Mr. J. Williams was persuaded, that, if this proposition passed, no good citizen need be afraid of being disturbed. He had no objection to this resolution without the amendment, nor had he any particular objection to the amendment.
Mr. Rutledge was so far from believing that this amendment would check the immigration of foreigners, that he believed it would encourage it. Foreigners came here to live under a good Government, and the more secure the Government was made, the greater would be their desire to live under it; and he believed a greater security could not be given to it, than was proposed to be given by this amendment. It was wished to vest a power in the President to send out of the country persons who were natives of a country with whom we are at war, or who may have authorized hostilities against us. In fact, in the situation of things in which we are now placed, the President should have the power of removing such intriguing agents and spies as are now spread all over the country. What, said Mr. R., would be the conduct of France, if in our situation? In twenty-four hours every man of this description would either be sent out of the country or put in jail, and such conduct was wise. Was there nothing, Mr. R. asked, to admonish us to take a measure of this kind? Yes, there was. A gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) had said, that a person was in that State delivering commissions into the hands of every man who was so abandoned as to receive them. Other means were also taken to alienate the affection of our citizens; and are we still, said he, to say we will not send these persons out of the country until a declaration of war is made? If these persons are suffered to remain, France will never declare war, as she will consider the residence of these men amongst us as of greater consequence than the lining of our seaboard with privateers, or covering our coasts with men.
Mr. Venable did not wish to show any particular encouragement to foreigners; but, if persons thought they could live happier here than in their own country, he should not object to their making the change. He could not agree to the amendment. Suppose hostility was committed upon the property of any of our citizens by France, such hostility might not be sufficient cause for placing all our commercial citizens in a situation of having their property seized. Many cases might be deemed hostility by the President which ought not to go to cut off all communication between the citizens of the two countries. In such a case, if any of the citizens of France should be taken up here, it would produce a similar conduct towards our citizens in that country, which would be allowed to be a serious evil.
Mr. Sewall again urged, as an objection to this amendment, the constitutional power of Congress to declare war. Too many circumstances of insult and aggression, he allowed, had been experienced by this country from a foreign power, which might have been understood by other nations as war, and might have been so considered by this country; yet, as it is an act of Congress to declare war, we could not be considered as at war until Congress declared us to be in such a state, except war was declared against us. This provision was not intended for any particular case, but as a general provision, which might at any time be called forth by proclamation. It should, therefore, be as well guarded and definite as possible. If the words proposed were introduced, the proposition would be rendered too indefinite; and the President might proceed to send aliens from this country, and of course cause our citizens in a foreign country to be sent from thence, or to be imprisoned, and their property confiscated, at a time when Congress might not judge it expedient to go to war. France, said he, has now done towards the United States what might be considered as hostility. Suppose we pass a law which calls upon the President to act, what ought the President to do? Was he to determine the point whether France has authorized hostilities against the United States? If so, he would doubtless say she had, and in consequence every Frenchman in this country will be liable to be removed out of the country, and our citizens who happen to be in France will be placed in the same situation. Mr. S. said, though it might be proper for Congress to declare this to be the state of the country, he thought it would be improper to give the President this power. He wished the power of sending persons out of the country to be confined to such cases as were particularly dangerous, which were included in the resolution without this amendment. As to foreigners guilty of crimes against the United States, they ought to be apprehended and punished according to the existing laws: the present regulation was not pointed at them.
Mr. Otis said, as his colleague had chosen to call his amendment indefinite, he must excuse him when he said he considered the resolution without it, as trifling and ineffectual, and argued a timidity which ought not at this time to be shown by this country; and had he not been thoroughly acquainted with the uprightness of intention and the purity of the motives of his colleague, he should really have doubted whether he was sincerely desirous of exerting all the energies of the country in her defence; but, being persuaded of these, he would suppose that he himself was wrong in his conception on this occasion, and would make a few observations as to the ground upon which he formed his opinion.
He believed it would not be proper to wait until predatory incursions were made—until the enemy was landed in our country, or until what shall be considered as threatening or actual invasion appeared—before any steps were taken on the subject now under consideration. He was of opinion that when an enemy authorized hostilities, that was the time to take up that crowd of spies and inflammatory agents which overspread the country like the locusts of Egypt, and who were continually attacking our liberties. The provision would doubtless be exercised with discretion. There might be Frenchmen in this city and others (and he doubted not there were) who were peaceable, well-disposed persons, and against whom it never could be thought necessary to exercise this power; but there were other persons, not only in this city, but in others, who have not only been extremely instrumental in fomenting hostilities against this country, but also in alienating the affections of our own citizens; and it was men of this description whom he wished to remove from the country.
It is proposed by this resolution to give the President the power to remove aliens, when the country from which they come shall threaten an invasion. Some believe that this country is at present threatened with an invasion, and with a ravage of our coasts, yet others say that the despatches from our Envoys only consist of unauthorized conversations with X, Y, and Z, and therefore not to be relied upon. Mr. O. thought this a more indefinite power than that which he proposed to vest in the President. His opinion was, that something ought to be done which should strike these people with terror; he did not wish to give them an opportunity of executing any of their seditious and malignant purposes; he did not desire, in this season of danger, to boggle about slight forms, nor to pay respect to treaties already abrogated, but to seize these persons wherever they could be found carrying on their vile purposes. Without this, every thing else which had been done in the way of defence would amount to nothing.
Mr. McDowell said, from the observations of the gentleman who had just sat down, it would appear that hostilities had already commenced between this country and France. If this is the case, and the House knew it, why not say so, and make preparations accordingly? Why pass acts fitted for a state of war, without declaring that that is the state of the country? [Mr. Otis said, if the gentleman from North Carolina would bring forward a proposition of this kind, he should be ready to vote for it.] Mr. McD. expected the gentleman was prepared for war, and, therefore, that he would have brought forward a resolution to that effect himself.
The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Rutledge) had not considered this amendment with his usual accuracy, when he said that the adoption of it would prove an encouragement to foreigners to come to this country. He thought it could not be very flattering encouragement to foreigners, to tell them, "if you come here, and your Government commits any act of hostility against the citizens of this country, you will be liable to be imprisoned, or sent out of the country."