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[Illustration: _R. W. Thompson._]
THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE JESUITS.
by
R. W. THOMPSON,
Ex-Secretary of the Navy, and Author of "The Papacy
and the Civil Power."
"It was very difficult, not to say impossible, that the Church
could recover a firm or durable peace so long as the said society
existed."--Pope Clement XIV.
"The Jesuits, by their very calling, by the very essence of
their institution, are bound to seek, by every means, right or
wrong, the destruction of Protestantism. This is the condition
of their existence, the duty they must fulfill, or cease to be
Jesuits."--Nicolini, of Rome.
Cincinnati: Cranston & Curts.
New York: Hunt & Eaton.
1894.
Copyright
by Cranston & Curts,
1894.
PREFACE.
The civil institutions of the United States could not have been formed
without the separation of Church and State, and could not continue to
exist if they were again united. Christianity could not maintain its
primitive purity if politics and religious faith were mingled together;
nor could the State preserve its capacity to provide for the general
welfare if subjected to the dominion of ecclesiastical authority. Our
success as a nation is mainly attributable to the fact that these
sentiments are deeply imbedded in the American mind.
A party pledged to restore to the pope the temporal power
which the Italian people have taken away, must necessarily be
_politico-religious_ in character, because it proposes to interfere
with the temporal affairs of one of the European nations. And if the
attempt to do this is justified upon the ground that such restoration
involves religious duty, any one can see that the obligation is the
same in the United States as in Italy, for the laws of God do not shift
to suit the exigencies of human affairs.
In the times before the Reformation the temporal affairs of Governments
were required to conform to the commands of the ecclesiastical
authority--that is, the pope--and it was held to be a necessary and
essential part of religion that this union should be continued, no
matter what might be the degree of popular ignorance and humiliation.
The founders of our Government started out upon a different theory,
believing it to be their duty to separate "the things of God" from
"the things of Cæsar," so that each could reach perfection in its own
distinct sphere. Therefore, it is clear that a _politico-religious_
party in this country, pledged to unite Church and State in Italy,
against the expressed will of the Italian people, not only must oppose
one of the fundamental principles of our Government, but disturb the
public peace.
To my mind it is also clear that a nation acts politically, and not
religiously, when it decides upon the structure of its temporal
Government--that is, whether its affairs shall be managed by an
absolute or elective monarch, or by machinery provided by a written
constitution. I have, therefore, refrained from the discussion or
criticism of religious belief--as it is understood in the American
sense--any further than it is made the pretext for the reversal of this
opinion, so generally prevalent in this country. It would be an evil
day for the people of the United States if they should be persuaded to
permit any power whatsoever, whether temporal or spiritual, at home or
abroad, to share with them any portion of their political authority, or
to dictate, in any degree, the measures of their civil polity.
In reminding those into whose hands this volume may chance to fall, of
their obligations of citizenship under our popular form of government,
I have found it absolutely necessary to portray the character of the
Jesuits, but for whom, in my opinion, there would be but little to
disturb us. This society has nothing in common with American ideas
or principles. It represents monarchism in its most despotic and
obnoxious form, by requiring each of its members to impersonate the
most abject servility, and to accept this humiliation as an absolutely
necessary part of religious faith. It has had a history unlike that
of any other society in the world. In pointing out its origin and
tracing its footprints among the nations, I have relied upon the most
undoubted authority, much of which is furnished by Jesuit authors. A
careful examination of the evidence will leave the mind of the reader
in no doubt as to the odium which rested upon the society from the
beginning, as well as the manner in which it has disturbed the quiet
of the nations, defied the popes themselves when adverse to them,
and disregarded the interest, welfare, and harmony of the Church it
professed to serve, when required by its general.
I have deemed it important to trace out some of the leading events
which have transpired under the pontificates of Gregory XVI, Pius
IX, and Leo XIII, up to the present time. In this way only is it
possible to understand the full meaning of the revolution which led
to Italian unity and the overthrow of the temporal power of the pope
by Roman Catholic populations, and what is involved in the demand for
its restoration. In doing this I have considered only such matters
as are _politico-religious_, in the sense common among the people
of the United States, and which can not be made a part of religious
faith without doing violence to the recognized spirit of our civil
institutions. Thus I have avoided any conflict with those who prefer
the Roman Catholic to the Protestant form of religious belief, for the
express reason that I have neither the purpose nor desire to question
their right to do so. It seems to me that the constitutional guarantee
which protects this right ought to be satisfactory to all, and can
not be disturbed without imperiling our Government. Therefore, all I
desire will be accomplished if I shall succeed in convincing thoughtful
Roman Catholics that it will be far better for all of us if they shall
decline to accept the _politico-religious_ teachings of the Jesuits
as a part of their religious faith, and content themselves without
interference with the political affairs of their Christian brethren in
Italy. They may maintain fidelity to the Government as patriotically as
professed Protestants, without abating their devotion to the spiritual
doctrines which prevailed in their Church before the fall of the Roman
Empire enabled the popes to place the crown of temporal royalty upon
their heads. To this end I would, if permitted, appeal to that portion
of our population in all sincerity, and invoke the exercise of their
intelligence no less than their patriotism. And if any of them shall
peruse this volume, and carefully consider its contents, they will see
that what I have written centers in the hope that the Protestants and
Roman Catholics of the United States shall live together in the concord
of Christian fellowship, emulating each other in those things that
shall tend most to promote their mutual happiness, and preserve for
their common posterity the civil and religious liberty guaranteed by
our Constitution and laws.
There are abundant evidences to show that the Jesuits have adopted
a loose code of morality, upon which they have built up a system of
"moral theology" as irreconcilable with the true teachings of the Roman
Catholic religion as they are with the well-established doctrines of
all Protestant Christians. But I have refrained from any discussion
of these, not only because this is sufficiently done by Pascal and
Bert, in France, and by numerous American authors, but because my main
object is to show that the triumph of the Jesuits in this country
would bring about such a condition of things as would imperil our
civil institutions. They teach as _religious_ doctrines necessary to
salvation the following: That the State must be reunited with the
Church, and be required to obey its spiritual commands in the enactment
of laws; that the Roman Catholic religion shall be established by law
as the only true religion, and every other form of religious belief
treated and punished as heresy; that, along with this destruction
of the freedom of religious belief, there must be corresponding
restrictions placed upon the liberty of speech and of the press; that
the Roman Catholic Church shall be recognized as an organization
exempt from obedience to all our laws relating to the ownership and
management of real property; that the clergy of that Church shall be
also exempt from obedience to the laws as other citizens, and shall
obey only such as the pope may prescribe; and that our common-school
system of education must be absolutely and entirely destroyed. If,
in these things, the Jesuits should obtain success, our Government
would necessarily come to an end; and what this volume contains has
been written alone with the view of making this question plain and
palpable to the ordinary reader. I have written from the standpoint of
an American citizen, thoroughly impressed with the belief that this
is the most prosperous country in the world, and not from that of a
theologian. About the duties and obligations of the former to the
Government, I assume to have learned something from both instinct and
education; but about the metaphysical subtleties of the theologians, I
do not trouble myself.
I know how difficult it is to escape the accusation of a persecuting
spirit from those who, like the Jesuits, allow nothing for honest
differences of opinion. This, however, ought not to be permitted to
interfere with the plain and obvious duty of defending our civil
institutions from any assault made upon them, no matter by whom,
or in whose name, the assailing forces shall be marshaled. With the
consciousness, therefore, that this volume may subject me to the
imputation of uncharitableness from some upon whom I would inflict no
injury in return, I have expressed myself with candor and fairness, and
have written nothing in malice.
R.W.T.
Terre Haute, 1894.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Abolition of the Pope's Temporal Power--The Pope commands
its Restoration--Organization for that Purpose--Duties of
American Citizens, 15
CHAPTER II.
IGNATIUS LOYOLA, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER.
Ignatius Loyola, the Founder of the Jesuit Society--His Original
Purpose to reform the Church, and to establish his Society
in Palestine--Having failed, he was compelled to have it approved
by the Pope--This was done by Paul III, after the
Constitution was amended, 32
CHAPTER III.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SOCIETY.
(The Constitution of the Jesuits) Entirely Monarchical--Substitutes
the General for God upon Earth--Sin committed with
out Offense when the General commands it--The General Independent
of the Pope--The Society obey him alone, 49
CHAPTER IV.
GOVERNMENT OF THE SOCIETY.
Loyola, a "Soldier of Fortune"--His Monarchical Government--His
Unpopularity among the Dominican Monks--His Plottings
against the Franciscans at Saragossa and Condemnation
by the Church Authorities--His Success Accomplished
only by aid of Monarchical Power, 66
CHAPTER V.
STRUGGLES AND OPPOSITION.
Conduct of the Jesuits at Toledo in Spain--Opposition of the
Church Authorities to them--They again get Protection from
Royal Power--The Effort to get into France--Opposition of
the French People to them--Long Continued Struggle, 84
CHAPTER VI.
THE STRUGGLE FOR FRANCE.
Continued Struggle of the Jesuits to get into France--Resisted
by the Parliament--Their Intrigues and Reliance upon Royal
Power--Council at Poissy--Attended by the Jesuit General,
who suppressed Discussion with Protestants--Their Reliance
upon Catharine de Medicis--Her Aid in the St. Bartholomew
Massacre, 99
CHAPTER VII.
THE SOCIETY ENTERS GERMANY.
Jesuit Efforts to get into Germany--Less Difficulty than in
France--When they reached there, Protestants and Roman
Catholics living in Peace--Jesuit German College at Rome--Teaching
Treason to German Youth as a Religious Duty, 114
CHAPTER VIII.
THE JESUITS IN ENGLAND.
Plottings of the Jesuits in England--Their Opposition to Religious
Toleration--Opposition to Elizabeth by the Pope, and her
Trial at Rome--Papal Decree dethroning her, and releasing
the English People from their Allegiance to her, 130
CHAPTER IX.
JESUIT INFLUENCE IN INDIA.
Jesuit Mission to India--Imposition of Xavier upon the Monks at
Goa--His Pretended Miracles, 152
CHAPTER X.
IN PARAGUAY.
The Jesuits in Paraguay--Their Government of the Indians--Their
Resistance to the Authority of the Spanish and the Portuguese
Governments, 168
CHAPTER XI.
THE PORTUGUESE AND THE JESUITS.
Conflict between the Portuguese and the Jesuits--Charges
against them laid before the Pope, Benedict XIV--Investigation
ordered by him, 183
CHAPTER XII.
IDOLATROUS USAGES INTRODUCED.
Jesuits become Idolaters by the Worship of Brahma in India,
and of Confucius in China, 196
CHAPTER XIII.
PAPAL SUPPRESSION OF THE SOCIETY.
Clement XIII was compelled by Public Opinion to Promise the
Suppression of the Jesuits, but was murdered--They were
suppressed by Clement XIV, who was poisoned--His Decree
of Suppression, 217
CHAPTER XIV.
RE-ESTABLISHMENT.
The Jesuits evade the Decree of the Pope suppressing them, and
seek Shelter in Russia and Prussia--They were re-established
by Pius VII, to aid the "Allied Powers" to perpetuate
Monarchism, 236
CHAPTER XV.
RE-ENTERING SPAIN.
The Jesuits re-enter Spain--They support Ferdinand VII in
trampling upon the Constitution--They arouse a Revolutionary
Spirit among the People, 257
CHAPTER XVI.
REVOLUTIONS IN SOUTHERN EUROPE.
Retrogressive Policy of Gregory XVI--He holds the Italians in
Subjection by the Austrian Army--Is succeeded by Pius IX
during the Revolution, 282
CHAPTER XVII.
TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE OVERTHROWN.
Pius IX unable to quiet the Revolution--He drives the Jesuits
out of Italy--Italy unites with Sardinia--Italian Independence
established, and the Temporal Power of the Pope abolished--Terms
of Conciliation proposed by Victor Emmanuel,
and rejected by the Pope--The New Government anathematized, 306
CHAPTER XVIII.
PAPAL DEMANDS.
Distinction between the Church and the Papacy--Allocution of
Pius IX--Demand for the Restoration of the Temporal
Power--An Act of Infallibility--Leo XIII elected--Educated
by the Jesuits--Refused to be reconciled to Modern Progress--His
Encyclical--Demands Temporal Power--Prefers
the Middle Ages--His Jesuit Training, 329
CHAPTER XIX.
PRESENT ATTITUDE OF THE PAPACY.
The Faithful in the United States required to organize to restore
the Temporal Power--That Question an International One--Its
Opposition to the Policy of this Country--Opinion of
Leo XIII upon Freedom of the Press--He condemns Separation
of Church and State--Politico-Religious Questions, 347
CHAPTER XX.
THE CHURCH AND THE STATE.
Doctrines maintained by Leo XIII before he became Pope--The
Union of Church and State--Absolute Obedience to the
Church, 366
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CHURCH SUPREME.
The Church the Mistress of all Nations--Its Right to command
Universal Obedience--The School Question--Mgr. Satolli, the
Vice-Pope--His Theory as dictated by the Pope--Our Common
Schools Heretical--Must be superseded by Parochial
Schools, where Religion is taught, 388
CHAPTER XXII.
JESUITICAL TEACHINGS.
Doctrines of Thomas Aquinas--Also those of the Jesuits--_De
jure_ and _de facto_ Governments--The United States the Latter,
and may be resisted--Persistence in these Teachings, 407
CHAPTER XXIII.
PAPAL INFALLIBILITY.
The Decree of Infallibility--Its Passage by the Vatican Council--Its
Definition and Meaning--Extends the Jurisdiction of the
Pope--Gives him Authority over Politico-Religious Questions
throughout the World, 427
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE CHURCH AND LITERATURE.
Papal Teachings by Means of Literature--Arraignment of American
Institutions--Attack upon the Liberties of the People--Free
Institutions are Heretical--Religion requires their
Overthrow, 443
CHAPTER XXV.
INTRIGUES AND INTERPRETATIONS.
The Temporal Power Hurtful to the Church--Has led to its
Disintegration--Maintained by Oppressions--Designed to check
the Reformation--Infallibility Essential to it--Jesuit Influence
in the Council of Trent--Perversions of Scripture--Infallibility
not decreed by the Council of Trent, 463
CHAPTER XXVI.
CONCLUSION.
The Vatican Council--Effect of the Decree of Infallibility--The
Bull _Unam Sanctam_ of Boniface VIII--Absolute Dominion
over Peoples and Nations--Necessity of Guarding against it
in the United States--Importance of Common Schools--The
Duty of keeping them free from Jesuit Control, 479
Footprints of the Jesuits.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
The American people have imbibed, from association, the spirit of
their civil institutions, and are ready at all times to repel any
direct assault upon them. They are, however, so actively engaged in
their various pursuits, that multitudes of them fail to realize the
necessity of inquiring whether the conflict between opposing principles
of government which resulted in our national independence, has or has
not ended--whether, in other words, the victory the founders of the
Republic won over monarchism, is or is not final.
Those who won this victory intended to provide against this seeming
want of vigilance by means of some system of education, which should
assimilate the principles and opinions of the people, as a perpetual
bulwark against aggression. This would have been accomplished long
ago if the paternal counsels of Presidents Washington and Madison had
been heeded as they deserved to be,--that we should educate "our youth
in the science of government,"[1] under the auspices and protection
of national authority. Instead of this, we have considered ourselves
sufficiently shielded by our system of public-school education, under
State control, and have mainly relied upon this to fit our children for
citizenship and self-government. Hitherto, we have not been seriously
disturbed by the apprehension that it would result in failure, and
for that reason it has been maintained with great popular unanimity.
It is now, however, assailed with violence, and, manifestly, with the
purpose of destroying it entirely. Hence, we are all required, by
obligations we can not rightfully evade, to rest long enough from our
active avocations to discover, if possible, why this is--what motives
impel the assailants--and whether or no they desire to substitute other
principles of government for ours, by turning us back upon a course we
have solemnly repudiated.
In addition to other works of like character but less ability, there is
one, extensively circulated in this country, from the pen of a writer
conspicuous for his learning and ability. The author asserts without
disguise that what he calls "Catholicity"--that is, what the Roman
popes taught when they were temporal monarchs--has been more beneficial
to the world and more civilizing in its influences upon mankind
than Protestantism, not alone in a social, but in a _political_,
religious, and literary point of view. His argument proceeds from the
Jesuit standpoint, and may be summed up in a single sentence,--that
Protestantism has placed mankind in a far worse condition than they
were when dominated over by papal kings.[2]
This work was intended to counteract the effect produced by the
writings of Guizot, the great French historian, who maintained, by
eloquent and matchless reasoning, that mankind had been improved, in
every point of view, by the influences of Protestantism. Accordingly,
it was translated from Spanish, in which language it was originally
written, into French and German, and extensively circulated in France
and Germany. It soon acquired the reputation among the Jesuits of being
unanswerable, and on that account was regarded, in the conflict between
progress and retrogression, like heavy ordnance in battle--a suitable
weapon with which to attack Protestantism and its institutions in the
seat of its greatest strength. Therefore it was translated into the
English language, and printed by two publishing-houses in the United
States, for circulation among the American people. An American preface
is attached, wherein these propositions are affirmed: _First_, that
Protestantism compels its votaries to infidelity, by its variations
of belief; _second_, that civilization was not only commenced but was
prospering under "Catholicity," when it was retarded by Protestantism,
which is unfavorable and injurious to it; and, _third_, that the
principles of Protestantism are incompatible with the happiness of
mankind and "unfavorable to civil liberty."
This preface--which manifestly bears the Jesuit impress--was intended
to notify American readers, beforehand, that the three foregoing
propositions are maintained in the body of the work, and to prepare
their minds for the acceptance of them. Its reprint and circulation
in the United States could have had no other object than to inculcate
the belief that what the people of this country have supposed to be
the advantages they have derived from Protestant institutions are, in
fact, absolutely injurious to them, and that their condition would be
improved by the revival of such as existed during the Middle Ages,
before the Reformation.
By giving prominence to political matters, and discussing them from
the Jesuit point of view, this author presents a plain, distinct,
and practical issue between progress and retrogression. He intends
to make it as plain to the minds of his readers as it seems to be
to his own, that Governments constructed upon the monarchical plan
confer more happiness and prosperity upon society than those upon the
Protestant plan of self-government. Evidently it was with the hope
of disseminating this belief that this work has been reprinted and
circulated in the United States so extensively that it is believed
to have become a standard authority among the Jesuit enemies of
Protestantism. If it does nothing else, however, it apprises our
Protestant population that a powerful influence exists among them
which is uncompromisingly hostile to the principles which underlie
the whole structure of their Government. And, being thus apprised,
their indifference would be little less than criminal; because their
adroit aggressors would construe it into fear of possible consequences,
or assign it to their inability to combat successfully the arguments
supplied by this work, whose author is an acknowledged monarchist.
The differences between popular and monarchical governments are well
known, and appear at every point of comparison which has arisen during
the course of events since the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
The former have achieved their completest triumphs where Protestantism
prevails, and in its presence the latter have been compelled either
entirely to surrender their pretensions, or to abate their demands
for absolutism. Until the Reformation became an accomplished fact,
monarchism was maintained by uniting Church and State, and employing
their joint authority to coerce obedience from the multitude. The
dominion thus acquired condemned self-government by the people as both
heresy and treason, punishable at the pleasure of those who held the
reins of authority in their hands. It took many years of conflict to
change this condition of affairs; and when the people of the United
States were, in the course of events, placed in a condition to choose
between this coercive system and that which was the natural outgrowth
of Protestantism, and to construct a Government for themselves, their
wisdom was sufficient to assure them that any plan of government they
adopted would result in failure, unless they distinguished between
their politics and their religion by separating the Church from the
State, and by so framing their civil institutions as to reserve to
themselves alone the entire sovereignty over them. If either of these
essential prerequisites had been omitted, all exertions to better and
improve their condition would have resulted in failure, as all readers
of history know. Instead of failure, however, they created a Government
which has survived the vicissitudes of more than a hundred years, is
now supplying protection to more than sixty millions of people, and
has reached a most commanding position among the leading nations; if,
indeed, its influence over the happiness and prosperity of mankind does
not surpass that of any of them. Of this we may be assured, that the
measure of its success has been such as to incite among other peoples
the desire to imitate its example; and that the conflicts of opinion
which now agitate the world give reasonable promise that the popular
right of self-government may, in less than another century of time, be
universally recognized. To this end the American people are obliged
to contribute by warding off every blow aimed at their institutions
by either domestic or alien adversaries, especially when these blows
are aimed, as some of them are, at the fundamental principles of their
government.
The influence of our example finds a striking illustration in the
revolution in Italy in 1870, which abolished the temporal power,
or kingship, of the pope, separated the State from the Church, and
established a constitutional form of government in place of the
absolute monarchism which had prevailed, almost uninterruptedly,
for many centuries. The fires of this revolution had been burning
for a long time, kindled originally by oppressions, which had been
so magnified that the people could endure them no longer. Their
culminating point was the passage of the Conciliar Decree, called a
"Dogmatic Constitution," whereby it was declared that the pope was
infallible, and could not err in matters pertaining to faith or morals;
that is, within such spheres of governmental, social, and individual
duties and obligations as the pope alone, for the time being, should
decide to be included in his spiritual and pontifical jurisdiction.
This act was considered the consummation of the "Jesuit plan," at which
the Italian people had been so incensed but a short time before, that
Pope Pius IX had been compelled to expel the members of that odious
society from Rome. The consequence was that the fires which popular
indignation had kindled grew hotter, and it became impossible to
extinguish them except by assuring complete success to the revolution.
Therefore, the ink with which this decree of papal infallibility was
written was scarcely dry before the Italian people, with extraordinary
unanimity, determined to reject it, not merely because it was the
introduction of a new principle of faith hitherto unrecognized, but
because they could easily see that it would place them, and their
children after them, under Jesuit dominion and dictation. They realized
that its acceptance would involve them in the obligation to submit to
the absolute temporal rule of the pope, in whose selection they had
no voice, and to those whom he should think proper to put over them,
whether fit or unfit, and thus put an end to all popular demands for
the right of political self-government. It involved no question of
religious faith, as the faith had been handed down to them by their
fathers; nothing whatsoever which involved their duty to God, otherwise
than as presumptuous men, to answer their own selfish ends, were
striving to convert the pope into a God upon earth, and themselves
into his plenipotentiaries. Influenced solely by this conviction, and
stimulated by the success the people of the United States had won,
they merely abolished the temporal power of the pope, and created a
constitutional form of civil government, which places satisfactory
limitations upon the authority of their king, and establishes
representative political institutions, which provide that their voice
shall be heard in the enactment of public laws. In this they have
taken a long stride in the direction of government "of the people,
for the people, and by the people." They have cast off political
absolutism--which the Jesuits commend to us as "Catholicity"--and have
assumed the station and dignity of an independent people. They have
converted a priest-ridden oligarchy into a nation. On this account, and
this alone, they have made themselves the special objects of Jesuit
malevolence, for the simple reason that the monarchical society of
Jesuits has never, since its beginning, relented in its vindictive
opposition to every form of civil government which recognizes the
people as the source of political power. By the most fundamental
principles of its organization it is forbidden to sympathize with the
sentiment of personal independence, or to allow its members to acquire
the dignity of manhood necessary for participation in the affairs of
government.
In the face of the fact that the Italian people have not changed the
religious convictions they have maintained for hundreds of years
with steadfast fidelity, and in the face also of the successes of
Protestantism as universally recognized, the Jesuits employ the
extorted decree of papal infallibility as the basis of an argument to
prove that the pope is divinely endowed with such spiritual sovereignty
over nations and peoples as entitles him to prescribe, at his own
personal will and pleasure, such laws and regulations, concerning
both faith and morals, as are necessary for the government of society
and the conduct of individuals throughout the world. Within the
circle of this extraordinary and unlimited jurisdiction, they make no
distinction between spirituals and temporals,--never failing to make
the power over the former sufficiently comprehensive to embrace the
latter, accordingly as the pope himself shall decide. Hence they infer
that this papal jurisdiction is not subject to any other limitation
than such as he shall establish, and that it may, consequently, be
rightfully enlarged so as to exact submission from all, and set aside
all requirements in conflict with it. And the result they reach--as
logically following this premise--is, that the refusal of obedience
to the pope, within this comprehensive jurisdiction, violates the law
of God, and is heresy. Therefore, as the Jesuits believe that the
separation of Church and State by the Italian people is heresy, so they
are required also to believe that all civil institutions which have
grown out of that separation--like those of the United States--not only
have the curse of God resting upon them, but that they are the divinely
chosen messengers of heaven to bring them within this enormous circle
of papal dominion.
In assigning these powers to the pope alone, they entirely ignore
everything associated with the original and primitive organization
of the Christian Church, and especially the important fact that it
was not until the beginning of the sixth century that the bishop of
Rome succeeded in acquiring the distinctive title of pope.[3] Before
that time they had exercised at Rome only such powers as metropolitan
bishops elsewhere--each of them having been called _papa_ or pope. When
the Roman bishop acquired by usurpation the exclusive title of _the_
pope, the other metropolitan bishops were reduced to a condition of
inferiority and subordination, and he then required only the temporal
power to assure to him the power and jurisdiction the Jesuits now claim
for him. It took several hundred years of conflict within the Churches
and with the civil powers to accomplish this, and was only accomplished
at last by subduing impotent kings, and so uniting the power of the
Church with that of the State as to hold ignorant populations in
subjugation. And now that the Italians, after submitting to this
humiliation for more than a thousand years, and finding all the sources
of their prosperity withered up, have abolished and destroyed this
illicit and usurped temporal power, and taken into their own hands the
administration of their own temporal affairs--obeying the example set
them by the people of the United States--the Jesuits employ all their
energies to reverse this popular verdict, and plunge them again into
the dreary chasm from which they have escaped.
The Jesuits are subtle disputants. When they talk about the papacy
reconciling itself to any form of government, they reserve to
themselves the meaning that it does not interfere--either in monarchies
or republics--with such local and limited affairs as pertain to the
common and ordinary interests of society in the management of counties,
townships, cities, and municipalities. These may be conducted without
complaint, under one form of government as well as another, and are
held to be such temporal affairs as the pope may exclude from his
spiritual jurisdiction without any violation of the divine law. But
when measures of public policy pass beyond these local and limited
spheres, and involve matters which the pope shall decide to have
relation to the Church, to the papacy, to faith, or to morals, his
jurisdiction attaches, and, according to the Jesuits, he possesses
the divine right to regulate and direct them. So that, when civil
institutions are constructed--no matter in what form--by which Church
and State are separated and the freedom of religious belief is
guaranteed, as they are by the Constitution of the United States, they
are brought within this unlimited jurisdiction of the pope, and he may
pass such sentence of condemnation upon them as he shall deem necessary
to maintain his own infallibility, as well as his spiritual and
temporal power. If, in the execution of this extraordinary spiritual
power, the pope and the Jesuit general at Rome shall unite in a decree
that all such institutions shall be opposed, resisted, and overthrown,
the Jesuit militia are always ready to pay obedience, because it is one
of the fundamental maxims of their society, that when thus commanded,
with reference to anything concerning the Church, the papacy, faith, or
morals, disobedience is visited with divine displeasure.
Before he entered Rome with his victorious troops, and with the hope
of pacifying the pope, Victor Emmanuel, the liberator of the Italian
people, addressed an affectionate letter to Pope Pius IX, calling him
"the chief of Catholicity," and expressing the hope and intention
that nothing should be done inconsistent "with the inviolability
of the sovereign pontiff and of his spiritual authority, and with
the independence of the Holy See." But this kindly spirit was not
reciprocated by the irascible pope, who excitedly rejected the overture
of pacification. Thereupon the victorious troops entered the city of
Rome, and terminated the temporal dominion of the pope, which had
rested upon the Italian people with crushing weight for nearly fourteen
hundred years. Then the pope, having lost his royal diadem--nothing
more--and with the view of prescribing it as an article of faith that
it should be recovered again, caused his Cardinal Secretary of State to
notify Victor Emmanuel to that effect. This he did as follows:
"I have the command from his holiness to declare, and the undersigned
does hereby declare in the august name of his holiness, that such
usurpation is devoid of all effect, is null and invalid, and that it
can never convey any prejudice to the indisputable and lawful rights
of dominion and of possession, whether of the holy father himself, or
of his successors in perpetuity; and, although the exercise of these
rights may be forcibly prevented and hindered, yet his holiness both
knows his rights, intends to conserve them intact, and _re-enter at the
proper time into their actual possession_."
These are expressive words, and every Jesuit interprets them to mean
that, having the direct approval of an infallible pope, they impose
the religious obligation of obedience upon all the members of their
society, and that it will be offensive to God if they shall cease
their struggle for the restoration of the temporal power before it is
accomplished. Therefore they so enlarge the spiritual jurisdiction and
authority of the pope as to make the question of the restoration of his
temporal power an international one, so that he shall have the divine
right to require all professing Christians to obey him in all matters
relating to that question, no matter under what Government, or in what
part of the world they may live. The refusal of this obedience is held
by them to be heresy. Consequently, when the Roman Catholic people of
Italy abolished the temporal power of the pope, remaining in all other
respects faithful to the historic and traditional teachings of the
Church, the Jesuits made an organized appeal to all the Roman Catholics
throughout the world, to unite themselves into a politico-religious
party, in order to restore the temporal power, and thereby to teach
their Christian brethren in Italy that they have no right to govern
themselves by laws of their own making, and that by irreligiously
asserting that right, in imitation of the heretical people of the
United States, they have themselves become heretics. In point of
fact, the Jesuit appeal is made to populations entirely foreign to
the people of Italy, inviting these foreign populations to subvert
the civil institutions the latter have established for themselves,
by forcibly substituting the pope as an arbitrary and irresponsible
monarch, without any constitutional check, for a constitutional king
whose powers have been placed under satisfactory restraint. The pope
himself, when he realized that he was about to lose his crown, talked
about the two hundred millions of Roman Catholics scattered throughout
the world, who were to be excited to this conflict with the Italian
people; and the Jesuits consider themselves specially assigned to the
duty of massing the forces of this great papal army, and directing its
movements. In that capacity, and with that secret purpose, they have
distributed themselves throughout the populous parts of the United
States, crowding into our cities, and employing their tireless energies
in the work of educating a considerable portion of our people, both
old and young, in the religious belief that it is their Christian duty
to snatch the crown from the head of the constitutional king of Italy,
where those of their own religious faith have placed it, and restore
it to the pope, from whose head they removed it by employing the same
sovereign power which the people of the United States invoked when they
laid the foundations of their own institutions.
It is a serious thing, too serious to be disregarded, to know that,
under protection of the liberalism of our laws, there are scattered
among our people those who are striving to entangle us in alliances
which can have no other end than to disturb the quiet of the nation,
and endanger the public welfare. The sacrifices made by the American
people in behalf of the right of self-government entitle them to be
left to themselves in the undisturbed enjoyment of that right. They
have shown themselves wise enough to understand the causes which led
to the decay of former nations, and discreet enough to avoid them.
Among these causes the union of Church and State has always been
conspicuously prominent; wherefore they found it necessary to put an
end to this union, by leaving the Church independent in the spiritual,
and the State equally so in the temporal sphere. This separation
constitutes a great and important political fact, wholly distinct from
any of the forms or principles of religious belief, and practically
embodies the American idea--perpetuated in Protestantism--that the
right to perfect and untrammeled freedom of conscience is not derived
by concession from either spiritual or temporal monarchs, but from the
inalienable laws of nature. In view of the past experience of mankind,
it seemed clear to them that the best form of government is that which
guarantees this natural right to each individual, to be enjoyed as a
political right, without any restraint whatsoever. In no other way can
free popular government ever become possible. They believed also that
mankind had been held long enough in inferiority and bondage by the
combined influence of Church and State despotism, and that inasmuch
as they had been providentially placed in possession of a new and
undeveloped continent, it was not only wise but best for them and their
posterity that, in establishing their Government, they should make the
further union of Church and State impossible, unless some alien power
should be strong enough to overthrow their institutions, or they should
fall into decay by means of the corruptions engendered by this fatal
union, as other Governments had fallen. It was an experiment, hitherto
unsuccessful, and was consequently observed by multitudes throughout
the world with intense solicitude. If there were any who considered
the experiment injudicious, and likely to prove a failure, but little
time elapsed before their doubts were dissipated by the results
accomplished--results which all who are rightfully entitled to American
citizenship, now accept as a precious inheritance from the founders of
the Republic. Our institutions are no longer an experiment; they have
become actual and accomplished reality. And it is not now the time for
us to think of turning back to the bondage of monarchism, as we should
indicate the desire to do by denying to the people of Italy the right
to imitate our example by separating Church and State, and governing
themselves by laws of their own making. They who invite us to this are
counselors of evil.
That the Jesuits are not content with the separation of Church and
State is a fact too palpable for contradiction. Hence the readiness
with which they engage in the organization, in this country, of a
politico-religious party pledged to restore the pope's temporal
power, notwithstanding such a party is condemned by the spirit of our
institutions, and is regarded by the general public as impolitic,
inexpedient, and hazardous; and inasmuch as they have chosen to thrust
this issue upon us, we are not permitted to become indifferent to it,
or shrink from our responsibility of citizenship under a Government
entitled to our patriotic allegiance. Such an issue can not be evaded,
and must be met with fearlessness and becoming candor. If one is
informed that a poisonous viper is coiled up under a pillow upon which
he is about to lay his head, he will instinctively strive after the
means necessary to escape its fangs. So, when apprised that cunning and
adroit adversaries, like the Jesuits, are plotting against cherished
and vital principles of our institutions, the obligation to make
ourselves familiar with their principles, policy, and history becomes
imperative. Being forewarned, we shall have no excuse for not being
forearmed.
We must do nothing, either now or hereafter, forbidden by our national
character, or by the liberalism we prize so highly. Our Constitution
amply protects the rights of free speech, free thought, and a free
press, all of which must be held inviolable; but violence is manifestly
done to the spirit of patriotism which guarantees this protection
when it is demanded of any portion of our population that they shall
participate in the work of undoing, in any degree whatsoever, what the
founders of the Government considered fundamental. We are prohibited
from submitting to anything that shall tend, even by possibility, to
subject the people to any sovereignty, either spiritual or temporal,
higher than themselves, in such matters as involve their own happiness
and welfare. It would be well, consequently, for those who are seeking
to accomplish this, to learn that the world is large enough for them
and us; that there are other fields wherein better grounds of hope are
furnished for re-welding the fragments of shattered monarchies; and
that, when they avail themselves of the tolerance of our institutions
to assail their foundations, they become intruders into a peaceful and
harmonious circle, where, but for them, universal peace and quiet would
prevail.
In his conflict with the Italian people for the re-possession of the
temporal power, by overthrowing the Constitutional Government they
have established, the pope could not find another ally so formidable
as the Jesuits, nor one with such implacable hatred of liberalism
and popular government. Their society is so united and compact that
its ranks can not be broken. They are everywhere the same, moved
by a common impulse, under the dictation of their general in Rome.
They are the deadly enemies of civil and religious liberty. Nothing
that stands in their way can become so sacred as to escape their
vengeance. Protestantism has borne no fruits to which they have ever
been reconciled. They consider the Reformation which gave birth to it
to have been criminal resistance to the only rightful authority upon
earth--that which proceeds from Church and State combined. They believe
that the condition of mankind during the Middle Ages, staggering under
the weight of feudal oppression, was preferable to modern progress
and enlightenment; that human happiness would be promoted by the
return to that period; that the political right of self-government
by the people can not be set up against the higher right of papal
and monarchical power; that the progress of the advancing nations is
delusive and unsubstantial; and that institutions which guarantee civil
and religious freedom, if not arrested by some coercive power strong
enough to put an end to them, will lead, through heresy, to social ruin
and desolation. If, at the period of the Reformation, this society had
not been established for the express purpose of counteracting its
influence, a knowledge of the difference between primitive Christianity
and the prevailing dogmas might have led to such reforms as would have
reconciled Christians to dwell together in peace and concord. But
when a dove should have been sent forth bearing the olive-branch of
Christian charity, this society sprang from the brain of a disappointed
military adventurer, and began at once to scatter the seeds of strife
and discord. Almost from the beginning it has been a disturber of the
peace of nations, suffering only such as have bestowed patronage upon
it to escape its maledictions and its plottings.
The members of this society are numerous and powerful in the United
States. They are constantly increasing, mainly by accessions from
their drilled and disciplined companions in Europe, but also by
conversions of unsuspecting young men, who are seduced by their vain
and supercilious pretensions as educators. They are, as they have
always been, selfish and vindictive--restless under opposition, and
compromising in nothing. They have neither country, nor homes, nor
families, nor friendships beyond the limits of their order--none
of the affections of the heart which give charm to life and social
intercourse--being required to abandon all these and fit themselves for
uninquiring obedience to their general, whose commands, whether right
or wrong, good or bad, they have solemnly vowed to execute, without the
least regard for consequences. Having persistently refused to become
reconciled to the forms and methods of Christian civilization which
prevail among our Protestant population, they employ all the resources
they can command in endeavoring to arrest them. They insist that Church
and State shall be united wheresoever they are separate, and that the
basis of such union shall be the subordination of the State to the
Church. Self-government by the people is held by them to be violative
of the divine law, and on that account may rightfully be resisted
as heretical, when its overthrow can be assured. They will allow no
rights to exist in either States, peoples, or individuals, against
what they consider the prerogatives of their society as defined by
their general, who, in their estimation, possesses the divine right
to enlarge or contract them at his own pleasure. There must be no
limitation to the power and independence of the pope, either in the
spiritual or temporal domain, except where the interests of their
society command otherwise; they must be full, absolute, unquestioned,
to the extent defined by himself. His liberty must be such that he
may, at his own discretion, curtail the liberties of all others. His
spiritual sovereignty must include whatsoever he shall embrace within
it. Neither the existence nor the extent of this sovereignty must be
brought in question before any human tribunal; but he alone shall
define it, together with the character of the obedience he shall
exact. And if, in the course of the papal economy, he should ever find
it necessary to hold in one hand emblems of harmony and peace, this
restless and uncompromising society stands always ready to place the
rod of chastisement in the other.
The conflict of opinions, therefore, in which the Protestant people of
the United States find themselves engaged is not of their own inviting.
They are unwilling parties to it. It had its origin in the spirit of
aggression which prevails among those who have stronger sympathy for
an alien power than for the right of self-government, and, on account
of their peculiar fitness for the work, it will engage every Jesuit
tongue and pen in the land. Because of this, a sense of both duty and
security demands that the history and character of this skilled and
powerful adversary--alien in birth, growth, and sentiment--should be
understood; as also the causes which have led to the expulsion of the
Jesuits from every country in Europe, the public odium which has rested
upon them for many years, their long-continued disturbance of the peace
of nations, and the final suppression and abolition of their society
by one of the best and most enlightened of the popes. In view of the
obligation to preserve our civil institutions as they are, not only
for ourselves and our children, but for the multitudes who shall seek
shelter under them, we have no right to become either indifferent
or inactive in the presence of such assailants, who complacently
fling defiance in our faces, and seek to impregnate the free and pure
atmosphere of our schools and seminaries of learning with the poison of
monarchism. "Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence," said
Washington, "the jealousy of a free people ought ever to be constantly
awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one
of the most baneful foes of republican government."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Washington's Eighth and Madison's Second Message.]
[Footnote 2: Protestantism and Catholicity Compared in their Effects on
the Civilization of Europe, By the Rev. I. Balmes.]
[Footnote 3: Universal Church History. By Alzog. Vol. I, p. 674. This
recognized papal authority, in order to be as nearly exact as possible,
fixes it in the year 510.]