Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1855-02-21
From, the .Ameriean Organ.
MIR, Rayner's last Letter.
RALEIGH, N. c., Jan. 20, 1855

AALElGHi 1N' N'j Voh' ~ @o~N'
DEAR SIR: A press Of other business
has delayed my concluding letter in review
of Mr.. Wise's manifesto against "Know
Nothings."
NV last letter terminated at that point
where Mr.. w. had COTTON through with
what he seems TO have regarded as an un
answerabIe argument. The remaining por-
ton of his manifesto is in the style OF pero.
ration, and consists of mere generality and
defamation. He says Know Nothinslsm
Is against the spirit OF refU nation, and oil
Protestantism.j In speaking Of the Refor-
nation, he asks "what there was TO re.
form :" and answers the question himself by
repIying, stbe secrets OF Jesultism, OF the
auto da fe, of the monasteries, and ot the
nupneries.n, Mr.. Wise's history isjust a.
bout as defective as his logic. The refoF'
nation had no reference to Jcsultism.
The Reformation commenced about the
wear 1520-the order Of the JesuIts, foun'
ned by LoyIola, was confirmed by bull o
Pope Paul iii, in 1880. for the purpose
mainly Of connteracting the Reformation
Mr.. W. is equally mistaken in suPPoslng II
was thessecresy Of monasterIes and nun
neries that aroused the Indignation and re-
sistance of Protestant Christendom. Nc
protestant in Germany in the sixteenth, OF
America in the nineteenth century, wishes
or cares to interfere with the mere internal
regulations, the mere ecclesiastical policy
Of the Romish Church, IN its operations OF
influences upon its abject slaves and oIsot'
ed devotees. But It was because of the
horrible excesses, the pampered ldleness,
fed and supported by the honest labor oil
others, the exemption Of their inmates from
the civil process Of the law, their knavish
hypocrisy, aud beastly licentiousness.-
This it was, and not their privacy. thai
rendered the monasteries odious to the hon.
est and toiins multitude.
As to the nunnerieS, it was not because
of their lofty walls and barred gates against
the Intrusion Of strangers; but because, as
was said not long since by fearless mem
ber of the British House of Commons,
these nunneries are either prisons, where
the young, the beautiful, and conidlne
daughters of the land are incarcerated a.
gainst their wills, and against the affections,
Tendencies, and aspirations Of th2 female
heart-or they are brothels, whose inmates
become the unresisting and callous victims
of priestly RIGHTEOUSNESS and cunning
This il is, why the sight of these convent
walls never fails to bring frown upon the
brow of every Protestant father and bro
ther in the land.
Mr.. Wise, in eEumeratihg the horrors oil
Romanism, against which the Reformation
protested, speaks of its prescription, per-
secution, bigotry. intolerance, and shutting
up the book of the world" Does Mr..
Wise believe the doctrines and principles
of the Romish Church less proscriptive,
prosecuting, bigoted, lntolerant, now than
thew were at the Reformation! This he
will hardly assertion defy him to point
to any thing either in bull OF Pope, or de-
cree of the Council, where that Church has
ever relaxed any of its claims to universal
obedience, or dogmas Of blind and super
stItious faith.
If, then, the alarming progress OF that
Church in numbers Gas their own annual
returns exhibiD shows cause to believe
that, before the end of the century, they
will number majority Of the voters OF
this county, is 1t not the part of wisdom to
prepare for danger before it arrives? How
can this be done? For the present, and
until self-preservation imperatively de-
mands it, pains, penalties and disabilities
under the constitution and the law, is not
proposed by the straitest sect of the know
Nothngs." But, in the exercise OF an IN
diuidual privilege, which no one has right
to question. may they not protect them
selves at the ballot, by guarding against an
impending danger' And is self defence
of this kind, is standing sat guard at the
polls against "procriptIon, persecution, big
otry and intolerance : is this, | say prac'
ticing these crimes in turn? Strange rea-
soniug this
Mr.. Wise says, will not the Know Moth
ings "tolerate liberty Of conscience, but
doom dssenters, in secret conclave, to a
forfeiture of civil privileges, for religious
difference 7" | will answer Mr.. Wise
They ciIl tolerate liberty of conscience
but they will mol tolerate those who do not
tolerate it themselves. Mr.. Wise will
hardly deny that the Romish Church Is op-
posed to "liberty Of conscience as he and
/ understandit If he doubts on the sub.
iect let him read the celebrated Encycll-
cal letter of Pope Gregory XVII, written
as late as 1882, in which he speaks OF the
'lberty of conscience" as a "most pestl.
lential error" (which the unbushing I'm.
pudence of some has held forth as an ad-
vantage of religion" and from which has
arisen "the pest of all others most dreaded
in State, unbrided liberty of opinion. -
Let HIM read Archbishop Hughes letter in
reply to Senator Cass, where the doctrine
is held, that Liberty of conscience" means
nothing more than liberty TO think, without
any corresponding right to speak out ones
thoughts.
When the law imposes the penalty OF
death for murder, is this committing the
crime Of murder in return Certainly not
The policy OF The law is not founded ON re-
taliaticn or vengeance, but of safety to 9TH
ers, by rendering the offender Powerless
for the same mischief in future. And so
in regard to the policy ofthe Know Moth,
ings. Their course is founded upon hatred
to .'proscription, persecution, bIgotry, in
tolerance" 1t is not for The purpose Of
retaliating these wrongs in others, but of
preventing their infection on themselves;
and that in the most quiet, peaceable and
inoffensive way known to the vIndication
of human rights through the ballot box
Being "fore warned" by the crueties and
excuses of the Romish Church in the past
they are resolved to be "forewarned "a
ga,nsi the like dangers IN the future"
concur fully, as | presume every
Know Nothing will likewise, IN all MIR.
w. has so forcibly and eloquently said in
tha Rafnrma aiion and the nrinci.