1801 Examination 7 · Founding Made Plain

1THE EXAMINATION.

2Number VII.

3[New York, January 7, 1802]

4The next exceptionable feature

5 in the Message,

6 is the proposal

7 to abolish all restriction

8 on naturalization,

9 arising from a previous residence.

10In this the President

11 is not more at variance

12 with the concurrent maxims

13 of all commentators

14 on popular governments,

15 than he is with himself.

16The Notes on Virginia

17 are in direct contradiction

18 to the Message,

19 and furnish us with strong reasons

20 against the policy now recommended.

21The passage alluded to

22 is here presented:

23 Speaking of the population of America,

24 Mr. Jefferson there says,

25 "Here I will beg leave

26 to propose a doubt.

27 The present desire of America,

28 is to produce rapid population,

29 by as great importations

30 of foreigners as possible.

31 But is this founded in good policy?"

32 "Are there no inconveniences

33 to be thrown into the scale,

34 against the advantage expected

35 from a multiplication of numbers,

36 by the importation of foreigners?

37 It is for the happiness

38 of those united in society,

39 to harmonize as much as possible,

40 in matters

41 which they must of necessity

42 transact together.

43 Civil government

44 being the sole object

45 of forming societies,

46 its administration

47 must be conducted

48 by common consent.

49 Every species of government

50 has its specific principles:

51 Ours, perhaps,

52 are more peculiar

53 than those of any other

54 in the universe.

55 It is a composition

56 of the freest principles

57 of the English Constitution,

58 with others,

59 derived from natural right

60 and reason.

61 To these, nothing can be more opposed

62 than the maxims

63 of absolute monarchies.

64 Yet from such,

65 we are to expect

66 the greatest number of emigrants.

67 They will bring with them

68 the principles of the governments

69 they leave,

70 imbibed in their early youth;

71 or if able to throw them off,

72 it will be in exchange

73 for an unbounded licentiousness,

74 passing as is usual,

75 from one extreme to another.

76 It would be a miracle

77 were they to stop precisely

78 at the point of temperate liberty.

79 Their principles with their language,

80 they will transmit to their children.

81 In proportion to their numbers,

82 they will share with us

83 in the legislation.

84 They will infuse into it their spirit,

85 warp and bias its direction,

86 and render it a heterogeneous,

87 incoherent, distracted mass.

88 I may appeal to experience,

89 during the present contest,

90 for a verification

91 of these conjectures:

92 but if they be not certain in event,

93 are they not possible,

94 are they not probable?

95 Is it not safer to wait with patience

96 for the attainment

97 of any degree of population

98 desired or expected?

99 May not our government

100 be more homogeneous,

101 more peaceable,

102 more durable?

103 Suppose 20 millions

104 of republican Americans,

105 thrown all of a sudden into France,

106 what would be the condition

107 of that kingdom?

108 If it would be more turbulent,

109 less happy, less strong,

110 we may believe that the addition

111 of half a million of foreigners,

112 to our present numbers,

113 would produce a similar effect here."

114Thus wrote Mr. Jefferson in 1781—

115 Behold the reverse of the medal.

116The Message of the President

117 contains the following sentiments:

118 "A denial of citizenship

119 under a residence of fourteen years,

120 is a denial to a great proportion

121 of those who ask it,

122 and controls a policy

123 pursued from their first settlement,

124 by many of these States,

125 and still believed of consequence

126 to their prosperity.

127 And shall we refuse

128 to the unhappy fugitives from distress,

129 that hospitality

130 which the savages of the wilderness

131 extended to our fathers

132 arriving in this land?

133 Shall oppressed humanity

134 find no asylum on this globe?

135 Might not the general character

136 and capabilities of a citizen,

137 be safely communicated

138 to every one

139 manifesting a bona fide purpose

140 of embarking his life and fortune

141 permanently with us?"

142But if gratitude

143 can be allowed to form an excuse

144 for inconsistency

145 in a public character—

146 in the man of the people;

147 a strong plea of this sort

148 may be urged

149 in behalf of our President.

150It is certain,

151 that had the late election

152 been decided entirely

153 by native citizens;

154 had foreign auxiliaries

155 been rejected on both sides,

156 the man

157 who ostentatiously vaunts

158 that the doors of public honor

159 and confidence

160 have been burst open to him,

161 would not now have been

162 at the head of the American nation.

163Such a proof then

164 of virtuous discernment

165 in the oppressed fugitives,

166 had an imperious claim on him

167 to a grateful return,

168 and without supposing

169 any very uncommon share

170 of self-love,

171 would naturally be a strong reason

172 for a revolution in his opinions.

173The pathetic and plaintive exclamations

174 by which the sentiment is enforced,

175 might be liable to much criticism,

176 if we are to consider it

177 in any other light,

178 than as a flourish of rhetoric.

179It might be asked in return,

180 does the right to asylum or hospitality

181 carry with it

182 the right to suffrage and sovereignty?

183And what indeed

184 was the courteous reception

185 which was given to our forefathers,

186 by the savages of the wilderness?

187When did these

188 humane and philanthropic savages

189 exercise the policy

190 of incorporating strangers

191 among themselves,

192 on their first arrival

193 in the country?

194When did they admit them

195 into their huts,

196 to make part of their families?

197 and when did they distinguish them

198 by making them their sachems?

199Our histories and traditions

200 have been more than apocryphal,

201 if any thing like this

202 kind and gentle treatment

203 was really lavished

204 by the much-belied savages

205 upon our thankless forefathers.

206But the remark obtrudes itself,

207 had it all been true,

208 prudence requires us

209 to trace the history farther,

210 and ask what has become

211 of the nations of savages

212 who exercised this policy?

213 And who now occupies the territory

214 which they then inhabited?

215Perhaps a lesson is here taught

216 which ought not to be despised.

217But we may venture to ask

218 what does the President really mean,

219 by insinuating

220 that we treat aliens

221 coming to this country

222 with inhospitality?

223Do we not permit them

224 quietly to land on our shores?

225Do we not protect them

226 equally with our own citizens,

227 in their persons and reputation;

228 in the acquisition and enjoyment

229 of property?

230Are not our courts of justice

231 open for them

232 to seek redress of injuries?

233And are they not permitted

234 peaceably to return

235 to their own country

236 whenever they please,

237 and to carry with them

238 all their effects?

239What then means

240 this worse than idle declamation?

241The impolicy of admitting foreigners

242 to an immediate and unreserved

243 participation

244 in the right of suffrage,

245 or in the sovereignty of a Republic,

246 is as much a received axiom

247 as any thing

248 in the science of politics,

249 and is verified

250 by the experience of all ages.

251Among other instances,

252 it is known,

253 that hardly any thing contributed more

254 to the downfall of Rome,

255 than her precipitate communication

256 of the privileges of citizenship

257 to the inhabitants of Italy at large.

258And how terribly was Syracuse scourged

259 by perpetual seditions,

260 when, after the overthrow of the tyrants,

261 a great number of foreigners

262 were suddenly admitted

263 to the rights of citizenship?

264Not only does ancient

265 but modern, and even domestic history,

266 furnish evidence

267 of what may be expected

268 from the dispositions of foreigners,

269 when they get too early footing

270 in a country.

271Who wields the sceptre of France,

272 and has erected a Despotism

273 on the ruins of a Republic?

274 A foreigner.

275Who rules the councils

276 of our own ill-fated, unhappy country?

277 And who stimulates persecution

278 on the heads of its citizens,

279 for daring to maintan an opinion,

280 and for exercising

281 the rights of suffrage?

282 A foreigner!

283Where is the virtuous pride

284 that once distinguished Americans?

285Where the indignant spirit

286 which in defence of principle,

287 hazarded a revolution

288 to attain that independence

289 now insidiously attacked?

290Lucius Crassus.

291New-York Evening Post, January 7, 1802.