Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-05-09


i.S 50 .F597l5I57IIs
30 y q q
Know i Not thfngisnl and Jnco In & q
HISTORICAL ParaIIeIs
There is a chapter IN the history 81 mo.
dern times in which The nature and ten.
dency Of Know ism may be read
and unide derstood BY him who does not az
ready fofesee the dreadful contamination
to which twill conduct the eoautry -
This instructive lesson must be sought,
not in the annals of America, for, fortu-
Inetelys Know othingismis without pre-
cedent in ithis country nor Wilt be found
in The history Of any epoch of public yirl
tue or national prosperity IN any other
state. It's q morbid exerescence which
denotes some disease in the body y-politic,
and some corruption of the social system,
and which involves national disgrace and
disaster Hence, if we want the original
of Know Nothihgism, and would read its
character and career by the prophets
light OF history, we must direct our re-
searches to some country and some epoch
in which national deprayity and national
crime arechastised by signal national suf-
fering, and must trace It's destructive op.
Grafton in the overthrow of all the safe.
guards of public virtue. and in the riotous
excess of the most corrupt and violent
passions Of human nature. This sugges.
ton is enough to turn every mind TO the
I"Reign of Terror in the French Reyolu.
ton; and the student will not be slow in
discovering the analogy between Know
Nothingism and Jacobinism, the source
and instrument of all the atrocities which
make the record of this period the black
est and bloodiest page in human history.
The JAcoBIS GIun was Instituted at an
early stage of the French Revolution, and
its ostensible, perhaps its real purpose at
that time, WAS to give impulse and organ
izatiOn TO the popular ihsurreotion against
feudal despotism. But it soon fell under
the controlof the worst men in the ma
tion-of men in whose character and con
duct the utmost depravity of human ma
ture was illustrated-and was perverted
from its original end into an instrument of
the bloodiest crime and the most execrable
tyranny. Itsmeetings were held atnight,
the room was feebly lit, and frequently
was its composure disturbed by the bats
that fitted along the vast and gloomy vaults
of the convent in which it hid itself when
in travail with its prodigious offspring of
crime. Never was man of honor, sell
dom a man of virtue, writes the histori.
an, admitted into this society; it had a
secret horror for every one who was not
attached to its fortress by the helIish bond
of committed Wickedness. A robber, an
assassin, was as certain of admission as
the victim of their violence was of rejec.
tion." Here in. this den of darkness was
rshesrsed the bloody drama of insurrec-
ton. Here wasiprepared the programme
.of prescription and massacre. The lead
ers of the club were Danton, Aarat and
RobesPiere-names Of immortal infamy.
AT first the Iacobins were feeble, but
by the efficiency of their organization and
the plausible novelty of their professions,
they spread their clubs all over France,
and achieved absolute ascendancy in the
nation. Defamation against the preten.
sions of the church, and ultimately against
christianity itself, was the engine of their
power. And they were true to this pledgeI
for the coRsummate act Of their reign was
the formal dethronement Of Religion, and
the impious alteration of Reason, a3 the
Divinity of human nature. They began
with an assault on the Catholic establish
ment, aud they left off the work of desc
Grafton when there was no religion in the
state to rebuke their crimes against Hea-
ven. They began with the fairest profeS.
sions Of philanthropy and Of yirtuous re-
gard for liberty, and they waded through
blood 70 a despotism. the mere recollec.
lion Of which will make men shudder TO
the last syllable of recorded time No re.
cital Of the atrocities of Jacobinism is ne
cessary while the name Of Robespiere, its
great champion and representative, is ia.
miIiar among men.
.Jacobinism was an EXCLUSIVE POLITICAL
ASSOCIATION and its animating princi-
pies were religious bigOtry and political
intolerance. The supreme power Of the
society resided in the central club at Pa
ris, so its mandates were executed by the
agency Of affiliate associations throughout
the country. Through the instrumental
ty local elections were determined, and
the political power Of the state was con.
centrated in the hands Of an oIigarshy.
JacobiniSm usurPed resolute sovereign
ty over the nation and the government,
and the deStines Of France were directed
at its will. Even while the machinery Of
an independent government was in exis.
tence, Jacobiuism spgrosses al the ener-
gies. and welded the political power Of
the state. The Legislative Assembly and
the National Convention were successive
lY its slaves, and were employ ed only to