The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1859-09-07

000s DOQ81s .. +-.. '
The following is an extract from speech
delivered by Gen. A. c. Dodge, in the Sen
ate Of the United States, July, 1854, in ad-
vocacy of the Homestead Bill. It had been
charged that the benefits Of the bill would
accrue to foreigners, and hence the opposi-
ton Of the Know Nothings to it:
Mr. President, should like to know of
the Senator from Delaware, [Mr. Claytonl,
or any Of those who cooperate with him,
when, and upon what occasion, this much
abused foreign population has shown any
disloyalty to the institutions of this coun-
try? When and where have they ever
raised the standard of rebellion against its
Constitution or its laws At no time or
place do believe, they have done either !;
nor have the most distant idea that they
contemplated either Of these things. I re-
member that my friend from Mississippi,
Mr.. Adams, asIng tho last winter, alluded
to some ebullition of feeling on the part of
some Of the German population, think, of
Cincinnati, which I myself regretted, but
which l attributed to others to native born
citizens, Abolitionists-sucha as those of the
old Bay State, and others, who were so
much disposed, on a recent occasion, to
give way to mob violence. Irepeat my SOL
emn belief that there are no more loyal and
patriotic people than those foreigners who
have found their way to Iowa, Wisconsin,
and other Western States. When the Sen.
ator from Kentucky, Mr.. Thompson, was
ridiculing the persons and bodily formation
of these men who happened to be born on
the opposite side Of the ocean, ] think, if
the scenes of the American Revolution
could have been brought fresh to his memo
ry, if he could have contemplated the Irish
foreigner, Montgomery, in his winding
sheet-one Of the first to strike and fall in
the cause Of our then struggling and feeble
country had he remembered the services
of Pulaski, Kosciusko. DeKalb, Lafayette,
and that host of other noble spirits who
aocked around our revolutionary standard,
and shed their blood upon almost every
battle field from Massachusetts, to Georgia,
he could not have found it in his heart to
oppose, denounce and ridicule their coun-
trymen in the manner he did. The person
Of the Baron Steuben may not have been
such in all particulars as would command
the admiration of the Senator from Ken
lucky, but it was one that faced the front
of war--one from whom the father of his
country was willing to receive that instruc-
ton in military tactics which his early and
imperfect education had not given him an
opportunity to acquire.
know much of these people. I speak
from my knowledge of the great body OF
them, when I say before God and the Sen
ate, that believe they are as true, as loyal,
and as devoted to the institutions of the
country as any native citizens, and are
among the most ready to take up arms in
its defence. Look at the Adiutant- Gene
rails reports, compare the places of nativity
Of the soldiers who enlisted in your army
during all the wars from that of the Revo.
luton down to the recent one with Mexico,
and You will find that very large proper
ton Of them were foreigners. have lived
in a section of country in which it has been
necessary at times TO call for volunteers. to
these people, whether they have gone
| through the form Of naturalization or not,
backward in rallying in defence of the coun-
try of their choice, and that, too, without
hope Of reward or emolmncnt.