The true Democrat., 1855-08-07
prownson on Know Nottingham


 Brownson on Know Nottingham.
 We make a few extracts from Brownson's Review for July, to show the view taken Of know nothingsm by one of the first minds Catholic or Protestant, in the country;
 "The free soil and anti-Catholic character is offoreion. not American origin, and IS borrow od from our most formidable rival, Great Bri- tajn. Every charge 1t brings agallst Catholics and Catholicitv. is of ritish manufacture and glutted-the English market before 1t was thrown 1non our own. and in it's abolition movements, ;tis but following in the wake of British phi lanthrophv. It is un-American in its hostility to foreigners. Americans have always boasted something of a cosmopolitan character, of being superior to the narrow perjudlceS ot race or na- tion. and of estimating men by what they are in themselves. not bv the accident of b.rth.- When they won independence and liberty for themselves. they wished to do it for mankind.
 "They threw open their doors to the op- nressed of all lands and of all creedS, and said here be the home of virtue and the asylum for the oppressed to the latest generation. On these broad and generous principles we founded our socintv and our commonwealth. Yet this pseudo.Amercan party disowns these princi- ples. and founds itself on those very narrow minded and ignoble prejudices of race or nation which we begun by d'scardlng We had de- clarel all profesSellv Christian denominations equal before the State and this party, copying the bad example of England to Ireland, seek to establish by the constitution and laws and Protestant ascendency. We are republican, and boast that the people are sovereign; but this party, by transferring the authority from the people to the lodge, anl from Dp lies freely chosen by the people as tn.i' re .res l;atives to the unknown and irresponsible chef, of a se- cret society, bellies this boast, and destroys the very essence of our repubIica ism. Indeed, we know nothing distinctively American that is not warred aganstby this new party. As an Ame- rican we lisown and dscar,l t."
 "As Catholic, looking solely to the interests of Catholictv in the Unon we are opposed 10 this know no.hing party only as we are op- posed to the principle of doing evil that goo l may come; for its hostility only diSpooes sensi- ble and liberal minded Prote5tAnts in our favor while it binds Catholics more firmly together strengthens their attachment to their faith, and lea Is to more faithful practice of their religion. But as aa American citizen, attached to the free institutions and jealous of the honor of our country, we feel 1t our duty to oppose It Tn all legal ways to the full extent of our power. We 
 and still less in the interest of our foreign born population, but in the interest of American citi- zens and American institutions Good sense, good faith, and true American feeling, require every American to oppose it, and we think we see in the defeat of the party in the Virginia election of last May, an indication that all the patriotic and sensible portion of the American people will set their faces against it. The par sons, wethink, are not likely to keep the control of the order, and a purely. political order it cannot succeed Politically considered the order was cuunngly devised to divide the democratic party, and to restore to pow CT party that under its own name and or ganization had lost all chances of success. Its design was by appeals to the anti-Catholic and anti-foreign feeling of a large portion of our Countrymen to draw off from the democratic party sufficient number, when united with the radical and demagoguical portion of the whig party, to make up a majority. But all appear. ances indicate now that 1t will not succeed.- The administration party seems to have taken a decided stand against it, and the admnstra- ton seems to be taking course much more satisfactory to the conservative portion of both the old parties than 1t appeared to have at first decided upon. We are much mistaken if il does not succeed, before the Presidential cleo tion of 1856, in recognizing stronger and a more respectable party than that which elected General Pierce. The old questions which separated whigs and democrats are for the most part disposed or have grown obsolete and we think the honest and patriotic portions of both parties will unite to form true American party against the party falsely so called. Everything we see indicates to Us the probability of such a result. All the signs now are, that the secret order as a political party has cu!minated, and that it will descend rapidly to the condition of a co"temptible faction"
 "The present storm will soon pass over, with out doing us any substantial injury. Foolish and vexatious laws may be made, but they vii either be repealed on the returning good-senst of the people, or suffered to fall into dcsuetude The great body of the Catholic community have felt and feel, no alarm. They nave been and are perfectly at their ease Let them remain so. American non-C Catholics come, a.d will come, to their defence There $ yet sense Of justice in the American people, and the country is by no means prepared [" make all exception even against Cathoii's to the great doctrines of equal rights a r-i rus liberty which 1t has hitherto 50 loud daI ea3rget.caiiy ' proiessed."
 We have spoken of the anti Catholic pro- ceelinr5 of onr Massachusetts Legislature, not as Illustrative of the popular sediment of the State or of the country, but as illustrative of the character O! this new part', which has the impotence 70 call itself American. Ii we know our countrymen, 1t is as anti-Amercau as the American Celt or the Irish American or its late organ the New York HeralI and the Massa- chusetts Legislature, elected ty stupendous fraud on the people shows what havoc 1t would make with all Americans hold most dear, if it should once attain to power. It behooves every loyal citizen, every lover of his country, every advocate ofrepublican institutions, every man who believes that popular government is a blessing, and that the people are more trust worthy than absolute mouarchs, to set his face