The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-09-12 00:00:00

characteristics of our scheme to be, fre

for all the worshippers, and a

minister adequately the Chun

Sir, it must be from a se

are so unwilling to believe us inspired by these great objects

and seek for us the inspiration of some miserable
"Shibboleth." Desperate, indeed, is the moral condi-
tion, where vice disbelieves in the very existence of vir-

tue, and not merely resists, but denies, its power; and

precious transmissions of Apostolic truth are scarce allowed
a doubtful place among those influences which can raise a

Christian above the mean aspirations of sectarian warfare, or

factious struzgles after a party triamph.—l am, Sir, your
VI NCENTIUS.

faithful servant,

Sept. 8, 1854

THE KNOW-NOTHINGS IN THE UNITED

STATES

A PARTY has within this year sprung lip in the United
States which, under the name of " Know-nothings," is ex-
ercising a material influence on public opinion, and con-
trolling most of the elections. In the eastern states they
rule supreme. In New York and Philadelphia they are a
most formidable body, and in Virginia and the southern
states they are making rapid strides. But in the west,
where the great mass of emigrants settle, their influence
is the more extraordinary, and in that district their success
has been unparalleled.

There hasbeen for many years in the United States a
party which clung to the old revolutionary prejudice against
foreigners, and has never desisted from protesting against
the naturalisation laws. In the year 383-5 it took form as
the Native American Association, the principal object of
which was declared to be the exclusion from office of per-
sons of foreign birth. The society met with no great suc-
ce3s ; it was distrusted by both whigs and democrats;
and it soon closed a short and inglorious existence.
It is difficult to say which of many causes has brought
the Know-nothing party into existence. Archbishop
Hughes's attempted interference with the States school and
his paper war with General Cass aroused a very angry
feeling. The Gavazzi riots produced a great dislike to the
religion he denounced ; for many months each succeeding
Sunday has witnessed a preaching in the park, generally
ending in a street row. Irish riots in .New York have also
caused considerable hostility to the offemr...
- -

Early this year the Know-nothing party was zw,.
Its name is derived from a portion of their,oath, wherein
they declare that they will know nothing against the duties
they owe to their country. Its birthplace is ur
it sprang from sources which defy inquiry. It is ba

[known, and

a feeling of aversion to foreigners gem
Romanists in particular. It is a s

society

ill hm.}

council

•under c

ter from the grand council. It is supposed to
aim at the re-enactment of the uld naturalisation 'laws,
under which foreigners must have resided 14 years in the
country before being admitted to the rights of citizenship.
They are also believed to aim at the total abolition of the
Romish Church in the United States. They have secret
signs and symbols, are well armed and disciplined, and act
well together.

Such is the constitution, such are the aims of this asso-
ciation, which threatens a perilous conflict of races and
creeds in the struggle for the next presidency, and in the
approaching elections. They profit by the warning of the
Native American Association, and exercise their influence
negatively. They start no candidate of their own, but
throw the weight of their influence into the scale of him
who comes nearest to their views. Remembering that the
society is a secret one, it is therefore easy to perceive how
important an influence it exercises over the elections. By
abstaining from presenting themselves as a target, they
elude attack, while their power is wielded most efficiently
in the dark- They have already fallen like a shell into the
midst of the democratic camp. The whigs remain de-
scendants of the old anti-foreign federalists, allied with the
old native American party, and both from instinct and
party prejudice, actuated by a general distaste for races,
whose leaders have generally been found in the democratic
ranks. With the Whig party, therefore, have the Know-
nothings allied themselves, and the success of the union
has been most signal-
At Washington, Philadelphia, and Baltimore they have
carried their candidates for municipal offices against the
government.

A BRIGHT SON.—" My son," said a doting father, who
was about to take his son into business, " what shall be
the style of the new firm ?" " Well, governor," said the
one-and-twenty youth, looking up for an answer, " I don't
know. But suppose we have it ' John H. Samplin and
Father ?' " The old gentleman was struck with the
originality of the idea, but wouldn't adopt it.
A NEW COMPETITOR OF STEAM.—The Moniteur says,
that Dr. Augustin Carosio has made a new discovery,
called pile hydrodynamique, which, according to the
opinion of the inventor, possesses an immense power.
He bases his theory on an axiom by Faraday of the electro-
chemical equivalent. This machine consumes only what
it engenders by its own force; and that force, not analogous
to that of steam, is not limited by the degree of resistance
offered to it, and neither possesses the danger nor expense
of a combustible. It is further stated, that the Prussian
engineer, M. Siemens, is engaged to build such an engine
at Genoa, to be exhibited in London.--The Builder.
WEATHER-GLASS.—For some years I have been in the
habit of watching the condition of the gum in my wife's
camphor bottle, which stands in our bedroom ; and when
not disturbed, it makes a capital weather-glass. It
answers my purpose as well as a barometer that would
cost me twenty-five or fifty dollars. When there is to be
a change of weather, from fair to windy or wet, the thin
flakes of the gum will rise up; and sometimes, when
there was to be a great storm, I have seen them at the
top. When they settle down clearly at the bottom, then
we are sure of grand weather. Any farmer who will
watch his wife's camphor bottle fora season, will never
have occasion to watch the birds, or locusts, or ants, for
1414,lication5 of a change in the weather.—Literary Journal.