The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-04-11
The Riot at Cincinnati.

The Riot at Cincinnati.
The recent outrages perpetrated at Gin
cinnati by the Know Nothings, cannot fail
to create feeling of anxiety and alarm in
the mind of every rejecting citizen OF
Ohio. It.has always been our boast, that
in AL political contests the people were ev-
or ready 10 submit to the popular will ex-
pressed through the ballot-box. Last fall
Know No.hingism swept the State as with
a whirlwind. The Democratic banner was
struck down, and the party which had borne
1t so proudly for years, was thrown into the
minority. Yet no one thought Of resisting
the decree. itwas as the voice Of God, and
the members of the Democratic party SUBJ
mitted ckeerfuny to the verdict which for
the time was rendered against them.
But few months have passed, and new
state of affairs is presented. The party
so powerful last fall is rapidly on the wane.
Its leaders as their chances Of success di-
minish, grow desperate. They dare not
trust the intelligence of the people-they dare
not abide the result of an impartial elec-
ton. Their desperate circumstances re-
quire desperate expedents, and hence the
terrible scenes enacted in the "queen city,
The destruction of the ballot-boxes in the
Eleventh and twelfth wards of Cincinnati,
and the importing of armed men from
slaveholding State, are outrages which
ought to sink in eternal infamy, the men and
the party under whose sanction they are
committed.
: The members of this dark lantern order,
claim to be truly American in sentiment
claim that their creed is the very embody'
ment of those noble doctrines which the
founders of the republic taught. Fine re-
publcans indeed! Precious guardians art
they, of American rights and interests
Noble defenders of the constitution! Is
American to disfranchize men as highl
endowed by nature as ourselves, en &C
count of the mere accident of birth /
II American to prescribe men because they
dare to worship God according to the die
tates of Judgment and conscience! Is it A
snerican to burn ballot-boxes, in order to pre-
vent right expression of the public will
Is it American to hire armed ruffains
come from an adjoining State, to insult ou
citizens and interfere with our elections?-
Ifso, then the Know Nothings are the Amer
ican party, in the fullest sense of the worc
"By their fruits ye shall know them."-
These are the legitimate fruits of KnoV
Nothngism in Ohio.
The members of this order, are oppose
to Catholicism and claim to be the cham
pions of free and genuine religion. Me
who belong to no church-who have pre-
nounced the Bible, lie and have scoffe
at religious ceremonies and W orship, all I
once, become the champions of Protestan
ism, and the prosecutors of Catholics.
not this little strange! Has the Christia
church become 50 low, as to require darl
mess as q cover, secrecy as shield an
pFoHCElptlOn anu HluTu6E dS Lue uledHS Vi u
success! Are the doctrines Of the "mee
and lowly JESUS" to be disseminated
mob violence and bloodshed! What a
bel upon Christians; what a stain upon tt
character of republican people! And y
this is only the "beginning of the end"
Ahis secret order bears sway in the countl
The scenes enacted in Cincinnati will
70 enacted in every city in the Union, I
til Elections are mere farce, and the rigl
Of citizenship are totally destroyed.
Know Nothingism is reaching after
reins of power in the government. No
ing will satisfy it but unlimited and unct
ditional control tits tyrannical, cruel, q
exacting in every feature. 1t aims at
overthrow of civil and religious libe
and the establishment of an iron despotis