omforts than those who have always stayed at home. It has been the
fortune, I presume, of the majority here to compare the life and the
circumstances of the average people abroad with ours here. We have here
a country that affords room for all and room for every enterprise. We
have institutions which encourage every man who has industry and ability
to rise from the position in which he may find himself to any position
in the land. It is hardly worth my while to dwell upon the subject, but
there is one point which I notice in the toast, that I would like to say
a word about--"_May those who seek the blessings of its free
institutions and the protection of its flag remember the obligations
they impose._" I think there is a text that my friend Mr. Beecher,[7] on
the left, or my friend Dr. Newman,[8] on the right, might well preach a
long sermon upon. I shall say only a few words.

We offer an asylum to every man of foreign birth who chooses to come
here and settle upon our soil; we make of him, after a few years'
residence only, a citizen endowed with all the rights that any of us
have, except perhaps the single one of being elected to the presidency
of the United States. There is no other privilege that a native, no
matter what he has done for the country, has that the adopted citizen of
five years' standing has not got. I contend that that places upon him an
obligation which, I am sorry to say, many of them do not seem to feel.

We have witnessed on many occasions here the foreign, the adopted,
citizen claiming many rights and privileges because he was an adopted
citizen. That is all wrong. Let him come here and enjoy all the
privileges that we enjoy, but let him fulfill all the obligations that
we are expected to fulfill. After he has adopted it, let this be his
country--a country that he will fight for, and die for, if necessary. I
am glad to say that the great majority of them do it, but some of them
who mingle in politics seem to bank largely on the fact that they are
adopted citizens; and that class I am opposed to as much as I am opposed
to many other things that I see are popular now.

I know that other speakers will come forward, and when Mr. Beecher and
Dr. Newman speak, I hope they will say a few words on the text which I
read.

[Illustration: "OLD IRONSIDES"--THE FRIGATE _CONSTITUTION_--1812]

OUR NAVY

Speech of Hampton L. Carson, delivered at the dinner of the Union
League, Philadelphia