The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-09-10

faith true, and over the waste floods G
human passion and folly and guilt it wi
e mount in triumph, as did the ark oye
: the waters of the deluge, bearing in safe
: ty tie priceless treasures which you
fathers committed to its keeping.
Is there Democrat within the souni
of my voice to night who, seduced b,
the cant and twaddle about +" Ameri
cans ruling America" has betrayed tn
faith once so dear to him, and is now
furnished prodigal vainly striving to FL
himself with the husks of that misera
BILE delusion of Know-N othingism ? lie
me implore MIN, as brother, to return
to the banquetiDg halls of Democracy
where the good bread, on which he once
feasted, still awaits him-the bread o
principle, of honor, of truth, of brother
hood, of justice to all, of prescription
for none. Is there Democrat here
who, forgetful of the traditions of glory
which belong to his party as the tried
and unconquerable champions of the
Constitution, has allied himself with an
organization which is tearing its way in
to power, by trampling that Constitu-
tion in the dust, let me intreat him by
all the triumphs and memories of the
past and by all the hopes of the future,
to pause before that precipice to whose
milling brink he has been led A
| Democrat turned Know N othing! Alas,
alas, Mr.. President A Democrat,
who is the embodiment of the very chiV-
airy of freedom, be slave, creeping and
skulkiing by night into Know Nothing
lodges, and there tying his hands and
lettering his own great spirit amid the
Known othing priesthood A Demo
crat, whose sympathies " taking the
wings of the morning fly to the utter
most parts Of the earth, generously
embracing the oppressed and the down
trodden of all climes, become the enemy
aud prosecutor of the hapless stranger,
who, forsaking home, kindred and coun-
try, and miDgling his tears with the
tempests and the sea has sought our
shores, because, like our fathers, he
longed to be free A Democrat, who
marches to the music of the brave, and
from whose banner in words coined of
sunbeams flashes the motto FREEDOM OF
CONSCIENCE TO ALL, become the coward
ly prosecutor of his helpless Catholic
ueighbors and fellow citizens Alas,
Mr.. President, can we, without hearts
wrung with grief and cheeks crimsoned
with shame, look upon fall like this2
Suffer me in conclusion to express the
anxious and solemn trust, that here and
everywhere, in prosperity and adversely,
the Democracy will never forget that
their sacred mission is the guardianship
of The Constitution and the preservation
of the rights of the States. May they
ever bear in mind that every invasi on of
that charter of human rights, whether
in the name of false philanthropy or
of q remorseless bigotry, which remains
and unavenged, not only |
tends to its overthrow by destroying the |
prestige ofits sanctity, but is also de-
pletion of those veins in which flows the
very life blood of constitutional freedom,
which is one startling step gained to-
ward the verge of that fathomless gulf
which is ever yawning for your feder-
ate republican system. The paling away
of those stars which CLEAN upon your
banner, fitting symbols of the sovereign
ty of the States, and the concentration |
of all political rule at Washington can
not but be regarded as the last calamity |
which could befall the land We all love |
so much. Should that hour of eclipse
for the fortunes of the republic ever ar
rive, when from the phrensied throes of
party or the intrigues of lawIess ambi-
tion, those luminaries, now SO glorious
in their harmony, shall shoot from their
spheres and blindly rush to a common
center, forming thus one mighty mass
Of political light and power, and grand
eur, if you will, then indeed far off ma
tions mi ght be dazzled by the blazing
splendors of that new born sun, but be
assured that beneath its intense heat
your liberties would wither away as
withers the green herb amid the scorch
ing sands of an African desert.