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SIR,
In behalf of the NATIVE AMERICAN MUTUAL PROTECTION ASSOCIATION, of the City
of New York, permit me to enquire of you, What number of Foreigners there
are in your _______ (County) What is their general character? What number
of them are paupers? How many of them are naturalized, and what number of
them hold office? What are the views of Native Americans in your section
of the country, in relation to the present Naturalization Laws of the United
States? Do they desire any, and, if any, what alteration in those laws?
Are they opposed to the election or appointment of foreigners to office?
If so, can an association for that purpose be formed by Native Citizens
in your vicinity, to act in concert with similar Associations throughout
the United States? Would not your citizens generally unite in a petition
to Congress to amend the present Naturalization Laws so far as, hereafter,
to require of foreigners a residence of twenty one years in this country,
before they permitted to vote at any election?
Associations opposed to the election or appointment of foreigners to office
have been formed in this city, in the city of Brooklyn, Paterson, N.J.,
and in New Orleans, all of which are rapidly increasing. In order that you
may judge of the necessity of taking some steps to prevent, if possible,
the future increase of foreigners and foreign influence in this country,
I beg leave to lay before you the following statements.
In the year 1831, there were 48,589 arrivals of foreigners in this city;
in 1833, 41,075; and in 1835, upwards of 49,000, a great portion of whom
are of the most unenlightened and degraded class, many of them in extreme
poverty, and obliged to depend upon charity to procure a precarious livelihood.
In the Alms House of this city there are about 2000 (foreign) paupers.
Of 472 vagrants confined in the Penitentiary of this city at a recent period,
298 were foreigners, and of the 800 convicts in the State Prison at Sing
Sing, 603 were foreigners.
The number of electors in the city of New-York is about 43,000; of these
at least 13,000 are naturalized foreigners, and probably three fourths of
the minor offices in this city are filled by that class of citizens, besides
many of the first offices. In the town of Patterson, New Jersey, there are
39 Town Officers, 33 of whom are naturalized foreigners.
As full and as early an answer as convenient to the foregoing is most respectfully
solicited.
I have the honor to remain,
Sir, your most ob't servant,
H. HUNT,
Cor. Secretary of the N.A.M.P. Association of the City of N.Y.
PS: You are at liberty to publish this if you think proper.
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