The true Democrat., 1855-08-21
Hon. T. L. Clingman on Know
 Nothings.

dress to his fellow citizens of the eight con- gres>onal district of North Carolina which is full ot sound truths, timely warnings, and tel ! Ing periods. lie believes, Tn the present crisis, that the political disorder can only be reached with the knife, and accordingly the knife is us- ed, and even his opponents must concede, with skill daring, and advantage. In the course of this address Mir. Clingman says:- Utlon.
 "B Be this as it may, fellow citizens, you must bear ill mind, as have constantly maintained in my speeches, that the great mo1a principle of the order is tazseAood, as its great political principle is hostility to the right of self govern ment now enjoyed by the American people They are striving to carry out this latter prin. ciple by depriving the citizen of the rig ght to votc in all elections, according to his own judgment, and subjectng him to the control of set of se- cret political managers
 This is the direct object of the movement, and indicates its poAtical principle. But the naeans by which they seek to carry out this pur- pose are those of deception, fraud, and hypo- criay in all their phases. They are attempting to dethrone TRUTH from her high seat and ele- vate .talsehood in her stead. They arc striving t0 overthrow the moral system of the Creator of the Universe, and substitute in its place the policy and practice of Satan, the Price 0f Darh- ness and Father of Ldes.'
 "These, therefore, the two cordinal maxims of the new party, constitute an insuperable ob- jection to it. Even if the measures of govern mental policy they profess to have in view were ever so desirable their adoption in practice could not atone for the destruction of our pre- sent political system and the general corruption of public and private morals. But in fact their programme of measures, as proclaimed by them- selves, has nothing to commend it. Whatever 1t asserts oftruth consists of propositions that mo- body in this country denies, while those of its doctrines which are peculiar to its party are false and miSchievous ill the extreme.
 "The main object of their association is to secure for themselves the public offices of the country, and they expect to accomplish this by mean, cowardy, and malignant persecution of classes whom they considerloo feeble to defend themselves, and whom they are striving to ren-, de odious by appeals to the selfish, bgoted, envious, and malicious feelings of our race
 "While other political parties have some- times been accused of aiming at the spells of office, these people avow it to be their main purpose-may il not be fairly said, their sole purpose?-to secure the public plumber. They do not, however, adopt the open, courageous plan of the highway robber, who faces you in the sunshine, but they practice the covert, secret, and cowaldly mode of the midnight thief.
 "Their sole chance of success is in getting men outside of their order to vote for their can ddate. Have they any grounds to hope for this? Remember, fellow citizens, that every member of this orIcrof know -nothin9s, as well as their candidate, has taken a solemn oath that he will fill all offices of the government with none but members of the order; in other words, hay al hot oItt, office every man who is not one of their order. They not only intend to exclude foreigners and Roman Catholics, bus they have bound them selves by the strongest oaths not 10 let any man --natjUe though he be--yes, revolutionary sol- der though he also behold any office, from that of President down to the lowest station, unless he sh0uM belong to tteir order A. veteran bearing on his person the scars of Bunker Hill or Kings Mountain must be excluded from all official station, because he refuses to surrender that liberty for which he fought, and join a petty, secret oath bound society never dreamed of in the earlier and better days of the republic.'
 Mr. Ciingman concludes:
 "The practical working of the system alone should have thrown the entire south against it. It has constituted a mask for the great abo. lition crusade of the north Underts cover and by felon strokes from its ambuscades there was cut down many good and true man, who fearlessy sood in the deadly breach to defend the constitution and with it to protect the rights of our section. Fidelity to our generous allies --honor itself, the moving spirit of brave men demand atonement. At any rate, shall we leave our frcnds--our defenders--unavenged and unite with their slayers?
 "Duty to ourselves, loyalty to the constitu ton and its cardinal maXims of civil and rcl- gious liberty, devotion to a principle higher than all earthly things, alike demand that we shall stand in opposition to this new order.
 By repeling and trampling it under foot, fellow citizens, you will vindicate the great tea ture of our epublicansystem; you will proclaim your regard for integrity and truth, above all else; you will protect religion itself from the corruptng embrace of political hypocrisy, and you will place public and private morals on a still trmer basis