Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1855-04-14

4 TRUE STRIKING PICrURE.-The Washington
Sentinel publishes the following as being in substance
the conclusion of Senator s. A. Douglas powerful
speech in Richmond, Va 1t is happy and forci-
BILE application of interesting incident to the
tul Stcetrihg done by the Know OthingS:
- In conclusion, my friends, if any of you, under
false alurementS, have, 1t unucky hour, entered
the Know Nothing Council and assumed its obliga
tons, let me conjure you, you revere the Const
tuition and love the Union, instantly to withdraw
your allegiance from Council whose forms of pro-
ceedng and principles of political action incon-
siStent with your paramount duty to your country.
Let false ScrupeS in regard to the binding obi
cations of unlawful oaths-no tmid dread of the
resentments of idle, beral, and unworthy
ciates, impel you forward in line of conduct which
your consclenceS cannot approve. lake warning
from the fatal example Of Herod, recorded in the
Holy Scriptures. That monarch we told, in the
penitude of his power and his pride, at a feast in
honor Of his birth day, became enamored with the
charms and dancing of the daughter of his wife by
her first husband In the ulnesS of his heart and the
delirium Of his passions he said to the damsel: Ask
of me whatsoever You may choose, and it shall be
given unto you, to the extent OF one-half of my
Kingdom And as an evidence of his sincerity and
devotion, he affirmed his promise by oath as SOL
emn and terrible as ever administered in Know
Nothing Council.
" The damsel, after consulting her mother, sad to
Herod / will that you give me, by and by, the
head of John the Baptist in charger Herod
exceedingly sorry for he feared and loved John, and
knew him to be a true and holy man.
My oath my oath! he exclaimed, and in obedi-
to that unlawful oath he directed the executioner
to bring the head of John the Baptist in a charger
and give it to the damsel who Immediately presented
it to her mother in atonenent of the mortal offence
of having said that her marriage to the brother of
her husband unlawful. Let the example of
Herod be warning to all men how they violate their
consciences in obedience to unlawful oaths Are
you prepared, my fri AndS at the bidding of Know
Nothing Council to become the executioners of that
great party with whose organization you were born,
and whose principles you vindcate ? Are you Pre-
pared to become the instruments of secret cabal to
bring in the heads of the Democratic party in char
ger, and to present them to this dancing KnowNo-
thing mistress that she in may present them to
her mother federalism in atonement for the
venged injuries which, in former days, the Jefferson
ian Democracy have inflicted upon her pride and
honor? Better had 1t been for Herod, yea thou
sand times better for his fame in this world and for
his salvation in the other, had he acted in obedience
to his conscience by recalling his unlawful OATH
and preserving the life of the holy man whom he
feared and loved! Better for you, yea, thousand
told better for your reputation and honor, for
your children and your country that you should act
in obedience to yoar own conscientious sense of JUS
tice and right-that you should instantly withdraw
your allegiance from these Know Nothing councils,
and prove your fidelity to those principles for which
you cherish hereditary overwhelmingly to that
political organization whose trumphs constitute the
chief renown of this glorious Old Dominion that
gave you birth ~