the wives of our national representatives, and even grave senators, look
as an example of piety and chastity, she cut short her hair, dressed
herself in a smart-looking waiter's jacket' and trowsers, and, with
the best recommendations for intelligence and capacity, she, in her new
dress, applied for a situation as waiter at Gadsby's Hotel in Washington
city. This smart and tidy-looking young man got instant employment;
and now we have the lay sister in quite a different character. His
intelligent countenance,--we must not say her in future,--soon attracted
the notice of some of our most eloquent statesmen. He appeared so
humble, so obedient and so unattentive to anything but his own business,
that those senators on whom he waited, not suspecting that he had the
ordinary curiosity of servants in general, were entirely thrown off
their guard, and in their conversations with one another seemed to
forget their usual caution. Such in a short time was their confidence in
him, that their most important papers and letters were left loose upon
their tables, satisfied with saying, as they were going out, "Theodore,
take care of my room and papers."
Now the Jesuit was in her glory. Now the lay sister had an opportunity
of knowing many of our national secrets, as well as the private
characters of some of our eminent statesmen. Now it was known whether
Henry Clay was a gambler; whether Daniel Webster was a libertine;
whether John C. Calhoun was an honorable but credulous man. Now it was
known what value was put upon Popish influence in this country, and what
were the hopes of Papist foreigners in the United States. In fact, this
lay sister in male uniform, and but a waiter in Gadsby's Hotel, was thus
enabled to give more correct information of the actual state of things
in this country, through the General of the Jesuit Order in Rome, than
the whole corps diplomatic from foreign countries then resident at our
seat of government.
After relating to me in her sick room,--as the family in which she lived
fancied it was,--all these circumstances, she deliberately said to me,
"I want a written character from you. You must state in it that I have
complied with my duty; and as it is necessary that I should wear a cap
for a while, having cut off my hair, you must say that you visited me in
my sick room, that I confessed to you, received the _viaticum_ and
had just recovered from a violent fever in which I lost my hair. My
business is not done yet," said she. "I must go to New York, where the
Sisters of Charity will find a place for me as waiting-maid." It is
needless to say with what reluctance any man could comply with such a
request as this; and my having done so, is a stronger evidence than I
have heretofore given of the indomitable strength of early education.
The conduct of this emissary of Satan, was the embodyment of all that
was iniquitous and dishonorable; it was a violation of every tie that
holds society together; it was a part of a system of social, political,
moral, public and private treachery, which no other being than a devil
or a Jesuit could devise. Yet I was a Popish priest. My education, my
profession, my oath, compelled me to sanction it; and I did sanction it.
The lay sister retired to New York, put on her female dress, and
during some months following, acted as a chambermaid in several of
the wealthiest Protestant families in that city. A few weeks after she
obtained from me this character, the Rev. Mr.---------, (I will give
his name in full if necessary,) President of the Jesuit college in
Stonyhurst, to which I have alluded, and where this demon, now in
petticoats, was a lay sister, called on me in Philadelphia. We were old
acquaintances, he being Vice President of the college of Maynooth for
about twelve months.
The misunderstanding between myself and the acting superior of the
diocese of Pennsylvania, had just commenced, and my friend, the Jesuit,
thought it his duty to call upon me. He hoped that I would abandon my
schismatic course,--I was not then a heretic,--and cease to circulate
the Bible among the people. He never alluded to the lay sister during
our whole conversation, though he was the very man who caused her to
be sent out to this country, and the one who first procured her the
situation of lay sister at Stonyhurst Both were relatives, and both
natives of Dublin, in Ireland.
Whether the relation of this circumstance will have the effect of
putting Americans on their guard against Jesuits and nuns, I know not;
and in truth, such is their apathy on the general subject of Popery,
that I am tempted to say, I care not. My impression is, that until some
attack is made upon an American's purse, and Popery becomes a question
of dollars and cents, Jonathan will never be roused from his apathy. So
far as I know Americans, as the antagonists of Popery, they will listen
to no argument upon the subject, either in their national councils or
in their pulpits, except to the one great argument, the "_Argumentum ad
crumonam._" I will only say, "_Qui vult descipatur_."
It is unnecessary, I presume, to remark here, that the conduct of the
modern fathers of the Popish church, in sending to this country the
lay sister of whom I have been speaking, and encouraging her as a spy
amongst our citizens, did not tend much to diminish my doubts about the
veracity of the ancient fathers.
Providentially, however, another circumstance occurred, which finally
decided me. It is of so atrocious a character, that if there were
not several now living, who witnessed the whole transaction, I would
scarcely mention it; or if I did, it could be with little or no hope of
being believed by Americans, although some money is mixed up with the
affair.
There lived in Philadelphia, about the year 1822 or 1823, a gentleman
of high character as a sea captain and otherwise. He commanded an
East-Indiaman, belonging to one of the wealthiest houses in that city.
One of the firm now lives there, though at an advanced period of life.
This captain of whom I speak, was in the habit of visiting Baltimore,
whenever he returned from the East Indies. He was a remarkably
fine-looking man, and believed to be worth from one hundred and fifty to
two hundred thousand dollars. He shipped largely upon his own account,
and was successful.
While in Baltimore, he formed an attachment for a Roman Catholic lady of
beauty, but no fortune.
The Reverend Mr. K------, the Stonyhurst Jesuit, whom I mentioned,
happened to be there during one of the captain's visits to that city, to
see this lady. The Jesuit having discovered who the captain was, what
he was, and how much money he was worth, obtained an introduction to him
from this Roman Catholic lady. He soon found that, like most men whose
lives have been spent upon the sea, he was a frank, open-hearted man. A
little further intimacy satisfied him, that he was deeply in love with
this Popish lady. His course was now clear. The Jesuit serpent saw
plainly that his prey was within striking distance; that he need only
coil himself into a proper attitude and spring upon it at his leisure.
He represented to the captain, that the lady to whom he was paying his
attentions was one of the most amiable and excellent of her sex; highly
approved of the captain's taste and judgment; with many other such
observations. The captain was more and more pleased with the object of
his affections, and urged his suit with increased assiduity. The Jesuit
in the mean time was not idle; his eye rested with a serpent-like
fascinating gaze upon the movements and money of the captain. He had
private interviews with the lady. He contrived to have her become his
_penitent_, and go to confession to him. 15
His control over her in future was boundless. She lost her identity as a
member of society. She almost ceased to be a human being; a rational
one she could not be. She became a thing, a mere thing to be shaped and
moulded as her holy father the Jesuit directed. He spoke to her of the
captain, of his great attachment to her, and recommended to her to marry
him, but on condition that he should become a Roman Catholic. He
talked eloquently of the awful consequences of having a member of the
_infallible_ church unite herself to a heretic, whom she knew to be
excommunicated and damned by the Pope and the holy church, as all
heretics are, and finally obtained from the young lady a solemn promise
that she should never marry her suitor, until he became a member of the
church of Rome.
When the captain next called to see her, the lady told him that she had
one objection, and only one, to marrying him; unless that was removed,
she could never consent to do so; and stated to him what that objection
was. The unsuspecting and frank sailor, not being a professor of any
religion, and caring very little to what church he might go, replied,
that he would as soon be a Roman Catholic as anything else. All things
were now arranged, except the formality of uniting with the Popish
church. The Jesuit was sent for, and it was agreed that the marriage
should take place in a few weeks, during which time the captain, under
the direction of the Jesuit, was to prepare himself for confession; a
necessary preliminary for joining the Popish church.
It is a custom with Jesuits, and almost with all priests of the Romish
church, to require of those who are about uniting with them, to go into
what they call a retreat; viz. to enter into some retired or secluded
place, where they will have an opportunity of communing with themselves,
without interruption from the world or its busy citizens. The
Jesuit recommended to his unfortunate dupe, the captain, to retire
to--------convent, where he might be alone as much as he pleased, and
where he would hear nothing but songs of praise to the Most High God,
from _blessed monks and nuns_.
The captain, according to orders, entered upon his retreat. Before
I proceed further, I will observe that this captain, of whom I am
speaking, had a remarkably beautiful set of teeth, of which it was
said he was extremely vain. He was not many days upon his retreat, when
symptoms of derangement became evident; and one day, while under the
influence of some natural or artificial cause--the reader may guess
which--the unfortunate gentleman went down to Alexandria, called upon a
dentist in that city or neighborhood, and insisted that he should pull
out seven teeth from each jaw. In vain did the dentist remonstrate; out
they must come, and out they did come.
The Jesuit hastened to Baltimore, called upon the lady who was engaged
to be married, told her the captain was insane, beyond recovery,
and that she should be thankful to the Virgin Mary, who caused this
visitation in time to prevent her from being married to a madman. Judge
you, Americans, of the feelings of this lady on that occasion, and say
what ought to be the punishment of the incarnate fiend who occasioned
them. The poor captain, though considerably recovered, continued to be
partially deranged; but it assumed a character of religious gloom and
melancholy. The Jesuit returned to--------, seeming to do all in his
power to lighten the spiritual load which lay upon the captain's soul.
He became his confessor, and soon persuaded him that the only way of
saving his soul, was to convey to the order of Jesuits what property he
possessed, and to become a Popish priest; that he had a visit from the
Virgin Mary, who ordered him to tell him--the captain--that he must take
holy orders; that there was a grand field opened for him to promote
the cause of religion and the saints; that he must go forthwith to
Philadelphia, where an infamous heretic called Hogan was spreading most
damnable heresies. Will you believe it, Americans? It is drawing almost
too heavily upon you to do so. He did come to Philadelphia, and preached
against the heretic Hogan and Hoganism, a fact which fifty thousand
people now living there can attest. But _quantum mutatus!_ When he left
it some time before, he was a happy, honorable and fine-looking man. He
was wealthy, and he obtained his wealth by honest industry. But how was
he now, the distorted shadow of what he was; penniless, toothless, and a
senseless fanatic, drugged into madness, and by whom?--by nuns, who act
in the treble capacity of cooks, teachers, and prostitutes for Jesuits.
This is harsh language indeed. Call it gross, if you please, reader; but
if you will figure to yourself for a moment an honorable man, a native
of these United States, a fine specimen of manly proportions and manly
beauty, and then conceive this individual reduced to the condition to
which I and thousands now living have seen this noble-hearted sailor of
whom I have spoken, reduced, my language will appear neither harsh nor
coarse.
What! must we call Jesuit assassins reverend gentlemen? Must we call
robbers honest men? Must we call their accessories--nuns--ladies of
virtue? Sympathizers may do so; but I do not write for them alone.
I write for men of sense; I write for lovers of their God and their
country; I write not for advocates of Puseyism, or such exploded
fooleries as they believe in. Whatever I say, is intended for those
alone who have the capacity of distinguishing between common sense and
mental vagaries, and who have the honesty to call things by their proper
names.
The first sermon which this unfortunate man preached against me in
Philadelphia, was attended by crowds. Many had known him before he went
to Baltimore. He was then universally popular, and on his return
among them he was well received. His friends saw the change--the fatal
change--which had taken place in his whole external configuration;
but they knew not by what means it was effected. Some attributed it to
self-denial, others to fanaticism, but none to the right cause. This was
known only in the confessional; and under all these circumstances,
it may be easily supposed that his discourses against me, however
unconnected they may be, however fugitive and irrelevant as a whole, had
a powerful effect upon the public mind.
Public sentiment, which up to this period sustained me in my opposition
to Popery, and in my efforts to circulate the Bible, now began to flag.
Popish priests and bishops went about industriously representing that
this reverend convert to Popery was inspired; reported that he had
visits from saints and angels, attesting the fact of his inspiration.
There was no difficulty in persuading a man of his shattered
constitution and now weak mind, that such was the fact; and he redoubled
his efforts in trying to persuade those who attended my church, and who
were becoming readers of the Bible, never to do so again. His disordered
mind often "saw me in hell, side by side with Luther, and the blessed
Virgin spitting in our face." "He often saw me with Ignatius Loyola,
who was breaking me on the rack as a punishment for my heresies." The
utterance of those wild rhapsodies were not without their effect; almost
all the poor Irish Papists believed them; and it required from me more
bodily and mental labor than I was able to endure, to counteract the
effects of this madman's rhapsodizing.
I am now so well acquainted with the character of American Protestants,
and even with American converts to the Romish church, that I know it is
difficult to persuade them that the Romish priests of Philadelphia,
or other parts of the United States, were so utterly abandoned to
degeneracy, as to give credence to these Visions or visits from saints,
which I have just spoken of. But let them recollect that practices upon
popular credulity are now carried on, and were then carried on, upon as
large a scale, as at any period in the existence of the Romish church.
Such impositions are encouraged all over the world, even at the present
day. The wildest extravagances of intellect have circulated freely for
the last thirty years in the world. Read Eugene Sue. He tells us of
numerous instances of the kind. Read the last edition of Genin, page 82,
and you will find an account of the Medal of the _Immaculate Conception
of the Virgin Mary_, struck only the other day, 1838. Over _two hundred
thousand copies_ of this medal have been already sold. The story
is this, as now vouched for by the most eminent holy fathers of the
infallible church:--That the Virgin Mary showed herself to one of the
_Sisters of Charity_ in France, a branch of which holy sisterhood we
have in this city of Boston, the capital of New England, and revealed
to her the pattern of a medal to be struck for her; the dress she was to
appear in, and the kind of rings she was to wear.
This medal has cured, and is now curing, according to the accounts
we receive from the holy fathers, all manner of diseases, such as
paralysis, epilepsy, cancer, and, according to the belief of some
Puseyite moral philosophers, it causes the blind to see, the dumb to
speak, and the lame to walk. A capital story is related of the potency
of this medal. It is too good to be omitted, especially as many of
my Puseyite friends believe it, and no doubt will be glad to hear it
repeated.
A Sister of Charity got acquainted with a married couple. The wife was
a Papist of the most exemplary character, obedient to holy Mother the
church, and her confessor, in all things. The husband had no faith,
especially in his wife's confessor. He drank, cursed and swore, "like
all possessed." The holy Sister of Charity, seeing him at the point of
death, and wishing to rescue his soul from hell, called to see him, and
slipped one of these medals between the sheets of this wicked man's bed,
and the next morning he gets up as well as ever and goes to confession.
Another miracle which was performed by this medal in 1838, deserves
notice, and may prove invaluable, if it finds its way into this country.
One Marie Laboissiere, aided by her lover, murdered her husband, and
forced her son to take part in the murder, to prevent him from being
witness against her. The lady and her lover were, however, arrested,
tried, and found guilty of the murder. They appealed to a higher
tribunal. During the interval between the sitting of the higher and
lower courts, one of the Sisters of Charity threw a medal round Marie's
neck, and though the court and all saw that she was guilty, and ought to
be judicially declared so, they could not do it. The medal would not
let them, but obliged them to acquit her. If the reader will take into
consideration that such visions as the Rev. Captain fancied he had, were
matters of every-day occurrence with pious Papists, and that a belief
in them is encouraged and enforced by Popish priests and bishops
everywhere, they will cease to be surprised that a man tortured into
madness, as my reverend antagonist was, should have visions such
as those ascribed to him; nor will they wonder at the effect of his
preaching, upon a congregation principally composed of Irish and French
Papists.
I was alone, without a clerical friend; not a Protestant preacher, with
the exception of one, raised his hand or his voice in my support.
They seemed to like the fun, as some of them expressed it, amongst the
Papists,--I suppose they considered me one then,--but they came not to
my aid. They appeared to me pretty much like the wife when she saw her
husband fighting with a bear, and was expected to interfere, but very
coolly replied, "I don't care which of them gets licked."
Under these circumstances, I felt discouraged; became utterly disgusted
with Popery and its infamous practices, with the holy fathers and their
fooleries, and resolved in future to have no more to do with Popery. I
collected such volumes as I had of the holy fathers, piled them up into
one heap, added to them the lives of the saints, and placing on the top
of the pile the Pope's bull of excommunication, which the poor old man
thought would frighten me out of my wits, I consigned them, book by
book, volume by volume, together with the aforesaid bull, to the warm
embraces of a good hickory fire. I knew the day was not far distant,
when Americans would see something besides fun in Popish quarrels;
and in the mean time, I determined to employ myself in the study of
Blackstone, Chitty, &c.; a much more profitable employment, in
a pecuniary point of view, than fighting in the cause of American
Protestants with European Papists.
It was said of Erasmus, that he laid the egg of the reformation, and
that Luther hatched it. I trust it will not be deemed vanity in me to
say that I have done as much for American Protestants, as Erasmus did in
his day. At least, I have done all I could; but whether they or any of
them will do as Luther has done, time alone can decide.
In this connection, it is not improper for me to state the ultimate
fate of this reverend convert to the Romish church. After I retired
from Philadelphia, and Hoganism was put down, the Jesuits measurably
neglected their convert; a thing very unusual with them, to do them
justice. He felt the loneliness of his situation. With a mind enfeebled
by drugs, a correct view of his situation could only strike him by
glances; but they were terrible and fearful. He saw himself robbed of
the one beloved object of all his earthly affections; plundered of a
fortune, the fruit of honorable toil and industry. He saw in himself
but the mutilated skeleton of what he once was, and the dupe of crafty
Jesuits and licentious nuns. He shrunk from the view, and as if God, in
his mercy, wished to hide it from him' by means which may appear to
us incomprehensible, he fell into fits of real madness, from which he
recovered but occasionally. The last I have heard of him was that he was
arrested somewhere near Newcastle, Delaware, for attempting to commit a
rape on a child nine years old; but the poor maniac was acquitted on
the ground of insanity. Several priests were called as witnesses in his
behalf; and well they may be witnesses. It was they that caused him to
be what he was; it was they that maddened him.