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Show WASHINTON AND FOREIGNERS. Tn A. P. A. days much use was made by the members of ,or sympathizers with, that very un-American un-American movement, of the alleged order of General Gen-eral Washington: "Put none but Americans on guard tonight." Their inference was that these alleged words of Washington should express for all time native-American policy. Mr. Griffin, in his American Catholic Historical Researches for July. 1907. repeats that no such order was ever issued by Washington or' any other general of the Revolution; though there is an element ele-ment of truth in the story. Washington undoubtedly preferred natives of this country to foreigners. Mr. Griffin gives several sev-eral proofs of this. One of them is this: On April oO. 1777. at Morristown. N. J., Washington ordered or-dered a reorganization of his body-guard, and, after af-ter describing the kind of men he wanted, continued: contin-ued: "I am satisfied there can be no absolute security se-curity for the fidelity of this class of people, but yet I think it most likely to be found in those who have family connections in this country. You will, therefore, send me none but natives. I must insist that in making this choice you give no intimation of my preference of natives, as I do not want to create any invidious distinction between them and foreigners." Mr. Griffin thinks it was most likely this order, which got perverted from "Put none but natives in my guard," to "Put none but natives na-tives on guard tonight." When a few years ago, the A. P. A. were repeating, ad nauseam, Washington's Wash-ington's alleged order, some witty Irishman made a new version (or perversion) which is at least as reliable as the first: ''Washington said, 'Put none but Americans on guard tonight. I want the Irish to have a good sleep as they will do most of the fighting tomorrow.'" The Catholic Fortnightly T?fripv |
