Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1854-07-25
7 Dc . - Ad.ires,.

to bear upon single point. I lie enemy to be
overwhelmed Is the new opinion commonly
designated ssknow y Nothing.''. Setting out
with the assumption that a coalition exists be-
tween this opinion and the wings, the com-
mittee charges the coaiitioIi with having sses-
poGsed the doctrine OF ProscT iq.iosl against all
citiSeas not natiUe- born Of Whatever religious
faith - and with being in ssclose alliance with
asecret and .oatiI-bound association which pro-
poses to punish men for coRSciehee SGke.''
We propose to consider these charges in
their order.
/. Is it proposed by any one to prescribe
naturtlized citizens Certainly no body of
men has proposed to deprive that class of the
elective franchise or to expell them from the
Safes; or to exclude their children from the
schools or to tax them more heavily or to
prevent them from entering the professions or
acquiring real estate; or to impose on them
ny burdens not borne by their fellow-citizens.
That then does the Democratic Committee
mean when it talks Of s'proscription," and of
taking ssfrom citizens the civil rights which
they have acquired under the constitution ?''
We shall let it answer.
sit is an attempt (says tie committee} to
settle policy not recognized in any law of
this country, that hereafter no man born out
of the country, shall hold civil Office under
the governments If this means any thing it
is that the right acquired by naturaized for
eigner as the right to hold office. We are incli-
ned to think that this right depends on the pri-
or rights of the people, to elect whom they
choose A newly made citizen has the right to
hold Office, If he can gGtit; and not without it.
The democratic committee assumes that if
a foreigner is candidate, voters have nothing
else for it, but to put his name on their ballots,
under penalty of high treason to the constitu-
tion. But the committee fails to point out the
clause in that instrument which secures to To-
reigners the offices OF the country. Its whole
reasoning on this point is wretched soplisfry,
t.ar1Ir Of %ba oil
terested and the scrnples of the conscientious
ignorant. The cry of prescription raised by
a defeated candidate is ridiculous. The ma
jorty will vote for its own men, and if a can
didates happens to be OF the majority, so
much the better for him.
But it is said that natuaaliZed foreigner
may be of good character, effective abilities,
thorough education, numerous virtues, patriot
ic sentiments; orthodox religion, &c, &c; and
that none of these things will avail him, that
''the standard of capacity and honesty is to be
overlooked and the circumstance Of birth
and birth alone, must decide who shall fill the
offices of the government Most true there
are exceptional cases under this generals rule
as under every other. If koSSUth were a
candidate he would be beaten by any Brown or
Smith. 1t is hard case, You say that the
accident Of birth should defeat kossuth. So,
also it seems hard that he who comes of age the
day after election cannot vote: he must wait
4 year, because by an FsacCident Of birth, he
is not day older.
The true inquiry is whether the general rule
is III the main reasonable. il the political con
diti0n of the country is such that the election
of any man ofa certain class would be taken
an Endorsement of certain improper move,
mentS on the part of that class. it would be
patriotic duty to vote for his opponent. Thou
sands of our citizens voted for Mayor Conrad,
because the election OF Mr.. Naux would have
been regarded as a triumph of corrupt adj
Committee may be conscious that Judge Z OIL
lock is better qualified for governorship than
his opponent, yet every enc of them will
s:proscribe'' him because they think it impor-
tant that the party ropreSepted by the Judge
shall not gBin the aScendancy in the state. For
similar reasons, Americans may decline, in the
present condition of the country, voting for a.
NJ foreigner. And this without any hate to
foreigners such, but from a sense of patri-
Otic obligation to break up the dangerous com
bination existing in that class to support their
own men for office. We allude to facts well
known. There is not a member of the demo-
cratic party who is not aware that his party is
now dictated to by its naturaized members
who, the price Of their support, demand an
enormous share OF the spoilS. There is not
politician who does not know that wherever
the democratic party has acquired the MAORI
ty IN northern state, it has been by a coaii-
ton with the compact foreign forces, moving
under the generalsbip of bishops and priests.
The only effeCtual method of breaking up this
coalition, is for every good citizen to vote so
as to deprive the foreign clique of the adYan-
tages promised it by a bargaining in politics.
?. The charge Of Furnishing men for conscieace
sGfe is brought against the new movement. In
all the general defamation of the address on
the snbject of the right of every man to enjoy
| his religious views without molestaiion, every
| good citizen will heartily concur. Who does
not regret the cXcesses committed by the fanat-
| ical and the ignorant on both sideS-the insults
| to the American flag; the assaults on persons
| wearing white felt hats, the attacks on Ameri-
can professions, the blowing up Of churches,
| and the riots between PrCteStants and Catho-
! lies 1t is these very excuses which every
| good citizen wishes to avoid, while lie would
| leave every one the seright to consult his own
! cOnSciencein matters OF religion But no cit
| izen has right, under pretext Of conscience,
| to menace his fellows. a Mormon saint should
/ refrain from parading his religious seraglio in
| the streets Of our large cities South Sea
! Islander would have no right 70 kill and eat
| his enemies one of our public squares in ho-
| nor of his god HindOo woman should not
| complain that her rights cf conscience were
! trampled upon if restrained from pitching her
i child into the Delaware as a sacrifice; nor
should a Catholic or other bishop, when he
| endeoyors to get into his sole control all the
| property of the churches of his sect, to exert
| a gigantic mOneyed and real estate power in
our midst, TO split into fragments the school
system of the state by dividing the school fund
| and to control the actron Of the state, are met
with a stern and unyielding resistance. If
Bishop kendrick wishes to worsip the Virgin
| Mary and the saints, that is his business if
Bishop Kendrick wishes to every church
in the east end of thr state trustee of an Ita-
lian princeling, that is quite different affair,
and one on which cant is out of place. When
| the Pennsylvania railroad company wished to
own more real estate than was thought safe to
leave in its hands the state interposed its veto.