The true Democrat., 1855-02-07
.Americanizing America.

under different name and with more plausl- ble and captivating creed, to regain and wleld their ancient strength. They are mastering and organizing their forces with all the assldul- tv and skill of old and experienced tacticians- encouraging the tin1id, stimulating the luke warm. and combining as far as practicable the odds and ends of the thousand factions into which their party is divided. Their great ob- feet is the next Presidency, and their means of accomplishing that object-Keaoao Nottingham
 The total change they have undergone since the summer of 1852 when their leader stopped from his proud position as the presidential can didate of great party, to cajole and propitiate the foreigner by eulogising the "rach hash 6roque" and the "saoeet Gwmam accent" marks the ulterior views of their leaders. From open and undisguised fattery of the foreign popula- tion. they have turned and commenced the bit terest warfare
 To account for this sudden change in the policy and in the apparent objects ofthat party, it takes no prophet Their cajolery of the foreign CT failing of its purposes in the last presidential campaign, they have now determined, under spacious names and pretexts, to arouse in the American bosom hatred of foreign citizens and then avail themselves of the passions and preiudices thus created.
 Their tactics, too, in carrying into execution this new scheme, are altered. They formerly | T, and as mere instruments to impose upon the people, but they have now adopted them in their most odious and disreputable forms. They not only resort to constant caucussing but veil their acts and movements with the most pro- found and impenetrable secrecy. The mem bers of the Know Nothing societies are bound to an inviolate secrecy by oaths of the highest and most sacred character. With the excep- tion of their undsguised hostility to our foreign population, we know nothing of their objects or principles but such as are gathered from the results of their victories. From these results we gather that their chief object is the distruc- tion of the democratic party, and the deliver ance of the government into the hands of whigs and freesoilers We know that in every Know Nothing triumph, the democratic party has sustained a signal and shameful defeat. In the North where fanatcsm rules the roost and where all manner of isns find ready votaries, one by one, nearly every democratic State has been torn from democratic allegiance and hand ed over to the free soiler by the Know Nothing In Maine, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, the democratic party have been stricken down by this invisible hand, and the power given to the abolitionists and free soilers. From these States, where before ema- mated true States rights doctrine, and devotion to the Union, nothing now reaches us but the 1 petulent and impatient murmurings of the in satiate and restless enemies of southern institu- 1 tions. This is portion of the fruits of Know Nottingham With its power and under it's i ing for fierce and determined struggle, to com mence at the opening of the next Congress, and 1 to end-the wisest of the land cannot foresee where.
 In reading the message of Governor Gardner, recently elected by the Know Nothings, in Massachusetts, our worst fears from this secret organization were confirmed. The message was nothing but trade against foreigners and against the ebraska bill passed at the last ses- sion of Congress. He advocates the disfran- chisement of all foreigners, and the repeal of the Nebraska act-the restoration of the Mis- souri Compromise and the total exclusion of slavery from the territories both of N ebraska and : Kansas. He even goes so far in support of his views, as to recommend alterations in the H1- beas Corpus and Me tlaz JyJmN so as to pre- vent the extradition of fugitive slaves, and from his high position as the executive of the State, to carry out his Know Nothing purposes, he gives his Roderck Dhu summons to his clan to rally around the standard of opposition tosouth- ern institutions.
 | In Gov. Gardner's message, southerners can see some of the fruits of Know Nottingham at 1 the North, and form some idea of its tendency and its object. Know Nottingham in the South is but an of-shoot from its parent stem in the North It is but an instrument used by the whigs to unite once more the whg party in a struggle for the spells of office
 The first struggle of the Know Nothings in the South for predominancy over the demo" cratic party is now being made in the State of Virginia, and consequently the eyes of the whole Union are turned to that quarter. The sympathies of the N orth are with the whigs and Know Nothings, while the prayers of the great States rights party in the South are for Henry A. Wise, the democratic nominee for Governor. As this struggle is to be the first test of Know Nothing strength in the South-the first effort to introduce free soilinhuence' and trickery into southern potics-it is natural that much appre- hension should be felt by the reAecting of the people who observe and mark the rapid growth and giant strides of this secret society.
 But we have great confidence in the demo- cracy of Virginia. Though the stake in the contest is great one, and the result if adverse will be fatal to the peace of the Union, still our confidence in the firmness, conservatism and the