time when such frauds could not be committed.
The excitement itself prevented their perpetration;
because there were so many increased means
for its detection. He insisted, therefore, that his
friends on the other side were mistaken in asserting,
that frauds were committed to an enormous
extent in the City of Baltimore. What might be
the case in the counties he did not know—but so
far as Baltimore was concerned, the difficulty was
not to prevent frauds, but to commit them.
Mr. BUCHANAN then examined the position
which had been taken, that a suspicion of fraud
existed because men delayed application for their
naturalization papers, in the expectation that
other parties would contribute to their payment
Suppose this to be the case. He, for one would
plead guilty to the charge. and would hold him-
self responsible for that high offence. Suppose it
to be true, that a man did contribute out of his own
pocket a portion of the means to enable an indi-
vidual entitled to naturalization, to procure his
papers. Was that wrong! Was it not in accord-
ance with the very spirit of our institutions
Had we not invited the people of other lands to
emulate our career, and take a light from the
lamp of freedom which was burning here " What
had we done in the case of the Greeks, and the
Poles, and. more recently, in the cause of Hun-
gary ? Had we not held out to them the light of
our example, and told them that they were not
only entitled to be free—but entitled to the glo-
rious liberty which we ourselves enjoyed " And
had we not substantially said to them, come and
cast your lot with us, and we will show you how
free we are? Suppose then, that a son of Erin
should make an appeal to him (and he took
one of that race of men as an illustration, because
in the hour of trial and of dark adversity he had
ever found them true)—suppose such an indivi-
dual should make an application to him (Mr. B.)
He should examine into the matter and see
whether he was entitled to his naturalization pa-
pers. Suppose he found him to be so—but that he
was unable without aid to obtain his naturalization
papers; or, at all events, that for reasons satisfac-
tory to himself, he should call his (Mr. B.'s) aid,
and he should grant it. Was this fraud ? Was
there any thing wrong in it? If the man was
entitled to his papers, and he (Mr. B.) should
choose, of his own volition, or upon the appeal of
the individual himself, to aid him in obtaining
his papers, was there any thing more in the
transaction than any good freeman, or any gene-
rous mind, might properly and rightfully do ?
Mr. B. then alluded to the general nature of
the testimony on which these allegations of fraud
rested—that of the Newspaper press—as being
unsatisfactory and insufficient. Disclaiming any
charge of corrupt motive, he submilted that news-
papers did sometimes say very extraordinary
things in regard to the course and characters as-
sumed, moral and political. The Convention
itself had in the course of its debates, had some
experience on that point. And, in high party
times especially, one newspaper might be got to
advocate any one doctrine, and another to advo-
cate another—each devoutly believing in the orthodoxy
of his own doctrine. And if gentlemen |
were about to throw their anna around the whole
press, and say that the Convention were bound to
believe that these monstrous frauds existed because
they were charged, he knew not where it
would lead them. There was then no proof to
show the existence of these frauds.
But his friend from Anne Arundel .(Mr. DORSEY,)
had adverted to the reports which were
abroad, in Baltimore City, that these frauds were
committed from time to time, and to an alarming
extent. Surely no such hearsay evidence could
be depended upon. Before no tribunal—and
least of all before such a high tribunal as this
—was any such testimony to be received. He
challenged his friend from Kent to show the fact
upon which, as a lawyer or as a Judge, be could
pronounce that fraud did exist.
But the gentlemen from Anne Arundel came
to the relief of the gentleman from Kent, and
said " Oh ! it makes no difference, the provision
only affects a few; it has no retrospective influ-
ence." Suppose that a few persons only were
to lie affected. Was that any reason for the
adoption of such a provision ? Were the feelings
of a whole class of honest men to be wounded,
or were they to be disfranchised because a few
might be guilty of these frauds? If there were
only a few, it was more facile to discover who
they were, and to punish them. But he denied
that the operation of this provision will be
perspective alone, and not retrospective, liven
if it were only perspective it would be a flag-
rant act of injustice on the part of the Conven-
tion. But it was retrospective also, and Mr. B.
proceeded to sustain this position; and expres-
sed his belief that the system of buying votes
was carried on to a greater extent upon the East-
ern Shore than in any other part of the State
of Maryland. At the same moment he paid a
passing compliment to the incorruptible integrity
of the people of Baltimore County, and remarked
that a man might as well attempt to run away
with the Washington Monument, as to approach
one of them with a bribe. He took it that that
county preserved within her own BORDER=0s purify-
ing influences enough to save the whole State.
[Laughter.]
It behooved the Convention, whilst attempting
to guard against frauds on the part of naturalized
citizens, to be careful that it did not break the
good faith of the State with them. The policy of
the country, from its earliest days, had been to.
encourage immigration. In the stormy days of
the Revolution, when France came to our res-
cue, the policy of the country was, not to repudi-
ate and insult those of her sons who tendered
their services and their lives in our cause, but to
lean upon them—to put them in the van of our
armies and to entrust them with the charge of
our dearest and most sacred rights. He referred
to the services which had been rendered to the
country, previous to the adoption of the constitu-
tion, by the foreign population, and cited espe-
cially the cases of La Fayette, De Kalb, Steuben
and Pulaski. In relation to Steuben, so gratified
was the United States at his emigration to this
country that, as was well known, Congress pas-
sed a vote of thanks to him for coming and offer- |
