Star of the Kanawha Valley. [volume] (Buffalo, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1856, 1855-04-18


it is that party which has not allowed
itself to be led away by sectional is
sues, and has regarded the require
ments! and guarantees Of the Consti-
tuition as superior to temporising and
! short-sighted compromises. tits this
party which Acknowledgement is
is constituted to oppose. You will
look in vain for a national Wing or
ganlzation. That party which has
been reduced from its former great
ness to being a simple exponent of
dissatisfaction, is now clothed in new
armour, and combines the hcteroge-
neous forces of abolitionists, NAL
contents, disunionists, into an I'M
principled, and, as believed, short
lived party organization. You can
readily perceive why such an organ
cation should have sprung up like a
mushroom out of the ripening and
tutrifying mass of Massachusetts,
politics. But it should not flourish
elsewhere. The very nature Of this
opposition should teach Virginia
Democrats what depth of disgrace
their adversaries have reached. 1t
should teach them that those adver-
rsarles have been obliged to resort to
thc>Gharms of secret manpnvres in
orderHto give new strength to their
decaylngpowers: 1t ought to con-
firm them in their faith in the truth
OF Democracy, when they look upon
the disgracetul weapons which are
brought to bear against hem! If
anything in this world should infusc
new life into your party, il is the
character itself of Know Nothingisln.
And when you consider that the
mass ofpeople in Virginia have stood
for years opposed to all the tenn pta-
tons of the enemy, it seems imp ssi-
bic til at they should yield to its last
and most contemplate of all foes.
The $ anne causes which gave Know
Nothlngism success in Massa4hu-
sets ought to overwhelm it and rout
it beyond redemption in Virginia.
Here it tlourishes because the whole
power and all the blandisllmen ts of
the State have been exerted to their
utmost to break down the Dcmocra-
cy. There it ought to wither, be
cause it standsjust where the enemies
of the Democratic party have always
stood, with all their weakness and
fallacies.. Here it should succeed,
because federalism and aboltionism
in some form have always held the
.power.@ There it should fail, because
Virginia has always been true to- the
Democratic faith. Know Nothing
ism is Indigenous to the soil of Mas
sachusetts; but, unless the people of
Virginia are STRUCK with judicial
lblandness, it can never take root
among yottrv valleys and mountains
1t is entirely unnecessary for me
to occupy your time with dc!inea-I
ton ofIhe practical working ofkndhv-
Nothingisln here. You have lcarn-
ed its political designs already, ahd
you can easily conceive Of the polit-
ical dcbauchery which goes with it,
Questionswhich were formerly settle
by free and open discussion, are NJ w
decided by the iron rule of council. l.
Capacity and intelligence which.
however much mistaken, once CON
trolled the acts of the old Bay State,
are now banished. from an arena
which is occupied by the fruits Of Sc
crct intrigue. The path for prefer
Inent,' which formerly led over the
submits of the everlasting hills Of
knowledge, now lie among the low
and swampy abn4es where nothing Z
noble dwclls. The mass of the PEG
pie are excluded from allparticipation
in those matters upon which depends
their social and civil privileges. The
voice Of the people is dumb. The
elect point~eut tLr way, and under
threats of oppression, and proscriH-
and persecution in every walk oflifd,
men who call themselves American
freemen, submit to the dictation of
this last and mostingeniotls form>of
worse than tabled jcsuitism, ThiF
is the operation ofthe thing here
lfVirgir ia hopes for honor and pros
perity, she had better drive it from
her borders with scorn and contempt.
/ When remember that Washingt
ton and Jefferson, and Madison,
have left the glory of their great
names as a legacy to Virginia, and
remember, too, that the party which
now claims to be the American would
have prescribed these heroes, had
they not submitted to the iron rule
ofthis order, which every statesman
must despise, am astonished that it
should have found for a moment a
foot hold Of power in our country,
or even have threatened your State.
AS Virginians value the pride Of
their State, let them reject it. Let
the Blue Ridge be the barrier hey ond
which no wave of this political mania
can pass on. And let the present
condition of Massachusetts prove as
a warning to that State which was
the first to consolidate the Union,
and should be the last to strike q
.hIow nj its: existence. ,s