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AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
Jforfijnism, ^lomiinism, ;iiii) gogus gtmocrati),
IN THE LIGHT OF
REASON, HISTOrvY, AND SCRIPTURE
IN WHICH
CERTAIN DEMAGOGUES IN" TENNESSEE, A>rD ELSEWUERE, ARE SHOWN UP IN THEIR TRUE COLORS.
WILLIAM Gf BROWNLOW
EDITOR OF " BnoWNLOW'S KNOXVILLE WHIG."
" Go to your bloody rites again :
Preach — perpetuate damnation in your den ;
Tlicn let your altars, ye blasphemers, peal
With thanks to Heaven, that let you loost? again,
To practice deeds with torturing fire and steel,
No eye may search, no tongue may challenge or reveal!"
Thomas Campbell.
Nasl)oiIIc, (JTcnn. : PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR
1856.
Cheeked
May 1913
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW,
In the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
V
Jltbitattoii.
TO THE YOUNG MEN OF AMERICA.
Young Gentlemen: — Almighty God has conferred on you the peculiar honor and the eminent responsibility of preserving and perpetuating the liberties of this country, both civil and religious. That the American people are on the eve of an eventful period, will not be doubted by any sane man, Avho can discern the " signs of the times." Indeed, it is an cvery-day remark, that, as a nation, we are in the midst of a crisis. If, however, a crisis ever did exist in the affairs of this Nation, since its independence was first achieved, which called upon the native and legal voters of the country to watch Avith sleepless vigilance over their blood-bought liberties, that crisis must be dated in the year of our Lord, ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX! The great Commonwealth of Humanity, in behalf of the momentous interests of Truth, Liberty, and Religion, calls upon the present generation of Young Men, who will have the issues of a coming revolution to meet, to qualify themselves for the task.
There never was a time known, since the dark days of the Revolu- tion, when the civil and religious liberties of this country were so much endangered as at the present time. This danger we are threatened with from Foreign influence, and the rapid strides of Romanism, to which we may add Native treachery, connived at, as they are, by certain leading demagogues of the country, and a powerful and influential political party, falsely called Democrats,
4 DEDICATION.
who seek the Foreign and Catholic vote, and are willing to obtain it at the expense of Liberty, and the sacrifice of the Protestant Religion !
The great criminal of the nineteenth century, the Papal Hier- archy, is now on trial before the bar of public opinion, having been arraigned by the American Party. You are called on to decide, Young Men, as you wield the balance of power, whether this Criminal, arraigned for treason against God, and hostility to the human race, deserves the execrations of all honest and patriotic men, and avenging judgments of a righteous God ! In order to decide this grave question. Young G-entlemen of the Nineteenth Century, you are to consider the inevitable tendency of the prin- ciples of the Church of Rome — the actual results of these tenden- cies as embodied in history — the indictment brought in by the American Party, and the testimony of the witnesses. When you have intelligently considered the part the self-styled Democratic Party has acted in this infamous drama, you will feel it to be your duty to indict the corporation claiming the right to be called the Great Democratic Party, as accessory to the treason, crimes, and infamy, of the aforesaid Papal Hierarchy !
To you, then. Gentlemen, is this brief work most affectionately inscribed by
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
Foil tlie last twenty-five years, the writer of this Avork lias em- ployed much of his time in the reading and study of the controversy between Koman Catholics and Protestants. And those who have been subscribers to the paper he has edited and published for the LAST SEVENTEEN YEARS, will bear him witness that he has kept up a fierce and unceasing fire against that dangerous and immoral Corporation, claiming the right to be called the IIOLY Catiiolic Church, This he has done, and still continues to do, because he believes firmly that the system of Popery, as taught in the stand- ards of the Church of Rome, as enforced by her Bishops and Priests, and as believed and practised by the great body of Romanists, both in Europe and America, is at war with tlie true religion taught in tlie Bible, and is injurious to the public and private morals of the civilized world ; and, if unchecked, will over- turn the civil and religious liberties of the United States. Such, he believes, is its tendency and the design of its leaders.
Popery is deceitful in its character ; and the design of this brief work is, in part, to drag it forward into the light of the middle of the nineteenth century, .to strip the flimsy vizor off its face, and to bring it, with all its abuses, corruptions, and hypocritical Protestant advocates, before the bar of enlightened public opinion, for judg- ment in the case. Roman Catholics misrepresent their own creed, their Church, and its corrupt institutions. The most revolting, wicked, and immoral features of their Icoly and immutable system, are kept out of sight by its corrupt Clergy, and Jesuitical teachers; while, with a purpose to deceive^ a Protestant sense is attached to most of their doctrines and peculiarities. By this vile means, they designedly misrepresent themselves, and impose on the public, by
6 PREFACE.
inducing charitable and uninformed persons to believe that they are not as profligate as they are represented to be. This game has been played with a bold hand in Knoxville, for the last twelve months, and it is being played in every city and town in the South and "West, where Romanism is being planted. One object, then, of this epitomized work, setting forth the boastings, threats, and dis- closures of leading Catholic organs and Bishops, as to their real principles and designs upon this country, suffered to go forth in their more excited moments, or unguarded hours, is, to spread before the people, in a cheap form, true Popery, and to strip it of its Protestant garb, which it has for the time being assumed.
An additional reason for bringing out this publication, at this particular time, is, to expose a corrupt bargain entered into by the leaders of the Catholic Church, and the leaders of a corrupt and designing political party, falsely called the Democratic party. One of the most alarming "signs of the times" is, that while Protestant ministers, of different persuasions, only two brief years ago, could preach with power and eloquence against the dogmas and corrupt- ing tendencies of Romanisin, and pass out of the doors of their churches, receiving the compliments and extravagant praises of their entire congregations, let one of them now dare to hold up this Corporation as a dangerous foreign enemy — let him warn his charge against the influence of Popery, or but only designate the Catholic Hierarchy as the "man of sin" described in the Scriptures, and one half of his congregation are grossly insulted : they charge him with meddling in politics ; and, by way of resentment, they will either not hear him again, or they will starve him out, by refusing to contribute to his support !
The hypocritical and profligate portioh of the Methodist, Pres- byterian, Baptist, and Episcopal membership in this country, are not so much misled by Popery, as they are influenced hj party politics, and are in love with the loose moral code of Romanism. It lays no restraints on their lusts, and gives a loose rein to all their unsanctified passions and desires. Backslidden, unconverted, or unprincipled members of Protestant Churches, find in Popery a sympatliizing irreligion, adapted to their vicious lives ; and hence they fall in with its disgusting superstitions and insulting claims. They are, therefore, ensnared with the delusions of Popery, of
PREFACE. T
choice. In other words, Popery is a system of mere human policy ; altogether of Foreign origin; Foreign in its support; importing Foreif^n vassals and paupers by multiplied thousands ; and sending into every State and Territory in this Union, a most baneful Foreign and anti-Republican inlluence. Its old goutijied, immoral, and drunken Pope, his Bishops and Priests, are politicians ; men of the Yforld, earthly, sensual, and devilish, and mere men of pleasure. Associated with them for the purpose, in great State and National contests, of securing the Catliolic vote, are the worst class of American politicians, designing demagogues, selfish office- seekers, and bad men, calling themselves Democrats and " Old-Line Whigs!" These politicians know that Popery, as a system, is in the hands of a Foreign despotism, precisely what the Koran is in the hands of the Grand Turk and his partisans. But corrupt and ambitious politicians in this country, are willing to act the part of traitors to our laws and Constitution, for the sake of profitable offices ; and they are Avilling to sacrifice the Protestant Religion, on the ancient and profligate altar at Rome, if they may but rise to distinction on its ruins !
The great Democratic party of this country, which has degene- rated into a Semi-Papal Organization^ for the base purposes of power and plunder, now fully partakes of the intolerant spirit of Rome, and is acting it out in all the departments of our State and General Governments. What Romanism has been to the Old World, this Papal and Anti- American organization seeks and pro- mises to be to this country. What is Popery in Roman Catholic Europe ? It is as intolerant in politics as in religion : it taxes and oppresses the subjects and citizens of every country ; it interdicts nations ; dethrones governors, chief magistrates, and kings ; dis- solves civil governments ; suspends commerce ; annuls civil laws ; and, to gratify its unsanctified last of ambition, it has overrun whole nations with bloodshed, and thrown them into confusion. So it is with this ^^ Bogus" Democracy: it wages a war of extermination against the freedom of the press, and against the liberty of speech, the rights of human conscience, and the liberties of man : hence its indiscriminate proscription of all who dare to unite with the Ameri- can Party, or openly espouse their cause. Popery aims at uni- versal power over the bodies and souls of all men ; and history
8 PREFACE.
proclaims that its weapons have been dungeons, racks, chains, fire, and sword ! The bastard Democracy of the present age has united with the Prelates, Priests, Monks, and Nuns of Romanism, and is daily affiliating with hundreds of thousands of the very off-scour- ings of the European Catholic population — stimulating them to deeds of violence, and to the shedding of blood ! To-day, they sustain a Baker in the foul murder of a Poole, in New York, because he was a member of the so-called Know-Nothing party, which had just routed, in an election, this Foreign Loco-foco party ! To-morrow, we find this same vile party, its editors and orators, sustaining a Foreign Catholic Mob in Louisville, Ky. ; and the members of the same party, in surrounding States, exulting over the murder of Protestant Americans ! And in the next breath, as it were, we find these sons of Belial, falsely called Democrats, after reaching the power they lusted after in Philadelphia, sending up shouts over the lawless deeds of a Foreign Catholic riot, which made the ears of every American citizen to tingle !
Under the guidance of an All-avise Providence, the Protector of our Republic, and of the Protestant Religion, it is in the power of the free and independent voters of these United States to cause this enemy's long " arm to he clean dried up, and his right eye to he utterly darkened," by elevating to the two first offices within the gift of the world, Millard Fillmore and Andrew J. Donelson !
I am, candid Reader, your fellow-citizen,
W. G. BROWNLOW.
Knoxville, July, 1856.
AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
Jf0rcignisni rxonranism, iinb fiogiis Jtmocnuj.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
The Creed of the American Party — The Platform misrepresented by Mr. Wat- kins — Official Vote on the adoption of the new Platform — What the Aboli- tionists and I)fniocrat.s say of the Platform — Seceders from the Nominating Convention, and their Address,
Lord Byron, just as the war of Greece approached, said: "It is not one man, nor a million, but the spirit of liberty which must be spread;" and, carrying out the same bold idea of liberty, he continues, "It is time to act;" or, in the language of the Know Nothing salutation, " It is time for work ;" for " what signifies self, if a single spark of that genius of liberty worthy of the past, can be bequeathed unquenchably to the future?" In the language of a fair poetess :
'• Our country is a whole,
Of which wc all are parts ; nor should a citizen Jlegard his interests as distinct from licrs: No hopes or fears should touch his jvitriot soul, But what affects her honor or her shame."
The civilization — the nationality — the institutions, civil and reli- gious— and the mission of the United States, are all eminently American. Mental light and personal independence, constitutional union, national supremacy, submission to law and rules of order, homogeneous population, and instinctive patriotism, arc all vital elements of American liberty, nationality, and upward and onward progress. Foreign immigration, foreign Catholic influence, and sectional factions nourished by them — and breeding demagogues in
10 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
the name of Democracy, by a prostitution of the elective franchise — have already cornxpted our nationality, degraded our councils, both State and National, weakened the bonds of union, disturbed our country's peace, and awakened apprehensions of insecurity and progressive deterioration, threatening ultimate ruin ! To rescue and restore American institutions — to maintain American nation- ality, and to secure American birthrights, is the mission and the sole purpose of the American Party — composed of conservative, patriotic, Protestant, Union-loving, native-born citizens of every section, and of every Christian denomination — self-sacrificing pa- triots, who prefer their country, and the religion of their fathers, and of the Bible, to a factious najne, a plundering political organ- ization, and an infamous Papal hierarchy !
The paramount and ultimate object of our American Organiza- tion is to save and exalt the Union, and to preserve and perpetu- ate the rights and blessings of the Protestant religion. We contend that American principles should mould Amei'ican policy ; that American mind should rule American destiny ; that all sectional parties, such as a party North, or a party South, should be re- nounced ; that all sectional agitations, such as are kept up by Abo- litionists, Free Soilers, and Black Republicans, should be resisted ; that Congress should never agitate the subject of domestic slavery, in any form or for any purpose, but leave it where the Constitution fixes it ; that as the destiny of the country depends on the mind of the country, intelligence should rule ; that the ballot-box should be purified, and corrupt Romanism and foreign influence checked; that any allegiance "to any foreign prince, potentate, or power" — to any power, regal or pontifical, should be rebuked as the most fatal canker of the germ of American independence ; that every citizen should be encouraged to exercise freely his own conscience; and that the popular mind should be enlightened, and the popular heart rectified, by proper and universal Christian education. This is the essence of the American creed ; and when methodized into a Political Decalogue, it constitutes the Ten Commandments of the American party.
In this connection, and at this point, Ave will give the much- abused Platform of the American party, adopted at the session of the National Council, February 21, 1856. Examine the Plat- form, and answer to your conscience the question : What true American head can disapprove — what pure American heart can revolt ? Can men taking their stand on this Platform be the ene- mies of civil and religious liberties ? Can either civil or religious liberties rest secure on any other grounds ? And must not those "Bogus" Democrats and Anti- Americans, therefore, who wage war against this citadel of American birthrights, act as enemies to the
WITU FOREIGNISM. 11
Federal Constitution, enemies to the Union, to the mental inde- pendence of American citizens — enemies to the Protestant religion, and enemies, consequently, "to civil and religious liberty?"
PLATFORM OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
1st. An humble aeknowlodgmcnt to the Supreme Beinp; for liis protecting care vouolisafed to our fathers in tlieir successful Revolutionary stru<j;;r1e, and hitherto manifested to us, their descendants, in the preservation of the liber- ties, the independence, and the union of these States.
2d. The perpetuation of the Federal Union, as the palladium of our civil and religious liberties, and the only sure bulwark of American Independence.
3d. .■fmei-icans muat rule America, and to this end, ?K(/(re-born citizens should be selected for all State, Federal, and municipal offices, or government emplovment. in preference to all others: nevertiieless,
4th.' Persons born of American parents residing temporarily abroad, should be entitled to all the rights of native-born citizens; but,
5th. No person should be selected for political station, (whether of native or foreign birtli,) ^Yho recognizes any allegiance or obligation of any descrip- tion, to°xny foreign prince, potentate, or power, or who refuses to recognize the Federal and State constitutions (each within its sphere) as paramount to all other hiws, as rules of political action.
Gth. The unqualiticd recognition and maintenance of the reserved rights of the several States, and the cultivation of hurmony and fraternal good-will between the citizens of the several States; and to this end, non-interference by Congress with questions appertaining solely to the individual States, and non- intervention by each State with the affairs of any other State.
7th. The recognition of the right of the native-born and naturalized citizens of the United Suites, permanently residing in any Territory thereof, to frame their constitution and laws, and to rcguhitc their domestic and social affairs in their own mode, subject only to the provisions of the Federal Constitution, ■with the ]irivilege of admission into the Union whenever they have the requi- site population for one Rc})resentativc in Congress. Frovided always, that none but those who are citizens of the United States, under the constitution and laws thereof, and who have a fixed residence in any such Territory, ought to participate in the formation of the constitution, or in the enactment of laws for said Territory or State.
8th. An enforcement of the principle that no State or Territory ought to admit others than citizens of the United States to the right of suffrage, or of holding political office.
9th. A change in the laws of naturalization, making a continued residence of twenty-one years, of all not hereinbefore provided for, an indispensable requisite for citizenship hereafter, and excluding all paupers, and persons con- victed of crim(^ from landing upon our shores ; but no interference with the vested riglits of foreigners.
10th. Ojiposition to any union between Church and State: no interference with religious faith or v\'orship, and no test-oaths for office.
11th. Free and thorough investigation into any and all alleged abuses of public functionaries, and a strict economy in public exjionditures.
12th. The maintenance and enforcement of all laws constitutionally enacted, until said laws shall be repealed, or shall be declared null and void by com- petent judicial authority.
13th. Opposition to the reckless and unwise policy of the present admini.s- tration in the general management of our national affairs, and more especially aa shown in removing "Americans" (by designation) and conservatives in
12 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
principle, from office, and placing foreigners and ultraists in their places : as shown in a truckling subserviency to the stronger, and an insolent and cowardly bravado toward the weaker powers : as shown in reopening sectional agita- tion, by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise : as shown in granting to un- naturalized foreigners the right of suffrage in Kansas and Nebraska: as shown in its vacillating course on the Kansas and Nebraska question : as shown in the corruptions which pervade some of the departments of the government: as shown in disgracing meritorious naval officers through prejudice or caprice; and as shown in the blundering mismanagement of our foreign relations.
14th. Therefore, to remedy existing evils, and prevent the disastrous conse- (juences otherwise resulting therefrom, we would build up the "American party" upon the principles hereinbefore stated.
15th. That each State Council shall have authority to amend their several constitutions, so as to abolish the several degrees, and institute a pledge of honor, instead of other obligations, for fellowship and admission into the party.
16th. A free and open discussion of all political principles embraced in our platform.
The Hon. Mr. Watkins, a renegade from the American ranks, in East Tennessee, delivered a speech in Congress on the 6th of May, 1856 ; which speech we find reported in the Washington Union — a speech which betrays an utter ignorance of the point he undertook to discuss. It is due to his betrayed constituents that we should expose his ignorance, and the blundering fallacy of his attempts to justify his turning Locofoco Cataline Judas Sag-Nicht ! He says, as reported by his political organ-grinder :
" But, sir, the platform recently adopted by the Philadelphia Convention cannot receive my approbation. I cannot support Mr. Fillmore, or any other distinguished Whig, upon that platform. The only solitary plank in the Philadelphia platform of June, 1855, was the twelfth section — that section which denied to Congress the right to interfere with slavery in the Terri- tories, declaring the doctrine of non-intervention, and of popular sovereignty in the Territories. But, sir, that plank in the platform was stricken out by the convention recently held, and the sixth resolution of the platform then adopted substituted in its place. And what does that resolution endorse ? Is there any non-intervention in the sixth resolution of the Philadelphia plat- form ? Is there any denial of the right of Congress to interfere upon the sub- ject of slavery in the sixth resolution of the Philadelphia platform? Certainly noL"
In lieu of the June platform, we have this February platform. The June platform contained no such denial to Congress, as is here alleged by Mr. Watkins, of the right to interfere with slavery in the Territories ! And it is marvellous, indeed, that a grave Mem- ber of Congress should undertake to discuss Platforms, which he had either never read, or the purport of which, if he had ever read them, he had either wholly forgotten, or lacked the sense to com- prehend ! The twelfth section of the June Platform says :
" And expressly iiretermitting any expression of opinion upon the power of Congress to establish or prohibit slavery in any Territory, it is the sense of
WITU FOREIGNISM. 13
this National Council, that Congress ouout not to legislate upon the subject of slavery within the Territories of the United States."
Thus, instead of denying to Congress the right to interfere >vith slavery in the Territories, as erroneously and recklessly charged by this new-born Democrat, all ojiinion on that subject was " ex- pressly pretermitted'' in the Junii IMatform ! ^Ir. Watkins Avas in such a hurr}"- to join the Forney, Pierce, and Catholic Democracy, that he did not stop to examine even the Platform which most dis- gusted him ! But this is not the worst blunder which he com- mitted in that speech. He turned to the new Platform, and asked, with an air of triumph :
" Is there any non-intervention in the sixth resolution of the (new) Phila- delphia platform ? Is there any denial of the right of Congress to interfere with tlic subject uf slavery in the sixth resolution of the (new) Philadelphia platform ?"
And he answers, " Certainly 7iot !" The ignorant man, it would seem, only read as far as to the sixth section of the new Platform ; and even that section contains a direct aflBrmative answer to his question ; which, in order to place the American party in a false position, he answers, " Certainly not!''
Now, we ask such as may have noticed his misrepresentations, to read a little further on, at least to the end of the 7th section of this new Platform, and see where it leaves Mr. Watkins ! Turn back to the 7th section, and it will be seen that this section, instead of '■^pretermitting any ojnnion" on the question, announces the doctrine that the citizens of the United States permanently residing in the Territories, have a ^^ right" to frame their Constitu- tion and laws, and to regulate their domestic affairs in their own mode, subject only to the provisions of the Federal Constitution !
The New York Evening Post, a Pierce and foreign Democratic organ, thus alludes to the action of the Convention which nomi- nated Fillmore and Donelson : —
"The 12th section of the June Platform, it is true, had been abrogated; BUT IT HAD BEKN IIEPLACED BY ANOTHER, MEANING PRE- CISELY THE SAME THING!"
The Cincinnati Gazette, an Abolition, Anti- American Foreign sheet, came out in opposition to the American nominees, in its issue of Feb. 29th, 1856, on account of the Pro-slavery character of the new Platform. The Gazette says : —
"We are glad that the action of the Convention proved so decided as to leave. no doubt as to the character of the Plafform. The latter is cleari.v and DECiDKUi.v Pko-slavekv AND Neiiraska, (Hid hi this vespcct corrcs])Oiids pre- cisely with the I'RiNCiPLES OF TUE PiERCE DEMOCRACY ! FUlmore and Donelson are therefore presented to the American people as candidates for the Presi-
14 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
dency and Vioe Presidency, ON A THOROUGH AND DECIDED NE- BRASKA PRO-SLAVERY PLATFORM, and the citizens of Northern States are asked to vote for them !"
The New York T7'ibune, whose editor was a prominent member of the Pittsburgh Black Republican Convention, and who is violent in his opposition to Fillmore andt Donelson, says :
"The object of the Know Nothino;s has dwindled down to this — TO DE- FEAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ! That is to say, this is the object of those who have managed the Philadelphia Convention, and nominated Mr. Fillmore. I have diligently inquired for a member who voted for Banks for Speaker, and now supports jP;7/?/iore; but up to this time — more than three days after the nomination — I have not heard of one. That sort must be scarce !"
The following is the official vote on the adoption of the new Platform by the National Council, which met four days previous to the Nominating Convention :
New Hampshire — Nays — Messrs. Colby and Emery.
Massachusetts — Yeas — Messrs. Ely, Weith, Brewster, Robinson, and Ar- nold. Naj/s — Messrs. Richmond, AYheelwright, Temple, Thurston, Sumner, Allen, Sawin, and Hawkes.
Connecticut — Nays — Messrs. Sperry, Dunbar, Peck, Booth, Holley, and Perkins.
Rhode Island — Yeas — Messrs. Chase and Knight. Nays — Messrs. Simons and Nightingale.
New'York — Yeas — Messrs. Walker, Oakley, Morgan, Woodward, Reynolds, Chester, Owens, Sanders, Whiston, Nichols, Van Dusen, Westbruok, Parsons, Picket, Campbell, Lowell, Sammons, Oakes, Seymour, Squire, Cooper, Burr, Bennett, Marvine, Midler, Stephens, Johnson, Wetmore, Hammond, and S. Seymour. Nay — Mr. Barker.
Delaware — Yeas — Messrs. Clement and Smithers.
Maryland — Yeas — Messrs. Codet, Alexander, Winchester, Stephens, and Wilmot. Nays — Messrs. Purnell, Ricaud, Pinkney, and Kramer.
Virginia — Nays — Messrs. Boiling, McHugh, Cochran, Boteler, Preston, and Maupin.
Florida — Yea — Mr. Call.
New Jersey — Yeas — Messrs. Deshler, Weeks, Lyon, and McClellan.
Pennsylvania — Yeas — Messrs. Freeman, Nelclede, Gossler, Smith, Gillin- ham, Hammond, Wood, Gilford, Pyle, Farrand, and Williamson. Nays — Messrs. Johnson, Sewell, Jones, Parker, Heistand, Kase, Kinkaid, Coifee, Carlisle, Crovode, Edie, Sewell, and Power.
Louisiana — Yeas — Messrs. Lathrop and Elam. Nays — Messrs. Ilarman and Hardy.
California — Yeas — Messrs. Wood and Stanley.
Arkansas — Yea — Mr. Logan. Nay — Mr. Fowler.
Tennessee — Yeas — Messrs. Brownlow, Bankhcad, Zollicoffer, Burton, Campbell, Donelson, Harris, Bilbo, and Beloat. Nays — Messrs. Nelson, Reedy, and Picket.
Kentucky — Yeas — Messrs. Stowers, Campbell, Raphael, Todd, Clay, Good- loe, and Bartlett. Nays — Messrs. Shanklin, Jones, Carpenter, Gist, and Underwood.
Ohio — Yeas — Messrs. White, Nash, Simpson, and Lippett. Na7js — Messrs. Gabriel, Olds, Ford, Barker, Potter, Stanbaugh, Rodgers, Spooner, Hodges,
WITH FOREIGNISM. 15
Kyle, Lees, Swigart, Allison, Fishback, Thomas, Corwlne, Chapman, Ayres, and JohnM)n.
Indiana — Yeas — Messrs. Sheets and Phelps. Naij — Mr. Meredith.
Missouri — Yeas — Messrs. Edward, Fletcher, and Ilockaday. Nay — Mr. Breckenrid^c.
Michigan — Yua — Mr. "Wood.
Wisconsin — Yeas — Messrs. Lookwood, Cook, Chandler, and Gillies.
District of Columbia — Y-as — Messrs. Ellis and Evans.
Illinois — Yeas — Messrs. Danenhower and Allen. Nays — Messrs. Jennings and Clear.
Iowa — Nays — Messrs. "Webster and Thorrington.
Yeas — 108. Nays — 77.
We Avill close this chapter by giving the delegates who seceded from the Nominating Convention, with the Address published by them on the occasion. That secession was a more inconsiderable affair than has been represented by the foreign party of this country. The author of this work was the Chairman of the large Committee on Credentials, and reported two hundred and SEVENTY-SEVEN delegates, which report was received without oppo- sition, as to numbers. Of these, forty-two only seceded, viz. : 13 out of 28 from Ohio ; one of two from New Hampshire ; 6 — all — from Connecticut; 2 out of 13 from Massachusetts; one out of 3 from Illinois ; 7 out of 27 from Pennsylvania ; one out of 4 from Rhode Island ; 5 — all — from Michigan ; 5 — all — from Wisconsin ; one — all — from Iowa: 42 out of 277 — not a sixth, and but little over a seventh of the whole !
ADDRESS.
The seceders or "bolters" made the following address, to which they appended their States and names. What they say of the Louisiana delegates, we have explained in another portion of this work :
"The undersigned, delegates to the nominating Convention now in session at Philadelpiiia, find themselves comjiellod to dissent from the principles avowed by that body; and liolding opinions, as they do, that the restoration of the Missouri Compromise, as demanded by a majority of the whole people, is a redress of an undeniable wrong, and the execution of it, in spirit at least, indispensable to the repose of the country, they have regarded the refusal of that Convention to recognize the well-deHned opinion of the country, and of the Americans of the free States, upon this question, as a denial of their rights and a rebuke to their sentiments ; and they hold tliat the admission into the National Council and nominating Convention, of delegates from Louisiana, representing a Roman Catholic Constituen(!y, absolved every true American from all obligatious to sustain the action of either of the said bodies.
"They have therefore withdrawn from the nominatinji; Convention, refusing to participate in the proposed nomination, and now address themselves to the Americans of the country, and especially of the States they represent, to jus- tify and approve of their action ; and to the end that a nomination conforming to the overruling sentiment of the country in the great issue may be regularly
16 ^ AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
and auspiciously made, the undersigned propose to the Americans in all the States to assemble in their several State organizations, and elect delegates to a Convention to meet in the city of New York, on Thursday, the 12th day of June next, for the purpose of nominating candidates for President and Vice President of the United States." ^ _
Ohio— Thos. II. Ford, J. H. Baker, B. S. Kyle, W. H. C. Mitchell, E. T. Sturtevant, O. T. Fishback, Jacob Ebbert, Wm. B. Allison, H. C. Hodges, L. H. Olds, W. B. Chapman, Thos. McYees, Charles Nichols.
Nevt Hampshirk — Anthony Colby.
Connecticut — Lucius G. Peck, Jas. E. Dunham, Hezekiah Griswold, Austin Baldwin, Edmund Perkins, David Booth.
Massachusetts— Wild. S. Thurston, Z. R. Pangborn.
Illinois — Henry S. Jennings.
Pennsylvania— Wm. F. Johnston, S. C. Kase, Pv. M, Riddle, T. J. Coffey, John Williamson, J. Harrison, S. Ewell.
Rhode Island — E. J. Nightingale.
Michigan— S. T. Lvnn, W. Fuller, W. S.AVood, P. P. Meddler, J. Hamilton.
Wisconsin— D. A. Gillis, John Lockwood, Robt. Chandler, G. Burdick, C, W. Cook.
Iowa — L. H. Webster.
WITH FOREIGNISM. 17
THE ELECTION OF BANKS— THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
One of the issues in the Presidential contest now going on, is the slavery question. A. 0. P. X. Y. Z. Nicholson, of the Washing- ton Union, who canvassed this State in opposition to Scott, and shed his crocodile tears before every crowd he addressed, because so good a man as Fillmore, wlio had stood firm for the rights of the South, had been set aside by an ungrateful Convention at Baltimore, to give place to Scott, the favorite of Seward — this miserable hypo- crite, Ave say, now comes out and says, " Fillmore's abolitionism will suit the North."
The Central Democratic Committee for East Tennessee, in a call for a District Convention at Clinton, in May last, through the Knoxville Standard^ conclude said call in this language:
" The time has again arrived when the national Democracy must rally to their country's call and preserve the Constitution as it is in its purity, and per- petuate the union of the States from tiie ruin which the Black IxcinibLican Part;/ of the North, aided hy THEIR KNOW-NOTHING ALLIES OF THE SOUTH, would bring upon them. By order of the
" CENTRAL COMMITTEE."
The Sag-Nicht Convention held at Somerville, on Thursday the 8th of May, and which selected D. M. Currin as their Electoral candidate, adopted the following resolution :
*' Resolved, That we have been appointed by the Democracy of this Electoral District to organize to fight, in the coming Presidential election, the Black Re- publicans AND K.NOw-NoTiiiNos. Itesoloed, That we can beat them, and we will do it. Resolved, That we will cordially receive the co-operation of all Old-Line Whigs who will assist us in carrying out these resolutions."
Now, the charge is here made that the Know-Nothings of the South are the allies of the Black Republicans of the North. This is the impression intended to be made, first by these concealed ca- lumniators at Knoxville, and afterwards by the o'pen and avowed slanderers of the same party at Somerville ! With such wholesale lying as is displayed in both of these cases, we have but little patience : we only give their language, to show their recklessness in n 'iking such an issue. And although this Foreign party claim to be the guardians of Southern interests, we propose to show, before we conclude this chapter, that they are themselves the "allies 2
18 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
of the Black Republicans of the North," and are giving them more "aid and comfort" than all the other parties in the country !
FRANCIS P. BLAIR, former editor of Gen. Jackson's organ at Washington, was the President of the Black Republican Con- vention at Pittsburg, in February last ! John M. Niles. Demo- cratic Senator in Congress, was President of the Black Republican Convention held in Connecticut ! In the Pittsburg Convention, over which Blair presided, PRESTON KING, ABIJAH MANN, DAVID WILMOT, and JACOB BRINKERHOFF, Old-Line Democrats, figured conspicuously.
For two long and cold winter months, the Democrats, both North and South, voted for Richardson, of Illinois, for Speaker, a violent anti-slavery man, whose speeches against slavery, and m favor of Abolitionism, were matters of record in the Congressional Globe, and were delivered on the floor of Congress so late as 1850 ! The immortal 75 Democrats did not cease to vote for this man Rich- ardson, until Gen. Zollicoffer, of Tennessee, read his speeches upon him, in the presence of his friends !
On the 2d of February, SAMUEL A. SMITH, of Tennessee, a Democratic Representative in Congress, reneived his motion to adopt the plurality rule. His proposition, which it was evident would elect Banks, was carried by Black Republican votes, who went for it in a body. This would still not have elected Banks, but for the fact that the following Democrats voted for the odious plurality rule : Clingman, Herbert, Hickman, Jewett, Kelley, Bar- clay, Bayard, Wells, Williams, and Samuel A. Smith! Mr. Clarke was the only American who voted for the odious rule !
Mr. Carlile, a national American, of Virginia, before the vote was taken upon this plurality rule, offered the following substitute for it :
" Resolved, That the Hon. Wm. Aiken, a Representative from the State of South Carolina, be, and he is hereby declared Speaker of the Thirty-Fourth Congress."
Gov. Aiken is a sound Southern Democrat — never was any thing else — but Col. Smith objected, and demanded the previous question, which cut off" Mr. Carlile' s resolution, and which was to prevent its adoption ! The candidate of the Democratic party, at that time, Mr. Orr, immediately tvithdrew in favor of Gov. Aiken, upon the introduction of Mr. Carlile's resolution; and to prevent Aiken's election, SAMUEL A. SMITH cut off" said reso- lution by a call of the previous question !
Banks was elected by one vote, and this could not be accom- plished until SEVEN DEMOCRATS got behind the bar, and refused to vote at all ! These were HICKMAN, PARKER, and BARCLAY, of Pennsylvania; CRAIG, of North Carolina;
WITH FOREIGNISM. tS '
TAYLOR, of Louisiana; RICHARDSON, of Illinois; and SEWARD, of Georgia ! Any two of these Southern Democrats could have made Aiken Speaker, but they did not want him — they knew Banks to be a Democrat, if he were a Black Republican — and to elect him, they believed would give them the strength of that odious party in the coming contest.
We have before us the Washington Union of Sept. 27th, 1853, giving, editorially, a glowing account of the Massachusetts Demo- cratic State Convention, reporting the speech of Nathaniel P. Banks, of Waltham, concluding that report in these words :
"Mr. Banks enir>hatioally and decidedly, on his own part, and on that of the Democrafs of Massavlnt^cttx, disclaimed the truth of the rumors in certain newspapers that an arran^rement had been entered into with another political party in the Commonwealth concerninj]!; the distribution of State offices. It was his and this Convention's and all true Democrats' desire, belief, and determination, that Henry W. Bishop should be elected governor of Massa- chusetts, and that the other Democratic State officers should also be elected. He was not afraid of defeat, and less afraid of Whi(j .snccestt, which, to judge by its recent effects, was simply equivalent to a defeat. [Applause.]"
It may be said, and doubtless will be, that Banks has allied him- self with the Republicans. But Banks says he has alivays been a. Democrat, and that he was nominated as a Democrat in his dis- trict. And certain it is, that he was elected Speaker by DEMO- CRATS, under the compulsion of an odious plurality rule, and the gag of the previous question !
It will be said, and said truthfully too, that SIX AMERICANS FROM THE NORTH voted for Mr. Fuller, of Pennsylvania. So they did ; and in doing so, they voted for a sound national and conservative man. But did this justify /Southern Democrats in dodging the question, and thereby electing a Black Republican Speaker ? Gov. Aiken was the candidate of the seven Democrats — he was not the candidate of the six Americans ! Democracy, moreover, had refused to vote for an American under any circum- stances, and had, on the first day of the meeting of Congress, passed a resolution insulting the whole vVmerican party, in caucus ! We would have seen them banished to the farthest verge of astro- nomical imagination, before we would have voted for any man that favored tliat insultinfj resolution !
In 1847, by a unanimous vote, both branches of the Legislature of New Hampshire adopted resolutions denunciatory of the insti- tution of slavery, and approving of the Wilniot Proviso. These resolutions were reported to the House, by the Representative from Ilillsboro, the native town of Gen. Pierce, and were in tlie hand- writing of Pierce !
On the 2d of October, 1847, the Democratic Soft-Shells, who are now the supporters of Pierce's administration, and fill the offices
20 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
he has to dispose of in New York, held a State Convention, and declared their " uncompromising hostility to slavery" in a string of resolutions they adopted and ordered to be published.
On the 16th of February, 1848, a Democratic State Convention for New York convened at Utica, to appoint Delegates to the National Convention to nominate candidates for President and Vice President, at which a string of anti-Southern resolutions were adopted, denouncing ^'•slavery or involuntary servitude," as repug- nant to the genius of Republicanism.
On the 18th of July, 1848, the Democratic Soft-Shells held a mass-meeting in the park of New York, and, by way of making perfect their organization against General Cass, declared, by reso- lutions, their " uncomiyromising hostility to slavery or involuntary servitude !"
On the 13th of September, 1848, a Democratic mass-meeting convened at BuiFalo, in New York, and, in a general Abolition jubi- lee, adopted resolutions condemning and denouncing the institution of slavery !
In 1852, while the contest was going on between Pierce and Scott, the Washington Union said, editorially :
"THE FREE-SOIL DEMOCRATIC LEADERS OF THE NORTH, ARE A REGULAR PORTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY; AND GENERAL PIERCE, IF ELECTED, WILL MAKE NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN THEM AND THE REST OF THE DEMOCRACY IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF OFFICIAL PATRONAGE, AND IN THE SELEC- TION OF AGENTS FOR ADMINISTERING THE GOVERNMENT!"
The Black Republicans recently held a meeting in New York, at which Benjamin F. Butler, of " pious memory," and Van Buren Swartwout notoriety, presided ! On his right hand sat, as Vice President of the meeting, Moses H. Cfrinnell, one of the Democratic " pipe-layers" of 1840, whom this Van Buren Attorney- General Butler made efforts to send to the State prison ! Another Vice President, gravely looking on, and arranged in dignified grandeur upon the stand, was John W. Edmonds, ex-" blanket contractor" in a large swindle, and a practical spiritual-rapper ! A third and last Vice President was the notorious Br. Townsend, the sarsaparilla man, who has not yet wound up his controversy with a man of the same name, as to who is the greatest rascal in the way of manufacturing this medicine !
Among the other officers, secretaries, and prominent men in the meeting, was 0. A. Bana, of the Tribune office, a Fourierist, who, at a public meeting on a former occasion, toasted " Horace Greeley,. Charles Fourier, and Jesus Christ!" Prominent in the meeting was 0. A. Stetson, of the Astor House, an Amalgamationist. Henry J. Raymond, the Abolition editor of the Times, and
wrrn foreignism. 21
Rudolph Garrigui\ a noisy German Abolitionist, looked and acted as though they believed the salvation of the Union depended upon the success of the Republicans ! A fellow who made frequent motions, an Irishman by the name of McMorrow, had served an apprenticeship of twelve months in the State prison, for breaking open a store after night ! The principal speaker, who spoke for two hours on tlie subject of slavery, was the notorious Bingham, an itinerant Abolitionist from Ohio. It was a queer medley of men, parties, principles, and characters — two-thirds of all the active partisans in the meeting having held offices in the ranks of Democracy ! And still, that party boasts of its Northern wing being sound upon the slavery question.
And here is tlie resolution of the 8th of January Democratic Convention in Ohio, appointing delegates to the Cincinnati Pow- wow :
" licsfihrJ, Tliat the people of Ohio now, as they have always done, look upon slavery as an evil, and unfavorable to the development of the spirit and practical bonefit.s of free institutions: and that, entertaining:; these sentiments, they will at all times feel it to be their duty to use all power clearly fijiven by the terms of the national compact, to prevent its increase, to mitigate, and fuialli/ eradicate the evil."
To show, just here, where Tennessee Democrats stand upon the infamous Wilmot Proviso question, we give the following extract from a recent number of the Nashville Patriot :
JAMES K. POLK, who, in 1847, approved the Oregon bill, which contained this odious and un- constitutional clause : next in order is
CAVE JOHNSON,
now President of the Bank of Tennessee, who voted for the same bill which Mr. Polk sanctioned : next we have
AARON V. BROWN,
an aspirant before the Cincinnati Convention, who did likewise : then cornea
JULIUS W. BLACKWELL,
a star whose light has been quenched in obscurity, but who voted with his colleagues for the Oregon bill in '47 : next in the procession of Southern men "dangerous to the South" is
BARCLAY MARTIN, President Pierce's U. S. Mail Agent, who cast a similar vote : following him we have
LUCIEN B. CHASE,
author of the History of the Polk Administration, at present a resident of New York city, but at the time he exhibited himself as " a dangerous man to the South," a representative in Congress from this State : he is succeeded by
FRED. P. STANTON, for ten years a Democratic Congressman from the Memphis district: he voted
22 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
for the Oregon bill, with the Wilmot Proviso annexed : behind him in the march is
ALVAN CULLOM,
a Democratic Congressman, who has squatted on the other side of one of his native mountains in the fourth district, and been quiescent for some years : he was one of the Tennessee " dangerous men:" he voted twice for the Wilmot Proviso : in the same category is
GEORGE W. JONES, in the language of another, the "goose which cackles at the door of the Trea- sury vault:" notorious as a Southern supporter of the Squatter vSovereignty doctrine, with two votes on record in favor of the Wilmot Proviso. He may be reckoned as very " dangerous to the South :" last, but not least in thi? dread array of "dangerous men," is
ANDREW JOHNSON,
the present Governor of Tennessee, and Cincinnati aspirant : he voted tlirec times for the Wilmot Proviso, and so doubtful are his doctrines on the slavery question, that many slaveholding members of his own party regard him as extremely " dangerous to the South."
By the way, in 1842, this same Crov. Johnson was a Senator in our State Legislature, and introduced the following Abolition reso- lutions, commonly called his White Basis System :
" Resolved, hy the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That the basis to be observed in laying the State off into Congressional districts shall be the voting population, without any regard to three-fifths of the negro
POPULATION.
"Resolved, That the 120,083 qualified voters shall be divided by eleven, and that each eleventh of the 120,083 of qualified voters shall be entitled to elect one member in the Congress of the United States, or so near as may be practicable without a division of counties."
The position of Gov. Johnson is this : he wishes the State entitled to her slave representation as a State, but in her oivn borders the representative districts are to be made according to her white popu- lation ! In other words, he desires the State to retain her ten Congressmen, representing both her white and slave population, but wishes them appointed throughout the State without regard to the slave population : so that the county containing ten thousand white inhabitants, and double that number of slaves, should be entitled to no more representation than the county containing ten thousand white inhabitants and no slaves !
We heard Johnson last summer, in his debate with Gentry, in Campbell county, contend that the county of Campbell should have the same representation in Congress as the county of Shelby, which he stated had FIFTEEN THOUSAND NEGROES ! He appealed to the prejudices and passions of the poor — inquired of the hard working-men of that county how they liked to see their wives and daughters offset, in enumerating the strength of the county, by the '■'■ greasy negro wenches of Shelby, Davidson, Fay-
WITH FOREIGNISM. SSO
ette^ Sumner and Rutherford counties" He made a real, stirring abolition appeal to the poor, and non-slavelioldin;:; portion of the crowd, which was in the proportion of ten to one of that county, to array them against the rich, and especially against the owners of large numbers of slaves. lie told them that those Negro wenches belonged to the lordly slaveholders of Middle and West Tennessee, and that as our Constitution now is, these wenches were placed on an equalitij with the fair daughters and virtuous wives of laboring men. On this ground he advocated his infamous amendment to the Constitution, which would incorporate his " White Basis " scheme !
This is a rank Abolition measure, and fraught with more danger to the South than any thing proposed by the whole brood of Aboli- tionists, Free Soilers, and Black Republicans at the North. Al- ready the South is weak enough, and not at all able to vote with the North in our National Legislature. The effect of this scheme is to deprive the South of one-third of her strength in Congress. Not only is this the effect, but it is the design of the mover. We hold that Johnson is a Free Soiler, and has been for years. It is stated by his Northern Democratic friends, that when he quit Congress, he came home to run for Governor — "with a determination, if defeated, to remove to some of the Northwestern States, and take a new start ! Had he been defeated by Maj. Henry in 1853, he would now be a Black Republican in one of the Free States, running for office I And yet the propagator of this infamous Abolition doctrine of a "White Basis" representation — this demagogue who arrays the poor against slaveholders, is the man for the ultra guardians of the slave interests of the South ! A man Avho would not own negroes when he could, but loaned his money out at interest, and left his wife and daughters to do their own work — a man who is at heart and in his doctrines a rank Free Soiler — a man who lias only remained in the South to experiment upon office-seeking ! This is the man that Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, and Carolinas, rejoiced to see elected Governor of a Southern slave State !
It was seeing the position of Johnson on this question that induced the '•^Democratic Herald" in Ohio, in June, 1855, thus to notice our race for Governor:
"Tennessee. — An animated contest is s*)U'A" *^" ^" '^'■''^ ^ood old Democratic State for Governor, and the largest crowds flock to licar the candidates that ever attended political meetings since the Hero of New Orleans ui<ed to address the masses in person. The present incumbent, Andrew Johnson, is the Democratic candidate, and a Mr. Gentry, a pro-durerii renegade from the Federal Whig ranks, is the opposing candidate, brought out by a Know Nothing conclave. This man is on tlic stump abusing the Catholics, and denouncing them for their tyranny, while he openly advocates the slavert/ doctrines of Southern Niygerdom ! On the other hand, his competitor, Gov.
24 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
Johnson, well and favorably known to our leading Democrats of Ohio, HAS NO SYMPATHIES WITH SLAVERY, and is the advocate of such amend- ments to the Federal Constitution as will give all power to the people, and EFFECTUALLY PUT DOWN THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY !"
Now, this showing up of Democracy, on the Slavery question, may look shabby to many ultra Southern men, and it may induce them to charge that the Democratic party are inconsistent. We defend them against tlie charge of ineonsistenci/, and maintain that what would be called inconsistency here, is nothing but Democracy. For instance, A. 0. P. Q. X. Y. Z. Nicholson, the editor of the great official organ of Democracy at Washington, said, editorially, and "by authority," so late as 1855:
" IT IS NO PART OF THE CREED OF A DEMOCRAT, AS SUCH, TO ADVOCATE OR OPPOSE THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY. HE MAY DO THE ONE OR THE OTHER, IN THE EXERCISE OF HIS RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN, AND NOT OFFEND AGAINST HIS DEMOCRATIC FEALTY !"
Precisely so ! A man may advocate .the abolition of slavery where it exists ; he may, as a Black Republican, arm himself with Sharpe's rifle, and go into Kansas, and shoot down pro-slavery men, and still be a consistent Democrat, if he vote for the party, and stand by the nominees of the party conventions ! Hence, all the factions at home and from abroad — all religions — all the ends and odds of God's creation are now associated together, and are battling in the same unholy cause, in the name of Democracy I
And further to exhibit the inconsistency of this Democratic and Foreign party, it will be recollected that, in 1844, they nominated Silas Wright, of New York, for Vice-President, to run on the ticket with CoL. Polk — a position he declined, because he would not agree to be second best on the ticket. In a letter to James H. Titus, Esq., bearing date April 15, 1847, Mr. Wright says :
" If the question had been propounded to me at any period of my public life, Shall the arms of the Union be employed to conquer, or the money of the Union be used to purchase Territory now constitutionally free, for the purpose of planting Slavery upon it, I should have answered, No ! And this answer to this question is the Wilmot Proviso, as I understand it. / am surjrrised tliat any one should suppose me capable of entertaining any other opinion, or giving any other answer as to such a proposition."
Now, if Silas Wright, one of the great "Northern lights" of Democracy, held these sentiments in 1847, what must they have been in 1844, when that party sought to elevate him to the second office within the gift of the nation ? But we are just reminded of what is said in " the law and the prophets," that is to say, '■'■It is no part of the creed of a Democrat, as such, to advocate or oppose the extension of slavery!'' What a party]
WITH FOREIQNISM. 25
[From tlie Kiioxville 'Wliig for Sept. 22, 1855.]
TO REV. A. B. LONGSTREET,
PROFESSOR OF METHODISM, ROMANISM, AND LOCOFOCOISM.
Reverend Sir : — I sec a pastoral address of youvs, to " Meth- odist Know-Nothing Preachei-s," going the rounds of the Locofoco Foreign Sag Nicht papers of the South, occupying from four to six columns, according to the dimensions of the papers copying. I have waded through your learned address, and find it to be one of more ponderous magnitude than the Report made to the British House of Commons, by Lord North, on a subject of far greater interest! And as I am one of the class of men you address, notwithstanding j^our great advantage over me in point of acre and experience ; and as no one has made a formal response to your pious warnings, it will not be deemed insolent in me to take you up.
My first acquaintance with you was in 1847, at an Annual Meetinir of the Georo;ia Conference, held in Madison; and although the impressions made upon my mmd by you, on that occasion, were any thing but favorable to you, as a man, still, I am capable, as I believe, of doing you justice. I supposed you then to be the rise of sixty years, certainly in your dotage and among the vainest old gentlemen I had ever met with. You obtained leave, as I under- stand, by your own seeking, to deliver a lecture to the Conference, upon the subject of correcthj reading and pronouncing the Scrip- tures. I was in attendance, and listened to you with all tlic atten- tion and impartiality I was capable of exercising, I thought it a little presumptuous for any one man to assume to teach more than one hundred able ministers how to read and pronounce the inspired writings ; and the more so, when I knew that several of the num- ber were presidents and professors in different male and female col- leges, and that many others of them were graduates of the best literary institutions in the South, Still, my apology for you was, that you was a vain old gentleman, and that to listen to you, respectfully, was to obey the Divine teaching of one who has taught U3 to "bear the infirmities of the weak." Your samples, both of
26 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
reading and pronunciation, were amusing and novel to me. And so far as I could gather the prevailing sentiment, it was, that to adopt jour style would render the reading of the Scriptures per- fectly ridiculous.
In your address to "Methodist Know-Nothing Preachers," I discover that you are still the man you were at Madison, in 1847 : you have a great deal to say about yourself^ and make free use of the personal pronoun I ! I advise — / believe — / am satisfied — I will not agree — / warn and caution — / fear, or / apprehend, etc. To parse the different sentences in your partisan harangue syntac- tically, little else is necessary but to understand the first person singular, and to repeat the rule as often as it occurs : a peculiarity which characterizes every paragraph in your labored address. Be- side, the frequent use of the pronouns 1. me, my, mine, etc., too fre- quently occur to be worth estimating. And it will be seen, upon examination, that not merely the verbiage, but the sentiment, is thus egotistic throughout, exhibiting a degree of arrogance and self-importance, only to be met with in a Clerical Locofoco, used by bad men for ignoble purposes. To carry out the idea of your vanity, you say in the winding up of your address :
"And now, brethren, have /or Mr. Wesley hit upon one good reason why you should not have joined the Know-Nothings? If either oi us have, then / beseech you to come from among them. If loe have have not, there is yet another in reserve which, if it does not prevail will show — or prove to my satisfaction at least — that if an angel from heaven were to denounce your order, you would cleave to it still."
Any other man but yourself would, from considerations of mo- desty, have given John Wesley the preference, in this connection, and come in as second best. But no, you are first in place, and, in your own estimation, in importance likewise, as a religious teacher.
I have no doubt you consider yourself a much greater man than John Wesley ever was ; and in proof of this, I need only cite what you have said in reference to Mr. Wesley's opposition to Komanism :
*' Even good old John Wesley caught the spirit of the times, and wrote that letter, from which it appears he thought if the Catholics got into power, they would abuse Protestants. What abuse they could have heaped on them, greater than they heaped on Catholics, short of cutting their throats, I cannot conceive."
^ The only superior you acknowledge is Cardinal Wiseman, a bigoted Boman Catholic, and you seem to knock under to him quite reluctantly, and not without informing the public that you have been a laborious student for forty years, and '''•aprofound t/miker." Here is your praise :
" I have been a pretty severe student for near forty years, and a laborious, if not profound thinker for a long time ; but when I compare myself in intel-
WITH FOREIGNISM. 27
lectual stature with that man, I shrink in my own estimation to the insignifi- cance of a mite."
So much by way of noticing vanity. You arc a literary and theological star of the first magnitude ! You are an encyclopedia of the learning, science, patriotism, and religion of the country I Sir, if you possessed a little more sheep-faced modesty , and could exhibit a little less of lion-headed impudence than you do, you would be a much more useful, not to say successful minister of the New Testament !
Sir, you have taken the field in opposition to Know-Nothingism, professedly through your deep and abiding concern for Christianity, and the interests of Methodism. You say :
" You cannot surely be so weak as to suppose you oan crush Romanism by Know-Nothing agencies ; but you have almost ruined Methodism by them already.
" Now the ruler of this nation is spoken evil of by your party continually, and therefore, in the judgment of Wesley, I might stand up in the pulpit and defend him."
The truth is, you arc influenced alone by partisan political feel- ings ; and occupying a position in a Mississippi College, in the midst of Fire-eating Disunion Progressive Democracy, you desire to please them, rather than serve the interests of your country or Church. To take the stump, or the pulpit, in defence of Frank Pierce and his corrupt administration, would be a pleasant talk to you, who have been, all your life-time, an inveterate Locofoco in politics, and "a profound thinker" in favor of its iniquitous mea- sures and principles. In your early political training, you have been swayed by interest and popular favor, and in most cases at the expense of truth, just as you now are, in your mad vindication of Romanism. A tool for others to work with, till you have found yourself in a condition to use such tools as you yourself have been, you are now a trimmer and weathercock, leading on men of less sense than yourself, to such distinction as interest and ambition may dictate I
Sir, you take the ground, throughout, that there is no danger of Catholics in this country, and that they do not seek to establish their religion. Here is a specimen of your logic :
"Thank God no religious sect can tyrannize over another in this country, 80 long as they all respect the Federal Constitution. Until we see, then, the Catholics treating that instrument with disrespect, it is madness to entertain fears of them ; and worse than madness to form combinations against them."
Now, sir, the foregoing statement is untrue, and in making it you could not have been sincere. You are a man of too much sense, and of too much information, to believe what you are wick- edly trying to palm upon others. Brownson's Quarterly Review,
28 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
the most able, as well as the most authentic organ of Catholicism in the United States, employs the following language to the American people — mark it :
"Are your free institutions infallible? Are they founded on Divine rigktl This you deny. Is not the proper question for you to discuss, then, not •whether the Papacy be or be not compatible with republican government, but whether it he or he not founded in Divine right? If the Papacy be founded in Divine right, it is ,supreme over whatever is founded only in human right, and then your institutions should be made to harmonize with it: not it with your institutions ! ! ! The real question, then, is not the compatibility or the incompatibility of the Catholic Church with democratic institutions, but, Is the Catholic Church the Church of God?
" Settle this question first. But in point of fact, democracy is a mischievous dream, loherever the Catholic Church does not jrredominate, to inspire the peo- ple with reverence, and to teach and accustom them to obedience to authority."
Here is still plainer language from the Roman Catholic Bishop of St. Louis :
"Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes."
Here is what the Boston Pilot says, a Catholic paper of high standing :
" No good government can exist without religion, and there can be no reli- gion without an inquisition, which is wisely designed for the promotion and protection of the true faith."
Here is the Shepherd of the Valley^ published under the eye and with the approbation of the Bishop of St. Louis :
" The Church is, of necessity, intolerant. Heresy she endures when and where she must ; but she hates it, and directs all her energies to its destruc- tiod. If Catholics ever gain an immense numerical majority, religious free- dom in this country is at an end : so say our enemies — so say we."
And here is what the Rambler says, a devoted Catholic periodical, high in the confidence of the Bishops and Priests of that Church :
"You ask if he (the Pope) were lord in the land, and you were in the minority, if not in numbers, yet in power, what would he do to you? That, we say, would entirely depend on circumstances. If it would benefit the cause of Catholicism, he would tolerate you — if expedient, he would imprison you, banish you, fine you, probably he might even hang you ; but, be assured of one thing, he would never tolerate you for the sake of the 'glorious princi- ples' of civil and religious liberty."
I could give other quotations of this character, which have met your eye long since, but I forbear, as they would extend my letter beyond the limit I have prescribed for myself. These are the pub- lications which, in part at least, have given rise to the Know- Nothing organization, so cordially hated by you.
You say there is no danger of injury to our institutions from
WITH FOREIGNISM. 29
the rapid strides of Romanism. AIIoav me to ask your attention to the following remarkable political prediction by the Duke of Rich- mond, late Governor-General of Canada, and a British uoble, who declared himself hostile to the United States on all occasions. Speaking of oui- Government, this deadly enemy said :
" It will be destroyed ; it ouo:ht not, it will not be permitted to exist." "The curse of the French revolution, and subsequent wars and comraotiona in Europe, are to be attributed to its example; and so long as it exists, no prince will be safe upon his thnme; and the sovereif/ns of Europe are aware of it; and they have ddermined upon its destruction, and have come to an understandinij upon this subject, and have decided on the means to accomplish it; and they will eventually succeed by SUBVERSION rather than conquest." "All the low and surplus population of the different nations of Europe will be carried into that country. It is and will be a receptacle for the bad and dis- affected population of Europe, when they are not wanted for soldiers, or to supply the navies; and the governments' of Europe will favor such a course. Tliis will create a surplus and majority of low population, who are _.w veri/ easUi/ excited; and they will bring with them their principles; and in nine cases out of ten adhere to their ancient and former governments, laws, man- ners, customs, and religion ; and will transmit them to their postciity ; andiii many cases propagate them among the natives. These men will become citi- zens^ and, by the constitution and laws, will l>e invested with the right of suf- frage." "Hence, discord, dissension, anarch;/ and civil war tcill ensue; and some popular individual will assume the government, and restore order, and the sovereigns of Europe, the emigrants, and many of the natives will sus- Uin him." "The Church of Rome has a design upon that country ; and it will in time be the established religion, and will aid in the destruction of that Republic." " I have conversed with man;/ of the sovereigns and princes of Europe, and the;/ have unanimoushj expressed these opinions relative to the gov- ernment of the United States, and their determination to subvert it."
But, sir, after eulogizing Catholics for their devotion to religious toleration in this country, you make two assertions, touching the Methodist Church, for which I wish to arraign you, and for which the authorities of said Church ought to arraign you, under that section of our Discipline which forbids railing out against our Doc- trines and Discipline. You say :
"And if I were to take the stump against you, I would say to the honest yeomanry of the country. ' Good people, if you think your liberties will be any safer in the hands of Methodists than Catholics, ;/ou are vaslhj viistaken.'
"I would add, in humiliation but in candor, ' You have ten thousand times more to fear, just at this time, from Methodists, than Catholics; simply because the first are more numerous than the last, because the first are actually in the field for office, while the last are not.' "
If you have this opinion of the Methodist Church, you cannot be an honest man and remain within her jurisdiction. You ought to leave her communion forthwith, and go over to Rome ; and in doing this, you would not have far to go ! Occupying the position you do, and holding the sentiments you do, I Avould not send a child to any school or college over Avhich you might preside. Nor do I think any Protestant parent or guardian ought to patronize
30 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
any school under your care. Your influence, whatever you may possess, is against the Protestant faith, and in favor of Catholicism. In a word, you are a dangerous man in a Republican government.
Upon the subject of religious toleration by the Catholics, you seem to have fallen into the same error adopted by the Hon. Mr. Stephens, of Georgia — a man for whom you have great regard now, but who, in the days of Clay Whiggery, was a stench in your Loco- foco nostrils ! Mr. Stephens made the assertion, in a public speech in Augusta, that " the Catholic Colony of Maryland, under Lord Baltimore, was the first to establish the principle of free toleration in religious worship." The Colony of Maryland was a Catholic Colony, and the "Toleration Act" was written by Lord Baltimore himself. That Act is dated 21st April, 1649, when Lord Balti- more was in the zenith of his glory. Here is the language of that "Act" of religious toleration :
"Denying the Holy Trinity is to be punished with death, and confiscation of land and goods to the Lord Proprietary, (Lord Baltimore himself!) Per- sons using any reproachful words concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Holy Apostles or Evangelists, to be fined <£5, or in default of payment to be publicly whipped and impri.soned, at the pleasure of his Lordship, (Lord Balti- more himself!) or of his Lieutenant-General." See Laws of Marijland, at large, by T. Bacon, A. D. 1765. 16 and 17 Cecilius's Lord Baltimore.
Grod deliver us from such toleration ! Death was the penalty for expressing certain religious opinions, not acceptable to Lord Balti- more and the Holy Catholic Church ! Fines and whipping at the post was the penalty for speaking against the image-worship of the Catholic Church. But I need not pursue this subject further: the onus prop an di is on your side.
Speaking of Mr. Wesley, you say :
" If Wesley were alive, what would he think of your midnight plots, and open tirades against Papists? But a letter of his has been going the rounds of the newspapers, which the Know Nothings obviously think gives the sanc- tion of that good man to their movement. Not so. Mr. Wesley was not the man to write as inconsistently as their version of this letter makes him write."
Why, sir, Mr. Wesley goes much further in his political opposi- tion to Roman Catholics than the American party have ever pro- posed to go. The American party say only that they will not vote for Catholics, or put them in office, because their principles are antagonistic to the spirit of Republican institutions. Mr. Wesley lays down the comprehensive, but true doctrine, in this very letter, that '"'' no government not Roman Catholic ought to tolerate men of the Roman Catholic persuasion.''' And to show how fully and clearly he sustains this position, I quote from his letter at length. You will find the letter in Vol. 5, page 817, of Wesley's Miscel-
WITH FOREIGNISM. 31
laneous Works, dated Jaiimiry 12tli, 1780. It -was originally ad- dressed to the Dublin Freeman's Journal. Here is what Mr. Wes- ley says, in the very letter you seek to deny out of:
" I consider not whether the Romish religion is true or false : build nothing on one or the other sujipositiou. Therefore, away witii all your common-place declamation about intolerance and persecution for religion ! Suppose every ■word of Pope Pius's creed to be true! Suppose the Council of Trent to have beeu infixlliijle ; yet I insist upon it that no government not Roman Catholic ought to tolerate men of the Roman Catholic persuasion.
" I prove this by a plain argument — let him answer it that can — that no Roman Catholic does or can give security for his allegiance or peaceable beha- vior. I prove it thus: It is a Roman Catholic maxim, established not by pri- vate men, but by public council, that 'No faith is to be kept with heretics.' This has been openlj' avowed by the Council of Constance ; but it has never been openly disclaimed. Wliethcr private persons avow or disavow it, it is a fixed maxim of the Church of Rome. Rut as long as it is so, nothing can be more plain than that the members of that Church can give no reasonable securit}' to any g ivernment for their allegiance and peaceable behavior. Therefore, they ouglit not to be tolerated by any government, Protestant, Mo- hammedan, or Pagan. You say, ' Nay, but they take an oath of allegiance.' True, five hundred oaths ; but the maxim, ' No faith is to be kept witli here- tics,' sweeps them all away as a spider's web. So that still no governors that are not Roman Catiiolics can have any security of their allegiance.
" Again, those who acknowledge the spiritual power of the Pope can give no security of their allegiance to any government ; but all Roman Catiiolics acknowledge this: therefore they can give no security for tlieir allegiance. The power of granting pardons for all sins — past, present, and to come — is, and has been for many centuries, one branch of his spiritual power. But those who acknowledge him to have this spiritual power can give no security for their allegiance, since they believe the Pope can pardon rebellion, high treason, and all other sins whatever. The power of dispensing with any pro- mise, oath, or vow, is another branch of the spiritual power of the Pope: all who acknowledge his spiritual power must acknowledge this. But whoever acknowledges the dispensing power of the Pope, can give no sccuritv' for his allegiance to any government. Oaths and promises are none : they are as light as air — a dispensation makes them null and void. Nay, not only the Pope, Init even a priest has power to pardon sins ! This is an essential doc- trine of the Church of Rome. But they that acknowledge this, cannot possi- bly give any security for their allegiance to any government. Oaths are no security at all ; for the priest can pardon Ijoth perjury and high treason. Set- ting their religion aside, it is plain that, upon ])rinciples of reason, no govern- ment ought to tolerate men who cannot give any security to that government for their allegiance and peaceful jjehavior. But this, no Romanist can do ; not only while he holds that ' no faith is to be kept with heretics,' but so long as he acknowledges either priestly absolution, or the spiritual power of the Pope.
" If any one pleases to answer this, and set his name, I shall probably reply. But the productions of anonymous writers I do not promise to take any notice of.
" I am, sir, 3"our humble servant,
"JOHN WESLEY.
•' CiTV Road, January 12, 1780."
But, sir, you know as well as any living man, that the history of the Church, from the days of the first Pope down to the iniquitous
32 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
reign of Pius IX., sustains Mr. Wesley in his views on this subject, and justifies the steps taken by the American party. Notwith- standing the oft-repeated profession of Catholic liberality and Ro- mish toleration, so triumphantly paraded by you, and other interested aspirants and unprincipled demagogues, the Catholic Church has invariaj)ly shown herself to be destitute of both, whenever she had the opportunity of using them. Sir, intolerance is an element of her faith, and jjersecution a specimen of her piety ; and no man knows it better than you do. In taking upon herself the obligation of "true obedience to the Pope," the Catholic Church imposes upon herself a task that proves beyond all doubt she cannot, under any circumstances, remain faithful to that obligation, and yet main- tain "allegiance" to such a government as ours !
Sir, I have no patience with a Protestant minister who stands forth as the apologist of Catholicism ; nor have I any confidence in one who does it, provided he is a man of intelligence, as I admit you to be. The only excuse I can render for your strange and inconsistent conduct is, that you are in your dotage ; that you are a violent old partisan ; and that you are the tool of designing dema- gogues, infamous disunionists, and unmitigated repudiators. I shall not be at all surprised to hear that you have apostatized from the Methodist Church, and gone over to the Roman Catholics. I learn from the Little Rock Gazette, a Democratic paper, that but the other day, Gov. E. N. Carway, of Arkansas, a member of the Me- thodist Church, had actually apostatized from Methodism, and the Protestant faith, and united with the Roman Catholics. And what makes his defection from the faith of his fathers still more notorious, his organ is down upon the Protestant clergy in bitter and unrelenting denunciations ! I believe that you are preparing to go over to the Roman Catholics ; and to justify your change, when the time comes, you now assert, "in humiliation but in can- dor," you say, that the people "have ten thousand times moj'e to fear from Methodists than from Catholics." If you believe this, you ought to leave the Methodist Church instantly, even without the formalities of a withdrawal or expulsion — even though you should be denied admittance into the Catholic Church ! I deny that we have " ten tJwusand times more to fear' from the Devil than we have from the Catholics ; and according to your argument, the Methodists are worse than the Devil! This, their most bitter revilers and enemies do not believe ; and for obvious reasons. The Methodist Church has no St. Bartholomew's Day, with its rivers of blood staining her garments: she never indiscriminately slaugh- tered the Albigenses, or Waldenses, or Huguenots : she never established an infernal Inquisition : she never lit up the fires of Smithfield : never burned the Holy Bible, and prohibited, upon.
WITH FORBIGNISM. 33
pain of eternal death, the printing and circulating of God's word ; and last, but not least, she has not sought to keep the people in ignorance. Wiiercver Methodism has been planted, tlic people have become great and happy. If you please, wherever Protest- antism has prevailed, the people have been prosperous and happy. But look to Old Spain, Italy, the German Confederacies, Sar- dinia, Naples, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Bavaria, Baden, South America, and Mexico, where Romanism is the established religion, and the places of her influence are a hissing and a by-word in the eyes of the civilized world ! Protestantism has done more for the world in the last hundred years than the Roman Catholic Church has for the eighteen hundred years !
Sir, the Puritans, of New England; tlic Hollanders, of New York ; the Quakers, Lutherans, and German Reformed, of Penn- sylvania ; the Baptists, of Rhode Island ; the Episcopalians and Presbyterians, of Virginia; the Lutherans and followers of Wesley and Whitefield, of Georgia ; the Huguenots and Episcopalians, of the Carolinas; and the Seceders in several of the States, who were the religious pioneers of these States, were all Protestants and Know Nothings ; and if they were living, they would be ashamed of you and your teachings. They selected this wilderness country as their home, in order that they might enjoy those religious privi- leges from which they had been debarred in the old world, by the very Cliurcli and people you arc seeking to vindicate.
But you will say, as you have done in substance, that this is no longer the characteristic of Romanism. Why is it not ? lias she ever changed for the better ? When did she renounce her doc- trines and practices ? Never ! Rome is the same tyrannical sys- tem now, where she has the poAvcr, that she ever has been, and for ever must be. Wo to this land of ours, if ever Rome gets the ascend- ancy here ! Iler creed is the same here and now, in this respect, that it has everywhere been, and must always be. It is her boast that she is always right, and knows no change. She practices her unholy inquisitorial and Jesuitical doctrines in this country, as far as she can and dare act them out. Her whole system is adverse to our republican institutions, and she hesitates not to declare it. She has publicly burned our Bible in diff"erent States in this Union, and recently, in New York and Pennsylvania. Archbishop Hughes, the Head of the Catholic Church in this country, has taken an oath, administered by the Pope of Rome, of which this is a part :
"Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said Lord (the Pope) or his afore- said successors, I will, to my utmost power, persecute and ivage war with."
The Church of Rome declares all who are not its members to be heretics. It is painful, in view of all these things, to see an old Protestant minister, whose head has been withered by the frosts of 3
34 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
seventy winters, openly in the field advocating a Church whose Bishops, Priests, and members are " drunken with the blood of saints."
There is but one remaining feature of your singular address to Know Nothing Methodist Preachers to be replied to, and I am through. You assail the new party on the score of its secrecy, and of its concealment of its acts from the public. Had this objec- tion come from any one but a Methodist Preacher, and a known advocate of Qlass-meetings being held ivith closed doors, I would now dispose of it without occupying as much space as I shall do in my concluding remarks !
Notwithstanding all the secrecy in the new Order of Know Nothings has been set aside by the act of the National Council which created it ; and notwithstanding our members tell all about their Councils, where and when they meet, and our orators read out and publish to the world our obligations, rules, and principles, it is still objected that ours is a secret Order, liable to be used for bad purposes ; that we travel about with dark lanterns ; that our proceedings are not restrained by the wholesome check of public opinion !
Now, this, the great objection to our Order, comes from men who belong to Lodges of Free Masons and Odd Fellows, and who have taken all the binding oaths attached to the different degrees of these respective Orders ! The same objection is urged against the American party, by men who belong to the Order of Sons of Temperance, who have deemed a rigid secret organization neces- sary to combat successfully a domestic evil ! It is urged in bitter- ness against the Order, by demagogues and partisans, who have acted for years with the secret political conclaves of their respective parties, who have held their meetings with closed doors — kept their places of meeting a profound secret — and when they have adjourned, they have enjoined secrecy upon all present ! Last, but not least, this secret feature is urged against the American organization by the vile apologists for the Catholic Church, and its corrupt Priest- hood and membership, in this country. These demagogues know that the Roman Catholic Church is a secret society, directed by a talented, designing, and villainous HIERARCHY — absolutely con- trolled by an awf^e-Republican Priesthood, to a degree which has never been exercised by any political party in the known world ! The Confessional is a secret tribunal, before which every member of that Church is required to make known, not only immoral actions, but every thought and purpose of the heart, and upon pain of incur- ring the anathema of the Church, which is equivalent to a sentence of eternal damnation ! The corrupt order of Jesuits, the infamous society of San Fedbsti, and the infinitely infernal society of Irish
WITH FOREIGNISM. 35
»
Ribbon Men — these arc all oath-bound societies of the Catholic Church, connected directly with the horrid operations of the '■'■Jlohj Inquisition.''
Now, I put the question to any man of reason and common sense, if Roman Catholics and their patriotic Democratic admirers and advocates, in this country, are not the last men on earth who should object to the secret doings of the order of Know Nothings, even if their secrecy were kept up ? Every Roman Catholic in the known world is under the absolute control of a secret society, by considerations not only of a temporal, but of an eternal weight!
But I am not done with these Democratic opposers of secrecy. The Convention which formed the Constitution of the United States, sat in the old State House in Philadelphia, with closed doors, from the 25th of May to the \lth of September, wanting only eight days of four months. That body of men had a Door-keeper and Ser- geant-at-arms, both under oath, to keep their doors barred, and all their proceedings a secret. So says Mr. Jefferson's biography ! And such men as Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Frank- lin, Harrison, Hancock, Hopkins, and others, composed that body ! During the war of the Revolution, General Washington, Generals Lee, Wayne, Marion, and others, organized a secret American Society, with its branches extending from North to South, having their passwords, siyyis, and grips, and writing to each other in figures, and " an unknown tongue," as the Know Nothings have been doing, and all, too, with a view to oppose Foreign intrigues and oppressions ! It is as well known as any political truth, that General Washington, at the time of his death, was the J^resident of the Cincinnati Society, a secret political society, in which, we see it stated on unquestionable authority, no man was eligible to mem- bership unless he was a native American. The Columbian Order, known as the '■''Tammany Society,'" was a secret political society, and highly influential, and maintains its existence to this day, and without danger to the liberties of the country. Gen. Sam Houston publishes to the world that himself and Gen. Jackson were mem- bers of this Society. What say the a«^«-Amcricans to all these facts ? Do they believe that Gen. Washington, or Jackson, would have united Avith any association or order not purely American ? Would either have entered into any political league, when secrecy was enjoined, if he had not approved of the principle of secrecy in political associations ? Never ! From the characters of Washing- ton and Jackson — the sacrifices they made for their country, united with their fervid patriotism, and their known preference for every thing American, I do not doubt for one moment, that if they were both now living, they would unite with the veritable Order of Know Nothings !
36 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
I believe the hand of God to be in this very movement, and as much in the secrecy of it, in the outset, as in any other feature. I regard the movement as one growing out of a great crisis in the affairs of our country, and a precursor of a sound, healthful, and vigorous nationality, and which will ultimately prevent the liberties of this country from being destroyed, by the machinations of such demagogues and factionists as now seek to excuse Romanism, and fellowship Foreign Pauperism. Secret societies are only dangerous to despots and tyrants, and history shows that these above all others have made war upon them. They have denounced and proscribed Masonry in every quarter of the globe, where they have had the power. The Pope, with the aid of his Cardinals, has crushed the ancient order of Free Masons in his dominions. There is not a Masonic Lodge in Italy. In our own country, not a single Catholic is to be found associated with the order of Free Masons ; and why ? Masonry is founded upon the Bible, and requires the reading of the Protestant Bible in all its Lodges, and this don't suit Romanism. We state these general and historical facts, without knowing any thing of our own knowledge of Masonry.
In the young and growing city of Knoxville, it is within our own knowledge, that many of the Irish Catholics attached themselves to the Order of the Sons of Temperance, with a view, as they said, of throwing around them the wholesome restraints of the Order. On the first visit of a priest to the city, commonly called " Father Brown," these Irish Catholics began to drop off one by one, until not one of them is now in the Order, and most of those who were, are daily seen drunk in our streets. Indeed, some of them in withdrawing had the candor to acknowledge that the priest required them to do so ! And why ? Because, in all the Divisions of the Sons of Temperance here, we have the Protestant Scriptures read, and have Protestant prayers offered up. This don't suit the Church of Rome !
I have the honor to be, very truly and frankly,
W. G. Brownlow.
r
WITH FOREIGNISM. 37
TO THE RIGHT REVEREND AARON V. BROWN, M. S.
Sir : — I have received by mail a pamphlet copy of your " Letter to the Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers, Itinerant and Local, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South," covering twenty-eight octavo pages. I thank you for a copy of your Faatoral address ; and I am happy to be able to wfer from its teachings that you have made a profession of religion, before taking upon yourself "Holy Orders." I suppose the time of your conversion, you date back to the memorable period when you "saw sights" on Mount Pisgah, and had conferred on you the degree of Modern Seer, and entered upon the duties of "High Priest" of Democracy! As I am one of the parties addressed, and the customs of the Church and the countr}'- require a response to so grave a document, I have felt it incumbent upon me to perform the task. I may style this the Last epistle of Aaron, the Priest, and illustrious Chief of Foreign Catholic Sag Nicht Locofocoism !
My first impulses were, upon reading your address, to call for your credentials, and to examine into your autJiority for assuming to dictate to the entire Ministry of the Southern portion of the Methodist Church. You must either enter the Ecclesiastical ring under the imposition of the hands of Bisnop Soule or Andy John- son. If Bishop Soule ordained you for the Ministry, and set you apart as the Lieutenant-Gcneral of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, the presumption is that he examined you on doctrinal points, and upon all questions affecting the government of the Church, as was his duty, and is our custom, and that he found you orthodox ! It follows, as a matter of course, that you renounced your heresy you advocated in the Hartford Convention, held at Nashville, and that you obtained forgiveness for that and numerous other "sins of omission and commission" — aye, for the whole cata- logue of your inward and outward iniquities, which so eminently disqualified you for the work of the Ministry ! But if Andy Johti- son ordained you for the work, of which tliere is no sort of doubt, the Church South, through me, protests against your authority, and utterly refuses to submit to your teachings. Our Church does not agree with Johnson on the "White Basis" issue, or the great
38 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
question of slavery ; and in proof of this, I cite to the fact of her separation from the North, in 1844, upon this very question. She has within her bounds of communion, rich men and poor, educated and uneducated, and is unwilling to unite with him in arraying the poor against the rich, or the unlearned against the learned. Nor does our Church believe that Jesus Christ was a Locofoco, as John- son asserts in his Inaugural, and held that Christianity and Demo- cracy, in converging lines, led to the foot of Jacob's Ladder, and thence to heaven, via Mount Pisgah, from whose lofty summit you first beheld the promised land !
It therefore follows, that, in presenting yourself as a spiritual leader in the Church, called to the work, as you have been, by Andy Johnson, your case is fully met by a quotation from Job :
" Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them."
A second passage, from the Book of Jeremiah, meets your case, and leaves no doubt that the inspired Prophet had you in his eye :
" We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceedingly proud,) his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride, and his haughtiness of heart.
" I know his wrath, saith the Lord ; but it shall not be so ; his lies shall not so effect it."
To be candid with you. Gov. Brown, I regard your address, under all the circumstances, as a display of the most brazen-faced assurance and the most unmitigated impudence I ever met with in my life ! I have known for years that you were capable of great presumption, but in this insolent and dictatorial address you sur- pass yourself — you positively out-Herod Herod ! In the whole history of the country, and of parties, I venture the assertion, that a parallel piece of impudence, and downright bold-faced assurance, cannot be pointed to, as the act of any partisan. It is really past all belief, if I had not your production before me. But more of this hereafter.
Copies of your pamphlet were distributed through the aisles and seats of the Annual Conference room in Nashville, and have been sent all over the South, to members of other Conferences. Your proof-sheet was seen ten days before the meeting of the Middle Tennessee Conference, and your "work of faith and labor of love" was ready for distribution when the Conference first convened, but you held it back till the Conference was ready to adjourn, and to a period so late, that a reply, if one had been deemed necessary, could not be made. This was cowardly, and in keeping with your political tactics and code of morals. In saying that this was in keeping with your code of morals, I allude to the Woodberry affair.
WITH FOREIGNISM. 6V
I shall now take up your address, Governor, and wade through its twenty-eight pages of double-distilled Sag Niehtism, sublimated impudence, and concealed advocacy of Romanism, mixed up with contradictions, false assertions, and glaring absurdities, as it is, from beginning to end. In the opening paragraph, you predicate your right to instruct the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of the entire Church, South, upon the real or assumed fact, that you are " The son of a now sainted father, who for forty years ministered at your altars, the co-laborer of that noble band of Christian min- isters, who, under Asbury and Coke, founded your Church in America !"
Alas, that any "sainted Father" should be represented by so degenerate a son — an irreligious son — not a member of any Church — but having the hardihood, in the face of those who know the facts, to disguise himself in the priestly robes of a " sainted Father " — like an ass in a lion's skin, to bi'aT/ out against better men than himself, or, like a wolf in sheep's clothing, to steal into the fold, where that Father was accustomed to minister in holy things, and with soft and honeyed words, and hypocritical teachings, and Satan- like misrepresentations, seek whom he may devour ! You tell the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," that you really "approve" their "creed," and, what is still more soul-cheering, you have "wit- nessed their growth and progress for years, with the highest satis- faction." This is very condescendivg in the " son of a now sainted father !" It is quite flattering ! But these " Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," would receive all this with a greater degree of allowance, if they did not believe that your generous patronage, so lavishly bestowed upon them and their "creed," was prompted by a principle of which selfishness is the soul ! They believe, and so express themselves in conversation, that your forced smile of appro- bation, your reluctant eulogy, have both been wrung from you, because you are a sycophantic partisan suitor for patronage, in the way of votes for your party. These Clergymen whom you address, think it a great pity that the "son of a now sainted father" should exhibit so much "satisfaction" at witnessing their prosperity, in theory, and manifest not one particle in 2yract{ce. They think that you would be in your proper place, to be found among the mourn- ers, instead of the teachers in their Church ; and that it is high time, considering your age in life, and the extent of your iniqui- ties, that you should be found upon your knees, in an altar full of fresh straw, at an old-fashioned Camp-Meeting, asking the pious to pray for you, and God, for the sake of the forty years labors of " a now sainted father," to have mercy upon you, and save your sinful old soul from that death that never dies.
Why, Sir, the Devil himself would blush to perpetrate such an
40 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
act of arrogance as you have done, in thus volunteering your advice to the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," of the Methodist Church. An old political party hack, who is not now, and never was, a member of any Church — an intriguing old sinner, who never even attends Church, and who, in this respect, shows that he neither fears God, respects the Christian Sabbath, nor "approves the creed" of any orthodox denomination, to be lecturing a numerous body of Clergymen, as to what they ought or ought not to do, it is the cul- mination of all that is called effrontery ! The " Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of the Methodist Church, wish the evidence of your conversion to God, before they consent to obey you, as "having the rule over them." Your approval of their " creed," and the "satisfaction" with which you have witnessed their progress, is not sufficient to satisfy their doubting minds, as long as you con- tinue to ride into Nashville on Sabbath, and retail political slang at the Inn, or read Sag Nicht papers at the Union Office, to the neglect of the house of God, and the evil example set before young men, against the statute in such cases made and provided ! We must, as Ministers, hear you relate your experience, in a regular class-meeting. Nay, more, knowing your raising, and your ability to " deceive, even the very elect," we must see you down upon your marrow-bones, surrounded by noisy and zealous officials, pounding you on the back, and exclaiming, as in the days of your " sainted father," Pray on, Aaron! We must hear you groan — we must see your sinful old bosom heave — we must witness the falling of big tears, as you publicly confess and manfully repent of your mis- deeds— of the w^iole catalogue, of all the inward and outward ini- quities of your past life — your sins of omission and commission, which God knows are more numerous than the hairs upon your old sinful head ! I say we must see all this, and even more, before we can have faith in your teachings, as big as even a grain of mus- tard seed !
But you are the "son of a now sainted father" — you derive great "satisfaction" from the "growth and progress" of Method- ism— you "approve" the Methodist "creed" — and hence, a glori- ous future awaits the Methodist Church : provided always, that her "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" hearken to and obey your teachings, a thing they are very certain not to do, in the matter under consideration. It is a melancholy fact, that many of the sons of Methodist, and other Ministers, are very wicked and un- promising men ; and it is equally true, and certainly notorious, that where they turn out to be sinners, they are sinners above all offend- ers, dwelling either at Jerusalem or elsewhere ! I have no hesit- ancy in pronouncing you as hard a case, in a moral point of view, as ever came before the Church, and the only appropriate reply her
WITH FOREIQNISM. 41
ecclesiastical dignitaries can make to your address, is to appoint a day of fastinfT and prayer to God, for your conversion, to be observed throughout her borders. I now, as the appointed organ of the Church, set apart the first day of January, 1856, and I pray you, as one desiring the salvation of your soul, to be in the spirit and in a proper frame of mind on that day ! IIuinl)le yourself before God — tell him that you were in error in stealing the livery of Heaven to serve the Devil in ! Tell him that you are an old worn-out political hack — that you have grown gray in the service of sin — that during the whole of a somewhat eventful life, your labors have been in the dirtiest pools of party politics — that you have been insincere and unscrupulous in all your teachings and acts — that you stand before the people of Tennessee publicly branded by eight respectable and reliable citizens of Wilson county, as a fahifier in the Know Nothing controversy of the past summer — and that you are sorry for having come forth steeped to the nose and chin in political profligacy, to lecture grave Clergymen upon subjects you ought to set at their feet and learn lessons about ! Tell your God, what he doubtless knows, that though the " son of a now sainted father," you are as full of devils as ever Mary Mag- dalene was — that like the " Imps of Sin," in Milton, these "yelp all around" you — that this is no reflection upon a "now sainted father," whose seeming neglect of your early training grew out of his continual absence from home, as is the case with most Methodist Preachers, — aye, tell your God, that once out of this scrape, you will never be caught in another of the kind ! You say,
" From the foundation of our government, it has been a conceded and settled doctrine, that the various religious denominations should not, as such, inter- meddle with the political contests of the day. No instance is now remembei'cd where they have done so \"
This is a remarkable sentence, and partakes of the nature of your "Wilson county assertions ! The history of the Church, and of the world, contradicts every word of the foregoing, and demon- strates that the " settled doctrine" of the Catholic Church, has ever been, as it still is, to " intermeddle with the political contests of the day." I will trouble you with two instances in which " religi- ous denominations, as such," have been guilty of what you deny. The Albany (N. Y.) State Register, a paper which usually does not say what it cannot maintain, states that Archbishop Hughes has issued a mandate, commanding all Catholics in the Albany District, in the exciting State election now coming off, to cast their votes for Mr. Crosby for the Senate. But Roman Catholics, you falsely tell us, never " intermeddle with the political contests of the day :" 0 no !
The other " instance now remembered," is the one in which you
42 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
were a candidate for a seat in the Legislature of Tennessee, in the county of Giles : this was, according to my recollection, in 1831, or a quarter of a century ago. At that time, there was a small Manual Labor School in Giles, which had been incorporated by the Legislature, and at the head of which was a Presbyterian. The gentleman who ran against you, if not a member of the Presby- terian Church, "approved" their "creed," and "witnessed their growth and progress for years with the highest satisfaction." You charged upon the stump that the Presbyterians were seeking to establish their religion by law, to unite Church and State — appealed to the Methodist and Baptist to put them down by electing you, with a promise that you would check their march by counter-legis- lation— and you were elected upon this issue. At the same time, as the oldest inhabitants of Giles know, there were not fifty Presby- terians in the county ! But "no instance is remembered" in which one sect has intermeddled with another — 0 no ! You say :
"In the mutations of parties in this country, a new one has lately arisen, to which, I apprehend, more of the Methodist ministers liave attached them- selves, at least in the State of Tennessee, than might have been expected. This party, known as the Know Nothings, is so peculiar in its organization, that it seems strange to me that any minister or professor of religion should be willing longer to continue in it."
Your apprehensions are well-founded, when you suppose that a very large proportion of the Methodist ministers in Tennessee are either members of this new party or sympathize with it. And, sir, more of the ministers of other denominations than you seem to be aware of, have either attached themselves to this party, " in the mutations of parties," or act with it, and endorse its aims and objects, than you have yet dreamed of! And "it seems strange" to these ministers, and thousands of the purest and best laymen in the Protestant ranks, "that any minister or professor of religion should be willing longer" to oppose the principles of this party, or array themselves under the black flag of Papal Rome, and of the pauper emigrants with whom she is flooding our land ! But, sir, the object of your Address is, to persuade if you can, and if not, to drive, by motives of fear, the Clergy of the Methodist Church from their position on this great American and Protestant question. Alas, how little does the "son of a sainted father" understand the material he attempts to work upon ! Methodist ministers are free men, the equals of other moral and upright men in heroic virtues, and far in advance of that of politicians in Tennessee who believe parties in religion, as in politics, are only " held together by the cohesive power of public plunder," and who assume to direct public opinion from a principle, of which selfishness is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end ! Sir, the violence, bitterness,
WITH FOREIGNISM. 43
and the very inflammatory tone, not to say language, of your Gal- latin, Lebanon, and Columbia speeches, are enough, it .seems to me, to nauseate every good and conservative citizen, and to dis- gust every "Bishop, Elder, and other Ministers, Itinerant and Local, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South." Even in this Address, you insult these ministers on every page. I sec not how any preacher, with a true Protestant and American heart in him, can read this address of yours througli, without rising up from his seat and saying : " I have voted with this Anti-Protestant and Anti- American party for the last time."
In warning Methodist minsters to withdraw their sanction and approbation of Know Nothingism, you say :
" I therefore call upon them this day to come out of these lodges, and never return to them : at all events, never return to them until all secrecy, all their hits of red paper, (indicating blood, even by the selection of color,) all tlieir 8ign3 and signals, arc utterly abolished and dispensed vrith. I call upon them to do this, and to do it forthwith — by their hopes of heaven — by their obedi- ence to the vrord of God — by their allegiance to the Constitution and laws of their country — to come out from any party which has adopted a mode and plan of organization so fatal to the peace of society, and the progress of true religion."
What egotism ! You call upon them ! You make a freer use of the personal pronoun /, than even old Parson Longstreet, the Know Nothing slayer of Mississippi. To parse your different sen- tences syntactically, nothing else is necessary but to understand the first person singular, and to repeat the rule. Not only your verbiage but your sentiment is thus egotistic throughout !
Your appeal to the ministers to come out of this organization, on the ground of its secrecy^ is a species of demagoguism, the more disgusting when it is considered that you are a Free Mason, and have, by all the arts and blandishment of your nature, sought to induce ministers to go into that organization. But, then, there is no violation of law or the Constitution in Masonry — " fatal to the peace of society and to the progress of true religion" — no, nothing ! Understand me: I am not opposed to Masonry.
On this subject of the Romish creed, which you excuse, and even advocate, you admit that there are " alleged abuses," which have prompted the Protestant Churches to unite themselves with this new Order ! Then you insultingly tell these Churches this tale :
" But thoy ought to have remembered, that even a virtuous indignation can never justify proscription and persecution : these bring no remedy to the real or supposed evils, but are sure to increase and aggravate them. These errors in faith, and aliominations in practice, if they really exist, were known to the Wesloys, and Cokes, and Asburys, who founded your Church : to the Leea, the Bruces, the Capers, the Logan Douglasses, the Summerfields, and the Bascoms, who subsequently extended and adorned it. But they never pro- posed to kindle, in this enlightened age of Christianity, the consuming fires
of RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION."
44 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
Now, sir, every distinguished "founder" of the Methodist Church you have named, from Wesley to Bascom, has written and preached against the " errors in faith, and abominations in prac- tice," of the Romish Church, and they each and all have taken this very ground upon the religious issues. I have heard three of these men preach, and I am familiar with the writings of the rest, and know whereof I speak.
You intentionally deceive and misrepresent the American party, when you charge that they seek to proscribe one class of our citi- zens— that they desire to interfere with the rights of conscience — and to say lioto men should worship God. Why don't you inform your readers that Archbishop Hughes, and other Catholic Bishops, were the first to introduce religion into political discussion in this country ? This would not suit your purposes — it suits your ob- jects, taste, and inclination better, to slander the American party by wholesale, and to charge upon its members the atrocities com- mitted by your foreign and pauper allies. We only choose to vote against them, and to vote for American-born citizens and Protest- ants : which is as much our right, as it is the right of these foreign Catholics to vote against and proscribe American Protestants. For this, you and your villainous associates exhaust the whole vocabu- lary of Billingsgate upon the American party. What is their offence? Why, they simply place certain questions before persons desiring to act with them, which they think, at least, may affect the national welfare, and before the people of the Union, and ask their opinion of these questions at the ballot-box. The American party has always denied, and I again reiterate the denial, that we do at all proscribe, or in any way interfere with, any class of our foreign citizens, save that we propose to send convicts from European prisons back to their own native and infamous dens, as fast as they land here — but these are not citizens of ours. I ap- peal to our Platform, and our Book of Constitutions, and I offer to any man a handsome reward — any man who will produce in either a statement containing the proscription you falsely charge against us. I now say, Gov. Brown, either do this, or cease your empty vaporing against the proscriptive features of our system, as you are pleased to style it. You declaim must lustily in favor of religious liberty for Catholics, which you know we do not propose as a party to interfere with ; and this you plead for at the altar of Methodist " Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," who know there is no religious liberty for Protestants where Catholics have the power to prevent it ! You plead in the most plaintive tones for the rights of foreign Catholics to be sworn into good citizens in less than one year after they land here, but do not seem to remember the Amer- ican Protestant wives and children, who have to subsist on charity
WITH FORKIGNISM. 45
during our severe winters, in consequence of their husbands and fathers being elbowed out of employment by tlie competition of foreign pauper laborers !
Sir, the American party, if in power, would put a stop to that proscription from office that has always characterized the party with which you act, and which has made the present Administra- tion so very and so justly odious to the country. Proscription, indeed ! Was there ever such glaring and actual proscription for the sake of religious and political creeds committed as by the pre- sent Administration ? The infamous Sag Nicht party with which you act, and of which you are a leader and a High Priest, though the "son of a now sainted father," has applied the political guillo- tine to almost every man in office who has dared to differ with them in their high estimate of foreign paupers and Catholic vagabonds, in many instances turning out native-born Protestants, and filling their places with foreign Catholics. And yet, with a degree of effrontery that throws the Devil far into the shade, you turn round and charge the American party with proscription, and ask the " Bishops, Elders, and other jNIinisters," of the Methodist Church, " by their hopes of heaven — by their obedience to the word of God — and by their allegiance to the Constitution and laws of their country," to come out from a party so prescriptive ! Why, sir, you out-Herod old Herod himself! Your teachings contrasted with your practice, would cause a crimsoned negative to settle on the cheeks of old Pilate! And still you are the "son of a now sainted fiither" — you "approve" the "creed" of Methodism, and have "witnessed its growth and prosperity for years, with the highest satisfaction !"
You quote from the Declaration of Independence, to show that toleration should be extended to Catholics and foreigners, and then insultingly add, as if you supposed no Methodist minister had ever perused the writings of Mr. Jefferson :
" These are the words of Mr. Jefferson, but the immortal sentiment springs directly from the word of the living and true God. No: persecution at the stake, or by exclusion of Catholics from office, is not the weapon to be wielded by the Protestant Churches."
You know that the notes of warning given to his countrymen by the sage of Monticello, and the great APOSTLE of American Democracy, are in harmony with the doctrines of the Know Nothing party. But you choose to conceal this fact from the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of the Methodist Church, in the vain hope that their numerous pressing and official engage- ments will not allow them time to look up the documents. In Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, written in 1781, and published in 1794, pages 124-5, I find the following Knoiv Nothing doctrine :
46 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
" But are there no inconveniences to be thrown into the scale against the advantage expected from a multiplication of numbers by the importation of foreigners ? It is for the happiness of those united in society to harmonize, as much as possible, in matters which they must of necessity transact together. ^ Civil government being the sole object of forming societies, its ad- ministration must be conducted by common consent. Every species of govern- ment has specific principles. Ours, perhaps, are more peculiar than those of any other in the universe. It is a composition of the freest principles of the English constitution, with others derived from natural right and natural reason. To these nothing can be more opposed than the maxims of absolute monarchs. Yet from suck we are to expect the greatest number of immigrants. They will bring with them iha. principles of the government they leave, imbibed in early youth : or, if able to throw them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It would be a miracle ivere they to stop precisely at the j^oint of temperate liberty. These principles, Avith their language, they will transmit to their children. In proportion with their numbers, they will share with us the legislation. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its directions, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass. I may appeal to experience during the present contest for a verification of these conjectures. But {if they be not certain in event, are they not possible ? are they not probable ? Is it not safer to wait with patience twenty-seven years and three months longer for the attainment of every degree of population desired or expected ? May not our government be more homogeneous, more peaceable, more durable ?"
Again, Mr. Jefferson, whilst our Minister to the Court of St. Cloud, addressed a letter to John Jay, dated November 14, 1788, in which he uses this language :
" With respect to the Consular appointments, it is a duty on me to add some observations, which my situation here has enabled me to make. I think it was in the spring of 1784, that Congress (harassed by multiplied applica- tions from foreigners, of whom nothing was known but on their information, or on that of others as unknown as themselves) came to the resolution that the interest of America would not permit the naming of any person, not a citizen, to the office of Consul, or Agent, or Commissary. Native citizens, on several valuable accounts, are preferable to aliens, or citizens alien-born. Native citizens possess our language, know our laws, customs and commerce, have general acquaintance in the United States, give better satisfaction, and are more to be relied on in a point of fidelity. To avail ourselves of our native citizens, it appears to me advisable to declare, by standing law, that no person but a native citizen shall be capable of the office of Consul. This was the rule of 1784, restraining the office of Consul to native citizens."
In 1797, Mr. Jefferson drafted a petition to the Legislature of Virginia, on behalf of the citizens of Amherst, Albemarle, Fluvana, and Gouchland Bounties, in which he uses the following language :
" Your petitioners further submit to the two Houses of Assembly, whether the safety of the citizens of this Commonwealth, in their persons, their pro- perty, their laws and government, does not require that the capacity to act in the important office of Juror, Grand or Petty, civil or criminal, should not be restrained in future to native citizens, or such as were citizens at the date of the Treaty of Peace which closed our revolutionary] war ; and whether ignorance of our laws, and natural partiality to the countries of their birth, are
WITH FOREIGNISM. 47
not reasonable causea for declaring this to be one of their rights incommuni- cable in future to adopted citizens." — Jefferson's Writings, Vol. IX., page 453.
Now, Sir, answer mc in candor, are you not ashamed of having quoted Mr. Jep'FEKSON, and of having so basely misrepresented his position on this great American question ? Did not Mr. Jeffer- son propose to carry his opposition to foreigners much farther than the American party now do ?
But, you vile old demagogue, though "son of a now sainted father," I am determined you shall not escape the indignant pow- ers of those "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," whom you have wickedly sought to deceive. It is known to you, and to the world, in what veneration all American Democrats hold the Vir- ginia Resolutions of 1798 and '09, and the fame of^Mr. Madison, ■who was the ruling spirit of that session of the Legislature. That Legislature passed the following Resolution, which you may find by consulting Henning's Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, New Series, page 194 :
" That the General Assembly, nevcrtlifless, concurring in opinion vckh the Legislature of Massachusetts that every Constitutional barrier should be opposed to the introduction of foreign iiilluence into our National Councils, — Resolved, That the Constitution ought to be so amended that no foreigner, trJio shall have acquired the right, under our Const itxition and laws, at the time of making the amendment, shall hereafter he eligible to the office of Senator or Rep- resentative, in Congress of the United States, nor to aug office in the Judiciary or Executive. Agreed to by the Senate, Jan. IG, 1799."
I shall next consider two extracts from your Address, under one general head, relating to the temporal power of the Pope. You say:
" But the genius of sophistry may fly to the rescue of Know-Nothingism, by pretending that it is not on account of his religion that the Catholic is to be excluded from office, but because he is subjected, not merely to the spiritual but the temporal dominion or jurisdiction of the Pope. No error has been wider spread than this."
Again :
"A late distinguished Senator from Georgia, (Mr. Berrien,) in a recent address to the public, has copied a letter of Mr. Wesley, which may require a few observations. That letter was dated in January, 1780. All its conclu- sions were founded on the assumed and popular opinion of that day, that the Pope did claim a civil jurisdiction l^eyond his own dominions — that he could absolve the subjects of other governments from their oaths of allegiance, and that there was a principle in one of the tenets of that Church, that Catholics were justified in not keeping faith with heretics. Against these assumed anu popular opi.vions, the Catliolics of England in that day, as they now do in this country, were solemnly protesting."
This is a modest way of giving Mr. Wesley the ?/e, but it is nevertheless quite direct, and is the more surprising, as it comes from the "son of a now sainted father," who was a follower of
48 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
Wesley, a " co-laborer of that noble band of Christian ministers" he was instrumental in starting out into the world — aye, the son of a "father who, for forty years, ministered at the altars" this same Wesley erected ! In holding up John Wesley as the vile calunmiator of the Catholic Church in England, it is well enough, Governor, to be modest about it, and cautious in the selection of your words, as you are addressing a class of men who believe in John Wesley, as a faithful man of God, and one incapable of mis- representing the Catholics of England, the Pope of Rome, or any other sect or individual! John Wesley ministered at the sacred altars of religion for more than sixty years ; he had with him the power of God, and the witness that he pleased Him ; and the last words he uttered, with his hands clasped, and his eyes raised toward heaven, were these: " The best of all is, Crod is with us!" And yet the sons and grandsons in the gospel, of this venerated and sainted man of God, are insulted in Tennessee, by being told by an imiJei'tinent old sinner, and a vile old party hack, that he was A LIAR, while living, and the slanderer of the Catholic Church, now that he is no more! If Mr. Wesley ^^ assumed" falsehoods in reference to the Romish Church in England, he either did it in ignorance, or with a guilty knowledge of the fact. He was a man of too much learning and information for his friends to get him out of such an indictment under a plea of ignorance. He is there- fore, though dead, A wilful liar, according to " Ex-Gov. A. V. Brown," for the Governor goes on to argue the cause against him, and, on page 19 of his address, quotes Catholic authority to prove him a liar ! Shame on the "son of a now sainted father," and on the holy seer of Pisgah ! 0 ! Aaron, thou priest of corrupt Demo- cracy, you need not endeavor to gull " bishops, elders, and other ministers," with your whining cant, while you thus traduce their great spiritual head, who, under God, taught them the lessons of salvation !
Gov. Brown, go with me, as one of the admirers of John Wes- ley, to the humble dwellings of the miners of Cornwall, to the homely tents of the colliers of Kingswood and Newcastle, and to the equally humble workshops of the manufacturers of Yorkshire, in England, who are rejoicing in God their Saviour that a Wesley was ever born into the world, and ask them if they believe him capable of slandering the Catholics ! Go with me among the backwoodsmen of North America, and examine them in their lone tents — go among the honest and virtuous settlers on our Western frontiers, amid the interminable forests of the far off West, whose thousands are brought into the fold of Christ, through the instrumentality of Wesleyan ministers, and ask them if they think the founder of their Church was a wilful liar !
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Go with me to the rich pastures and luxuriant harvest-fields of your own native Middle Tennessee : enter the neat cottages and stately mansions of that glorious division of our State, and ask the intelligent and educated females, Avho arc rejoicing in God, in hope of future and eternal life, through the prayers and sermons of Wes- leyan ministers, as instruments in the hands of God, if they believe the founder of their Church was a wicked calumniator ! Go to the islands of the sea, to the burning sands of Africa, and ask the benighted converts from heathenism, through the instrumentality of Wesleyan ministers, if they believe the venerable founder of their Church was a man of truth !
Enter the dwellings of the rich and fashionable planters of the South — ride around their sugar and cotton plantations, among the sable sons and daughters of Africa, and witness the blessed fruits of the pious life. Christian integrity, and triumphant death of John Wesley ! Come over to East Tennessee, Governor, and enter the log-cabins of the virtuous, happy peasantry of the "hill country," and ask them whether they believe Mr. Wesley or your Catholic authorities, touching the temporal power of the Pope of Rome !
Alas ! Gov. Brown, the Reformation dawned with Luther in Germany, but the sun of its glory rose with Methodism in England ; the first streaks of Protestant light were seen on the horizon of the sixteenth century, but the meridian sun of the Reformation dawned in all his brightness on the Wesleys and Whiteficld ! But America has been the land of the glory and triumph of the doctrines of the man you labor to convict of the awful sin of lying !
But you deny that the Pope of Rome, in temporal matters, claims what Mr. Wesley attributed to him in the letter copied by Senator Berrien. You also deny that the Popes claim and have exercised the right to interfere with matters of government, and the right to absolve their followers in other countries, and under other governments, from their allegiance to such rulers and govern ments. I will proceed to vindicate Mr. Wesley, and, by the proof, saddle the lie on you ! Whilst John was King of England, he had the "Magna Charta," the great charter securing, among other things, the right of trial by jury, wrung from him at the point of the bayonet. This great charter was annulled by Pope Innocent. Here is the proof:
"While the king was employed in the siege of RoclieKter, he received the pleasing intelligence, that according to his retiuest the charter had been annulled by the pontiff. Innocent, enumerating tlie grounds of his judc^ment, insists strongly on the violence employed by the barons. If they reaUy felt themselves aggrieved, they ought, he obhcrves, to have accepted the offer of redress by due C()ur6e of law. They had preferred, however, to break the oath of fealty, which they had taken, and had appointed themselves judges to pit upon their lord. They knew, moreover, that John had enrolled himself
4
50 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
among the crusaders; and yet they had not scrupled to violate the privileges which all Christian nations had granted to the champiuns of the cross Lantly, Eastland was become the fief of the holy see ; and tlvey could not he igno- rant that if the king had the will, he had not at least the power, to give away the rights of the crown, without the consent of his feudal superior. He was therefore bouod to annul the concessions which had been extorted from J<ihn, as having been obtained in contempt of the holy see, to the degiadation of royalty, the disgrace of the nation, and to the impediment of the crusade. At the same time he wrote to the barons, re-stating his reasons, exhorting them to submit, requesting them to lay their claims before him in the council to be held at Rome ; and promising that he would induce the king to consent to whatever might be deemed just or reasonable, to take care that all griev- ances should be abolished, that the crown should he content with its just rights, a^id the clergy and people should enjoy their aocieat liberties." — Lin- gard's History of England, vol. ii., pajic 71.
Will it be said that this was not interfering with temporal mat- ters ? Will it be said that the right of trial by jury was a spiritual matter ? Will it be said that the tyranny of King John, and his oppressions, of which the barons justly complained, were spiritual matters ? No sensible advocate of Romanism will say this !
The next instance of an interference by the Pope in temporal affairs, to which I shall call your attention. Governor, is his excom- munication of Elizabeth, Queen of England. She was immediately preceded on that throne by her sister Mary, who was a Catholic. For no other reason than that Elizabeth was a Protestant^ and would not submit her rights and kingdom to the control of the Pope, Pius V. thundered forth at her devoted head the following anathema, from his throne at the Vatican, situated at the foot of one of the seven hills upon which Rome is built :
KXCOMMUNICATION AND DEPOSITION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND.
" Pius, etc., for a future memorial of the matter. He that reigneth on high, to whom in given all power in heaven and on earth, cmmitted one Hidy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, out of tvhich there is no salvation, to one alone upon the earth, Peter the Prince (d' the Apostles, and to Peer's successor, the Bishop of Rome, to be governed in fulness of power. Ilim alone he made prince over all people, and all kingdoms, to pluck up, destrov, scatter, con- sume, pi int and budd, etc. But the number of the unjrodly hath gotten such power, that there is now no place left in the wh' le W(uld which they have not essayed to corrupt with their mo-t wicked doctrines. Amongst othes, Eliza- beth, the pretended Queen of England, a slave of wickedness . leriding thereunto her helping hand, with whom, as in a sanctuary, ihe most pernicious of all men have fouud a refuge ; this very woman having seized upm the kingdom, and moQstrously usurping the place of t*ie ^^^upr^^nie Head of the Church in all England, and the chief authority and jurisdiction thereof, hath again brought baik the same kmgdom to miserable destruction, which was then newly reduced to the faith, ad to good order. F ir having by strong hand inhibited the true religion, which Mary, the lawful queen, of famous memory, had. by the help of tnis See, re-itored. atter it had been formerly overthrown by King Henry Vlll., a revoher therefrira, au'l following anil embracing the errors of heretics, she ha h removed the royal council, consisting of the English nobility, and tilled it with obscure men, being heretics ; hath oppressed the embracers
WITH POREIGNISM. 51
of the Roman faith, hath placed impious preacber;', ministers of ini- quity, and abolished the sacritice of the niasp, prayers, fastings, distinction of meats, a single life, and the ritc-8 and cerenioi. its; hath cummanded hooks to be read in the whole realm, containing manifest heie^y, etc. She hath not only contemned the godly requet-ts and admonitidns of jirinces concerniiig her healin" and conversion, but also liatli not ^o much as peiniitteii the Nuncios of the'^See to cross the seas into England, etc. We do, therefore, out of the fulness of our apostolic power, declare the aforesaid Elizabeth, being heretic, and*i favorer of heretics, and her adherents in the matter aforesaid, to have incurred the sentence of anathema, and to be cut off from the unity of the bodv of Christ. And, moieover, we do declare her to be deprived of her pre- tended title to the kingibm aforesaid, and of all dominion, dignity, and privi- lege whatsi ever; and also the nobility, subjects, and people of the said king- dom, anil all others which have in any hort sworn unto her, to be for ever absolved from any such oath, and all manner of duty or dominion, allegiance and obedience; as we also do, by the authority of these presents, absolve them, and do deprive the same Elizabeth of her pretended title to the king- dom, ai d all other things aibresaid. And we do command and interdict all and every one of the noblemen, subjects, people, and others aforesaid, that they presume not to obey her, or her admonitions, mandates, and laws; and those who shall do the contrary, we do innodate with the like sentence of ANATHEMA.
"Given at Sf. Peter's at Rome, in the year 1569, and the fifth of our pon- tificate."— Dowling's History of Romanism, p. 564.
One more : Sixtus V. thunders his bull of excommunication at this same Queen of England — incites Philip of Catholic Spain to make war against her country — and graciously gives the British Isles to Philip! Here is the bull of Pope Sixtus:
"We, S'xcus the Fifth, the universal shepherd of the flock of Christ, the supreme (.hief, to whom the govennient of the whole world appertains, con- sicerng tuat the people of England and Ireland, alter having been so Icng celebrated for their virtues, their religion, and their submission to our see, hi^e b"come putrid members, infected, and capable of corrupting the whole Christ an body, and on account of their subjection to the impious, tyrannical, and Siingiiinary government of Eliz:ibeth, the bastard queen, and by the influ- ence of ter adherents, who ecjual her in wickedness ; and who refuse, like her, to re ogn ze the power of the Roman Church: regarding that Henry VIII. formerly fir motives of debauchery, commenced all these dihorders by revolt- insi ag iin>t the submission which he owed to the Pope, the sole and true sov- eregii of England ; considering that the usurper Elizabeth has folUiwed the patii f ihis infamous king, we declare that there exii-ts but one mode of remed>in^ these evils, of restoring pcice, tranquillity, and union to Christen- dom, of ri;-establishing religion, and of leading back the people to obedience to us. w hich is, to depose from the throne that execrable Elizabeth, who falsely arroaatei to herself ihe title of Queen of the Briti.-h Isles. Being then inspred by the Holy S[iirit for the general g< od of the Clmrch, we renew, by the vinue of our apostolic power, the senterice pronounced by our predecessor, Pius the B'lfth and Gregory the Thirteenth, against the modern Jezebel : we pioclaim \\^T deprived of her royal authority, of ttie rights, titles, or })reten- 8i«ms U) which she may lay claim over the kingdom-* of Ii eland and England, affirming that she possesses them unlawfully itnd by usurpation. We relieve all her sul jecis from the oaths they may have taken to her, and we prohibit them from rendering any kind of service to this execrable woman ; it is our w.ll, that she be driven from d<JOr to door like one possessed of a devil, and
52 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
that all human aid be refused her ; we declare, moreover, that foreigners or Englishmen are permitted, as a meritorious work, to seize the person of Elizabeth and surrender her, living or dead, to the tribunals of the inquisi- tion. We promise to those who shall accomplish this glorious mission, infinite recompenses, not only in the life eternal, but even in this world. Finally, we granc plenary indulgence to the faithful who shall willingly unite with the Catholic army which is going to combat the impious Elizabeth, under the orders of our dear son Philip the Second, to whom we give the British Isles in full sovereignty, as a recompense for the zeal he has always shown toward our see, and for the particular affection he has shown for the Catholics of the Low Country." — De Cormenin's History of the Popes, p. 262.
Here is what Macaulay, a reliable historian, says of the baneful effects of Romanism :
" From the time when the barbarians overran the Western Empire to the time of the revival of letters, the influence of the Church of Rome has been generally favorable to science, to civilization, and to good government. But, during the last three centuries, to stunt the growth of the human mind has been her chief object. Throughout Christendom, whatever advance has been made in knowledge, in freedom, in wealth, and in the arts of life, has been made in spite of her, and has everywhere been in inverse proportion to her power. The loveliest and most fertile provinces of Europe have, under her rule, been sunk into poverty, in political servitude, and in intellectual toi-por, while Protestant countries, once proverbial for sterility and barbarism, have been turned, by skill and industry, into gardens, and can boast of a long list of heroes and statesmen, philosophers and poets. Whoever, knowing what Italy and Scotland naturally are, and what four hundred years ago they naturally were, shall now compare the country round Rome with the country round Edinburgh, will be able to form some judgment of the tendency of Papal domination. The descent of Spain, once the first among monarchies, to the lowest depths of degradation, the elevation of Holland, in spite of many natural disadvantages, to a position such as no commonwealth so small has ever reached, teach the same lesson. Whoever passes, in Germany, from a Roman Caiholic to a Protestant principality, in Switzerland from a Roman Catholio to a Protestant canton, in Ireland from a Roman Catholic to a Pro- testant county, finds that he has passed from a lower to a higher grade of civilization. On the other side of the Atlantic the same law prevails. The Protestants of the United States have left far behind the Roman Catholics of JMexico, Peru, and Brazil. The Roman Catholics of Lower Canada remain inert, while the whole continent round them is in a ferment with Protestant activity and enterprise." — Macaulmfs History of England, vol. i., p. 37.
I must be permitted to add, just here, that in 1848, when the people of France expelled Louis Philippe from the throne in Paris, and established a Republic, the present old drunken, goutified debauchee. Pope Pius IX., hurled at the French nation a fearful bull of excommunication, and denied them the right of revolution ! Was this interfering in temporal matters ? But no longer ago than the year 1854, this same old vagabond, Pope Pius, issued orders absolving his followers from all allegiance to the Sardinian Government, because that government chose to abolish the infamous monasteries, which had been so long supported at the expense of an oppressed people ! Was this not interfering in temporal mat-
WITU FOREIGNISM. 53
ters ? I could multiply authorities, Governor, to an indefinite ex- tent, sustaining Mr. Wesley's views, and falsifying all you say, but this would swell my reply beyond what I intended in the outset. Let me call your attention to Brownson's Review, for July, 1853, where you will find all this power, and even more, claimed for the Pope, over temporal sovereigns and their subjects, the world over! This Reviciv is the acknowledged organ of Archh'sJiop Ilvghcs, the head and front of tlie Catholic Church in North America.
You state that our Declaration of Independence absolved from every possible obligation to the Pope in temporal matters. Your language is :
" The moment it was read and proclaimed from old Independence Hall in Philadelphia, obedience in temporal matters, if it ever existed, ceased forever, 08 to every native-born son in America."
You further add that the Constitution of the United States set aside all temporal power of the Pope in this country, and that if any doubts remain, the finishing touch is given by the following oath of naturalization, taken by our naturalized citizens:
" I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and that I do ab-soltikli/ and tnifireb/ renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, or state, or i?o\n-eigntj whatever."
Sir, do you suppose that the " Bishops, Elders, and other Minis- ters," whom you have the impudence to address, are all fools? Do you suppose they are men of no reading or information ? If they know anything, they certainly know that the oath of natural- ization they, the Catholics, take, weighs no more with them than a feather. A Catholic can evade the force of any oath, by a mental reservation. Here is what Sanchez says, the very highest Catholic authority, whose teaching, including this interpretation of oaths, has been endorsed by the Council of Trent :
" It is lawful to use ambiijuous terms to give the impression a different sense from that which you understand yourself. A person may take an oath that he has not done such a thing, though in fact he has, by saying to himself it was not done on a certain day, or before he was born, or by concealing any other similar circumstances; which gives another meaning to it. This is extremely convenient, and always very just, when necessary to your health, honor, or prosperity."
In addition to this, let me tell you, if you never before knew the fact, that Judge Gaston, a distinguished Jurist, and a gentleman of excellent character, though a rigid Roman Catholic, of North Carolina, was appointed to a seat upon the Supreme Bench of that State. The Constitution of that State, unlike those of almost all other States, requires every Judge to take an oath, among other things, that ue believes in the truth or the Protestant Reli-
54 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
OION. Mr. Gaston asked time to think over the matter — he repaired to the Archbishop at Baltimore, doubtless obtained a dispensation — wrote back to Raleigh from there, that he would take the oath — returned, and in due time solemnly swore that he believed in the truth of the Protestant Religion. He died in Raleigh, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court — but lived and died a Roman Catholic !
During the past month, in this city, W. G. McAdoo, the Attorney General for this Judicial Circuit, had some Irish Catholics brought before the Grand Jury, to testify in cases of unlawful gaming and the retailing of ardent spirits. The Clerk swore them on a com- mon English Testament, and they returned to the Jury room, and testified that they knew of no cases ! The Attorney for the Com- monwealth then procured the Catholic Douay Bible, with a large Cross upon its outside, swore them upon this — sent them in, and they disgorged, telling of various cases, and enabling the Jury to find bills against even some of their own folks ! An oath, then, is nothing with strict Roman Catholics, who believe their Priests can absolve them from the obligations of any and all oaths. For not- withstanding your denial of the fact, it is notoriously true, that the members of the Catholic Church believe their Priesthood to exer- cise, by Divine right, the power to fix and determine their eternal destiny. Nay, every Roman Catholic in the known world is under the absolute control of the Catholic Priesthood, by considerations not only of a temporal, but an eternal weight. This is what gives their Priesthood such power and influence in elections ; an influence they are using in every State, against the American party. And it is this faculty of concentration, this political influence, this power of the Priesthood to control the Catholic community, and cause a vast multitude of ignorant foreigners to vote as a unit, and thus control the will of the American people, that has engendered this opposition to the Catholic Church. It is this aggressive policy and corrupting tendency of the Romish Church ; this organized and concentrated political power of a distinct class of men ; foreign by birth ; inferior in intelligence and virtue to the American people, and not their religion and form of worship, objectionable as these are known to be, which have called forth the opposition of the American party to the Catholic Church.
But, sir, you occupy several pages in copying and commenting upon the several oaths administered to the members of the Ameri- can party — oaths which, as you tell us, are revolting in their char- acter, and lead to the indiscriminate proscription of all foreigners. I meet all your conjectures and wild speculations in reference to these several oaths and obligations, by saying, just here, that I have taken them all, and that they express my sentiments and feelings to the
WITH FOREIQNISM. 55
very letter; and I am willing, for the remainder of my days, to go before an acting Justice of the Peace, for the county of Knox, and have all three of these oaths administered every Monday morning, upon the " Holy Bible and Cross."
You have failed, in your zeal to advocate Romanism and oppose the American party, to tell the " Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," ■whom you address, that we resort to our oaths and obligations to com- bat successfully the most powerful oath-bound organization the world ever knew. The oath of every Roman Catholic Bishop and Arch- bishop binds him to absolute and unquestioned obedience, not only to the present Pope but to his successors, " canonically coming in," and to "oppose and persecute" all who do not submit to his autho- rity ! The oath of every Priest binds him to the Church of Rome " as the chief head and matron above all pretended Churches throughout the whole earth," and to "further her interests more than his own earthly good." The oath of the Jesuit binds him to the Pope, as "Christ's Vicar-General," by "all the saints and hosts of heaven," and to "denounce and disown any allegiance as due to Protestants, or obedience to any of their inferior magistrates or officers." The oath of the San Fedisti, a secret Order estab- lished by the Papal government in 1821, binds them to sustain " the Papal altar and throne, and to exterminate heretics, without pity for the cries of children, or of men and women." The oath of the Irish Ribbon Men, an Order established by the Papal govern- ment, and introduced into this country by Bedini, the Pope's Nuncio, but a few years ago, binds him " to extirpate all heretics, and all the Protestants, and to walk in their blood to the knees." la it not time to take the alarm. Governor, and to combine to resist all these secret oath-bound associations, which now threaten us with the loss of all that freemen and Protestant Christians hold dear on earth ?
It is a matter of utter astonishment to find a great political party in this country, most of whom are native-born Protestants, taking sides with a foreign Church, whose designs against this country, according to the avowals of the Duke of Richmond, lately Gov- ernor-General of Canada, are of the most wicked and fearful char- acter ! Speaking of this government, the Duke said in a public address, on our northern border :
" It will be destroyed : it ou^fht not, and will not bo permitted to exist. The curse of tlic French revolution, and subKeqiient wars and commotions in Eu- rope, are to be attributed to its example; and so long as it exists, no prince will be safe upon his throne; and ^/te tfovcrci(/nn oj' Europe arc aware of it ^ and thoy have determined upon its de-sfruction, and have come to an ujiderstand- in<i ujjoit thin subject, and Inive decvied on the means to accomplish it ; and they will eventually succeed, by SUBVERSION rather than conquest. All the low and surplus population of the different nations of Europe will be carried into
56 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
that country. It is and will be a receptacle for the bad and disaffected popu- lation of Europe, when they are not wanted for soldiers, or to supply the navies ; and the governments of Europe will favor such a course. This will create a surplus and majority of low population, who are so very easily ex- cited ; and they will bring with them their principles, and in nine cases out of ten adhere to their ancient and former governments, laws, manners, customs, and religion, and will transmit them to their posterity ; and in many cases propagate them among the natives. These men will become citizens, and by the Constitution and laws will be invested with the right of suffrage. Hence, discord, dissension, anarchy, and civil war will ensue ; and some popular indi- vidual will assume the government, and restore order, and the sovereigns of Europe, the emigrants, and many of the natives, will sustain him. The Church of Rome has a design upon that country ; and it will in time be the established religion, and will aid in the destruction of that Republic. I have conversed with many of the sovereigns and jmnces of Europe ; and they have unanimously expressed these opinions relative to the government of the United States, and their determination to subvert it."
The monarchs of Europe, says the Duke of Richmond, will aid in sending us a surplus of "low, excitable, bad, and disaffected men," who will bring with them their principles, and will adhere to their foreign notions of government, laws, manners, customs, and religion — and that religion Catholic ; and yet t/ou, the " son of a now sainted father," of Protestant raising, have the brazen effron- tery to call upon the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of an American Protestant Church to aid you, your corrupt party, and the monarchs of Europe, in destroying both our government and Church !
Sir, it is passing strange that Protestant Christians and their children should be found side by side with you, Bishop Hughes, Gov. Johnson, and the thousands of bad men who are seeking to build up a Roman Hierarchy in this free country of ours ! What do you promise the country and yourselves, if Romanism proves successful in this contest ? The history of the past informs us that Rome has slain 1,000,000 of Albigenses and Waldenses ; 1,500,000 Jews, in Spain ; 3,000,000 Moors, in Spain. France will never forget St. Bartholomew's Night, when 100,000 souls perished in Paris alone ! The blood of Protestants has fertilized the soil of England, Germany, and Ireland. I mean by this, that enough of Protestant blood has been shed to enrich all the poor lands of England, Germany, and Ireland, if it were properly distributed. In all, the authentic records of the Romish Church show, (and of this she makes her boast,) that she has put to death SIXTY- EIGHT MILLIONS of human beings, for no other offence than that of being Protestants in their religious faith ! Average each person slain at four gallons of blood, and medical writers say a healthy persson yields more, and it makes TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO MILLIONS OF GALLONS !— enough
WITU FOREIGNISM. 57
to overflow the banks of the Mississippi, and destroy all the cotton and sugar plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana !
But you argue, in your blaspliemous publication, that this is no longer a characteristic of the Romish Hierarchy. Why is it not? Has she ever changed for the better ? When did she ever renounce these doctrines and practices ? Never, no, never ! Hers is the same tyrannicjjl system now — where she has the power — that it always has been, and always must be, in the very nature of things! It is her boast, and the boast of her standard authors, that she is always right, and knows no change ! And wo to this land of ours, if ever Rome gets the ascendancy here ! Her whole system is ad- verse to our Republican institutions, and she hesitates not to declare it ! Brownson says in his Review :
" Let us dare to assert the. truth in the face of the lying world, and, instead of pleading for our Church at the bar of the State, summon the Slate itself to plead at the bar of the Church, its divinelij constituted judge."
No wonder, sir, that the American people are aroused ! Such bold and startling avowals are calculated to arouse and unite the somewhat divided bands of Protestant Christians ; to wake up a host of Luthers, Calvins, Cranmers, and Wesleys; to bind together "the heretics condemned in a mass." The very latest thing I have seen is the "Pastoral Letter" of the Bishops of the Province of St. Louis, just issued. That document explicitly says :
"We maintain the superiority of the spiritual over the temporal order. We maintain that the^tempural ruler is bound to conform his enactments to the Divine law. We maintain that the Church is the supreme judge of all ques- tions concerning faith and morals ; and that in tlie determination of such question, the Iioman Pontiff, Vicar ofJesvs CT/"i.v^, constitutes a tril)unal from which there is no appeal ; and to whose award all the children of the Church must yield obedience."
Now, sir, after this authoritative and official announcement, I don't want to see any more of your wire-drawn distinctions between spiritual and temporal allegiance to the Pope. These Bishops say that both are alike binding. Nor do I want to see any more of your malignant efforts to fix the lie upon Mr. Wesley, for affirming in Europe, during the past century, what the Bishops of the United States have announced, in a Pastoral Address, in the present day !
Pope Pius IX. has, by a special act, made the Virgin Mary the special patron of these United States ; but the Protestants of this country have also made a decree, and that decree is, that Jesus Christ, and not the Virgin Mary, shall be the patron of these United States.
And I am happy to have it in my power to inform you, notwith- standing the influence of your Address, that the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of the Methodist Church, both North and
58 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
South, are ready to make a common, determined, prayerful effort to save our native land from the threatened slavery of submission to the decisions of the Council of Trent, and the equally corrupt conventions of Progressive Democracy !
Assuming what is notoriously false — that the Know Nothings are in favor of all measures fatal to the South, and destructive to the Constitution — you ask on page 25 of your infinitely infernal Address :
" What if a proposition be pending to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law — the Kansas and Nebraska law — the rejection of a State asking admission into the Union, because its constitution may tolerate slavery ?"
You know, sir, that the 12th Plank in the Philadelphia Platform of the American party is a safer guaranty upon this slavery ques- tion, and the perpetuity of existing laws, than is to be found any- where in the creeds of political parties. Here it is in full :
" The American party having arisen upon the ruins, and in spite of the opposition of the Whig and Democratic parties, can not be held in any man- ner responsible for the obnoxious acts or violated pledges of either ; and the systematic agitation of the slavery question by those parties having elevated sectional hostility into a positive element of political power, and brought our institutions into peril, it has therefore become the imperative duty of the American party to interpose, for the purpose of giving peace to the country, and perpetuity to the Union. And as experience has shown it impossible to reconcile opinions so extreme as those which separate the disputants, and as there can be no dishonor in submitting to the laws, the National Council has deemed it the best guaranty of common justice and of future peace, to abide by and maintain the existing laws upon the subject of slavery, as a final and conclusive settlement of that subject in spirit and in substance.
" And regarding it the highest duty to avow their opinions upon a subject so important, in distinct and unequivocal terms, it is hereby declared as the sense of this National Council, that Congress possesses no power, under the Constitution, to legislate upon the subject of slavery in the States where it does or may exist, or to exclude any State from admission into the Union, because its Constitution does or does not recognize the institution of slavery as a part of its social system ; and expressly pretermitting any expression of opinion upon the power of Congress to establish or prohibit slavery in any Territory, it is the sense of the National Council that Congi-ess ought not to legislate upon the subject of slavery within the Territories of the United States, and that any interference by Congress with slavery as it exists in the District of Columbia, would be a violation of the spirit and intention of the compact by which the State of Maryland ceded the District to the United States, and a breach of the national faith."
In the " wild hunt" for territory by the progressive Democracy, and their efforts to settle our Western lands with foreigners who are to a man Free Sellers and Abolitionists, the South has more to fear than from all other considerations. What is Gov. Johnson's iniquitous Homestead Bill, but a bid for foreigners ? He proposes to give to the heads of families one hundred and sixty acres of
WITH FOREIGNISM. bif
land, thus hiring all the convicts and paupers of Europe to come and settle in our Western States and Territories ! Sir, but let your progressive, sublimated, double-distilled, converging-lines, Johnsonian Democracy bring into this Union one million of Spanish Papists — black, brown, sorrel, and tawny — under the guise of acquiring Cuba for the South : let them bring eight hundred thousand French and English Papists, under the name of ac(|uiring Canada for the North : let them bring two millions of Mexican Papists — brown, tawny, red and black, being a mixture of all colors and all nations — under the specious pretence of " extending tiie area of freedom" — let all this be done — and your party, made up of native traitors, and foreign vagabonds, and Catholic paupers, are aiming at it — let it be done, I say, and farewell to liberty, and all that is sacred in this country ! With five millions of Papists in our midst — four millions and a half being of foreign birth, and four millions speaking a foreign language — all taught from infancy to hate and detest Protestantism as a crime — an American party would become an absolute j)olitical necessity. Well do the Free Soil papers comprehend this matter. Hear the infamous but influential Chicago Tribune, one of your Douglass organs — one of your foreign Catholic organs. I quote from the paper itself :
" It is now a well-attested fact, that Atchison is a member of the Superior Order of the Spangled Banner, or Know Notliings, and that his infernal vil- lainy in Kansas lias been carried on under the protection and patronage of the lodges in Western Missouri. This is a matter that all men in the North should understand, that Northern voters may be exceedingly cautious how they give countenance or support to an Order that, in any of its phases or localities, is capable of producing such results. It is further said, that the members of that Kansas Legislature, now outraging all sense of riglit and justice by their devilish enactments, are the chosen men of the affiliated Know Nothings in Missouri and Kansas, who back them up in whatever thing they do. Atchison and his gang are the friends of the Order, and through it and Southern Know Nothing support they are sure that tlieir efforts to establish a despotism in the Territory, if nccessarj-, at the point of the bayonet, will be successful. These facts account for many things heretofore inexplicalde, and they develop the true reason of the hostility of the border-ruffians to the foreign immigration that would, under other circum.stances, people that vast and fertile country west of the Missouri."
Thus it appears that a host of lousy foreigners, fresh from the emigrant ships, in which they are brought over to this country as ballast — having the right to vote conferred upon them by an in- famous jyrogrcssive Democratic feature in the Kansas Bill, were expected to get the control of affairs in Kansas. It further appears, however, that Senator Atchison and his pro-slavery asso- ciates supposed that, though fresh from their farms, and crossing the line of their State into the new Territory, they too had the right to vote without being naturalized in Kansas. Hence, in the
60 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
estimation of this Sag Nicht organ at Chicago, a great outrage is committed upon Germany, Ireland, and Italy !
Sir, you need not lay the flattering unction to your soul, that you can drive the clergy generally from the noble stand they have taken upon this great question. Nor need you suppose, for one moment, that the American party are conquered, though defeated in several States in the recent elections. The party will remain true to its ends. Though it fail to command office, it cannot fail to exercise large power. Office is not always strength ; but some- times, nay, frequently, as in the case of the present Adminis- tration, weakness, as time will prove ! The aim of the American party is, by fair party means, to correct a great social evil and political wrong ; and if they cannot do that, to mitigate the evil and the wrong : if they cannot do that, to prevent its further in- crease ; and if neither can be done, why, then I confess to you, the party will have failed. But, sir, if such a failure take place, rest assured that the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of the Methodist Church, South, will not help tobring about such a fail- ure ! We can afford to let such minions of party as you are, rave and rant, and publish their expositions, and issue their warnings to Churches : they will all serve to swell our ranks. All true Amer- ican hearts, not chained to the car of party, or bound down by the cords of plunder, think alike upon the great questions that have called the American party into existence. Little do we regard the slanders of the pensioners of party. Let their speeches and publi- cations teem with wholesale slanders of our creed: the political jockeyism of these thimble-riggers, as in your own case, is too apparent !
From Maine to the shores of the Pacific the country is convulsed with intense excitement upon this subject. Shall Americans govern themselves, or shall Foreigners, unacquainted with our laws, and brought up under monarchical governments, rule ? Shall those who are temporally and spiritually subject to a foreign prince be our legislators, post-masters, foreign ministers, and military leaders, and change our laws as they are directed by the Pope of Rome ? Such results the American party have set out to prevent. The present excitement will not cease ; true Americans and Protestants will labor and pray until our distracted country shall be redeemed from the influence of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny.
Now, Governor, I have noticed all your charges, arguments, and appeals, but one, and that is the allegation that Methodist clerical Know Nothings are conspirators. Your argument is — and I wish to represent you correctly — " The ofl"ence of conspiracy is not con- fined to the prejudicing of a particular individual ; it may be to injure public trade, to affect public health, or to violate public policy."
Wlin FOREIGNISM. 61
You cite Blackstonc's Commentary, and other English Law Books, to satisfy the Clergy as to the law of conspiracy. This done, you overwhelm them with this sage and logical conclusion :
" The gist of the offence of conspiracy consists in a confederacy to do an un- lawful ad, and the offence is complete when the confederacy is made."
I will concede, for the sake of the argument, that this is sound law, and that yours is a logical deduction. Nay, I will concede more — I grant that it is an unlawful act for native Americans, and Protestant Christians, whether ministers or laymen, to resolve, or swear, as we Know Nothings have all done, that we will not vote for Catholics and Foreigners for public oflSces ! I take the ground you do, that a man's vote is not his own, and that it is only to be disposed of by the leaders of the party Avith which he may act !
And now, if you and I, both great men, and Doctos of Law, are correct in laying down the law, and the privilege of voters in this free country, what an infamous body of conspirators the Demo- crats are, and have always been ! For a quarter of a century, tliey have conspired to keep the Whigs out of office — have succeeded in doing so most of that time — and have kept thousands of them who are poor from becoming rich ! More recently, they have conspired with Abolitionists, Free Soilers, Fourierites, Spiritualists, Roman Catholics, Irish, French, and German paupers, and all manner of European convicts, to keep the American party out of office, and have succeeded in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, and other States — thereby depriving the Americans of "lots" of money and honors, both of which they need, and both of which are their birthrights !
The "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," whom you address, in opposition to the great sin of conspiracy, would more cheerfully unite with you to enforce law and order, and to prosecute offenders, but for the fact that the Abolition wing of your party once con- spired against them, to deprive their wives, children, widows, and orphans, of their lawful portion of the great Book Concern in New York, and they were compelled to punish the conspirators, at great expense, however, in the District and Supreme Courts of the United States !
But, Sir, upon the subject of oaths, you are eloquent, apt in your quotations of Scripture, and evince great learning in the legal pro- fession ! You charge that " Know Nothingism is both unchristian and unlawful, because of its oaths, which have no Scripture warrant for their administration ! ' One of your quotations from the Bible is this : " Swear not at all : neither by heaven, for it is God's throne: nor by the earth, for it is his footstool." Your mind has undergone a great change upon the subject of oaths and hard
62 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
swearing, since the 21st of June, 1845, when you delivered your celebrated "Mount Pisgah" speech at Athens. You then advised the people of the State to administer " horrible oaths," and to swear by the ^'■heavens," aye, "God's throne." But then you were a Know Nothing. Here is what you say in your revised copy of that memorable speech :
" Go up with me in imagination and stand for awhile on some lofty summit of the Rocky Mountains. Let us take one ravishing view of this broad land of liberty. Turn your face toward the Gulf of Mexico: what do you beliold? Instead of one lone star faintly shining in the far distant south, a whole galaxy of stars of the hrst magnitude are bursting on your vision and shining with a bright and glorious eifulgence. Now turn with me to the west — the mighty west — where the setting sun dips her disk in the western ocean. Look away down through the misty distance to the shores of the Pacific, with all its bays, and harbors, and rivers. Cast your eyes as far as the Russian Pttssessions, in latitude fifty-four degrees and forty minutes. What a new world lies before you ! How many magnificent States to be the future homes of the sons and daughters of freedom ! But you have not gazed on half this glorious country. Turn now your face to the east, where the morning sun first shines on this land of liberty. iVway yonder, you see the immortal old thirteen, who achieved our independence; nearer to us lie the twelve or fifteen States of the great valley of the Mississippi, stretching and reposing like so many giants in their slumbers. 0 ! now 1 see your heart is full — ^it can take in no more. Who now feels like he was a party man, or a stnithern man, or a northern man ? Who does not feel that he is an American, and thankful to Heaven that his lot was cast in such a goodly land? When did mental vision ever rest on such a scene? Moses, when standing on the top of Mount Pisyiah, looking over on the promised land, gazed not on a scene half so lovely. 0 ! let us this day imio that whatever else we may do, by whatever name we may be called, we will never surrender one square acre of this goodly heritage to the dicta- tion of any king or potentate on earth. Swear it ! swear it ! my country- men, and let Heaven record the vow for ever!"
In conclusion, Governor, suffer a few words of advice, and I will bring this letter, already too long, to a close. You are advanced in years, nay, you have grown gray in the service of sin, and poli- tical intrigues; and at most you have not long to live. Cease your political aspirations, and turn your attention to future and eternal things ! You have been a member of our State Legislature ; sub- sequently, a member of Congress ; and more recently the Governor of our State ; honors and stations, to say the least of it, equal to your merits and talents !
As a true "son of a now sainted father," from whom you have been separated for many years, so demean yourself in future, that you may not be separated, world without end ! Humble yourself before God ; confess your numerous sins ; and instead of lecturing God's ministers upon the subject of party politics, ask them, with tears in your eyes, to pray for you ! Exercise a living faith in Christ, who came down from heaven, and made upon the cross a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for
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63
the sins of the whole worhl. Thus obtaining forgiveness, cease yovir Sunday discussions on political subjects ; attend at the house of God, and set an example to other ungodly Sag Nichts, and lead a new and different life !
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. G. Brownlow,
A Local Methodist Minister.
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GOVERNOR JOHNSON AND EDITOR EASTMAN.
On the 9th of October, 1855, and while the Legislature was in session at Nashville, we delivered a speech to an immense crowd on the Public Square ; which, after certain preliminary remarks, we will give to the public, just as it was spoken. The reason why the call was made on us to deliver the speech was, that we had, the previous weeks, delivered the same, in substance, at Shelbyville and Clarksville, and the American party at Nashville hearing of it, and approving what was said, desired us to repeat it ; and, to be candid, we desired to repeat it there and then !
Mr. Wise, of Virginia, gained great notoriety, in the spring of 1855, by his abuse and blackguardism, heaped upon the American party. He was successful ; and Johnson, of Tennessee, whose am- bition was to gain a more infamous notoriety, profiting by the example of Wise, plunged into the lowest depths of Billings- gate, and piled his vulgar epithets upon the party indiscriminately. Wise, then, like all inventors and originators, has had numerous imitators, and among the most successful of these are Johnson, of Tennessee ; Stephens, of Georgia ; and Clingman, of North Caro- lina. But as an adept in low Billingsgate slang, coarse black- guardism, and as a slanderer and maligner of better men than him- self, Johnson has excelled his patron. Wise, and left far in the shades of the distant caverns of abuse, both Stephens and Cling-
man
To prepare the public mind for the degree of severity we used in reference to the Governor of the State, we will introduce as many as five different extracts from his speeches, in his late canvass for Governor, at Murfreesboro' and Manchester; as reported by his partisan organ, the Nashville Union, and his pliant tool, its Abolition editor, E. (x. Eastman :
"The Devil, nis Satanic Majesty, the Prince of Darkness, who pre- sides OVER THE SECRET CONCLAVE HELD IN PaNDEMONIUM, 3IAKES WAR UPON ALL BRANCHES OF ChRISt'S ChURCH. ThE KnOW NOTHINGS ADVOCATE AND DEFEND NONE, BUT MAKE WAR UPON ONE OF THE ChURCHES, AND THUS FAR BECOME
THE ALLIES OF THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS."— [Speech of Andrew Johnson, at Murfreesboro'.
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65
"A BENOMINATIOV LIKE TniS, TO SET IP AS TUE GUARDIANS OF THE RKMCION AND MORALS OF THE rOlNTllV I A DENOMINATION BOCND TOOETIIER BY SrCRET \ND TF.HRIRIE n\TIIS: THE FIRST OF MMIICH, ON THE VERY INITIATION, FIXKS
AND Ki;t,»[ IKES THEM TO CAKRY A LIE IN THEIR MOUTHS."—
[S|teecli of Andrew Jounson, at Muifrccsboro'.
"Show me the dimensions of a Know Nothing, and I will snow you a HUGE REPTILE, upon whose neck the FOOT of EVERY HONEST MAN oLGiiT to I5E PLACED." — [Spcecli of ANDREW JoHNSON, at Manchester.
"They are like the Hyena, and come from their lair after midnight to PREY upon human CARCASSES." — [SpcGch of Andrew Johnson, at Manclu'stcr.
"I WOULD AS SOON BE FOUND IN THE CLAN OF JOHN A. MUR- RELL AS IN A KNOW NOTHING COUNCIL."— [Speech of Andrew Johnson, at Manchester.
The blaeJcguard and calumniator using this language, was elected by a majority of two thousand votes: that majority being cast by Foreigners and illegal voters; and consequently, his competitor, Col. Gentry — than wliom there is not a more talented, patriotic, and honorable gentleman in Tennessee — was fairly and justly elected. This, then, is the language used by the Governor of Tennessee, towards a majority of the legal voters of the &'tate ! Under these circumstances, we made the speech tliat follows, to an immense crowd on the Square: the correspondence preceding Avhich, will explain itself:
Nashville, Oct. 10th, 1855. W. G. Brownlow, Esq.:
Dear Sir: — The undersigned, having heard your speech on the Square, last night, respectfully request that you embody the substance of the same, and pul.lish it in the Knoxville AV'hig. The desire to see it in print is very gene- ral ; and those who heard it approved its severity, without it were such aa were bitter against the American party.
Y'our friends,
Charles G. Smith, John Morrison, F. M. Burton, RoBT. S. Northcutt. Saml. Davis.
Nashville, Oct. 13th, 1865. Messrs. Smith, Morrison, and others:
Onitlnnni:— Your note requesting me to publish the substance of my re- marks on the Square, last Tuesday night, has been received, and I would have replied sooner, but for my absence at Shelbyville. I have now made the same speech at Clark.sville, Nashville, and Shelbyville ; and my only regrets are, that my engagements prevent me from delivering the same sjieech at every point in this State, where Gov. Johnson held me up as the "High Priest of the Order," and argued therefrom the ivani of respcdabiUiy ft^r the Order. In addition to vour request, I have had verbal applications from many gentlemen to publish my remarks— gentlemen who have been mild and mode- rate throughout their p.ditical course. I shall, therefore, comply with your request and theirs, at my earliest convenience. 5
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I hold that no man's position in life should shield him from the rebukes he may merit by his bad conduct ; and as for the present Governor of Tennessee, his_-\vh'jlesale abuse of the American party, towards whose members, without a single exception, he has indulged in language which ought not to bo tole- rated within the precincts of Biliingsgate, no epithet is too low, too degrading, or disgraceful, to pay him back in.
Respectfully, &c.,
'a7. g. brownlow.
Fellow-Citizens : — The occasion which has called you together to-night, is the special appointment of our young friend, Mr. Crowe, to whose eloquence we have all listened with pleasure. I have made no appointment to speak here ; nor have I prompted the loud and long calls made upon me, this evening, by this large Nashville audience. I shall speak to you ; hut not upon the issues of the late canvass, nor upon those of the approaching canvass of 1856. I will discuss Andreiv Johison and E. Gr. Eastman ; and if they are in the assembly, I hope they will come forward and take seats on this stand, that I may have the pleasure of looking them full in the face, as I denounce them in unmeasured terms : vi^hich is my purpose to-night, let the consequences be what they may !
On a memorable night in August, after it was understood that Andrew Johnson was reelected to the office of Governor, a proces- sion was formed in Knoxville, composed of the worst materials in that young and growing city — such as drunken, red-mouthed Irish- men, lousy Germans, and insolent negroes, with three or four men of respectable pretensions thrown in, to exercise a controlling influ- ence over these bad materials. This riotous mob halted in front of my dwelling, in East Knoxville, and groaned and sang for my especial benefit : all which was natural enough — as they had triumphed over me in the election of a Governor. I took no offence at their rejoicing over the election of Gov. Johnson, as I told them ; and for the reason, that I knew them to be of that class of men who would actually need the exercise of the pardoning poti'er, at the hands of the present Governor, to release them from the penitentiary, before his present term of service would expire !
From my humble dwelling, this beautiful procession marched to the Coleman House, on Gay street, yelling like devils, and insult- ing the inmates of every house they passed. " Huzza for Andy 3IoJohnson !" exclaimed one. "Three cheers ^ov Andy 0' John- son !" exclaimed another. While, to cap the climax — " Well done, mj Johnsing and the White Bastard,'" (meaning Basis,) exclaimed a drunken negro ! Halting in front of the Coleman House, the Governor elect mounted a goods box, and under feelings of great excitement, hatred, and malice, delivered a speech abusive of the whole American party, excepting none, in coarse, bitter language,
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in a style peculiarly his own — adapted alone to the foul precincts of Billingsgate — rounding his periods with a diabolical and infernal grin^ alone suited to a display of oratory by a land pirate !
1 re])orted this slanderous speech — not in as offensive style — as it was <lelivcrcd ; for his looks and grins no man can report on paper. I also wrote the substance of what he said to Major Donelson, in a letter, of which I shall have something more to say before I leave this stand. Just here, I will repeat what the Governor did say, and what I reported him to have said in my paper. I wish this large audience to hear me distinctly, and to recollect the points I make ; for T shall wind up on the Governor and his miserable tool, Eastman, with a degree of severity you have not been accustomed to, but which shall be warranted by the facts in each case.
Gov. Johnson said this new party of self-styled Americans pro- fessed to have organized with a view to purify and reform the old })olitical parties. A beautiful set, said he, to reform ! The Order of Know Nothings was composed of the worst men in the Whig and Democratic parties. As a sample of these men, he pointed out Anclreio J. Donelson., by name — exclaiming as often as tAvice, ^V^lo is Andrew J. Donelson ? He is a soured, oflSce-seeking, dis- appointed politician, who has been kicked out of the Democratic party. To illustrate his views more fully, he told the croAvd to imagine a large gang of coiinterfeiiers out there ! and an equally laro^e crang of horse-thieves out yonder ! Take from these two com- panics the worst men in their ranks, form a third party of these, and you have a representation of this Know Nothing party. This was a beautiful party to propose reform, or to speak of other par- ties being corrupt! He was interrupted repeatedly; and I think I may safely say, amoug hands, they gave him the d — d lie fifty times I James M. Davis, a respectable mechanic, asked him if he would say that to Major Donelson's face? He replied, that he heard the hissing of an adder, or a goose, and went through with certain stereotyped phrases you have all heard from his lips. This call upon him by Mr. Davis was not named in my newspaper report, nor in my letter to Major Donelson. Indeed, I did not anticipate a denial of his abuse.
Now, fellow-citizens, it was in this connection, as well as in the most offensive language, that Gov. Johnson introduced the name of Andrew J. Donelson, repeating it more than once, emphasizing upon it, and repeating it with scorn and bitterness. This is the report, in substance^ I made of his speech through my paper, and in a letter I addressed to Major Donelson. And to the truth of my report, there are one hundred respectable gentlemen in Knoxville who will make oath upon the Holy Bible. There are now a half- dozen respectable gentlemen in this crowd who were in the street at
68 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
Knoxville on that occasion, and heard every word the Governor said, and will sustain me ih my account of it. Among these I will name Messrs. White and Armstrong, members of the House, Sena- tor Rogers, Col. James C. Luttrell, and Mr. Fleming, the editor of the Knoxville Register.
Well, gentlemen — and I am proud to have an opportunity of vin- dicating myself before so large a Nashville audience as this is — I say Major Donelson came to Nashville, after receiving intelligence of the abuse of the Governor, and was seen walking these streets with a large and homely stick in his hand, looking grum, as any gentleman would do under the circumstances. The friends of Gov. Johnson seeing what would likely be the result of this affair, asked for, and very properly obtained that letter, with a view to laying it before their slanderous and abusive Executive officer, that he might lie out of what lie said about an honorable and brave man ; and thereby avoid the disgrace of a cudgelling ! Did he lie out of the scrape ? He did : aye, he ingloriously lied out of what he had said — leaving Major Donelson no ground for any difficulty with him: although the Major had a right to suppose that any man base enough to make such charges, would have no hesitancy in lying out of his disreputable and cowardly abuse. I therefore pronounce your Governor, here upon his own dunghill, an unmitigated liar AND calumniator, and a villainous coward, Avanting the nerve to stand up to his abuse of better men than himself !
But it will be said that the Governor proves me a liar, by a citi- zen of Nashville, who was present at Knoxville and heard his speech. That is so, but I prove both him and his witness liars, by a multitude of witnesses who were also present, and who are gentle- men of the first standing. But who is it that testifies that I have lied ? It is E. Cr. Eastman, the editor of the Sag Nicht organ in this city. And who is E. G. Eastman ? He is a dirty, lying, and unscrupulous Abolitionist, from Massachusetts, who once con- ducted an Abolitionist paper either in that State, or the State of New Hampshire. He was brought out to this State to lie for the unscrupulous leaders of his party. He is paid for telling and writ- ing falsehoods, and would, if the interests of his party required it, and a consideration were paid him in hand, sivear lies as readily as he would write them down for publication. He is a poor devil, as void of truth and honor as he has shown himself to be of courage and resentment. He edits a low, dirty, scurrilous sheet ; and, like his master, Gov. Johnson, never could elevate himself above the level of a common blackguard. No epithet is too low, too degrad- ing, or disgraceful to be applied to the members of the American party, by either of these Billingsgate graduates. Decent men shun coming in contact with either of them, as they would avoid a night-
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cart, or other vehicle of filth. As some fish thrive only in dirty water, so the Nashville Union and American would not exist a week out of the atmosphere of slung and vituperation. A fit organ, this, for all who arrange themselves under the dark piratical flag of Andrew Johnson and his progressive Democracy. I am the more specific in reference to Eastman^ because I understand he is in this assembly !
But, fellow-citizens, I am not yet through with this Knoxville speech of the Governor. Maj. Donelson visited Knoxville, one month after this slanderous speech was made against him ; he visited there upon the invitation of the American party, to address a Mass Meeting.' I waited upon Maj. Donelson, upon his arrival, and found him at the house of Doct. Curry. I told the Major that I was tired of having questions of veracity between me and Governors and Ex-Governors of Tennessee, and that I desired that others should state to him what had been said by the Governor. Accord- ingly, different gentlemen, citizens of character, informed him that they were in the crowd and heard Johnson, and that he did say all that was attributed to him, both in the letter he had received from me, and in the two Knoxville papers. Consequently, when Maj. Donelson made his speech next day, he denounced the Governor as a miserable calumniator, and refuted his villainous charges, in a manner becoming the occasion, and with a frankness which carried with it a conviction of its truth, and gave satisfaction to his numer- ous friends.
And now, gentlemen, I take occasion to state, that there is no longer an adjourned question of veracity between me and Johnson and Eastman. The issue is between Johnson and Eastman, on the one hand, and various respectable gentlemen of Knoxville, on the other hand. Either the Governor and his man Friday have basely lied, or a number of the citizens of Knoxville and vicinity, have testified to what is false. I assert, once more, that the Governor and his dirty Editor have lied out of the villainous abuse the former heaped upon better men than himself. And if their friends are willing to see them remain under the charge, the American party are satisfied with the settlement of the question.
Fellow-citizens, while I am on the stand, I will notice some other points personal to myself. And before I enter upon these, I will call your attention to the wholesale abuse of the Governor, of some thirty-five or forty thousand voters in Tennessee. In his Murfrees- boro' speech, he asserted that "</«e Devil, his Satanic Blajesty, presides over all the secret conclaves''' held by the Know Nothings, and that " they arc the allies of the Prince of Darkness.'' I quote from his printed speeches from memory, but it will be found that I quote correctly. In that same speech, he asserts that all Know
70 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
Nothings are " bound by terrible oaths to fix and carry a lie in their mouths ! In his Manchester speech, I believe it was, he called all members of the new party '"'Hyenas^'' and '•''huge reptiles, upon whose neck the feet of all honest men ought to be placed." And in this same speech he says he "would as soon be found in a clan OF John A. Murrell's men, as in a Know Nothing Council !" What an imputation upon nearly one half of the legal voters of Tennessee ! He has used the most odious terms his limited know- ledge of the English language would enable him to employ, to de- ride, defame, insult, and blackguard every man who has joined the new party, or dares to act with them in politics. In the plenitude of his bitter and supercilious arrogance, Andrew Johnson has in- dulged in language against the entire American party, which would not be tolerated within the precincts of Billingsgate, or the lowest fish-market in London. And from Johnson to Shelby counties, during the entire summer, this low-flung and ill-bred scoundrel, pur- sued this same strain of vulgar and disgusting abuse. And whether speaking of the most enlightened statesman, the purest patriot, or the most pious clergyman, he pursued the same strain of abuse. With him, a vile demagogue, whose daily employment is to admin- ister to the very worst appetites of mankind, no virtue, no honor, no truth, exists anywhere, but in the breasts of such as are either corrupt enough or fool enough to follow him, and a few malignant falsifiers who worship at his shrine. He is a wretched and vile caterer to the morbid foreign and Catholic appetite of this country. "It is a dirty bird that fouls its own nest," says the proverb; and it applies to this man Johnson with as much force as to the dirtiest of the feathered tribe.
"Where is the wretch, so lost, so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, mv native land !"
He now disgraces the Executive Chair of this gallant State. Most of God's creatures, human and brute, have an attachment to " home, sweet home ;" but here is a contemptible and selfish dema- gogue who discards all such feelings, and would transfer his country and home to strangers and outlaws, to European paupers and crim- inals, if he could thereby receive a temporary election, or receive a pocket-full of money. For such a wretch I have no sympathy, and no feelings but those of scorn and contempt, and hence it is that I speak of him in such terms.
On every stump in Tennessee, he held me up as "the High Priest of the Order," representing Col. Gentry as my candidate. Since I came to Middle Tennessee, I have been informed that he pointed to the fancied fact that I was the head of the Order, as an evidence of its utter want of respectability. Turning up his nose, and
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f^rinnlng significantly, he would inquire, Who is William ir. Broivnlow f
Now, gentlemen, since he makes this issue of respectability with me, I will accept it. Since he throws down the glove, I will take it up, and I Aviil show you that he is the last man on God's green earth to call in question the respectabihty of other men, or their families I It would he both cruel and unbecoming in me to speak of what the dishonest and villainous relatives of Gov. Johnson have done, if he conducted himself prudently, and did not abuse others with such great profusion. I am not aware of any relative of mine ever having been hung, sent to the penitentiary, or being placed in the stocks. I have no doubt that persons related to me, directly or remotely, have deserved such a fate long since. There is not a man in this vast assembly who can say, and tell the truth, that he has no mean kin. Can Gov. Johnson say so ? Rather, can he say he has any other kind ? He is a member of a numerous family of Johnsons, in North Carolina, who are generally TIIIEVLS and I'lAiis ; and though he is the best one of the family I have ever met with, I unhesitatingly affirm, to-night, that there are better men than Andrew Johnson in our Penitentiary ! His relatives in the Old North State, have stood in the Stocks for crimes they have com- mitted. And his oicn horn cousin, Madison Johnson, was hung in Raleigh, for murder and robbery ! I told him of this years ago, in Jonesboro', and he denied it, and put me to the trouble of procuring the testimony of Gov. John M. INIorehead to prove it ! The Gov- ernor was petitioned to pardon Madison Johnson, and declined, as he knew he suffered justly. This explains why this scape-galloics has been so bitter against Whig and Know Nothing Governors. They have been so unfeeling, as to suffer his dear relatives to pull hemp without foothold, when a jury of twelve honest men have said that they deserved death ! Is he not one of the last men living to talk about a Avant of respectability on the part of any one ? Cer- tainly he is !
Well, gentlemen, Johnson is again the Governor of Tennessee ; but if he could be mortified, he would have the mortification to know that he is the Governor with a majority of the legal natioe votes of the State cast in opposition to him. We all committed one capital blunder in the late canvass, and that alone defeated Gentry, and elected Johnson. We copied from the Book of Pardons a list of FORTY-SEVEN names of culprits pardoned out of our State Prison by Johnson — some for negro-stealing, some for counterfeit- ing, house-breaking, rape, and other Democratic measures — more pardons than all his "illustrious predecessors" ever granted. In copying this list, we said to the voters of the State that Johnston had spoken his honest sentiments when he said he preferred being
72 AMEJfllCANISM CONTRASTED
among a clan of Murrell men, to being found in a Know Nothing Council ; and in the same breath we assured them that if Gentry was elected, he would let all such rascals stay in prison as long as the courts of the country decreed they should. And while thousands of honorable, high-minded men voted for Johnson, under the lash of party, or because they were blinded by his glaring demerits, it is not to be disguised that all the 2^^^ Icirceny and Penitentiary men in the State voted for him. There never was a time in Tennessee when there were not five thousand voters who either had been stealing, ov intended to steal! These would naturally look to where they would find a friend, in the event of their being overtaken by jus- tice. In the person of Andrew Johnson, they felt assured of " a friend indeed, because a friend in need.'' He had publicly told them that he preferred the company of Murrell men to the society of the most respectable lawyers, doctors, preachers, farmers, and mechanics in the State, who met in certain councils. The fact of his turning so many Murrell men out of the State Prison, and of his having been raised up in such society, left no doubt of the sin- cerity of his profession !
In conclusion, fellow-citizens, if Gov. Johnson cannot lawfully canvass the State a third time for the office he now fills, I hope the Legislature will legalize such a race by a special act, and I propose to be the candidate against him. I will show the people of the State in his presence, from the same stand, who are Murrell men, and who are not able to look honest men in the face !
If I have said any thing to-night oflensive to your Governor, or any of his friends or understrappers in this city, they know where to find me. When I am not on the streets, I can be found at No. 43, on the lower floor of Sam Scott's City Hotel, opposite the ladies' parlor. I shall remain here for the next ten days only, and whatever punishment any one may wish to inflict upon me, it must be done in that time. I say this, not because I seek a diffi- culty, but because I don't intend it shall be said that I made this speech and took to flight !
I thank you, gentlemen, for the patience with which you have heard me in a matter personal to myself, and I hope you are pre- pared to acquit me of lying in the Donelson case, although Gov. Johnson and Editor Eastman bear testimony against me. I thank you, and noAV bid you good night I
We beg leave to add, that in March, 1842, Andrew Johnson laid hold of us in a speech in Blountville, when we were in Jones- borough, distant twenty miles. He held up a picture or drawing of us, and accompanied it with many abusive remarks. In turn, we held him up in the Whig of the 21>th of the same month, and
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gave hk pedigree in full, and with it a representation of Ids cousin Madison Johnson, under the gallows in Raleigh !
The first Monday in April following, Johnson spoke in Jones- horough, and denied most solemnhj that he ever had a relative hy the name of Madison Johnson — denied that a man of that name had ever been hung in Raleigh — and asserted that the man hung there in 1841 was hy the name of Scott — a nepheio, he said, of General Winfield Scott! This bold denial, made in the presence of a large and anxious crowd, overwhelmed us for the time being, as Johnson was raised in the vicinity of Raleigh, and had learned his trade there. He was supposed to know, and for the moment we were branded with falsehood. To aid him in his war upon us, the ^' Joneshorough Sentinel," Johnson's organ, came out upon us, and noticed his denial of our charge and his speech, in an article of which the following is an extract :
"Brownlow said, some time back, that Col. Johnson had a cousin hung in North Carolina. The Colonel developed the fact the day he used up or skinned Brownknv alive in .Jonesborough, that instead of its being his cousin, it was (he tiephexo of Gen. Winfield Scott, now a quasi Ooon candidate for the Presidency. Brownlow is so silent !"
After this, the Sentinel noticed us again, and this notice drew out Weston R. Gales, the then editor of the Raleigh Register, in the following :
EDITORIAL COMPLIMENTS.
""We find the following editorial in the ' Jonesboro' (Tenn.) Sentinel,' a Locofoco print, in relation to the editor of the 'Jonesboro Whig:'
" Brownlow made an awkward attempt last ATcek to caricature a person who was hung some years ago in North Carolina, whom he termed the cousin of Col. JouNsox. But it turns out to have been the nephew of Con. Winfield Scott, a distinguished Coon leader. Poor Brownlow ! — it ought to be his time next. Wonder how many hen-roosts he robbed last summer ?"
" Wc have nothing to do with whose time it is to bo hung ne.\t, nor with the number of hen-roosts robbed, nor by whom robbed, but wc will take occa- sion to correct the ' Sentinel' as to the pers(m hung here ' some years ago.'
" In the spring of 1841, a man named Madison Johnson Avas hung in this place for tlu; murder of Henry Beaslev, but we were not aware that he was any relation uf Col. Joun.'^on, if it be meant thereby Col. R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky. He was, however, connected with A. Johnson, the candidate for Congress' in the .Jonesboro' District, Madison and he being first cousins.
"The last man hung in this place by the name of Scott, was Mason Scott, in 1820, and if the ' Sentinel' moans to reHcct upon the AVhig party by saying he was a nophow of (!en. Winiield Scott, a 'distinguished Coon leader,' we are willing for him to indulge in such misstatements.
" IF TIIK ' SENTINEL' HAD TAKEN THE TROUBLE TO CONSULT MR. A. JOHNSON ON THE SUBJECT. HE WOULD HAVE SATIS- FIED HIM OF THE FACTS, AS HE WAS IN THIS CITY ABOUT THE TIME MADISON WAS EXECUTED."
It will be seen, that while Johnson was uttering his solemn but
74 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
fahe denial at Jonesboroiigh, he Icne^o lie was lying, for he was in Raleigh ^^ about the time Madison tvas executed!''
But we told our friends to hold on, to have patience, and to give us time, and we would make good our charge. Accordingly, in the same issue in which we brought out this extract from the Raleigh Register, we published the following letter from Gov. MoREHEAD, in answer to one we had written him :
Raleigh, 24th April, 1843.
[Executive Office.] " Dear Sir — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 14th inst., requesting mc to inform you what was the name of the man hung in Raleigh in the spring of 1841.
_ "Ilis name was MADISON -JOHNSON. His case was taken to the Supreme Court, and you will find it reported, December Term, 1840, vol. 1st, page 354, Iredell's Reports.
" He was hung for the murder of Henry Beasley. A strong effort was made to procure a pardon for him ; but believing his case a clear murder, I refused to grant it.
"The only man named Scott that was ever convicted of murder at this place, was Mason Scott, in 1820.
" You will find his case reported in the reports of the Supreme Court, Janu- ary Term, 1820, 1st Stark's Reports, page 24.
"I am not aware that any other man named Scott was ever convicted of a capital offence in this count}^
" I have the honor to be
" Your most ob't serv't,
"J. M. MOREHEAD." " Rev. W. 0. Brownloiv."
In conclusion, after this letter appeared, and Johnson was elected, he sent an appointment to Raleigh, for a speech — attended there, and blackguarded and vilified "Morehead and Brownlow" for two hours. He made the letter of Morehead the pretext for his abuse, but the real cause was the Governor's refusal to 2^(f^don Ms cousin. Johnson was there to procure his pardon, and brought every appliance to bear within his power, but the North Carolina Governor was inflexible in the "discharge of his sworn duty! We do not make the point against Johnson that he has mean kin., only so far as it may offset his abuse of others, for who of us are with- out mean kinsfolks ? But our point is, his deliberate lying before a Jonesboro' audience !
WITH FOREIQNISM.
75
From the Knosvillo Wbig of P«c. 1, 1855.]
GOVERNOR JOHNSON'S THANKSGIVING DAY.
As the sixth of the present month lias been set apart by our Governor, to be observed as a day of prayer and thanksgiving to Ahnighty God for his numerous and unmerited mercies conferred upon "the people of our State and nation ; and as it is desirable that the different sects sliall act in concert on the occasion, and at least pray " with the understanding," that is to say, appropriafehj, we have been at the trouble to prepare a form of prayer for the occasion. This we do in no irreverend spirit, but in all candor and sincerity, after this wise :
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being : we, thy needy creatures, render thee our hum- ble praises, for thy preservation of us from the beginning of our lives to this day of public thanksgiving, and especially for having delivered us from all the dangers and afflictions of the year about to close. By thy knowledge, most gracious God, the depths were broken up during the past seed-time and harvest, and the rains descended : while by night the clouds distilled the gentle dew, filHng our barns with plenty : thus crowning the year with thy goodness, in the increase of the ground, and the gathering in of the fruits thereof. And we beseech thee, 0 most merciful Father, give us a just sense of this great mercy: such as may appear in our lives, by an humble, holy, and obedient walking before thee all our days !^
To thy watchful providence, 0 most merciful God, we are in- debted for all our mercies, and not any works or merit of ours ; for many of us entered into the scramble to elevate to the Execu- tive Chair of the State the present incumbent, with a perfect know- ledge that he had abused thy Son, Jesus Ciikist, our Lord, on the floor of our State Senate, as a swindler, advocating unlawful interest : we knew that he had voted in Congress against oflering prayers to thee : we knew that he had opposed the temperance cause, which is the cause of God and of all mankind : we knew that he had vilified the Protestant religion, and slandered the Protest- ant clergy, defending and eulogizing the corruptions of the Roman
76 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
Catholic Church, throughout the length and breadth of our State ; yet such was the force of party ties, 0 most mighty God, that we went into the support of our Infidel Govehnoe blind, and, by our zeal in his behalf, gave the lie to our professions of piety, rendered ourselves hateful in the eyes of all honest and consistent men, meriting a degree of punishment we have never received ! We do most heartily repent, 0 merciful God, for these shameful sins : we humble ourselves in lowest depths of humility, and ask forgiveness of a God whom we have justly provoked to anger, and the forgive- ness of our insulted brethren, whom we have wickedly blackguarded, to the great injury of the cause of Christ !
0 most merciful God, who art of purer eyes than to behold in- iquity, turn not a deaf ear to our supplications on this day, because the day has been set apart by a Governor who really does not sub- scribe to the Christian religion ; does not attend Divine service ; who swears profanely ; and has insulted Heaven and outraged the feelings of all pious Christians, by teaching the blasphemous senti- ment that Christianity is of no higher or holier origin than his Democracy I Have mercy, our Father and God, upon that portion of this congregation who have endeavored to find peace to their souls by travelling along the "converging lines" of a spurious Democracy, in search of the foot of "Jacob's Ladder," and give them repentance and better minds ! And do thou, 0 God of pity, show all such, that instead of ascending to heaven on an imaginary "Ladder," they are chained fast to the Locomotive of Hell, with the Devil for their Chief Engineer, the Pope of Rome as Con- ductor, and an ungodly Governor as Breakman ; and that, at more than railroad speed, they are driving on to where they are to be eternally punished by Him whom thou hast appointed the Judge of quick and dead, thy Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen !
"WITH FOREIGNISM. 7T
[From the Knoxville Whig'of May 24, 1856.]
THE FOREIGN SPIRIT ILLUSTRATED.
The following correspondence will explain itself, whilst it will
serve to show the spirit which governs this Bogus Foreign Catholic
Democracy :
lliCHMOND, April 21, 1850.
"Rev. axd dear Sir: — It caunot ])e uiikiml in mc, though personally un- known to you, to ailJross you on a suliject in which our peare as citizens is alike concerned. I see in the Fincastle Democrat of 18th inst. what purports to be a review of an article of yours in the Knoxvillo Whii^ of oth inst., in which I suppose, from the remarks citntained in the Democrat, I have been very, very severely handled liy you, for an ofience 1 never committed. You will allow me to say, sir, that I have no recollection of ever writing or speak- ing a disrespectfulword of you in all ray life, but, on the contrary, have fre- quently ."poken approvingly of much you have written. Such Ijeing the fact, you will not be surprised to learn how deeply I regret that tlie purest inno- cence on my part has failed to be a protection against personal abuse. 'J'hat you have been misled by some person, is to my mind very plain, and if, through the influence of another, you have inflicted a wound upon one that never harmed you, nor ever designed to harm you, is it not within the range of a generous nature — of an honest man — to repair the injury by at once giving up to tlie injured party the name of the deceiver, or publish him to the worlifasautliorityfor the assault, and let him assume its responsil)ilitics?
In a change of circumstances, I should feel bound, by the honor of a man, to do that much, and in my present relation ti) the case I ask nothing more. It is perhaps due to you to bo infurmed, that I have not seen your article, nor do I know a word it contains, and it is due to myself to say that I knew nothing of tiie article in the Democrat assailing you, till I saw it in print some hundred of miles from home, where I have not yet arrived after an absence of nearly two months. On the subject of dues, I may add that it is due to the public that the name of the deceiver bo given them. I of course suppose him to be a man of great personal courage, ready to assume all his own responsibilities. In conclusion, permit mc to say, that any effort on your part to aid in concealing the hand that uses the dagger in the dark, will detract largely from the estimate I have placed upon your character, as a man without liesitation or fear, when the claims of justice are presented. My address is Fincastle, Botetourt Co., Va., and I am very respectfully,
S. D. HOPKINS.
Knoxville, May 21st, 1856.
Rev. S. D. Hopkins :
Sir — Through the weakness, mismanagement, and culpable re- missness of the contemptible Jesuit now at the head of the Post
78 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED
OfScc Department, and his numerous lackeys — all of whom you sustain in their politics — a letter written by you one month ago was received a few days since, while I was absent at a Know Nothing Convention, aiding my political brethren in placing before the people of this Congressional District an electoral candidate, to aid in the great Christian and patriotic Avork of overthrowing the corrupt, profligate, unprincipled, Foreign Catholic Bogus Demo- cratic party, of which you are a member, and in the service of which you are an editor ! But my delay in replying to your letter shall be atoned for in the length and •plainness of my reply.
It is true, sir, that I published an editorial in my paper, of some severity against you ; but the article was in I'eply to a low, cowardly, and abusive editorial against me in the " Fincastle Democrat," of which you are the editor. And "you v/ill allow me to say, sir," that at the time this attack was made upon me in your paper, I never had said a word about you or your paper in my life, either "good, bad, or indiflferent ;" and "if through the influence of another you have inflicted a wound upon one that never harmed you, is it not within the range of a generous nature — of an honest man" — to repair the injury by taking back the article, and apolo- gizing through the same medium for the injury ? If, however, you believe you have not " been misled by some person," and have done me no more than justice in that abusive article, hold on to it. Having made oath that the horse is fifteen feet high, allow of no correction !
In all frankness, you must permit me to say, that I believe you expected to find in the office on your return to Fincastle, a letter from me demanding your authority for admitting into your paper such an article against me, who, as you very well knew, up to that hour had never said one word, publicly or privately, against you or your paper. I think you concluded to take the start of me, and thus io forestall Xi\Q, by writing from Richmond some twenty-four hours before you would arrive at home !
In your paper of the 18th of April, issued only three days be- fore this letter was written at Richmond, an editorial of half a column appears, in which your paper styles me a " notorious black- guard"— a "bullying blackguard" — an "unwanted and lying man" — who "is mean enough to lie, cheat, or even steal" — a man "wearing the garb of righteousness to serve the Devil in;" and in the same article, the case of a Locofoco editor, who was involved in a shooting scrape on account of his attack upon a lady, is actu- ally attributed to me ! Although you are a Reverend Methodist Preacher, and a grave and dignified Steam Doctor, conducting one of the organs of the Foreign and Anti- American party in Virginia, you must pardon me for saying, as I now do, that in calling upon
WITH FOREIGNISM. 79
me for my authority for Avhat I had said in reply to the unmiti- gated abuse of your paper, you have proven to my mind, that if you do not possess the cool and collected impudence of the Devil, you are at least possessed of the lion-headed impudence of an un- principled Sag Nicht partisan, hired to do the dirty work of an equally unprincipled and dirty organization !
But it is due to the history of this controversy that I should say, this second attack upon me sets forth that you are from home, and that "the Junior is responsible for the article." This might be credited, if, on your return home, you had protested against such abuse, but it seems from your silence to have met with your heart's approval, and gave "general satisfaction," at least to you! It is true that you were absent at the time of both these publications, but it does not follow, as a matter of course, that you were not the veritable author, and that they did not find their Avay to the " Dem- ocrat" office at the same time and in tlie same way that your "Bal- timore Correspondence" got there. The "Junior," as he styles himself, claims the fraternity ; and were it not that he is too well known in Fincastle for any sane man to believe that he Avrote the articles, he might have the credit (if credit there be attached to it) of so low, malicious, and