Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-09-20

Friday night that Know N~othingism. bigotrv-
hypocricy aud prescription were giving awav
before the onward march of the advocates of
civil and religious federation.
At every meeting of that secret order, they
can now see 'n1eae, meme, tekel upharsin" writ
ten upon the walls of their midnight hiding
places.
Their DAYS are numbered, and their deeds
start up like shrouded spectres before the Wis
ion whichever way they turn their eyes.
When their infamous conspiracy against
the peace, order, rights and happiness of their
fellow cOuntrymen was instituted, they come
forth like valiant men in Buckram, full Of
confidence, and all can recollect how one
year ago.. these men who now whine and
growllike whipped spaniels because the DEM
ocrats denounce Know Nothingism, would
then, with the greatest complaceDcy magma
bic, salute Democrats with the significant ex-
preston that Sam 5 around" All can re-
collect too with what menacing looks and
knowing mods and winks they then would
point to their Know Nothing triumphs and
say-"Sam is mighty and will prevail"
Then they held him up defiantly to their OPP
ponents. Now they say but little about him
and only make very cautious use of him,
more secretly than ever, to defeat the Demo-
cratic nominees for the County offices. Their
recent meetings are kn0l0R, and although their
numbers are lessening in indianapolis, and
according to their own admissions, a "lethar-
gy" prevails among their members, still they
meet, and their doings are not wholly hidden
from those who oppose their cowardly and
disgraceful order.
Well may those respectable Old Line
Wings. who AVE never consented to yield
to their frequent and urgent requests to join
them, TO be introduced to their famous
Sam, - take pride in declaring that they were
not entrapped into their midnight clutches.
| Well may they consider it a recommendation
in this and any community, that they are free
from the reproach and stigma which viii
cling like an incubus to any man who has
ever joined them AMI has not publicly made
all atonement for his folly. "How have the
mighty fallen.'' Last year Know Nothing
ism was in the full tide of prosperity and sue
cess, and its ~votaries thought they, in it, had
found the philosophers stone'' of political
success in all time to come. Nainly they
supposed that because their beloved San
could prevail so easily then, he could DO 81
always. They seemed to feel sure tha
through TIE mculuIn vi huOW NoliilllDlSn
their ambitions hopes could soon he realized
That "Sam" could make Governors of thei
high priests and clerks, auditors, &c, Of hi
devotees, "just as easy as the boy knew hi
daddy" Yainly they supposed in 1854, tina
they had succeeded at last in forging tn
chains with which the Democracy could b
bound, Catholics and foreigners fettered am
crushed beneath the car of intolerance an'
despotism. Vainly then did they calculate
that their organization, through its secrecy
its pass woris, its grips, signs, impious oaths
the details of its machinery and midnigh
concoctions could harass and persecIte Cath
olics, prescribe and disgrace all citizens o
foreign birth, so that they would be COMPEL
ed for representation, to abandon ever
a participation either in the offices of the coun
try, or the rights Of suffrage guaranteed b
the Constitution. Vainly did they conclud
that through the agency of perfect organiza
/ ton under a common oath, By cunnlngly dc
vised and secretly planned machinery, under
stool and to be acted upon by all the mem
bers, simultaneously, they could sally fort
at any time from their hidden places, {
r swell the numbers of political meetings Q
|, their own party, or by Kisses, groans, or hid
touN NcftS NiVNnl ~ NtiOCS VI DOthAlNdt OIlN
nents and carry the elections for their ow
advantage whenever they saw fit.
They now find in one short year, that thei
Strength is their weakness"
., Like the Persian General of old, who car
ried the chains with which to bind his cap
tives, and the marble designed to build hi
triumphal monuments, and found himself a
the close of the conflict bound in his owl
chains, and his marble bearing the record o
T his own defeat. So the Know Nothings las
r year, flushed with the hope of easy victory
brought with them from their dark lodges
similar appliances. After this election II
Marion county, Gas everywhere elsewhere
elections have taken place. they viii find
their chains, designed for Others, used in bind
ing them and their abominable Know Moth.
ing doctrines, to the Juggernaut car of in
fanny, and their marble used to Commemorate
the noble victory of Democracy, over all
Know Nothing candidates for Office.
Last year they sowed the wind. This
year, they will reap a whirlwind that viii
sweep their reapers from every position &c
which they aspire, and the harvest into the
arms of the Democracy.
How strikingly noticeable is the change that
has come over them since the October cleo
ton in 1854.
Then their candidates looked proud, de-
iant, and hopeful, knowing that "Sam was
mighty, and would speak of him and defend
the secret order with freedom and boldness
This year the Know Nothing candidates de,
fend them feebly, and would doubtless dis
5 pense with their SAM if they thought Their
5 was the least chance of their salvation with
out him, and all have been struck with thu
appearance of their candidates this year
wherever in the county they have been be
fore the people, when Know Nothingism ha
been mentioned. Let Sam" once be name,
and their miserable hang dog locks attest +
their shame and modification.
Last year their meetings in public wer
! large, this year contemptibly small. The
they were noisy and enthusiastic, now Their
is almost a grandeur in their sullen stiffness
gloomy silence in the absence Of hopeful ap
plause.
, Then street speaking was their fayorit,
practice, and they expected it to meet Will
the same favor this year, began il, and nov
decide to GO next time to the Court House
where they will have a chance to keep the
people together, and where a few lights may
e%nliven the dying scene.
Then so emboldened and determined had
they become by mingling nightly in theil
lodges, that they seemed like a restrained
soldicry, anxious for the sack and plumber Of
a subiugated city, now they meet slyly to.
gether in dismal groups, and when a Demo
GRAFT comes up near them all is hushed, and
they are as gloomy and peculiar as if in the
st. Helena of their political destiny.
Having more to say about the Friday night
Know Nothing meeting. the Know Nothing
candidates, speakers, and Know Nothingism
generally, it will be reserved for your next
issue.
Last year the Know Nothings would pub.
licly cry out-"Down with the Pope"-"Pa.
pal interference" - ridicule the erich Irish
brogue' and Sweet German accent" (Which
they and General Scott loved so well two
years before) and advocated 81 years term Of
naturalization.
Now they wish to avoid the subject Of Pa
nal interference i'm their public meetings. re-