True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1855-02-15

plot 'by stealth to destroy the institutions
which it is the interest, the boast, the
glory of all to preserve? Ifthese organis
cations are dangerous to our liberties and
subversive of our rights, would Washing
ton and Franklin have been the friends
and founders of such? Did they under
stand our Magma Chartaf Did they COM
prehend the basis of American rights 7"
No, Mr.. Wise, it is only despotism that,
from the earliest, has dreaded these asso-
Citations. Tyrants knew and trembled as
they remembered that the power which
had swept away thrones and dynasties, had
so often been nourished in the silent Sc
crecy of a few chosen souls, until it gath
cred strength to go forth openly and Crap
pie victoriously with hoary wrongs and sys-
TENS of oppression. Hence it is that these
associations are forbidden in Russia and
Austria, in France, Italy and Spain, and
in every country where rulers usurp power
at war, alike with the liberties of the peo-
pie. Hence, too, the papal power has
pronounced upon them its anathema mar
anathema. Archbishop Kendrick, of Bal
timore, last year, published decree Of
the Holy See,' denying to all members Of
secret societies the sacrament and the
right of church burial And this, too,
while the society of Jesuits, within the bo-
som of the Popish church, is the most wide
spread end threatening of all secret socie-
ties, its members initiated by Pagan rites
and bound by bloody oaths. But yet, it is
not strange that Popery should feel to-
ward these associations something of its
old hatred. During her long prosecutions,
prior to the Reformation, the Albigenses,
the Waldenses, and other early Christians,
found only in secret associations, hidden
from papal spies, safety in worshipping
God. In such associations, too, through
the long night of the dark ages, did knowl.
edge and liberty keep kindled their feeble
light, till the world, aroused from the sleep
of ages, lit then the thousand torches
whose mingled radiance threw over the
earth the blaze of lighter era-the morn.
ing dawn of this monday age. That the
operation of these associations, whether
social or political, has ever been, on account
of their secrecy, dangerous and detrimen
tai to the best interests of man, there is nc
fact of history to confirm, if there be, we
challenge Mr.. Wise, learned in the lore o.
the past, to point it out. If there is not,
let us not be alarmed at the imagined dan.
gers foretold by frightened candidates.
No, these associations, the offspring Of
freedom or the love of freedom, by their
fruits, have proved themselves the conser-
vators Of knowledge, the friends Of liberty,
and the dispensers of those kindly sympa-
thies and fraternal charities, that, in this
world of cold ties and false hearts, has
shed upon them the blessing of him thai
was ready to perish If their operation
is secret, surely He who seeth in secre
has rewarded them openly.
But after denouncing the Know Moth
ings as a secret association, whose Object
are hidden, Mr.. Wise claims to under
stand their principles and proceeds to de
nounce these also in the most unmeasureC
terms The exclusion of foreigners from
Office he declares CONTRARY to the spirit o
our laws, and against Americanism itself.
In answer to his eloquent TRADE Of thre
columns, against this great principle, tina
Americans should rule America l Sc
the simple fact that this principle is base
in our Constitution and confirmed not onl
by the spirit but the letter of our laws
Our Constitution expressly provides tha
mo person except a NATIVE BORN citize
or citizen of the United States at the tim
of the adoption of the Constitution shal
be eligible to the Office of President. Now
as President and Vice President were oris
inally voted for without distinction, tn
same exclusion extended to both of thes
offices. Here is the American doctrin
undisguised. The principle is the sam
in small offices as in great. If it is rigl
!, in one case, how can it be wrong in I'll
other? Where is the differencep Ca
even Mr.. Wise draw any line of limit
, ton? For the most important, the wi
dom of our fathers interposed the solem
: barrier of the Constitution against foreig
e ers, the others they left to the force
public opinion, the lessons Of experienc
: and the ezigencies Of the hour. These {
8 conspire to teach us that the principle
e good and to point us to its wider apple
= ton. Catholicism itself recognizes al
i adopts this philosophy of patriotism
e Every Cardinal of Rome who is eligible
II the Papal throne must be "a native DO
IT4oGo, nj, Wise nv+ols +bo CV;ro;, ,