blood, and whose consciences have not been seared and discolored by the
blackness of guilt, may hesitate to give credence to these disgusting
details. Comparatively short as our national existence is, and though
brief the period since we cut loose as a nation from what we deemed the
polluted governments of Europe, still there was a time, even in these
United States, when such deeds as I have related would not and could not
be believed amongst us. There was a time when the ancient Romans did
not think that there existed such a crime as patricide; and hence it is.
that there was no law against it. There was actually no punishment known
to their laws for the commission of such a crime; and why, reader? Did
the ancient Romans encourage their children to kill their parents, or
to commit patricide? No. Far from it. No people in the world venerated
their parents more than the Roman children of the day to which I allude.
They had no law against the crime, because they did not believe it
possible that such a crime could be committed. Nor is it to be wondered
now, that many Americans should consider it almost impossible that
such deeds as I have laid to the charge of Jesuits and nuns, should be
perpetrated amongst us. But time, that exponent of all things, will
soon satisfy our people--as it did the Romans before us--that there is
nothing impossible, or even beyond the range of Jesuitical iniquity. The
archives of Jesuitical intrigue are now in a measure being thrown open
to the world. The diffusion of literature is so general, and human
curiosity, at the present period, so great, that nothing can escape its
searching inquiries. It is therefore to be hoped that our people will
not be much longer in ignorance of the iniquities of Jesuits. Americans
can now learn from historical evidence, which admits of no doubt, that
Jesuits have been expelled, successively, from thirty-nine different
governments; they can also learn, that by intrigue, deception, perjury
and poison, they have survived each and every one of those expulsions.
They may see,--if they can see anything but money,--that the Jesuits are
now making a final struggle for a settlement in this country; and if
they are not so stupid as not to see that similar causes must produce
similar events, they will infer that Jesuits, who have successively
and effectually introduced disunion, discord, and disorganization into
thirty-nine governments, cannot fail to do the same in ours. If by
poison and assassination they have dethroned the rulers of other
countries; if by debauchery and superstition in the confessional, they
have seduced their wives and daughters, can it be supposed that
our rulers shall escape, our government be secure, or our wives and
daughters safe from the daggers or subtle poisons of these notorious
fiends?
Let any American take the "Wandering Jew,"--let him read it attentively,
and reflect that the writer, Eugene Sue, is a Roman Catholic now living
in France,--and say whether there is any crime too daring for a Romish
priest or Jesuit. If he doubts what I relate of a young lady in the
beginning of this book, who was debauched by a Romish priest, and
poisoned by a nun, the mother abbess of a Jesuit seminary of learning,
to get rid of her illicit offspring; let him see the history of
Charlotte De Cordoville, in the Wandering Jew. He will see in the
history of that young lady, distinguished though she was for fortune,
beauty and charity, how she was reduced to misery and unhappiness, by
the intrigues of Jesuits. You will see how her own aunt was made the
instrument of all her misfortunes; but the aunt was first made a Jesuit,
and in that capacity she disregarded honor, truth, the relationship of
blood, and all the alliances of natural friendship. She caused her to be
imprisoned and maltreated. She and her associate Jesuits caused herself
and her lover to be poisoned or drugged into an insane stupor;--all for
the glory of the infallible church, and with a view of adding to its
ill-gotten treasures. For a full account of this transaction, see Eugene
Sue.
But Romish priests will not permit their people to read Eugene Sue; it
is a forbidden book; his royal holiness, the Pope, has cursed the book
and all who read it. He has cursed all who presume to discuss fairly the
merits of Popery; but even this will scarcely be believed by Americans.
Strange infatuation! Will Americans read a report made to the French
Chambers in Paris, by the Duke de Broglie, on the subject of public
instruction and Jesuitism? Will they further read a small work written
by Messrs. Michelet and Quinet, professors in the French national
college? If they do, it may open their eyes to consequences which may be
apprehended from even tolerating Jesuits amongst us. They will see that
Jesuits are the avowed enemies of liberal education, and that they are
sustained in their opposition to it by the curses of the Pope.
Professors Michelet and Quinet, in 1843, were discussing, in public, the
influence of the different religious orders. They had, as we are told,
commented upon that of the Templars, and were speaking of the society
of Jesuits, its origin and its interference in political affairs; and
though the professors themselves were Roman Catholics, though they
lectured in a Roman Catholic country and to Roman Catholic people, under
the sanction of a law of the land, yet Jesuits attempted to disturb
those lectures, by creating an uproar among the audience; just what
they are doing in this country. But what renders their conduct on this
occasion more strange, is the fact, that the very existence of Jesuits,
as a society is illegal in France. There is a law in France against
secret associations, and under this law they cannot exist. How pregnant
with instructions to Americans is this single historical fact! A few
years ago, Charles X. and his family had to fly from France, because,
under the influence of Jesuitism he violated his faith, he broke his
royal word and oath to the people. The people of France hunted him and
the Jesuits out of that country, as they would so many wild beasts. Such
then was the indignation of Popish France against that infernal
society, the Jesuits, that not one of them dared ta show his face in
the streets of Paris, without trembling for his life. Like dastardly
cowards, as all dishonorable and bad men are,--I never knew an
exception,--these wretches moved about like beasts of chase, "stealing
from one cover to another;" the representatives of all that was base
and dishonorable; the embodiment of all that was vile, false and
treacherous; the incarnation, the sentiment and the sediment of all that
was odious in fallen humanity. But see them now, in 1843 and '44, and
see the conduct of these very French people towards them. Though the
law forbids their existence, they have the hardihood to interrupt the
legitimate professors of the college of France, in their inquiries
into the spirit and influence of Jesuitism; and they are supported by a
portion of the very people, who, but a few years ago, pelted them
with rotten eggs and dead cats, through the streets of Paris. And what
effected this extraordinary change in popular sentiment? It is accounted
for in various ways; but I contend that the only fair solution of the
problem is to be found in the fact, that republican, democratic North
America hats opened her hospitable doors, and without suspicion, or
without dreaming that she was entertaining her deadliest foe, has spread
her tables to feed, and opened her purse to build asylums for these
scapegoats of the human family.
In 1830, Jesuits were crushed in France; they fled to the United States,
collected together their broken phalanxes, told brother Jonathan they
were a persecuted people, prevailed on him to build colleges for them,
and they have risen again, not only in this land of the brave, but even
in France, under the present king, Louis Philippe.
But notwithstanding these truths, the inquiry is sometimes made,--the
question has often been put even to myself,--"Are there really any
Jesuits in the United States?" "Do you believe that females are seduced
into nunneries?" "Do you believe they attempt to tamper with our
children or our wives?" I allude to the subject of privately tampering
with the wives and daughters of Americans thus frequently, because I
think it is all-important that they should thoroughly understand the
dangers to be apprehended from having any intercourse whatever with
Jesuits and nuns. Many a man asks this question, who accompanies it with
saying, the nunnery to which my daughter goes to school is not a Jesuit
nunnery. The priest to whom my wife confesses is not a Jesuit. The
priest to whom my daughter and servants go to confession is not, and
never was, a Jesuit; and consequently there is no danger from this
source. Many a man asks this question, and states these circumstances
in good faith, and feels secure that all is right, as nothing in his
opinion is to be feared but from Jesuits. This is a delusion. This
man's wife is already-governed by Jesuits through her confessor. It even
happens sometimes that the confessor himself is unconscious of the
part he is acting. The confessor acts under the immediate advice of his
bishop, to whom alone, in most cases, the Jesuits will entrust their
plans, unless the confessor is personally known to them; and unless the
confessor professes and solemnly swears to observe,--I use the words
of the oath,--"obedience, courage, secrecy, patience, craft, audacity,
perfect union among ourselves, having for our country, the world; for
our family, our order; for our queen, Rome."
Few of the confessors in this country, except the bishops, are entrusted
with the plans of the Jesuits; perhaps not ten, except they are of the
Jesuit order. It is through those confessors, that many of our American
youth, both male and female, are seduced into Popish schools, where
they become, with few exceptions, spiritless, false, slaves of abject
superstition, and the victims of a superficial education. No time is
given, no room left, as a modern writer expresses it, for the energies
of the mind to develop themselves. No sustenance is provided to nourish
the finer feelings of the heart. The intellect is checked, the flow of
imagination is stemmed, and all the warm and generous affections of the
soul are poisoned in their very bud.
For an instance of the fatal consequence of such an education as this, I
would call the attention of Americans, once more, to the Wandering Jew.
See the effects of a Jesuitical education upon the noble and generous
mind of Gabriel, the adopted son of the honest Dagoberth. What could be
more lovely than the disposition of this young man. His sentiments were
as upright and as chaste as fallen humanity would permit. But the Jesuit
society laid its impure hands upon him at an early period of life; they
persuaded his guileless adopted mother to go to confession,--not to a
Jesuit,--but to a _Cure_ of another order of priests; and the bishop of
this Cure gave him his instructions how to manage the mother of Gabriel.
The bishop knew that this adopted son of the virtuous and craftless wife
of Dagoberth, was one among other heirs of an immense estate, and he
directed the Cure to prevail upon this simple woman, while at confession
with him, to send Gabriel to a Jesuit school, and have him become a
Jesuit priest. Americans, read the sequel, and in that you will find a
warning, stronger and louder than I can give you, never to send a
child of yours to a Jesuit seminary. Let mothers read the history of
Dagoberth's wife, and if, after careful and honest perusal of it, they
will again commit their daughters to the care of a nurse who goes to
confession, I must only conclude that they are either infidels or
mad, or both. "_Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat_." Gabriel,--the
virtuous and good Gabriel,--was nursed by Dagoberth's wife. From his
infancy, it seems he had no inclination to become a Jesuit; he appeared
to have an innate aversion to the order of Jesuits; he struggled against
uniting himself with them, as far as a sense of gratitude and a feeling
of affection for his adopted mother, the nurse of his childhood, would
permit. But all to no purpose; the mother was the dupe of her confessor.
He was instructed to win over the youth by any and every means; and,
with the advice and cooperation of Jesuits, the confessor of this really
honest, but deluded woman, succeeded, by perseverance and increased
fondness for her adopted child, in neutralizing his aversion towards
Jesuit priests.
In an evil hour he joined them; their traps were too well laid, and
without being seen in the business themselves, they accomplished their
iniquitous purposes through the instrumentality of this affectionate
and charitable woman. All was done through the confessional. How many
similar cases have I witnessed myself, in the course of my life, but
particularly while acting as a Romish priest in the confessional! How
often have I known some of the best of women, belonging to the Roman
Catholic church, unconsciously made the dupes of priests! How often have
I seen women, who, had they been properly educated, and under different
circumstances, would be an honor to any religious denomination, made the
instruments of all that was vile and flagitious, by Popish confessors!
How often have I seen Roman Catholic servant-maids in Protestant
families, inveigled by their _ghostly fathers_, in the confessional,
into treachery, deception and ingratitude, towards their employers and
benefactors! How often, as I have stated in my book on Popery, have
these Roman Catholic servants stolen the infants from their Protestant
mothers, and brought them to myself to be baptized!
There is now, in the state of Massachusetts, a young Protestant
clergyman, distinguished for his talents and piety, an honor to
his profession as a minister of the gospel, and to the state of
Massachusetts as a republican citizen, who was baptized by myself in
Philadelphia, when acting as a Roman Catholic priest. The name of the
gentleman and the date of his baptism were duly registered by me; but
the clerical Goths and Vandals, who succeeded me in St. Mary's church in
that city, _expunged_ the register which I kept, not deeming it safe to
leave in existence, if possible, any records of the iniquities taught or
practised in the Romish church.
There are in all bodies and in all denominations of clergymen, certain
individuals by whom it becomes fashionable to get married and baptized;
and during my residence in Philadelphia, I held rather a conspicuous
place among them. The congregation of St. Mary's church was a large
one. Notwithstanding my _schismatic_ doctrines,--I was not then deemed
a heretic,--crowds attended the church, and I believe,--though I cannot
tell the exact number,--that I baptized more children than any
clergyman in the city. Among these there were hundreds of Presbyterians,
Episcopalians, Methodists and Baptists, brought to me for that purpose,
by their Roman Catholic nurses, without the knowledge or consent of
their Protestant mothers.
This has ever been the treacherous practice of the Romish church, from
the days of Hildebrand down to the present moment. Dagoberth's wife is
not a solitary instance of the undue influence which Romish priests have
over those women who go to confession to them. Show me the house of a
Protestant family in the United States where there is a Roman Catholic,
male or female, who goes to confession and communion in the Romish
church, and I will show you a watch, a spy upon every act and deed and
movement of that family. There is not a letter that comes into such a
family, that is not watched by Popish servants. They soon know from whom
it comes, or whether anything is to be gained by intercepting it. The
confessor is immediately consulted, and it is ascertained, from some
servant in the house where it was written or where it was received, what
was its purport, or what it contained.
This practice of domestic _espionage_, we all know, is common in every
country where auricular confession is taught and practised; but it is
carried on more generally here, in proportion to the number of Roman
Catholics, than in any other country in the world; and the reason
is obvious. It is said that Jews never cheat each other; this is not
because they will not cheat as well as others. The reason is, they will
not trust each other. They are always on the watch, or, as Yankees would
express it, on the "look-out" for each other. Neither is it because
other countries or other people are less disposed to indulge in this
species of espionage than we are, that they have less of it: it is
because Catholic countries and Catholics will not trust each other. They
are on the _qui vive_ in all matters of intrigue, whether in domestic or
national affairs, whether in morals or politics. But poor Jonathan, with
all his smartness and all his cleverness, is probably the most gullible
biped that crawls upon this earth. I have known some poor servant-maids
and servant-men, who did not seem to have an idea beyond a Hottentot,
who, after one month's proper training in the confessional by a Romish
priest, could wheedle them out of all they possessed, except their
money; and never have I known a Romish confessor, not even the simplest
Reverend Yahoo from the bogs of Ireland or flats of Holland, who could
not filch from them whatever money he wanted for any given purpose.
The cunning of Americans, their knowledge of human nature and of things
in general, cannot be mentioned in the same category with the craft and
knowledge of man which Jesuit priests and confessors possess. This is
exemplified even in the case of American missionaries. Send an American
missionary to France, to Spain, or to any Catholic country, and without
aid from home he will starve. He has no Roman Catholic to come to
confession to him, to give him money to build a church for him; he has
no servant-maid or servant-man, through whom he can persuade, to give
him ten or twelve dollars for saying mass; no dying man or woman will
send for him, and pay him well for taking out of his pockets a set of
_oil stocks_, for the purpose of greasing them over, commencing on the
forehead, the tip of the nose, eyelids, the lips, the breast, the loins
and the soles of the feet. He has no one to send for him and pay highly,
for putting his hand in his breeches pocket and pulling out a box full
of _gods_, viz., wafers made of flower and water, and giving him one of
them. No. He has none, of these resources; he starves amongst them
until bread is sent to him from home. Talk of Yankee cunning! He is a
simpleton compared with a Jesuit. A Jesuit comes amongst us, or he
goes to any Protestant country, without a dollar, but he never travels
without his jackals, male and female. He brings with him his lay sisters
and his lay brothers; they soon scent out prey for him; they hire
themselves, as servant men and women, to Protestant Yankees, and the
first intimation we have of a Jesuit missionary amongst us, is the alarm
of some rich-toned bell, which we hear from the steeple of a church
built for him by Protestant Yankees. In place of sending home for
money to support him, as the American missionary has to do, a Jesuit
is sending home money to pay the passage of others to come out and
help him. He is purchasing some of the most valuable real estate that
Protestant Yankees own, with Yankee money, and writes home to his
royal holiness, the Pope, that Americans are a simple, gullible people.
"Persevere," says the Jesuit in America to his Pope; "already have
you three millions of faithful troops from your own faithful allies of
France and Spain and other Roman Catholic friendly governments, among
them. Besides this, holy father, your holiness will bear in mind that
many of those American heretics, are deserting their own churches and
joining us; and above all, most holy father, you will remember,--and
I pray you will graciously condescend to take note of it,--that these
Americans are all politicians, all fond of offices and would kiss
your----!!!!! as well as your toe, if your subjects will only aid them
in keeping their offices, which, I am happy to inform your holiness, we
are very willing to do, until we have numerical strength enough to
turn all the heretical wretches out, and fill up their places with your
faithful subjects. This, with the aid of the blessed Virgin Mary, we
shall be able to accomplish in a very few years. Press on, most holy
father; your subjects are coming in thousands per day. Send dispatches
to your royal brothers of Austria, Prussia and Spain; urge upon them to
send us help, and the glorious cause of your holy spouse, the infallible
church, the Queen of heaven, will triumph.
"Write to the greatest layman living, Daniel O'Connell, whom your
holiness intends shall receive from your hands a crown as king of
Ireland; urge upon him the necessity of sending over to the United
States all the repealers he can spare. Let him persuade the Irish, that
the union was the cause of all their grievances,--that they would
have nothing to complain of, if the union were repealed. Let not your
faithful son, D. O'Connell, ever allude to the fact,--the poor Irish
would never dream of it,--that the union is not quite fifty years old,
and that, for seven hundred years before its existence, the Irish were
much more quarrelsome, clamorous, litigious than they are now. It won't
do to let them know this; repeal would lose all its charms, and the
greatest layman living, would become,--between you and myself and the
holy Virgin Mary,--what he really is, the greatest scoundrel and the
biggest poltroon living. These heretical Americans are trying to cause
a division between your son Daniel O'Connell and your subjects. Poor
dolts! How little they know about us. We know what we are about Your
son need only go regularly to confession, and attend mass in some public
place, such as at a mass meeting of repealers, and nothing can separate
your subjects from him. I trust the move which we made the other day in
New York, through your faithful subject Lord Bishop Hughs, was highly
satisfactory to your holiness. Your royal holiness will be graciously
pleased to remember, that the first murmurings of repeal thunder,
proceeded from the city of New York, through that humble, pious and
zealous servant of the infallible church, the Lord Bishop Hughs. He
was among the first to call the people together, and, under pretence
of desiring repeal in Ireland, he told them to organize, to weigh well
their own power and influence in the political balance. He advised them
to give their support to no man but a repealer, and very judiciously
instructed his confessors in private, that it should be given only to
those who were most favorable to your holiness' spouse, the infallible
church. He succeeded well. The American heretics swallowed the bait;
the President of the United States for the time being, was the first
political gudgeon he caught. Next followed two young spawns of his. They
shouted repeal throughout the country. Your subjects promised to
elect the three of them presidents in succession; but when the hour of
election came, as in duty and by oath of allegiance to your holiness
bound, we acted as we thought would best serve the interest of our holy
church."