Speech #470031376

Mr. Chairman. this struggle cannot be postponed. The six unworthy of notice the allegation of the gentleman from Indiana billions of capital invested in railroads all concentrating on your that the Democratic party obtained power in this country by the coasts and on the borders of this soughtfor land. the immense an- votes of naturalized citizens. If he had referred to the message of nual value of the products of your farms. workshops. and mines. President Monroe which contains that declaration of policy known as the Monroe doctrine he would have found that Mr. Monroe. speaklmg of the growth of the country. says: What is more extraordinary. it is almost altogether native. for the emigration from other countries has been inconsiderable. Now. certainly the Democrats were in power from the time of Jefferson to the time of James Monroe. and it is quite certain. as there bad been no considerable immigration up to that time. that this power was not obtained by the votes of naturalizod citizens. But I am perfectly willing to admit. and I take it to the credit of the Democratic party. that it has received the steady support of the naturalized citizens of this country. They have had good reasons for giving this support. They know their fliends. and they recognize the fact that the Democratic party is the only political organization to which in the past they could look for the assertion and maintenance of the rights of naturalized citizens. This reliance has never been and never will be misplaced. As I pointed out to the gentleman from Indiana in the question.which he was good enough to allow me to ask him. the war of 1812 was undertaken by a Democratic administration. when the country was still feeble. for the express purpose of resisting the claim of Great Britain to search our ships and remove our naturalized citizens from the protection of the American flag. The gentleman replied that the war of 1812 settled nothing. but I pointed to the fact that since that time no American ship had been subj ected to search. and no naturalized citizen had been deprived of his right to protection on the high seas. But I now go further and assert that the right of search was abandoned in fact. and the practical right of expatriation acknowledged by Great Britain at that time. so far as we were concerned. although it was not formulated into a specific law of the realm until 1870. But the treaty of Ghent. which concluded the war of 1812. contained an article which in fact conceded the doctrine of expatriation. but in a covert manner.