FROM THE STANDARDS OF UNION.
______________
A POINT
OF CONTROVERSY.
It now behoves the United States
to repeal their naturalization laws, or in a solemn manner to maintain their
validity. While they remain on the statute book, and form a part of the law of
the land, it would be disgraceful to submit to their violation. If they are
just in point of principle, they ought to be defended. If wrong, they should be
instantly revoked; and then, that subject of contention with Great Britain
would be removed. It is very extraordinary circumstance, that England who
accepts and courts the services of the subjects of other nations, should be so
Stern in enforcing an opposite rule against them. An American or a Dane, serves
two years in the British Navy, is thereby ipso
facto, naturalized; but an Englishman regularly naturalized in the United
States, if taken in their service, is liable to be hung.
The question before us is a very
important one. It possesses extensive relations in peace as well as in war. If
naturalization is not valid, the natives of the British dominions cannot become
American citizens, neither can they be entitled to hold ships, pursue trade, or
perform any other act in that character.
We hold the right of immigration
to be a law inseparable from our nature, and as ancient as civilization itself.
- That it was recognized by the Roman Republic, sufficiently appears by the Plotian law, and the celebrated orations
of Cicero, pro Archias. Contrary doctrines, principally spraying, from the
system of feudal vassalage and cannot
be sanctioned by states, whose institutes are founded on the universal law of
nature and of nations. This is a subject that deserves an able and accurate
discussion.
We are happy to see our
government retaliate in a manner that will eventually ensure safety to the
person of our naturalized fellow citizens and cause their rights to be
respected. The principle must be settled by the maxims of justice, and not by
the arrogant despotism of a British cabinet.
Headline: From the Standard of Union. A Point of Controversy; Article Type: News/Opinion
Paper: Baltimore Patriot, published as Baltimore Patriot
& Evening Advertiser.; Date: 12-01-1813; Volume: 2; Issue: 125; Page: [2]; Location: Baltimore, Maryland
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