The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1855-03-10

cf ten cents q day, they receive from " to ~
b0a dry for their labor and as well may it be
said that they built onr great works Of I'M
provement, as that the horses and cattle en-
ployed in their construction built them.
But, it is said again, that this native Ameri-
sxan movement has its origin in, and Is connec-
ted with, abolitionism. MIR. Chairman, II this
IL SO, the abolitionists are a much less sagacions
and fsrseeing people than | supposed they were.
By whom, ! beg to know, are your new States,
for the most part, peopled?
We know that the moment foreigners arrive
hero, if they have the means, land many Of them
have they seek the fertile regions of the far
West, where lands are cheap, and the soil is
virgin and, almost to a man, they are opposed
to negro slavery, because it comes in direct COM
p~etition with their own labor. Again, sir, it
10 known that the subject Of abolition was ignor-
ed in all the recent elections at the North. But
ID ID said that " Know othingism' first made
its appearance in this House in the person Of
Mr.. Banks, Of Massachusetts,, an abolition
State. / apprehend that the gentleman is la
boring under % slight mistake in this.
II was, sir, the humble individual who now
addresses you, that, at the last session, first in
PRODUCED d proposition to exclude all foreigners
from cur army and navy and | can almost
sonnplain Of my friend from Massachusetts,, in
the language Of the Latin poet " Hos ego Ger
sicalos ysci, flld alter honorps,'' which being lit
orally constructed, means, he has i" stolen my
thunder" But, be this as it may, if Know
Nothingism did come from Massachusetts, and
do not know that it did, in my judgment, it
same from q very good starting point. 1t was
there the first battles Of Revolution were fought.
Within the limits Of the glorious old State are
Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker's Hill,
and the defendants Of her Old warriors have not
forgotten how on those memorable fields Their
sires opposed their breasts to foreign bayonets.
No wonder, when thinking of these things,
aud when listening to these old men, :" fighting
their battles DER again. they should in their
hearts core feel the injustice Of permitting
foreigners to govern them.
Sir, the gentleman from Mississippi tells us
that this new party will have but u brief and
transient existence, aad that it will pass away
like q forgotten dream-and in order to enforce
the idea Of the transitory nature of its existence
he tells us it is like on inverted pyramid. Now,
TO say the least, this was q strong figure. for
oaf conceive Of no greater degree Of physical
strength than that which would be required to
turn one OF the tpmbs Of the Pharaohs from its
base and place it on its apex. And just in
pAopOA VIZ W tHC hHlCuub VI pu9slethl otiSiiEtA
required for this, / conceive was the amount of
Imagination to make the figure. Well, sir, it
Is not for me to find fault with IT. But this |
soy to the honorable gentleman. that when next
he comes before his people, he will find himself
the most beautiful specimen of an Inverted
pyramid on a small scale, that ever was seen in
this world, with his head upon the ground and
his feet in the air ; he will be a living monu-
mauf nf tho ruahpnso of n nou npupcipn he
own countrymen in favor of foreigners.
Laughter.)
Does the gentleman from Mississippi imagine
that o party with the prestige of victories such
% the Native American party has achieved,
can be Of short, temporary existence? Why,
air, look at them. In Pennsylvania, it swept
over the State like a whirlwind. In New
York, If it WIS not victorious, it was because
il knew not its own strength. In New Jersey, |
the descendants of these who commended against
the bloody Hessians raised aloft its standard
in victory. In Massachusetts, it was more than
victorious-it annihilated all its opponents,
Wings, Democrats, and Abolitionists. And |
mention as q fact, truly gratifying to every |
true conservative in the country, that, ut the
recent election for mayor in the city of Boston,
Mr. Smith, the mayor elect of that town, ran
against three opponents, an Abolitionist, a
Wing, and d Democrat, and distanced them all,
he being the same man who not long since was
burned in efigy in the city Of Boston for assist
ing 70 restore the slave Burns to his master.
And in little Delaware, too, always true to the
Constitution and the Union, the Native Amcri-
can party was victorious, and ut some future
day, II any polltlco-geologlcal explorer, search
ing Tor me remains OF an extinct race, wishes to
ma announcer specimen OF a petrlied man, he need