Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-01-31

series ofinclinea planes, where the efec-
tive shot are carried off. and then through
sieYes into drawers, " here they are assor4
ted by action OF machinery or sleeves; then
into the large boxes. from which they are
taken and put in sacks, weighed, and are.
ready for use.
Hare we gained our Freedom only TO.
lose the Principle of ToIerationl
General Washington belonged to Sc
cret society. He was chosen q member
ofthe Masonic fraternity. He adorned
that order by his yalor and his virtues.
He breathed into it the patriotic instincts
which still. distinguish it. and he madeit
no less memorable for devotion to the
country than for attachmentgto the pre-.
ceptsi of practical benevolenoe and morals
Iity. Let us imagine General W ashing-
ton invited to one OF these new secret sos
cieties now so much the fashion, and what
would have been his response? Woe
be to the man who sought to insult that
illusIrious sage and hero with such
propositionl Not only would the invita-
ton have contemplated fatal ahront to
the masses of his own rank and 6le--tO
those who came hither to fight for the
freedom they and their children might
afterwards enjoy - under their own vine
and their own figstree, with none TO mo-
lest or make them afraid but it invol-l
we'd a humiliating aud deadly blow at La
fayette, his bosom friend and his compan-
ion-in- arms. 1t said to Washington.
:. Here is your fAYorite and your brother,
who has left behind him the honor
and attractions of q great court-the
howery path OF ease-the golden glorles
of civic ambitioh--audh has brought hith-
or an armysto fight your batties-yet he
must be ostracised.; even here under the
very flag which he has SO gallantly pro-
tected even here. over the graves of the
Frenchmen who have fallen that that flag
might triumphantly wave; even here,
must he be told 1lhat he is disgraced and
we arc ungrateful" The rule that e1-
Guided and insulted Lafayette. applied
with no less efficacy to Mercer, ST. Clair.
Steuben, Pulaski, De Kalb, kosciuseo.
The faint of foreign birth would have
done the work for them while being
Catholics would have DISTINGUISHED others,
no less brave who hal escaped the crime
Of seeing the light of day in other lands.
An illustration is sometimes better than
an argument and what We have given,
though not original. is at least true.
We have, indeed, done little in this
experiment OF free government, it, alter
all our boasted equality, we have MOI yet
agreed among ourselves to respect the
liberty Of conscience. That which was
one Of the first rights conceded-one OF the
first stshlished--duIiDg our early struggle
for freedom. proves now to be in Hhe most
danger. Indeed, before the revolution Of
1875, religious liberation prevailed in the
colonies. There were localities indeed,
where fanatneism Aourshed, but the differ.
ent religious persuasions were not inter-
ruPLcd even BY the Crown. 1t was re-.
garded as right that coulA not be inVa-
ded or taken away ; and when we went
to war it was because another right, no
less dear had been outraged and denied.
1t is fearful reflection that nearly
eighty years after the declaration Of indie
pendencc was proclaimed to the nations Of
the earth, powerful party should rise in
This country sworn to annul a right COM
mon to all peoplc-n right SO sacred that
even King George dared not. against our
Eorefnlhcrs. to lay his hand npon il.
Know Nothingisln is native American
ism intensified. An adopted citizen il
not only JisEranchised himself, but bis
children. A citizen born upon these
shores, Is n cast out under this creed, is
his father was bornnbrond. But to be a
u Catholic is worse than to be foreign.
Ter. That is an erahiCable faint. II
dan1ns through endless generations. Ii
lvour father had lived in the dnys of Pc
cahontas and King Phillip, you are excIu.
ded from position, you are degraded into
an inferior, you are made n political Pa
riah, for being n Catholic. If before thit
new order rose like disease in our miisi
some eminent citizen had teen able 10
prove his courage on he tented Fl H. or
TO redeem the sinking prospects OF 8
country, or had trumphcd in the Senate
amid the acclaim OF a gra eful peol le all
his deservings would be dlsTegarded IT,
tested by the know nothing standard. he
proved TO be either Catholic or y for
eigner, The same spirit would tare from
the high position he adorns the venerable
Roger B. Tanney. The same spirit
would outrage the grave Of Charles Car
rol and Carroton. Even the D eist would
escape where the Catholic fell and the
traitor who denied both God and his
country would stand better with this mod :.
ern prescription than he who walked in
the light of his own belief, and worship
ed God after the fashion of his Catholic
fathers Washington Union.
Foreign News.
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