Another of the desperate means put in use, in consequence of the declining fortunes of Whiggery, is an effort to secure the Catholic vote of the country for Mr. Clay. We were shown at Harpers-Ferry, a few days since, a “Secret Hand-bill,” intended for the eye of none but those belonging to the Catholic faith,– in which a labored effort is made, to show that Mr. Clay has always been the steadfast friend of Catholic liberty and the rights of the Catholic church. This “hand-bill” also presents Mr. Polk in an antagonistical position, and says, that at one period of his life he was so much a Tariff man, that he was not willing to relinquish the duty on a Bell that had been presented to the Catholic church of St. Louis.
Catholics, warm-hearted, generous Irishmen, is there one of you that can be deceived by this base and paltry subter[?]ge? Were the Whig party the friends of the Catholics, when in defiance of all law, religious rights and equal liberty, they were committing to the flames your sacred and consecrated temples in the city of Philadelphia? Are the leaders of the Whig party, ye sons of the green Emerald Isle, your friends, when the Senator Archer at the head, they declare if successful in the present contest, you shall submit to bondage in this free land, for twenty-one long years?
Did we suppose you could be cajoled into the support of Henry Clay, and by consequence identified with the Whig party, we would ransack the records and show to you that there is not one principle of identity between you. The Whigs, and the Whig leader, have become exceedingly accommodating of late. They can suit their principles to correspond with all classes and conditions of men– all political and religious divisions– and if need be, can even “entertain a high respect for the Latter-Day Saints!” Be no deceived then, we say again, by any such hypocritical professions.
