Weekly American. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1858-1858, 1858-03-27
An Outrageous Insult TO Americans and
Professionals.

|
AT Chicago, ON Monday night preceding In,
recent election, large procession OF lrishmeI
went through the city, crying out to the exten
of their lungs, SHOWN with the Protestantsp
"To hell with the Americansl" These crie'
were heard in the crowded streets of al
American city, They were uttered by The
throats Of foreign Catholics upon American
SOIL They were howlcd forth by the lungs
and lips of the foreign-born minions of for
eign potentate and rung in the ears Of the sons
and daughters Of those who poured out then
blood like water to achieve the independence
of this people, and to make Americathe Easy.
lum of the oppressed Of all nations" While
such scenes are enacted, and while such shouts
are heard yelled forth in the public streets Of
our cities by professions of foreign miscreants
who are mere pensioners on the bounty of our
people, is it to be wondered at that party
should arise determined to protect themselves
and their children and the Institutions of their
country from the political control Of the people
who go about our streets proclaiming "down
with the Protestants, ito hell with the Ameri-
cans, /" and ready and willing, if they dared, to
carry out their purposes with fire and sword ?
| Can that party be called proscriptive which
has been organized to protect the religious and
political rights of the native-born citizens Of
the country from the rude violence and dan
gerous influences of such reckless and igno-
rant rabble of foreigners as thus declare a war
Of extirmination against all who dare to advo-
cate American principles and all who will not
bow down subservient to the will of the foreign
| triple-crowned potentate to whom these Irish
Catholics choose to give their allegiance.
These scenes in the streets of Chicago are
indicative of the real condition Of the parties in
this country. The men who formed that pro-
cession, shouting forth their threats of-violence
against native-born Protestants at their very
doors, compose now the strength and numbers
the very bone and sinew of the Democratic
party. Their shouts are faint but significant
expression of the proscrptive sentiment which
peryades the whole Democracy of the country
and controls their political and, in fact, in too
many instances, their social conduct. Their
organs have revealed day after day and week
after week in the vilest denunciations of the
alleged proscriptiveness of the American party
Their orators have been grandly eloquent in
painting in hell-dyed colors the intention of
the native-born Protestant citizens to prescribe
the foreigners and Catholics from holding polit-
ical office, but they are as silent as the tomb,
they are as mute as death itself, in regard to
this outrageous assault Of their own foreign
minions upon the religion and political rights
of large portion Of the American people.
This insuferable insolence and threatened
violence of the foreign faction in city, whose
population is chiefly composed of foreigners
must certainly open the eyes of the masses Of
our countrymen to the fearful dangers of for
eign influence and awaken them to sense OF
the necessity for the immediate success of the
American party, the establishment of Ameri-
can principles and the cultivation of an Amer
lean nationality. The wise men who united
their efforts in the construction Of our federal
constitution and in the achievement Of our
national independence have, almost without
exception, placed on record their solemn warn
ings to their countrymen against the evils Of
foreign influence, but they did not dream, they
had not the remotest conception of the fearful
dangers from this dreaded source which now
menace, not only the political Institutions Of
our country, but the most dearly priced civil
and religious liberties of the people.
Lost in the contemplation of the ridiculous
slavery issue that has for too long time agila-
ted the whole country and brought the sections
to the verge Of civil war, and misled by the
mad ambition Of political demagogues, who
are willing, at any sacrifice, to purchase politi-
cal preferment, the people, the american peo.
pie, have blindly permitted this foreign inlu-
ence to grow up into an element of positive
political power in the State. While its myr-
mdons are shouting forth in the streets of our
cities, making themselves hoarse with these
proscriptive outcries, "down with the Protes-
tants," "to hell with the Americans" its
leaders are impudently demanding share OF
the public patronage and a voice in the public
councils, not as n portion Of any one of the
recognized political parties not as portion OF
the American citizenship, but as the foreign
party, which claims to hold the balance OF
political power in America and to be able to
make and unmake the administrations Of our
government Is there not then, we ask every
candid American citizen. Of whatever party or
whatever political prediction, is there not a
necessity for the success Of the American party
to protect American citizens in the enjoyment
of their civil and religious liberties against the
threatened aggressions Of this foreign faction
and for the establishment Of true american
principles as the permanent policy Of our
government The heat Of party rancor, which
once divided the American and Democratic
and Republican parties, is greatly abated, and
we may hope that out Of this political chaos
there will arise grand, conservative, national,
Union party which viii battle successfully for
the triumph of American principles, the safety
Of the American Union, and the establishment
Of proud American nationality -LOuisrilt,
Journal
southern Assailants of Northern Labor.
A correspondent Of the New York Pos
gives the following "reminiscences concerning