purpose to support O'Con-nell any longer, and feeling that he made his
spring too violently and too soon; knowing that he fell far short of his
leap, he turns round, like the Jesuit Rodin, and tells Americans that he
was altogether mistaken in the course he pursued, and that he was truly
their friend; that they should rule, and by right ought to rule, and
that he and his subjects would be the first to aid them against England,
or O'Connell. Well done, Mr. Bishop. Impudent and barefaced as your
assertion is, more treacherous and false than even the Jesuit Rodin as
you are, I have not the least doubt but you will succeed.
It is curious to observe the similarity of sentiment and action
which govern Jesuits, however far apart they may be. We know from the
Wandering Jew, that the Jesuit Rodin, for several years, never ceased to
pursue and persecute the orphan descendants of the Rennepont family.
He commenced his persecution of them in Siberia; he scented their track
with the keenness of a bloodhound, from that to Dresden. In Dresden,
as we are told, he had a fresh pack of bloodhounds, who fell upon the
innocent twin orphans of an exiled father, and protected only by a
faithful French trooper. It is impossible to read the account given
by Sue, of the ill-treatment which these children and their protector
received from a ferocious brute, named Morok, a lay Jesuit brother
during the time they remained at the "White Falcon Inn," without strong
emotions of pity and commiseration. From this they were pursued by the
Jesuit Rodin, by different agents and by different means, which the
reader will find beautifully delineated in the Wandering Jew, until
their arrival in Paris.
Here, it will be seen, that new plots were formed, and new schemes
devised, to defeat their just claims to their paternal inheritance,
by keeping them in total ignorance that any such claims were ever in
existence. Unfeeling, indeed, and cold as the marble slab which covers
the house of the dead, must be the heart of that man or woman, who
could unmoved witness the sufferings of these helpless orphans and the
faithful servant, Dagoberth, while in the city of Paris; all brought
upon them by Jesuit priests and Jesuit nuns,--fiends, vipers, vampires
in human shape, All their movements were watched and betrayed, through
the confessional. But the eye of the Lord seemed to rest upon them in
a most extraordinary manner. It would be wrong to diminish, by
anticipation, the pleasure which my readers may find in reading for
themselves this part of the Wandering Jew. Let us, therefore, pass on to
Rodin, the Jesuit, and prototype of the Lord Bishop Hughs of New York.
Rodin, finding that all his plans and schemes, in trying to possess the
vast estates of the Rennepont family, were likely to fail, and would
inevitably be frustrated, unless some new scheme were devised, retired
within his own room, deliberated on what was best to be done, and
suddenly springing from his chair, thus soliloquized with himself:
"Never have I had better hopes of success, than at this moment;
the stronger reason for neglecting nothing. A new thought struck me
yesterday. We will act here in concert. I have it,--an ultra Catholic
journal, called 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' It will be deemed
the organ of Rome. 'I will originate the question of the liberty of
teaching. The common liberals will support us,--the idiots. They admit
us to common rights, when our privileges, our immunities, our influence
through the confessional, our obedience to Rome,--all put us beyond
the pale of common rights, of the very advantage which we enjoy. Double
idiots! They fancy us disarmed, because they know themselves to be
disarmed towards us. That is as I would have it?'"
This is precisely the course which the Jesuit Hughs, of New York, has
pursued towards Americans. Rodin immediately acted upon the new idea
which occurred to him; he wrote to the general of the Jesuit order in
Rome, who immediately advised him to cease apparently from further
persecuting the heirs of the Rennepont inheritance; to avow himself
their warmest friend, and to denounce all those who attempted to injure
them in any way, as plotters against their rights and their happiness.
Having a previous understanding with his co-laborers in iniquity, he
denounced every one of them, and by this act of apparent friendship and
justice, he wormed himself into the undivided confidence of all who
heretofore looked upon him with fearful suspicion. Just so is Bishop
Hughs trying to worm himself into the confidence of Americans, by
assuring them that he disapproves of the treachery of O'Connell, and by
recommending to his subjects and his dupes, in New York and elsewhere,
to assemble in public, and declare that they are opposed to O'Connell's
movements in Ireland, and that they are the friends, of the United
States; and accordingly we find that on Monday, the 16th of the present
month, June, 1845, a meeting was called by the tools of the aforesaid
Bishop Hughs, for the ostensible purpose of expressing their
disapprobation of O'Connell, the Pope's tool, in Ireland. The bishop,
knowing that the bitterest feelings have been aroused in the bosoms of
Americans, at seeing Papists forming associations throughout the length
and breadth of this land, and collecting vast sums of money, to be
transmitted to Ireland, not for the purpose of feeding the half-starved
population of that unfortunate country; not to clothe the almost naked
peasantry of that unhappy land; not to relieve from bondage and worse
than Siberian slavery, a people naturally brave and generous, but to
pamper and to forward the plans of a roaring, brawling demagogue and
coward, Daniel O'Connell.
The least observant among us, is aware that the scenes of bloodshed,
which have been witnessed in this country, may be traced to those
associations, which that Irish Jesuit, Bishop Hughs, has fanned into
existence, by his inflammatory appeals to the worst passions in
the hearts of his people, and now, alas! too late,--even if he were
serious,--he attempts to extinguish the flame which he has kindled.
But I tell you, Americans, he is not serious. If you depend upon His
professions, you will be deceived. He is sworn, on the most fearful
oath, to support the power, the kingdom and the jurisdiction of the Pope
of Rome, over all kings, potentates, states and magistrates. Neither
are his subjects in this country sincere; and that very Bishop Hughs,--I
accuse him of it in the face of the world,--I accuse him of it on the
authority of the Roman Catholic church, of which I have been a priest
myself,--teaches those very people, that any oath of allegiance which
they have sworn to this government, is null, void and of no effect. When
I was a Roman Catholic priest, it was my duty to absolve from their oath
of allegiance, all those who came to confession to me. While a priest, I
instructed the Irish to swear allegiance to the heretical government
of the United States; but with a mental reservation, that the first
allegiance was due to the Pope of Rome. Every Roman Catholic, who goes
to confession to a Romish priest, is a mere political automaton, not
to be trusted by a Protestant, or Protestant government, further than
either would trust the priest to whom he con-fosses; and how far a
Romish priest merits the confidence of an American Protestant, time will
tell.
The tools of Bishop Hughs, of New York, at Tammany Hall, June 16th,
1845, passed the following resolution:
"Resolved, That there are thousands in this country, (meaning Papists,)
who would bare their breasts to any power, (meaning English,) that may
invade this country." It was also resolved, at the same meeting, "that
they would defend the American claims to Oregon and to Texas." It was
further resolved by these self-same repealers, the sworn subjects of
Bishop Hughs and the Pope, "that the American eagle shall not be impeded
by natives of Ireland in this country."
If there was not something diabolically treacherous beneath the surface
of those resolutions; if a viper were not hidden and concealed under the
fair and verdant foliage of these words, they would be to me, as well as
others, a source of pleasure. But let us remove the leaves and brambles,
the blossoms and roses, which conceal the subtle and fatal poison, and
they are calculated to chill and to freeze those sympathies which,
under other circumstances, Americans would feel for those people.
Irish Papists bare their breasts in defence of the rights of Protestant
Americans,--and that by the advice and with the consent of a Popish
Jesuit bishop! Monstrous insolence, to impose thus upon hospitable and
generous Americans. The resolution, in truth, amounts to this: Resolved,
That as our Bishop Hughs is permitted by the infallible church, to act
the hypocrite, we, as professors of the same creed, are entitled to do
the same. Resolved, That, as our bishops and priests are permitted
to keep no faith with Protestant Americans, we shall pursue the same
course, until we gain entire possession of this Protestant land.
The idea of foreign Papists "baring their breasts to English bayonets,
in defence of the rights of Protestant Americans," to Oregon or Texas,
is laughable; it is farcical. Ireland contains nearly ten millions of
souls,--I should have said slaves,--and they will not bare their breasts
to the trifling number of sixteen thousand troops, which England deems
fully sufficient to keep them in perfect subjection. But I will tell
you, Americans, what those Popish heroes will do, and have been doing,
ever since the year sixteen hundred and forty-nine, when the ruling
Pope sent Monsignor Gio. Batista Rinuccini, Archbishop of Fermo, as his
nuncio and minister plenipotentiary to Ireland, almost two hundred years
ago. They will bare their------to be kicked, whenever John Bull may take
a fancy to exercise his clumsy feet in that favorite amusement of
his. Such slaves as these talk of "baring their breasts" in defence of
American rights; who, numbering ten millions, still permit themselves
to be kicked, cuffed, buffeted and spit upon by sixteen thousand British
soldiers! Pshaw! Where is the American, who will not indignantly say,
in the language of a Roman writer, "_Non tali auxilio nec defensoribtis
istis_." Bishop Hughs and his myrmidons, talk of defending the rights
of Texas! Poor priest-ridden, pope-ridden dupes! The Texans would spurn
your aid; they do not want you; they would not have your aid. The Texans
had not a thousand effective men when they declared their independence
of Mexico, which was then able to raise an army of two hundred thousand
men. But that army was an army of priest-ridden slaves, like yourselves,
and the gallant little band of Protestant Texas, composed chiefly of
Americans, defied their power; declared themselves independent, banished
from among them the treacherous Spanish priests, who were in Texas; they
fought for their freedom and they won it.
Irish repealers, the slaves of O'Connell and the scheming Jesuit Hughs
of New York, resolve to defend the rights of Texas! The thing is too
ludicrous. I shall not dwell upon it.
Let it not be inferred, from what I have stated above, that I believe
the Irish Papists to be naturally cowards. I will not do them this or
any other injustice. They are naturally a brave people. Unsubdued and
untampered with by their profligate priests and Popish superstition,
there is not a braver or more generous people in the world, and the
chains which now bind them to British slavery, would be snapped in six
months,--ay, I repeat it, Ireland would be free in six months, were it
not for the ulterior designs of the Pope and his agents, in urging upon
them abject submission to a power which, by a single effort of their
native strength, they could crush never to rise again. Well does the
Pope know, well do Jesuits and priests understand that if the Irish
nation freed itself from English rule, by its native arm, as the United
States did, they would also free themselves from the dominion of his
royal holiness the Pope, and the trammels of Jesuitism and priestcraft;
and hence arise the scruples of O'Connell, about violating the
British constitution. Hence the exhortation of Irish priests to their
downtrodden Irish slaves, to do everything constitutionally\ which means
nothing more or less than this:--let us priests, bishops and pope, act
for you; we are afraid to risk our own precious necks; we will negotiate
matters for you. You must feel indebted to us for everything you
possess; in the mean time come to confession to us regularly, bring us
every dollar you earn, and we will take care of your political as well
as your spiritual interest. Your bodies and souls shall be taken care
of by us.--I can assure the Irish Papists in this country and elsewhere,
that Daniel O'Connell and the Jesuit Bishops Hughs, Fenwick, and their
brethren in this country, have no more idea of emancipating them, than
they have of renouncing the Pope, unless with the view of making them
still greater slaves to the Pope and the infallible church; and it is
with this view they are now forbidding the use of the Bible, knowing
full well that the free perusal of its sacred pages would enlighten them
not only on the subject of their everlasting, but also on that of their
civil rights. Well indeed may we apply to the Pope, and to the Lord
Bishop Hughs, and each of his brethern the words of the poet,
"Loyal his heart, and church and Pope his past;
He for religion might not warmly feel;
But for the church he had abounding zeal."
We might well fancy these right reverend gentlemen addressing us in the
following words of the same poet. They do so, in fact, every day.
"Why send you Bibles all the world about;
That men may read amiss and learn to doubt?
Why teach the children of the poor to read;
That a new race of doubters may succeed?
Now can you scarcely lull the stubborn crew;
And what if they should know as much as you?"
There is not in history one solitary instance to be found, where the
court of Rome, or Romish priests as a body, afforded aid to any people
struggling for freedom, unless with the ulterior view of subjecting them
to their own dominion,--a dominion far more despotic in its principles
and tyrannic in its exactions, than any that has before been devised by
human ingenuity; because that, and that alone, enslaves the soul as well
as the body.
Many instances might be quoted of the truth of this, but I shall only
refer to one of a recent date. While Poland was struggling for her
liberty, as we are told by a modern and beautiful French writer,
Lamennais, (Affaires de Rome, p. 110. Paguerre, 1844,) and the success
of the Russians remained a doubt, the official Journal of Rome, did not
contain a word which could offend the victorious in so many combats;
but scarcely had they, the Poles, fallen,--scarcely had the atrocious
vengeance of the Czar begun the long punishment of a nation devoted to
the sword, to exile and to slavery,--when the same journal could find no
terms sufficiently injurious, wherewith to stigmatize those, the noble
Poles, who had fallen victims to fortune. Cowardly Rome trembled before
the Czar. He said to Rome, would you live yet, place yourself beside the
scaffold to which I have consigned those rebellious Poles, who had the
audacity to attempt to free themselves from my government, and while
they pass on their way to the gallows, curse you the victims;--and Rome
did curse the Poles.
Atrocious, revolting as the conduct of the Czar has been towards the
suffering Poles, yet there is something noble, something majestic in
his treatment of Rome. He pays no regard to the insolent ecclesiastic
of Rome, who would be lord of the universe. The Czar does not comprehend
the meaning of those cabalistic words, spiritual supremacy. Let us
contrast the conduct of this sovereign of Russia, with that of the
sovereigns or executives of the United States, and the contrast cannot
fail to make a forcible impression upon our minds. That of the Autocrat
of all the Russians is so far truly independent; while that of one
of our executives, in relation to the Pope, is truly spiritless and
sycophantic. Witness the following letter of Mr. Van Buren, to the
American consul at Rome, dated, Department of State, Washington, July
the 20th, 1830.
"Your letters of the 11th of April and 5th of May, the first
anticipating the favorable sentiments of his holiness the Pope, towards
the government and people of the United States, and the last confirming
your anticipations, have been received at this department, and submitted
to the president; by whom I am directed to tender his holiness, through
the same channel, an assurance of the satisfaction which he derives from
this communication of the frank and liberal opinions entertained by the
apostolic see towards the government and the people, and of the policy
which you likewise state his holiness has adopted, and which is so
worthy of the head of a great and Christian church, assiduously to
cultivate, in his intercourse with foreign nations, the relations of
amity and good will, and sedulously to abstain from all interference in
their occasional difficulties with each other, except with the benign
view of effecting reconciliations between them.
"You will accordingly seek an early opportunity to make known to the
Pope, in terms and manner best suited to the occasion, the light in
which the president views the communication referred to, and likewise
you will assure him that the president reciprocates, in their full
extent and spirit, the friendly and liberal sentiments entertained by
his holiness towards the government of the apostolic see, and the people
of the states of the church; and it is the president's wish that you
should, upon the same occasion, offer his congratulations to the holy
father, upon his recent succession to the Tiara, not from any hereditary
claim on his part, but from a preponderating influence, which a just
estimation of his talents and private virtues naturally had upon the
enlightened councils by which that high distinction was conferred;
and which affords the pledge that his pontificate will be a wise and
beneficent one.
"You will take care, likewise, to assure his holiness, in reference
to the paternal solicitude which he expresses in behalf of the Roman
Catholics of the United States, that all our citizens professing that
religion, stand upon the same elevated ground which citizens of all
other religious denominations occupy, in regard to the rights
of conscience, that of perfect liberty, contradistinguished from
toleration; that they enjoy an entire exemption from coercion in every
possible shape, upon the score of religious faith, and that they are
free, in common with their fellow-citizens of all other sects, to adhere
to, or adopt the creeds and practise the worship best adapted to their
reason, or prejudices; and that there exists a perfect unity of faith
in the United States amongst religionists of all professions, as to the
wisdom and policy of that cardinal feature of all our constitutions and
forms of government, those of the United States and separate states of
the union, by which this inestimable right is formally recognized, and
the enjoyment of it inviolably secured.
"M. Van Buren."
I would especially invite the attention of my readers to the above
letter. A proper understanding of this correspondence between the
executive of this country and the Pope, through their representatives,
will set at rest a question long mooted in every section of the United
States, viz., whether the Pope is a temporal or spiritual potentate. If
the former, Mr. Van Buren and the President of the United States did but
their duty in giving the assurances contained in the above letter. This
was due to him as an independent sovereign. As king of Rome, he was as
well entitled to it as any of the sovereigns of Europe; and so far from
blaming Mr. Van Buren, for the respectful and courteous manner in which
lie addressed his royal holiness, I should be among the first to
award him just praise. The numerical weakness of a foreign potentate's
subjects, the paucity of their numbers, or their intellectual
degradation, is, now-a-days, no argument against the legitimacy of their
independent sovereignty. But if the latter,--if the Pope of Rome, is
not an independent and sovereign potentate,--if his sovereignty is only
spiritual, as the Jesuit Hughs and all Romish priests and bishops in the
United States would persuade us, then I contend, that Mr. Van Buren, the
President of the United States, or any other man who with his sanction,
writes such a letter as the above is a conspirator against this
government, and should be prosecuted as such.
Among the foreign powers known to this government, no such power as
a spiritual one is enumerated. The constitution of the United States
recognizes no spiritual power, either at home or abroad; and if Mr. Van
Buren, as the representative of this government, has corresponded with a
foreign spiritual potentate, he did that which he was not authorized
to do by our national charter, and which the executive of the United
States, had no more right to order him to do, than I had. If the cabinet
of his holiness, the king of Rome, have half the intelligence, tact and
management for which they get credit, they must have felt highly amused
at the simplicity and sycophancy of Mr. Van Buren's letter. If the power
of the Pope, in these United States, be only spiritual, what has he to
do with this government, or this government with him? The constitution
of the United States, and the various constitutions of the respective
States, recognize no spiritual power whatever. No court of law nor
equity, from one end of this country to the other, understands what
a spiritual power is; nor have they made any provision to maintain or
enforce it What, then, is it? Where is it to be found? Is it visible? Is
there any record of it? Is it tangible? In whom is it centred? No trace
of it can be found among us, and yet we are told it exists; and three
millions of Papists in the United States, are bound to obey this
invisible and intangible thing, or whatever it is.
We are told by Bishop Hughs, that the Pope claims only spiritual
jurisdiction over this country. I explained, in my recent work on
Popery, what Papists mean by spiritual jurisdiction and spiritual power.
It would be a loss of time to refer to it again. The legerdemain and
humbuggery of the whole affair are too transparent to deceive any eye
but that of a credulous American. Without this doctrine of spiritual
allegiance to the Pope of Rome, Popish priests could raise no money for
his holiness, in the United States, and they dare not openly claim for
him any civil allegiance. Without it, repealers could raise no money for
that champion of Popery, Daniel O'Connell.
Had the Romanists of the present day the spirit of the ancient Romans,
they would spurn this shameful exaction upon their credulity, but
especially upon their purse. It is base to submit to it; even a Pagan
Romanist would spurn at it. He did so once before, and if his Pagan
spirit was not broken by worse than Paganism,--Popery,--he would do
so again. "For I," said Brutus "Can raise no money by vile means: By
heavens, I had rather coin my heart And drop my blood for drachmas,
than to wring From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash By any
indirection!"
Yes, even a Pagan would spurn and scorn the deception, cupidity and
hypocrisy of Popish Jesuits and priests.