den." "Then," said America, "let the axe be laid to
the root ; but tell me, mother, how long have they been
allowed to spring and flourish in oui' soil ?" "They came
here," said she, "many years before you were born, but
were regarded as mere scions in the gTeat nursery of
plants ; and while they did not interfere with those of
84 THE GKEAT AMEKICAN BATTLE.
real beauty and utility, and appeared to exude no nox-
ious influence to our pure atmosphere, we allowed them
to remain, and cumber the ground.
"But of late," continued she, "the laurel has so largely
mixed with the cypress, a charnel breath has so min-
gled with our temple incense, that I have grieved to
see how the children begin to flee from the gardens,
and, without immediate and decided action, we shall
soon see them surrendered to the dead ! America, dear
America ! it must be thy aim to raise man high in God's
sight, and you must keep fresh as a rainbow ā as strong
and immovable as your mountains ; and the flowers,
the tides, the rising and setting stars, must all har-
monize with you. So that, when your great heart
beats, the sea and the earth will beat ; the sun shall roll
to your pulsations ā the sap of all the trees, the blood
of all mankind."
"It shall be so! it shall be so!" said America, with
significant emphasis. " I hear a seer has just arrived,
and bears my own great name. They tell me," added
America, "he is horsed on a winged steed, and is sus-
tained by a dignity that not only honors me, but the
human race. They say he has studied spars and metals,
until his conversation is lustrous with points and shoots
of thought, that sparkle like crystal, in a winter's
morning."
" It is so," said his mother, " it is the great American
Party, which though older than yourself, is like you,
of Ileavenly birth, and has come again, in the good
Providence of God, to save your nationahty, and to
THE AMEEICAX PAETY. 85
turn out from our yards those skulking clogs, Avliicli
ahvays hunt in a pack, or like bees onl}^ thrive in a
hive."
"Americans, dear, were not made to herd cattle and
mind geese, and God will not make of us an animal
kingdom.
" Think, America, what motive first sent your ances-
tors to settle this vast wilderness, now our garden, and
made danger and hardship welcome. It was to serve
the everlasting God of heaven and earth which filled
this nation's chant. Though occupied in different pur-
suits, that thought of freedom and God, was their
common topic of discourse, that gave to their charac-
ters energy and manhood, which none ever conceived
in the Old World ā it was God's hand here! The
Stamp Act and the duty on tea," she continued, "hast-
ened, but did not originate the i^merican Eevolution;
that was the thought of our dear old fathers, which
were then buried in the soil." "Oh, mother," said
America, "are we passing through Liberty? Great
God, why do I suffer, why do I tremble! I see the
vehicles thronging the way -side, filling up all the roads
with these Jesuit papists ; are we importing these for-
eigners to export our honor, our fame, our virtue, our
nationality ?" " This is true, America, but hark ye, the
people are aroused, these foes have abused their privi-
leges and usurped our rights, but we are able and will
oppose their numbers. Have you not learned, my dear,
that before seventeen hundred and sixty -three, this land
was cursed by a population like the present, sent by
86 THE GREAT AMERICAN BATTLE.
James I. of England, and tlirust into the colony of Vir-
ginia, and afterwards extended tlirougli tlie whole coun-
try ; remonstrance and resistance were long and violent,
but in vain ā for our fathers were without our Star Span-
gled Banner, and our free Constitution of Government.
And George TV. renewed the evil, so that those deemed
worthy of death for crime, without benefit of clergy,
were cast into the colonies to enjoy one common lot."
"Indeed, so early as seventeen hundred and fifty,
three or four hundred of this distinct nationality were
annually turned like beasts into the Colony of Mary-
land, and would have drank up her Chesapeake, if they
could have stopped the rivers from flowing into it."
America looked pale with surprise, and asked, ""Were
they Eomanists or Protestants?" "Three-fourths of
them, at least, were Eomanists; who, though linking
their palpable actions with Americans, ā then, as now,
moved like one engine against the independent wills
and enlightened action of Protestants. You remem-
ber at the public school, where you were taught," said
his mother, " to have learned of the valor and glory of
the American arms in the French and Indian wars,
which closed with the peace of seventeen hundred and
sixty-three, after nearly a century of commotion and
danger, and settling down, as they then hoped, for a
permanent tranquility, your ancestors set about estab-
lishing their common school-system, for the general
education of all the Colonies. They saw that ignorance
was the weapon of the great Deceiver, who, by persuad-
ing from the natural use of tongues might better gloss
over the saintly actings in unknown tongues, and hence
THE AMERICAN PARTY. 87
to save liberty and preserve raen and Cliristians, arose
tlie public school-system first in New England. These
people, ever patriotic, were in earnest, in not allowing
the graves of their fathers to enshroud the liberty which
they had fostered, and left with the ' impress of the
great Creator.
"So, the study of the Scriptures, reading, writing,
diffused Truth, and soon filled the whole mind of the
country with the design and nature of their future in-
dependence ! Your ancestors, America, differed widely
from all other people upon earth : while others yield all
personality to the miserable detail of some branch of
industry, and are bound a slave to it only, be it a cot-
ton ball, a calico print, or the point, head, or shank of
a pin! Your ancestors, and all their descendants,
needed food for the soul ā nourishment for the mind,
and room for its expansion ! Yes, America, you must
think for mankind! And had Great Britain enter-
tained a just conception of your fathers, it is very
questionable whether she would ever have raised her
arm against us ! It was the boast of these sires that
they were freeholders, and no rent-day ever came!
This equality in property, the diffusion of learning, the
^participation in government, incited that love of liberty
which wrought out our independence among the na-
tions of the earth.
" After the blood of your fatliers had washed the
soil, and annihilated the French power in North Ame-
rica, their prosperity excited the jealousy of their most
unnatural mother, and she decided to seize and appro-
priate their resources. She did this, by enforcing her
88 THE GREAT AMEEICAN BATTLE.
acts of trade, and exacting duties on foreign sugar and
molasses. To collect these duties and penalties, offi-
cers were directed to call on courts for assistance, to
enter even houses as well as shops, to obtain the tyran-
nical exactions.' The first attempt was made in Salem,
Massachusetts, and it instantly set the whole colony on
fire ā resistance or death was immediately announced ā
the seed of Independence was threshed out of every
crop in the Colonies, and sowed over all other grain !
That Avas the moment, dear America, when thy Inde-
pendence was conceived. The Stamp Act followed,
which laid its loops upon newspaper, almanac, ballad,
and epic, and wreathing through an everlasting spiral,'
the Colonies found themselves in the very depth of the
laboratory, sitting upon fire. Virginia first blazed
forth, the first to assemble in her Colonial power, and
she hurled back this arrogated authority, and de-
nounced England in tones of thunder. All, in turn,
followed. The Press, in most cases, lent its colossal
force, and the pens of the American patriots cried out
to the peojDle to come and succor Liberty. Our fathers,
said they, bought it, at the expense of their ease, their
estates, their pleasure, and their blood.
"The revolution came ā it snatched to its embrace
the people. One word was enough to fill the soul of
your ancestors when and where they were endangered.
It fled, circulated, acted, morning, noon, and night;
at the markets, on the road-side, at the fire-side, in the
counting-room, at the bar, in the pulpit, at the plough,
and on the canvas which floats over seas and rivers ā
everywhere, everywhere. Oh I what is not to be given
THE AMEEIC^In party. 89
for country, the sweat of your brow, tlie sweat of your
blood, dear America.
" Everytliing was seen in tlie Stamp Act to degrade
and depress us into servility and dependence. Its de-
sign to enslave your ancestors was then, my dear,
opened ; step by step, degree after degree had been
taken for her subjugation, until they were planting the
remnants of their canon and feudal systems upon the
liberties of your fathers. True resistance brought
about the repeal of these rigorous prohibitory acts, but
the people, through their schools, their colleges, and
their press, were attaining the elements essential to
unity and success ā they felt now the Almighty had
created America to be free and independent. These
prohibitory acts were viewed by every man, woman,
and child as a declaration of War, and, bursting the
shackles of monopoly with which they sought to en-
chain us, your fathers opened her ports to all the world
except Great Britain's dominions ; and thus disowning
further allegiance, at once sought through Congress a
government for themselves, with an independence to
support it. Congress was convoked, and on the seventh
of June, seventeen hundred and seventy-six, the vital
question was directly presented by Kichard Henry Lee,
of Virginia, and this was a grea.t day for the American
party. The resolution was deferred until next day, the
eighth, when, in committee of the whole, it was dis-
cussed. Oh, God, what a moment in the history of
humanity! Divinity was present to mortality ā elo-
quence had ebbed away, defying all dogmatizing and
90 THE GREAT AMERICAN BATTLE.
classification, all contingencies and futurities. The
whole question seemed to be, are we right by this
wrong, and are they wrong by this right ? On the tenth
the resolution was adopted by a bare majority, and to
obtain the unanimous sentiment of all the colonies, a
postponement was made until July, after leaving the
committee to draft a Declaration of Independence. Then
did God's spirit seem to move like a wave over the
whole nation. The alarm bell was kept ringing, and
ringing, and ringing: do the people Avish to be saved?
do the people wish to be saved ? And all the States
implored Grod, and responded : we do, we do ! Congress
paused to ask His guidance and blessing, and until He
gave strength not a man dared to endorse the Declara-
tion, which was written upon His everlasting principles.
'^ The Committee reported on the twenty -eighth of
June, and on the fourth of July, seventeen hundred and
seventy-six, by the final decision before Congress, and
the vote of every Colony, this Declaration was en-
grossed ; when, on the second of August, all the mem-
bers present, and some who became so after the fourth
of July, signed it in behalf of all the people. The bells
then pealed the advent of Independence, and you, dear
America, was born a Nation ! Your birthday was also
the baptismal day of the American party. Washington
was its godfather, and remained its champion and leader
as long as he hved."
" Oh, God, what a day was that !" said America,
'' the day I took a stand in the front rank of nations !"
"You see, then, America, that it was the oppression
THE AMERICAN PARTY. 91
of foreign exaction, tlie encroachment on sacred rights,
that awoke the American party, which originated with
your ancestors, and secured the National Independence
you enjoy. Now, as then, it arose on the first percep-
tion of danger; each day now, as then, adds to it new
strength and fresh glory. They call it, dear America,
a ' Know Nothing,' because it knows no interest above
that of country. It boasts not now of wealth more
than then. It has no aristocratic longings. The child
of the people, then, it has had no other associations or
aspirings, but to live and die in the embrace of the
people. It is truly a hardy soldier, and can live on a
few salt olives ; its garments are the same all seasons,
and, though it has lived so long, it has adhered to the
same fashion all the time. It has never sought ease or
elegance, but works in the shop, at the mast, at the
counter, or in the field, as well as in the Senate, House,
or forum. Called a ' Know Nothing,' it delights all
by its versatility of knowledge and conversation.
Sometimes you hear it spoken of under the cognomen
of ' Sam.' Dear, modest fellow, he is so honest, all are
curious to hear him speak, for, in spite of Knowing
Nothing, the truth is sure to come. AYith an imper-
turbable temper he makes his dreadful logic sportive,
disarms the ndivest, gets them into doubt, and, leaving
them to escape as they can, he quietly finds his way
out. He is a rare combination of drollery and martyr-
dom ; the keenest debater in the streets, and the most
trusty friend at the ballot box.
" Mv dear America, 'Sam' has the finest constitution
.92 THE GEEAT AMERICAN BATTLE.
known to men, and is as wliole and sound as a nut.
He is sure to say wliat lie means, and just what lie
means. He does not call a palm a laurel, or a laurel
a shamrock ā ^he does no such thing. In a word, my
dear, ' Sam.' is not so very young, but he never yet
has worn shreds or patches. He always held the bitter
in his teeth when little, and therefore never got stran-
gled."
" Mother," said America, after listening with great
interest to the account of the American party, " I dis-
cover how we have been managed, and I discover
something else, mother," said he, throwing his young
arms around her well-proportioned but now shrunken,
neck, and kissing her with enthusiasm. He said :
" My mother, you made me a man ! You taught
me to love God in my cradle, and to love my dear
country ; don't you remember the little quilt made of
the star-spangled banner, with which you covered me
at night, after my little knees had bended down before
you to ask God to bless us. I wish all the children
had such a mother, then our dear country Avould have
patriot sons. They would all belong to the American
party."
A tear came into the old woman's eye ; she brushed
it softly off, and taking the hand of her bright, beau-
tiful America, proceeded to say : " The first cause Avliy
our old friend returns to us arises from the assault
made upon Protestantism, which, you know, is the
gi'cat element of our vitality. This Eoniish Jesuit
hierarchy has completely centralized this power in ^
THE AMEKICAN PARTY. 93
yoMT nation, whilst it has worked day and niglit to
create dissension among all outside the pale of its
authority ā to increase and make distinct every nation-
ality, until the whole foreign influence shall become
un- Americanized, and as ready to throw off liberty as
themselves.
" The ignorance of the masses who seek refuge
under your free institutions, and the bigotry of the
majority, who come to support the Church and the
Government of Eome, under a professed allegiance to
your Government, America, is a startling truth. Think
of the reinforcements adding to the Bomish influence in
your nation, every day !"
" But, mother, what are all the foreign powers which
come among us ; am I not America ?"
'' Yes, thou art still a man ; thou art more than
nation ; thou art the vital flame which must enkindle
truth and freedom around the globe !
"But, you see how our fathers repelled these intru-
ders from our soil. Washing-ton never omitted to
warn us, in your infancy, of this foreign influence. He
wrote against it, spoke against it, act^d against it, in
the camp, in the field, in the Executive of the Govern-
ment, and in the retirement of private life. So did all
his compatriots. While these Jesuit foes are building
for Eome, they cry out as Pitt did to the English man-
ufacturers, who plead against the taxes, because of
high wages, ' take the children !' and taking them,
'they took their Bibles.' They presumed on your
toleration, to manifest their intolerance to your hbertj
94 THE GREAT AMEllICAN BATTLE.
and your religion; tliej fear light, free speecL, and a
free Press, and that intellectual combat which is the
glory of your American liberty! But is there an
American citizen who would not shrink from the em-
brace of that old despot at Eome, and direct his thun-
der to the Vatican, at the summons of my trump ?
Alas, I shrink to tell you that every power at the
Caj)itol of your country is moving in all directions to
enlarge the domains of Eome !"
"And why is this?" said America. "Because the
Bomish Church holds the balance of power, and has
elected, chosen, America, your civil rulers, and is pro-
pitiated to do it again !" " Again," said America ; " oh
God, never, never !" " The soil that has soaked in the
blood of your heroes and martyrs, and baked under a
free sky, for the foundation of that structure ! Who
can abide its coming, and wish to live ? Who would
not die, America, who would not?" "You remem-
ber," said his mother, "how the tyrannical exactions
of England oppressed us. But when you became a
nation that authority ceased ; this government allowed
no union of church and state ; and that great and glo-
rious branch of the Protestant vine is filling the nation
with praise. Why, then, allow the most odious of all
despotisms ā the superstitious, persecuting Jesuitism of
Rome ā to come in, to sink our nationality, and blow
out our vitality with the pressure of a compound blow-
pipe ? x\. chapter on American history appears, openly
avowing the hostility of your constitutional govern-
ment to the interest of Romanism in America, and
THE AMEEICAN PAKTY. 95
declaring toleration shall end -\vlien it has obtained the
power ! Think of a Jesuit Bishop, by the authority of
the Pope of Rome, cursing your liberty, America,
before your eyes, and controlling all actions, soul and
body, of all his subjects, who are thus held in duress,
to be marshalled to the political caucus, or to the hust-
ings, to further the interior actings of this machinery !
It was the sight of this that brought the dear old
American party back again.
" It heard, also, of an American born citizen who
had yielded his noble powers to the seductive influences
of Jesuitism, and through your free Press tells the
people of the Divine rights of this Jesuit priestcraft to
dictate laAv to its subjects, and rule rulers in your dear
country ; and when inflated by the fact, that one im-
pulse governed at Washington and Rome, at the same
moment, this vulnerable, conceited hierarchy goes
abroad, mixes in all your affairs, and, taking in sail,
counting stocks, and husbanding its millions of treasure,
it decides to get, to have, to climb right upon your
back, dear America. And judge now my son, why
our American Party had cause to come among us.
" But, the other day, another Jesuit bishop speaks
through his organ, and justifies Rome in burning here-
tics, and defends her bloody deeds in our beloved
country ā tells us openly, my dear, that the masses
should not be educated in 3'our own native land !
Do they want to give me dying children, to make
me die ?" said America.
"Why, they have cursed you, my dear, at every con-
96 THE GREAT AMERICAN BATTLE.
fession and mass since the day you -^vere born, and
they have grown impudent and arrogant, just as they
grew rich and strong."
''But are they rich?"
*'Not the poor ignorant masses of their subjects, but
the Pope is the greatest property-holder in all j^our
dominions !
"Like skilful generals, they look well before they
plunge, and when in, are as subtle and elusive as
Proteus. You know that when the remonstrance of
New York against the tyranny of the English Govern-
ment was seen, its severity terrified, and no one was
found Avho would dare present it to Parliament ; and it
is a singular coincidence, that among all your patriotic
sons, America, to-day, none have given more facility
to the movement of your great American party than
the distinguished sons from your great Empire State.
And wherever the principles of this party, which has
risen to sustain you or the causes which demand its
necessity, are discussed, every patriot heart must be
awakened mth grateful emotions for your Eeynolds
and your Brooks! Yes, dear America, they have
revealed fearful and potent truths ā they have given to
your party a conception of beauty, by the exhibition of
its real utility, which even the original sculptors could
not have embodied."
"Gracious God!" cried out America, "I love them!
I love them !"
" While one made picture, statue, railroad, steam-
engine of the principles which we uphold, without
flaw, mistake, or friction, the other has gone through
THE AMERICAN PARTY. 97
painful drudging, to sliow the arithmetic of facts, in
connection with the millions of property which should
belong to the people, which i-s in the absolute posses-
sion of these theological autocrats, who hold it for, and
by the right and disposal of, the Pope of Eome ! Yes,
America, this practical and deep logic of your Brooks
took the whole nest in a coop. The mustard and
pepper bit the tongues of the old deceivers, but wine
and tea were eloquent no longer, and the people
thanked God to see their heads fall under the weight
of truths thus made palpable, and summing up the
account, saw some of the reasons why your great
American party was called again, rather suddenly, into
our troubled world !"
" One word, dear mother, and I thank you for gen-
erous interest, for all the information you have impart-
ed ; tell me, if you please, how long since foreigners
have interfered in our educational and civil interests !"
" They have ever done so ; but it was the election of
Mr. Jeflerson, when they became the balance of 'power
party, and the reward for that was the change of the
naturalization laws from fourteen to five years, as they
existed under the administrations of Washington and
Adams. There were then some eighty thousand
among us, without sympathy in movement or heart,
composed of Frenchmen and subjects of Great Britain ;
all of whom had a nationality different from our own
dear native land."
" Oh, God !" said America, " thou hast warned us
by thy providences, wilt thou deliver now P
5
CHAPTER YII.
THK TEA-PAKTY OF THE KNOW-
NOTHINQS.
Everything Avas propitious for the social gathering
of the American family in accordance with, the invita-
tion of the previous week. The old lady had become
invigorated in health, and meeting her young friends
in the fullness of her heart, seemed at once to radiate
joy and grace to this large and delighted circle. She
was indeed the most original and commanding of
women, an elemental force of great power, and like a
solvent of such range of affinity, as to combine and
reconcile heterogeneous spirits into one society. No
wonder then, she Avarmed all within her influence by
the tenderness and nobility of her sentiments, which
seemed to them like prayers and pictures. The touch
of the bell was the signal to the happy crowd for tea,
and rushing in great hilarity through the lighted halls
were soon around the luxurious table of America,
at the head of which his mother already appeared.
And whilst the croAvd were being seated, the old lady
remarked with her usual suavity and sweetness, that
among these who had either to climb or crawl this
entertainment would seem very unfashionable, but to
TEA-PARTY OF THE KXOW->;OTHINGS. 99
as, "Know-Nothings," who could afiord to be sincere,
we recognize the highest rights of personal freedom,
and love in all things to trust and revere the social
conventions of our fathers, Avho made worth the only
fig leaf which can make American men and women
useful, graceful, or formidable.
" Now, mother," said America, " in behalf of all
our relatives, I am deputed to say, they have come
this evening not so much to feast as to learn, and
liaving heard your exordium, we cry out for the ora-
tion !" The old lady smiled with her bewitching
grace, which age left unapproached, as she calmly
balanced her firm countenance and laid aside her
glasses.
"My children," said she, "if this is our vantage
ground, let us embrace the favorable circumstances."