The true Democrat., 1855-09-04
For the True Democrat. The Know Nothings ask for a Document

Document.
 There is class ofwould be statesmen among us, who, by the employment of considerable energy and very little learning in the history of mankind; by being we'll posted with regard to the common prejudices of the people--and having just sufficient knowledge of human nature to enable them to make use of those prejudices, and withall, gift of the gab'- have contrived to wriggle themselves into cer- tain kind of popularity. Know nottingham has monopolised pretty much the whole of the crowd. There never has been heretofore a subject for popular agitation better suited to the peculiar capacities of these men, than these same know nothing delusions Like Mr. Cle- mems, nearly every body has swallowed Fox's Book of Martyrs," and among the "natives," strong prejudices have for years existed against foreigners" Therefore, in this ready cut and dried condition of things, in the first place, through this know nothing medium, these po- itcal gamesters can tickle the fancy and pan der to the prejudices and passions of a consid- erable portion of the rising native generation, whose feelings had become so 'intensely Ame- rican," that they have contracted habit of looking down upon their fellow citizens of for eign birth, as upon persons " not quite aohite," and with good deal of contempt, which eve ry observant person must have seen manifested for some years past in a thousand different ways. These new delusions, as we'll as those hn bo ;tl q, young, toplcftical, "Amereican" sovereigns, of giving tttN scope to their feelings-of turning their contempt into hatred and providing way to gratify it, by making it almost work of pat rotsm to hunt down and massacre the objects of their hatred upon the least provocaton- which new American" practice, I suppose, would be abated-at least in times of peace on condition that these foreign born citizens will consent to vote at the elections after the Americans" have got through, and, at meals, consent to eat at the second table. L time of aoar, however, 1 suppose, as " "circumatances alter cases," the "Americans'' will deem it ex- pedent for the welfare of the country, to exter- minate them entirely, for fear they will, in their subjected condition, allow themselves to be tam pered with through ''the insidious wiles of for eign influence" and go over to the enemy.
 Then there are all the Fox's-B Book of- Martyr men, and the old fogy Protestant bigots-for there are bigots among Protestants as well as among Catholcs-who never had any use for politics or politicians until they proposed to in- flict some kind of punishment npon Catholics (and they would feel the same way with re- spect to any other creed they deemed hetero- dox)-for when such an opportunity offers of putting down Papists by any means whatever, or of punishing them for their ancient cruelty to Protestants, they feel conscience bound not to lose it. From these last sources too, know nottingham finds legions of willing victims
 describe results that feel no doubt are the inevitable consequences of introducing know noth- inglsm into American society, constituted as it is. I am moved by the consideration of what know will be, and not by what would wish to see consummated. In this age, politicians should be too wise to resort to its, nor should they be allowed to take any shelter under them. They are bound to knoao the nature of the ele- ments they are about to operate on, and to know tho nature of those they introduce among them When 1 see the proposition is to sacrifice the lives and liberty of portion of my fellow citi- zens and fellow men for no adequate cause, am when it is likely to end in the destruction of all. # naturalized Americans did not love equality like native Americans-if they would not rise up under oppression like native Amer- cans ii native Catholics did not have the samu likes and dislikes as native Protestants- and # certain class of native Americans felt themselves sufficiently under the restraints ot tue la,o, to prevent them from carrying into ex- ecution the dictates of their inhamed prejudices. and few more its taken into account, know nottingham might attain its object; and we are not sure that the country or the world would make any profit by the transaction which 1 will consider upon another occasion. Know nothings do too much It is conservative-hke some kind of vinegar, which by being too sour, destroys everything it was intended to preserve. But to the documents.
 MT. Clemens wants to see documents. In his last letter, in defense of know nottingham, after speaking of the horrors of the Romish in- qusition, of Catholics stretching Protestant men, women and children upon the rack: of the Popes deposing kings; of their claims to the obedience of Catholics every where etc., etc, he says: "I know how bitterly this is de- nied I know it is said that these powers are not exercised or claimed Where has it ever been abandoned when they had the pow CT to enforce 1t? 1 have searched in vain fol any authentic document which shows that they have ever abated one jot or little of the preten- sions which characterized them in other years and characterize them now in other lands."
 There is a great mania among superficial DO litcians of the present day, for documents, bu did not expect to find Mir. Clemeus anon! the manacs As the Jews, who could not "dis cern the signs of the times," required of ou Savior sign of those looming events," whicl the events of the age in which they livet should have revealed to them, so, these politi clans require "documents" to satisfy them tha thing has ceased to exist which the progres the age has irretrievably obliterated. won der how many documents" can be found, o ever existed by ,OAich the thousands of obsc lete, wicked and tyrannical policies that ono t1ourished among our forefathers, have bee abolished? An old letter from John Wesle Is paraded before the public for the purpose c intiaming the popular prejudices against Cath olics. Is it not shocking to see, in America, i the middle of the nineteenth century, suc means resorted to, for the purpose of stimulat ing and abetting the unwary and the reckles to pesecute and harrass, peradventure to mur der American citizens. MT. Wesley, too, Sao,pc wontol in 17QO to ,oo Joo.. u