The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1859-07-27
Our Foreign Relations.

Our Foreign Relations.
Amid all the dishonest clamor and demago-
query ofBoTTs, the New York Tribune, the Gin.
cinnati Gazette and the Ohio State Journal, we
persistently declared, that General CAss had in
no wise departed rom the ancient, reasonable
and American doctrine which has always or
tanned among Democratic statesmen in reference
to the rights Of naturalized citizens abroad.
Before Mr.. PUGH's letter was written we show
ed that the doctrine propC unded to MIR. HoFER
by General CAss surrendered no right hitherto
insisted upon. and clearly stated that the claims
Of certain foreign governments were deemed by
or government incompatible with our rights and
with the public law of nations. Nevertheless
the Cincinnati Republican papers, with our ver-
acious neighbor of the State Journal, and all the
smnll fry in the State, continued the wall of Ia
mentation they had set up over the pretended
betrayal and d~csertion Of the rights of naturaliz-
ed citizens by the Democracy. We now have
the best Of Republican authority for their dis
honesty, demagoguery and hypocrisy in this
matter. The New York Times lisa leading Re-
publican ogan. 1t is second to none in ability,
circulrtion and influence. In an article from
which we make the following extracts it can
didly admits that its party papers have set up o
false and unfounded clamor against the Admin
i~stration, and epunciated for partizan purposes,
a miscnievous and erroneous theory of public
law and the relations otindependent States. 1t
says - Statesman.
The Administration has come up in a very
mastery fashion to the rescue Of the Democra-
cy imperiled by the movements Of its enemies
upon the flank OF the Secretary Of State. The
letters of Gen. Cass on the subject ofAmerican
naturalization, and its effects, have been the
sport Of the opposition ever since they were Civ.
en- to the world. The doctrines laid down in
those letters, although perfectly clear, accurate
and consistent alike with the principles ofinter-
national law and CT national right, have been
most ingeniously and unscrupulously tortured
into an abandonment, by the American govern
ment, ofits duties as the protector Of foreign.
born citizens of the United States. The ques-
ton has been treated, not from any enlarged ma
tionai and practical point of view, but in that IA
tai spirit Of partizanship which belittles all our
politics, and has gradually made anything like
magnanimous and consistent craftsmanship a
a mere tradition in the lard.
Not q few OF the antagonists Of Gen. Cass
have gone the length of asserting for America
the old Roman theory, that our municipal law
should override throughout the wourld all other
laws whatever; and that no foreign Government
Stbhlh CNCt III pCi uiibbSOI SNCh vi lo -"
borders. to do SO much as moot the question OF
its own rights over men c0nfessedly born in sub
lection to its laws, after those men had once re-
ceived the chrism Of an American adoption
OF course, all intelligent men who assumed this
ground knew perfectly well that they were talk
ing not for truth but for Buncombe; and that if
any American Government should ever be mad
enough 10 attempt 10 put such pretensions as
these into force, it would find itself driven to the
necessity of choosing between universal war, or
a shameful retraction. Considerations of this
kind could not, however, be expected to weigh
for an ounce in the balance against the partizan
advantages to be won by infammatory appeals
to the foreign population Of voters among US.
| What il some rash confiding Hans or Friedrich
relying upon this Interpretation of his rights
under his new character Of American citizen,
should venture back to his native Hesse or
Hanover, from which he had come away twenty
years before, evading his military or civil obi
CATION, and should there be seized and cast into
prison, or forced into the ranks ofthe army, not
to be extricated by any number Of American
d dispatches and diplomatic notes? This could
not be regarded as at all to the point, provided
the said Hans or Friedrich could only be Undue.
ed before his departure. to give his valuable vote
to the party which had assured him that the
"eye OF our eagle whould be ever upon him."
A "practical case, arising in the Kingdom Of
Hanover" has fallen most opp rtunely in the
way Of the Democracy, and enables them to
make a decisive demonstration in defence Of
that specific theory Of naturalization which a
lone can be safely maintained by US, and which
Gen. Cass has never for an instant really sur
rendered either in form or in fact. A natura-
llzed American citizen, born in Hanover, who
when he left his native country, was neither in
actual service in the Hanoverian army, nor had
been dra fled into it, and who was consequently
at that time, rjs-G ps ofhis own Government,
on a footing of freedom from any immediate OBJ,
legation, has been seized on his return to Han.
over and forced to do military duty. This &C
ton on the part OF the Hanoverians is plainly
not an assertion af any municipal law of Han.
over as binding upon the Hanoverian during
his previous residence in Hanoverbut simply a
denial Of the right Of expatriation. For the
Hanoyerian Government, this American citizen
is no American citizen at all, but a Hanovirian
subject, seized as such, recognized as such, and
recognized In no other capacity whatever. A
gainst this denial Of the right Of expatriation by
Hanover, the Uni1ed States are bound to set
their own assertion OF that right, and to main.
tain it at all hazards. To question the suprem-
acy Of the Hanoyerian municipal law over the
Hanoverian while he continued to be q subject
of Hanover and Of no other power, would be an
outrage on national independence, which the
civilized world would not for a moment tolerate.
On the other hand, Tor Hanover to question our
right to invest a man with new qualities respec.
ted, is for her to assail the principles on which
our own Government is founded, as well as the
ideas which must regulate intercourse ofequal
States in modern times.
The case of the Administration as against
Hanover is clear one; and if it be pressed
with yigor, there can be little doubt that us Of
feet upon the foreign population Of America
will be favorable to the health ofthe Democrat
ic pDrty. The ablest abstract discussion ofprin-
ciples will never produce halfso deep an impress
sion on the popular mind asa single emphatic
act ofpublic policy.
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