia soil. amid tho execration OF
IN indignant pcnplc.