Year: 1859

There never was less truth contained in a
single paragraph than in the above. II is a
tissue of misrepresentation from beginning
to end, as we will proceed to prove The
Democrat sets out with the assertion that the
Secretary of State has declared that our Gov-
ernment will not protect naturalized citizens
upon a peaeeable visit to their native land.
Now, we assert that the Secretary of State
has mnde no such declaration, nor has he said
anything of the kind. Here is what he did
say


DEPARTMENT OF STATE,


WASHINGTON, May II, 1859. !
To Mr.. F6lir LeCzerc, Memphis, Tenn


SIR: Your letter of the 18th inst has been
received. In reply, have to state that it Is
understood that the French Government
claims military service from all natives of
France who may be found within its jurisdic
ton. Your naturalization in this country
will not exempt you from that claim should
you voluntarily repair thither


| am, sir, your obedient servant


LEWIS CASS.


We assert that no man of sense can read
the above and draw any such deductions as
contained in the above extract. Express.


We assert that no man of sense could draw
any other deductions. If the French Gov
ernment can claim military service from
American citizens who have happened to be
born within the limits Of France, any other
foreign Government can demand the like ser
vice in parallel case. Nc doubt the French
Government does claim military service of a
nnturalized Frenchman, but to admit that
claim is piece of miserable pusillanimity on
the part of our Government which could new
er be committed but by an Administration as
imbecile as the present. 1t has always been
the glory Of our Republic that she protected
her citizens, whether naturalized OF native
,cherepsr they Went that, as long as they
claimed the rights Of an American, the whole
power Of the American Government was
ready, at moments warning, to maintain
those rights, upon the land or the sea. The
present Administration tells the Frenchman
and the German, the Irishman and the En-.
glishman, the Italian and the Hungarian, that
to be naturalzed American citizen is to be
but n denizen of the soil that native Amer
lean can travel the world over and be pro-
tected by the broad egis of his Government,
but that the foreign-born citizen has no rights
which the country is bound to respect, out
side of the limits of the Union That is to
say, that the foreign-born citizen is not upon
an equality with the native born, and that
the Government of the United States draws
a broad line of distinction between the two
This is no sound doctrine, but it is the doe
trine of the present Administration. Call
you such an Administration Democratic?
The Know Nothing party itself would have
hesitated to inaugurate such a narrow and
despicable policy L
What tins Administration will come to
next, God Almighty only knows. 1t has re.
pudiated the entire policy which has always
governed the party at home, and now puts
the cap upon the sheaf by abandoning the
policy which the party has insisted upon as
the true policy abroad We claim that it is
the doctrine of the Democratic party that, il
a foreign government has the right to i'm.
press an American citizen into her service
] MilO hO - "a ihSiN fiSiNOi WiAhRh hNA 1Ahil1oi
she has right to come and take him from
| the shores of his own land and do the same.
And we claim, further that the Democratic
party makes no distinction between the ma
tive and the foreignborn citizen. Very well,
then, if native born citizen cannot be i'm
pressed into a foreign service, why should
the naturalized citizen be the less exempt
| from the same coercion?


The fact is, the position assumed by Mr.
Buchanan, through hisSecretary, Lewis Cass,
is wholly indefensible, and, had we not seen
how ready the Lecompton sheets have ever
been to sustain "our noble O President" in
ererything that he has done, right or wrong,
we should be astounded at the position as
sumed upon this question by these journals,
with such marvellous unanimity. Had the
contrary position been assumed by the Ad-
ministration, they would have been as blatant
on the other side. They blow hot and cold,
to suit the times. They sneeze, whenever the
President takes snuff The miserable time
servers


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