Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1856-04-02

amongst them. And yet if am q Know
Nothing / must go and say, nay, go and
swear, that am fit to be a citizen-I am fit
to hold office, but that that beloved and re-
spected old gentleman. my father. was not
l ask every son of foreigner who enters
into Kuow-Nothing lodge if, as he passes
over the threshold of the door. he does not,
on taking that step, trample on the grave of
his father. and tread in dishonor upon the
name of him from whom he derived his ex-
istencc. Cheers let us apply to this
| act some more Scripture--for / confess that,
poorly as 1 follow it, 1 do like to get into a
| talk about it Let us see what it promises to
those who dishonor their father. In the 5th
| commandment is laid down, in the most SOL
emn language that inspiration could draw it,
the command contained in the decalogue, re-
newed End repeated in the New Testament
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy
days may be long in the land which the Lord
thy God hath given thee"-the first COM
mandment that contains promise, and the
only one. Applause. Now. sir, what is
converse and the opposite of this? 1t is
Dishonor thy father and thy mother, ye
sons of the Star Spangled Banner that
your days may be short in the land which
the Lord your God hath given you great
laughter and applause and am glad that
their days are short laughter and applause
and they themselves should, with a double
gratitude. thank Providence that their days
are short, through our means, and that they
have fallen into our hands and not into the
hands of the Almighty. [Renewed laughter
and applause
will now pass to another instrument which
[ like to dwell upon, and that is this, (point-
ing to book which he held in his hand, }
the Constitution of the United States. Why
sir, when L wanted to find this book, I had
only to look under the desk where l found
the Bible, and it was there too. How they
always go together! Wherever you see a
member of the Assembly or Congress who
has the Bible under his desk. you may always
take it for granted as a certainty, that along
side of that Bible you will find the Constitu-
ton. [Applause. For no man who vio-
lates the one can keep the other; and no man
who keeps the one will violate the other.
Applause.
Now. sir, undertake to say-but perhaps
[ trespass
Cries of " oh, no." and Ego on" I un-
dertake to say, that in this instrument, in the
farewell address of Washington, land in the
Declaration of Independence which preceded
this government, there is not one word that
encourages that idea called the American
idea, but each and all of them are in contra
diction and rebuke of it. If you begin with
the Declaration of Independence, Il will not
stop to refer to it, for you are all familiar with
it } in that Declaration, dated the 18th day of
July, 1776, there is nothing but one spirit of
universal brotherhood. one spirit of universal
manhood, one spirit of universal and unre-
strained patriotism for a new born and oom-
mon country. But in the Constitution, from
the first article to the last, there is no word
that encourages KnowNothingism or pro-
scription of a man because of his birth or re-
ligion, but the very reverse, and there is that
which meets and repels any such idea. Now
it is sometimes very important in ascertainlng
what is meant by an instrument, to look at
the heading with which it commences, to the
declaration of purpose contained at the be-
ginning; and let me call your attention to
this one. I'VE the people of the United
States, In order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquility
provide for the common defence. promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves snd our posterity, do or
dain and establish this Constitution" AS
large, as wide, as comprehensive in its terms
and language as it is possible to make it. 1t
does not say the citizen-it does not say the
" Native" Sit does not say the men who
have resided here twenty-one years-it does
not say that a man must be dug up out of the
soil like mud turtle. Applause. For /
heard man good-naturedly call the Know
Nothing party the mud turtle party. I'VE
the people," Who comprise the people p
Why men born here and every day coming
here from distant shores, the German, French
man and Englishman, who fees from the op-
preston under which he suffers in his own
country to find home in ours, and the Irish
man who will hunt everywhere for freedom
until he finds it Applause. All of these
were included in the one common name of
equality " We the people" They wade the
Constitution. l now ask your attention to
two sections, and two alone and before doing
so, beg leave to say that at the adoption of
the Constitution, all ether things being equal,
he having remained in the country, General
Lafayette was as eligible to the Presidency of
the United States as George Washington
That is. that the first President of the United
States might have been born in any foreign
country YOU please, and if other things were
equal, he was eligible to that high and honor
able seat which was first occupied by the Faith
er of his Country and SO in regard to the
office of Senator.
There is not one word said in regard to
them beyond this a. that no person shall be
a Senator who shall not have attained the age
of thirty years. and been nine years citizen
of the United States, and who shall, when
elected, be an inhabitant Of that State for
which he was chosen" Now, what does this
mean? Why it means that if man was born
abroad, and was twenty-one years of age, and
had been nine years resident, that be could
be a Senator of the United States; for at the