Arkansas intelligencer., 1857-05-08
The aroreignn oHice-holeers.


During the brief ascendancy of knownoth
ingism, it was pertinacIously maintained by
the not very veracious organs Of that happily
defunet party. that the majority of suborli
nate federal Offices were held by foreigaars--
Recent figures show, that while the depart
ments at Washington, the Coast Survey and
the L 8. Minis emr,y n aggregate Of nlne-
teen hundred and forty-seveR persons who I'LL
respectable minor offices, there are but two
hundred o! them OF fol. n birth. Nor are
those two hundred citizens, thus usefuily oc-
cnpying unimportant pubic place, foreign
ers,' in any political sense The constitution
provided for their recognition as American
citizens, and Congress, Il obedience to that
constitutional mandate, has regulated the
mode of such recognition. The very sugges-
ton that r man who has resided IN Als coln-
try the allotted number ofprobationary years,
and has taken the oath of feaity to tins gov
ernment and non-aileIiance to all others, Is,
notwithstanding all those crave formulas, 70
be still regarded as n 'fareigner," involves
ridiculous solecjsm both il spirit ana III terms.
By consent of the organic law nd the f1de
rai statutes framed in conform thereto he
has become tzen Cd lie United State, in
vested with ali the j. nuniti and Gignit
OF such position, al, ofcg 50, la. o '-a
disqualifcalions and punish:.ents which are
properly attaehet TO fai'Ale~s otiZauship-
So long .,s he l. &c TO l. land O. MS adar-
ton and, by h. souduct, APPROVE .hScT
worthy Of the important privileges and bene-
hts conf -~"d. it Is both Just and ungener-
Gus, to attempt i-s.-,,Iug lin" ofd maze
tion between HIM aud the EatIve ctizsn.-
The constitution of the Union and, generally
the constitutions of the States, have wisely
excluded The foreign born citizen from high
executive office. The Eedaral organic law
having explicitly designated ehe Offices that
such citizen cannot con>titutiouaily hold, a
tacit affirmation logically follows that he can
occupy all others, it ftheFeto chosen by popular
suffrage, or therein placed by Executive
choice.
We are aware that to the Just liberal and
enlightened democratic mind argument in
vindication of the vested rights of the natu-
rallied citizen IS supererogatiye. In truth,
when the knowaothinc intolerance was at is
height, all well-inlorned democrats knew how
fictitious were its allegations of foreign in
cumbency Of office; for, at the very climax Of
its factious uproar there were but three citi-
zens of foreign birth in the l. s. Congress
one in the Senate and two in the House
The Senator, We need hardly say, was Gen.
Shields, who grandiy illustrated his meritori-
ous title To citizenship by baptism Of blood"
upon the Mexican battI,tield~.
In conclusion Of a topic which scarcely re-
quired allu-iun t. this rE:-nt. we prp~+n, the
annexed plain accurate statement of the roll-
tive numbers OF native and frrign-born occu-
pants of office in the several departments Of
government named above, 1t also includes
all naturaized citizens in the incumbency of
cOn>ul,hip>:
Natives-Alaba,na, i6. Arkansas 3, Cali
fornIa -, District Of Columbia 2G0, Counec-
ticu: IS, Dclawara Is, Florida II. Georgia
l., Illinois 10, Indiaua 2G, Iowa 3, Ken
tucky 80 L"ui~iaHs =3. Aa.~a 80 MARYLAND
l95, MASSACHUSETTS, ST. M-,.a-uu II. All-~ls-
sipli Ii, NssIu. Nrw Hamr-hira A..
New Jersey A., New York lSg. North Car
olna Al, Ohio -, Pennsylvania 1872. Rhode
Island ), So- Z Ca....a %. .,uu. ,,ee 81.
Texas 6, Vermont 20, Virginia 232, Wiscyu-
sin :, Kansas l.
Foreign-Ircland =. St Cgo;x !. Swi'zar-
land s, France :, Scotland Is, CamIo Re!lo
!, st. John's J, TEaiiad ]. Antigua !, Rus
sis }, Finland ], SPAN :, Miaor.ca !, Stutt-
gardt !, Germany %, West Indies ,. Hal
stein l, Norway !, Prussia ?. Salamanca !.
ST. Thomas J, Engirnd 33, Turkey I. Cy-
press l, Greece !, Earbary ,, Itir /. Cana
da +, St. DCiGjnLo ], Cuba /, Hungary :.
Poland I, South America J. Belgium /,
Mediterranean >, %en,-s.ia 1, Hanover l.
Wiiole number OF nati,e-bora I.547
Nho!t nulELer If foreign J.~ 200
T,fal