GENERAL GRANT ON THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1271, 16 July 1883, Page 2

GENERAL GRANT ON THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION.

The New Chamber of Commerce had its annual dinner on the Bth May, when 200 prominent men attended, and .speeches were delivered by General Grant, Mayor Edson, Henry WardBeechor and otheis. General Grant's address was a notable one. He spoke on the toast, The United States, which was supplemented with the following, words: — "May those who seek the blessing of its free institutions, and the protection of its iiag, remember the obligations which those impose." Geneva! Grant, after a brief introduction, quoted this, ■saying — "Wo oiler r;-r>. af-ylum to every man of foreign birth who choosos to come here and settle upon our soil. We make of him, after a few years, residence only, a citizen, endowed vrith tlio rk-ht.: ihtit any of us

lave, except, perhaps, the single one of ' >eiu'g elected to the Presidency of the Jnitccl States. There is no other jvivilege that a native, no matter what ie has clone f.^r his country, has, that in adopted citizen of five years standing has not got. I contend that this places on adopted citizens an obligation which I am sorry to say tnany of them do not seem to feel. [Applause.) We have witnessed on many occasions a foreign adopted citizen claiming rights and privileges because he was an adopted citizen. That is all wrong. Let him come here to enjoy all the privileges we enjoy; but let him fulfil. After he has adopted it, let this be his country — a country he "will fight for, die for if necessary. lam glad to say that the great majority of them do it ; but some of them who mingle in politics arenotadopfced citizens. That class I am opposed to aa much as I am opposed to very many otber things I see that are popular now." The General's address has mot with the general approval of American citizens. The Pennsylvania State Senate has passed a stringent bill prohibiting the manufacture, sale^r u^S of explosives, !Klernal machines, or devices Jjp^ surreptitiously destroy life/and making sti%ent Tegitlationß for the heavy punishment of the guilty parties.