XII. CHAPTER in their politics, of unblemished character and noble aims. But a large number were desperate and violent men, 1798. whose chief idea of freedom seemed to be the unrestrained indulgence of their own fierce passions and hatreds. Many were persons of considerable literary qualifications; indeed, several of them had fled, like Callender, to escape punishment for alleged seditious libels against the British government. Having been journalists or pamphleteers at home, they found employment here in that capacity, and a very large proportion of the journals in the Middle and Southern States were edited by persons of this description. In admiration for France and hatred for Great Britain, they strongly sympathized with the ultra Democratic party, whose passions their writings contributed not a little to embitter and inflame; and having obtained by naturalization the rights of citizenship, they led off among the fiercest opponents of the national administration, all as voters, and some as candidates. No objection was made by any body to the enjoyment by foreigners of all rights except political ones; but the government of the country, it was thought by many, ought to be in the hands of the native citizens. Harper wished to provide that none except natives should enjoy the rights of citizenship. Otis suggested that the object in view might be sufficiently obtained by depriving naturalized citizens of the right to hold office. But the decisive objection was made to both these propositions, that the naturalization of foreigners and their holding office were things contemplated in and provided for by the Federal Constitution, so that nothing remained except to diminish the facility with which immigrants from abroad might obtain the character of citizens. In addition to restraints upon the facility of naturalization, it was also thought necessary, as a part of the XII. system of defense then under consideration, to vest a CHAPTER power somewhere to send out of the country such foreign residents as might reasonably be suspected of co-opera- 1798. ting with external enemies. Alarm on this score was by no means entirely groundless. Talleyrand was believed to have acted during the latter part of his residence in the United States as a spy for the French government, and others of the exiled French were objects of a similar suspicion. The late attempts to set on foot French expeditions in Georgia and the West were not forgotten. Davis, the representative from Kentucky, stated that the commissions issued on that occasion were yet in existence, and that a certain Frenchman, resident in Kentucky, through whose hands they had passed, was still very busy in alienating the affection of the people from the United States. Indeed, it was strongly suspected, and probably not without reason, that Volney had not been engaged in exploring the Western country solely with scientific views. Like Micheaux, the botanist, a few years before, he had, perhaps, been employed as a French government agent to obtain information, and possibly in forming connections of which advantage might be taken in case of a rupture with the United States. Should France acquire Louisiana, as it was generally believed she had done or would do, this information and these connections might be made use of to procure a dismemberment from the Union of the transAlleghany settlements, and their junction with Louisiana, thus finally carrying out those projects of French dominion in America indulged in for a century or more preceding the treaty of 1763, by which France had re tired from the North American continent. Along with the late additions to her European borders, might she not wish again to re-establish her American empire? CHAPTER On this subject of aliens three bills were passed. The first was an amendment of the Naturalization Act, extend1798. ing the necessary previous residence to fourteen years, and requiring five years previous declaration of intention to become a citizen, instead of the former and present (1851) requirements of five years in the one case and three years in the other. Alien enemies could not become citizens at all. A register was also to be kept of all aliens resident in the country, who were to report themselves under certain penalties; and in case of application to be naturalized, the certificate of an entry in this register was to be the only proof of residence admissible whenever that residence commenced after the date of this act. A second act, of which the continuance was limited to two years, gave the president authority to order out of the country all such aliens as he might judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or to be concerned in any treasonable or secret machinations. By a third act, in case of war declared, or an invasion of the United States, all resident aliens, natives or citizens of the hostile nation, might, upon a proclamation to that effect, to be issued at the president's discretion, be apprehended and secured, or removed. To the first and third of these acts no concerted opposition seems to have been made. The second, which became familiarly known as the Alien Act, was vigorously opposed as an unconstitutional interference with the right secured to the existing states to admit, prior to 1808, the importation or emigration of any such persons as they might think proper; and also as an unconstitutional interference with the right of trial by jury. But, notwithstanding this opposition, the bill passed the House forty-six to forty. XII. Neither this act nor the other respecting alien enemies CHAPTER was ever actually carried into effect, the president seeing no occasion to exercise the discretion intrusted to him. 1798. But several Frenchmen took the hint, Volney among the rest, and two or three ship-loads of them speedily left the country. Before the final passage of either of these acts, another step had been taken toward an open rupture by an act June 12. suspending all commercial intercourse with France and her dependencies. He In June 21. Simultaneously with the passage of this act, Marshall June 16. landed at New York on his return from France. proceeded at once to Philadelphia, where he was received with great eclât. The Secretary of State and many private carriages, escorted by the city cavalry, went out to meet him. On his reaching the city, the bells rang, and an immense procession collected to escort him through the streets. Shortly after, he was entertained by the Federal members of Congress at a public dinner. communicating to Congress the return of Marshall and the papers which he had brought-Talleyrand's letter to Gerry requesting him to renew the negotiation, Gerry's refusal, and his official letter to the State Department, stating his intention to remain at Paris, together with the letters of recall which had been instantly dispatched to him the president added, "I will never send another minister to France without assurances that he will be received, respected, and honored as the representative of a great, free, independent, and powerful nation." By a usage, now introduced for the first time, ten thousand extra copies of these dispatches, and of the papers before communicated, including the instructions to the ministers and their whole correspondence, were ordered to be printed for distribution among the people. CHAPTER On this subject of aliens three bills were passed. The first was an amendment of the Naturalization Act, extend1798. ing the necessary previous residence to fourteen years, and requiring five years previous declaration of intention to become a citizen, instead of the former and present (1851) requirements of five years in the one case and three years in the other. Alien enemies could not become citizens at all. A register was also to be kept of all aliens resident in the country, who were to report themselves under certain penalties; and in case of application to be naturalized, the certificate of an entry in this register was to be the only proof of residence admissible whenever that residence commenced after the date of this act. A second act, of which the continuance was limited to two years, gave the president authority to order out of the country all such aliens as he might judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or to be concerned in any treasonable or secret machinations. By a third act, in case of war declared, or an invasion of the United States, all resident aliens, natives or citizens of the hostile nation, might, upon a proclamation to that effect, to be issued at the president's discretion, be apprehended and secured, or removed. To the first and third of these acts no concerted opposition seems to have been made. The second, which became familiarly known as the Alien Act, was vigorously opposed as an unconstitutional interference with the right secured to the existing states to admit, prior to 1808, the importation or emigration of any such persons as they might think proper; and also as an unconstitutional interference with the right of trial by jury. But, notwithstanding this opposition, the bill passed the House forty-six to forty. |