Letter from William B. Reed, Esquire.
PHILAEELPHIA,UUIy 26th 1855.
To the Ron. A. G. Curtin,
Chairman of the Whig State Committee,
Harrisburg .
Dear Sir : I beg to resign my position as a
member of the State Committee, and desire
to state the reasons which have led me to
this conclusion. lam quite aware that these
motives may have no interest either to my
Sate Colleagues or to the public, but I am riot
less satisfied that there is something in exist
ing political relations calculated to effect per•
sonal character, and which admonishes every
honorable man to be perfectly ingenuous
and unreserved as to what he does. In this
communication I mean to be so, and I shall
be very glad, if I am in error on any matter
of fact, that you will correct me.
I was appointed a member of the State
Committee by the Whig Convention of 1854,
which nominated Mr. Pollock and Mr. Dar
sie. To us was confided the duty of promo
ting the success of that ticket in its integrity
Darsie's success as much as Mr. Pel
lock's: We were bound in honor to do all
we could for both these gentlemen, and I
can confidently assume that if any human
being, in or out of the Convention or the
Committee, had hinted the idea that one of
these candidates was to be sacrificed, it
would have been met by a most indignant
rebuke. There was not even an undercur
rent of intolerance then. These were Whig
nominations, entrusted to the honor of a
Whig Committee.
On receiving the intelligence of . my ap
pointment, I immediately wrote to the Pres
ident of the Conventian, begging, for person
al and official reasons, to be excused from
serving. Had I dreamed of what has sincie
occurred, my withdrawal would have been
peremptory, and I should have been spared
the mortification of seeing the party, with
which I-have acted for thirty years, endan
gered if not destroyed, by sinister and secret
influences which I could not control and with
which I might seem to be implicated. Yield
ing, however, to the urgency of old and kind
friends, who seemed to think I might render
some service, I consented to act. In one
respect, and but one, (aside from the pleas
ant personal association we have had,) am
glad I served. It enabled me, and in this my
colleagues of the committee and our candi
dates cordially co-operated, to aid in assua
ging the asperities of political conflict, and
so to direct the canvass that little or no per
sonal feeling mingled in it. 'Sure I am that
no word of personal reproach or unkindness
to Governor Bigler, or any individual mem
ber of the Democratic party, emanated from
the State Committee. It was in this partic
ular a-most decorous contest.
Having agreed to act, I took, as yo are
aware, my full share of duty, and attended
every meeting of the committee, one of
which was held three hundred miles from
my home.
You will excuse this recapitulation. It is
necessary to the illustration of. the painful,
and in ray judgment, most discreditable se
quel to what was so propitiously begun. To
the winter and spring of 1854, two incidents
of public interest occurred, which in my
opinion were attended with the worst conse
quences—the passage of the Consolidation
Bill, and the first election under it. To Con
solidation, in every form in which it was
presented, I am proud to say I always was,
and yet am, resolutely opposed. The princi
ple was wrong and delusive—the details of
the measure, as has been abundantly proved,
were incongruous and imperfect—the ma
chinery rickety—and the manner in which
it was forced on the public, no one venturing
to resist the spurious sentiment that was
stimulated, was most tfnfortunate. Its sad
results no ono now questions. The most
sanguine enthusiast of this great speculation
can do no more than hope for the very dis
tant future m the long run, (to use a favor
ite phrase,) it may succeed, but it will be a
very long run indeed, of suffering and dis
honor, and social disorganiz Ilion and immi
nent bankruptcy. Every one of these re
sults has in point of fact already ensued. A
huge municipality has been created which
thus far cannot manage itself. Its legisla
ture is a miaiatnre Harrisburg, translated to
Philadelphia. The treasury is bankrupt.—
The credit of the community has been nar
rowly saved, so far as the payment of mere
funded interest is concerned, but is prostrate
in everything else. New loans are familiarly
talked of. New taxes are inevitable, and yet
no one ventures to propose them. These I
affirm to be the consequences—the bitter and
the natural fruits of this consolidation
scheme.
In May of last year occurred the first elec
tion under the new system.
It was at this election that, for the first
time was developed a new and most danger
ous element of political action, which has
beer. running a short race of triumph ever
since, but. which now I am happy to believe,
is near its appropriate end. lof course refer
to Know Nothingism or secret Americanism.
How, or where, or exactly when it oriei
nated: no one knows—at least no one out of
its Councils, and, I suspect, not very many
,in them. It is believed to have had - a:very
impure origin out of this State, and to have
been transplanted hither by hands already
stained with a good many black political
spots, bankrupts in fortune and chat actor,
spirits congenial to any device of fraud that
might, under a cloak of secrecy ; be perpetra
. ted - with safety. Such I believe to have been
its origin, though I am equally well satisfied
that much personal respectability and honest,
though misdirected, sentiment has been infu
sed in it since. No matter, however, how
or where it began, the disease broke out
with great virulence in this city in the spring
of 1854. Hundreds and thousands of sturdy
Whigs, who had been fighting open Ameri
canism all their lives, and as many fierce
Democrats, rushed into these Lod ,, es—were
initiated by some mock ceremony, and swore
that they would never vote or assist or nit:
members of one Christian denomination—
, that they would proscribe every naturalized
citizen ;—swore too, though .nominal Whigs
or Democrats, that they would break faith
with ancient friends and abide by the decis
ions of secret Lodges—swore further to a
. code of disingenuousness which required
them to deny their membership. Its myste
ry made it attractive and seemed to make it
safe. Many a man who was ashamed pub
-licly to preach intolerance and proscription,
could do it safely in a secret council room.
This system of denial and equivocation—a
cardinal principle of Know Not hingism—led
to some instances of personal degredation in
this city which I do not like to think of.
It was not long after this election, when
the glory of triumph was brightest, that the
Whig State Committee met for the first time
in this city. I am confident in the belief
that at that time this secret party had no
considerable foothold in our Committee.
have no idea of recapitulating the acts or
counsels of the Committee then or thereafter.
You will do me the justice to say, that from
first to last, in every form and guise, I op
posed all affinity to this new party, and I am
, ilad to do you the justice, that you were
equally decided aml resolute on the same
side. We worked together most harmoni
ously. Then, too ; it was, that the question
of our duty to George Darsie was considered
and discussed, and then we were, or seemed
to be, unanimous, that it was a matter of du
ty and honor to suppot t him. The fact is
now confessed, f regret to say, that some of
our Committee, thu.; pledgml in fairness and
honor, recognizing the superior oblio:ation of
a Know Nothing oath voted for Mr. Mott,
the Democratic candidate, believing him to
belong to the order. The same subject of
discussion arose at our meeting at Pittsburg,
with the same apparent result, though I have
no doubt.the scheme of sactifi_;inc , Mr. Dar
sie was in the meantime matured. It •cer
tainly was most systematically perfected,
mid toils one of the gabled and most' upright
public men in the Commonwealth, who,
spite of his nativity and a few years of infan
cy in Protestant Scotland, had been a Penn
sylvania Legislator for nearly fifte6n years,
was sacrificed at the bidding of a secret oath
bound association, composed to a large ex
tent, of individuals who openly claimed com
munion with the party they betrayed.
How little the State Committee could do to
avert this discredit, you very well know.—
The secret influence was ariiund them, and
upon them, and within .them, and those who,
like myself and others, were open arid candid
in their condemnation of this secret action
and organization, were not fairly met or an
swered. The secret order was satisfied with
rapid recruiting. Their oaths prevented dis
cussion or fair play. It was confidently alleged
and assumed that Mr. Pollock himself joined
the order. From his own lips I have it that,
at the time of his election, he was not a
member of any party whose organization re
qu,ired him to proscribe any ,portion of his
fellow citizens, and relying on that aegurance,
I continued my humble exertions, and voted
for him. I voted for the Whig ticket at the
fall election. I voted for Mr. Tyson for
Congress, after he obtained the Whig nomi
nation, though I confess I was perplexed by
many rumors thathe, too, had joined the or
der, and taken the requisite oaths. I could
not persuade myself that a man at his time
of life, who had pronounced so many elabo
rate discourses in favor of religious toleration,
and who venerated with a faith so sincere
and professing, the name of William Penn—
the friend and favorite of England's - Roman
Catholic King—l could not persuade myself
that he had abjured the principles of his ed
ucation, and sworn to this new allegiance.—
Had 1 lived in the first Congressional District
I should no doubt have voted for Mr. Morris,
for there would have needed much more than
rumor to convince me that he, the ancient an
tagonist of Native Americanism (which was
at least a manly party,) had retracted, and
joined the secret order. If these were
errors on my part, they were errors on the
side of fidelity to my friends and party.
After the month of September, 1854, the
State Committee never met. Governor Pol
lock and Mr. Mott were elected. and those of
us who felt we were exelnded from the new
communion, had scarcely the heart to re
joice—the means of triumph in oar opinion
being so unworthy—and nothing to console
us but the dim hope that things might turn
out better than we feared.
In Jinnary, of this year, the new andmin
istration was inaugurated and the new Legis
lature met. Of the doings of that Legislature
I need not speak. and especially of that scene
of imp' tent intrigue, the canvass for United
States Senator. Though there was a nomi
nal whig majority, the very name of whig
was ignored. The caucus was one of "Se
cret Americans" from which Whig Senators
and Representatives were excluded—and
within and upon that caucus, everything be
int-, veiled by what was thought to be safe se
crecy,-the influences of corruption, personal,
pecuniary and - political, were thought to be
brought to bear. What better illustration,
(I now appeal to your own observation.) could
there be of . the mischievous capabilities of
this secret organization than Gen. Cameron's
success in the "American caucus?"_ I do
not unite in the denunciation heaped on that
gentleman. I think—aside, of course, from
all q nestion of right and wrong—that his con
sumate skill and capacity of accommodating
himself to an emergency, deserved better suc
cess than he attained. He fought his ene
mies with their own weapons and beat them.
Tf they mined he countermined. If they
plotted and organized in secret lodges, he
constituted lodges of his own, or went into
theirs, and beat them even at mystery. If
they renounced past political fidelity, ix-big
or democratic, he, without any effort, renoun
ced too. If they swore eternal enmity to
Catholics and naturalized citizens, he swore
as hard as they. It was with them all
"Death- to the Romans," Punic antipathy
and punic faith. I confess I do not see how
any `know-nothing" can find fault with Mr.
Cameron. And this accounts in my poor
judgement, for the feeble result of the seces
sion which took place from the Senatorial
Caucus. The deserters carried with them,
as marks of shame in know-nothing eyes,
the fragments of their broken oaths, oaths of
fidelity to secrecy and obedience. They had
on their breasts the "Scarlet Letter," and
they could not get rid of it, or hide it, or
disguise it, And thus it ended. I am sorry
to refer to all these matters, filled as they are
with painful memories, but they are too il
:ustrative of the domination of this secret and
dangerous party to be passed in silence.
Dniing all this time, the State Committee
was not called together, and if it had been,
could have dnne little good. The melancholy
fact had by this time developed itself, that
out of the thirteen, of which number the
Committee consisted, seven, it was believed,
had joined the secret order, some cheerfully
and readily, and from congeniality of feeling.
and opinion ; others, I venture to say, reluct
antly, blushingly, and under what seemed an
overbearinc? necessity. Whether hereafter,
when the ticcourft for these misdoings come
to be settled, any distinction will be made
between those who readily and those who
unwillingly bartered away ancient political
opinions, it is not for me to say.
confess that, during this sprifig,, I was
anxious that our Committee should meet, if
only to enable some of us to speak out, and
to let an organized body in Pennsylvania
have the honor of striking the first blow at
the secret party. The elections in New
York and Virginia, and the local Spring elec
tion in this city occurred first, anti gave the
wound from which the life blood of the orga
nization is flowing away. Nothing could he
more creditable to the nation—more fatal to
this new party, than the almost contempora
neous election of Senator Seward and Gov
ernor Wise, the one a northern Whig, the
other a southern;.;Democrat; men of widely
different opinions, but on this great question
standing shoulder to shoulder in defence of
the Constitution. Religious Liberty, and
Equality of Political Bights. It was proved
to be beyond the power of any secret con
clave or its missionaries of mischief, effec
tually to rally through the length and breadth
of the land the secret rebels to the Constitu
tion.
On the 23d of July, ten months after we
separated at Pittsburg, the Committee met in
this city, and then 1 determined; and you
well know, made no secret of my resolution,
to bi ing this matter of Know Nothingism
before the Committee and ask its action in the
way of distinct and emphatic repudiation.-
1 felt it myduty a sa matter of self-respect.-
1 believed that- my Philadelphia fellow citi
zens, whom I immediately represented, ex
pected it of me, and I think having tried
long to deserve their confidence, and having
earned it, and being very proud of it, I prop
erly estimate public opinion on this point.—
Ilere, in Philadelphia, this secret party, ch p 9w
its first breath and gained its first victory;
and here, in Philadelphia, it has met its first
reverse and will breath its last. No one
can mistake its coming doom.
What occurred in the committee you know.
To the proposition to call a Whig Conven
t ion I cheerfully assented, meaning, so soon
as the call was determined on, to ask the
Committa, by a manly declaration of princi
ple, to free that Convention on its inception
from the suspicion which, since this secret
party has existed; has hung round every po
litical body that has met. I thetefore offered
and asked the Committee to adopt the follow
ing' brief hut comprehensive resolutions. every
word of which had - been well considered, and
for every word of which I am willing to be
responsible.
Resolved, By the 'Whig Executive Com
mittee of the State of Pennsylvania, that an
address be issued by this Committee calling
a convention to meet at Harrisbnrg on—,
and asserting the following principles of ac
tion.
1. Disapproval in the clearest and strong
est form of all secret political association as
immoral and unconstitutional, opposed to the
pinciples of our Republican form of govern
ment, and utterly subversive of the con -
deuce which ought to subsist among politi
cal friends.
2. Condemnation especially of that form of
secret political association which proscribes
American citizens on account of their reli
gious opinions or their place of birth, this,
committee anti the Whig party recognizing
in its broadest sense, the constitutional prin-:
ciple that every man has a right to worship
God according to the dictates of his own con-
science, and that organized political proselip
tion on account of religious belief would be
an interference with that right.
3. Disavowal by.t his committee collective
ly and individually of any connexion or svni
pathy with any such secret political organiza
tion.
4. The assertion of the feeling common to
every Whig of Pennsylvania, - and to very
many of other organizations, that Nebraska
and Kansas measures of the last Congress,
the abrogation of the Missouri compromise
line, and, as part of the same system, the
lawless and violent conduct of Fndividuals
since in Kansas, especially are abhorrent to
the people of the North, and ought to be re
dressed.
5. That these measures were a wanton re
newal of sectional agitation ' for which in no
sense are the Whigs of the North, and espe
cially the Whigs of Pennsylvania, responsi
ble.
6. That the restoration of the Missouri
Compromise line ought to be demanded and
insisted on as a matter of right.
7. `I he reassertion of the Whig Principles
—the value of which every hour is confir
ming—of Protection in some form to Ameri
can industry, and especially to the staple in
terests of Pennsylvania yet struggling •into
existence—the policy of peace and neutrali
ty on the part of the General Government,
and resolute abstinence from all schemes of
foreign aggrandisement and sympathy or af
finity to foreign politics.
These resolutions,' after a free discussion,
were laid on the table, my own vote being
the only one recorded in their favor; and yet
I hope I may be permitted to say there were
.few of the Committee who did not, in their
hearts and consciences, agree to every word
in them. It is due to my colleagues to add
that some of them put their votes on the res
olutions strictly on the ground of inexpedi
ency and a doubt as to the powers of the
Committee. With them, however readily
united those others of our colleagues who are
not ashamed to avow that they are Know-
Nothings; and, as such, under a paramount',
if not exclusive allegiance.
During that discussion one of these gentle
men, as you will recollect, said with empha
sis, and without a word leading to it, that if
these resolutions passed he should resign.—
Till then no word which, by any possibility,
could be construed into a threat, had been
whispered—certainly not by me. But the
feeling and resolution were all along cherish
ed that, if, after all that,.had - occurred, the
sacrafice of Mr. Darsie, the discredit of last
winter at Harrisburg, the insolent abandon
ment of the very name of the Whig party,
and ; above all, the pi evalent suspicion that
affected every one, these resolut ions, or some
thing like them, were not passed, my duty
as a gentleman was very clear, to vacate, as
now do, my position." It is a resolution, I
assure von, nut lightly formed or which can
be reconsidered.
The resolutions affirmed this secret•organi
zation, with its, proscriptive and evasive
oaths, to be not only unconstitutional, but im
moral. I deliberately reiterate that opinion,
be its value what it may, without agitating
another grave question, whether these combi
nations and these extrajudicial oaths are not
strictly unlawful. It is a very safe kind of
swearing for easy consciences, when no pen
alties of perjury are risked. I am, by educa
tion and principle, opposed to all extrajudi
cial oaths—having been taught long ago by
one of the greatest lawyers Pennsylvania ev
er produced—one, too, whose memory I most
affectionately nourish, that the administering
or the pi ononficing any oath, except by au
thority of law, is an offence against the laww.
The example of this secret party is making
them feat fully common—this taking in vain
the Almighty's name—"this rash swearing
not required by the magistrate" which the
wisdom of more than one Protestant Church
condemns. I am free to say that oaths of ex
culpation are nearly as repugnant as oaths of
initiation and proscription. Aside, [ repeat,
from all questions of law, the whole secret
oiganization is immoral, and degradingly so
in this ; that it exacts evasion and sometimes
the denial of truth. If it does not now, it
certainly did so once, in its prime of youth
and pride of victory. The obligation once
was, and I fear is yet, to evade the confession
of membership if possible, and if not express
ly to deny it ; and T have myself seen instan
ces of this degrading prevarication which
make the use of the word "immoral" almost
too g entle.
One other word, and I have "done. I shall
look with deep interest to the constitution
and action of the convention which is sum
moned to meet at Harrisburg in September.
I trust its action may be unreserved in the
enunciation of principle—conciliatory to those
who agree in principle—and REPUBLICAN in
every sense—and most so in this,, that no
whisper shall be uttered, no intimation given
that can be construed into an Interference
with Religious Liberty, which the Constitu
tion guard,:or with social or political rights,
which thc„Constitution recognizes. •
I am, very respectfully, yours,
WILLIAM B. REED.
From the Louisville Courier (Whig), 7th, inst.
LOUISVILLE ELECTION RIOTS
THE ELECTION RIOTS-BLOODY WORK-MUR
DER AND ARSON-TWENTY MEN KILLED.
We passed yesterday, through the forms of
an election. As provided for by statue, the
polls were opened, and privilege granted to
such as were "right upon the goose," with a
few exceptions, to exercise their elective
franchise. Never, perhaps, was a greater
farce, or, as we should term it, tragedy, enac
ted. Hundreds and thousands were deterred
from voting by direct acts of intimidation,
others through fear of consequences, and a
multitude from :he lack of proper facilities.
The city, indeed, was, during the day, in
possession of an armed mob. the base passions
of which were infuriated to the highest pitch
by the incendiary appeals of the newspaper
organ and the popular leaders of the Know-
Nothing party.
On Sunday night large detachments of men
were sent to the First and Second Wards to
see that the' polls were properly opened.
These men the "American Executive Com
mittee" supplied with the requisite refresh
ments, and, as may be immagined, they were
in a very fit condition yesterday morning to
see that the rights of freemen were respected.
Indeed, they discharged the important trusts
committed to them in such a manner as to
commend them i forever to the admiration of
outlaws ! They opened the polls, they pro
vided ways and means for their own party
to vote, they bluffed and bullied all who could
not show the sign: they, in fact, • converted
the election into a perfect farce, without one
redeeming or qualifying phase.
We do not know when or hoW their plan
of operations was devised. Indeed, we do
not care .to know when such. a system of out
rage—such perfidy, such Bastardy—was con
ceived. We only blush for Kentucky, that
her soil was the scene of such outrages, and
that some of her sons were participants in
the nefarious swindle.
It would be impossible to state when or
how this riot commenced. By day break the
polls were taken possession of by the Amer
ican party, and in pursuance of their precon
certed game, they used every stratagem or
device to hinder the vote of every man who
could not manifest to the "guardians of the
polls" his soundness on the K. N. question.
'We were personally witness to the.proce
dure of the party in certain wards, and of
these we.feel authorized to speak. At the
Seventh Ward we discovered that for three
hours in the outset in the morning itivas im
possible for those not "posted' to vote, with
out. the greatest difficulty. In the Sixth
Ward a party of bullies were masters-of the
polls. We saw two foreigners driven from
the polls, forced to run a guantlet, beat un
mete:dully-, stoned and stabbed. In the case
of one fellow the Hon. Wm. Thomasson,
formerly a member of Congress from this dis
trict, interfered, and while appealing to the
maddened croWd to "cease their acts of disor
der and violence Mr. Thomasson was st ruck
from behind and beat. His gray hairs, his
long public service,' his manly presence, and
his thorough Americanism, availed nothing
with the crazed mob. Other and serious
fights occurred in the Sixth Ward, of which
we have no time to make mention now.
The more serious and disgraceful disturb
ances occurred in the • upper wards. The
vote cast was but a partial one ; and neatly
altogether on one side. No show was given
to the frieilds of Preston, who were largely
in' the majority, but who in the face of can
non, muskets and revolvers, could not, being
an unarmed and quiet populace, confront the
mad mob. So the vote was cast one way,
and the result stands before the public.
In the morning, as we state elsewhere,
George Berg, a carpenter, living on the cor
ner. of Nint and Market, was killed near
Hancock street. A German, named Fritz, for
merly a partner at the Galt House, was se
verely, if not fatally, beaten.
In the afternoon a general row occurred on
Shelby street, extending from Main to Broad
way. We are unable to ascertain the facts
concerning the disturbance. Some. fourteen
or fifteen men were shot, incl!tding officer
Williams, Joe Selvage, and others. Two or
three were killed, and a number of houses,
broken into and pillaged. About 4 o'clock,
when the vast crowd augmented by accession
from every part of the city, and armed with
shot guns, muskets and rifles, were proceed
ing to attack the Catholic church on Shelby
street, Mayor Bat bee arrested them with a
speech, and the mob returned to the First
Ward polls. Presently a large party arrived
with a piece of brass ordnance, followed by a
number of men and boys with muskets. In
an hour afterwards the large brewery on Jef
ferson street, near the junction of Green, was
set fire to.
In the lower part of the city the disturban
ces were characterized by a greater degree
of bloody work. Late in the afternoon, three
Irishmen going down Main street, near Elev
enth, were attacked and one knocked down.
Then ensued a terrible scene, the Irish firing
from the windows of their houses, on Main
street, repeated volleys. Mr. nodes, a river
man, was shot and killed by one in the up
per story, and a Mr. Graham met with a sim
ilar fate.- An Irishman who discharged a
pistol at the back of a man's head, was shot
and then hung. He, however, survived both
punishments. John Hudson, a carpenter,
was shot dead during the fracas.
After dusk a row of frame houses on Main
street between Tenth and Eleventh, the prop
erty of Mr. Quinn, a well known Irishman,
were set on fire. The flames extended across
the street and twelve buildings were destroy
ed. These houses were cheifly tenanted by
Irish, and upon any of the tenants venturing
out to escape the flames, they were immedi
ately shot down. No idea could be formed
of the number killed. We 'are advised that
five men were roasted to death, having been
so badly wounded by gun shot wounds that
they could not escape from the burning buil
dings.
Of all the enormities and outrages commit
ted by the American party yesterday and
last night, we have not time to write. The
mob having satisfied its appetite for blood,
repaired to Third street, and until midnight
made demonstrations against the "Times"
and "Democrat" offices._ The furious crowd
satisfied itself, however with breaking a few
window panes, and burning the sign of the
Times office. -
At one o'clock, this morning, a large fire
is raging in the upper part of the city.
Upon the proceedings of yesterday and last
night, we have no time nor heart now to
comment. We are sickened with the very
thought of the men murdered, and houses
burned and pillaged, that signalized the
American victory yesterday. Not less than
twenty corpse form the trophies of this won
derful achievement.
[From the same.]
THE ELECTION-ROWS AND BLOODSHED.
—The election during yesterday was, as near
as could be, all one-sided, the most unfair
means being resorted to by the Know-Noth
ings to crowd. other voters from the polls.
In the first ward, most intense excitement
prevailed for some time, and the polls were
surrounded-by a large crowd. Whenever a
Know Nothing voter approached the crowd
he was hoisted right over the heads of all and
landed et the - door, ready to deposite his vote.
Several disgraceful fights occurred, and one
man of the name of Burch, who had, with
others, chased an Irishman from the polls,
was in turn beset, beaten nearly to death, and
knocked senseless by the man he had been
chasing. Marshal Kidd, we learn, subse
quently arrested the Ir - ishman.
- In the sixth ward several disgraceful scenes
occurred, such as six, eight, or a dozen men
pitching into one poor Irishman and driving
him from the polls. '
In the Seventh ward everything appeared
to go on fairly and quietly, but in the Eighth
it was a one-sided matter, none but yellow
ticket chaps having any chance to get to the
polls throughout the day.
There were rumors of a serious difficulty
at the Oakland precinct, and Marshal Kidd
dispatched a wagonload of special police to
establish order, or raise a bigger muss.
In the seventh ward, four men were walk
ing along, the street when they were beset by
a crown, and ran off, one of them taking ref
uge in a house corner of Ninth and Maga
zine streets. The house was stoned, a wo
man hurt, and finally one or two of the men
were shot, one of them dangerously. One of
the pursued pai ty was the first to shoot, fir
ing a pistol at the crowd, who were stoning
him and his companions. Some one came
out from a house with a shot gun, and let
drive at the fugitive. The Marshal subse
quently arrested two of them.
[From the Louisville Democrat, Democratic.]
LOUISVILLE DISCIU
No respectabla man can think of the scene
of yesterday, without shame. We had a
farce, or rather a tragedy, instead of an elec
tion. A complete system of terror and blood
was established by the Know-Nothing party
or faction. The details are disgusting. The
lawlessness W3S provided for by the city au
thorities, in allowing but one voting place in
a ward. The upper, and lower wards were
taken at an early hour, and the middle wards
were not exempt.
We have had no election in any American
sense of the word. Our city is governed, not
by law, but by a set of hired scoundrels who
obey the secret commands of lawless men.—
It is not worth while to try to disguise the
character of this city. There is no law, no
police, no justice here. Our poll books
speak not the voice of the people, but the
dictates of a mob.
We never heard of such scenes, much less
have we seen them anywhete. Nor have
such ever been witnessed in — this coun
try. This sort of proceeding was not
anticipated. It came fully up to all that had
been threatened, and supassed anything anti
cipated, unscrupulous as we knew the sect et
party. If the election in Louisville yester
day was legal and is to stand, then the right
of suffrage in Kentucky is a mockery. There
is no ft eedom here and no law. Scoundrel
ism is triumphant. We have found means
to subvert the law of numbers at the polls by
violence, and passed off as legal. If the ex
ample of Louisville were generally followed
the liberties of this country would be ended.
We shall hear from Kentucky, however, in a
few days. Perhaps we shall have good news,
when it will be necessary for the State to.
take this city in hand, and reduce her to obe
dience to law.
The Jotc , na/, the Know Nothing organ, in
explanation of the accusation that the Know-
Nothings kept back the naturalize) voters
from the polls, says:
We all knew that it was considered very
doubtful on Monday morning whether the
wh )1e vote of the city could be polled with
in the thitteen bouts of the election. The
Native born American cit , zens thought and
felt, that, if any portion of the people legal
ly entitled to vote should have to stand back
and lose their suffrages for the want of time,
the foreign born citizens should stand back
rather th an themselves. They thought and
felt that this ought to be perfectly manifest.
even to the minds of the foreigners. Un
doubtedly they pressed forward early and
vigorously to the polls, in order to be the
first, if possible, and in this they were right.
They had a perfect right to go, if they chose,
to the polls at twelve o'clock on Sunday
night, and remain there till the following
morning. They had a right to go at what
time they pleased and in what numbers they
could. They had a right even - to toss their
friends over the heads of the crowd to the
polls, as we are told they did in some few
instances, though this was no doubt a viola
tion of courtesy. They had a right to Note
as fast as they could, provided they used no
violence in pulling or ilitusting
_back their
opponents from the polls.
Horrible Accident
A very distressing casualty occurred on
the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad, yester
day morning, between eight and nine o'clock,
at Wood's bridge, about three miles from the
city. James Webb, a brakeman on the
freight train which left the Federal street de
pot at half past eight o'clock, had occasion to
pass from the front of the train to the rear,
and ascended the steps to the top of the car
in the usual manner. Without looking to
ascertain the exact locality, Mr. Webb pro
ceeded to walk along the tops of the cars,
unconscious that he was vapidly approaching
the bridge, and that in a moment of time,
his earthly career would be ended. He had
proceeded but a few steps when the fatal
blow was felt. The bridge struck him across
the shoulders, and so powerful was the force
of the concussion, that his body was precip
itated the distance of seven cars, and fell be
tween the seventh and eighth cars, upon the
track. This was all the work of a moment,
and the unfortunate man was not observed in
time to be warned of his danger• The train
was checked up, and the body found lying
upon the track horribly mutilated. Both legs
were nearly served between the ancle and
knee, and both ‘ of his arms were broken.—
His head did not come in contact with the
bridge, as not as Much as an abrasion of the
scalp was visible; but owing to the force of
the blow upon the shoulders, his neck was
broken.
This is-the third accident at Wood's bridge,
sir.ce the opening of the road, resulting in
loss of life; and we were informed that the
same number of persons have been killed at
a bridge at or near Massillon Ohio. These
are Certainly melancholy events—which, of
course, no human ingenuity or foresight can
prevent.—Pittsburg Union.
From the Louisville Democrat.
To the Protestant Clergy of the United
States.
"Like Priests, like People."
There is no country upon earth that does
not give unmistakeable evidence of the truth
of this proverb. The sagacious politician or
the unscrupulous demagogue, when intend
ing to - change public-sentiment, or work any
great:revolution in society, goes not to the
masses of the people to unfold the scheme
and lay its foundation in their convictions of
propriety; but ; like Archimides, he seeks the
lever by which the - world is turn - ed. He
goes directly to the fountain-head ; he oper
ates upon the great cause that gives force and
sentiment to, and moulds the action ofsocie
ty. In order therefore, to the complete suc
cess of any scheme, he has only to secure
the influence and co-operation of the clergy
—for all mankind are either directly or in
directly priest-ridden. In every country up
-lon earth, and in every age of the world, re
-1 ligious teachers have maintained unlimited
I sway over the minds of the people, and have
given direction to popular sentiment upon all
the leading_ questions, whether civil, reli
gious, or political ; that have agitated the pub
tic mind.
The Protestant ministers of the United
States must, therefore, be held -responsible
for the political crusade and proscription that
are now waging against the constitutional
debt of Catholics and Foreigners. They
are the very leaders and instigators of the
whole vile plot. Three thousand of them
have already, in one solid phalanx, petition
ed Congress to repeal the Fugitive Slave
Law and the Nebraska bill, while the mid
i night cabals and secret councils of Know
: Nothing lodges are presided over ; drilled, and
disciplined by these modern clerical Cata
' lines. As the money changers of old dese
crated the temple of the Most High, and con
verted the house of prayer inta a den of
[ thieves, so these politico-eclesiastic (learn
gogues have prostituted the high and holy
functions of Christian ministers to the ad
-1 ministration of profane oaths in midnight
councils, and conspiracies of Know Nothings
against the Constitution of the United States,
the palladium of our republican institutions,
which guarantees civil and religious liberty
and equality to all, and forbids the establish
ment of any religious test. But while we
hold those hypocrites and demagogues res
ponsible who
_have figured in politics, and
Nvill neither attend their preaching, help to
build their churches ; or pay anything to
wards their supoprt, we invite every Protes
taut minister, of all religious denominations,
who have eschewed politics, and does not
sympathise with Know Kothings, to come
out before the public and give their names,
as well that they may stand acquitted of the
infamy of political proscription for a differ
ence in religion and birth, as to afford all
who are resolved to hold the clergy responsi
ble for the part they have taken in pelities,
an opportunity to discriminate between the
innocent and• the guilty. Whilst we are re
solved at all hazards and a'. every sacrifice to
maintain our form of government, which
guarantees civil and religious liberty to all—
Protestant, Catholic, Jew, and Gentile, who
have taken shelter under its glorious banners,
and will preserve our Constitution to the ut
most of our power in its purity 'as we recei
ved it from the hands of our fathers, we dis
claim and denounce all religious bigotry and
fanaticism,- whether Protestant, Catholic,
Jew, Pagan, mohammedan, or' infidel, and
will hold the authors and instigators respon
sible, so far as our personal influence and pe
cuniary aid can extend. In giving utterance
to these sentiments and these determinations,
we hut publish the unanimous. voice 'of thou
sands of pious and zealous members of the
various Protestant denominations of the Uni
ted States, who a:e resolved that, so far as
their influence shall extend, Protestantism
shall triumph upon the intrinsic ' and invinci
ble power of troth and argument, without the
extraneous aid of political demagogues, Know
Nothing councils, and religious proscription;
We have hitherto forborne, till after elec
tion, to call attention to the unanimous
determination of all anti-Know-Nothings
to this well matured determination to repudi
ate Know Nothing preachers, of all denomi
nations; lest it might.be- regarded as a •politi
cal stratagem to influence the election ; but
for the sake of Protestantism, that it may suf
fer no injury from its true friends, we now
call upon all Protestant ministers to speak
ont,and say . whether or not they are connect
ed with or sympathize with Know-Nothings,
that'sve may know who are hypOcrited• and
pretenders, and who have the cause of'PrOtes
tant Christianity at heart, as it is our fixed
determination to presume all guilty who do
not exculpate themselves, and treat them ac
cordingly. The- anti-Know-Nothing papers
throughout the United States will afford them ;
free of charge, facilities to make their dis
claimer over their own signatures:
We ask the republication of this document
in all the newspapers of the United States.
favorable to civil and religious liberty, and
opposed 'to Know Nothing intolerance and
proscription, as it embraces the unanimous
determination of the friends of civil and reli
gious liberty throughout' the United States.
ONE AMONGST MILLIONS.
TERRIBLE RAVAGES OF TIIE CHOLERA.- Dr.
Bills died at St. Louis on Wednsday last; after
a brief illness of cholera. On the 28th ult., the
Rev. Jos. L. Darrow fell a victim to the same.
disease at Collinsville, 111., after an illness of
seven hours.
The St. Louis News says
We learn from Sullivan 111., that the town is de
serted, there being but one family in the place
which has not got the cholera, and that there
will not be persons enongh (unless the -doctors.
do it,) to burry the dead, as there arc a numbtr
expected to die. About all who are able to leave,
having become alarmed at the ravages commit
ted by this scouge in their midst, have fled from
the town. Some are in the country adjacent
thereto, some are in Decatur, and others scat
tered elsewhere among their friends. The town
has hitherto been considered very healthy; but
from some cause or other the cholera.7i,s making
a fearful sweep there now.