Excerpt from A Biographical Sketch of Henry A. Wise: With a History of the Political Campaign in Virginia in 1855 In presenting this work to the public, it. is our aim to give a full account of the operations of the secret political society known as the Know-Nothing Party, in Virginia, in 1855. In doing this, we hope to present something useful to the living, and which may guard the unthinking in after generations against the machinations of any secret sect, clique or party, that may have for its object a usurpation of the government and its spoils, by other tenure than the popular voice, if we succeed in this we shall have accomplished our chief aim. We shall present the arguments of the ablest men in the land, both as speakers and as writers, against Know-Nothingism, coupled with their defence of the time honored principles of the Democratic party. This work will be compiled principally of such newspaper articles and speeches as were elicited in the war against Know-Nothingism during the gubernatorial canvass of 1855. The newspapers from which we have drawn most copiously, are the Richmond Enquirer, Examiner and Whig. In prefacing these compiled extracts, we have given our opinions succinctly, conscientiously, fearlessly, and unreservedly. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.