To Obtain
Political Favour Or Position A Man Must Stoop Very Low; He Must Cultivate
The Good Will Of The Ignorant And The Vicious; He Must Excite And Minister
To The Passions Of The People; He Must Flatter The Bad, And Assail The
Honourable With Unmerited Opprobrium.
While he makes the assertion that
his country has a monopoly of liberty, the very plan which he is pursuing
shows that it is fettered by mob rule.
No honourable man can use these
arts, which are, however, a high-road to political eminence. It is
scarcely necessary to remark upon the effect which is produced in society
generally by this political corruption.
The want of a general and high standard of morality is very apparent. That
dishonesty which is so notoriously and often successfully practised in
political life is not excluded from the dealings of man with man.
It is jested about under the name of "smartness," and commended under that
of "cuteness," till the rule becomes of frequent and practical
application, that the disgrace attending a dishonourable transaction lies
only in its detection, - that a line of conduct which custom has sanctioned
in public life cannot be very blameable in individual action.
While the avenues to distinction in public life are in great measure
closed against men of honour, wealth offers a sure road to eminence, and
the acquisition of it is the great object followed. It is often sought and
obtained by means from which considerations of honesty and morality are
omitted; but there is not, as with us, that righteous censorship of public
opinion which brands dishonesty with infamy, and places the offender
apart, in a splendid leprosy, from the society to which he hoped wealth
would be a passport. If you listen to the conversation in cars,
steamboats, and hotels, you become painfully impressed with the absence of
moral truth which pervades the country. The success of Barnum, the immense
popularity of his infamous autobiography, and the pride which large
numbers feel in his success, instance the perverted moral sense which is
very much the result of the absence of principle in public life; for the
example of men in the highest positions in a state must influence the
masses powerfully either for good or evil. A species of moral obliquity
pervades a large class of the community, by which the individuals
composing it are prevented from discerning between truth and falsehood,
except as either tends to their own personal aggrandisement. Thus truth is
at a fearful discount, and men exult in successful roguery, as though a
new revelation had authorised them to rank it among the cardinal virtues.
These remarks apply to a class, unfortunately a very numerous one, of the
existence of which none are more painfully conscious than the good among
the Americans themselves. Of the upper class of merchants,
manufacturers, shipbuilders, &c., it would be difficult to speak too
highly. They have acquired a world-wide reputation for their uprightness,
punctuality, and honourable dealings in all mercantile transactions.
The oppression which is exercised by a tyrant majority is one leading
cause of the numerous political associations which exist in the States.
They are the weapons with which the weaker side combats the numerically
superior party. When a number of persons hit upon a grievance, real or
supposed, they unite themselves into a society, and invite delegates from
other districts. With a celerity which can scarcely be imagined,
declarations are issued and papers established advocating party views;
public meetings are held, and a complete organization is secured, with
ramifications extending all over the country. A formidable and compact
body thus arises, and it occasionally happens that such a society,
originating in the weakness of a minority, becomes strong enough to
dictate a course of action to the Executive.
Of all the associations ever formed, none promised to exercise so
important an influence as that of the Know-nothings, or the American
party. It arose out of the terrific spread of a recognised evil - namely,
the power exercised upon the Legislature by foreigners, more especially by
the Irish Romanists. The great influx of aliens, chiefly Irish and
Germans, who speedily or unscrupulously obtain the franchise, had caused
much alarm throughout the country. It was seen that the former, being
under the temporal and spiritual domination of their priests, and through
them under an Italian prince, were exerting a most baneful influence upon
the republican institutions of the States. Already in two or more States
the Romanists had organised themselves to interfere with the management of
the public schools. This alarm paved the way for the rapid extension of
the new party, which first made its appearance before men's eyes with a
secret organization and enormous political machinery. Its success was
unprecedented. Favoured by the secresy of the ballot, it succeeded in
placing its nominees in all the responsible offices in several of the
States. Other parties appeared paralysed, and men yielded before a
mysterious power of whose real strength they were in complete ignorance.
The avowed objects of the Know-nothings were to establish new
naturalization laws, prohibiting any from acquiring the franchise without
a residence of twenty-one years in the States - to procure the exclusion of
Romanists from all public offices - to restore the working of the
constitution to its original purity - and to guarantee to the nation
religious freedom, a free Bible, and free schools; in fact, to secure to
Americans the right which they are in danger of ceasing to possess -
namely, that of governing themselves.
The objects avowed in the preliminary address were high and holy; they
stirred the patriotism of those who writhed under the tyranny of an
heterogeneous majority, while the mystery of nocturnal meetings, and a
secret organization, conciliated the support of the young and ardent. For
a time a hope was afforded of the revival of a pure form of republican
government, but unfortunately the Know-nothing party contained the
elements of dissolution within itself. Some of its principles savoured of
intolerance, and of persecution for religious opinions, and it ignored the
subject of slavery.
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