The Feliciana Democrat. (Clinton, La.) 1855-186?, 1855-07-28
A son OF HENRY CLAY, IN OPEN.
ELOQUENT OPPOSITION TO KNOW
NOfrHTNGTCM

/
Of late by know nothing organs and orators
that If Henry Clay were now alive, and
gifted with his early powers Of physical
and mental endurance, he would be found
lighting in the 'front.' ranks Of know-nothing.
ism, if not directing the movements of the
traitorous party. We have yet to see the
first speech or the first vote of Henry Clay
to warrant this impudent conclusion. So
far as the rights of alien citizens, the natu.
ralization laws, and religious tests are con.
cerned, the political record Of the great
western orator is as bright and as free
from blemish as the record of the venerated
Jefferson himself. His noble and impul.
sive nature was such that he would instinc-
lively have recoiled with loathing and dis
gust from the slightest fellowship with oath.
bound conspirators and as he never fall
tered in proclaiming openly, publicly, and
in the trumpet-tones of his matchless voice,
his truly American sentiments in regard to
foreigners Of every cline and every form
of Christian belief it does not come within
the range of possibility that he would, i'll
now alive, permit his name to be used in the
secret, midnight meetings Of the perjured
foes OF the constitution and the sworn enc
mics ofcivil and religious liberty.
1t has been often remarked that men in.
herit their political as well as religious
opinions. Without stepping to inquire in
to the truth of falsity Of u remark which
has been dignifed into maxim, it may be
added that men are as often the creatures
of education as Of circumstance. With all
his erroneous views in regard to the do
nestle and foreign policy of the govern
ment, the great leader and champion Of the
wing party was essentially a patriot. His
immediate teachings could not fail to excr-
else powerful and enduring effect; and we
are, therefore, not at all surprised that at
the present crisis a son of Henry Clay
should be found warning his countrymen Of
the dangers which surround them with o.
force and an eloquence worthy of his illus
trious sire. This noble effort of Hon. James
B. Clay is thus reported in the Lexington
(Ky) Statesman of July 10:
"Mr. Clay said that this was his first eff.
fort at public speech, and nothing less
than the profound interest which he felt
in the great questions at issue could induce
him to appear on this occasion. Never be-
fore had such extraordinary, such alarming,
such novel questions been presented for the
political consideration of the American peo-
lple. His apprehcnsions were aroused in
view of them and he sometimes trembled
for the fate of his country. The idea that
this government was to be taken into the
keeping of a secret, political, oath-bound
organization, which set up constitutional
test oaths, and the members of which were
bound to each other by the most terrible
obligations, was to him most alarming, and
should, in his judgment arouse the appre-
hension of every patriotic man in the whole
country. H.z
Mr. Clay denied that the platform put
forth by the late know-nothing convention
at Philadelphia was the real platform par
ty--party did l call them, said he; no, they
are not party in any proper acccptation
of the term. Parties have heretofore been
open, public, and above board; but this is a
secret, oath bound, political organization,
which is seeking after the political power
Of the country by ways and means unknown
to the law, and in palpable disregard of the
long-established usages Of the people and
the history of the government 1t sought
political power not by open and and fair
means, but by secret piottings, by cabalis.
tic passwords, by signs and grips, unknown
to the people at large, and in palpable Vi
olation of the whole spirit and genius of
the government. 7..5.
"No, said he, the true platform Of this
extraordinary organization is to be found
in their oaths and ritual. There to be found
the things which they were sworn to do
and to carry out; and looking into these
|, oaths and the ritual, he found that their
objects were to strike at the citizen of for
, eign birth, at the immigrants from other
, countries, to disfranchise, degrade, and dis
, grace them, by depriving them not only of
the right to Americanize themselves, but
by cutting them off from the rights Of hos
pitality and humanity. They also sought
! to disfranchise and degrade another class
Of our citizens, whether native born or for
eign, on account of their religious opinions,
, in plain violation Of the plainest dictates
, of justice and humanity.
/ "Mr. Clay said that rather than submit
any extended remarks Of his own on these
suhiects he had chosen tn collate the ex-