The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-06-06
-FOUR YEARS OF KNOW NoTHnsdisM

only who have parhHmsd sucs serves o ~ - ~
FOUR YEARS OF KNOW NoTHnsaIsM y,
We have never had the least Partially for this
secret political order We have regarded 1t - IL
liberal proscriptiye, and untrustworthy. tt career
has been short, but not sufficiently TO save the
country from some bad reputation, which could
scarcely have attached to us under any other rule.
Baltimore, Louisville end New Orleans are specially
before U.S. The main feature Of the government Of
those cities is to be found in the practical subver-
sion of our elective system Of government. bigot-
ted sectariansm substituted vioence, fraud, and muir
der for equality and order 1t the psls. This YVES
great wrong inflicted upon the people; hut II was
greater wrong Indicted upon our institutions. ng
The events Of the past few days in New Orleans,
resulting in the Organization Of Whist is called q
Vigilance Committee form Of remedy which we
cannot endorse, snd which, even If necessary Is
deeply to be deplored- demands Of us review Of
the facts which have led 10 such deplorabe results
-Four years Of know-nothingism in New Orleans
ruffanism, violence, and murder four years of dis
reimbursement Of large majority of the voting pop
ulation of that city four years Of proshtuted city
government of fatal msrule assassinstons, plumber
and robbery-we shall, from the best lights before
U.S. undertake to present to the reader in connexon
with the present frightul anarchy which exists in
the great commercial capital Of the South We pre-
sent it as lesson, a. warning an Indictment to
popular vigilance. We present IL in contrast to
municipal government in the hands Of the democratic
party. a ~ F ~ a9A Aas
In the spring Of 1s54-at the yssy Tune that !
phrenzied opposition was raised against the doc
trines of seffgovernment proclaimed in the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise and the enactment of the
Kansas-N Nebraska iaw--a movement was announced,
The leaders Of which. with plentiful censre Of the
existing state of things in the city government and
denunciatons of the moral fitness Of some individu
ais connected with it. declared their aim to be tho
election to Office of superior men, and especially to
" elevate the moral standard" 81 those who we're
to be thenceforth at the head of municipal adairs
This declaration was accompanied by the trite
assertions Of Observation-Disclosures" lofty patriotism
the .public good the g best mon for public sta
tons irrespective Of political opinions" and other
numerous claptrap phrases. which fall 80 readily
from the tongues or pens of designing demagogues
or disappointed oiice-seekers when at the work of
forming temporary combinations, whose only cohesive
principles are common purpose to plumber the com
munity. Into this movement great many well-mean-
ing though unreaecting men, were betrayed and in
short time this patriotic qsd disinseed organization
emerged from its chrysas state Of nopsrtyism into
full-blown, bigoted, turbulent and sem;-barbarous
know-nothngism, setting at naught all its profes-
sons and filling the municipal halls with set Of
men, many of whom were utterly without moral or
political character and whose only mission appa-
rently was to reflect the conduct obey the COM
mands Of the bands Of thugs or ru1ians by whose
violence at the polls their election had been &C.
cured. 8ofas p8s taN8e III
Under knownothing rule the streets of New Or
leans, particularly on election days, have for more
than three years been the scenes ofmurder, assass
nations, and acts Of violence which were as barba-
rous they were infamous. The perpetrators Of |
such acts have either been unmolested by their |
friends and probably associates of the city police
or, if arrested, have escaped punishment either |
through the utter neglect Of law and evidence by
their knownothing brethren ON the jures which tried
them, or by the disappearance Of witnesses whose
testimony would prove their crimes, and who have
been only too glad to escape from the assassnations
which they had reasonto know would be their fate
should they dare to testify against any Of the ruians
who had been conspicuous in their efforts in elect
ing the mayor and other officials. y, ~,
Whole pages might be consumed in the recital Of
the grossly corrupt and criminal deeds Of these men
full history Of them would Cause people who have
the happiness to dwell in more favored communities
to shrink back in horror, as was the case when the
sckening details of the atrocities of tho mob in the
days of Terror at Paris in the rst French Revolution
were published to the verdi "A few instances viii
be sufficient to give the readers of the Union some
idea of the kind Of men whose elevated moral tone
has entitled them to the confidence and honors of
New Orleans know-nothingism. ip'pasg
At the November election in 1855, score or so OF
the lowest rufdans from Mobile, under the CONDUCT
of the marshal Of that city, weat ove to New Or
leans, and throughout the day were engaged with
the resident outlaws IN the business Of violence and
intimidation Of naturaHzed voters, or such native
citizens ventured to stand up for their
rights AT night, finding that they were beaten
on the parish ticket the bsllot-boxes Of the
two. strongest democratic precincts in the city
were assaulted taken and destroyed by bands Of
masked and armed rufRans, anil the coptsuts, with
the pollbooks destroyed by which nominsl return
of the knownothing candidates. for Stats senators.
q,