The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-02-20
YoIititaI.
PATRICK HENRY ON EMIGRA-
TON.


that he loved his country, her fame,
and was anxious that she should speedi-
ly take an exalted position among the
nations of tho Earth. Extended was
his perception, broad his humanity and
periodically liberal his views. During
the Revolution, many Americans fed
their country, and after the termination
of the war, Mr.. HENRY introduced a bill
into the Virginia Legislature authori-
zing their return. For this he was as
sailed. He defended himself with that
matchless eloquence and vigor for
which he was characterized, in which
defence he took occasion thus to set
forth thesH znefcence of foreign emigra-
ton to this country:
"The personal feelings of q politician
Oughtnot to be permitted to enter these
walls! The question is a national one,
and, In deciding it, if we act wisely,
nothing will be regarded but the inter-
ests of the nationa On the altar of my
country's good 1 am willing to sacrifice
all personal resentments, all private
wrongs and I fatter myself that I am
not the only man in the House who is
capable of making such a sacrifice. We
have, sir, an extensive country, a0tth0ut
popuIatiou what can be a more obVi-
GUS policy than that this country ought
to be peopled? People, sir, form the
strength, and constitute the wealth, of
q nation. l want to sec our vast for
ests filled up by some process a little
more speedy than the ordinary course
of nature. I wish to see these States
rapidly ascending to that rank which
their natural advantages authorize them
to hold among the nations of the earth.
Cast your eyes, sir. over this extern
sive country; observe the salubrity of
your climate, the variety and fertility
of your soil and see that soil intersect-
ed in every quarterly bold, navigable
streams, flowing to the cast and to the
west, as if the finger of Heaven were
marking out the cours of your settle
ments. inviting you to enterprise, and
pointing the way to wealth. Sir, you
are destined, at some time or other, to
become a great agricultural and COM
mercial people; the only question is,
whether you choose to reach this point
by slow gradations, and at some distant
period, lingering on through q long and
sickly minority, subjected meanwhile to
the Vaccinations, insults, and oppres-
sions of enemies, foreign and domestic,
without sufficient strength to resist and
chastise them; or whether you choose
rather to rush at once, as it we're, to the
full enjoyment of those high destinies,
and to be able to cope, single-handed,
with the proudest oppressor of the Old
World, to come and settle in this land of
promise; make it the home of the skill
full, the industrious, the fortunate, and
happy, as well as the asylum of the dis
tressed ; fill up the measure of your
population as speedily as you can by the
means which Heaven hath placed in
your power; and I venture to prophesy
there are those now living who will see
this favored land amongst the most pow
erful on earth, able, sir, to take care of
herself, without resortiDg to that policy
which is always so dangerous, though
sometimes unavoidable, Of calling in for
eign aid. Yes, sir; they will see her
great in arts and in arms; her golden
harvests waving over fields of immeasur-
able extent, her commerce penetrating
the most distant seas, and her canpon
silencing the vain boast of those who
now proudly affect to rule the waves.
But, sir, you must have men ; you
cannot get along without them. Those
heavy forests Of valuable timber, under
which your lands are grooming, must be
cleared away; these vast riches which
cover the face of your soil, as well as
those which lie hid in its bosom, are to
be developed and gathered only by the
and enterprise of men; your tim
Der, sir, must be worked up into ships
to transport the productions of the soil
from which it has been cleared; then
must have commercial men and
commercial capital to take off your pro-
ductions, and find the best markets for
them abroad. Your great want, sir, is
the want of men and these you must
have, and will have speedily, if you are
wise.
Do you ask how you are to get them +?
Open your doors, sir, and they will
come in. The population of the Old
World is full to overfowing: that pop
is ground, too, by the expressions
IF the governments under which they
i've. Sir, they are already standing on
upon their native shores, and
to your coasts with a wistful
md longing eye they see here a land
blessed with natural and political ad-
7antages, which arc not equalled by
hose of any other country upon earth
! land upon which a gracious Provi-
hath emptied the horn of album
a land over which peace hath
stretched forth her wings, and
where content and plenty lie down at
every doorl Sir, they see something
till more attractive than all this-they
Zee a land in which liberty hath taken
Up her abode; that liberty whom they
lad considered as a tabled goddess, ex-
sting only in the fancies of poets; they
Zee her here a real divinity, her affairs
Using or every hand throughout the
lappy States, her glories chanted by
hree millions of tongues, and the whole
egion smiling under her blessed infu-
nee. Sir, let but this our celestial god
less, Liberty, stretch her fair hand to-
'ards the people of the Old World, tell
hem to come, and bid them welcome,
nd you will see them pouring in from
be north, from the south, from the east, {
nd from the west your wilderness will {
e cleared and settled, your deserts will
nile, your ranks will be filed, and you !
i'll soon be in a condition to defy the
overs of any adversary. s
But gentlemen object to any acces- I
from Great Britain, and particular.