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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1855
He said that Mr. Pierce had proscribed Know-Nothing office- holders, but that the official axe was not made to fall on for- eigners, it was only Americans by birth that were decapitated, instancing John Wilson, and calling upon Colonel Martin to prove he was a very good fellow. He said that there were some withdrawals from the Know- Nothings, but there were two or three joining them for every one that left-that Know-Nothingism alone held the great con- servative principles which could save the country from ruin- that it had achieved victories in several Southern towns, and in Galveston it had beaten down Democracy-from which it augered well.-He then alluded to General Rusk's letter, and said that Rusk was at fault entirely about Know-Nothingism, its causes, objects, prospects, &c., and especially was he ignorant on the subject of the result in Virginia owing to three things-1st. The corrupt interference of the administration in the election, and the use they made of their patronage. 2nd.-Because Mr. Wise spoke 147 times in the canvass, and had no one to reply to him; and 3rd.,-to the fact that there were 13,000 Irish laborers at work on a Railroad leading out of Richmond, all of whom voted two or three times over, for Mr. Wise. "But," said the General with great emphasis, "if Know-Nothingism, when only one year old with all its disadvantages to contend with, has come within 10,000 votes of carrying the State elections in Virginia, when he gets to be two years old and his horns grow out, he will gore the "Old Dominion." At which there was great applause among the Know-Nothings. He said that there was no longer a Democratic party and proved it by the following logic :-viz; "A log is a log before you split it, but split the log and it is no longer a log. The Democratic party is split; the Know-Nothings had split it; ergo, there is no Democratic party. [At this, several of the old line democracy were seen to shed "some natural tears."] He said that when Know-Nothings said that they knew nothing [they] did not tell a lie; and ratified the practise of this deception upon the public, by good Jesuitical logic, equal, at least, to that of the grave digger in Hamlet, or to the logic about the log-the log logic of Know-Nothingisrn. He said that John C. Calhoun was a nullifier, and that America could boast of only four great men- viz: Washington, Lafayette, General Jackson, and himself-at
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