Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1855-02-28

J. has aroused the great, laboring, honest. ur
!. selfish middle class of the nation to the a
e sertion Of their rights---this it is that has II
e vived the old revolutionary spirit that b;
o so long slumbered; this is it, that has, as
# by magnetic sympathy, touched cord th.
= vibrates through the hearts of million
j. freemen. Know Nothingsm an oligarch
j. indeed! 1t is the oligarchy of the null
e tude.
i. 1t is based on The pure and unadultcrate
r principle of representative republican lit
!, erty. Mr.. Wise says show many const
P tuted the select few ofthe highest function
] aries, nobody knows" There are no mag
; mates IN the order. For oligarchies it ha
no taste. Its doctrine is, that office mus
f seek the man, and not the man the Office
Honor and station will fly from bim VIII
seeks them-and he who is found usin
any appliances to pervert this great patri
. otic movement to his own aggrandizement
= will not only find himself doomed to disap
pointment, but, If he be an officer IN com
mand, he will have to dof bis epaulette
and return to the ranks.
Mr.. Wise says Know Nothingism "i
opposed to our progress as nation ant
goes on to argue that no territory occupied
by foreignersor rR man Catholics, can here
after be annexed, If it is not proper to ad
mt them TO office, &c. Why not? fifth.
reasoning be good, we ought not to anne,
any more territory occupied by Indians
Will Mr.. Wise say it would be proscrIptive
and intolerant not TO appoint Indians to Of
fee?
Suppose another war with Mexico were
to result in annexing another slice Of that
country to our territory, will MIR. Wise
contend that the motley half breed Of In
dians, negroes, and Spaniards, that consti-
tute the greater portion of the population.
ought TO be sent TO our Congress, and in
trusted with official stationl Suppose the
Sandwich Islands annexed, are We 10 ad-
nit their inhabitants to equal privileges
with these of our own people3 These, Mr..
Wise would no doubt exclude by law. and
he would say that was no prescription and
yet, when the Know Nothings propose to
exclude-not by law, but by the exercise
of private right, to vote as every freeman
chooses-others equally Objectionable to
them, this he calls prescription. From
what author did Mr.. Wise derive bis sys.
tenn of political ethics
Mr.. Wise says: IF Know Nothings may
tolerate Mormons, ! can't see why they
leave them to their religious liberty, and
select the very Mother Church Of Protest
antlsm itself for persecution" Here Mr..
Wise again assumes, alphabetically, that
the Know Nothings are unwilling to "tole-
rate" the Roman Catholics in the exercise
of their religious liberty" and that, too in
The absence Of all proof to sustain his charge;
and in the face Of the repeated assertions 10
the contrary of every Know Nothing in the
land. The groundlessness OF this charge !
have already sufficiently exposed. What
he means by persecution and prescription
of Roman Catholics-he can't mean any,
thing else---is refusing to vote for OF put
them in Office. This is the same sort oi
prescription and persecution, Mr.. Wise has
been practising towards large portion Of
his fellow native-born American citizens, ,ol
the same religious creed with his own, since
the year 1841. Bad as the Mormons are
and no one thinks worse of them than dc
they are not as bad as the Roman Catho.
lies. Horrid as are their superstitions, they
are not as shocking as those of the Roman
ists-not so revolving TO revelation or to
reason, to morality, or to decency.
Although they affect 10 believe that God
will eventually give them all power, both
temporal and ecclesiastical, over the earth
vet they predict it as new dispensation
directly from on High, and do not now claim
The right to "deposc all heretical princes
and governments" Although they pretend
10 constant revelations from Heaven, yet
they do not sell the bones Of malefactols as
the relics of apostles and early martyrs
Whilst they believe in spiritual manifesto
tions, they tell US nothing Of winking and
weeping pictures, and of Houses of Lorettc
Hying through the air. Disgusting as is
their polygamy, yet they put it under the
sanction OF the law without cloaking theiI
beastly RIGHTEOUSNESS under the garb of pre-.
tended ceibacy. In their degradation o
the female character they are open and a.
vowed instead of sneaking 10 4 :.
sional IN the mask of hypocrisy,
instiliug into the hearts Of the young and
the unsuspecting the venom of their pruri.
ent arpetites by propounding questions en-.
Joined by their great authorizes. Dens and
Ligonri, which are too horrid and disgust
ing to soil the paper on which write.
Whilst the Mormons claim freedom from
persecution themselves, they do not claim,
in their creed, the right TO persecute others.
If The Roman Catholics were content. as the
Mormons are, to let other people alone, they
might practice their juggleries and tomfool-
cries as much as they cboose-sell masses
for money as much as they choose-fright-
en- away devils with bells as much as they
choose-parade the streets in harlequin pro-
cessions as much as they choose-and the
only notice they would receive would be the
loughter Of men and the wboops Of idle boys.
But it Is because they claim to rule the
country, to persecute others for opinions
sake, to inveigle the wives and daughters Of
the land into their tolls, to control the cleo
tions, to put up and pull down parties, 10
dictate terms 10 cabinets, TO iDculcate the
"bigher law" doctrine Of obedience to The
Pope of Rome as paramount to the allegi-
ance to the constitution-this it is, that has
enrolled million of freemen in the ranks
Of resistance to priestcrat..and tyranny
This it is that has awakened the slumbering
spirit in the sons, of that Protestant love Of
liberty, that fred the hearts and nerved the
arms of our revolutionary fathers.
Mr.. Wise speaks of Romansm as being
"the mother church Of Protestantism. y
Strange language this from one calling him.
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