would. We see there is a rush of people from Europe to America that exceeds, in a single month, and at the single port of New York, the population of many single cities on the Atlantic coast. This is the case, and it is to be met and to be considered. It would be foolish to attempt to obstruct it, if obstruction were possible. The thing cannot be done. You may remember, Gentlemen, (though I ought not to suppose that you remember much about it,) that, in the correspondence with Lord Ashburton, who came out here to negotiate the treaty of 1842, we examined the subject of the impressment of American citizens. Up to that day, England had insisted on the right to visit every American ship in time of war, and, if she found any Englishmen, Irishmen, or Welshmen on board of her, to press them into her service, on the ground that they could not transfer their allegiance. I need not say that this subject had often been a matter of negotiation. It was at one time suggested by the British minister, that the right should be exercised only within certain latitudes. At another time, it was suggested that this right should not be extended to the deprivation of any American vessel of her crew. Gentlemen, I don't know that I ought to say it, but with your permission I will say, that on that occasion the ground was taken that every man on board of an American vessel, either mercantile or naval, was protected by the flag of America. No matter if his speech did betray him, no matter what brogue was on his tongue, if the stars and stripes were over him, he was for that purpose, while on board an American vessel, an American citizen. Well, Gentlemen, from that day to this, we have heard of no pretensions on the part of the British government that it could send an officer on board of any American ship and take from her any human being whatever, and, I venture to add, we never shall. Lord Ashburton, with whom I negotiated and corresponded on that occasion, was a judicious and wise man. He had been a good deal in this country. He was married in this country. He knew something of it; and he saw various relations between this country and England in a far more philanthropical point of view than most others. He stated in a letter, which forms part of the correspondence: "I must admit that, when a British subiect, Irish, English, or Welsh, becomes an American, and claims no longer the protection of his own country, his own country has New York in reference to commerce and internal improvements. I honor you for it. When I consider that your canal runs from the Lakes to tide-water; when I consider, also, that you have had for some years a railroad from the Lakes to tide-water; and when I examine, as I have just examined, that stupendous work, hung up, as it were, in the air, on the southern range of mountains from New York to Lake Erie; when I consider the energy, the power, the indomitable resolution, which effected all this, I bow with reverence to the genius and people of New York, whatever political party may lead, or however wrongly I may deem any of them to act in other respects. It takes care of itself, it is true to itself, it is true to New York; and being true to itself, it goes far, in my opinion, in establishing the interest of the whole country. For one, I wish it so to proceed. I know that there are questions of a local and State character with which I have nothing to do. I know there is a proposition to make this canal of yours greater and broader, to give to New York and its commerce, if I may say so, the power to send forth what it has with greater facility. I know not how that may comport with State politics or State arrangements, but I shall be happy to see the day when there shall be no obstruction or hinderance to any article of trade or commerce going out right, straight and strong, with breadth enough and margin enough and room enough to carry all to its market. May I say, Gentlemen, that a broad, deep, and ample canal realizes, and more than realizes, what the poet has said of the River Thames: "O, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull, But, Gentlemen, there are other things about this State of yours. You are here at the foot of Lake Erie. You look out on the far expanse of the West. Who have come here? Of whom are you composed? You are already a people of fifty thousand, a larger population than that of any New England city except Boston; and yet you are but of yesterday. Who are your inhabitants? A great many of them are my countrymen from the East, and I see them with pleasure. But these are not all; there are also Irish and Germans. I suppose, on the whole and in the main, they are safe citizens; at any rate, they appear well disposed, and they constitute a large portion of your population. That leads us to consider generally what is the particular position of our country, and of your city, as one of the great outlets to the West, in regard to this foreign immigration. The emigration to this country is enormous; it comes from Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, and almost every other part of Continental Europe. I remember it used to be a simile, when any thing of a sudden or energetic nature took place, to say that it "broke out like an Irish rebellion, forty thousand strong, when nobody expected it." Forty thousand strong does not begin to compare with the emigration to the United States. Emigration comes here with a perfect rush from every part of Ireland; from Limerick and the Shannon, from Dublin and from Cork, from the Northern ports, from Londonderry and Belfast. Into this country they come, and will continue to come; it is in the order of things, and there is no possibility of preventing it. Gentlemen, it is about three centuries and a half since Columbus discovered America, and he came here by authority of the Spanish government. He gathered up some gold, and went back with a great name. It is a much shorter time since the Irish discovered America, and they come in much greater numbers; but they don't come here with the idea of carrying back money, or fame, or a name; they mean to abide here. They come to remain among us, and to be of us, and to take their chances among us. Let them come. There are also Germans. Your city, I am told, has a very large number of thrifty, industrious German people. Let them also come. If his Majesty of Austria, and the Austrian ministry, * will allow them to come, let them come. All we desire, whoever come, is, that they will Americanize themselves; that, forgetting the things that are behind, they will look forward; and if they look as far as Iowa and Minnesota, they will not look a rod too far. I know that many from Europe come here who have been brought up to different pursuits, to different modes of life, and to different systems of agriculture from ours; but I believe it is generally true, that, when they are removed from the temptations of the Atlantic cities, and when they get into regions where trees are to be felled and land cleared, they prove themselves worthy and respectable citizens. And here, perhaps, Gentlemen, you will excuse me, if, without too long a speech, I say a little relative to our American system on this subject of foreign immigration. In the Declaration of Independence, declared on the 4th of July, 1776, a solemn and formal complaint is made against the British king, that he sought to prevent emigration from Europe to the Colonies, by refusing his assent to reasonable laws of naturalization, in consequence of which, it was stated, the country did not fill up and the public lands were not purchased. It is worthy the attention of any gentleman who wishes to acquaint himself with the early history of the country in this respect; to look back to the naturalization laws passed in the time of Washington. Every one can see what was the prevailing idea at that period. The idea of encouraging emigration from Europe was universal, and the only desire was, that those who wished to become naturalized should become acquainted with our system of government before they voted; that they should have an interest in the country; that they might not be led away by every designing demagogue. At that day, nobody foresaw such growth and such enlargement in the commerce of the country as we now see; and, therefore, in the early periods of Washington's administration, they were looking to see how they should pay the debt of the Revolution. Whatever we may think of it now, their great resource to pay their debt was, as they thought, the public domain. They had obtained from the separate States, before the Constitution was formed, a grant of the Northwest Territory, which was known to be capable of furnishing great products by agricultural labor. The Congress of that day looked to this. They had no idea how sudden would be the great increase of our commerce, or how plentiful would be the revenue from that source; and therefore their great care was to see how far they could encourage foreign immigration (which, it was expected, would bring capital into the country), consistently with such a conformity to our American system and our American institutions as would render immigration safe, and not dangerous, to the common weal. Gentlemen, we are not arbiters of our own fate. Human foresight falters and fails. Who could foresee or conjecture at that day what our eyes now see and behold? We see this for good or for evil. Nor could we stay this immigration if we would. We see there is a rush of people from Europe to America that exceeds, in a single month, and at the single port of New York, the population of many single cities on the Atlantic coast. This is the case, and it is to be met and to be considered. It would be foolish to attempt to obstruct it, if obstruction were possible. The thing cannot be done. You may remember, Gentlemen, (though I ought not to suppose that you remember much about it,) that, in the correspondence with Lord Ashburton, who came out here to negotiate the treaty of 1842, we examined the subject of the impressment of American citizens. Up to that day, England had insisted on the right to visit every American ship in time of war, and, if she found any Englishmen, Irishmen, or Welshmen on board of her, to press them into her service, on the ground that they could not transfer their allegiance. I need not say that this subject had often been a matter of negotiation. It was at one time suggested by the British minister, that the right should be exercised only within certain latitudes. At another time, it was suggested that this right should not be extended to the deprivation of any American vessel of her crew. Gentlemen, I don't know that I ought to say it, but with your permission I will say, that on that occasion the ground was taken that every man on board of an American vessel, either mercantile or naval, was protected by the flag of America. No matter if his speech did betray him, no matter what brogue was on his tongue, if the stars and stripes were over him, he was for that purpose, while on board an American vessel, an American citizen. Well, Gentlemen, from that day to this, we have heard of no pretensions on the part of the British government that it could send an officer on board of any American ship and take from her any human being whatever, and, I venture to add, we never shall. Lord Ashburton, with whom I negotiated and corresponded on that occasion, was a judicious and wise man. He had been a good deal in this country. He was married in this country. He knew something of it; and he saw various relations between this country and England in a far more philanthropical point of view than most others. He stated in a letter, which forms part of the correspondence: "I must admit that, when a British subiect, Irish, English, or Welsh, becomes an American, and claims no longer the protection of his own country, his own country has |