Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ADDRESS 4 , OF iSpn. P. S. Brooks to tho People of the ' Fourth Congressional Distriot. Fellow-Citizens : I have boon induced to send you this Address in consequence of having received a number of letters, from gentlemen in various parts of my District, in wbiph they say tliat "many of your (my)! ^ friends and supporters are unxious to learn ! your (my) views of tlio Know Nothing Order." Other gentlemen have written that, | "if the party is not shortly checked, it will control Lexington District;" and that "many of^our (my) best friends have joined the Order, and are doing all they can for its promotiou." That a few impulsive spirits should have been led estray by the Native American I feature of the Order, was to have been ex-! pected ; but that they should be so numer-1 ous as to form a Party, and that party so i strong in any part of South Carolina as to I dream of "control" iu very truth amazes me.! I have upon this, as upon all political questions of the day, decided opinions, which are regulated by fixed principles.? My correspondents have, as bas the humblest voter in my District, the right to know what those opinions are; and I would be unwortly of my position as your Representative in Congress, did I desire to dissemble or suppress them. Before I proceed to express my views, which are in opposition to tbe Order, candor constrains mo to admit that "Americanism" i6 a natural sentiment with our people. I de* *ecate myself the appointment . of men roreign birth to represent our country ?. or to preside over our Col leges; - :ll of tho States would, by common ? .nt, withhold tho elective franchise from immigrants for ten years, the agreement would receive my entire approval. But because I approve, in a degree, of one tenef of a party, it is no more unreasonable to expect me to adopt all of its principles, than it would bo to require a man to eat all of eveiy dish upon a bill of fare, because he fancied one. Yet tliis single feature has caused thousands to attach themselves to the Know Nothing Order, without considering its other features ; and thus, for one 6weet drop, they gulp dowu a whole gallon of bitter 6tuff. According to the Know Nothing doctrines, the birth-place of a man is a grave political consideration. In my judgment, j the birth-place of a political principle is in-! 6nitely moro important; and to the Know Nothing Order we will apply the Know Nothing test. Where was it born ? In the State of New York. When ? Very shortly after the passage of the Nebraska and KAflR/lR Kill- wIiiaK -vf 1 tho South their lost right of equality in the common territory. What has been the effect at the North? To defeat every Democrat who voted for this bill of justice to the South, and to put in his place an Abolition Know Nothing, who 6tands pledged to repeal the bill, and to give his vote and influence to the enactment of others of greater injustice and injury than the Act known as the Missouri Compromise. I might here appropriately comment upon the impolicy and ingratitude of countenancing tbeasnemies of our friends, but this is sufficiently obvious. Permit me, however, to direct your attention for an instant to the tergivesationB of the Know Nothings, who, at the North, are v out-and-out Freesoilere, and everywhere are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, as is shown by the fact, among others, that every Southern man but one, (Mr. Millson of Virginia, who voted against the bill for the opposite reason that it was not strong enough for the South,) who voted against the bill, is uow a mem< * Ijerof'the Know Nothing Order. At the National Freesoil Convention held in Pittsburg, in 1852, and which nominated the v ' Know Nothing Abolitionist, Jno. P. Hale, for the Presidency, it was "Resolved, That the doctrine that any . HtJMAN law is a finality, and not subject to .; modification or repeal, is not in accordance ~ with, the ereed of the founders of our gov-i ' ernment, arid is dangerous to the liberties of j oqr people." * ,. This resolution bad. reference to the > Compromise Measures of 1851, which the Fre6soilers desired to repeal. They scouted the idea that thoee measures were a "finalcontended that they could and modified or repealed, like any 1*.^'-- other law of Congress.. The Missouri Com - ^ 'promise, w*nomore a^flnality'1 than tho I I * Compromise of 1851. Yet the Freeaoil Know Nothings, now refuse to stand to the position tgktfi by fili Iftfofcurg Contention, and re. ??d?fete their o wn creed and falsify their "that the MisAg^ i n : ^ - ' i$& JfS Sis , L*w*?. . :'"' slude him from every right and privilege of j r< in American citizen. What has produced | it *o extraordinary nud rapid a change of -?o- j ?5 uinl and polilicul sentiment { ; If I was in conversation, at this point I'd would be told that my remarks do not ap- j I) ply to the Southern division of the Order, 1 fi because of the split at Philadelphia, which ! il was solely on account of slavery, and when ! li the Order ceased to be a national organiza- j 1; tion. And this would be a mistake. The i V i Order is still a national organization, as the j e next election of a President will develope ;: r when tlio Know Nothing South and the \ Know Nothing North will vote for the same man?particularly if the election is thrown t into lliA lmvor Ttnucn nf Pnniri'dcc ivIiam ..... j temptations of office would lie more difficult j s to resist. The Order is still a national organi- t zation, for its members both North and South < concur upon all points of their creed as origin- < ally framed, and diller only upon the inci- c denial question of slavery. Their hatred of ? foreigner and Catholic is equally intense, J and my remarks do apply, for the President, i the immigrant and the Catholic liavo much, < very much, to do with slavery?a question 1 which, because of its being of .all others the t most vital to us, (inseparably interwoven as I it is with the political, commercial and so- t cial prosperity and happiness of the people < nf the South,) and of being the touch-stone ] wiiicli is applied to every political issue by 1 the people of tho North, is, after all, the 1 sum ami substance of American politics. The Know Nothing Order is either national, ' or it is impotent. It proposes to extend the I probationary term of naturalization (by 5 which its members mean to withhold the 1 right to vote, for their complaint is only of ' political evils) to twenty-one years, anil to disqualify both Catholics and meu of for- 1 eign birth forever for office. No one pre tends that this cau be legally done but in 1 two ways?by the action of Congress, or j by the people of the separate States. Shou Id 1 tho Order have the requisite majority to ef- 1 feet their purposes in either way, then surely 1 it is as national (I use this word for conve- 1 nience) as any party can become. 1 I hold that neither plan can be executed. Not by the States, each acting in its sovereign character; for if all the States, 1 save one, were to adopt tlie principles of the I party, that State would be constrained, by the most cogent of reasons, to refuse to adopt them. Theso reasons are to be found in the value of population, and in the political power of numbers. The younger of the Western States would tike up the sword before they would 6ubniit to have their growth and political power checked by a restraint upon immigration. They want | the foreigner to fell their forests and to swell the number of their representatives. If every State in the Union were to prohibit immigration but Wisconsin, the eGect would De to make her, m a very short time, the Empire State. Wisconsin, with tho population of New Yorkt would have tho same political power, and the two, by combining with Pennsylvania, or Ohio, could and would rule tho Government. You surely have not forgotten the Albany regency. It 1 is true that tho Constitution of tho United 1 States reads that the "Rules of Naturali- 1 zation shall be uniform in all the States;" but it is clear that tho political right to vote 1 was not herein contemplatjd ; but that ref- 1 erence was had to the right of property; ' for we know that the laws of the several States aro not uniform on tho subject of vo- ' ting. In New York aud South Carolina, a ' foreigner is required to wait five years, after declaring bis intention to become a citizen, before he is admitted to the full fruition of all the rights of citizenship. In Michigan aud Illinois, but six months aro required; while in tho Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, actual residence will qualify every white male adult to vote at the first election. But tho Federal Constitution also declares that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." Now if one of these new fledged citizens of Michigan was to come into the Fourth Congressional District, and in compliance with your State Constitution remain two years, could you, under either Constitution^ refuse him the elective franchise? You | could not, unless your own Constitution bad been previously altered?a mode of procedure which the Ivuow Nothings seem sed- 1 ulously to eschew. And yet that man may ' have been within the limits of the United \ States but little more than half the.time 1 required by our State law to invest him J with the political rights of a citizen ""of ' South Carolina.. The effect of citizenship 1 is to remove alienage ; and when a man 4 once becomes a citizen of a sovereign State ' of this Union, his right is as perfect, under j the .Federal Constitution, "to all the privile- f ges ana immunities of citizens of the sevo?-. < al State*," as though he had been born on s the soil. I have assumed, and it teems to me upon > ten?lte ground^, that Ui^ yTestem St^ea I will rtevpr conscnt to a further restraint up- ? on Itpmi&ration ; J /&vi^hk^the'K^ow Nothing ateribe to y ^ and to ? peculiar 1 jligion, will be as great, (I think greater,) tli they are congregated in one or a few P( itates, as if diffused through all the States. 111 , a for eould the Know Nothing Order legally c. isqualify the Catholic foreigner, who had s:i een legally naturalized in a dilferent State, tl ruin voting for or holding of Federal office, 111 f he chose to remove into this State, and jj.' lad complied with the requisitions of the a| ;iw as it now stands, because of another ; w trovision of the Federal Constitutiun, which I tc njoius tliiit "no religious test shall over be equired as a qualification to any ofiioc or mblic trust under the United Slates." This plan, then, is utterly insufficient for lie purposes of the Know Nothings; and ho other?by the action of Congress? trikes ine as oven less cficctual, as I shall lext proceed to show. Tbo remedy by Congress implies the right of Congress to leterraino who is, and who is not, a citizen )f a State. That Congress, with the conient of three-fourths of the States, may expunge the clause of the Constitution which efers to religious faith, or to the privileges )f tbo citizens of the States, is admitted. But has Congress the right now, or will .hey ever havo the right, to grant or rofuso bo privilege of voting to the citizens of a sovereign State ? If they have, then the lays of liberty, and the happiness of the ^eonle of the Southnm nm f?w ?n?/i . ...... g aitter. Will the Know Nothings admit 1 ^ ivi 11 they dare to establish this principle ? g And if they do, how long will it ie before 1 m Abolition majority, in pursuance of the 8 precedent, will declare that your liegro J lave is a citizen, and will authorize him to , rote at your elections ? And what then ; becomes of our favorite doctrines of State ( Rights and State Sovereignty ? My con- s riction is, that the right to vote is derivable \ from the sqvereign power of the State, and .l that the concession of the right to Congress is fatal to Southern liberty. Congress may prohibit foreigners from entering the territory of the United States, for it is their peculiar province to regulate our foreign intercourse ; but when a foreigner is once located in a State, with a view to remain, whatever of political privilege he is to enjoy must bo derived from-the sovereign power of that State. For the sake of argument, let us suppose that Congress had this power, and that at the next session they should pass a law withholding all political rights in future from men of foreign birth ; what would be its effect? An intelligent and accomplished gentleman, like Jons' Mitcuel, (who has omK'11 rr?nrl lumsolT in m*? K? -U- ' Wiiimtaiituw Iiuuovu IIa illj ailUV/biUllS uy ing fnr a plantation and negroes iu Alabama.) would indeed avoid a country which denied him the most valued and yet the must ordinary right of a free citizen ; but how would it be with the poor and the famished, who come to our shores for bread ? with the restless and intractable ? or with the criminal and fugitive, who swell the tide of immigration? What care they for political privileges or rights, whose European heritage is ignorance of either ? The operation of such a law would be to exclude all the intelligent and good of every clime, find to leave the door wide open to the vicious and debased. The Order has gone too far, or not far 1 enough. Too far in provoking the hos- j Lility of the immigrant population, with- f nut achieving an equivalent benefit; and ' not far enough for their purposes, which can 1 only bo attaiued by ihe absolute prohibition 1 of immigration. A feeble blow recoil* and . brings injury with its return; a vigorous j one may demolish or correct. In common t with many of my fellow citizens, I experi- i enco some discontent because of the influ- * enee and impudence exerted and displayed j by a few men who have become Ameri- ( cans by a sort of hot-house process J yet I t will not disguise my belief that wo of the ? South have but little interest or concern in i the siugle issue of Native Amerieanitm. ^ The institution of negro slavery protects j us from the evils attributed to the foreign t population. The States of the North, by t manumission?oy incessant and hypocritical 6 cant about the horrors and degradation of J slavery?by their greater wealth, which j they have filched from the pockets.of South- c em planters by means of protective tar- v iffs?by their inordinate desire for the po- 8 litical power of numbers, which has ^ caused- them to hold but inducements of r employment and heretofore higher wages? d have succeeded in diverting the tide of 8 immigration from tho slave to the free ne- F sjro States. They are npw reaping the fruits ^ 3f the seed sown bV tliemselves ? and v ? y ? ~ """" c It is bitter fruit, occasions mo no manner of t 3istro68. " Our policy is to view this" Kil- " Icenny cat fight in serene silence and composed' equanimity. If we don't interfere, we are sure, to have the good will-^of the [' oreign cat; and if (be belligerents eat^acb ** jtber up, why, I don't know then that we a ihou'.d refose to be comforted. ^ X have said tbat.tbe President, the ira- ^ nigrant and the Catholic bad much tp d<r f vith the slavery issue. -Many of you who *r, lave pftAsed .the raeridian of iife, will fivp to cj oe the daymen the Abolitonist is hel4 off irom hit prey only by the veto of a P?e?ilent. The connection of the foreigner wfcot f* o perceptible or awlable;" yet he indiitfjfct ^ idlMBM ufon it |/< e consorvativo portion of tho Northern oplo. There is in every society, save that v which tho institution of slavery obtains, j natural and unavoidable contest between c ipital and labor; or, which is virtually the i line, between property and persons. In t ic States where there are no slaves this i nlural struggle dcvelopes itself in riots, ' \ ouse-burnings, Mood-shed and murder, [i he intlux of foreigners (estimated to be; ( iiuually about a half million, the most of ji hotn are laborers) aggravates this contest j t > such a degree that upon the immigrant is j i rrotieotisly charged evils which are natural j < > their condition of society. At the North j < le low price of lubor, (which is incident:! > every commercial pressure?which pres- ' ires at intervals of about ten years per- < ade our entire country, because of an in-1' ated currency, provoking wild speculation,) j i ; by false philosophy attributed solely to the ' oavy foreign population, an<l tho conseuence is that collisions nn<l riots are of lmost daily occurrence; which endanger fe and property. Now, while they are in urmoil, strife and confusion, we are living i quietude and pence. These facts must ave an influence upon public opinion ; for licir thinking men will not be long at fault 11 discovering the caus<\of this difference of ondition to be the conservatism of negro shier)', nor will their capitalists be long in deermining where to make their investments i with the greatest security. You will readily appreciate the value of; he connection of the Catholic with slavery, j T ?oll tr* ..Kronen fiw. eiy striking historical fact that every slave J stato which has beeu added to the Confed- j racy, and formed out of territory acquired . incc the Revolution, was originally Cat ho-! ie territory. Louisiana, Arkansas and Mis- j ouri were acquired from Catholic France; j "lorida was purchased from Catholic. Spain; j nul Texas was stolen, through the instrunentality of Sam Houston, from Catholic Mexico. If all these States arc not now Catholic in religion, it only shows that the ect is not so dangerous as it. is represented. \t the proper time, ami in the proper way )f getting it, we of the South will want,! md must have, and will /hot, Cuba. Now, j f the doctrines of the Know Nothings pre-' ail, she herself would scorn an alliance he considerations of which would be the cx:hange of the most valuable territory of ts size in the habitable world on the one land, for miserable and contemptible rear assalage on the other. When we reflect upon the character of Hir Government?observe its cnntimioii* sxpansion in the cold regions of the Norlli ?remember that the admission of every lew State adds instantly two votes in the Senate and one in the IIouso to the majorty already against us?when we consider he fact that natural laws will prevent the ixpansion of our institutions everywhere throughout our domain, save in Texas and i) Kansas, and that the Territories of Oregon, Washington, Nebraska, Utiili and Minlesota are rapidly growing into Stntes, the dtimate acquisition of Cuba is presented :o us as an imperative political necessity. Juba would not altogether restore and perpetuate the political power between the two sections ; but I desire to direct your atteuion to this point: that, if the principles of he Know Nothing Order prevail, it flien jeeomes absolutely impossible that the ?quilihriura can ever be restored; for we ind our institutions can expand but in one Jirection, and that is in the Catholic direction. Are the people of the South willing o livo forever at the mercy of a majority ; .vhicli is daily and hourly increasing in .tiength and fanaticism? Better, far beter, would it he for us and our children, to .1- _ i ;ut lU CIVIJ' VJilUIIPIIU IIJIUU CUII.I1 U UUlItL'ilcad, and stock it with negroes, nt our own xpense. In "ploughman's phrase," thcNorhen fanatic has the long end of the sin?le-tree, and if wc turn our backs upon lie Catholic, the Frecsoiler will keep it brever. With amplo power in his hand, ind lawless fanaticism in his heart, what njustice, what insult, what injury, will*he lot inflict upon us? I have never yet seen a Catholic Abolition?t, and of the throe thousand preachers of reigion who insulted the Senate by an imperinent protest against the Nebraska bill, not me was a Catholic. I have never read or leard of an anti slavery sermon written by a Datholio priest in America, and it is my deiberate judgment that Northerb hostility to Catholicism is hostility to Slavery. I have >bserved that the Kuow Nothing presses isk, with much earnestness and apparent >urpose, "ifnny Catholio priest was ever cnown to take the oath of allegiance, or to rote, in America ?" Admitting that they save not, I can see no great significance in he fact. Naturalization would confer upon hem but two rights' winch they do not posess without it?the rigM. to hold and demise real estate, and the right to vote? iftithpr nf wliioVi ^aoq lm woltm TTIo -V-- ? w. Vt* V?VW liu (UlUUl VliUIUI I >rovides him with a home, which is the propirty of the Church, and supplios all his vants abundantly. His Church is his estate; ind in view of his celibacy, any other estate vould be an encumbrance. In his refusal o vote, he is supported by tho habit of nany Protestant clergymen, w^tf'uhiformly lecline tho ballot-box from an' apprehenion that even this slight connection with arty polities may impair their influence n "the care of souta. The; Protesiiint or /atholio minister who refuses jaVfifc.put onforms to tho spirit of bur SWfe Gonatlution, which disqualifies them^Hft^f po- , itioal officc, becauso they are, "W^efr'projssion, dedicated to thS Service of$6d." t i; ii i: i" -e j, icitvu mo iciigiuus iHIvii oi uiarvacno- i 0 to bis Makef and bimqmBp Wisdom and' i er twin, humility, snggeBt>.th'ftt, whilQTyaL j void his faults, wa should imit^ bfovlr- I led, And not be than|cjtig?.God at the mar- i et. that 'Ve are n6V as other men arg# i AUKB. BaLMK9, a Cfttalonian priest, high I 1 authority with bis Church, and aniinag- j pati^oist^ when defending his secty btfortf ath^oiic^Ohuroh had oonsentad to the ton- fl $?*? W^^ Uyihd. c "In a colony where black slaves abound, vho would venture to set thorn at liberty ill at once? Their intellccttial and moral souditiou rendered them incapable of turnng sucli an advantage to their own benefit uul that ot' society; in their debasement, irged on by tbeir hatred, and tho desire of enhance, which ill-treatment had excited ? their mind#, they would have repeated, >11 a largo seal*?, the bloody scenes with . vhieh they had already, in former times, -tained the pages of history. And what .lien would have happened ? Society, thus lidanir'-ied. would have been nut on its jjuard ;icr:sinst principles favoring liberty; lieno-forth it would have regarded thein with prejudice ami suspicion, ;ind the chains at servitude, instead ot tM-ii?<_r |<?iscned, would have been tlic more firmly riveted. Out of this ironienso mass of rit<le, savage men, set at liberty without preparation, it was impossible lor social organization to arise, for social organization is not tins crealiou of a moment, especially with such elements as these; ami in this case, since it would have been necessary to choose between slavery and the aiiihilatiou of social order, the instinct of preservation, which animates society as well as all beings, would undoubtedly have brought, about a continuation of slavery where it still existed, and its re-establislnucntwlicre it bad been destroyed. Hap, ?ilv the Catholic Church was wiser than philosophers; she knew how to confer upon humanity the benefit of emancipation without injustice or revolution. She knew how to regenerate society, but not by rivers of blood." ly.-t it bo. borne in mum mat these remarks were made inreforencc to white slaves captured in war?to slavery as it existed at tlie time when tho master had the right of life and death our his slave, which right was exercised by Qtintus Flaminius, who slow his slave iu the midst of a festival; when Vkuu's Fotuo threw one of his to the fishes, bafeans be broke a tumbler,: when'the Spaftansn a stampede assembled all of theirs, ai^tht temple of Jupiter, and put them to dffl*h;*'hun, at Home, should a master be assassiried, every slave that be bad, the innocc&t ?! the guilty, bad to tlie, as when I'kdAiciSeccnous was killed, four hundred df In slaves were executed. Let it be reincujpcrtiiilso that the influences of benign rtdigponwe the instruments to "regenerate soqfety/.o which 1>ai.mes referred, and not. wo itliless assaults upon a sacred Const ituMom com pact. How mild and liberal the|(jleicflnts of this dangerous (!) Catholicfehpsan institution which, as it then existew vvia crime and a curse, ! compared withJ?h?of the Abolitionists oi jismi .-mil \'iwim!ihiiu ine jyiiow Aotli- i ings Hams andapY'sox, upon an iustitu lion uncondemAi h Christ, ami a Messing to the nogr? i But the polmca'slations which the j Catholic dooa ormhfbear to the people I i have the honor Utt nescnt, it lias become my duly to disfissAtid if in?this land, i famed for the pKiik of its civil liberty and liberty of paice, a christian de- ?' nomination is tofie tfranchised and per- i seen ted, by an irWpible and inquisitori- t al secret organJSti what security, let t 1110 ask, has tholijo weakest denoniina- t lion that the sangp.! is not held in reserve for it ? ancBBt progress, until the i contest is narrowjra vn to the two largest i denomination?, Jpcin the strugglo for t supremacy, charm d forgiveness shall c give place to vi?tnnd wrath, and the c religion of our (o the scourge of J the sword ? wluw'ie devout chronicler c of tlui pious dee?' one of these most a christian armies, Bdoxological parody, 1 might sing, at tmfce of some eventful battle? f ' Now God bo pri^Btho di?3' is ours: Lu- ? tbcrnn lias (Hjiis rein ; r Methodist lins criec^Rartcr ; tlic Episcopa- t lian is slain ; ! (. Ami as we looko^Bieni, we thought of ^ Seine's cnpin^Kod, And good Coligny'aW |iair all dabbled ill ** bis blood ; S And then we tlioi^Bl vengeance, and all ft Along our va^E 0 'Remember St. BarlBLw was passed from man to tnnn.'K^^ And in remeniberiBlatrocities of some w second St. BartholB<massacre, may not ,! men, transported bHi frenzied passions gI of distempered mii*gCt tliut it is written, "Vengeance isBaaith the Lord"? r( Bear with mc :w timo npon these- c| cret feature of thiH< Order?a feature ^ which they profefiAbve abandoned.?? M That it was originaB^ret organization, ^ no one can truthfiBoy, Now, in the ^ name of all that isBt what more does any man know of?^jer ftt this mo- 8j, inent than he did iKr^ veil of secresy n, was removed ? Li^Kig]l0W-men, they jjt Eull down the can\^frcr t,},e monkeys cx ave been seen. first article of aj i iu uui that all poht- j? ical power is deriveBr t]10 people. A ^ tiiajority of the State are the State, for they cont^Ppolitical action. If tho designs of t^*w Nothings are virtuous and politia^Khodox, what oc- jjj; cation is there for, <^Briety in, secresy au in those States wberHpftrty is in the de ascendant ? Why ML State keep a er secret from itself? ^Bnrty is in a minority, and endeavoi^fc^cret combinations, to defeat the Hi the majority, their efforts must woi^fc.Uption of publie morals, and are loj^Entirrcpubhcan m and faotious. PubliSL^sential to tho g( purity of a rcprc3cntaHEernnient, and m( arcana imperii are t^Kbutea of des- ^ potism. B V lu< I have so far trcal^H subject as a nn national organization, repeat that, it ^ i8lsuch, or;it is helple^Romplish what c|, i^ha?;undertaken. I flLfcith in the an mccess of their plans, WMi believe that j ] lie Order wiil ^ontinii^Kftt after the ra, lext presidential 'C'e^^^e 'ei> ate?j m< that not a single Democrat in position, North or South, unless he is nil Abolitionist, is connected with the Order, speaks volumes in support of this opinion. w as I here to conclude, you would bo warranted in supposing that I regard tho Know Nothing movement as a humb'uyi which can do us neither good or harm.? Except in its calamitous consequence of producing division among the people of the South, 1 do so regard it. Jiut in that aspect it is formidable in tho extreme. We of the South have 110 politics but the negro ; and upon this question tho language of the glorious old Tuoui* should Tactile language of the South?"The argument l^hgjthausted, we will stand to our arms." ,fhero'*>tifm iu future exist but two great parties in tft?? Union?tho Pro-slavery and tho Antislavcrv parties. All others will be ephemeral. If we are united, we arc safe; if wo .... * ?r..v 1111 iinu nuuuivisions, on any questionr we arc undone. Party divisions have lieretofoie been our curse, and now, for (he first time in half a century, when there was a bright prospect of unanimity; when the pleadings Wefcr made up and issue joined between the North and the South on the only question which can dissolve the Government?the great question whether the slave States are, as equals, to remain in the Union, or, at equals, to destroy it ; this hybrid of Whig-? gery and Abolition interposes to cast u^ and squeaks out, in plaintive notes, that "the Union is the paramount political good/' This sentiment will surpiise no man, when he is informed that Mr. Bauti.ett, of Ken* tucky, the President of the Southern branch qf the Order, avowed his hostility to the Nebraska bill, (which simply restored to the South her lost rights in the common territory,) as also did Mr. Pii.ciikk of the same State, Mr. Pitowx of Tennessee, Mr. lIoiT.iiTox and Mr. Kenneth Rayner of North Carolina?the l.ittcr .1.. ---- > '? uc" uounced the bill as "an outrage upon tho Nortli." "Will you trust your destinies in the hands of thes?; men, who are the heads awl leading spirits of the Order, even in the slaveholding South ? The very circumstance of the Order having taken root for a time at the South will do us injury at the North. Our friends who, like Toucky and the younger Dodok; have fallen before it, for no other cause than that they wero true to the Constitution, and therefore true to the South, will bo mortified and discouraged, when they find Southern men affiliating with their enemies. But worse than this, every Know Nothing victory at tho South will bo claimed at the North as an Abolition victory. Tho Abolition teachers tell the people of the North that there is a strong anti-slavery feeling at the South with the poorer white population, and say it is because they are jealous of the competition of tho negro. They then reason n this way: "You know what Know Nothingism is here: Know Nothingism s the same everywhereAnd thus men ire converted into active partisans against in.institution which, if they believed was uiiversally approved and universally snsained by those who had better opportuniies of witnessing its practical operation ban themselves, would at least be quiet. Tho only argument of the Know Notlings South which addresses itself with nuch force to the Southern mind is, that lie immigrant population come to our louutry prejudiced against tho institution >f slavery; that they hasten the settlement md admission of new States, and thus in. xeasotho political power of the Freesoil ind Abolition party in the National LegisLiture. It is but just and fair to admit that the nejudices of the European immigrant are generally averse to slavery; but there is a eply to this specious argument which counerbalanees its force, and invites as grave onsideration as any aspect in which I havo ii-on able to present the question. T think I have shown that tho Know Nothing organization, even if it could efict an extension of tho probationary porid now required before naturalization, ould not prevent immigration. The tide rould continue to flow into tho free States, here the Abolition party is now predomiant. In whatever State ninety-two tlioumd of these immigrants may locate, to )at Stato will be secured an additional Repisentative in Congress. Observe tho third ause of the second section first article of le Constitution, which is as follows: MRepssentatives and direct taxes shall be apjrtioned among the several States whioh iay.be included'within this Union accordg' to their resj)ective numbers, which tall be determined by adding to the whole jmber of free persons, including thoso >nnd to service for a term of years, and :cluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of I other persons." Tho immigrant being eligible to office, could give us neither uiefit or aid, let his sympathy be ever so ongly with us or in behalf of our institions. Having no voice in tho elections, ey. would be represented by a native Ab> Itionist; and thus tho result will bo to gmont the power of a party which is. adly hostile to us, and to make thatpowmore availably dangerous by-concentraig it into the hands of a few - of their lest, and therefore most formidable, men. I have addressed you earnestly, and X ipe convincingly. I regret * that some of y friends have departed from, the true ate Rights Democratic faith, but I will be Drtified if they continue in error. I know ay are sincere, but I believe they are deled. 1 believe that-, many of the Order 9 patriotic, but I know that the Order itf is dangerous; and I also know that its aracterjstics have heretofore been intoleroe of opinion as well as of religion. As ielieve,\Bo have X written ; nnd if (as it ?y-be tbat)-t too am, to fall before this xlem inquisition, which no man knows Or. where he encounters, I shall have 5 satjafi^oafofeeV better contented in ttridrikenf, >fiUi nij;pnrici^le%# tbib to be elected tor life as the v representative ef : fa*#* 'Aug. % 1855. |