The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-12-08
THE KNow-NorHING MOVEMENT.

II il generally conceded by every one who I'M der
sands history, that there IN never great popular
movement without some deep reason for it. Tee
oeeod Of multitudes Of men cannot be stirred on
great scale by q mere fancy. The idea which they
proclaim A. the party waschword may DO foolish, or
really moves them. Still there Is at the basis SONS
Teat impellng cause which is worth careful cons
aeration. More tbanthis-these movements do not
AWAY sproduce the effects which we're intended by
beaders Of them. They aim at one thing, and may
suppose they are all the while working towords it
pus one who looks calmly at them from distance
We guided to very different result. The cry OF the
French revolution seemed at the time tue cry OF
hideous impiety and OF bloody license. The move
XeeLt poured over Europe like wave Of barbarism.
md confusion, there was the NOBLE even il fierce,
protest Of man outraged in his rights. For its ef
ects upon her institutions and ideas, humanity will
never cease to be grateful.
On less imposing scale we believe these princi-
pes will be found equally true Of this po puiar
movemeRt, which ~ vibrating over the country.
Those who ANGER at it as the fruit Of q sudden
pracy OF disappointed office seekers. or as an in
genious device OF petty politicians on large scale,
- secure places, wall see by the issue that they do
- undefstsnd the people. Thoy do not remember
. few months, in the most intelligent and high
minded population Of the Union. Without presses,
without electOoeering, with no prestige power, 1t
has completely evershrown and swamped the two
old t0ric par ties OF the country, paralysed their
AOiOR, deprived them to greater or less extent of
Influence and Of Office, and now sways pu6ac senti-
meDt even where 1t has not yst absorbed political
pswer In this State it has polled over hundred
thousand votes many Of them from most staunch
and intelligent working In other States il holds
eqnal power. IL spreads-it will not improbably
sule future Copgrss; and may carry in President
On its wave. Such vast popular movement cannot
Proseed from aoy ssch petty motive as the mere
hunting OF Office. The great surges of the people
are not mpe!led by ar y such mean cause.
N0r ia il to be supposed that such movement
tests upon no broader basis than hatred OF men be-
cause they were born different soil, and still
less because they hold religious faith different
from our OVID. The day has passed, we trust for
ever, for religious wartArss On this free soil, won
vito the blood of msn Of all creeds under a
pobic which boasts that it shelters unolested every
human opinion the party could not live, could never
arise, which should hava as its great objec. the per
eecutiOn or particular religion SECT 1t is not
nm unreasering religious b'gotry which has prin-
sipally aroused this great hidden popular move
meAt. Nor do we believe sny exclusive native
American prejudice has been its principal impulse.
Our houses are yet full Of the memorials Of those
men who left but two centuries ago their country TO
build free government on . forsgn shore.
The broken and squalid races yet linger among
ns,@ who alone can call themselves with
strict propriety native Americans" Our own
fathers were foreigners. The blood Of strangersof
the chivaric French and the heroic P0le-was
poured cut in our cause. 1t was the boast and the
Inspiration Of those men that they were building
mp . State, not for Anglo Saxons but for humanity.
Il vas dearly hoped that hither, as to . refuge,
the weary ard broken In the fierce strife for liberty
n the Old World might happily fee. Since then,
foreigners have necessarily poured in. Their labor
has aided in our pubic works; they have performed
the lower tasks, giving an opportunity for the more
inventive genius and the holder spirit of the leading
race 10 secure the grand and more valuable lAb,rs
81 the country. Their toll and their lives
have been also contributed in erecting this
nobie structure of our prosperity. There
would be . glazing inconsistency between
NJ 0rlru ra c u III ~
abandon the broad liberty for all which has been
sur boost. and hedge ourselves and our institutions
arsusd with the high walls CT exclu, ton, which are
u once the curse and tae opprobriu Of the monar
cbies OF Europe. Many a noble, Intelligent, high
hearted martyr-beaten down. defeated In the same
struggle in the Old World which has conquered
Knows our government. He understands liberty.
He has sold his youth and his manhood for it-in
vain. He has believed in the inanenabe right of
m men to govern the mselves. He mas looked hope
fully, when defeafed there, to hare In liberty
here. He has read in our history that we ssrua-
gled fOr freedom tor all; and that America
S to be the homo OF the oppressed. And
We fsve taken pride-we have gloried in the fhc,
thAt such men hold snch views and cherish such
expectations of us. We claim 3 share in thctr ex-
utatiobs. And II would certainly be the height Of
nc0psiatency to meet them when they arrive with
the rpellinx claim that America is for the Ame-
ricansn-tbat they are not OF us-that they may
labor here, but shall have no share in our birth
right. Such q course would be un.Americsn-hos-
tIe 10 all our history and 10 the whole spirit OF our
institutions We have fear that any great and
Pre- dominant party will insist on It's adoption.
The present movement 10 que to o deeper, juster,
profOuncer sentiment than that which w,uld couu.
sci tuch excusiveness Bgotry and hostility to 70.
regDers, such, have had mu ID TO do with II; they
may have mingled With its tide aud given strength
30 It's swell and its sseep. But they are not its main
elements. Il its origin, and will owe its sue.
esss, 10 ether influences. We believe the present
movement is due mainly to the conviction that the
liberty We grant to aliens of becoming American
ctzt ns hiss been grossly abused; that under cover
Of this privilege tae pauperism, the ignorance,
the crime OF the ola countries have been emptied
ont upon shores with hostile reklessness of
interests and our rights; that the Rom in Catholic
va,e has bet n held in compact, disciplined mass,
under the mmf date aud supreme control Of hisr.
alcby whose interests md sympathies lead them to