Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-06-05

claims upon MS services III DenhlI OF ner
development or defence, and citizen,
holding u military position, or place of
public trust, is not free in law or in nature
to abandon his post and country for the
protection of some more favored power,
but his duty bids him to stand by his coun-
try to the loss of his very life-even though
that life be sacrificed in vain. On the other
hand, Il MAJ, who cannot find Il proper sub
sistence in his native land has II natural
right to emigrate therefrom to any other
country that may be willing to grant him
Il settlement, and to become Il citizen
thereof, if allowed the privilege. 1t is,
nevertheless, the undeniable right of every
sovereign power to decide for itself the al
legiance it will require from its native
born citizens, and to declare what immi-
grants it will admit to II settlement within
its domain, and also to define the condi-
tions upon which naturalized citizenship
shall be conferred, and the rights to which
such citizenship shall enttle its possessOrs.
From time immemOrial all nations have
been distrustful of aliens, and it was not
until the United States entered the great
family of nations. with the treest institu
lions ever before attempted, and with Il
vast area of wild and fertile land, await
ing the foot of the settler, that in any
country II very advanced liDerality was eX-
tended to immigrants.
The spirit of our institutions has been
popularity supposed to constitute the
United states an optional home for every
son of Adam that is not Il pauper or IL
criminal, and the same spirit has been as
sumed to require that the rights of cti-
Zenship should be conferred, on easy con-
ditions, upon all immigrants who may de
sire it. Orators on great national Occa-
SiOnS have long INDUCED i'll the boast that
our country Is an asylum for the oppressed
of all lands; and they have pictured the
goddess of American liberty as stretching
to the unfortunate of every cline, and
bidding them to freely come and occupy
her beautiful domain as joint heirs
in common brotherhood The boundleSS
humanity of this view has ever touched
a responsive chord in the hearts of Ameri-
can freemen, but the great question of
receiving aliens to settlement and citizen
ship is a question not 50 much OF the
brotherhood of man as of national self
preservation. AS In the individual and
family spheres of life, our duty tells us
that, while many may be worthy of our
sympathy and aid, they would be pleasant
or profitable persons to admit to our com
panionsbip, or to our households, so in the
national sphere of life, our love of country
tells us, when considering accessons to our
citizenship, that the first of our duties is
selt-preservatlOn.
The organic and statute luw.Jf the coun-
try are much more conservative on the
question of immigration than is the pOpll-
lar idea. The constitution Of the United
States and the constitutions of several of
the States, exclude all but persons of
native birth from the Office of
chief eXeCu i've, thus recognizing the
greater reliability of natural patriotism.
The constitution of the United States, cX-
ccpts, however, all persons of foreign
birth who were citizens at the time OF its
adoption, thus recognizing the practical
worth of naturallzcd patriotism, VIXEN
tested by the trials of critical times. The
naturalization laws of the United States
exclude much the greater part of the
worlds population from the rights of citi-
Zenship, and II recent enactment denies to
a certain class of u particular race even
the right to settlement in our country.
The question of how far naturallzcd pa
triotism can he made practically equal to
natural patriotism is one which needs
careful study by the people of every coun-
try. In ancient days when intercOmmu-
nication between different nations was
limited almost exclusively to ambassadors,
travelling philosophers, armies of Occupa-
ton, and prisoners of war, suspicion of
aliens was universal. The term barbarian
by which the Greeks designated all for
eigners-meaning at first simply persons
speaking Il language unintelligible to
them-became in time Il term of reproach
by reason of the contempt in which for
Il foreigner, was always held. In modern
times however, when the interchange not
only of residence, but of citizenship also,
is rapidly increasing all over the world
through greater personal freedom, and
through easier modes of intercommuni-
cation, Il foreigner instead of being looked
upon with suspicion akin to hatred, is
welcomed in many countries as valuable
addition to the population.
To what extent any country can safely
allow immigrants to settle within its do
main, and to what extent it can bestOw
upon them the rights of citizenship, must
be decided by their capacity to take an in
terest in the land of their adoption, and to
become imbued with the spirit of its pa
triotism. This question is forcing itself
upon the attention of the world, and
more particularly upon the people of the
United States. The vast tide of immigra-
ton which rolled towards our country for
so long Il time was more than welcome in
developing our vast tracts of unsettled
land, and in pushing forward those mon
ster enterprises which followed the inVen-
ton of the steam engine and the rapid i'm
prOVement in manufacturing machinery
but as we have become more thickly
settled. the effect of immigration upon the
demand for labor and the rate of WAGES
has begun to attract the attention of the
later accessionS to our citizenship, because
they are the more directly affected
by it, and further competition in the Labor
market by frugal paGans from the Orient
and Squalid peasants from he less favored
realms of Chrlstcndom, will he Il problem
for our children To solve.
1t is, however, my province to speak
only in relation to the necessity existing
in nature that the citizens of each nation
should he bound together by common in
tcrests, and be inspired 10y Il common pa
/ triotiSm to protect those interests To un
derstand whether this uniformity of pa
tliOtSm can be preserved by II nation
which is constantly Incorporating into ITS
citizenship large aCccsSlOns from foreign
lands, we must study the nature ot man
as to his power to become inspired with Il
naturalized patriotism.
Natural patriotism, or love of native
land, is ingrained in man by his Maker
for the preservation of those nations unto
whom he gives from time to time the diff
ferent sections of the earth. 1t is II feel
ing of which no worthy man can ever
wholly direst himself for the heart of man
instinctively clings to the spot where his
childhood days were passed, to the spot
where dwells the circle of his kindred, anC
the spot where sleep their last sleep the
many generations whose name he bear,
and whose fame is his faulilN'S pride. NJ