Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1856-08-16

Philadelphia; and Mr.. WALES tacitly ad- |
mits this fact, when, in the whole of his |
lengthy letter Of four columns-almost
entirely filled up with his newborn love
for the Catholic-he can find but one
solitary sentence in that platform which
is defective, and which his faciIe pen un-
dertakes to explain and expose, for the
benefit of the unletteFed and the unread,
and those whose breasts are but as caul
drons of religious bigotry.
There seems disposition in the letter
of Mr.. Wales, while treating of the plat
form in which that "monstFous" 5th arti-
Gle is embraced, to impress it upon the
reader that it was concocted by "ConD
ell" of an "Order," and therefore, for this
reason alone, unworthy of national con-
sideration. We beg TO remind the gen.
tleman that the patriotic body which he
alludes to convened as National Coun-
Gil on the 18th, for the purpose of doing
| away with all those secrets and parepha-
MALTA of the Order, its local bigotry and
sectional views, which the public sentl-
ment of the party demanded, and which
were the consequences of its original local
organization. Having done this, the
Council was adjourned, with the under
standing that its members were to meet
again in body on the 22d of the same
month, February, a glorious day for a
glorious work. The 22d arrived, when
the members of the American order, now
assembled with open doors, drew up their
platform. nominated their candidates for
President and Vice President, and disban-
ded as the open, bold, and unfettered
,'.---i'-'-a;--as-af,- the Amrican Party, by
known. From that date there has beer
no more secrets, signs, grips nor pass
words; and if ever there were a Blue
Book and Third Degree, (of which tht
gentleman speaks as knowingly as if hi
name was registered in the first and hae
taken the latter they too have been bu
ried among the rubbish of past errors, bJ
the hands of the American party itself
and before any national strife for power
had taken place.
There never on earth originated any
popular political movement or reform
that had not in the outset some gIarine
evils connected with it. This was the
case in the first days of the American
movement. 1t was started, as the gen.
tleman says, in New York, and we thank
him for taking the honor from the shoul-
ders Of Ned Buntline. Those who, ,ori-
ginated it may have conceived that they
were acting right in embracing in the con-
stitution strong anti-catholic sentiments.
If we mistake pot its origin was caused
by the attempt on the part of the Catho-
lies to get their portion of the public
school fund separate and apart, and to
be made the exclusive use of their Church
ia principle, right or wrong, we shall
not here attempt to argue. -
The order gained instrength and popa-
larity. The strong American sentiment
which it gave utterance 10, was so popu-
lar that thousands joined it without Civ
ing thought to its politico-religious fea-
ture BY and by, however, the order
branched off from New York, and few
like wiId.lre into every hamlet ahd city
in the Union. But as it progressed soutb
its religious feature was greatly modified
until it reached Louisiana. when il was
struck out altogether. The great mass Of
the American people, and those attached
to the order, were opposed to any inter-
ference Of political with religious matters.
They were too well aware that such
policy or proceeding was aDtagonistical
to the principles Of d free government,
at war with the letter and spirit Of the con.
stitution, and would be the strongest blow
ever struck at the pillars of the f.epublic.
The good men Of the order, numbering
their thousands and tens Of thousands.
were resolved to strike out this odious fea-