Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-09-18
wAsnInar0s nrr, sep.. II, 1859.

TO Hon. n, II. Gillett.
MY DEAR Sir: ] have just returned from the
Smithsonian Institution, where | listened with
pleasure to the most Of your address on the His
tory Of the Constitution, &c.
The severity of your remarks in reference to the
American party-while It doubtless grati6ed your
audience generally did not affect me in the slight
est degree; for, though you aimed your Paixhan
with deadly purpose, do assure you 1t was d.
rected and discharged at an object to which the
American party is as much opposed as you can be.
If we wish to show how dexterously We can de-
stroy or throw down an object, II is easy enough
to build up man of straw, and then kick him over.
do confess my surprise at your ignorance OF
the principles Of the American party, fyou really
Intended for it the remarks which suppose you
did. ascribe your misrepresentation to lack
of Knowledge of our principles because ! have
known you too long, and too well to suspect you
of a settled design to misrepresent them. But
why, in the name Of Heaven, my friend-I call
you my friend because have had the pleasure so
TO regard you for many years why do you not
inform yourself correctly, when nothing is easier,
rather than give credence to vile and loathsome
calumniators, whose grovelling occupation is pan
derng to despots and the promoters Of treason,
who would sell their birthright for mess of pot
tage, or even barter their mothers honor for the
spoils of power. ! am not surprised that certain
persons are led astray by them, but ] am, indeed,
surprised that you should be deceived by miscre-
ants whose very filthiness must be disgusting to
you.
Among other things, you charged the American
party with design to put down or destroy the
Roman Catholic religion in this country; and,
thereby, you said, to violate that part Of the con-
stitution which prohibits the Congress to make
any establishment of religion, prevent the free
exercise thereof.
am glad, sir, that / attended the meeting
otherwise / could not have been persuaded that
there exists at this day, in the United States,
single intelligent person, who do not know that
the purpose of the American party, so far as it
has any regard at all to religion, is to defend and
maintain the rights and liberty now enjoyed by all
the aggressions of the Church of Rome, by check
ing the growth and power of that church in this
country, and by no other than legitimate means.
Sir, you stand alone. You have been deceived
by those vile and abomnablc prints which make a
trade of SANDER and defamation, and to which |
have alluded above in language which you know
am not accustomed to use, and Of which should
now be ashamed but for the necessity Of making
myself understood by those who seem to know the
use of no other kind Of language. They know
well enough sir-and their aiders and abettors-
that il is Mey--the Tories of this day--the anti
Amercans--who are seeking to overthrow the re-
lgious liberty of the people, by lending their power
to the Beast They know full well that it is the
only religious power in this country, which pro.
fesses intolerance Of all other sects; and from
which alone there is any danger to be.apprehend
ed in this country, owing to their great superiority
in numbers, in Christendom, in organization and
concentration, and unity of purpose and action
They know, sir, il you do not, that the very mo-
ment that power shall gain the ascendency, it will
sweep away at once, from the people, every part
Gle of both civil and religious liberty. Show me,
sir, If you can, the people in the world, under q
government not at variance with the Pope, who
enjoy an iota of lberty-religious, civil, or polit
cal. You cannot do 1t.
Let that power gain the ascendency here, and
which certain pretended Protestants are basey
and treacherously helping to bring about, and you
may bid long farewell to the liberty aud glory Of
this great republic. But, God Almighty will never
visit the descendants of our Revolutionary fathers
with such dire calamity. He has regard, firmly
believe, for this nation and will never suffer 1t to
be lost in the darkness, or sunk in the corruption
of the superstition and pravity Of the Church Of
Rome. The same Almighty power which brought
our fathers victoriously through seven years war
against fearful odds, and guided and directed their
deliberations when they formed that glorious in
strument whose history you have this night so
handsomely traced, will continue TO raise up many
thousands too virtuous as well as too stubborn to
bend the knee to Baal, and win cover with confl-
sion and bring to naught the counses Of those Tory
demagogues who are striving to rise to power and
grandeur over the ruins of the religious and politi-
cal liberties Of the people.
Yours truly, J. +. Polk.