True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1855-02-15
+. g, .,;51qoe. From the Wheeling Gazette
HENRY A. WISE AND KNOW
.n.. N0THINGISM.

'spurn not a seeming error. but dig below
its surface for the truth, and beware of seeming
truths, that grow on the roots of error; for
verify there is something SO true that the damps
OF error have not warped it. Verify there is
nothing SO false that sparkle of truth is not
nit"f . "t Trpprp
~ The long elcctionoering letter of Henry
A. Wise is paraded in many of our party
papers as an unanswerable argument against
the principles Of the American movement,
and the pretensions of the American party.
Ably and eloquenty written, the broken
linksSin the chain of argument are hung
with garlands of rhetoric; richness of
its style goes far to mark the paucity
Of its logic (; but strip it of these decora-
tions and the locks of its strength are
shorn. 1t then becomes piece of special
pleading, and betrays at once the skillful
lawyers tactics of assuming an, attitude
more and more confident as his case be-
comes more and more desperate. Indeed
one might almost conclude that the author
had pursued his legal studies under the
instruction of Aaron Burr, but had advan-
oed one step further, and conceives truth
to be, as the latter once defined law,
"dnything that is bozdly asserted and plau-
sibly maintained"
His first argument against Know Moth
ingism is based on the ground of its being
"a secret association for political ends" "
Its secrecy is its great crime. Against
this he protests with all the eloquence Of
anxious and alarmed patriotism The idea
Of 50 powerful an instrument welded in
secret, his imanination has invested with
untold terrors. Like warning spectre, il
seems to haunt every highway and by-way
Of political life. Like the flaming sword
it seems to turn every way to guard the
forbidden Eden-the lost Paradise-ot
Office. Impotent to resist its terrible eff
Oiency, he denounces it as not only withou
necessity but as being, by its secrecy
"agsinst the spirit Of Magma Charta," anc
its antagonism to the very basis of Ameri
can rights. What is our Magma Charta
our "basis Of American rights?" Wha
Is 1t but our constitution and what
that constitution but the matchless wor
Of o political body, the most august tina
ever gathered, sitting in secret; discussin
in secret, acting in secret, and therefor
acting the more safely and the more eff
oiently? Authentic history tells us tht
when the convention met to frame tn,
constitution, before they began the
mighty task, 'the doors were closed, an
an injunction Of secrecy never remove,
was placed on the debates. The membe
were not even allowed to take copies of IL
entries on the journal. At the final a
journment, in accordance with previo
vote, that journal was entrusted to the Gu
2 tody Of Washington" Thus day after da
month after month, that august assemb
with our peerless Washington at its hea
sat in council, to all intents and purpose
for the time being, "a secret associate
for public ends" What were these end
To translate our revolution into republ
to gitaliHe the eonfederacy into Unic
\ and from Chaos to bring forth Constit
ton. All this they did. Nay, more.
For in that Constitution they not only
tablished the policy of secret political
Legislative action, but laid deep and stror
the basis and principle of the Americ
movement. They expressly provided IL
either branch Of our national legislaty
might, at any time, keep, even from t
people, their masters, anything that, q
their judgment, requires secrecy"
viii not answer this merely to say the ca
are not parallel Inasmuch as they diff
by 50 much is the argument in our fav
For, II secret legislation is safe in
E6aas sf = few Representatives, if .