The Congressional Globe, Volume 14: Twenty-Eighth Congress, Second Session Page: 32

32
CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
Sanate by the President of the United States at the
commencement of the present session.
Mr. BAGrBY, on leave, introduced a bill for the
relief of,Walker, Kinkle, and Caruthers; which was
twice read, and referred to the Committee on the
Post Office and Post Roads.
Mr. PEARCE, on leave, introduced a bill con-
firming and assenting to an act of the legislature of
Virginia, entitled ah "act further to amend an act in-
corporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal compa-
ny;" which was twice read, and referred to the Com-
mittee on Roads and Canals.
Mr. WOODBURY introduced, on leave, a bill for
the relief of William Russell and others; which was
twice read, and referred to the Committee on Com-
merce.
Mr. BERRIEN, from the Committee on the Judi-
ciary, reported a bill for the relief of Mary Reeside,
executrix of the last will and testament of James
Reeside, deceased; which was read, and ordered to a
second reading.
Also reported back, from the same committee,
without amendment, the bill to settle the title to the
Pea Patch island, in the river Delaware.
Also reported back, from the same committee,
without amendment, and with a recommendation
that it do pass, the bill changing the time of holding
the federal courts in the State of Kentucky.
On motion by Mr. CRITTENDEN, the previous
orders of the day were postponed, and the bill was
taken up and considered as in committee of the
whole, reported to the Senate, and ordered to be en-
grossed for a third reading.
Mr. BENTON introduced, on leave, a joint reso-
lution for the relief <Sf Bent, St. Vrain, & Co.; which
was read twice, and committed.
Mr. BREESE, on leave, introduced a bill to es-
tablish the.collection district of Chicago; which was
read twice, and referred to the Committee on Com-
merce.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.
,Mr. TAPPAN, from the Joint Committee on the
Library, reported back, without amendment, the bill
^establish the Smithsonian Institution for the in-
crease and diffusion of knowledge among men.
Mr. BATES, from the Committee on Pensions,
introduced a joint resolution explanatory of the act
making appropriation for the payment of revolu-
tionary and other pensioners for the fiscal year end-
ing 30th June, 1845; which was read, and ordered
to a second reading.
Mr. DICKINSON submitted the following reso-
lution; which, under the rule, lies one day on the
table:
Resolved, That the Committee on Indian Affairs be in-
structed to inquire into the expediency of causing to be
passed by, or under the direction of, the Secretary of War,
forthe use of the Senate, a statement exhibiting a true his-
tory of the relation between the United States and the seve-
ral Indian nations, from the revolutionary war down to the
extinction of the Indian titles eastward of the Mississippi.
Mr. ASHLEY submitted the following resolu-
tion; which, under the rule, lies one day on the ta-
ble, viz:
Resolved, That .the Committee on Commerce be directed
to inquire into the expediency of providing for the allow-
ance of drawback upon foreign merchandise exported in the
original packages to Chihuahua and Santa Fe, in Mexico,
either by the route of the Arkansas river, through Van Bu-
ren, or by the route of the Red river, through Fulton, or by
the overland route through Jackson county, in the State of
Missouri; and to the British North American provinces ad-
joining the United States.
THE NATURALIZATION LAWS.
The resolution introduced by Mr. Johnson on
Wednesday last, came up in order, and was modi-
fied by the moyer to read as follows:
Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be in-
structed to inquire into the expediency of modifying the
naturalization laws of the United States so as to extend the
time allowed to enable foreigners to become citizen';; to
require greater guards against fraud in the steps to be taken
in procuring naturalization papers; and. to prevent, as far
as practicable, fraud and violence at elections, and to pro-
hibit the introduction of foreign convicts into the United
States.
Mr. JOHNSON observed that the facilities with
which foreigners had been naturalized within the
last few years, the perjuries committed in effecting
the object, and the fraud and violence by which our
elections had been controlled, all prove the necessity
of an immediate change in the naturalization laws of
the United States; and that public sentiment every-
where called loudly .for prompt action upon the sub-
ject, there could be no doubt. He remarked that,
from information derived from the most respectable
sources, it appears that thousands of foreigners were
naturalized' and permitted to vote in some of the
large cities at the late presidential election within a
few weeks after they had reached our shores; that
in the city of New York alone, upwards of 3,000
foreigners had been metamorphosed into American
citizens a few days before the said election; and
that, in effecting the dirty purpose, the most enor-
mous frauds had been perpetrated; that a com-
mittee of vigilance in Philadelphia, composed'of re-
spectable men, had reported that, in a single ward
of that city, 305 votes had been taken in the late
election, and that not one of the men who gave the
voles was to be found in the ward ten dayrf after
the election. It is, indeed, a lamentable fact, said
Mr. J., that most of the foreigners who emigrate to
this country are profoundly ignorant of the nature
of our government and of its political institutions,
and are mere instruments in the hands of designing
men, to be used atelections forthe most corrupt pur-
poses. They control our elections and participate
m the mobs and riots which disgrace the country.
Mr. J. said that, at the time of the passage of the
naturalization law, it was the policy of the general -
government, owing to the extent of our territory and
the sparseness of our population, to encourage em-
igration to the United States; and that for a series
of years, under the operation of the said law, the
settlement and prosperity of the country had been
greatly promoted. The blood of many noble and
gallant spirits from foreign lands mingled with the
blood of native Americans in establishing our inde-
pendence; and for our most brilliant achievements
during the late war, we are greatly indebted to the
aid of naturalized citizens. The people of Louis-
iana, the great mass of whom at that time were com-
posed of foreign Frenchmen and their descendants,
received a unanimous vote of thanks from
the Congress of the United States for the valor
and patriotism they had displayed during
the late war—an honor never bestowed on the
people of any other State of the Union; and no
portion of her population evinced more bravery and
patriotism than her naturalized citizens. High
offices have been conferred upon naturalized citizens
by the general and State governments; and many of
whom have repeatedly received distinguished evi-
dences of the confidence of the people. Their rights
and privileges thus acquired, cannot be affected in
the slightest degree by any act of legislation; nor was
it his object to attempt to impair them. Neither
would he concur in the passage of a law to prevent
the strangers now in the United States, who may
have taken the preliminary steps to become citizens,
from perfecting their claim to be so received. It
might be said that the facilities which our statutes
afford, were so many invitations held out to emi-
grants to come and settle among us; and that, on the
faith of the promise implied in them, they renounc-
ed their native country and their natural allegiance,
for the home and political rights which were promis-
ed to them here. And without stopping to inquire
what strength and truth there may be in such a
claim, he would yield to it; because nations, in their
transactions with individuals, ought ever to be dis-
tinguished for generosity and magnanimity. But
here he would stop. It cannot be disguised, that,
since the establishment of the policy which threw
so widely open the doors of the constitution to
strangers, a great change had come over our coun-
try. The causes which induced such facilities to be
afforded to men of foreign birth to become Ameri-
can citizens have all passed away, except the feel-
ings of kindness which were an element in the legis-
lature; and they, with the exception of inflicting a
positive wrong, must be subordinate to the great
interests, the permanent happiness, and the abiding
glory of the nation. Our country, from the vast in-
flux of emigrants for the last forty years, as well as
the unprecedented natural increase of our native
copulation, requires no such extraneous aid to give
ler strength. The vast augmented diffusion of
education, improving native talent, does away the
necessity of inviting knowledge by the promise of
political privileges. And we have, therefore, no
motive left to extend such favors and indulgence,
which are, in my view, adequate to counterbalance
the positive evils that result from conferring them.
Free government can only be preserved and suc-
cessfully conducted by the wisdom of its citizens:
therefore our efforts should be constantly directed
to enlighten our native population. The mass of
foreigners who come among us have as much to
unlearn as to learn, to fit them for free government.
The prejudices of birth, the predilections for the
usages and customs of the country they came
from, the love of its political institutions, or
a hatred so great of them, confound license
with well regulated freedom, all conspire, in my
opinion, to /render it no longer desirable that
they should be depositaries .of political power
in this country. In making these observations, he
said he was well aware that individuals might come
among us, to whom they do not apply; that men
might emigrate here of whom any country might be
proud. We mightagain have ourLafayettes and Gal-
latins, our Montgomerys and Emmetts. But we can-
not pet on exceptions. We must look at the mass—at
the swarms of needy, ignorant people, which the
necessities of Europe are annually casting on our
shores. He did not wish to be understood, in
making these remarks, as being opposed to the emi-
gration of foreigners to the United States. He
would still allow strangers to seek an asylum in
this country, and would permit them to acquire land
and other property; and he would protect them in
their persons and rights of property, and in the un-
molested enjoyment of the religion they profess;
but he would not extend to thsm the exercise of po-
litical rights, until they should have resided here a
time sufficiently long to understand our laws and
political institutions, and to become identified in in-
terest and feeling with the American people. They
should comprehend the rights, and appreciate the
duties of American citizens, before they participate
in the administration of the government. And
he would prohibit foreign governments from trans-
porting their convicts and paupers into this country,
which some of them have done within the last few
years to an alarming extent.
This question (said Mr. J.) soars far above party
considerations. It is a question upon which de-
pends, not onjy the purity of our political institu-
tions', but the preservation of the government itself.
All parties—whigs, democrats, natives, and natural-
ized citizens—are equally interested in guarding
against a repetition of the abuses complained of,
which, if not prevented in future, may ultimately
destroy our government.
Mr. ALLEN said it was customary, he believed,
to permit all resolutions of mere inquiry to pass the
Senate without opposition; but as that fact might
not be known universally throughout the country,
he chose to state it now, in reference to this particu-
lar resolution; and to say that, so far as he was con-
cerned, in permitting it to pass to a committee with-
out opposition, he did not wish to be understood as
giving the slightest sanction to the first proposition
considered in it,- which was, to extend the term of
residence now required by law for the admission of
foreigners to the privilege of naturalization. He
wished to say this; and further to remark that, as it
was a subject which had been incidentally before the
Senate on a previous occasion, and as it would now
go to one of the ablest committees of that body, he
trusted that gentlemen who entertained opinions
like those which the honorable senator from Vir-
ginia [Mr. Archer] was known to entertain with
regard to the naturalization laws, would embody
those opinions in a definite proposition, that the
Senate might see what the state of the case was, and
be prepared to meet it.
Mr. ARCHER observed that he was extremely
glad that this very important subject had been
brought to the attention of this body, in the grave
form in which it was now before the Senate, in the
resolution of the honorable senator from Louisiana,
[Mr. Johnson.] Whatever might be the merits or
demerits of the proposition avowed in that resolu-
tion, this at least was an incontestable proposition;
that a very great degree of curiosity and solicitude
had been exhibited in regard to the naturalization
law by the people of the United States. He thought
that even the honorable senator from Ohio [Mr. Al-
len] could not deny that this state of solicitude de-
manded an inquiry on the part of the legislative
bodies of the United States. He had been waiting
himself with a design, if no other gentleman should '
take the lead, which the honorable senator from
Louisiana [Mr. Johnson] had taken, to be the hum-
ble organ of presenting to the attention of the Senate
and the whole American public this question, which
he believed, in his very conscience, had become the
most important that could now agitate the public
mind in the United States.
He did not merely deem the question involved in
the resolution just submitted transcendental in its
magnitude and importance. He deemed it even
more than that: it was an issue that comprehended
every other issue that was at this time vital in its in«
terest to the people of the United States.