HISTORY OF VERMONT. 297 



' the year 1808, would iiave power to put a 



* capitation tax upon every alien, who should 



* come to reside among us. This idea is too 



* inhospitable to be admitted by a free and gen- 



* erous people, 



, * In your sixth resolution, you alledge that 



* the president is vested with a dangerous pow- 



* er ; that, by his simple order, he may remove 

 ^ a suspected alien. We conceive that the pre- 



■ sident of the United States, as the head of 



* government, possesses the best means of 



* knowing the emissaries of our enemies, and 



* we have the fullest confidence in his using his 



* power and knowledge for the public gcfod. 



* You say that an alien has a constitutional right 



* to a trial by jury, to be informed of the nature 



* aind cause of the accusation, to be confronted 



■ with the \vitnesses against him, and to have a 

 ' compulsatory process for obtaining witnesse;? 

 ' in his favor, and to have the assistance of 



* counsel for his defence. If an alien among us 

 ^ commit a crime he may indeed be tried by a 



* jury of the country, to which he owes local al- 

 ^ iegiance ; but by what law shall a man be 

 \ tried by jury for suspicion ? If our country 



* were threatened; with invasion, a thousand spies 

 ^ might be sent to spy out our weakness, and to 



* prepare bad men to assist, and weak men to 



* submit to the enemy. Do not the common 

 ' principles of self defence, enable a government 



* to arrest such emissaries, and send them from 



* the country, if only suspected of design hostile 

 ' to the public safety ? If not, should some for- 

 ' eign invader approach our coasts, with a pow- 



* erful fleet and army, those aliens would have a 

 ^ constitutional right to a trial by jury, 



voi. II N 2 



