The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1854-09-23
From he Cincin natl En- urer
OLD FEDERALISM REVIVED IN KNow-N0THlNG-
ISM-A STRIKING PARALLEL

OLD FEDERALISM REVIVED IN KNoW-NOTHiNG-
ISM-A STRIKING PARALLEL.
The political strife who can remember the
partisan contests which sgnazed the close Of the last and
the of the present century who participated
in the which resulted in the election Of Thomas
Jefferson TO the presidential chair be struck with the
similarity of the political issues and then involved in
public controversy After the lapse of half century the
democracy called upon to combat the principles
and measures which old federalism for a brief period
fosted upon the country In 1898 the heightened black
cockade adherens of Adams and Hamilton complete
ly in ascendency in all branches of the government
They ruled the country with iron sway. II
phaticay reign of terror for the democracy. No lib
eral republican could find Its way to the statute
book and such had been put there under Gen Wash
ington were erased from it, Animated by bitter hostility
foreigners when they landed here they general
~ attached themselves 10 the liberal party, the naturaza
ton laws extended to fourteen years. An alien law
passed empowering the President order from the
country any foreigner he might Judge be unfvoraby
disposed TO Institutions and government
In order to render these measures effective and
their necessary accompaniment statute made pun
ishing every person with fine and imprisonment at the
discretion of the court who should print and publish any
thing disrespecu of the President and other high officers
the government Such the features of federalism
in 1893 The democracy aroused at these alarming
encroachmens upon popular liberty which threatened IFS
total subverson and rallied enthusiastically around the
coed Mr. Adams. The contest that followed was
orablc in the history of this government The federal
lists made desperate struggle They endeavored to
the demon of religious bgotry and intolerance against Mr.
Jefferson by representing him inRde So successful
they in this that after he chosen it is we'll
known fact that pious federal in New England
ceaed their Bibles because they thought Mr. Jefferson would
order them to be burned
The first fruits of the democratic Jefersonian triumph
change in the naturalization laws from fourteen
five years and the repeal of the alien and sedton
The decisive one, and for fifty years but lit
tie has been heard of those upon which put
the seal of reprobaon Federalism has undergone many
forms and changes since tenhas been known by dozen
different aasesbut has dared to bring into promi-
notice the it advocated during the presi
dency Of the elder Adams until in 1854 to the astonish
men of the whole country secret organization has sprung
up, whose members principally federal wings, which
proposes to sten again upon the country the hghanded
anti-repubcan policy of 1798 and thus again place in
peril the principles of civil and religious freedom.
The know-nothing wings desire entire repeal OF
the naturalization laws being in this particular ultra
than their predecessors of John Adams notorety who
willing foreigners should enjoy the rights of suffrage
when they had been here fourteen years Being hostile to
emgants coming to this country of freedom, procaimng
they are to it, the Buntlne conspraors in
favor Of stringent alien law than that passed
in 1898 They also opposed to freedom of speech, and
from the mob violence which they have used in Chicago
New Albany and other places to prevent the utterng of
sentiments unpalatbe to them there every TO
believe if ntrlsed with power, they would the
old sediton statute Besides the adoption of these old fed
eral principles Of John Adamss administration, the Blunt
ntes have incorporated into their creed other so
hateful to the friends of freedom that the adher
ents of Adams and Hamilton dare urge them upon the
countrywe allude to their Acknowledgement of all
rallied citizens from holding Office and the establishment
by them of religious test as the first step toward union
of Church and State and the commencement of persecu
ton for conscience sake These IDEAS borrowed from the
worst desposms in Europe-the product of the dark
agest sought render popular in the only free and
enlightened republic upon earth From the parallel we
have drawn between old federalism and know-notling
whggery il will be that they essentially the same
thing In their tactics and mode of warfare there is also
striking resemblance. Old federalism tried its best to
identify democracy with irregion and infdelity, and
know-nohingsm that did succeed accuses it of
procvity Catholicism The aim of both was to excite
against the only party that contends manfuy for the prn
cipe of religious liberation the prejudice and bgory
clesastical sects.
As the people were told in 1900 that if the democracy
triumphed Bibles TO be burned, so they in
formed that the organization is in league with the
Pope of Rome to destroy the liberties of the country Can
it be possible that story at foolish and false
will be credited by single human being nhabiting the
territory between Maine and California viii not the
democracy initiating their glorious ancestry of the days
of Jefferson, rally IN their strength and put
down the Buntline enemies Of civil and religious liberty
The odious against which fathers
tended during the regn of terror in 1913 again sub
iects of discussion 1t has been great many years since
the democratic had the powerful incentives
for action The fundamental principles of their faith upon
which the government has hitherto been administered,
attacked. But fear not the result The Buntlintes
will give way when their lines charged by the democ- /
racy, always victorious in contest for principle Their