While his blood cries yet for vengeance against this murderous herd—
He will ever come to warn them, that the day is but deferred.
"To the sons of old Honduras as they view him through the gloom,
The Gray-eyed Man of Destiny looks the Avatar of Doom;
In his face they read a warning like the writing on the wall,
'Tis, 'Beware, one day the Gringos will avenge their chieftain's fall!'"
My husband entered with great zeal and efficiency into the fight against "The Know-nothing party," or, as they proudly styled themselves, the "American party."
The principles of this party were naturally evolved from the fact that the ignorant foreign vote was influencing elections[2] in the cities, that votes were freely sold, and that drunken aliens frequently had charge of the polls. The mythical order of Washington in a time of peculiar danger was remembered:
"Put none but Americans on guard to-night!"
It seemed reasonable and fitting that Americans, who had won this country from the savage, and fought all its early battles with the French and English, should govern the country they had redeemed. One thing led to another, until it was resolved to form a secret society, with the view of excluding all foreigners and many Roman Catholics from any part in the councils of the nation.