The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1872-08-10
HENRY WILSON'S RECORD.

HENRY WILSON'S RECORD.
Hon. Henry Wilson, the candidate
of the Philadelphia Renominationists
for Vice President, will have to con-
front a record in the present campaign
which will need many apologies and
much atonement for before he can be
regarded by the American people as
the paragon of humanity and the I'M
impeachable Christian statesman !"
his admirerswould have them believe
him.
Twenty years ago Henry Wilson
was leading member of the Know
Nothing party, that organization whose
cardinal principle was the political os
tracism and oppression of all foreign
ers, and especially those holding to the
Catholic faith. Wilson went much
farther than the other leaders of the
party in his denunciation of foreign
ers, as the extracts which follow will
demonstrate. In speech made at
Boston in 1856, he said:
In the heart of the foreigner beats not a
single noble impulse, not one single throb of
patriotism! He is so brutal and degraded that
he has no sympathy for anything but cab
bage and lager beer, potatoes and butter
milk, or some other Outlandish dish, fit only
for hogs of the street or pen. All the oaths
i'll the world cannot bind them.
Some tell me that many foreigners are in
telligent-yes, intelligent! How in the name
of Almighty God can they say it Look at
the Dutchman smoking his pipe, and if you
see a ray of intelligence in that dirty, idotic-
looking face Of his, show it to me.
We must change the laws of the land and
prevent these ignorant, degraded paupers
here from voting and holding Office. Villains
and rutians who congregate in and around
our villages and large cities and live by
stealing and begging from the Americans
Some say they have rights. So they have
the right to live under our laws and till the
SOIL and do as we bid! They are inferior in
intellect and intelligence to the Americans,
and they must be and shall be put down and
kept down if it has to be done at the point of
the bayonet with powder and lead.
Here is the oath to which Wilson
subscribed when he took the " scarlet
degree of the Know Nothing organ
ization
l, Henry Wilson, of Natick, in the county
of Middlesex. Commonwealth of Massachu-
sets, of my own free will and accord, in the
presence OF Almighty God and these witness
my right hand resting OH this Holy Bible and
cross my left hand ON my right breast, do
solemnly promise and swear, that will not
reveal the signs, secrets, mysteries. or OBJ
.iect of this organization; that so long as |
am connected with this organization, | will
in all things political and social, comply
with the will of the majority, when express
ed in lawful manner, though it may conflict
with my personal preference, so long as it
does not conflict with the grand state or
subordinate constitutions, the constitutions
of the United States, or of the State in which
reside. | furthermore promise and declare,
that | will not vote nor give my influence
for any man for any office in the gift of the
people, unless he be an American born eiti-
zen III favor of American born ruling Ameri-
ca; nor he be II Roman Catholic, and that,
if it may be done legally, will when elected
TO any Office, remove all foreigners, aliens, or
Roman Catholics from office and that will
in no case appoint such to office, &C., &c.
In March, 1855, Mr.. Wilson intro
dueed in the United States Senate
petition from his Know Nothing con-
stituents asking the repeal of the nat
uralization laws, and expressed him.
self in favor of such repeal.
1t will be matter for much surprises
if, with this record against him, Hem
~ Wilson is elected Vice. President
by the aid of the votes of citizens of
foreign birth.