The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1856-11-20
From the Richmond Enquirer
THE LAST OF KNOW NOTHINGIsM

OF one thing the recent election decisive beyouL Al,
question-and that is the fate of the know-nohing party
In the summer of the year 1854 the existence Of thu
Accommodating order FIRST discovered by the public
though il is since aseertained that 1t had been secretly
spreading some time before its effects visible on III.
surface In its youth the thing exhibited wonderful Pre-
cocity ofmnd and body lis counsels were controlled BY
sagaey that would have done dscredit TO the grays
veteran in politics. and the earliest display of its proves
was altogether worthy Of infant Hercules In the North
especially the atmosphere of which was IN harmony with
its nature knownothingism was propagated with the
ecundiy OF rattlesnake. Feeding upon the anaticim
and the moral corruptons Of that unsound section tho
conederacy the order grew with such astonishing vgOr
development that il oyerspread the entire region
even as vermn once covered Pharoah accursed country
Impelled by the instincts of rapine the order creeping
in this direction but finding nothing TO Its taste in the
South 1t driven back TO the nest Of its nativity
And there under another name il still hourshes in unim
paired power.
In the spring Of 1866 the nothing order was conf
dent of carrying the presidential election of 1856 Irwin
chile in the North anticipated equally easy conque,
of the South Everybody remembers its nsolence in that
the day of its power For the democracy ii had only con-
tempt and Our doom was sealed Nothing could
appease the relentless spirit of our enemy We were all 10
be driven from power The Irish the Dutch and the Cath
Ollie were be consumed in grand auto-da-fe; and
around the burning pile the mnions of SAM leap
gramme ofis policy this the delightful prospect which
stimulated the energies of knownothngism to desper-
ate effort And in truth, the ambition was not alto
gether ridiculous. If Virginia had given way in the
spring of ls55if nvincibe democracy had been
able to repel the onsetwhat other State in the South
would have arrested the march of know-nothngism with
all its prestige of unbroken and all the power
its accumulated conquess2 But Virginia stood firm, and
her gallant democracy rolled back the tide of invasion
from the soil OF the South From that dayrom the mem.
orabe Gath of May, 1855, when Henry A Wise goriousy
trumphed the "invncble invsbes" down the 4h
of November 1885, when James Buchanan defeated the
aliGon Of Fremont and Fllmore-the decline of know.
nothngism has been rapid and uninterrupted. 1t was
able to from the effect Of that first fatal blow
Its dissolution was inevitable in the of time
The nomination of Fillmore WAS an effort of despair
There bare possibility that the responsibility of bis
might compensate for the nfamy Of his party and
that the power of prejudice and association would rally
the remnant of the wing organization to his support This
the philosophy of Filmores nomination; its folly
in the result of the election Instead of rescunV
know nothingsm from ruin know-nothingism carries
him to the botomless abyss of perdition. In every
State of the Unoh but one, and that of the least
spectabliy, the know-nohing party sustans igno-
minous defeat Even in Fillmore's own district bis
candidate for Congress is beaten by the democratic
nominee. The party is not only dispersed but its
ganization is annhilated and its rotten remains
posed 10 the scorh anu conelPt Oh ne Woriu Nihouta
representative in the next Congress- its destitute members
have basis of support point upon which to rally
Necessity will compel them to choose between democracy
and black republicanism
In the moment of its dissolution know nothingism SUD.
piled signal instance Of "he ruling passion strong in
death" ruan from the beginning its last thirst was
quenched in the gore of its murdered victims died in
the cutters of Baltimore gasping sungsh in its bloody
hand and breathing out its soul in ribald imprecaos
against the Irish Catholic. The land is covered with The
stencil of its decaying carcass. ....