Chapter VII: Preface (6)

"The policy of Lord Baltimore, in regard to religious matters
in his colony, has, in some particulars at least, been
misapprehended and therefore misstated. The assertion has long
passed uncontradicted, that toleration was promised to the
colonists in the first conditions of plantation; that the
rights of conscience were recognized in a law passed by the
first assembly held in the colony; and that the principal
officers from the year 1636 or '37, bound themselves by on oath
not to molest on account of his religion any one professing to
believe in Jesus Christ. I can find _no authority_ for _any_ of
these statements. Lord Baltimore's first and earlier conditions
of plantation breathe not a word on the subject of religion: no
act recognizing the principle of toleration was passed in the
first or in any following assembly, until fifteen years after
the first settlement, at which time (1649) a Protestant had
been appointed Governor, and a majority of the Burgesses were
of the same faith; and when, _for the first time_, a clause
involving a promise not to molest any person professing to
believe in Jesus Christ, the words "and particularly a Roman
Catholic," were inserted by the direction of Lord Baltimore in
the official oath."

McMahon, the tried friend of Lord Baltimore, speaking on this same subject, says:

"The proprietary dominion (Lord B.'s) had never known that
hour, (when there was opportunity to persecute.) The Protestant
religion was the established religion of the mother country,
and any effort on the part of the Proprietary (Lord B.) to
oppress its followers would have _drawn down destruction on his
government_. The _great body_ of the colonists were themselves
Protestants, and, by their _number_ and their participation in
the government, they were fully equal to their own protection,
and _too powerful_ for the Proprietaries in the event of an
open collision."

Thus it will be seen that in Maryland, as everywhere else, in all past ages, so far as toleration is concerned, it was granted _to_ Catholics--never _by_ them.

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION--No. 5.

Popish aims at supremacy--Avowals by distinguished
Catholics--The order of Jesuits--Startling disclosures and
authentic references!--The strength of Romanism in the United
States!

The Romish hierarchy aims at supremacy in the Church and the State. It is nothing more nor less than a great _political_ system, arrogating to itself the right to sway the spiritual and temporal concerns of men--a right it claims to have derived from God, and that therefore the Romish Church is above all, and may rule all. Hence the conspiracy against our government emanating from the Vatican, and planned by the Pope, his Cardinals and Bishops, in the late grand council at Rome! They there and then resolved on affecting the objects of the _Leopold Foundation_, established in Vienna, May 13, 1829, to support Catholic missionaries in the United States. Every member of this Society--and its branches are numerous, being scattered over the whole earth--agrees to offer prayers daily to _St. Leopold_, and every week to contribute as much as a _crucifix_. The valley of the Mississippi has been surveyed and mapped by the Jesuits, under the directions of the Vatican, and Popish Cardinals in Europe are boasting of the certainty of their subjecting this land of freedom at no distant day to papal supremacy! Rev. Dr. JAMES, an eminent clergyman of England, says:

"The Church of Rome has determined to compensate herself for
her losses in the old world, by her conquest in the new."

Hence, too, a Papal editor in Europe conducting a Catholic organ, and advising vigorous measures for the extension of Papal power, says:

"We must make haste--the moments are precious--America may
become the centre of civilization."

The Rev. Dr. Reze, of Detroit, a priest of distinction, who is now in custody at Rome, a few years since, writing from Michigan to his master, the Pope, says:

"We shall see the truth triumph--the temple of idols
overthrown--the seat of falsehood brought to silence--and all
the United States embraced in the same faith of that Catholic
Church, wherein dwell truth and temporal happiness."

A Catholic priest in Indiana told a Protestant minister, an able Methodist clergyman, in a controversy, "The time will come when Catholics will make Protestants wade knee-deep in blood in the valley of the Mississippi!"

Bishop England, one of their master-spirits in this country, in a letter to the Pope written from Charleston, and which was so good that his Holiness caused it to be published, said:

"Within thirty years, the Protestant heresy will come to an
end. If we can secure the West and South, we will take care of
New England."

This same dignitary said to his brethren at Vienna in that memorable letter, by way of advice and encouragement:

"All that is necessary is money and priests, to subjugate the
mock liberties of America."

The Jesuits profess to be a more devoted branch of the Pope's army than any other order. The Abbe De Pradt, formerly Roman Archbishop at Malines, calls them "the Pope's zealous militia:" another correctly calls them "the Pope's body-guard, organized for the express purpose of defending the Papal See, and undertaking a spiritual crusade against heretics." Pius VII., in his Bull of August 7, 1814, reëstablishing the order, which Clement XIV. had suppressed, says: "We would be guilty of a great crime," if, amid the dangers threatening the Papal interests, and "if, placed in the barque of Peter, tossed and assailed by continual storms, we refused to employ the vigorous and experienced rowers who volunteer their services in order to break the waves of a sea which threatens every moment shipwreck and death."

The presumption is, that "these vigorous and experienced rowers who thus volunteer their services," have some moving principle, some hidden spring, which moves with that oneness and constancy under all discouragements. The watch does not show the spring that sets it in motion: who that looks at its face and observes the movement of the hands will doubt that it is there, and that they move in proportion to the strength or weakness of that spring?

The old Romans used to swear their soldiers: the Roman Church swears even her private members. Read the following from the creed: "I solemnly promise, vow, and _swear_ true obedience to the Roman bishop," &c. "This true Catholic faith, out of which there is no salvation, &c.--I promise, vow, and _swear_ most constantly to hold and profess the same, whole and entire, with God's assistance, to the end of my life, and procure, as far as lies in my power, that the same shall be held, taught, and preached by all who are under me," &c. "I also profess and undoubtedly receive all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and general councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent; and, likewise, I also condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever, condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the Church."

The Jesuits are more strict, subservient, devoted to the Vatican, than any other wing of the Catholic Church. In the second volume of the constitutions of the Jesuits, under the heading of _obedience to superiors_, is written:

"You shall always see Jesus Christ in the General."

"You shall obey him in every thing. Your obedience shall be
boundless in the execution, in the will and understanding. You
shall persuade yourselves that God speaks in his mouth: that
when he orders, God himself orders. You shall execute his
command immediately, with joy and with steadiness."

"You shall be in his hands a dead body, which he will govern,
move, place, displace, according to his will."

Under these teachings, says ARNAULD, a student in a college of Jesuits stated, on hearing of the implicit obedience of another:

"I would have done still more. Were God to order me, through
the voice of my superior, to put to death father, mother,
children, brothers, and sisters, I would do it with an eye as
tearless and a heart as calm as if I were seated at the banquet
of the Paschal lamb."

Andrew B. Cross, of Baltimore, in a recent publication, says:

"As early as 1624, the University of Paris charged them with
being governed by 'secret laws.' In 1649, Palafox, Bishop of
Angelopolis, in his letter to Innocent X., accuses them of
having 'a secret constitution, hidden privileges, and concealed
laws of their own.'"

What will our Democratic Protestant opposers of Know Nothing _secret lodges_ say to this? What will our Democratic advocates of Popery say to the principles of such an organization, and to its "horrible oaths?" But hear the Roman Catholic King of Portugal, in his manifesto to his Bishops, in 1759, only ninety-seven years ago:

"In order to form the union, the consistency, and the strength
of the society, there should be a government not only
monarchical, but so sovereign, so absolute, so despotic, that
even the Provincials themselves should not have it in their
power, by any act of theirs, to resist or retard the execution
of the orders of the General. By this legislative, inviolable
and despotic power; by the profound devotedness of the subjects
of this company to mysterious laws with which they are not
themselves acquainted; by the blind and passive obedience with
which they are compelled to execute, without hesitation or
reply, whatever their superiors command," &c.

But our Democratic anti-Know Nothings not only object to our having formerly kept our ritual concealed, but especially to our denial of the existence of our organization. Let them procure a copy of the secret instructions of the Jesuits, styled "_Secreta Monita_," and in the preface they will find these _lovely_ words:

"The greatest care imaginable must be also taken that these
instructions do not fall into the hands of strangers, &c.; if
they should, _let it be positively denied that these are the
principles of the society_," &c.

But again:

"Auquetil, in the fourth volume, page 333, of his History of
France, gives an account of the celebrated case of the
bankruptcy of the Rev. Father Jesuit La Valette, the Jesuit
agent, for three million francs. Their ships had been taken by
the English; the bankers in Marseilles, who had accepted bills
of exchange to the amount of one and a half millions, required
prompt payment. They wrote to De Sacy, the General Procurator
of the Missions; he wrote to the General at Rome, but the
General died at the same time; and before a new General could
be elected, and an order sent to pay the money, the Fathers had
become bankrupt, and suits were instituted. After delay and
manoeuvre on their part, the case came on unexpectedly in
1760. All the Jesuits were accused. They tried to lay the guilt
upon La Valette, but the bankers charged that all the Jesuits
were under the General, and La Valette was only agent. In this
sad condition they proposed to prove, according to their
constitutions, that as a society their body possessed nothing,
that all belonged to each college-house, convent, &c. The
proposal of the Jesuits was accepted. On the 8th of May, 1761,
after trial, the Parliament condemned the General and all the
society to pay bills, costs, damages, &c., which they did
without selling any of their property.

"It was in this evil hour to the Jesuits that their
constitutions, which had been acted upon for two hundred years
in secret, were brought to light. Rules and constitutions maybe
in existence and acted upon, when it would be impossible to
obtain a copy from any one who was sufficiently advanced in the
order to be trusted with a copy."

It will astonish American Protestants to be told how numerous, influential, and strong the Catholics are in this land of liberty! They have 7 archbishops, 40 bishops, 1704 priests, 1824 churches, 21 colleges, 37 ecclesiastical institutions for the education of priests and Jesuits, 117 female academies, all of which are, in reality, _Convents_. Nuns, priests, and Jesuits are the professors, teachers, and matrons; and, strange to say, _Protestant_ young ladies are their chief supporters!

The Romish Hierarchy is far more numerous in _Protestant_ America, than in any Catholic country on earth. Their strength in America equals what it is in Ireland, Scotland, and England combined! How extensive is this religious organization in our land: how subtle! Its ramifications are all so many _arteries_, which receive their life's blood from the heart at Rome, and return it there by its regular palpitations! It is now concentrating its _arteries_ at Washington City, and is promised "aid and comfort" from the great Democratic party--a party fast becoming the foe of true liberty, and of the evangelical Protestant faith.

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION--No. 6.

The Oath of a Bishop--Oath of a Priest--Oath of a Jesuit--Oath
of a San Fedisti--Oath of an Irish Ribbon-man--The Romish
Curse!

In this chapter we will exhibit the "_horrible oaths_" of the various grades of Catholics, from a _Bishop_ down to a _private member_--even to the "Irish Ribbon-men," thousands of whom swarm the United States. To these we will add the oath of the "Order of San Fedisti," an infamous secret society established in Italy, and introduced for the first time into this country by that prince of murderers, _Bedini_, the Pope's Nuncio; who was honored with a steamer at the expense of our government, Pierce at its head, to sail round our northern lakes, organizing these infamous societies. Last of all, we give the ROMISH CURSE, which is in full force and power in all Catholic countries, and is even pronounced publicly in our large cities, upon renegades from the Catholic faith.

These oaths will be found commencing on page 42 of "A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy. By REV. ISAAC BARROW, D. D. Second American Edition, 1844." By this author, the Latin is given and then translated. The same, in part, will be found in the debate between MR. BRECKENRIDGE, of the Presbyterian Church, and ARCHBISHOP HUGHES, and by the latter publicly acknowledged to be genuine, before a Baltimore audience who heard the discussion!

But these particular forms of oaths in question, which reckless Catholics and unprincipled Democrats deny, were published in England by Archbishop Usher, whose correctness and reliability is equal to that of any man. These oaths will be found in a volume entitled "Foxes and Firebrands," from a collection of papers by Archbishop Usher, and it is there stated that "it remains on record at Paris, among the Society of Jesus," and was drawn up in that form to URBAN VIII., in 1642, when he revived the bull of Pious V., which had slumbered seventy-three years. These oaths, as published, contain nothing which is not taught by Popes and Councils, Priests and Jesuits. Examine these _oaths_, and this _curse_, and answer us the question, Can men taking them, and subscribing to their doctrines, make citizens of this Republic?

OATH OF THE BISHOPS.

"I, G. N., elect of the church of N., from henceforth will be
_faithful_ and obedient to St. Peter the Apostle, and to the
holy Roman Church, and to our lord, the lord N. Pope N., and to
his successors canonically coming in. I will neither advise,
consent, nor do any thing that they may lose life or member, or
that their persons may be seized or hands anywise laid upon
them, or any injuries offered to them, under any pretence
whatsoever. The counsel which they shall intrust me withal by
themselves, their messengers, or letters, I will not knowingly
reveal to any to their prejudice. I will help them to defend
and keep the Roman Papacy and the royalties of St. Peter,
saving my order against all men. The legate of the Apostolic
see, going and coming, I will honorably treat, and help in his
necessities. The rights, honors, privileges, and authority of
the holy Roman Church, of our lord the Pope, and his aforesaid
successors, I will endeavor to preserve, defend, increase, and
advance. I will not be in any council, action, or treaty, in
which shall be plotted against our said lord and the said Roman
Church, any thing to the hurt or prejudice of their persons,
right, honor, state, or power; and if I shall know any such
thing to be treated or agitated by any whomsoever, I will
hinder it all that I can; and as soon as I can, will signify it
to our said lord, or to some other, by whom it may come to his
knowledge. The rules of the Holy Fathers, the Apostolic
decrees, ordinances, or disposals, reservations, provisions,
and mandates, I will observe with all my might, and cause by
others. Heretics, Schismatics, and Rebels to our said lord, or
his aforesaid successors, I will to the utmost of my power
persecute and oppose. I will come to a council when I am
called, unless I am hindered by a canonical impediment. I will,
by myself in person, visit the threshold of the Apostles every
three years; and give an account to our lord, and his aforesaid
successors, of all my pastoral office, and of all things
anywise belonging to the state of my church, to the discipline
of my clergy and people, and, lastly, to the salvation of souls
committed to my trust; and will, in like manner, humbly receive
and diligently execute the Apostolic commands. And if I be
detained by a lawful impediment, I will perform all things
aforesaid by a certain messenger hereto specially empowered, a
member of my Chapter or some other in ecclesiastical dignity,
or else having a parsonage; or in default of these, by a priest
of the diocese; or in default of one of the clergy, (of the
diocese,) by some other secular or regular priest of approved
integrity and religion, fully instructed in all things above
mentioned. And such impediment I will make out by lawful
proofs, to be transmitted by the aforesaid messenger to the
Cardinal proponent of the holy Roman Church, in the
Congregation of the Sacred Council. The possessions belonging
to my table, I will neither sell nor give away, mortgage nor
grant anew in fee, nor anywise alienate, no, not even with
consent of the Chapter of my Church, without consulting the
Roman Pontiff. And if I shall make any alienation, I will
thereby incur the penalties contained in a certain Constitution
put forth about this matter.

"So help me God, and these holy Gospels of God."

OATH OF THE PRIESTS.

"I, A. B., do acknowledge the ecclesiastical power of his
holiness; and the mother Church of Rome, as the chief head and
matron above all pretended churches throughout the whole earth;
and that my zeal shall be for St. Peter and his successors, as
the founder of the true and ancient Catholic faith, against all
heretical kings, princes, states, or powers repugnant to the
same; and although I, A. B., may follow, in case of persecution
or otherwise, to be heretically despised, yet in soul and
conscience I shall hold, aid, and succor the mother Church of
Rome, as the true, ancient, and apostolic Church. I, A. B.,
further do declare not to act or control any matter or thing
prejudicial unto her, in her sacred orders, doctrines, tenets,
or commands, without leave of its supreme power or its
authority, under her appointed; and being so permitted, then to
act and further her interests more than my own earthly good and
earthly pleasure, as she and her Head, his Holiness, and his
successors have, or ought to have, the supremacy over all
kings, princes, estates, or powers whatsoever, either to
deprive them of their crowns, sceptres, powers, privileges,
realms, countries, or governments, or to set up others in lieu
thereof; they dissenting from the mother Church and her
commands."

OATH OF THE JESUITS

"I, A. B., now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed
Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St.
John the Baptist, the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and
all the saints and hosts of heaven, and to you my ghostly
father, do declare from my heart, without mental reservation,
that his Holiness Pope ---- is Christ's Vicar General, and is
the true and only Head of the Catholic or universal Church
throughout the earth; and by the virtue of the keys of binding
and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Saviour Jesus Christ,
he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states,
commonwealths, and governments, all being illegal without his
sacred confirmation, and that they may safely be destroyed:
THEREFORE, to the utmost of my power, I shall and will defend
this doctrine, and his Holiness' rights and customs, against
all usurpers of the heretical (or Protestant) authority
whatsoever; especially against the now pretended authority and
Church of England, and all adherents, in regard that they and
she be usurpal and heretical, opposing the sacred mother Church
of Rome, I do renounce and disown any allegiance as due to
Protestants, or obedience to any of their inferior magistrates
or officers, I do further declare the doctrine of the Church of
England, the Calvinists, Huguenots, and of others of the name
Protestants, to be damnable, and that they themselves are
damned, and to be damned, that will not forsake the same. I do
further declare, that I will help, assist, and advise all or
any of his Holiness' agents, in any place wherever I shall be,
in England, Scotland, and Ireland, or in any other territory or
kingdom I shall come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the
heretical Protestant's doctrine, and to destroy all their
pretended powers, regal or otherwise. I do further promise and
declare, that notwithstanding I am dispensed with, to assume
any religion heretical, for the propagating of the mother
Church's interest, to keep secret and private all her agents'
counsels, from time to time, as they intrust me, and not to
divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing, or
circumstance, whatever, but to execute all that shall be
proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me, by you my
ghostly father, or any of this sacred convent. All which, I, A.
B., do swear, by the blessed Sacrament I am now to receive, to
perform, and on my part to keep inviolable; and do call all the
heavenly and glorious host of heaven to witness these my real
intentions to keep this, my oath. In testimony hereof, I take
this most holy and blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, and
witness the same further with my hand and seal, in the face of
this holy convent this day--An. Dom., etc."

OATH OF THE SAN FEDISTI.

"I, Son of the Holy Faith, No. --, promise and swear to sustain
the altar and the Papal throne, to exterminate heretics,
liberals, and all enemies of the Church, without pity for the
cries of children, or of men and women. So help me God."

OATH OF THE IRISH RIBBON-MEN.

"I, Patrick McKenna, swear by Saints Peter and Paul, and by the
blessed Virgin Mary, to be always faithful to the Society (of
Ribbon-men); to keep and conceal all the secrets, and its words
of order; to be always ready to execute the commands of my
superior officers, and, as far as it shall lie in my power, to
extirpate all heretics, and ALL THE PROTESTANTS, and to walk in
their blood to the knee! May the Virgin Mary and all saints
help me! To-day, the 2d of July, 1852.

"PAT. MCKENNA, _from Tydavenet_."

The following are the curses pronounced by the Papal Church against all who leave it for any Evangelical Church:

THE ROMISH CURSE.

"By the authority of God Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and the undefiled Virgin Mary, mother and patroness of
our Saviour, and of all celestial virtues, Angels, Archangels,
Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Cherubim, and Seraphim; and of all
the Holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and of all the Apostles and
Evangelists, of the Holy Innocents, who in the sight of the
Holy Lamb are found worthy to sing the new song of the Holy
Martyrs and Holy Confessors, and of all the Holy Virgins, and
of all Saints together with the holy elect of God; may he,
----, be damned. We excommunicate and anathematize him from the
threshold of the Holy Church of God Almighty. We sequester him,
that lie may be tormented, disposed, and be delivered over with
Dathan and Abiram, and with those who say unto the Lord:
'Depart from us, we desire none of thy ways:' as a fire is
quenched with water, so let the light of him be put out for
evermore, unless he shall repent him and make satisfaction.
Amen!

"May the Father, who creates man, curse him! May the Son, who
suffered for us, curse him! May the Holy Ghost, who is poured
out in Baptism, curse him! May the Holy Cross, which Christ,
for our salvation, triumphing over his enemies, ascended, curse
him!

"May the Holy Mary, ever virgin and mother of God, curse him!
May St. Michael, the advocate of the Holy Souls, curse him! May
all the Angels, Principalities, and Powers, and all Heavenly
Armies, curse him! May the glorious band of the Patriarchs and
Prophets curse him!

"May St. John the Precursor, and St. John the Baptist, and St.
Peter, and St. Paul, and St. Andrew, and all other of Christ's
Apostles together, curse him! And may all the rest of the
Disciples and Evangelists, who, by their preaching converted
the universe, and the holy and wonderful company of Martyrs and
Confessors, who by their works are found pleasing to God
Almighty, curse him! May the holy choir of the Holy Virgins,
who for the honor of Christ have despised the things of the
world, damn him! May all the saints from the beginning of the
world to everlasting ages, who are found to be beloved of God,
damn him!

"May he be damned wherever he be, whether in the house, or in
the alley, or in the water, or in the church! May he be cursed
in living and dying!

"May he be cursed in eating and drinking, in being hungry, in
being thirsty, in fasting, and sleeping, in slumbering, and in
sitting, in living, in working, in resting, and * * * and in
blood-letting.

"May he be cursed in all the faculties of his body!

"May he be cursed inwardly and outwardly! May he be cursed in
his hair; cursed be he in his brains, and in his vertex, in his
temples, in his eyebrows, in his cheeks, in his jaw-bones, in
his nostrils, in his teeth and grinders, in his lips, in his
shoulders, in his arms, in his fingers!

"May he be damned in his mouth, in his breast, in his heart,
and purtenances, down to the very stomach!

"May he be cursed in his reins and his groins; in his thighs,
in his genitals, and in his hips, and in his knees, his legs,
and his feet, and toe-nails!

"May he be cursed in all his joints, and articulation of the
members; from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet
may there be no soundness!

"May the Son of the living God, with all the glory of His
Majesty, curse him! And may heaven, with all the powers that
move therein, rise up against him, and curse and damn him;
unless he repent and make satisfaction! Amen! So be it. Be it
so. Amen!"

Now, we ask all candid men whose eyes have not been blinded by the dust of Popery and Democracy, can a Bishop or Priest, a Jesuit or Catholic, with these oaths upon their souls, be true American citizens? Not without the guilt of perjury, as black as the altar of a Roman Confessional! And if guilty of such perjury, the penitentiary should be their canonical residence for life! Strange to say, however, the Chief Justice of the United States, Roger B. Taney, is a Roman Catholic! Gen. Pierce's Postmaster-General, James Campbell, is both a Roman Catholic, and a member of the Order of Jesuits, having taken this very oath! Roman Catholics are now on the Federal Bench in the United States: Roman Catholics fill the offices of Attorneys-general; Roman Catholics represent this Government abroad; and Roman Catholics fill post-offices, land-offices, and a variety of offices at home, out of which Protestants were driven by Pierce's Administration, to make room for them!

LETTER FROM THOMAS A. R. NELSON, ESQ.

This gentleman, an able lawyer of East Tennessee, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a member of the American party, was nominated an Elector for the State of Tennessee at large, by the American State Convention at Nashville, in February last. Though an ardent American--a great friend of _Mr. Fillmore_--and a member of the late Philadelphia Convention, and aided in the nomination of _Maj. Donelson_, he has been reluctantly compelled to decline the position of Elector. Under date of May 30, 1856, he addressed a letter of nine columns, of great force and ability, to _Messrs. A. W. Johnson, Robert C. Foster, 3d., John H. Callender, William N. Bilbo, Sam'l. Pritchett, and E. D. Farnsworth, State Executive Committee of the American Party, Nashville, Tennessee_, declining the position. Although we regret his inability to serve, as do the whole party in this State, yet, if his letter could be placed in the hands of every voter in the State, we would be willing to risk the contest without further discussion. Such is our estimate of this document. For the benefit of "Old Line Whigs," and such Democrats as are disposed to excuse and apologise for Romanism, we give the four concluding columns of this letter. The five preceding columns are mainly occupied with an outline and defence of the action of the Philadelphia Nominating Convention, and a discussion of the slavery question--questions we had discussed in this work before this document came to hand. Mr. Nelson concludes thus:

"The Foreigners and Catholics were directly appealed to in the
Presidential elections of 1848 and 1852. Who does not remember
that, immediately preceding the election in 1844, fraudulent
naturalization papers were manufactured in New York? Who has
forgotten the Plaquemines fraud in Louisiana? Who has not heard
of the abuse of Mr. Frelinghuysen for no other cause than that
he was the President of the American Bible Society?

"But, without dwelling upon other illustrations, look to the
Democratic platform of 1852, and read the 8th section of the
third resolution, which is in the following words:

"'That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the
Declaration of Independence and sanctioned in the Constitution,
which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the
oppressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles
in the Democratic faith, and every attempt to abridge the
present privilege of becoming citizens and the owners of soil
among us, ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept
the alien and sedition laws from our statute books.'

"During the last election in Tennessee, it was often said by
Democrats that they were just as much opposed to the
immigration of foreign criminals and paupers as members of the
American party, but would not attach themselves to the latter
because of their objections to its organization. But the
Democratic Platform of 1852 contains no exception against
criminals and paupers. The naturalization laws have, in
practice, been found inadequate to their exclusion, and the
platform, in effect, avows unqualified adherence to them
without _abridgement_ or modification.

"These laws are, in substance, declared to have '_ever been
cardinal principles_ in the Democratic faith.' By its own
avowal, the Democratic party is responsible for giving
encouragement to the whole policy of foreign immigration. If
that policy has flooded the country with criminals and paupers;
if it has produced riots and bloodshed in our large cities; if
it has endangered the religious as well as the civil liberty of
Protestants; if it has swelled the ranks of Abolition and
fanned the flame of Agitation--the Democratic party, by its own
avowal, is amenable at the bar of public opinion for these
astounding and deplorable results. Reckless of consequences, it
has persevered in a system hazardous to the stability of our
institutions, because that system has annually swelled the
number of its adherents, and increased the chances of its
perpetual ascendency.

"Without adverting to the census tables, or repeating those
familiar facts connected with the statistics of immigration
which have been so extensively published, it is sufficient to
observe that, under this continued patronage of the Democratic
party, the immigration of foreigners has increased from a few
thousands, twenty years ago, to nearly half a million in 1854.

"But the Democratic party cannot justly claim the exclusive
honor of projecting or carrying out the system. More than
twenty years ago, the Duke of Richmond declared, in substance,
that he had conversed with most of the sovereigns and princes
of Europe; that they were jealous of the influence of our
republican institutions upon their own Government; that they
did not expect to conquer us as a nation, but designed the
subversion of our Government by the introduction of the low and
surplus population of Europe among us; that 'discord,
dissension, anarchy, and civil war would ensue, and some
popular individual would assume the government and restore
order, and the sovereigns of Europe, the emigrants, and many of
the natives, would sustain him.' He also said, in speaking of
the United States, that 'the Church of Rome has a design upon
that country, and it will, in time, be the established
religion, and will aid in the destruction of that republic.'

"These statements of the Duke of Richmond are abundantly
corroborated by other declarations, as well as the most
undeniable facts which have occurred since their promulgation.

"I have in my possession, among various others, two small books
published by 'the American and Foreign Christian Union,' 156
Chambers street, New York, the one entitled 'Foreign
Conspiracy,' the other, 'Startling Facts,' both of which, as I
infer from their contents, were written in the year 1834, long
before the American party had an existence. The work entitled
'Foreign Conspiracy' is composed of a series of articles
originally published, over the signature of Brutus, in the New
York Observer. They now appear with the name of the author,
SAMUEL F. B. MORSE. His object in writing the work was to
arouse public attention to the efforts then being made in
Europe to propagate the Catholic religion in the United States,
and to show its danger to our republican institutions. He
traces the origin of the Leopold Foundation in Austria, under
the especial patronage of the Emperor at Vienna on the 12th
May, 1829, and shows that one of its leading objects was 'to
promote the greater activity of Catholic missions in America.'

"The letter of Prince _Metternich_ to Bishop Fenwich, of
Cincinnati, under date, Vienna, April 27, 1830, is set out at
length; and, in that letter, the Prince informs the Bishop,
among other things, that the Emperor 'allows his people to
contribute to the support of the Catholic Church in America.'
Numerous quotations are made from the letters of Foreign
Bishops in the United States to their patrons at home, and,
among the rest, on page 85, is the following statement, made by
one of them, in regard to the people of the United States: 'We
entreat all European Christians to unite in prayer to God for
the conversion of these unhappy heathen and obstinate
heretics.' But, forbearing to multiply quotations from this
little work, admirable in most of its positions, my main
object, in citing it, was to make the following extract, from
page 15 of the preface, taken by the author from the lectures
of the celebrated Frederick Schlegel, delivered at Vienna in
1828, where that distinguished foreigner says, 'The true
nursery of all these destructive principles, the revolutionary
school for France and the rest of Europe, has been North
America. Thence the evil has spread over many other lands,
either by national contagion or by arbitrary communication;'
and also the following quotation, from page 118 of Mr. Morse's
book: 'Austria, one of the Holy Alliance of sovereigns, leagued
against the liberties of the world, has the superintendence _of
the operations of Popery in this country_.'

"In the tract entitled 'Startling Facts for American
Protestants,' written in the year 1834, by REV. HERMAN NORTON,
Corresponding Secretary of the American Protestant Society,
from pages 27 to 39, an account is given of a London pamphlet
entitled 'New Plan of Emigration,' the production of a Roman
Catholic gentleman, a London Banker; in which a project for
occupying the North Western States with the Roman Catholic
population of Europe, is unfolded, together with _a map of the
country_, and, among other things, it is said, on page 29: 'The
first settlements should be made in those fertile prairie
districts situated on the southern sides of the Canadian lakes,
_where slavery is unknown_. On page 28, the objects of this
society, as set forth in this pamphlet, are stated to be,

"'1. To provide the means for colonizing the surplus Roman
Catholic population of Europe in our Western States.

"'2. To do this in such a way as to create a large demand for
articles of British manufacture.

"'3. _To make Romanism the predominant religion of this
country._'

"The census tables will show that, since these plans were set
on foot, in England and in Europe, to break down our
government, there has been an astonishing increase in the
foreign immigration to this country. Great as it was prior to
the Revolutions in Europe in 1848, it has been amazingly
augmented since that time. Millions of foreign money have been
collected in Europe and expended since the organization of the
society for the propagation of the faith, at Lyons in France,
about the year 1822, in the United States. While an Austrian
Emperor has had the charge, in a good degree, of the
propagation of the Catholic religion in the United States, the
public authorities in various parts of Europe have defrayed the
expenses of their criminals and paupers to this country, as was
clearly shown by Congressional investigations.

"What do these facts prove? Why, that the declaration of the
Duke of Richmond, that the crowned heads of Europe intended to
subvert our government, was true. What more do they prove? Why,
that the effort to establish the Catholic religion in this
country has, for more than twenty years, been conducted with
steady perseverance, until the Catholics, who, in 1850, were
more numerous, as the census compendium shows, than any one
denomination of Methodists, are now no doubt stronger than all
the Methodists put together, and stronger than any other
denomination of Protestants.

"While these publications have been before the American people
for more than twenty years, Democratic leaders have received,
with open arms, the swarms of foreigners who have settled upon
our shores. What care _they_ for the slavery question, when
they have seen this foreign immigration, according to the plan
concerted in England, settling in the non-slaveholding States,
and every year increasing the Abolition power? What care they
for the Protestant religion, if the Catholics can only give
them the numerical strength at the ballot-box? What regard have
_they_ for the preservation of our liberties, when European
despots are seeking to undermine them, if those despots only
send such myrmidons as will shout hosannas to Democracy and
drive from the polls peaceful American citizens who oppose
them? Is the preservation of the Union a matter of any
consequence to them? Do they not in vision behold its scattered
fragments and contemplate new confederacies, with hosts of new
offices and millions of spoil?

"Can any one doubt that the Democratic party is in league with
all the dangerous elements that have disturbed and are
continuing to disturb our once peaceful and happy country, and
that they stickle at nothing when votes are at stake?

"Look to their conduct in running Mr. Polk as a tariff man in
the North, and an anti-tariff man in the South! Look to the two
lives of Cass. Look to their equivocal position as to slavery
and the Union. Look to their appeals to foreigners and
Catholics by name in the elections of 1844 and 1852, and
probably in 1848. Look to their alliance with Free Germans and
Fourierites, Free Soilers and Secessionists. And, above all,
look to the miserable cant with which they raise the hue and
cry of persecution in favor of the Catholics, and, indirectly,
deny to Protestant ministers the right to make war upon a huge
corporation, calling itself a church, dealing in human souls,
reeking with the blood of martyrs, and begrimed with more than
ten centuries of oppression.

"No wonder that they have vilified and denounced the American
party with every term of opprobrium that our vocabulary can
furnish. No wonder they talk of dark lanterns and secret oaths
and midnight assemblies. No wonder that they strive to frighten
their followers with the notion that the American party is a
raw-head and bloody bones, which should be shunned and avoided.
For, if honest men of that party will only take the trouble to
shake off the control of their leaders: to think, examine, to
read, reflect, and act for themselves, there are thousands of
Democrats in the South who would scorn, like the American
party, an alliance with Abolitionists, and there are tens of
thousands of Protestant Union-loving Democrats everywhere, who
have only confided in, to be deceived and betrayed by, their
leaders, and, if they discover, as it is hoped they will, that
they have brought them to the crumbling verge of an awful
precipice, they have patriotism enough and Protestantism enough
to break away from them rather than make the awful plunge.

"I regret that I am admonished by the length to which I have
extended this communication, that I cannot now discuss the
Catholic question, as I had hoped to do at the outset, and I
shall present only a few disjointed remarks in connection with
it.

"The American party does not seek to impose any religious test
such as prevailed in the reign of Charles II., when two
thousand Non-conformist ministers were driven from their
pulpits, or such, as in the same reign, was imposed upon Roman
Catholics and continued from 1673 to 1828. The American party
does not propose that any religious test, of any kind, shall be
imposed by law, upon any person whatever, but it does seek to
organize a public sentiment on the Catholic question, just in
the same mode that, in times past, parties have sought to
organize public sentiment upon the tariff question--the bank
question--the internal improvement question--the temperance
question, and every other question which has been the subject
of difference. If it is lawful to say, I will not vote for you
because you are a Whig, it is equally lawful to say--I will not
vote for you because you are a foreigner. If it is lawful to
say, I will not vote for you because you are a Democrat, it is
equally lawful to say, I will not vote for you because you are
a Catholic.

"Neither does the American party propose, in the slightest
degree, to interfere with any of the rights secured to Roman
Catholics, in common with others, by the Constitution. If they
choose to worship a great DOLL as the Virgin Mary--to burn tall
wax-candles in daylight--to pray to God in an unknown
tongue--to believe that a simple wafer is the actual body, and
common wine the very blood of our Saviour--to enforce the
celibacy of the clergy--to worship the host--to believe that
old toe-nails and pieces of wood are precious relics--to
prevent their people from reading the Bible--to refuse to send
their children to Protestant schools--to retain the
confessional and the nunnery--to pin their faith to
unauthenticated traditions--to assert that theirs is the only
true Church, and to perpetrate a thousand ridiculous
mummeries--the members of the American party with one accord
will say, molest them not, disturb them not, trouble them not;
the religious privileges of this country are as free to them as
they are to us, and we will not, by law or by violence,
interrupt or interfere with them in the slightest degree. But
knowing that the Catholic Church was for a thousand years
allied to the State; that it claimed dominion, in temporal as
well as spiritual affairs, over the kings of the earth; that it
regards the Pope as the Vicegerent of the Almighty; that he
wears the tiara as the symbol of his power in heaven, earth,
and hell; that Romanists treat all other professions as
heretics; that its Archbishops, Bishops and Priests are sworn
to persecute all who differ with them; that the persecuting
spirit of that Church has been displayed, for centuries, in the
most odious acts of cruelty as well as the most despotic
tyranny that ever cursed the earth; that fire and faggot,
confiscation and torture have been its favorite weapons; that
no age, or sex or condition has been exempt from its inhuman
butcheries and demoniac lusts; that it exterminated the
Albigenses and Waldenses; that it caused the gutters of Paris
to run with human blood on St. Bartholomew's day; that it
lighted the fires of Smithfield; that through the
instrumentality of Tyrconnel and Catholic and Irish Rappadees,
it perpetrated the inhuman atrocities of the Irish Massacres;
that, it drove the Huguenots from France, and the Puritans from
England; that it has delighted in the chains and dungeons of
the Inquisition, and shouted, with fiendish exultation, at the
cries and groans of the victims in the _auto da fe_; that no
republican government has ever flourished under its sway; that
it regards ignorance as the mother of devotion, and denies the
obligation of an oath; that it gave rise to the Order of
Jesuits, the most detestable sect that the earth has ever seen;
that, in the midst of the blaze of the nineteenth century, it
has burned the Bible in America and imprisoned men and women in
Europe for no other offence than that of reading it; that,
abusing the freedom of the press and speech secured in the
United States, it unblushingly avows that all Protestantism is
heresy--that it is a crime--and punished in _Christian
countries like Spain and Italy_ as a crime; that it has
banished the Bible from Protestant schools, when under its
control; that it has intermeddled in political elections, and
is struggling for political power; that it wears a mask and
claims to be harmless in this country for present effect,
although it has never renounced one of its dogmas in any
authoritative mode; that it is typified, in the Bible, as the
Man of Sin and the Great Whore of Babylon; that it comes to us
as an angel of light, but is allied with the Prince of
Darkness: knowing all these things, and believing that the
Roman Catholic Church, now that it is covered with the broad
wings of Modern Democracy, partakes of its meat and is pampered
by its patronage, is, infinitely, the most dangerous political
power with which the people of the United States have ever been
compelled to grapple, the American party invites all who love
national liberty more than Democracy; who prefer civil and
religious freedom to the spoils of office; who revere the
memory of Tyndale, Luther, and Calvin; of Cranmer, Latimer, and
Ridley; of the seven Bishops; of Fox; of the Puritan fathers;
of Wesley and Hall; of the Reformers and Protestants of every
name, and, more than all, of our revolutionary ancestors, to
burst the fetters of party and come to the rescue of their
bleeding country, bleeding at every pore from wounds inflicted
by Democratic hands, amidst the jeers of European despots, the
shouts of foreigners in our midst, and the taunts and sneers of
Catholics and Jesuits all around us!

"Let not Protestant ministers be intimidated by the impudent
assaults of a venal press, or the fierce denunciations of
infuriated politicians, from doing their whole duty in the
pulpit and at the polls. No Presbyterian has ever denied to a
Methodist the right to question his religious faith, and no
Methodist will dispute the right of other denominations to
impugn his creed. Methodists have assailed the Presbyterian
doctrine of election. Presbyterians, in turn, have assailed
their ideas of perfection and falling from grace. Both have
controverted the Baptists' views of immersion, and all have
denied the Episcopalians' doctrine of _apostolic succession_.
These and many other points of difference have, from the
foundation of our government, often been the subjects of
earnest, protracted, and excited discussion; but when did any
American Protestant ever deny to another American Protestant
the constitutional right to differ with him in opinion, and to
express that difference through the press, in the pulpit, or
any other constitutional mode? Yet, it has been reserved for
Democratic presses to attempt, for electioneering purposes, to
curb the free spirit of Protestant ministers: to denounce them
as "REVEREND HYPOCRITES;" and, when beholding at home and
abroad, on the land and on the sea, among Christians and
Pagans, in the halls of legislation, in churches and schools,
in free speech, and in a free press, and in ten thousand other
forms, the magnificent and glorious results of the Reformation,
to ask, with impudent assurance, 'WHAT HAS PROTESTANTISM DONE
FOR THE WORLD?' Not satisfied with the storm of execration
which such an infamous interrogatory produced, the Nashville
Union and American, the leading Democratic paper in Tennessee,
in a very abusive article entitled '_What has it
accomplished?_' under date of April 26, 1856, thus speaks,
among other things, of what he styles 'the Know Nothing
Organization:'

"'_It has done more than this: it has gone into the Church and_
CONVERTED THE PULPIT INTO A POLITICAL ROSTRUM--_it has turned
the attention of the ministry from_ THE PEACEFUL PATHS OF
CHRISTIANITY TO THE ARENA OF POLITICAL TURMOIL--_it has pulled
down the banner of the Cross, and placed in its stead_ THE RED
FLAG OF INTOLERANCE AND PROSCRIPTION.'

"While Protestant ministers, in the enjoyment of the rights
secured to them by the Constitution, have, as before stated,
often engaged in controversies with each other as to their
differences in matters of Church government and speculative
faith, they have, with one accord, from the foundation of the
government, preached and published their views against the
Roman Catholic Church--which arrogates a superiority over them
all, and stigmatizes them as sects--long before the American
party ever had an existence. But because, in the course of
events, it has become necessary for politicians to inquire what
effect an acknowledgment of the temporal supremacy of the Pope
may have upon our free institutions, the Democratic party--if
it is to be judged of by its organ--would gag the Protestant
clergy, deny to them a right which they have always exercised,
and, if they dare to oppose the colossal strides of Rome,
denounce them as having converted the pulpit into a _political
rostrum_,' and as having raised '_the red flag of Intolerance
and Proscription_.'

"It is not for me to prescribe, nor do I desire to dictate the
duty of Protestant ministers; but if, in the combined efforts
which the Catholics have been making under the patronage of
European despots and noblemen, and the encouragement of
Democratic demagogues in our own country, they see that this
tremendous corporation has planted its footsteps in all our
large cities--is possessing itself of the North-West and the
Mississippi valley--and is encircling them, as it were, with a
wall of fire: if they see that the newspapers and periodicals
of that corporation have published doctrines in this free
country which they would scarcely avow in the Roman Catholic
countries of Europe: if, in one word, they believe that they
are to be persecuted and exterminated by Catholics, or take
care of themselves before it is too late--then Protestant
ministers, agreeing as they do in all great doctrines, and
differing only as to those which are not absolutely essential,
will cease to disagree among themselves, at least until after
they avert a common danger, and will rally as a band of
brethren to resist, in such mode as they may deem proper, the
encroachments and the insults of Rome, and all her satellites
and allies.

"If I do not greatly err in the estimate which I place upon the
Protestant clergymen of America, the Democratic party and the
Catholics will discover, sooner or later, that the same spirit
which caused the Protestant fathers to brave the perils of the
BOOT and the STAKE: to stand, without flinching, before such
miscreant judges as _Jeffreys_ and _Scroggs_: to yield two
thousand pulpits and look beggary and starvation in the face,
rather than compromise with conscience; and, above all, to risk
the untried dangers of the ocean and settle among savages--will
nobly animate their descendants, and they will act in a manner
worthy of themselves and of the great cause which is intrusted
to their keeping.

"Never was a more unfounded charge made against any party than
that of _proscription_ against the American party. It is only
the political feature--the allegiance to the Pope of
Rome--which we have felt called upon especially to oppose:
leaving it to Protestant ministers to expose, if they choose,
the absurdity of Catholic theological tenets.