The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1856-02-19
A KNow-NorH1Ne SPEECH.

their brethren elsewhere in relation to the
delivered in the House of Representatives
speech, from which the following is an
extract. 1t will strike every one that he
crowds his brother Know Nothing, Mr..
Reade, of this State into a close splace.--
His remarks, in relation to the interference
of Protestant ministers in politics, are es-
pecially just and pointed. Hear what he
says
''Gentlemen talk about the Papal power.
The honorable gentleman from North Car
olina, Mr.. Reade, the other day asked the
honorable gentleman from Georgia, Mr..
Stephens whether he would vote for a
Catholic whose religious opinions he sus-
pected being hostile to the general inter-
est Of the country. What right has that
gentleman to challenge the nationality of
his conscience, before he can hold commun-
ion with him on the footing of the American
citizen! What right have you to denounce
him as a traitor to his country, and compel
him to stand before your bar as a criminal
as an individual hostile to the institutions
of your country?
| tell you, gentlemen, you have just as
much right to put yourhands in another mans
pocket, to see if the money he has belongs
to him, to take that position towards the
American Catholic-as to dare to presume
to ask him whether he entertains opinions
hostile to the institutions Of this country.
Gentlemen ought to recollect that here,
in this Congress, there is not single Cath
olic priest. And, for my part, am oppos-
ed to all religious interference with our po-
litical affairs. l am in favor of maintaining
and keeping up the divorce between the
Church and State which has been establish
| ed by our great fathers. But, sir, that verv
| same reason which makes me a deadly enc
| my of Catholic interference with our insti-
tutions, makes me blush for my country
men when see the Protestant Church soil
| ing its robes in dragging them in the mire
Of politics. Cries of Hear, hear = and
Good j YourLegislatures are filled with
gentlemen who wear white cravats and
black coats. Hear, hear and laughter.
Your Congress has large proportion of
these clerical gentlemen. And I ask YOU,
with all due respect and courtesy to gentle
men of the cloth, to show me a Catholic
priest or an accredited agent of the Church
of Rome in this Hall. Laughter, and cries
of Hear, hearnl Gentlemen who talk a.
bout the Pope of Rome ought to recollect
that that poor cid man, who is an object of
so much terror to them, is now in the
custody of guard Of French soldiers.
But Mr.. Clerk, I have consumed more
time than I desired to have done. [ will
simply close my remarks by asking the
gentleman from North Carolina Mr. Reade]
where he gets the authority for thus black
balling his peers, his equals, the Catholics
-whero he gets the authority for stamping
them as the mere tools Of the Pope of Rome?
where ho gets the authority for consider
ing them as unworthy of participating in the
great councils of this country Does the
gentleman find his authority, or will he find
it in the Constitution of the United States!
Will the gentleman find Il in the treaty be-
tween France and the United States, by !
which the territory Of Louisiana was ced.,d !
to this country, and by which the religious /
rights of its inhabitants were guaranteed
them! viii the gentlemon find it in the |
Farewell Address of the Father of our
Country-in that address which is so often |
quoted by the orators of the American I
party! Will the gentleman find it in that
great book, the Bible, on which so much !
Veneration has been wasted so unproftably |
i'll the Philadelphia platform! l will tell the
gentleman where he will find it. He will
find it in the teachings and in the inspira-
ton of that dark spirit of fanaticism which
is the curse of the Anglo Saxon race. The
gentleman will find it in that spirit by which
Protestants were driven from New England
by their fellow ProtestantS, in our colonial
days. He will find it in that spirit which
made the Episcopalians of Virginia drive
away their Puritan brethren from that State.
And where did these prosecuted Puritans
and Protestants in general go! What spot
did they choose as an asylum in order to be
protected from their Protestant persccu-
tors! will tell the gentleman where they
went in those colonial times. They went to
the colony of Maryland-to that colony
whose inhabitants were under the influence
of ''the aggressive policy Of the Church of
Rome and its corrUpting tendencies" Yes,
these Puritans sought refuge in that
colony which first in the United States cs-
tablished the law protecting every man from
religious persecution
GREAT PARK.-The New Yorkers have
at last made sure of their great Central
Park, embracing an area of several hundred