Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1854-05-30
THE KNOW NOTHING SOCIETY.

The following article from the New York Com
| mercial advertiser meets with our hearty appro.
| val. All secret political organizations should b.
dscountenanced, for if the majority can't rule il
fair contest, we had better doff our republican.
ism and don that of the Cossack. That which
will not bear the light had better never come to
| the light, but always remain in oblivion. These
secret organizations are engines of great power
and can be and will be used for evil as well as
good. Let great care be taken then how they are
encouraged:
But leaving out of view, entirely, the one Sc
cret political society, the Know NOthings, let us
look at the general question. Are such organiza-
tions in accordance with the genius of our repub-
lican institutions! We unhesitatingly answer,
no. They are totally opposed to that bold, man
" frankness and candOr which are inherent In the
American character, originated and fostered by
American institutions. The enlightened Ameri-
can citizen-the man who feels the responsible
ties and appreciates the high privileges of his citi
zenship-who loves freedom for its own sake, and
will suffer anything rather than betray it-who is
prepared, at any cost, as every American ought to
be, to assert at the ballot box his right to voice
in choosing his law makers and his Government
is out of his true element in secret political Or
ganization. Free suffrage and secret cOmbina-
tions to control popular suffrage, are irreconcia-
BILE. Secresy in political movements necessarily
implies one of two things-either cowardice that
dare not avow the right and maintain it; a con-
seriousness of wrong and guilty determination to
persist in it.
But more than this may be said of secret politi-
cal associations. Not only do they not accord
with the genius of free institutions, but they are
positively hostile to and destructive of popular
liberty. Whatever plea of expediency may be
urged for their existence under despotic Govern
ments, nothing can be said in their defence under
such Government as ours. They are evils IN
herently; subversve of Government whether that
Government be good or bad. Under the latter,
this very power of subverting is their only use,
and they never rise to higher character than
that they are the less of two evils. But under
free Government they are still subversive-their
inherent properties arc not changed-and they are
therefore unmitigated, unqualified evils; they
subver not the despotic and the bad, but the free
and the good. They cannot co-exlst with good
Government. Their secret combinations consti-
tute power, which may Mt any moment over
throw the Government and introduce anarchy or
despotsm. They take the mass Of citizens at a
acknowledgements them by an ambuscade-
spring mine upon them-when those citizens lit
tie suspect danger in the entire absence OF symp-
toms OF Its approach.
But the aims of secret society may be in
themselves good. Admitted. What then? Can
right ends be justly or safely pursued by wrong
means? Must principles submit to circumstances,
or must circumstances be governed by principles.
1t would be right to elect the best and most up
right citizen that could be found in the city to the
office of mayor, but it would be wrong to do this
by illegal voting. 1t is pleasing circumstance
to have we'll governed city, but this must not be
obtained by violation of the cardinal principles
of popular freedom. The end sought to be ac-
comp!shed by secret societies does not sanctify
the agency of secret societies. which are an I'M JUS
tice to the citizens excluded from the combina-
ton.
And further it is the nature of such associations
to degenerate. All history proves this. Secret
power is irresponsible power, and irresponsible
power always degenerates into cruel tyranny
The Star Chamber of England, the Jacobins
of Franco, the Inqusiton of Spain, all prove
this yet in those cases the parties were known
and their proceedings only were secret. But the
organization in our midst is secret with respect to
both persons and proceedings, and the tendency
to degenerate is proportionably greater. Indeed
the downward progress has already commenced, q
recent ward meeting demonstrating it. This de-
generating process is perfectly natural, and as
such is inseperablc from secret political Organiza
tons. Let the first purpose be ever so good ana
patriotic, and their original membership never so
worthy, such an association must become the rail-
lying point for men of mean, cowardy, vindic-
tive lawless natures, because it supplies the very
agency for gratifying such propensities. Thus
they vent their spleen, indulge their spite, or
exclude from Office any magistrate who faithfully
enforccs the law. This is a consideration which
ought to have weight with people who must re-
ly upon themselves for a good Government. Eve
ry American, because he is an American, should
to the utmost of his power, dscountenanee Sc
cret political societias. They are un-American,
un-republican, degrading to the American char
actcr and inimical to free institutions.