New-York daily tribune., 1854-08-26
.coIrRrING TIE IRISH"


.No,bipe' movement: but for that, we might have
been content to say nothing on the subject AS tue
facts are il has seemed essential to usrhat SOUND Views
of the matter at issue should be affirmed and current
errors controverted We have SAID all that seems
necessary on the general topic and shall speak no"
70 mere incident We find in the letters from
Know .Nothings and their abetors constant assump
,op that those who dissent from their views and con
tenn their measures are "courting the Irish,
.plsyipc for the Irish vote" &c. &c. We must talk
tothese gentlemen.
Mes.rs. Know -Nothngs & Co.. there is not one
among you who has more freely, fearlessy and
thoroughly braved Irish prejudice and Irish hostility
for pubic good than We have done. 1--WE catered Tor
Irish votes we should not advocate Liquor Prohloton
as we have done from the first and shall do to the
Last. Nor should we advocate Emancipation and the
right of the Colored Race to equal Political privileges
and franchises with Whites. On these an1 many
kindred points we have uniformly gone exactly
counter to Irish impulses and prtpossessions Nor
have we been backward nor sparpg in reprovlng
Irish faults foes. vices, crimes when the occasion
served Irish love Of drink and whenn quor love OF
fighting and rioting have received full justice at our
hands. and shall receive il. But when question is
raised involving the very bases Of our Republican sys-
tem-Relisious Liberty and Political Equality-we
must be tecreAnt even BY silence, to the f-ith in
which we were born-that of Equal Rights Tor all
Men and no law established Religion. For this iaith
we must still labor and if need be- suffer reproach
If any one will look after those known to him in
past Years as most asiduOus in courting Irish votes
and play ing upon Irish prejudices, he will find many
a one now skdlkng about Know-Nothing lodges and
holding up his dish for lade Of the Official manna
which they are expected to dispense. He goes in
low. as be went in before " for the chances" re-
solved under whatever king or creed to be still
Vicar of Bray.
We deeply regret that there is any such thing to be
considered or thought of distnctiyely Irish vote
This should not be An Irshman who becOmesa a ctl-
zen of the United States should hencefoth be Amer
icin, and nothing else He is very wrong in polit-
caIly consortng with others as an rlshman or allow
ING himself to he addressed as such. Irish associa
tious to influence elections, Irish canshp, Irish
claims TO Office, all wrong, and Irish browbeatng
and club-handng at the polls are atrocious. We see
clearly that our Adopted Citizens are in good part to
blame for the odium they no v encounter They have
! been mised, and have done wrong, which now re-
| coils ON their own heads. We have seen hum
dreds of them racing wildly through the streets
on an election day. fourishiDg shillelahs, whackIng
them simultaneously on the pavement, and attempt
ing to intilDdate all who did not agree with them.
This will not be allowed hereafter, and we are glad
of it, We have heard from Office seekers quite too
much of what the Irish must have or the Germans
are entitled to- after the victory of this that party,
when they were entitled to any thing, it at ALL not
as Irish or Germans but as Americans. There is to
be change in this respect, and it will be better for
us all.
! Had the Know Nothing movement been directed,
| as at first seemed likely against the abuses and
eyasions of our Naturalization Laws, aud all exhibit
tiOns Of violence and browbeatpg at Elections, it
might have effected much good aad involved no evil.
But in warning unfortunately the rights hitherto
| Justly accorded to immigrants, and especially on
| those OF Roman Catholic immigrants, it is morally
certain to argravate the very evils which it confrons
While it creates others perilous Our foreign
born citizens, the Irish especially, have always been
too clsnnish, too Irish in their politics, when they
should have been American this crusade will not
only confirm them in their evil way, but will give
them a plausible reason for banding together aud
standing by themselves. The specially assailed will
naturally be specially banded for mutual protection
Then the priestly influence the great majority
of the IrshbOrn, already immense is certain TO be
increased and extended by this crusade true
mans faith s precious in his sight as when
he is called 70 suffer privatoa and bear reprOach
because oft
Yet one good may be expected to grow out of this
crusade. 1t will teach the Irish to appreciate more
Justly those whom they have been accustomed to stig
matise and browbeat as negrO-loyers How the Irish
rushed en- masse to the polls Of our State only seven
years ago to vote down the right of COored Men to
the Elective Franchise No other class Of our citizens
was so Jealous, unanimous in its hostility to Equal
Suffrage without regard to color. Would you AVE
your daughter marry a nagurl" was their standing
fout at the champions of Democracy irrespective
of property or cOor-as if mans rights at all
affected by anotbers willingness unwillingness to
Dtermarry with him and his. They will be likely to
see more clearly hereafter
We have no special liking for any race or people
but our Own. We do not defend the rights hitherto
accorded to immi grants from any special regard to
them, any more than We impced to claim such
rights for the long abused children of Africa from any
special kindness for them. We stand not for this or
that class but for the Rights of Man-Of the Race
and ull who compose it. Some may be more ignorant
or les capable than others, but "A mans man for
"a that Political Rights and Duties are not the
property of the few wise and powerful-of the
well-bred the cOmey featured, but the equal inher-
itsnce of all. They not rghtfuy forfeited even
| by unwillingness TO cOncede rights to others. And
We do not court the Irish By maintaining their
equal rights with others: simply affirm fundamen-
tai American principles and uphold rights essential to