Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1854-11-08
A Frank Avowal.


IF us who cannfts sanction the doctrines of
he Know et hiRgs. that the persecution
IF one class 81 another was calculated to
cad to cigiiI war blood=shed, rapine and
all the Evil upon the ioosening |
IF men Of nofidled and unholy passions
from the rsstEal' moral
infuenceraa ORGANIZED lagssp Bntu8s1
never supposed bat the mernBeTs 81 thasl
organization would openly advocate aciv-
il war-a resort to arms and butchery of
its opponents at this early day in its his
tory. In this, we have, unfortunately,
been mistaken; for we find in a paper
which advocates the Know Nothing doc
trines, and is dated ''New York, October
%, 1854" called "The Mystery" and
which purports to be published no where
sold every where-edited by nobody
and knows nothing" an article which is
painfully ominous of the evil means to be
resorted to in the future by what it styles
"the Protestant or American party
This article is too long for us to copy
entire. or we would take pleasure in lay
ing before our readers a specimen of the
immaculate logic of this hidden Order
We will, however, make few extracts
which contain the git of the article. In
his first paragraph, the writer says-the
italics are his own -
"The coming elections, particularly in
this city, (the Key of the Union) will not
pass off with the usual quietness that here
tofore has characterized our voting
There will be but two contending parties,
or spirits Of parties, and those will be Ca
tholic or Protestant, and any one who has
read historycan imagine the results Of such
a dangerous collision. That the coming
election will bring trouble, there is not the
least shadow Of doubt, and it can easily
be accounted for; but the greatest and the
most sanguine, qOhere thousands mag not
sam tile number Of tile slain, aOM be al our
'aen Presidential election"
This foreshadows result most to be
depIored in any government, and cspe-
cialIy one based upon the popular voice
a resort to physical force, that demon
which has dlSgraced SO many republics.
The allusion to former collisions between
Catholics and Professionals, at once bring
the mind to the stake and the scaEold.-
We had hoped, that in this age of light
and liberty, none sought to propagate their
doctrines, and especially those in regard
to religion, by other means than those of
moral suasion. But this is not the worst
There is no misunderstanding the follow
ing:
each party is trying for the accumu
lation of power, and that as one of those
parties is composed of 6igotea Catholics and
desperate foreigners, and the other of men
battling against fraud and imposition, nei-
Their willing to relinquish, therefore, the
day they meet there OiU be other than songs
Of joy. People will then go to the polls
to vote, and all who are supposed to be
Protestants or Americans will meet with
a rough handling, and trouble begun at the
polls mill end 0ttAe cannon's mouth. There
is certainly something Of the kind in re-
serve for the future"
"The Presidential election will be the
most sanguine, as it will be universally
diffused, antagonistic and simultaneous
contention throughout the Union. aud as
a friend of ours Justly remarked I! few
days ago: 'Mark! that neuer before since
the adoption Of the oresentJo Of govern
ment. haze ace been called to the polls to V0te
for a particular creed.' That the police
military, &c, could or.would check dis
turbance of the kind referred to, we do
not believe. Where did 3ou euer see civ.
Il aOar, aO1ere creeds o0ere tn contention, cAecA
ed By outside in1quences2 No-one or the
other of the belligerents must succomb.
It is all folly to rely upon the apparent
strength Of such outside influences. for in
such time oaths of Office are no longer
kept sacred; police, military. DC, will be
divided and unity will no longer exist"
Here is direct appeal to "the lannon's
We would ask every candid
reader if men capable of making such ap-
peals to the basest passions of intolerance,
are worthy to be trusted with the govern
nent Of our republic How long before
hey would rend it into shreds and fac
ions, as is at present the case with IN
happy Mexico and the South American
Heretofore, every principle of
our government-eyery political question
las been openly and freely discussed, and
he people have expressed their approba-
ion or disapprobation of them quietly
trough the, ballot-box, and deemed that
he only proper manner of correcting all
xisting political evils, as it was sufficient
o effect every necessary reform. But the ,
Anow-Nothings propose another, and to
s new mode of deciding political ques-
ions, as uncomplimentary to the virtue f