The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1855-12-28
Declaration Of independence
No = Necessary
Chairman County C0mmaffse

The fathers and founders of our Liberties en-
tered not upon the unequal struggle OF the Re-
volution until they bad exhausted every means
and effort and hope TO effect a reconciliation
with their British brethren. To the touching
story of their hardships they declare ''We
have reminded them of the circumstances Of
OUR EMIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT
HERE. We have appealed to their native JUS
tice and magnaninity, and we have conured
them by the ties of our common kindred to dis
avow their usurpations, which would inevitably
interrupt our connexions and correspondence.
They too have been deaf 10 the voice OF justice
and consaaguinity." Driven at last by British
misrule and oppression, they unSheaihed the
sword They appealed 10 the God OF armies,
in auestation Of the righteousness OF their cause
they addressed themselves 10 the world in
published declaration OF their rights, as well as
of the grievances, tue wrongs and injuries they
endured from The parent country-and the God
of battles crowned their arms With success, and
the world sympathised with them. France sent
10 our aid her chivalrous soldiers with Lafayette
at their head. t'They came-they Saw-thry
conquered" with Us; and not vesige OF British
power was left on this halowed soil OF liberty
-henceforth and forever to be overspread by
the protecting wings and talons OF the Ameri-
can Eagle.
After the glorious Declaration of lndepen-
dence was ratified and proclaimed by the as
sembled Conscript Fathers of the Republic on
the 4th of July 1776-aiter the consummation
of American emanci patton from British bondage
by the blood and heroic abors OF Washington,
and the rest of our immortal l5erators-
could imagine that a day was ever to dawn,
which was to prove that all the torrents OF re-
volutionary blood that had been shed We're
shed in vain-when America was TO RE-
TRoGRADE in the march OF freedom, aud falsely
called Americans were TO arise, 10 undo the
matchleSs work Of American heroSm, the great
achievement Of the revolution! Yet so it is,
the very graUamine, wrongs, lnluStIceS, and
monstrous political evils inflicted by British
barbarty on the infant colonlPS-and TO free
this country from which, so much blood and
treasure have been lavished, are all Reproduced
in our midst by set of degenerate natives, I'M
properly STYLED AmericaGs-but truly called
KNOW NOTHTNGS. We have only TO sub
stitute this barbarous apprllstion, bcfHing
GotAs and Vandais, for that of ''Brtisf,' and
there is not single detail of wrong or outrage
perpetrated by England against us, as forth
in the Declaration of Independence, bul can be
alleged against the Know NoihiDgs and has been
literally committed by them aoheaevr and
tohereUer in power, Every flagTant injury
there described, which made the blood of the
revolutionary heroes boil, and their swords leap
from their scabbards nay be most truthiullv
charged on this foul faction. |'Ihe history Of
Know Nothings, Ito appropriate to them the
words said By our fathers of the British tyrant
King George the Third in the instrument au-
ded to- is history of repeated injuries and u
SurpatioaS, all having in direct object The esta-
blishment of an absolute tyranny over these
States" Read the crimes and outrages, as un-
folded in the Declaration cf Independence, and
then compare and contrast them with ''the in
juries and uSurpations" of onr Know Nothing
tyrants Look on that Picture and then on
this, and decide.
To prove this LET facts be submitted to a can
did world.
They have refused their assent to laws the
most wholesome and necessary, and given ii 10
others the most injurious and absurd
They have forbidden their Governors TO pass
laws Of immediate and pressing Importance, and
charged them to pass laws the most unconsti:u-
tional, oppressive, and disfranchising 10 vast
numbers of our felIow-citizens.
They have refused TO pass other laws 70. the
accommodation of large districts of people, un-
less these people would relinquish their right TO
aoorskip God according to tie dictates of their
conscience, right nestimable to them and for
midabp TO tyrants only.
They have called together legislative bodies
for the cypress purpose of robbing citizens OF
their naenable rights, aiming TO deprive them
OF the elective franchise, declaring them ineli-
gible to any Office of trust, honor or emolument,
and debarrng them from the sacred right To
hold or apply, as they judge fit, all property
left by themselves for religious purposes and
charities.
They have, by seeking to gain legislative
majority through undue means, eiactualIy dis
solved representative houses, repeatedly, fol. !
opposing with manly firmneSs their nvasions
on the rights of the people.
They have endeavored to prevent the popu-
ation of these States; for that purpose obstruct-
ing the laws of naturalization of Foreigners; re-
fnsing to pass others 20 encourage their mgra-
ton hther, and raising the conditions of new ap-
propriated lands.
They have obstructed the administration of
justice by refusing their assent TO laws which
would make all citizens, whether native or
foreign. equal in the eye of the law.
They have, by party promises and threats, |
made Judges dependent on their will alone, for
the tenure Of their offices and payment of their |
salaries.
They have created a multitude of neU Offices, |
and sent hither searms OF officers, to harass our
people and eat ont their Substance, (as in our
goodiy city of Philadelphia and elsewhe.e.)
They have combined with others to subject |
us to a aIURIsDIc-IoN lthr midnight oath-5ound |
Conclavel foreign 10 our Constellation and un-
acknowledged By orr ia,os, giving their assent |
10 acts of Iodre nrttanad l4risIaiinn I