The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1855-08-22

cret feature OF this new Order-a feature
which they profess to have abandoned.
That 1t was originally secret oroaniza-
ton, no one can truthfully deny. Now,
in the name of all that is sincere, what
more does any man know of tie Order
at this moment than he did before the
veil of secrecy was removed! Like all
show-mcn, they pull down the canvass
after the monkeys have been seen. 1t is
the first as,icle Of faith in our republican
creed that all political power is derived
from the people. A majority Of the peo
pie Of a State are the State, for they con
troll its political acti n. If the designs of
the Know-Nothings are virtuous and po-
litically orthodox, what occasion is there
for, or propriety in, secrecy in those States
where the party is in the ascendant
Why should State keep secret from
itself? If the party is in minority, and
endeavors, by secret combinations, to de-
feat the will of the majority, their efforts
must work a corruption of public morals,
and are logically ant-rcpublican and fac
tious. Publicity is essential to the purity
of representative government, and a.
cana imperii are the attributes of des-
potism.
| have so far, treated this subject as n
national organization, and repeat that
it is such, or it is helpless to accomplish
what ii has undertaken. have no faith
in the success of their plans, nor do be-
lieve that the Order will continue to exist
after the next Presidential election. The
repeated thrusts which their organs make
at the present Administration, Qhe very
best for the South thus far, since that of
Washington,) and the Democratic party,
the most Constitutional party we have
ever had.) satisfy ire that its cohesive at.
traction is office, and that they are not
lnsensible to its emoluments and spois.
Again, the fact that not a single Demo
crat in position, North or South, unless
he is an Abolitionist. is connected with
the Order, speaks volumes in support Of
this opinion. .....
Was | here to conclude, you would be
warranted in suppos;ng that ] regard the
Know Nothing movement as humbur,
which can do us no good or harm. Ex-
cept in IFS calamtous consequences ofpro-
ducing division among the people Of the
South, 90 so regard it. But in that as
pect it is formidable in the extreme. We
of the South have no politics but the ne.
gro; and upon this question the language
of the glorious old Troup should be the
language ofthe Soutll-"The argument is
exhausted, we will stand to our arms."-
There can in future exist but two great
parties in the Union-the Pro-slavery and
the Anti-slavely parties. All others will
be ephemeral. If we are united we are
'afe; il we split up into subdivisions, on any
question, we are undone.
Party divisions have heretofore been our
curse. and now, for the first time in half a
century, when there was bright prospect
Of unanimity; when the pleadings were
made up and issue joined between the
North and the South on the only question
which can dissolve the Government-the
great question whether the Slave States
are as equals, to remain in the Union, or
as equals, to destroy it; this hybrid of
Wbiggery and Abolition interposcs to cast
us, and squeaks out, in plaintive notes,
that "the Union is the paramount political
good" This sentiment will surprise no
man, when he is informed that Mr.. Bart
lett, of Kentucky, the President Of the
Southern branch OF the Order, avowed
his hostility to the Nebraska bill, (which
simply restored to the South her lost
rights in the common territory.) as al.
so did Mr.. Pitcher Of the same State, Mr..
Brown Of Tennessee, Mr. IIoughton, and
Mr.. Kenneth Rayner of North Carolina
tue latter Of whom denounced the bill as
ian outrage upon the North" Will YOU
trust your d stinies in the hands of these
men, who are the heads and leading spir.
its of the Order, even in the SavcholIinp
Southf The very circumstance Of the Or
der having taken root for time at he
South will do us injury at tn, North. Our
friends who, like Toucey and the Younger
Dodge, have fallen before il, for no 9th
er canse than that they were true 10 the
Constitution, and therefore true to the
South, will be mortified and discouraged
when they find Southern men affiliatino
with their enemies. But worse than this.
every Know nothing victory at the South
will be claimed At the North as an Abo-
lition victory. The Abolition teachers tell
the people of the North that there Is a
strong antislasery feeling at the South
with the poorer white population, and say
1t Is because they are jealous Of The com.
p ,tion Of the negro. They then reason in
this way: "You knop whot Rno,o moth
isa Is here; Know nothingism is the same
eperyWhere.' And thus men are CONVEX
ted into active partiSans against an institn-
ton which. iflhey believed was universal.
ly approved and universally sustained by
those who had better opportunities Of wit
Messing its practical operation than them.
selves. would at least be qniet.
The only aigument Of Know-nothines
South which addresses itself with ms,cl,
force TO the Southern. mind h. that Tie
Immigrant population come TO or country
prejudiced sgaipst the instinition Of slaye.
~; that they hasten The settlement and
admission af New States aud thus Increase
the political power Of tl,e Ffcesoil and
1 lAbOlitjon Is4ftr IN ll,f NefihnaI 4 40 AZ,