The Feliciana Democrat. (Clinton, La.) 1855-186?, 1855-05-12
4 CLINTON, Ia. SATURDAY MORNING, MAY 70, 1856.
u 49, NH##.#
OBJ f,Iitiaua 4rn,otrat.
A British Ally for the Know Nothings

er to the new combination of Know Moth
ings. 1t patronises them with elephantine
grace. No such good news as the organi-
zation Of this party has been received from
this side of the Atlantic in many day
Nothing could be more acceptable. It is
a sign Of the decay Of an enlightened pub
lie opinion in the United States; sign all
the more welcome because it comes at a pc
riod when the old systems of Europe are
themselves falling to pieces, with nothing
to save them unless republicanism isproycd
to be folly or fraud. Hence the cor
dial sympathy of the London Times for the
know nothings. The secrecy of the con-
spiracy is its first charm. Secrecy is the
soul Of absolute power. Secrecy makes
despotism invincible to oppress and to des-
troy. From secrecy spring a brood Of
bloody and inhman expcdients. The comp
detat was conceived in secret The order
to muzzle the press was conceived in secret.
1t is in the secret recesscs of consulting
ministers and trembling kings that rights
are denied to the struggling masses of the
Old World, and, denied too, at the point
Of the bayonet. England's long career Of
aggression upon other nations-.hcr seizure
of territory not her own-hcr interference
in the affairs of the distant and the unpro-
tected--is a result of clandestinc manmu-
vcrs. Tn the Island of Cuba, among the
horrid rites by which despotism avengcs
itself upon those who long for deliverance,
secrecy is first. The private trial--thc in
quisitorial cxamination--th midnight sem
tencc--the unheraldcd death !--thcse are
the appropriate results Of that fell science
ofespionage by which the whispered thought
is treasured up for the bitter day; the half
breathed hope for rescue written in the book
of doom; and the purest and best condemn
ed to die while living in the observance Of
all their obligations to God and man. 1t
is, indeed, a most propitious thing for the
haters of free institutions when in land
of light and of liberty, Of public discussions
and equal laws, of popular suffrage and
universal education, secrecy is relied upon
to make a party powerful for evil. Such
aspectacle is worthy Of the imperial approx
al of the London Times.
Again, the know nothings are entitled to
English patronage because they are gov
erned as with rod of iron by a chosen
few. This monarchical principle is faith.
fully copied by the secret party. The de.
cree of a small body of leaders, chosen to
dictate to those below them, and empower.
ed to demand full obedience, is as faithfully
observe by their oath-bound followers a.
the mandates of the crown and the ministry
are sustained and yenerated in the Old
. World. Take the conference at Vienna
where the few chosen agents of few rulers
chosen, as they yainly believe, by the voice
/ Of God to govern the human race--and
how many millions OLIVES may depend upon
the decision of four or five weak and worn
out old comtiers DO these half dozen di-
plomats care for the poor, down-trodden
masses? Do they argue and contend for
popular rights? DO they plead for the
tightening Of the burdens of the heavy To-
den? Alas! no. 1t is for the leac they toll
for their hereditary masters and mistress.
es; and if they fail to agree, those who
would not be benefited by their concurrence
will be marshalled anew in the array of bat
tie, and fill the earth and startlc heaven
with their groans and their suffcrings for
their royal rulers. These arc The men who
claim to be booted and spurrcd, to ride
rongh-shod, by the grace of God, over the
necks of the people; and of such are the
triumphs of the rule of the few
But the London Times may well bark
on" the know nothing movement for ano-
ther reason. The all-pcrvading equality
among the different religious sccts in this
, happy country has been living and con-
slant reproach upon the cause of Church
and State in the European nations. While
religion is there n matter of statue-a part
Of the Government while the people
are there forced to worship their Maker af:
ter prescribed fashion, or are compelled
to aid in the support Of a belief they do not
endorse; here there is patriotic unison
and sympathy between men of differing
creeds that constitute one of the glories
and the wonders of our age, and that, thus
far, have kept intolerance boldly at bay
Human reason, cropping through centuries
for the grand secret of combining men
in one political union, and yet allowing
them to seek Heaven each in his own way,
seems to have been successful at last and
successful, too, in a land wonby virtue and
yalOr from the grim-sDOiers and man-haters