Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-04-19
The Triangular Red Piece of Paper
aTkere's Your Governm ent.

We were much struck by remark we
heard gentleman make, while the city was
apparently given up TO the mob law and vio-
lence, on Tuesday evening. Taking one of
the red triangular pieces of paper, the k,losO
N0tlang's call. 10 arms, which were thickly
strewn about oui street on Tuesday and
Wednesday, he directed the attention of the
people to it by observing : There gentle
man is you government" The remark was
a striking one, full Of bitter truth and satire
Those hits of paper were indeed our govern
ment; they were the badges of mob, which,
for time, was paramount utterly subversive
of law and order. The police had been tam
pered with, their power was parslized, uttel-
iy unable to afford any protection to the COM
munity. The distribution of those paper
missives and the effect produced upon the
brethren of the scret order, inducing them to
come armed to public meeting, is feature
of the organization that we commend to the
attention of law-and-order citizens 1t is a
new phrase in our politics altogether, and, in
our judgement, most dangerous one, forebo-
ding evil in the future. The mind is carried
back to the war OF the political factions in
Paris during the bloody Reign of Terror in
the French Revolution.
Heretofore the strife of our parties has been
peaceful one during even their most vio-
lent contests. 1t has remained for the Know
Nothing organization to develope a system in
which force forms an essential clement
They have signals and signs to call out their
whole strength un,ler arms, in case Circum-
stances arise, which are pretty certain to do
so with men who are prepared beforehand
to meet them. There has been nothing, as
we said before, in our past political history to
warrant party making preparation for vio-
lence upon its opponents but such has been
the anticipation of the Know Nothing party
from the time it was organized. Those red
triangular bits of paper are an important part
of the machinery of the secret order
Through their instrumentality bands Of ex-
cited citizens, armed to the teeth, can speedi-
| ly be assembled, when, with passions infiam-
ed, they are in an excellent condition to be-
come the dupes of demagogues, and to carry
out the most rash designs.
Fellow citizens is not such an organiZa-
ton dangerous to the peace of the country,
and likely to subyert in the end, our rcpubli-
can institutions Are not riots and bloodshed
extremely liable to occur, when such party
machinery as we have described is introduced
into our political contests The fact is thi,
Know Nothing system of calling armed mer
together by those red paper signals Of distress
is a foreign importation altogether Itsmacki
of French Jacobinism, and is entirely opposed
to American ideas and sentiments. Ii natu
rally leads to anarchy and to the destruction
of law and order Good citizens cannot coun
tenance it, or regard it otherwise than witt
unqualified and pointed reprobation. w
trust our streets will never be disgraced b,
such incendiary and inaammatory signals a
those which were seen on Tuesday and We'd
nesday last, and which called the mob TO
gether that committed those acts that hav
tarnished the fame Of the Cfneinnal
Ea0,fire7 b