The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1856-06-07
1)olitilal.
Plain Trus;i by ain grisE,Enan.

| Mr.. j. Crawford, editor of the Pr0tcstan
| Amer,can. published at Aberdeen Miss. is al
lriShman by birth, an accomplished scholar
and fearless and eloquent writer. lie took
strong ground in favor of the American party
and, having been violently denounced for this
by the editor of the Florence, Alabama
Gazette, he made powerful and ovcrwhclm.
ing response, from which we take these para.
graphs. Many forcign-born citizens, and not
few natives, might read them with profit
and cdiication:
You charge against us that we conduct q
Know Nothing journal. Did it ever strike
you, sir, as possible, that the principles we
advocate in this paper, and which you fear
will arouse the indignation Of your readers,
are the principles we held many years before
the Know Nothings had an existence; that
we have not gone to them, but that they have
come to us; that from the circumstances Of
our foreign birth we knew the force and ne
ceSsty Of one great vital doctrine Of the
American party long before circumstances
forced it upon their attention so strongly that
they cannot avoid it. They must meet it and
crush it, or be crushed by it.
1t would be Of considerable advantage to
you, sir, if rc!inquiShlng yourpresent Quixot-
tic battle against the American party, YOU
would 20 and see for yourself what Popcry is
where she has the power You arc now
running a muck with all the fury of an
eXaspera,ed Thug against Know-Nothinc
ewSpapers-suppose You wipe your dripping
brow and let your painting system cool, and
get little information on the hiect Of Pope
ry with power in her hands. 1t will teach
you charity for the opinions of those YOU op-
pose. 1t will give you time TO practice your
native poItcncss; and you may cease to call
us serf, Slave, sycophant. because we choose
to set our faces like flint" against svs.
tenn which enslaves not the bodies, but worse,
infinitely wolsc-th the souls and minds, the
hopes, the fears of its votarics
But let us look at the charge. What is the
crime? |, an Irish Protestant, and found
acting with party whose leading object is
to abolish the TEMPORAL power of Popcry am
therefore crusadnG against my countrymen
Shade Of common sense, what ais the man!
Did you expect me, sir, to aid, either with
my pen or voice, system which has hunted
my fathers to the dungeon and the gibbet:
which gave them the rack for argument;
which placed on their legs the iron boot, and
drove in wedge after wedge, till the marrow
ovcrran this Popish argument, (!) which,
huddlmg women and caught them, as they
rushed madly out, on the heads of their iron
pixies! With what party, pray, should he!
Just where am, sir, with the American party
because it has raised its mighty arm, and
sworn by Him who liveth forever and ever,
that such schemes shall never be enacted on
American soil.
What is my crime? That at a time when
half million Of Roman Charlottesville blind
tools Of designing foreign princes-are pour
ing annually upon our shores, an Irish Pro-
testant, when the press is placed at my dis
posal, should cry. There is danger--for
Gods sake protect yourself, while you can.
knew them where they burned Bibles, muir
dcrcd hcretics, they set the law of the land at
defiance, and would obey no law but the law
fthc Church" This is my only crime! And
for this am called stare, sycophant and abjcct.
And by whom! An American Protestant +
y man whose ancestors periled all for free.
dom to worship Cod" How long will that
freedom last when Popcry becomes numer-
cally supreme! Not an hour. How often
would he, in Florence, visit the Methodist
Chapel, if the Pope could prevent it, land he
is only waiting numerical strcngth.) All, sir ,
there would be no chapel there--thc thun.
dcrs of the Vatican would raise it 'from tur-
ret to foundation stone" just as soon as it had
subjects enough to carry out its benests.-
Hhceing Times.