The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1855-06-22


'swhat is truth % He called upon all know
nolhugS, but especially all ministers of the
Gospel who might have joined the order, to re-
pent in sackcloth and ashes, and 10 90 about
and preach from the pulpit on that text, .avhat
is truth p
He here eloquently appealed to know-noth-
iugs to burst aSsunder thrse oaths, which bound
them down as with cords, and abandon this spirit
of preyarication which they had adopted Tor
the purpose of violating the constitutions of the
country! He poured forth glowing, patriotic,
and toreibIe appeals in behalf OF the principles
laid down in his late letter against know-noth-
ingisn. He depicted. in na>erly style, the
corrupting and disastrous influences 10 result To
society from the drceful, equlyocaling, and
fraudulent practices of nohingiSm-the
antl-AmeTican, anti-rePublican, and unmauIy
character of lis secret organzatlon-thp danger
to liberty, 10 the peace al communities, ana to
social order, OF secret political conciayrs plot
ting IN the darkness OF midnight Tor the advance
ment OF purposes not disclosed to the public
they sought to govern, and whose rights they
aimed TO control and dispose OF in this claldeS-
tine mode. He held that such conduct WAS
unworthy of men and freemen who held priu-
cples worthy OF succrss.
Truth never Skuked from the light of dav
and hid itself IN dark corners, afraid Of discus
sion aud investigation. II was thu characteris-
TIC OF error and Of lalsehood thus to hide, and
there to work out their purposes. Truth was
/ the foundation stone OF civil ordrr-the very
/ ite and essence Of all social integrity. Yet
know nothingiSm bowed 10 a spell and an ionu-
| ence more potent than truth. and reconcied the
conScienceS OF men 10 resort TO eqnIyocaton
aud slippery construction to deceive the public.
But there was a monitor from on high in the
breast of every honest man that must at times
whisper 10 him that this was wrong
Know nothingism bound lis votaries under
the third degree OF It's ritual by solemn oath 10 |
maintain the Union at all hazards against all
efforts Of factioniStS and Of SecessionistS. But
II nowhere bound It's members to maintain the /
constitution yet that constitution was the very
HE and soul of the Union. II could only have /
been made BY it, and through it, and the prin-
cIpleS il conSecrates. Without It, the consti-
tuition would b+ valueless, or worse than value
less.
There was the abolitionism Of this order in /
disguise. He called on southern meu to notice
it. He, Mr.. Stephens, stood upon the Georgia .
platform. Should Kansas be rejected on account .
Of slavery. he was for resistance. send hlfn 70
Congress, aud BE- would resist it there If TN
successful, he would return to the people and
tell them to resist it.
Ii had been said that the foreigners who came
to this country Joined the abo;ionists in their
cruSadeS upon our rights. II was not SO hr
knew it not so. The foreigners who came
here came with reverence for the consitu-
ton. Where did these foreigners mostly settle
In the Northwest. And from the Northwest
came the best friends Of the Soulh-irnm lndi-
ana, Illinois, and Iowa the last the only free
State which had never bowed to aboitlouism,
and now for the first time TO be represented by
a iree-Soter, when know-noihngism bad sprung
into existence.
kno"-nothngs take an cath that they will
support no Roman Catholic for office. This
was striking at one of the fundamental princ-
pies Of the constitution, which declares there
shall be no religious test as qualification for
Office. He, therefore, who took that oath took
an oath inconsistent with the support OF the
constitution. It was an cath in violation of the
letter and spirit of that sacred instrument.
Upon the exclusion fran office and disfran-
chisement Of treign-boru citizens, the orator
was no less emphatic ard forcb!e in his denun-
citation of this feature Of know-nothingism-
Upon the social evils, the Injustice, the disastrous
consequences, threatening striles and bloodShed
government which thus made war upon their
religion, and set them apart on account Of their
nativity as degraded class, the SPEAKER was
eloquent and convincing, and the repeated plat-
dts which greeted him from the beginning to
the close of bis address, rising up from The whole
mass, and from every side OF this dense assem- I
blage, wrapt in eager and earnest attention, {
proved how thoroughly be had enlisted the
feelings aud convinced the judgment Of his audi
tors. We could scarcely realize in such dem {
onstraiions that there were. in all probability, {
hundreds Of know-nothngs among them. a
He paid just and eloquent tribute to those f
true men of the North who had SO long and pa
trioticaly stood by the South in her struggles h
with abolitonisfn. He pointed out who it was c
that had voted in Congress with the southern
delegation to spare the South from the Wilmot h
proviso, that badge Of infrriority and dpgreda- !
ton with which she was threatened that had 0
relieved her from the Missouri Compromise re- f
strictioh and opened Kansas to the influx OF her '
citizens, and aided her in the enactment Of the :
law. He referred by name to t
the noble exeFtions OF Douglas and Richardson, ;
of Illinois, TO protect the Constitution and the c
rights OF the South under it, and who had sat Y
up with him two days and two nights, with o
out rest, to secure the passage of the Kansas
bill.
He stated that these are the men at the North ?
that northern know-nohings were endeavorino y
10 beat down that of all the northern men elect d
rd to Congress since the passage Of that bill c
there was not one know-nothing who had voted |
for the measure-not one who was not hostile 2
to it; that of the forty-one northren men who L