The Placer herald., 1855-10-13
Letter from Gen. Cass on Know-Nothingism
and the Power of Congress in the
Territories.
DETROIT, August %, l855

To THE EDITOR OF THE DETROIT FREE
FREss-SIR:-1he public journals contain a
letter dated July oath, written by Gen. Hous-
ton, which has Just met my eye, and in which
he says he pcrceives, by the papers Of the
day, that Gen Casa has approved the plat
form Of the American order, as proclaimed
to the world by the Convention at Phladel-
phia" | had observed the statements to
which Gen. Houston alludes, and had let
them pass unnoticed, for it would be hope
less task to endeavor TO correct all the
misapprehensions and Misrepresentation to
which it is my lot, as well as that Of all other
public men, to be exposed in these days Of
party strife. And, indeed, ! could not sup
pose that such assersions would deceive any
one who had heard or had read my remarks
in the Senate of the United Stafes. on, the
fifth of February last, upon the presentation
of the resolutions Of the Legislature Of Michi
gan, instructing the Senators of that State to
vote for an act Of Congress prohibiting the
introduction OF slavery into the Territories
Of the United States. Upon that occasion,
while declining to comply with those instruc
tions, | took the opportunity to express my
sentiments in relation to the new political
movement, WHICH Sou0lb " dttIullc ant, en-
crcise power by secret combinations, bound
together by the sanctions of an oath, which,
it is said, made it the duty of It's members
to surrender their individual convictions to
the expressed will of majority of their as
socates. then observed: Strange doc
trines are abroad, and strange organizations
are employed to promuIgate and enforce
them. Our political history contains no such
chapter in the progress Of our country, as
that which is now opening. The questions
of constitutonaity and policy, which have
been so long the battle cry Of parties, are
contemptuously rejected. and intolerance,
religious and political, finds jealous, and it
may be they will prove successful, advocates
boasting with much scf-complacency of its
intelligence, and in this free country, founded
upon immigration, and grown prosperous
and powerful by liberation. Il
We want no new parties, no new platforms,
no new organizations, and the sooner these
dangerous efforts are abandoned, the better
it will be for us, and for those who are to
follow us in this heritage Of freedom
might we'll suppose, after the expression
of these views upon the floor Of the Senate,
and under circumstances of peculiar respon-
sibiity, that any further action on my part
would be unnecessary to prove my consis-
tency, as disci pie of the school of Washing
ton, Jefferson, Madison and Jackson, in
the rejection of dangerous innovation, in
consistent with all the principles those pa
triots taught and which, in effect, aims to
transfer the great political duty of an Ameri
can citizen from the light of day, where it
should be exercised in this land of freedom,
to secret conclaves, as unfriendly to calm in
vestiCation, as to wise and patriotic decision.
But the extract from the letter Of Gen. Hous-
ton has shown me that these reports have
received more credit than | had believed,
and this consideration has induced me thus
publicly to notice and to contradict them.
My opinions, indeed, upon any subject are
but of little consequence, except to myself;
but if they are worth referring to, they are
worth the trouble of making the reference a
true one.
| have no sympathy with this plan Of poll
teal organizaton-none whatever, neither
with the means it employs, nor the objects
it seeks to attain. Its secresy, its oath bound
obligations its control Of the balot-boX, its
system of prescription, striking both at po-
litical rights and religious duties, and its in
evitable tendency to array one portion Of the
community against another, and to carry
deadly feuds into every corner of the land
of which we have just had proof, written
in the characters of blood, and are doomed
to have many more, if the movement goes
on, for this is but the first installation o
death, and how many others are to follow
. and to what extent, and when the last is to
A be paid, and after what lamentable vicissi
tudes, is known only to Him who foresee'
:. events and can control them--these charac
teristics mark ii as the most dangerous
scheme which has ever been introduced into
r our country to regulate its public action ol
i it's social condition. 1t is the Orangeism o
republic, scarcely better in principle THAI
nc ,oopopobioo1 nrofcfyno--af rpDUhII,