Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-09-18
WHOLE NO. 2,33S.
The sIates Department View OF
Davenport.
New York World.1

The state. Department view OF
Davenport.
New York world.l
! Thanks to the state department.
: the republican leaders have got
themselves into u hopeless blind
alley In their absurd and scandalOus
attempt TO Justify the arbitrary ar
rests and the iron cages Of supervisor
Davenport by the allegation that
twelve years ago the "Tnmmanv
| ringn Of Tweed fabricated false nat.
uraiization papers. There can bo
no doubt that naturalization papers
were actually forged in 1868, or In
other words that the signature Of
the CLERK of the court and the seal Of
the court to such papers were forged
outright. Nor can there be any
reasonable doubt that IN 1868 the
judges of the courts and the clerks
of the courts treated naturalization
as formal matter and ordered and
authenticated judgments in natural
izati0n in the most careless and me-
chanical way, never inquiring about
the residence or the character OF the
applicants. There Is a great deal OF
such carelessness at this day ia the
| federal as well as the state courts.
| There is no adequate trial either of
the question OF five years residence
in the United States or of the ques-
tion of good character. The whole
business Is &c pdrfe, informal, hasty
and one-sided; whereas It should be
litigiOus, formal, deliberate and iu-
dicial, If naturalization really is to
be, as Ii is assumed to be under our
system, the result of a solemn ludg-
ment in court and itself a solemn
judgment. What democrats COM
plain of in Davenport's action is
that he does not treat a certificate of
naturalization as being, what the
law says il is, a verify. The law
distinctly says that a Judgment Of
court cannot be attacked sideways
and in a collateral proceeding. liza
judgment Of naturalization is 10 be
assailed by Mr.. Davenport he should
go into the court where IL was issued
and ask to have the judgment set
aside end eXpunged. But Daven-
port begins by arresting at the polls
the voter who holds the certificate
OF naturalization. Whenever he
has ventured into court Davenport
has failed, and for the reason that
no one now attempts to vote on the
notoriously fraudulent or forged
documents Of 1868. Davenport con-
fOunds the innocent with the guilty,
and on a voting day makes himself
the intallible Judge of the validity
of the certificate of Judgment
record of a New York court.
This is directly in the teeth not
only of the law but Of the practice
of this administration. In the
American and Spanish claims COM
mission sitting in Washington Spain
alleges and offers TO Prove that
many of the claimants present GER
titicates of naturalization which
they bought in New York under
the "Tweed ring" Spain offers 10
prove that the holders of these GER
tificates resided during a great pOr-
tiOn of the necessary five years ia
Cuba. Aud what answer do the
United States mfHSe to this Spanish
offer of proof? The United States
acting under the instruc-
tions of the administration, objects
to any evidence to show that the
naturalizations were fraudulent.
Mr.. Evarts tells Spain that a ludg-
ment of naturalization is by Ameri-
can law verify, and that nobody
can be heard who seeks to assail Il
indirectly. He declares that Spain
may deny that certificate of natu-
ralizatiOn exists, but that when one
is offered in evidence which is regu-
lar in form, Spain cannot deny that
it was lawfully issued. On that
very point the commission came TO
a deadlock, which was only broken
by the fact that Baron Blanc, the
pnnire who. had hastily sustained
h1r. h.Varts, threw up MS umplrAge
In disgust.
And yet with what GOODNESS Mr..
Evarts and the administration deny
that a certificate of naturalization Is
4 potential In the hands of an hon
est German or Irish voter in New
York on election day as it is in the
hands of a filibustering Cuban who
attempts to make an American citi-
zen of himself in order TO prove
iamages against Spain before an
commission The
United States by the mouth and
lrm of Supervisor Davenport assert 4
n New York rules of law about the
of a judgment Of naturali-
.atiOn which are Numerically OPP
posed to those asserted at Washing
ON before an international tribunal
by the American advocate.