Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1855-05-30

your good works. -, s; - tho
foundation of the Know Nothing order, and secrecy
in politics is decidedly anti American IN It's origin
and spirit. We can sympathse with secret polucai
associations under despotisms where the fuiihg pow
er is in the hands of tyrant held not by the Wish
es and sufrages of the people, but according TO the
principle that might gives right; here, TO critcise
public men or measures is to attack the source vi
bower for might equally gives right to do eV as 10
do good but where all power is derived from Tue
people, where they (the people, are called upon con
stantly to make and unmake public omcers, Hee
inquiry and discussion of public men and measures
is not mere privilege but the duty of the citizen
When we find, then, Americans preferring the dark
ness rather than the light We must conciude they oo
so because their deeds are evil
There is something in the human breast which sus-
meets and revots at hidden action. Assassination
is a crime many degrees lower than open murder
the whispered lie than the open s:nder indeed Sc
crecy seems to stamp the man and beast ahhe as
lower type of their species. hat more royal than
the on erecting his name and roaring MS oeiiance
in the face of his enemy? What more desplcabie
than the hyena under the cover OF night digging up
the dead unspeaking corpse, and managing II IN 81
lence This fear of of secrecy has It's origin IN the
knowledge of the universal desire of man to secure
the applause of his fellow man, and to avoid his CEN
sure so that whatever is good is almost sure 10 DC
known whatever evil will seek to hide ITSELF HOW
often have we not known the party or the other
make great parade and hurrah over what they at
TEMPTED to prove a secret circular OF tneir OPP
ponents knowing that to convict them OF secret
hidden action, would bring suspicion ana coNuelhna-
ton their cause. >.
let anv man seriously contemplate HIMSELF under
the cover of night seeking some out of the way alley
to lead him to some yet more hidden room, tnere
taking oaths contrary to his Bible and the c9nsttu
ton Of his country, hampering his free will, and
placing the control of his franchise In other hands.
On his return, just as he energies into some more
open thoronghfare where walks the honest Tree cltl-
zen, the keeper of his own conscience the soe guoe
of his own political actions where once he he know
nothine was neither afraid ashamed to do what
ever his hands found to do he meets the eye of that
free citizen fixed inquirngly upon him. Can he look
him in the face? If he is not lost to SenSlbly and
honor the blush of shame will mantle his cheek
How can he avoid it? His steps have brought MN III
sight of an honorable man-from ways where these
60 who seek the house of the strange woman, In
the twilight in the evening" in the black and dark
night proverbs CHI. vi-v. 8. Or where the mid
night burglar issues with his dark lantern or returns
again. his work ended. / do not mean to call
the Know Nothing whoremonger, burglar, an as,
sassn or hyena, but their ways are the same, and
they must submit to the odium of the company they
keep. Birds of feather &C. How can a religious
man take an oath in lodge? had supposed that
the command, "swear not at all was only eXcusa-
bly, broken under judicial sanction. But good men
sometimes allow their prejudices to override both
the law and the prophets.
But dropping awhile the objection of secrecy, will
any republican justify the making up his opinions
on constitutional and most important political prn-
ciples upon one-sided and preudiced statements? Is
the way to arrive at the truth, to go at the invita-
ton of touch upon your elbow and whisper IN
your after nightfa and take upon your lips So
lemn oaths that you will believe thus and SO, and
act thus and So refusing to hear discussed points in
controversy? When this gets to be the rule OF &C
ton with the the American people then is demonstra-
ted the incapacity of for self-government. Yet
such is the practice of Know Nothings. l do not
believe it is polite to exclude the foreigner from cit
izenship to persecute the Catholic: Nay, hold 1t
highly mpoltic and improper to do either and think
/ am capable of demonstrating it. But will the
Know Nothing admit me into his lodge to give my
views OF the views of the citizens who think with
me? Have they permitted their midnight appointed
candidates to discuss their opinions before the peo-
pie? Will they even in public conversation canvass
the claims which they say they have upon the pco-
lie? What features may be engrated on their po-
icy in the South cannot say, but in the past where
have they accepted open contest Did Pollock meet
Bigler? Does Fournoy meet Wise? Have the Ne
braska Democrats that have fallen in the North and
Northwest been conquered in fair fight and open
field or been slain by midnight plots of Know Moth
ing Abolitionsts? Driven to the dumb creation again
for the type of the Know Nothing, we find the en-
ragged bull shutting both eyes and rushing blindly
and heedlessly upon his enemy.
Measure thyself, members of the midnight order,
by this authority: GA reasonable man is one who
both in the formation of his opinions and in the reg
ulation of his conduct gives due weight and infu-
ence all the facts and considerations which ought
to influence his decision. A man of the opposite
character lis who takes up his opinions upon
slight and inadequate grounds and then will not adj
NIT impressions of facts arguments which cal
culated to correct these unreasonable Deductions or
who in the regulation of his conduct is led away by
hasty impressions feeble and partial motives, with
out giving due consideration to those which cal
culated to lead him in a different The for
ner is called reasonable considerate, thinking man,
the latter unreasonable, inconsiderate man, who
cannot will not think. !"
A6ercrombie's Intellectual Philosophy p. 139.
The most Objectionable section of Romanism is Jes
usn and its chief feature of repusion is it's secret
organization guarded by the most rigid
system of espionage; and we hear Know Nothing
defended the ground that it is antagOnstic to
Jesuit;sm-and that it is lawful to fight the ID
withre that is to say, the end ustifes the means
you may do wrong that good may come of ia ia
tai principle and which opens to the vicious and
the bad the way to every conceivable wrong doing
To of the South, the admission of this principle
would be suicidal Fanatics at the North acting on
this principle would set aside constitution, laws and
the Bible itself to effect they say and
many believe in their one-sded views, the greatest
Of all duties the emancipation of the slaves of the
South. No. in morals wrong is wrong, whatever may
come of it, and God in his providence will not per-
nit good to come out of evil. Do men gather grapes
Of thorns or figs of thistles You may poinard the
tyrant, two will rise up in his place. Stay Caesar
and you have Anthony, Octavius and Lepidus. The !
only safe path is the true path, and the South must
ook for safety to strict construction of morals as
well as of the constitution and laws of the Union.
Suppose the ant-Know nothings should act on the |
same principle, and seek by plots Matched at mid /
night and secret oaths to put down the Know Moth
ngs! What state of things would ensue! No |
longer meeting together common ground and lis |
tening to the champions on both Sides differing |
only to what is thought best for the country and
finding much of their party animosity softened by