Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-03-31

present term Of probation for foreigners, and OF
admitting them at once to the pollss We re-
peat, such is the proposition contained in Mr..
Wise's manifesto Of September Is, 1854, as
published in the Richmond Enquirer, Of 0cto-
Der 81, 1854. We refer our readers to the last
column of the manifesto, and, lest we may be
charged with garbling the paragraph, we pub
lish 1t entire.
In answering for our party, the question
which he propounds "What are the evils
complained err &C., Mr.. Wise says:
End. Both parties have violated the election
laws and laws of naturalization, In rushing green
emigants Just from on shipboard up TO the polls to
vote.
"This, again, is the fault of both parties. And
this is confined chiefly ifnot entirely to the cities.
1t don't reach to the ballot boxes Of the country
at large, and Is not drop in the ocean Of our po-
litical influence In New York, Philadelphia, Bal
timore, Cincinnati, and New Orleans, the abuse, !
venture to say, don't number, in fact, 500 votes.
1t is nothing everywhere else in a country OF
universal suffrage and of 20 millions Of free people.
And would perjury and fraud In elections be
arrested by the attempt to exclude Catholics
and foreigners by birth from Office? or, by
extending the limitation of time for naturali-
zationg or, by repeating the naturalization laws
Either of these remedies for the error would
multiply the peruries and the frauds and the for
eign votes. Then there would be pretext for
obtaining by fraud and force what was denied un-
der law. BY making ,.ataralisation rather TO
follo,o Immediately upo,,sts oath of allegiance,
and that to depend on ths ,OiH and he good char
acter of the applicant, fraud and perjury mould
rather be stripped Of their preterts. The foreign
ers ,ooa1ld be at once GRATED IN their selfrepoct
or ..n.Iy
them to exercise the elective franchise in peace, and
the country poald escape the deaoratization re-
sulting from violation of the la,os and from the
means employed to set at nouga their force and
effect"
The above is Mr.. Wise's language; the
italics are ours. Without stopping TO re-
flute his positions, that the evil is "not drop
in the bucket" and that " it is confined chiefly
if not entirely to the Cities" we demand judg-
ment upon that portion which we have placed
in italics Are Vnyinians ready, or is any,
body but Mr.. Wise, ready, to admit foreigners
to the polls, without any term Of probation,
and simply on their taking the oath of allegi-
anceP
If it be said that, "the good character of
tho applicant" is a prerequisite under Mr..
Wise's proposition, we answer that, such is
tho provision Of the lao now, in addition to
the five years probation. The present law
requires the applicant to show that, he has
behaved as man Of good moral character at
tached to the Constitution of the United States,
and well disposed to the good order and happi-
ness of the same" Has not every foreign
rowdy who now goes to the polls proved this
"good moral character," Under Mr.. Wise's
proposition, not single pauper or criminal
from Europe would be excluded, for, in such
an erparte proceeding, there is not a felon from
Newgate, who could not prove his "good NOR
al character" by some fellow-thief robber, or
burglar, who had known him from his youth
up to manhood
We confess that we were utterly astounded
at the boldness with which Mr. Wise hazarded
such proposition as the above, nor do we be-
lieve there is another native born citizen of the
United States, who would have dared to make
it. And what adds to the establishment which
such proposition creates, is q fact inconsistent
with the whole theory Of Mr.. Wises manifesto,
to wit that he voted in the Virginia Conyen-
ton, in 1850, to prevent any but a natipe born
citizen from holding the office Of Governor, to
which he now aspires
We have hitherto forborne to point out to
our readers this proposition of Mr.. Wise, in
his manifesto, because we had intended to make
general review Of the whole manifesto but
not only has this been hitherto impossible, by
reason Of the pressure Of duties upon us, re-
sulting from the issue Of daily paper, but
that manifesto has been 80 ably and eloquently
answered by Messrs. Rayner, Bryce, Snead, and
others, that no necessity now exists for any
general answer from us.
We appeal to all conservative men Of all
parties, and ask them if Mr.. Wise's PROPOSE
tons were adopted, and all foreigners at once
admitted to the polls upon taking the oath Of
allegiance, whether representative government
would not prove failures Why even now
after five years residence, three-fourths of the
foreign voters understand nothing, literally
nothing Of the principles or the workings of
our government Three-fourths of them know
nothing Of the value Of free suffrage, nothing
Of the merits Of political.c bat, they
are mere automatons in the hands Of political
wire-workers and corrupt priests. Remove the
five years bar, as Mr.. Wise proposes, and our
popular elections would not only present
scenes Of confusion, riot and disorder, which
Hogarth could not paint but porsc than
this, demagoguism would have sway,-red
republicanism would be in the ascendant-
anarchy would follow, and, finally, despotism
would flourish its sword, over the grave Of Con-
stitutional liberty
Who is Hell
Tho "lesser luminary" of.the administra.
ton is becoming obstinate 1t won't tell us
who Mr.. L. Z. Whitney Is, nor who recon-