Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1855-03-22

soon fellow in my footsteps. ] shall therefore
proceed to unmask the monster, and expose its
iniquities to the public gaze.
The organization of the secret society to which
aIlude, is after the following form. in the be
ginning it was called society Of " Known Moth
ings," and 1 may be allowed to say the
peculiarly appropriate. So soon, however, as
that name became generally known, they changed
it for another, and then another, until during the
short period Of their existence they have teen
known by several appeIiations, the last Of which
known to me was tie q Sons o. the Star Span
gled Bannern There is a .s Grand Council'' for
the United States, the President Of which has a
superintendent and control over all the q Coun-
cils'' in the L. S. There is subordinate Grand
Council" for each State, with President who
controls the :. Councils" in the different counties
of the State The ssGrand Council'' for Pennsyi-
vania is in Philadelphia, and the President thereof
appoints an g Instructor" for each county IN the
State, who has charge Of the Z. Councils in the
different townships in the county. The " Iastr1lo-
to for the county is sole dictator and settles al
questions arising IN the :" Councils" He orders
when their meetings shall be held for making po-
litical nominations, and il the nominations do no.
please him. be may order another 70 be held, and
on until they are satisfactory He also appoints
for each g Council" a" Deputy Instructor who
acts for him and under his advice and directions.
Each 'sCouncil" is bound IN everything to the
srictest obedience to its superior. This arrange
ment first alarmed me. joined the order. be-
cause had been induced to fear the power Of the
&c Pope" But when I learned that the President
Of the @Grand Council'' had more power than is
even attributed 10 the Pope Of Rome-that be was
constituted for tie purpose, and wiling to use his
power TO further the designs Of the basest politi.
cal dernagogueisrn, 1 could not Close my ey-.s to
the fact, that be was mne dangerous enemy to
the civil institutions sf our country than ! had
before thought the Pope fear now that my
worst apprehensons viii be realized.
H. BUCHER SwoOPE, Of the borough Of
Clearfeid is the Instructor for Clearfeld county,
and directs the movements Of al tie " Councils
in it. He Is understood 10 be among the first
members OF the order in the county. In Burn
side township there three 50 Councils" one
held at New Washington, ore near Patchins, and
one called the Crooked Run Council.v DR.
JAMES NJ. BUM is the I" Deputy Instructor
under Swoope, for the New Washington Council,
and these who know that indiridu0l best, can
Judge Of tie character Of tie instruction he would
be likely to impart. ] sure they viii not
charge him with much moral Instruction or many
long prayers. In recent instance in our town
ship after regular nomination had been made
and ratified by vote Of the Councils for town
ship officers these instructors, II. Bucher SEoore
and Dr. Bum Go pretty pair'') ordered new
nomination to be made, and the Councils as n
duty bound had to obey. How iunliliating 10
the old inhabitants Of the county, who were ''pi-
oneers,' in its early settlement, and who have had
voice heretofor; il It's political welfare, - tc
obliged to bow before the dictation Of enc who
has not resided two years in the county. Let
those who are opposed TO 6 Foreign influence"
condemn at lie time this lSiuG Of g foresn
interference" and l am with them. No matter
how great prohigate, or how corrupt the nan
may be, the :. Councils must yield implicit obe-
dience to their :. Instructor" He may be gaa.-
bier. drunkard, hlasphemer Of religion, ard
fresh from the scourges earned by his infsny, and
yet, the Bylaws of this secret-oath- bound soci-
ETY. require better men to surrender, not only
their own Judgment, hut their sense Of right and
wrong to blindly follow such leader. Such is
Know-Nothingisln, and such It's sotaries know it
to be.
The meetings far as ] attended them, were
generally occupied in initiating men bers. They
have no object as far as can learn, but that Of
controlling the politics of the country, and grasp
ing the Offices. The President for each Council,
calls the meetings together by written notice
unintelligible to any except the initiated. He
takes the chair and presides during the evening.
The general topic of discussion in the Council be-
fore the election last fall was how to best docoy
the Democrats into their ranks, and generally how
to augment their forces, and gain the asccndancy.
Their hope is to ride into power. on tie popular
prejudice against the Roman Catholic church, and
indeed they making rapid strides towards
efecting their object. could 60 with them in an
honest effort against any political power attempted
on the part of that church, ard with that object
in view many joined their ranks. But when
saw that bad men of all parties joined them, and
were willing 10 prostitute the association, to the
basest political purposes to obtain power, could
no longer any hope of accomplishing the orr
ginal object. They now composed very largely
of the ignorant, who to be pitied-the bigoted
sectarian who is more designing than foolish; the
broken down and disappointed politicians of both
parties: the demagogues who love spoils more
than party, and who fancy they can see glina-
mer of hope ahead; part of the clergy in some
of the Protestant churches, who are longing for
power. and who carry with them more or less Of
their members: the floating population Of the
country, with no fixed principles either moral or
political, usually denominated !. majority men,
or men who vote on the strong side if they can