1783, ch. 69, forbid refugees to return, and so did several other States. See Federalist, No. 42. The first naturalization laws passed by Congress, recognized this exercise of power, and expressly provided that such persons could not become naturalized without the special consent of those States, which had prohibited their return. See Acts of 1790 and '95, U. S. Laws, vol. i., pp. 104, 415.

At a later period, subsequent to the Declaration of Independence, and the adoption of the Federal Constitution, but before the organization of the General Government under that Constitution, the Congress of the old confederation also took action upon the subject. On the 16th of September, 1788, three days after it had announced the adoption of the Constitution by the requisite number of States, directed Presidential Electors to be chosen, and fixed the 4th of March, 1789, as the time for the new government to commence, it unanimously adopted the following resolution :

"Resolved, That it be, and it is hereby, recommended to the several States to pass proper laws for preventing the transportation of convicted malefactors from foreign countries into the United States." See Journal of Congress for 1788, p. 867.

Pursuant to this recommendation of the Continental Congress, the States passed laws in conformity therewith. Virginia passed a law on the 13th November, 1788, forbidding masters of vessels from landing convicts, under a penalty of fifty pounds. South Carolina and Georgia passed similar laws the same year. So did New York. Massachusetts followed the example, in 1791, and Pennsylvania passed an act in 1789, providing "that no captain of a vessel, or other person, shall knowingly or willingly bring, import, or send, or so cause to be, or be aiding or assisting therein, into this Commonwealth, by land or water, any felon, convict, or person under sentence of death, or any other disability, incurred by a criminal prosecution, or who shall be delivered, or sent to him or her from any prison or place of confinement in any place out of the United States," &c. See Dallas' Edition of Laws of Pennsylvania vol. ii., p. 692. And this principle has been carried out ever since by various enactments by the different States, and been extended by them to exclude paupers and others, as well as convicts; and it is not a little remarkable, says Justice Woodbury, in the cases of Norris v. Boston, and Smith v. Turner, that while it has been exercised by various States in the Union-some as to paupers, some as to convicts, some as to refugees, some as to slaves, and some as to free blacks-it never has been exercised by the General Government as to mere aliens, not enemies, except so far as included in what are called the "alien and sedition laws" of 1798. By the "act concerning aliens," power was assumed by the General Government in time of peace to remove or expel them from the

country, and it, no less than the Sedition Act, was generally denounced as unconstitutional, and suffered to expire without renewal since, and on the ground, among others assigned for it, that if such a power existed at all, it was in the States, and not in the General Government, unless under the war power, and then against alien enemies alone. See Elliott's Debates, vol. iv., 581-Virginia Resolutions of 1798.

The exportation of convicts and paupers into the United States, by some of the European governments, has of late years increased to an alarming extent; and the evils which have grown out of the admission of this class of foreigners are very seriously felt in all our great cities, and loudly call for some legislative remedy. As early as 1836 and '37, the evil attracted the attention of the municipal authorities of Boston, New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans, and efforts were made by them to guard against it. In Massachusetts, the subject was brought up in the Legislature, in 1836, which, after some consideration, adopted the following:

Resolved, That it is expedient to instruct our Senators, and request our Representatives in Congress, to use their endeavors to obtain the passage of a law to prevent the introduction of foreign paupers into this country, and to favor any other measures which Congress may be disposed to adopt to effect this object.

This resolution was presented in the United States Senate, May 2, 1836, by JOHN DAVIS, who availed himself of the occasion to submit some startling facts on the subject. His speech may be found in the Congressional Debates of 1835-6, vol. xii. part 2, p. 1378. The following are extracts from it:

"It is well known that pauperism in Europe has become a great and oppressive burden. In England, especially, it has become so powerful in numbers and physical power as to be, in some districts, almost uncontrollable. The number had not, to his knowledge, been accurately ascertained; but the means were at hand to prove that the aggregate and power were great and oppressive. It appeared, from Parliamentary documents, that, in 1818, the sums expended by the parishes, in England and Wales alone, where these corporations provide for the poor, amounted to about thirty-eight millions of dollars, a sum greater than the whole revenue of this country for public pur-: poses. The burdens, as well as other evils, were so severely felt, that public attention had been drawn to the subject, with a hope of obtaining relief. Much had been written and much said, but no efficient action had taken place up to 1833, when the King appointed a commission, with large powers, to collect evidence and report to the Parliament. The commissioners appointed a large number of sub-commissioners, assigning to each a district, and authorizing them to collect evidence and report to the general board. They proceeded in the execution of their duty, and their reports, with the evidence, went with the report of the general board into Parliament, when they were published, and fill a large number of closely printed folio volumes, which are in the possession of the United States. These volumes shed light upon this subject, which may well fill the mind with astonishment.

"This (said Mr. D., brings me to a point where I will show the interest which the American people have in this matter. In the course of the inquiries made by the commissioners, they discovered that some of the parishes had, of their own accord, and without any authority in law, as it seems, adopted the plan of ridding themselves of the evil by persuading the paupers to immigrate to this side of the Atlantic. And whom, Mr. President, did they send? The most idle and vicious; furnishing them with money, besides paying their passage, and then leaving them on this continent, either to reform or to rely on the people here for support. The commissioners, forcibly impressed with the efficiency of this plan, as a complete remedy, strongly recommended to Parliament to adopt it, and to authorize the parishes to raise money by taxes for this purpose. They proposed, too, that the most idle, debauched, and corrupt the incurable portion-should be selected for this purpose, while the better portion should be left, to be reclaimed when detached from the force of evil counsel and evil example. They do not, it is true, propose to send them to the United States; this would be too bold a proposition, but it seems they have no objection to their finding their way hither. True to their own sentiments and unconquerable idleness, these paupers no sooner reach here than they cast themselves upon the public for support. Those acknowledging themselves to be pauper immigrants, have been repeatedly found in the House of Industry in Boston, with the very money received from the parish concealed about them, and in some instances, to prevent detection, sewed in their clothes. Out of 866 persons received into that place during the last year, 516 were foreigners; not all, by any means, of this class, nor is it possible to ascertain how many. In this way, Massachusetts disburses from her public treasury over fifty thousand dollars annually to relieve foreign paupers, and this but imperfectly meets the expense. She has attempted to modify the evil by countervailing legislation, by requiring bonds from the masters of vessels bringing foreign passengers, conditioned that for a given period they shall not become chargeable to the public. This, however, proves inadequate; for while her laws on this subject are more humane than some of her adjoining States, the immigrants will find their way into the commonwealth. Many, doubtless, are sent out to the neighboring provinces, and thence come to us coastwise; others, perhaps, have or will enter by the Canada frontier, and penetrate to places where they can find the best provision for them. They have been detected in New York as well as in Massachu

setts.

"Now, sir, is it just? Is it morally right for Great Britain to attempt to throw upon us this oppressive burden of sustaining her poor? Shall she be permitted to legislate them out of the kingdom, and to impose on us a tax for their support, without an effort on our part to countervail such a policy? Would it not be wronging our own virtuous poor to divide their bread with those who have no just or natural claims upon us? And above all, sir, shall we fold our arms and see this moral pestilence sent among us to poison the public mind and do irremediable mischief? Sir, I hope this country will always afford an asylum to the worthy and the oppressed of all classes and conditions; but humanity makes no appeal to us to receive and cherish those who have no respect for virtue, morality, or themselves; those who are forced among us because they are too corrupt, debauched, and indolent to be tolerated in a country not over-scrupulous in its morals."

No further action seems to have been taken by either branch of Congress, notwithstanding the facts presented by Ex-Governor Davis, during

the session of 1835-6, than the adoption of the following resolution by the Senate:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to cause to be collected and laid before the Senate, at its next session, all such facts and information as can be obtained through the Custom House, or from other sources, respecting the deportation of paupers from Great Britain and other places; ascertained, as nearly as possible, to what countries such persons are sent, where landed, and what provision, if any, is made for their future support.

During the summer of 1837, the City Councils of Boston made some effort to arrest the growing evil, and, among other things, directed the then Mayor to confer with other municipal authorities on the subject, with a view of effecting their co-operation in memorializing Congress for some remedial legislation, which he did, as may be seen in Niles' Register, vol. lv. p. 46. In Baltimore, the same evil was experienced to an alarming extent at the same period. A ship load of Hessian convicts, 260 in number, were brought into port, with manacles and fetters remaining on their hands and feet until within the day of their arrival. General Smith, then Mayor, on discovering the character of the passengers, detained the vessel at Fort McHenry until he could communicate with the United States authorities at Washington, but he was informed, on inquiry, that there was no remedy, and so he had to permit the convicts to be landed, and turned loose to prey upon society. See Niles' Register, vol. lv. p. 44. At Newark, N. J., the City Councils also had their attention called to the subject. About this time, a gross violation of the Quarantine laws was perpetrated by the master of the British ship Lockwoods, who landed his pauper passengers at Amboy and went to sea; and still more of the same class were then about arriving or being landed, as appears from the following communications. See Niles' Register, vol. lii. pp. 250, 259, 265:

Quarantine, June 2, 1837.

DEAR SIR-I have just learned that the following British ships are now on their way here, with orders to land their passengers at Amboy, viz.: Phoebe, with 325 passengers; Sherbrook, with 202; Harriet, with 246: 773 paupers-to be sent into our city.

AARON CLARK, Esq.

Yours respectfully,

WILLIAM ROCKWOOD,

Health Officer.

Mayor's Office, New York, June 5, 1887. . GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMON COUNCIL-The laws of this State require that the captain of every ship or vessel, landing passengers in this city from a foreign country, or from another State, shall report the name, last legal settlement, place of birth, age or occupation of such passenger, to the Mayor of the city, within twenty-four hours after arrival, under a penalty of $75 for each passenger so neglected to be reported: and that

every person not being a citizen of the United States, coming to this city with the inten tion to reside, shall report himself to the Mayor within twenty-four hours after arrival, under a penalty of $100 for neglecting to do so.

The opinion is entertained that there is a settled arrangement in some parts of Europe to send their famishing hordes to our city. The operations of certain companies havo been noticed. But contractors are becoming so covetous that they afflict this country with a pauper population in consideration of receiving from steerage passengers more than $2 per head extra, for agreeing to land them in New York; instead of which these traders in foreign paupers secretly clear their vessels for Amboy, in New Jersey, there to land the said passengers, and thereafter send them to New York by other conveyance, or leave them to provide for themselves. Our city is generally the place to which they contract to be carried on leaving Liverpool.

This business is likely to be fiercely driven throughout the ensuing year. Hundreds of thousands of the population of portions of Europe are in a state of poverty, excitement and wretchedness-the prospect before them very discouraging. The old country has more people than it is convenient to support. And although many of them feel no particular anxiety to leave their native land, they see others depart-they read the mixture of truth and fiction, published by those employed to obtain passengers-they are assured they can easily return if they are not suited with the country--that certain employment, enormously high wages, and almost sure wealth await them. The times being more unpromising in other countries than in our own, they imagine they cannot change for the worse, and hither they come. They cannot fail to be an intolerable burthen to us. As soon as they arrive within our limits, many of them begin to suffer and to beg. Some of those by the "Lockwoods" commenced as mendicants on the first day they saw our city, and some of them on the first night thereafter sought the watchhouse for a shelter; others solicited aid at the Commissioners' office, and not a few at the Mayor's residence. Nearly 2,000 arrive each week, and it is not likely that many months will elapse before the number per week will be 3,000. In the Boreas, which came in on Saturday, there were about 150 steerage passengers. They were landed from a lighter, near the foot of Rector street, at 10 A. M., on Sunday. Some of them declared they had not means to obtain one day's storage for a chest.

Our streets are filled with the wandering crowds of these passengers-clustering in our city-unacquainted with our climate-without money-without employmentwithout friends-many not speaking our language-and without any dependence for food, or raiment, or fireside-certain of nothing but hardship and a grave; and to be viewed, of course, with no very ardent sympathy by those native citizens whose immediate ancestors were the saviours of the country in its greatest peril. Besides, many of them scorn to hold opinions in harmony with the true spirit of our government. They drive our native workmen into exile, where they must war again with the savago of the wilderness-encounter again the tomahawk and scalping knife-and meet death beyond the regions of civilization and of home. It is apprehended they will bring disease among us; and if they have it not with them on arrival, they may generate a plague by collecting in crowds within small tenements and foul hovels. What is to become of them? is a question of serious import. Our whole alms-house department is so full that no more can be received there without manifest hazard to the health of every inmate. Petitions signed by hundreds, asking for work, are presented in vain. Private associations for relief are almost wholly without funds. Thousands must therefore wander to and fro on the face of the earth-filling every part of our once happy land with squalid poverty and with profligacy.