confer upon them, and we may the more freely, safely, and heartily welcome them to our fruitful and happy shores. Are we told that this class is too small and insignificant for serious consideration? Is it denied that these foreign organizations ramify the whole country, or is it contended that they are confined to the men of a particular nation? Let us confront such assertion with facts. Read the journals of the day, and you will find proclamations like the following; and the simple fact that they are read by Americans without reflection, and passed over without reproof, is but another evidence of the increasing callousness of our people in matters of political importance; a callousness growing up under the baneful influence of "the tyrant custom." Publications of this nature have now become so common in our current daily literature as to be regarded as matters of course, and thus the stealthy influence glides steadily and insidiously on to its design, unnoted and unchecked. Here is a specimen, taken as it lay before me, from the many that are constantly appearing :— UNITED COMMITTEES OF THE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY.-The members of the French, German, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, and Czecho Sclavish Committee invite the democrats of all the nations of Europe to meet on Wednesday, the 10th of December, at 9 o'clock A. M., in the Shakspeare Hotel, corner of Duane and William streets, for participating at the great manifestation for delivering to the citizen KOSSUTH the flag of the European Democracy. New-York, Dec. 9, 1851. GENERAL G. Avezzana, President of the United Committees. P. S.-The music bands who would concur gratuitously at this great demonstration will be kindly received, with the thanks of the European Democracy. There you have it-the European Democracy in America! Observe, "The members of the French, German, Italian, Hungarian, Polish and Sclavish Committee invite the Democrats of all the nations of Europe" (American Democrats are not invited) to meet with them; and for what purpose? To present a flag. What flag? The flag of their adopted country-the glorious stripes and stars-the flag that gives to them, the oppressed of other lands, a protection and a home, and which they have sworn to adopt as their own? No, it is not this; it is the flag of the European Democracy! What becomes of the new birth which these men have solemnly professed? Where has fled their assumed sentiment of American nationality? The yearnings for fatherland, the inspirations of home, spring up and glow warmly in their true and honest hearts, belieing the false testimony which their lips have uttered. They cannot, they will not, they should not, forget the dear places of their nativities. Foreigners in heart, then, let them remain; and if our flag must be transformed into an eccaleobeon to hatch out the egg of European revolution, to them let us intrust the process of incubation; but to Americans let us look, to Americans let us appeal, for the salvation of America. But there is another view of this subject that is worth attention. These European Democrats are not, and do not intend to become, Americanized, either morally or politically; at least, all their declarations seem to say as much. And it seems equally apparent that they seek the shelter of our flag and the hospitality of our soil for the sole purpose of planning and organizing revolutions that are to take place in the Old World, or, it may be, against the constituted authorities of some neighboring friendly government. Thus our country is prostituted to the condition and character of a rendezvous for the malcontents and adventurers of the whole civilized world, and the most scrutinizing jealousy of friendly powers must naturally turn to that singular feature of our organization which seems to tolerate such proceedings. This mischievous tendency has already, and may again involve the national government in serious perplexity; and, to say the least, it is calculated to lessen the dignity of our country most grievously. These remarks must not be construed into strictures upon popular sympathy for the oppressed of other lands, nor as the offspring of a desire to stifle that holiest of all earthly sentiments, Love of Country. God forbid! That is a sentiment that cannot be stifled in the soul of a sentient being, even though he would. It becomes a part of his very nature with the first dawning of intelligence; it is woven in the closest fibres of his immortal and his mortal being. When at home, it is his glory and his pride; and when a wanderer or an exile, it rises before him, a spiritual oasis on the desert of despairing thought-an angel whispering hope and comfort to the lonely soul. No; let the genial flame of patriotism glow brighter and warmer in every heart of every land! Would it might become so pervading, so absorbing as a principle in man's character, as to forbid, by a natural impulse, the possibility of that renunciation of home which, by an artificial law and a false phraseology, professes to convert the soul and sentiments of a human being from one country to another, from the land of his birth to that of the stranger! I regard the naturalization law of our country as a living statutory lie—a theory which professes to perform impossibilities—a plan to degrade men in their own eyes, and an incentive in some instances to perjury. Honest men cannot forswear the heart's allegiance to their native land, and we should despise them if they could. They may consistently declare allegiance to the land of their adoption against all other powers, potentates, sovereignties and peoples, save that of home, which this precious law of naturalization requires them especially to renounce; but when it comes to that, then rises the mental reservation which casts a veil over the transaction, and affords a salve to the outraged soul. Therefore I hope that in the good time which is coming, (and I pray it may come speedily,) the men of all nations will agree with me in the opinion that all laws of naturalization, as now existing, are an outrage to the best feelings of our nature, and that our lawgivers will adopt some other mode for the protection and comfort of the stranger who knocks at the wigwam door and asks a share of our bearskin. I don't like the idea of telling him he shall not have it unless he renounces the land of his dearest affections: it is not true hospitality. But I digress. We were speaking of those influences which seem to tend toward our national decay. Let us glance briefly then at the process of the one under immediate discussion, namely, the organization of foreigners and socialists into political bodies, for the purpose either of effecting radical changes in our own system or of revolution in other lands. First, then There never was a theory set on foot, however absurd, that did not find followers and advocates; and, second, there never yet was a community or people so wise that it did not harbor visionaries and enthusiasts-men of weak, restless, and unstable minds, who are ever eager for change, and ready to grasp at new propositions and fancies, whether rational or irrational. The histories of that arch impostor, Matthias, and of Joe Smith, prove pretty clearly that the United States has had at least a share of this kind of thinkers. These men afford to the old-world theorists material to work upon; and as they all possess the right of suffrage, they are not long in asserting their political powers: making overtures to the constituted authorities, or catechising candidates for office, demanding of them an acknowledgment of their ridiculous theories, and threatening them with political opposition if they refuse. Thus, through this imported radicalism, a considerable portion of our own people become alienated from the plain habits of their fathers, and the solid, old-fashioned principles of government which have made their native land great, prosperous, and happy, and they are suddenly wedded to new, strange, and dangerous doctrines. They become more absorbed in the affairs of peoples and nations that they know little or nothing of than in those of their own, and would recklessly plunge their country into a series of wars for the amelioration of every other people on earth, or light the brand of discord among their own brethren; they would dissolve the Union to gratify a sectional prejudice; they would give the public domain to the refuse of the world, thus offering a premium to the worst class of immigration; they would prohibit a man from holding or transmitting to his children the product of his own industry and enterprise, and thus remove the sole incentive to genius and talent; they would abolish the marriage tie, placing the sexes of the human family on a par with brutes; they would destroy religion, break up the Sabbath, and, in a word, do a thousand other things, of equal rationality, could they but attain sufficient political power to accomplish their designs. And it cannot be denied that they have made some progress. Our politicians are ever ready to make great sacrifice of personal judgment for the success of their party, and already the halls of legislation, both State and National, have echoed with the promulgation of their agitating and mischievous theories. They have therefore made some progress already; yet because their infamous fantasies do not make head so fast as their zeal would dictate, they whine and prate of oppression, and loudly assert that freedom in America is not the thing they took it for. This brings me to another short episode. There is a body of men in this city who dignify their assemblage with the title of "Industrial Congress." They are mostly foreigners, yet the body embraces many Americans. Well, these men determined to be in the fashion, and present an address to that noble fellow, Kossuth, and while extending to him a cordial welcome, they also took occasion to pour into his ear the frightful story of their wrongs. They said to him these words: "Warm and devout, however, as our welcome is, we are pained to confess that freedom as yet exists but technically with ourselves." That is as much as to say, we have only the name of the thing. But they continue thus: "We are free, but only free to improve the privileges bequeathed to us by our sires through popular opinion and the ballot-box." Thus in the same breath admitting that the people have only to vote for what they want, and so acquire it. What did the great patriot of Hungary say to this consummate baby-talk? Listen: "I believe every nation has got all it can desire, when, by the blessing of God, it has got freedom, and the faculty to be master of its own fate; and if a nation has obtained this faculty to be master of its own fate, but has not the understanding, nor the will, nor the resolution to become happy, why, then, it deserves to be not happy, and it is not for a stranger to meddle in its affairs." Translate this into plain English, and it means about this: If you are not free and happy with the blessed faculties which you now possess, you do not deserve freedom or happiness. A noble answer from a thinking mind; an answer that should carry the blush of shame to the tinkering, cowardly demagogues of America. This, then, is another process by which foreign influence works upon our institutions, namely the alienation of the American mind from American customs and doctrines, and the introduction of strange and dangerous theories into the ballot-box; all of which, in their various phases, tend to rob it of its intellectuality and purity, and to convert it from its high and dignified calling into an instrument of insanity or mere faction. This is called the spirit of "progress" of the nineteenth century. Reform is the order of the day; and so zealous have the reformers become, that nothing short of the emancipation of a whole world in an instant will satisfy them. The cry of universal liberty goes abroad, (and I hope it will continue going abroad, notwithstanding some of the croakers insist that we have none at home;) it creates a popular furor, and seizing upon some of the most brilliant minds of the land, binds them up as sheaves to add lustre to the enthusiasm of a moment, or a beam of glory to the imaginary pyre of a far-off despotism! On a recent occasion, one of our most distinguished divines, while pouring forth a torrent of his own pure eloquence and enthusiasm on behalf of liberal institutions, pronounced the steam-engine a Democrat, as typical of the spirit of the age. But the reverend gentleman did not classify. He should have told us that the steam-engine is a democrat of the new school-a red republican democrat. His motto is "go ahead," and if not very closely watched and kept under wholesome restraint, he too often leads himself and his followers headlong to destruction and death! To my mind, the conservative clause of old Davie Crockett's maxim gives it an advantage over the motto of the steam-engine democrat. He said, “First make sure you're right, then go ahead!" No, my friends, the old iron-bound systems of despotism are not to be destroyed in an instant. It is not the upsetting of a throne, or the decapitation of a tyrant, that shall make a people free and happy. These are but the results, not the cause of liberty; and unless a people have been prepared by intelligence for their new position, there is little to be gained by the mere destroying of dynasties. If we could pour a volley of good books into the lap of enslaved Europe, and set a few lightning presses at work instead of bayonets and gunpowder, and have those books well read and those presses well employed, they would do more for the cause of civil, religious, and rational liberty than all the armies of the world. But the great conflict of mind against darkness will still roll on towards the emancipation of nations; the great principle of civil liberty will become clearer and clearer as the peoples of the earth contemplate more and more the convincing example of our success; and when they have finally learned to disencumber religion of superstition and policy, when the unity of the holy rites of conscience and the combustive elements of state polity shall find surcease, when education has done its work among the massive millions, then, and not before, will the races of mankind stand forth in the glorious dignity of their nature, and be prepared for that condition of temporal progress which has been attained through the blessed institutions of this land. The recent history of France, I think, illustrates this assertion conclusively. In another place, I have alluded to the circumstance that these revolutionary hatchings against other powers are calculated to excite the jealousy of those powers towards us. This is a feature not calculated to enhance our national peace and prosperity, but, on the contrary, it is liable to involve us in a series of useless wars, which, independent of the ordinary inconveniences and horrors attending all conflicts of nations, might, by a possibility, affect the tenure of our nationality. I feel compelled to speak very cautiously on this topic, lest I should raise about my ears a nest of hornets from among my ardent countrymen, who persist in asserting that "The universal Yankee nation Perhaps I may agree with them in the text, but it does not necessarily follow that, in order to prove our courage, we must fling the gauntlet into the face of all creation, and "the rest of mankind." When a good cause for a fight occurs, I think we shall all be found ready, but I don't believe there is any danger of "spoiling," just yet, for the want of it. In a contest needlessly provoked, it is possible we might start up an enemy where we looked for a friend; and although this is proverbially a "great country," the empires of the world have a majority yet, and very largely too. There are two little circumstances which it is worth our while to remember when thinking over these matters. The first is, that the Republic of France (God save the mark!) keeps an army in commission for the suppression of republican liberty in Italy at the present time; and the second is, that when Cuba called on Yankee boys to lend a hand in securing the independence of that island from Spanish domination, both Catholic-republican France and Protestant-monarchical England sent notes of condolence and encouragement to her "Catholic Majesty," and fleets of vessels into the Gulf of Mexico to keep Cuba in monarchical bondage. Now, France and England are often quoted as the allies of the "Yankee nation" in the cause of civil and religious freedom. How much we might expect from them in such a cause may be understood from these facts; so, when we conclude to become the champions of liberty for all mankind, we may as well make up our minds to "go it alone," and take the chances. Our true policy is peace, a rigid neutrality, and the good old system of non-intervention, which Washington, Jefferson, and their associates, planned for us, and under which we have become what we are-a nation, great, powerful, and happy. Therefore, I say, the less cause of unnecessary offense we give to others, the better, not only for our own prosperity, but for the great cause of freedom every where; and while I know that my country will never shrink from any responsibility which circumstances may force upon her, I know also that she will never foolishly provoke a contest, the chances of which are greatly against every thing that true republicans hold sacred. Let us avoid and prevent all extraneous causes of jealousy, preserving our neutrality inviolate; and when the next battle is to be fought, we can go into it with clean hands, clear consciences, and bold hearts, coming out as usual victorious! These are some of the foreign influences that we have to guard against; but there are others, and perhaps the greatest of these is the same which at Rome has recently drowned the upgrowing Genius of Freedom in her own blood—a hydra-headed political monster, which, with a siren voice, lures its victims to destruction, and disarms suspicion by throwing over its deformities the external semblance of religion. In the United States this influence boasts its three hundred presses and its millions of votes. From one of these presses we read as follows: "The laws, the statesmen, and the necessities of the country are all on our side. Countrymen, Naturalize! naturalize! if you would be powerful, and for your own protection." Again, it says: “Our duty is imperative. Let us draw closer and closer our bonds of unity; let us frown down every dividing demagogue; let us clothe ourselves in suffrages, and calmly await the issue." What issue are they to wait for? Why, the issue that is to confer upon them political supremacy. What other use can they make of their suffrages? But how long must this influence wait before it can make the laws, govern the institutions, and control the judiciary of America? Under our present corrupt system, as practised by American demagogues, the time cannot be very long. Through this corruption, the parties of the country are already under its dictation. In this State it has |