CHAPTER IV

RISE   OF   THE   KNOW-NOTHING   ORDER,  1853-54

By the close of 1852 the nativist secret societies were rep¬
resented in New York city and Brooklyn by some sixty dif¬
ferent bodies. Under the circumstances a popular revival of
nativism In some form was a logical sequence. It appeared
first In the form of attacks upon the Catholic church early in
the next year. The English press supplied the stimulus. The
story came across the sea of the Madiai family In Tuscany,
said to have been cruelly imprisoned for reading the Protest¬
ant Bible, and the American public expressed its horror suita¬
bly In public meetings, not forgetting to say many interesting
and bitter things about the Roman church at the same time.
Editorials and open letters on the subject came into print In
large numbers, and their general tenor was that the Catholic
church, judged by its own acts, was a foe to religious liberty.
Another matter came before the public at the same time. The
news dispatches from various American cities told how the
Catholic bishops, with a curious similarity of effort, were attack¬
ing the American non-sectarian school system. The convic¬
tion spread, and was often expressed, that there was some sort
of concerted plan on foot for the modification of the public
school system to suit the wishes of the Roman church. This
also disturbed a nervous public. While these things were
being discussed there came to New York an Italian orator,
Alessandro Gavazzi. He had been a priest and teacher In
Italy, and had become revolutionary under the liberalism of
Pius IX. When the revolution failed he fled to'England and
abjured Catholicism. His visit to America was for the pur-
84                                                                                        [282