READ AND CIRCULATE!!
HON. A. H. STEPHENS, OF GA., ON KNO W-NOTHIN GISM.
[From the Chronicle and Sentinel.]
Ei.berton, Ga., 5th May, 1855.
Hon. Alexander H. Stephens.—Dear Sir:—A
rumor prevails in this section, to a considerable ex¬
tent, that you will decline to serve us< in the next
Congress, and the chief reason assigned is, that it is
supposed a large number of your political friends
have gone into the secret order called Know No¬
things. Many of your friends desire to know if this
rumor be true. It is considered an important period
in our national affairs, and your retiring at this time
would be felt as a loss by those who have relied on
you through so many trying scenes.
What are your opinions and views of this new par¬
ty, called Know Nothings 1 Knowing your willing¬
ness to give your opinions' on all matters of public
concern, I am induced to make the inquiry, and re¬
quest permission to publish your reply.
Yours, truly, Thos. W. Thomas.
Crawfordville, Ga., 9th May, 1855.
Dear Sir :—Your letter of the 5th inst. was re¬
ceived some days ago, and should have been ans¬
wered earlier, but for my absence from home. The
rumor you mention, in relation to my candidacy for
re-election to Congress, is true. I have stated, and
repeated on various occasions, that 1 was not, and
did not expect to be, a candidate—the same I now
say to you. The reason of this declaration on my
part was the fact that large numbers of our old po¬
litical friends seemed to be entering into new combi¬
nations with new objects, purposes and principles of
which I was not informed, and never could be, ac¬
cording to the rules of their action and the opinions
1 entertain. Hence my conclusion that they had no
further use for rrfe as their Representative; for I
presumed ihey knew enough of me to be assured il
they had any secret aims or objects to accomplish,
that they never could get my consent, even if they
desired it, to become a dumb instrument to execute
such a purpose. I certainly never did, and never
shall, go before the people as a candidate for their
suffrages with my principles in my pocket. It has
been the pride of my life, heretofore, not only to
make known fully and freely my sentiments upon
all questions of public policy, but in vindication of
those sentiments thus avowed, to meet any antago¬
nists arrayed against them, in open and manly strife
face to face and toe to toe." From this rule of
action, by which I have up to this time been gov¬
erned, 1 shall never depart.
But you ask me what are my opinions and views
of this new party called Know Nothings, with a! re¬
quest that you be permitted to publish them. My
opinions and views, thus solicited, shall be given
most cheerfully, and as fully and clearly as my time,
under the pressure of business will allow. You can
do with them as you please—publish them or not, as
.you like. They are the views of a private citizen.
1 am at present, to all intents and purposes what¬
soever, literally one of the people. I hold no office
nor seek any, and as one of the people I shall speak
to you and them on this, and on all occasions, with
that frankness and independence which it becomes a
freeman to bear towards his fellows. And in giving
my views on " Know Nothingism," I ought, perhaps,
to premise by saying, and saying most truly, that I
really "know nothing" about the principles,aims, or
objects of the party I am about to speak of—they
are all kept secret—tbey are held in the dark—being
communicated and made known only to the initiated,
and not to these until after being first duly pledged
and sworn. This, to me, is a very great objection to
the whole organization. AID political principles,
which are sought to be carried out in legislation by
any body or set of men in a republic, in my opinion,
ought to be openly avowed and publicly proclaimed.
Truth never shuns the light or shrinks from investi¬
gation—or, at least, it ought never to do it. Hiding
places or secret coverts are natural resorts for error.
It is, therefore, a circumstance quite sufficient to ex¬
cite suspicion against the truth to see it pursuing
such a course. And in republics, where free discus¬
sion and full investigation by a virtuous people are
allowed, there never can be any just grounds to fear
any danger even from the greatest errors either in
religion or politics. All questions, therefore, rela¬
ting to the government of a free people, ought to be
made known, clearly understood, fully discussed and
understanding^ acted upon. Indeed, 1 do not be¬
lieve that a Republican Government can last long,
where this is not the case. In my opinion, no man
is lit to represent a free people who has any private
or secret objects, or aims, that he does not openly
avow, or who is not ready and willing, at all times,
when required or asked, candidly and truthfully, to
proclaim- to the assembled multitude, not only his
principles, but his views and sentiments upon all
questions that may come before him in his represen¬
tative capacity. It was on this basis that Represen¬
tative government was founded, and on this alone
can it be maintained in purity and safety. And if
any secret party shall ever be so far successful in this
country as to bring the Government, in all its de¬
partments and functions, under the baleful influence
of its control and power, political ruin Will inevita¬
bly ensue. No jtruth in politics can be more easily
and firmly established, either by reason or from his¬
tory, upon principle or on authority, than this.—
These are my opinions, candidly expressed.
I know that many good and true men in Georgia
differ with me in this particular—thousands of them,
1 doubt not, have joined this secret order with good
intentions, Some of them have told me so, and I do
not question their motives. And thousands more
will, perhaps, do it with the same intentions and mo¬
tives. Should it be a short-lived affair, no harm will,
or may come of it. But let it succeed—let it carry
all the elections, State and Federal—let the natural
and inevitable laws of its own organism be once fully
developed—and the country will go by the board. It
will go as France did. The first Jacobin Clut was
organized in Paris, on the 6th of: Nov., 1789, under
the alluring name of "the Friends of the Constitu¬
tion," quite as specious as that we now hear of
"Americans shall rule America." Many of the best
men and truest patriots in Paris joined it—and thou¬
sands of the same sort of men joined the affiliated
clubs afterwards—little dreaming of the deadly
fangs of that viper they were nurturing in their bo¬
soms. Many of these very men afterwards went to
the guillotine, by orders passed secretly in these very
olubs. All legislation was settled in the clubs—
members of the National Assembly and Convention,
all of them, or most of them, were members of the
clubs, for they could not otherwise be elected. And
after the question was settled in the clubs, tho mem¬
bers next day went to the nominal Halls of Legisla¬
tion nothing but trembling automatons, to register
the edicts of the "Order," though it were to behead
a Monarch, or to. cause the blood of the best of their
own number to flow beneath the stroke of the axe.
Is history of no use V Or do our people vainly ima¬
gine that Americans would not do as the French did
under like circumstances l " Is thy servant a dog
that he should do this thing," said the haughty, self-
confident Hazeel. Yet, he did all that he had been
told that he would do. " Let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall." Human nature is
the same compound of weak frailties and erring pas¬
sions everywhere. Of these clubs in France, an ele¬
gant writer has said:
"From all other scourges which had afflicted man¬
kind, in every age and in every nation, there had
been some temporary refuge, some shelter until the
storm might pass. • During tho heathenism of anti¬
quity, and the barbarism of the middle ages, the
temple of a god or the shrine of a saint, afforded a
refuge from despotic fury or popular rage. But
French Jacobins, whether native or adopted treated
with equal scorn, the sentiments of religion and the
feelings of humanity; and all that man had gathered
from his experience upon earth, and the revelations
he hoped had been made him from the sky, to bless
and adorn his mortal existence, and elevate his soul
with immortal aspirations, were spurned as imposture
by these fell destroyers. They would have depraved
man from his humanity, as they attempted to decree
God out of his universe. Not contented with France
as a subject for their ruthless experiments—Europe
itself being too narrow for their exploits, they send
their propagandists to the new world, with designs
about as charitable as those with which Satan en¬
tered Eden."
This is but a faint picture of some of the scenes
enacted by that self-same party, which was at first
formed by those who styled themselves " the friends
of the Constitution." And where did these "secret
Councils" we hear of, come from 1 Not from France,
it is true—but from that land of isms, where the
people would have gone into anarchy long ago, if it
had not been for the conservative influence of the
more stable-minded men of the South ? And what
scenes have we lately witnessed in the Massachusetts
Legislature, where this new political organism has
more fully developed itself than anywhere else.—
What are its fruits there '? Under the name of the
"American Party," they have armed themselves
against the Constitution of our common country,
which they were sworn to support—with every mem¬
ber of the Legislature, 1 believe, save eight belong¬
ing to "the order," they have by an overwhelming
majority vote deposed Judge Loring, for nothing but
the discharge of his official duty, in issuing a war¬
rant as United States Commissioner, to cause the ar¬
rest of the fugitive Slave Burns. In reviewing this
most unheard of outrage upon the Constitution, the
"National Intelligencer," at Washington, says it
" shudders for the Judiciary." And if they go on as
they have begun, well may the country "shudder,"
not only for the Judiciary, but for everything else
w_e hold most sacred. "If_.these things be done in
the'green tree, what may you expect in the dry."
But I have been anticipating somewhat. 1 was on
the preliminary question ; that is, the secrecy which
lies at the foundation of the party—that atmosphere
of darkness in which "it lives, and moves, and has
its being," and without which probably it could not
exist. I do not, however, intend to stop with that.
I will go further and give, now, my opinions upon
those questions which are said to be within the range
of its secret objects and aims. The principles as pub¬
lished (or those principles which are attributed to the
Order, though nobody as an organized party avow
them) have, as I understand them, two leading ideas
and two only. Those are a proscription by an ex¬
clusion from office of all Catholics, as a class, and a
proscription of all persons of foreign birth, as a class;
the latter to be accomplished not only by an exclu¬
sion from office of all foreigners who are now citi¬
zens by naturalization, but to be more effectually car¬
ried out by an abrogation of the naturalization law
for the future, or such an amendment as would be
virtually tantamount to it. These, as we are told,
are the great ostensible objects for all this machinery
-—these oaths—pledges—secret signs—equivocations
—denials, and what not. And what 1 have to say
of them is, that if these in deed and in truth be the
principles thus attempted to bo carried out, then I
am opposed to both of them—openly and unqualifiedly.
I am opposed to them " in a double aspect," both
as a basis of party organization and upon their merits
as questions of public policy. As the basis of party
organization, they are founded upon the very errone¬
ous principle of looking, not how the country shall
be governed, but who shall hold the offices, not to
whether we shall have wise and wholesome laws, but
who shall " rule us," though they may bring ruin with
their rule. Upon this principle Trumbull, who de¬
feated Gen. Shields for the Senate in Illinois, can be
as good a " Know-Nothing " as any man in the late
" Macon Council," though he may vote, as he doubt¬
less will, to repeal the Fugitive Slave law, and against
the admission of any slave State in the Union; while
Shields, who has ever stood by the Constitution, must
be rejected by Southern men because he was not born
in the country ? Upon this principle a Boston Atheist
who denies the inspiration of the Bible, because it
sanctions slavery, is to be sustained by Georgia "Know
Nothings " in preference to me, merely because I will
nof " bow the knee to Baal," this false political god
they have set up. The only basis of party organiza¬
tion is an agreement amongs those who enter into it
upon the paramount question of the day.- And no par¬
ty can last long without bringing disaster and ruin in
its train, founded upon any other principle. The old
National Whig Party tried the experiment when there
was radical differences of opinion on such questions,
and went to pieces. The National democratic Party
are now trying a similar experiment, and are experi¬
encing ajsimilar fate. This is what is the matter with
it. Its vital functions are deranged—h.ence that di¬
sease which now afflicts it worse than the dry rot.
And what we of the South now should do is, not to go
into any "Know-Nothing" mummery or mischief, as
it may be, but to stand firmly by those men at the
North who are true to the Constitution and the Uni¬
on, without regard either to their birth-place or re¬
ligion. The question we should consider is not sim¬
ply who " shall rule America." but who will vote for
such measures as will best promote the interests of
America, and with that the interests of mankind.
But to pass to the other view of these principles—
that is, the consideration of them as questions of pub¬
lic policy. With me, they both stand in no better
light in this aspect than they do in the other. The
first assumes temporal jurisdiction in "forum consci-
entice " —to which I am as much opposed as I am to
the spiritual powers controlling the temporal. One
is as bad as the other—both are bad. 1 am utterly
opposed to mingling religion with politics in anyway
whatever: and especially am I opposed to making it
a test in qualifications for civil office. Religion is a
matter between man and his Creator, with which gov¬
ernment should have nothing to do. In this country
the Constitution guarantees to every citizen the right
to entertain whatever creed he pleases, or no creed at
all if he is so inclined ; and no other man has a right
to pry into his conscience to inquire what he believes,
or what he does not believe. As a citizen and as a
member of society, he is to be judged by his acts and
not by his creed. A Catholic, therefore; in our coun¬
try, and in all countries, ought, as all other citizens,
to be permitted to stand or fall in public favor and
estimation upon his own individual, merits. " Every
tub should stand upon its own bottom."
But I think, of all the christian denominations in
the United States, the Catholics are the last that the
Southern people should join in attempting to put un¬
der the ban of civil proscription. For as a church
they have never warred against us or our peculiar in¬
stitutions. No man can say as much of New Eng¬
land Baptists, Presbyterians, or Methodists ; the long
roll of abolition petitions with which Congress has
been so much excited and agitated for years past
come not from the Catholics; their pulpits at the
North are not desecrated every Sabbath with anathe¬
mas against slavery. And of the three thousand New
England clergymen who sent the anti-Nebraska me¬
morial to the Senate last year, not one was a Catho¬
lic, as I have been informed and believe. Why, then,
should we .Southern men join the puritans of the*
North to proscribe from office the Catholics on ac¬
count of their religion 1 Let them and their re¬
ligion be ; as bad as they can be, or as their accusers
say they are, they cannot be worse than these same
Puritanical accusers, who started this persecution
say that we are. They say we are going to per¬
dition for the enormous sin of holding slaves.—
The Pope with all his followers cannot, I suppose,
even in their judgment, be going to a worse place,
for holding what they consider the monstrous ab¬
surdity of the "immaculate conception." And for
my own part, I would about as soon risk my chance
for Heaven with him and his crowd, too, as with
these self-righteous hypocrites, who deal out fire and
brimstone so liberally upon our heads. At any rate,
I have no hesitancy in declaring that I should much
sooner risk my civil rights with the American Catho¬
lics, whom they are attempting to drive from office,
than with them. But, sir, I am opposed to this pro¬
scription upon principle. If it is once begun, there
is no telling where it will end. When faction once
tastes the blood of a victim, it seldom ceases its rav¬
ages amongst the fold so long as a single remaining
one, De the number at first ever so great, is left sur¬
viving. It was to guard against any such consequen¬
ces as would certainly ensuo in this country, if this
effort at proscription of this sect of religionists should
be successful, that that wise provision, to which I
have alluded, was put in the fundamental law of the
Union. And to maintain it intact, in letter and spirit,
with steadfastness, at this time, I hold to he a most
solemn public duty.
And now, as to the other idea—the proscription of
foreigners—and more particularly that view of it
which looks to the denial of citizenship to all those
who may hereafter seek a home in this country and
choose to cast their lots and destinies with us. This
is a favorite idea with many who have not thought
of its effects, or reflected much upon its consequences.
The abrogation of the naturalization laws would not
stop immigration, nor would the extension of the term
of probation, to the period of twenty-one years, do it.
This current of immigration from east to west, this
exodus of the excess of population from the Old to
the New World, which commenced with the settle¬
ment of this continent by Europeans, would still go
on. And what would be the effect, even under the
most modified form of the proposed measure—that is
of an extension of the period from five*to twenty-one
years, before citizenship should be granted ? At the
end of the first twenty-one years from the commence¬
ment of the operation of the law, we should have
several millions of people in our midst—men of. our
own race—occupying the unenviable position of oe-
ing a "degraded caste" in society a species of serfs
without the just franchise of freemen, or the needful
protection due to a slave. This would be at war with
all my ideas of American Republicanism as 1 have
been taught them and glorified in them from youth
up. If there be danger now to our institutions, (as
some seem to imagine, but which I am far from feel¬
ing or believing,) from foreigners as a class, would
not the danger be greatly enhanced by the proposed
remedy 1 Now, it is true, they are made to bear their
share of the burthens of Government, but are also
permitted, after a residence of five years, and taking
an oath to support the Constitution, to enjoy their
just participation in the privileges, honors and immu¬
nities which it secures. Would they be less likely
to be attached to the Government and its principles
under the operation of the present system than they
would be under the proposed one, which would treat
them as not much better than outcasts or outlaws 1—
All writers of note, from tho earliest to the latest, who
have treated upon the elements and component parts
or members of communities and States, have pointed
this out as a source of real danger—that is having a
largo number of the same race not only aliens by
birth, but aliens in heart and feeling in the bosom of
society.
Such was, to a great extent, the condition of the
Helots in Gr#ece—men of the same race placed in an
inferior position, and forming within themselves a
degraded class. I wish to see no such state of things
in this country. With us at the South, it is true, we
have a " degraded caste," but it is of a race fitted by
nature for their subordinate position. The negro,
with us, fills that place in society and under our sys¬
tem of civilizatfon for which he was designed by na¬
ture. No training can fit him for either social or po¬
litical equality with his superiors ; at least history
furnishes us with no instance of the kind; nor does
the negro with us feel any degradation in his posi¬
tion, because it is his natural place. But such would
not be the case with men of the Bame race and com¬
ing from the same State with ourselves. And what
appears not a little strange and singular to me, in
considering this late movement, is, that if it did not
originate with, yet it is now so generally and zeal¬
ously favored by so many of those men at the North
who have expended so much of their misguided phi¬
lanthropy in behalf of our slaves. They have been
endeavoring for years to elevate the African to an e-
quality, socially and politically, with the white man.
And now they are moving heaven and earth to de¬
grade the white man to a condition lower than that
held by the negro in the South. The Massachusetts
" Know-Nothing" Legislature passed a bill lately to
amend their Constitution, so as to exclude from the
polls in that State, hereafter, all naturalized citizens,
from whatever nation they may come ; and yet they
will allow a runaway negro slave from the South the
same right to vote that they give to their own native
born sons! They thus exhibit the strange paradox of
warring against their own race—their own blood—
even their own " kith and kin," it may be, while
they are vainly and fanatically endeavoring to reverse
the order of nature, by making the black man equal
to the white. Shall we second them in any such
movement'- Shall we even countenance them so far
as to bear the same name—to say nothing of the same
pledges, pass-words, signs and symbols ? Shall we
affiliate and unite ourselves under the same banner
with men whose acts show them to be governed by
such principles, and to be bent on such a purpose f —
This is a question for Southern men to consider.-—
Others too may do it if they chocse; but I tell you, I
never shall. That you may set down as a " fixed
fact"—one of the flxedest of the fixed.
I am not at all astonished at the rapid spread of
this new sentiment at the North, or rather new way
of giving embodiment and life to an old sentiment,
long cherished by a large class of the Northern peo¬
ple, notwithstanding the paradox. It is true "Know-
Nothingism " did not originate, as I understand its
origin, with the class I allude to. It commenced
with the laborers and men dependent upon capital
for work and employment. It sprang from the antag¬
onism of their interests to foreigners, seeking like
employments, who were underbidding them in the
amount of wages. But many capitalists of that sec¬
tion, the men who hold the land and property in their
own hands, wishing to dispense with laborers and
employees, whose votes at the polls are equal to
their own, seized upon this new way of effecting
their old, long-cherished desire. And the more eag¬
erly as they saw that many of the very men whom
they have ever dreaded as the insuperable obstacle be¬
tween them and their purposes, had become the will¬
ing though unconscious instruments of carrying that
purpose out, which, from the beginning, was a de¬
sire to have a votingless population to do their
work, and perform all the labor, both in city, town
and country, which capital may require. And as
certainly as such a law shall be passed, so far from
its checking immigration, there will be whole cargoes
of pdbple from other countries brought over, and lit¬
erally bought up in foreign ports—to be brought
over in American ships to supply the market for
labor throughout all the free States of the Union.—
The African Slave Trade, if re-opened, would not ex¬
hibit a worse spectaqle in trafficking in human flesh,
than those most deluded" men ot tire PSortn WTTo start¬
ed this thing, and who aro now aiding to accomplish
the end, may find they have hut kindled a flame to
consume themselves. The whole substratum of North¬
ern society will soon be filling up with a class who
can work, and who, though white, cannot vote. This
is what the would-be lords of that section have been
wanting for a long time. It is a scheme with many
of them to get white slaves instead of black ones. No
American laborer, or man seeking employment there,
who has a vote, need to expect to be retained long
when his place can be more cheaply filled by a for¬
eigner, who has none. This will be the practical
working of the proposed reformation. This is the phi-
loeophy of the thing. It is a blow at the ballot box.
It is an insidious attack upon general suffrage. In a
line with this policy, the "Know-Nothing" Governor
of Connecticut has already recommended the passage
of a law denying the right of voting to all who cannot
read and write. And hence, the great efforts which
are now being made throughout the North to influ¬
ence the elections, not only these, but in spending
their money in the publication of books and tracts,
written by " nobody knows who," and scattered broad¬
cast throughout the Southern States, to influence
elections here by appealing to the worst passions and
strongest prejudices of our nature, not omitting those
even which bad and wicked men can evoke under the
sacred but prostituted name of religion.
Unfortunately for the country, many evils, which
all good men regret and deplore, exist at this time,
which have a direct tendency wonderfully to aid and
move forward this ill-omened crusade. These relate
to the appointment of so many foreigners, wholly
unfit, not only to minor offices at home, but to repre¬
sent our country as Ministers abroad. And to the
great frauds and gross abuses which at present at¬
tend the administration of our naturalization laws—
these are evils which are felt by the whole country,
and they ought to be corrected. Not by a,proscription
of all foreigners, without regard to individual merits.
But, in the first place, by so amending the naturali¬
zation laws, as effectually to check and prevent these
frauds and abuses. And, in the second place, to hold
to strict accountability at the polls, in our elections,
all those public functionaries, who, either with par-
tizan views, or from whatever motive, thus improper¬
ly confer office, whether high or low, upon undeserv¬
ing foreigners, to the exclusion of native born citi¬
zens, better qualified to fill them. Another evil now
felt, and which ought to he remedied, is the flooding,
it is said, of some of the cities with paupers and
criminals from other countries. These ought all to
be unconditionally excluded and prohibited from
coming amongst us—there is no reason why we
should be the feeders of other nations paupers, or
either the keepers or executioners of their felons—
these evils can and ought to be remedied without re¬
sorting to an indiscriminate outslaught upon all who
by industry, enterprise and merit, may choose to
better their condition in abandoning the respective
dynasties of the old world, in which they may chance
to have been born, and by uniting their energies with
ourSj may feel a pride in advancing the prosperity,
development and progress of a common country not
much less dear to them than us. Against those who
thus worthily come, who quit the misruled Empires
of their " father land,'' whose hearts have been fired
with the love of our ideas and our institutions, even
in distant climes, I would not close the door of ad¬
mission. But to all such as our fathers did at first,
so I would continue most freely and generously to
extend a welcome hand. We have from such a class
nothing to fear. When in battle or in the walks of
civil life, did any such prove traitor or recreant to
the flag or cause of his country 1 On what occasion
have any such ever proven untrue or disloyal to the
Constitution 1
I will not say that no foreigner has ever been un¬
true to the Constitution; but as a class, they cer¬
tainly have not proven themselves so to be. Indeed,
I know of but one class of people in the United
States at this time that I look upon as dangerous to
the country. That class are neither foreigners or
Catholics—they are those native born traitors at the
North, who are disloyal to the Constitution of that
country which gave them birth, and under whose
beneficient institutions they have been reared and
nurtured. Many of them are " Know Nothings."
This class of men at the North, of which the Massa¬
chusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut " Know
Nothing" Legislatures are but samples, I consider as
our worst enemies. And to put them down, I will
join, as political allies now and forever, all true pa¬
triots at the North and South, whether native or
adopted, Jews or Gentiles.
What our Georgia friends, whether Whigs or
Democrats, who have gone into this " New Order,"
are really after, or what they intend to do, I cannot
imagine. Those of whom I know have assured me
that their object is reform, both in our State and
Federal Administrations—to put better and truer men
in the places of those who now wield authority—
that they have no sympathies as party men or other¬
wise with that class I speak of at the North—that
they are for sustaining the Union platform of our
State of 1850, and that the mask of secrecy will soon
be removed when all will be made public. If these
be their objects, and also to check the frauds and
correct the abuses in the existing naturalization laws,
which I have mentioned, without the indiscriminate
proscription of any class of citizens on account of
their birth-place or religion, then they will have my
co-operation, as I have told them, in every proper
and legitimate way, to effect such a reformation.—
Not as a secretly initiated co-worker in the dark for
any purpose, hut as an open and bold advocate of
truth in the light of day. But will they do as they
say 1 Will they throw off the mask ? That is the
question. Is it possible that they will continue in
political party fellowship with their " worthy breth¬
ren" of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hamp¬
shire, and the entire North ? Every one of whom
elected to the next Congress is our deadly foe! Do
they intend to continue their alliance with these
open enemies to our institutions and the Constitution
of the country under the totally mis-named associa¬
tion of the " American Party "—the very principle
upon which it is based being anti-American through¬
out ?
True Americanism, as I have learned it, is like
true Christianity—disciples in neither are confined to
any nation, clime, or soil whatsoever. Americanism
is not the product of the soil; it springs not from the
land or the ground ; it is not of the earth, or earthly;
it emanates from the head and the heart; it looks
upward, and onward, and outward; its life and soul
are those grand ideas of government which charac¬
terise aur na from fill
other people ; and there is no two features in our
system which so signally distinguish us from all
other nations, as free toleration of religion and the
doctrine of expatriation—the right of a man to throw
off his allegiance to any and every other State, Prince,
or Potentate whatsoever, and by naturalization to be
incorporated as citizens into our body politic. Both
these principles are specially provided for and firmly
established in our Constitution. But these Ameri¬
can ideas which were proclaimed in 1789 by our
" sires of '76," are by their " sons " at this day de¬
rided and scoffed at. We are now told that "natu¬
ralization" is a " humbug," and that it is an "im¬
possibility." So did not our fathers think. This
" humbug" and " impossibility " they planted in the
Constitution, and a vindication of the same principle
was one of the causes of the second war of indepen¬
dence. England held that " naturalization " wasan
impossible thing. She claimed the allegiance of sub¬
jects born within her realm, notwithstanding they
had become citizens of this republic by our constitu¬
tion and laws. She not only claimed their allegiance,
but she claimed the right to search our ships upon
the high seas, and take from them all such who
might be found in them. It was in pursuit of this
doctrine of hers—of the right to search for our " nat¬
uralized " citizens—that the Chesapeake was fired
into, which was the immediate cause of the war of
1812.
Let no man then, barely because he was born in
America, presume to be imbued with real and true
'Americanism' who either ignores the direct and posi¬
tive obligation of the Constitution, or ignores this,
one of its most striking characteristics. As well
might any unbelieving sinner claim to be one of the
faithful, one of the elect even—barely because he
was born somewhere within the limits of Christen¬
dom. And just as well might the Jacobins, who
"decreed God out of his Universe," have dubbed their
club a "Christian Association,'' because they were
born on Christian soil. The genuine disciples of
"true Americanism," like the genuine followers of
the Cross, are those whose hearts are warmed and
fired, elevated and ennobled—by those principles,
doctrines and precepts which characterize their res¬
pective systems. It is for this reason that a Kams-
chatkan, & Briton, a Jew, or a Hindoo, can be as
good a Christian as any one born on " Calvary.'s
brow," or where the "Sermon on the Mount was
preached ! And for the same reason an Irishman, a
Frenchman, a German or Russian, can be as thor¬
oughly "American" as if he had been born within
the walls of old Independence Hall itself. Which
was the "true American." Arnold or Hamilton ? The
one was a native the other was an adopted son. But
to return. What do our Georgia friends intend to
do ? Is it not time that they had shown their hand 1
Do they intend to abandon the Georgia Platform,
and go over, "horse, foot and dragoons" into a politi¬
cal allianee with Trumbull, Durkee, Wilson & Co.?
Is this the course marked out for themselves by any
of the gallant old Whigs of the 7th and 8th Congres¬
sional Districts ?• I trust not. I hope not. But if
they do not intend thus to commit themselves, is it
not time to pause and reflect ? Is it not time to take
a reckoning and see whither they are drifting 1 When
"the blind lead the blind'' where is the hope of safety?
I have been cited to the resolution which, it is
said, the late Know-Nothing Convention passed in
Macon. This, it seems, is the only thing that the
six hundred delegates could bring forth after a two
days "labor"—and of it we may well say, "Montes
parturient et ridiculus mus nascitur"—"The moun¬
tains have been in labor and a ridiculous mouse is
born." It simply affirms, most meekly and submis¬
sively, what no man south of Mason and Dixon's line
for the last thirty-five years would have ventured to
deny, without justly subjecting himself to the charge
of incivism—that is, that "Congress has no constitu¬
tional power to intervene by excluding a new State
applying for admission into the Union, upon the
ground that the constitution of such State recognizes
slavery." This is the whole life and soul of it, un¬
less we except the secret blade of Joab which it bears
towards Kansas and Nebraska, concealed under a
garb. It is well known to all who are informed,
that in the organic law of these territories the right
of voting, while they remain territories, was given
to all who had filed a declaration of intention to he-
come citizens. This was in strict compliance with
the usual practice of the Government in organizing
territories; and under this provision that class of
persons are now entitled to vote. Kansas, in two
elections under this law, has shown that an over¬
whelming majority of her people are in favor of sla¬
very, notwithstanding all the Executive influence of
the Ffee Soil Governor (Reeder) whom Mr. Pierce
«ent out there to prevent it; but whom the people
have lately driven, as they ought to have done, from
the country. Now then, when Kansas applies for
admission as a slave State, as she doubtless will, a
Southern "Know-Nothing," under this resolution, can
unite with his "worthy brethren" at the North, in
voting against it, upon the ground that some have
voted for a Constitution recognizing Slavery, who
had not been "naturalized," but had only declared
their intention. For this resolution in its very heart
and core, declares that the right to establish Slave
constitutions "in the organization of State Govern¬
ments, belongs to the native and naturalized citi¬
zens," excluding those who have only declared their
intention. A more insidious attack was never made
upon the principles or the Kansas and Nebraska
Bill. And is this to be the plank upon which North¬
ern and Soutern "Know-Nothings" are to stand in
the rejection of Kansas %
But to the other and main odject to the resolution,
why did it stop with a simple benial of the power of
Congress to ieject a State on account of slavery ?
Particularly when it had opened the door for the re¬
jection of Kansas on other grounds by way of pre¬
text? Why did it not plant itself upon the principles
of the Georgia Resolutions of 1850, and say what
ought to be done in case of the rejection of a State
by Congress because of slavely ? So far from this it
does not even affirm that such rejection by their
" worthy brethren" of the North would he sufficient
cause for severing their party affiliation with them
for it! Again 1 would say not only to the old Whigs
of the 7th and 8th Congressional Districtg, but to all
true Georgians, whether Whigs or Democrats, Union
men or Fire-Eaters whither are you drifting 1 Will
you not pause and reflect ? Are we about to witness
in this insane cry against Foreigners aud Catholics a
fulfilment of the ancient Latin Proverb, " Quem Deus
vull perdere prius dementat" Whom the Gods in¬
tend to destroy they first make mad?" The times
are indeed portentous of evil. The political horizon
is shrAll£ieiiELdarkness. No man knows whom he
meets, whether he be friend or foe, except those who
have the dim glare of the covered light which their
secret signs impart. And how long this will be a pro¬
tection even to them, is by no means certain. They
have already made truth and veracity almost a by¬
word and a reproach. When truth loses caste with
any people—it is no longer considered as a virtue—
and its daily and hourly violations are looked upon
with no concern but a jeer or a laugh, it requires hut
little forecast to see what will very soon be the char¬
acter of that people. But, sir, come what may, I
shall pursue that course which a sense of duty de¬
mands of me. While I hope for the best, I shall be
prepared for the worst • and if the " worst comes to
the worst," as it maj, I shall, in common with my
fellow-'citizens, bear with patience my part of the
common ills. They will affect me quite as little as
any other citizen, for I have but little, at stake ; and
so far as my public position and character are con¬
cerned, I shall enjoy that consolation which is to he
derived from a precept taught me in earl life, and
which I shall ever cherish and treasure, whatever
fortune betide me:
"But if, on life's uneertain main,
Mishap shall mar thy sail,
If, faithful, firm and true in vain,
Woe, want, and exile thou sustain,
Spend not a sigh on fortune changed."
Yours most respectfully,
Alexander H. Stephens
Col. Thomas W. Thomas, Elberton, Ga.
A Wheel within a Wheel.—The New York-
Herald of Thursday last has the following :
The Friends of Millard Fillmore in the
Field.—The leaders of the old line Clay Whigs and
a few of the leading friends of Mr. Fillmore, held a
secret meeting in this city on Friday evening last,
at Constitution Hall, for the purpose of devising the
means necessary to place themselves in communica¬
tion with the Southern friends of Mr. Fillmore, and
to secure for the ex-President the Know-Nothing
nomination in 1856. Among those present at the
meeting on Friday night last, was the Hon. John P.
Kennedy of Baltimore, who, it will be recollected,
was a member of Mr. Fillmore's cabinet. The osten¬
sible visit of Mr. Kennedy to this city, as announced
at the time, was to visit our navy yard and the mili¬
tary defences of our harbor. We are not particularly
informed as to the deliberations and results of that
meeting, but we do know that a new Order was formed
within the Know-Nothing organization, being a
wheel within a wheel, calling themselves "Tem-*
plars," and formed with the express object of influ¬
encing the entire Know-Nothing party for Mr. Fill¬
more in the next contest.
There is a man now in prison in Massachusetts
who has been confined there five years for a debt of
Real friends are wont to visit us in our prosperity
only when invited, but in adversity to come of their
own accord.