of Napoleon, being born in a garrison where there was no Protestant
minister, was baptized by a Roman Catholic Priest. He was shortly
afterwards brought home to the valleys, was educated as a Protestant,
in the communion of his forefathers, attended Protestant worship and
received the sacrament in a Waldensean Church. He was married to a
Waldensean woman, by a Waldensean pastor, but this marriage is now
called a mixed marriage, under the allegation that he is an apostate
Roman Catholic, and a process with all its penalties hangs over the
family." (Grievances, p. 13.) Now Messrs. Bishops Hughes and Fenwick, do
you approve of the manner in which your Popish church has treated this
Waldensean soldier? Do you see any difference manifested here towards
heretics, and that which the Popes have always shown towards them? Would
you not, if you could, persecute every heretic in the United States? Do
you not believe that every marriage between Catholics and Protestants in
the United States and elsewhere, is invalid and not binding in the sight
of God? Does not your Pope, your church, and do you not, yourselves,
teach that the parties in such marriages are living in a state of
adultery? Do you not teach that if a Catholic lady marries a Protestant,
without a dispensation from your church, she is an adulteress and ought
to be treated accordingly by your church, which, in the plenitude of her
mildness, consigns her body to the holy inquisition, to be broken on
the rack, and her soul to hell to perish everlastingly. Do I state the
truth, reverend gentlemen? Will either of you contradict me? If you do,
I will lay before you Antoine's Moral Theology, _De Matrimonio_, which
some of your priests and myself studied in the same class, in the
college of Maynooth, Ireland. Is this persecuting heretics or not? Did
Paul IV., or Innocent III., ever show an instance of greater intolerance
than you do, under your present Pope, even in these United States? But
what would you do had you the power? The past history of your
predecessors can best answer this question. Look at yourselves, you
impostors of the present day; view yourselves in the mirror of truth,
and if you are not too far gone in falsehood and hypocrisy, you must
blush at the deceptions and impositions which you are trying to practise
upon the citizens and government in this country. You will perhaps say
that in 1794, all the edicts in force against the Vaudois, or Waldenses,
were repealed by the king of Sardinia. It is more than probable that the
soft-headed and brainless minister now at that court from the United
States, may inform you, if you have not the fact from any other source,
that the Vaudois have full liberty of conscience in the full exercise of
their religion and the education of their children.
Our present minister, Wm. H. Stiles, Georgia, at that court, who is
nothing better than a living libel upon diplomacy, was elected to
Congress by the votes of Irish Papists. He had just tact enough--no
fool is without more or less of it--to ingratiate himself with President
Polk, and obtain the appointment of Charge to Sardinia, In him you have
a pliant tool, who will tell you the king of Sardinia has issued orders
to prevent the taking away children, with a view of obliging them to
embrace the Catholic religion, and requiring also, that those children
which have been taken away, shall be restored. This proves two important
facts which cannot be doubted, as the King of Sardinia cannot even be
suspected of any want of allegiance or respect for his royal brother,
the Pope of Rome. It proves, in the first place, that the Roman church
has authorized its members to go into the Alpine valleys, and steal
from their Protestant brethren their beloved children, with a view of
proselytizing them to the infamous-doctrines of Popery. It shows, in
the second place, that the cries of their bereaved parents for their
restoration, have been disregarded by those Popish robbers, otherwise
the royal order for their restoration need not have been issued.
In spite of these edicts, children are now taken away, as Gilli informs
us, under pretence of their being illegitimate. Two lamentable and
heart-rending cases occurred in the year, 1828. Mind, take notice,
Messrs. Bishops, of the date. This is not an old lie, as you have been
pleased to call many of the statements in my books. If it be a lie
at all, it is a new one. The case I refer to is this. A Popish priest
demanded from a poor Protestant woman, her infant child, in order
that it might be brought up in the faith of the infallible church. She
refused, of course, to do so, but clung to it the more closely, pressing
it to her bosom with a fondness such as a mother only can feel or
describe, and fled to the mountains, preferring to perish with it there,
rather than to have it brought up in the idolatries of Popery. And what
was the consequence? I blush to relate it, for the honor of humanity.
This Popish priest, in obedience to the commands of his holy church,
did precisely what any Popish priest in the United States would do under
similar circumstances. He ordered a small guard of carabineers to pursue
her, and bring her, that she might be dealt with according to Popish
laws. For many weeks she lived a miserable life, flying from place to
place, until the sufferings of the mother and child excited the pity of
the Popish monsters who issued the order for her apprehension. The order
was withdrawn, but not revoked, and the woman's fears and anxieties
continue, while she remains exposed to the same severity. Will you,
Messrs. Bishops, after this, presume to say that the Popish church does
not sanction the persecution of heretics? will you dare assert that she
does not sanction their total extirpation? You cannot do so, and I risk
nothing in saying, that you, Messrs. Fenwick and Hughes, would be the
first to strike the blow, should a favorable opportunity offer.
In 1840, as Gilli tells us, a fraternity of eight missionaries, of the
order of St. Morris and St Lazare, was instituted at Latorre, one of the
largest towns of the Vaudois. The object of this institution is to go
about making proselytes. To this, as the London Review very properly
remarks, there can be no objection. We admit missionaries into the
United States. The Popish jackals are among our own valleys, as well as
on the tops of our mountains. No American citizen can go many miles from
his home, without finding himself in the vicinity of one of those
Popish dens called monk-houses, or nunneries. This we cannot, nor are we
disposed to prevent; our Constitution allows it; we recognize the right
of Papists to send missionaries among us; but it might be questioned
still, whether we ourselves are right, or whether the framers of our
Constitution have not committed a great error, In the mode of wording
that part of our Constitution, granting any right or privilege to any
nation, or people, or government, or religion, which was not founded on
strict reciprocity. Did it ever occur to Jefferson, Washington, Madison,
or the other eminent men who framed our Constitution, that in giving
to a Roman Catholic sovereign, king, or potentate, the right of sending
missionaries into the United States, they forgot the securing to the
United States a reciprocal right? The Papist is allowed to invade our
country; but are we allowed to invade Papal States, and build churches
there for divine worship, as the Papists are in the United States? The
Catholic priest can come here from Rome and build a church, teach a
school, and preach whatever and whenever he pleases; but if an American
citizen and Protestant freeman go to the city of Rome, or any strictly
Catholic country, he is under a legal disability to build his church, or
teach or preach. Is this fair? Is there any thing reciprocal in this? Is
it not rather a disgrace, and a lasting lampoon upon American freedom,
to tolerate this violation of the first principles of reciprocal rights?
Let our people take this matter into their own hands; let them call upon
their representatives, and demand from them an immediate redress for
this national humiliation, which has been entailed upon us by some
unaccountable want of foresight on the part of the framers of our
Constitution. But, say the Popish bishops in this country, our church
never persecutes, she never disturbs heretics, she loves Protestants
as brethren, and is willing to pay the most implicit obedience to their
laws and institutions. This is the language of that notorious demagogue
and disturber of the peace, Bishop Hughes of New York; this is the
language of Bishop Fenwick, of Boston, to which Brownson, his Corporal
Trim, invariably says yes. These are the men whom I have accused of
falsehood--wilful and deliberate falsehood. Have I satisfied my readers
that I have stated the truth, and, though not the whole truth,--nothing
but the truth? Have I satisfied them that the Popish Church and Papists
have ever been the sworn enemies of Protestants? They admit themselves,
that great cruelties have, in ancient times, been inflicted by Roman
Catholics upon Protestants; but in order to deceive Americans, they very
blandly assert that those times have gone by, and that such cruelties do
not now exist. Is the reader satisfied yet that this is not correct,
and that the only object of these men is further deceit and deeper
treachery? Let me again call the reader's attention to another passage
from Gilli; it will show more clearly, if possible, than it has hitherto
been done, that the malignant hatred of Popery towards Protestants burns
now as brightly as it did at any period of Christian history. "They
are," says Gilli, speaking of the Protestant Waldenses, "absolutely
forbidden by Roman Catholics to exert their parental authority over
their own children, if these children, (girls above ten, and boys above
twelve years,) are tempted to forsake their faith. In 1836, a child was
taken from a family at Lucerne, and in 1842, another from a family
at St. Germain, upon the pretext of an inclination expressed by those
children to turn Roman Catholics, there being no difficulty in tempting
a poor, half-starved boy of twelve, or a girl of ten, to receive
instruction offered with a crucifix in one hand, and a loaf or a fish
in the other. Thus the parent's heart is to be doubly pierced; first, by
encouraging a pretended exercise of judgment on the part of his child,
before the understanding is matured; and secondly, by a legalized
abduction of the child so tampered with. On the 2d of May, 1839, the
child of Jaques Dalmais de David, and Margarite his wife, having been
torn from them on the pretence of being illegitimate, was sent to the
foundling hospital at Pignerol, although the parents were both natives
of Vaudois, born in the commune and parish of Villar Bobi, and lawfully
married in that parish, by the pastor thereof. Upon the first abduction,
the father took away the infant from the nurse to whose charge it had
been committed previously to its being carried to the hospital; and for
his refusal to attend the summons of the commandant of the province, he
and his wife were thrown into prison, and there remained several days.
The child, however, was restored to its parents, after an investigation
which lasted many months; the legitimacy of its birth having been fully
proved.
In the month of August, 1842, the Prefect of Pignerol ordered a Bible
lecture and prayer meeting which was held in a school room at Latour, on
Sunday afternoon, to be discontinued.
On the 18th of January, of the following year, a similar order had
been issued by the Intendent of the province. The order appeared in the
following words: 'The Royal Secretary of State for the Interior, having
been informed that every Sunday some Waldenses, Protestants, held
congregations in a school house, and that many persons of every age and
sex met together to sing psalms aloud, the said Royal Secretary of
State has communicated to me that the places being appointed wherein the
Waldenses shall worship, no innovation, or increase of the number of the
same, can be admitted, and they must be enjoined to discontinue those
meetings, or in case of contumacy, the government will adopt measures to
prevent them.' Accordingly the Sunday services were discontinued. This
is a cruel state of things; and it may well be asked, whether Protestant
communities were, or ought to be, considered the friends of civil
rights? Ought they not to interfere in correcting such a state of
things? And is it not the duty of this country in particular, to be
the very first to do so? Shall it be said by any future historian, that
republican America shall be outdone in philanthropy and sympathy for the
oppressed, by the despots of Europe? Shall it be said that England, in
almost every reign, has done more for the advancement of free principles
and religious toleration, than republican America? Even Cromwell,
despot as he is represented to have been, interfered in behalf of the
persecuted Protestants of Vaudois. George I. of England also interfered
in their behalf. Cromwell told the Pope, through his ambassador at
Rome, that if he did not silence his canons in the valleys of Piedmont,
against the Protestant inhabitants thereof, he would silence them
himself by his own brass cannons at the gates of the Vatican. And shall
it be said that the freemen of America shall witness the oppressions of
their Protestant brethren without a word or a threat in their behalf?
The following petition or memorial, in behalf of the Protestants, the
Vaudois, was sent, in 1842, by a committee appointed in London, for
their relief. The Archbishop of Canterbury has immortalized his name by
being at the head of this committee. It reads in the following words:
To the Earl of Aberdeen, Her Majesty's principal Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs.
Winchester House, St. James Square,
April 9th, 1842. My Lord,
We the undersigned, members of the London Committee, instituted in
1825, for the relief of the Vaudois of Piedmont, earnestly entreat your
Lordship to submit to Her Majesty the Queen our humble entreaty that
Her Majesty will be graciously pleased to intercede in behalf of that
ancient community, with their sovereign, the King of Sardinia. The
sufferings of Vaudois have often excited the sympathy of this nation,
and our sovereigns have, from time to time, been pleased to exercise
their beneficent offices in the privileges and rights of the Vaudois
Church, which have been threatened; and this they have done out of
compassion for the afflicted.
Among other aggrievances, it has been represented to us that the Vaudois
have now to complain that children are taken from their parents by the
priests and local authorities, when one of the parents is said to be a
Roman Catholic, under pretence of their being illegitimate; that their
religious services are interrupted; that their intercourse and traffic
with their fellow countrymen, beyond certain limits, are placed under
grievous restrictions; that some of them are deprived of the means of
their subsistence, being forbidden to purchase, to farm, or to cultivate
lands, except within boundaries too narrow for their population; and
that others, to their great disadvantage and detriment, have been
ordered to sell property which they have legally acquired beyond the
territories to which they are confined.
If these alleged severities were inflicted on the Vaudois for acts of
turbulence or dangerous fanaticism, we should not presume to entreat Her
Majesty's gracious interposition. But it does not appear that any
thing can be laid to their charge, _except the profession of religion
differing from that of the Roman Catholic Church_, and similar, in many
particulars of faith and discipline, to the reformed churches in Europe,
&c.
This petition has been signed by the following gentlemen: W. Cantuar, W.
R. Hamilton, C. T. London, Wm. Cotton, C. R. Winton, T. D. Acland, Geo.
H. Rose, W. S. Gilly. R. H. Inglis.
England, as a Christian nation and a Christian people, has done well on
this occasion. She has given the world evidence that whatever may have
been the crimes or errors of her former rulers, she still retains within
the breasts of her people some sense of that great commandment, "Love
thy neighbor as thyself." What have we, American citizens, done for our
Protestant brethren in the Alpine valleys? We see and know them to
be oppressed and ground to the dust--for what? Because they are
Protestants. Is there any things else laid to their charge! Nothing. Was
there _ever_ any thing else laid to their charge, in justification of
the cruelties which, century after century, the Pope of Rome and the
blood-hounds of his church have inflicted upon them! I have diligently
examined the history of this people. I was induced to do so at an
early age, believing it almost impossible that humanity was capable of
enduring such sufferings as history informs us were inflicted upon them
by the Romish Church; and I am compelled to say, in truth and honesty,
that I cannot discover any reason or any cause for their persecution by
Roman Catholics, except that they did not believe in the supremacy of
the Pope, and the abominations of the Romish Church. And why, under
these circumstances, are not Protestant Americans doing something for
these their brethren? It is in the power of this country to do much in
any just cause. Such an advocate as this government might prove itself
to be against the spirit of Popery, even in the Piedmont valleys, would
carry gladness to the hearts of many an oppressed brother among them. We
have money, which we are throwing away in charity to those who have but
few claims upon us; we have genius, which we are scattering all over
the country in ranting and ravings and metaphysical discussions,
unproductive of any thing useful to man. Why not employ this in
espousing the cause of liberty and of our oppressed brethren
the Vaudois,--a poor people, who have no standing armies, no
treasury,--nothing but their Protestant religion and a good cause to
support them. Why is not the genius of our people--why have not their
fine minds and fine talents been employed in holding up before the broad
light of heaven the villainies, iniquities, abominations and corruptions
of the Romish Church? Why are not such imposors and deceivers of the
public as the Roman Catholic Bishops of New York and Boston, together
with their man Trim Brownson--singled out from among our people? Why
does not public opinion write in italics on the countenance-of each of
these men, the words deceiver and traitor, that our children may avoid
them when they see them in the streets? Why do we not teach even our
little ones to pray that the Lord may rescue our brethren the Vaudois
from the cruelties of Popery? Why does not every Christian teach his
child to exclaim, in the beautiful language of the immortal poet of
England, who was himself a true friend of the Vaudois,
"Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;--
Even them who kept thy truth so pure, of old,
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones, Forget not."
Why do Americans allow their children to go to the schools, kept
professedly for the propagation of such doctrines as those taught and
practised by the Romish church? I myself tremble lest there may
be something wrong in the construction of the social system in our
republican government. Assuredly, nothing else could induce us to
violate the first law of nature, which is self-preservation. Our
natural affections, and sympathy with each other, are the sweetest
ingredients---and perhaps the only sweet ones which Providence has
thrown into the cup of life, undoubtedly for the holy purpose of
rendering it at all palate-able. Take them away and life would be bitter
indeed.
A state of society, such as the Popish church, through her agents
in this country, desires to introduce amongst us, tends to no better
purpose, than to divest man of humanity itself. It would harden his
heart and swell him with the morbid humors of vanity, ambition, bigotry,
and persecution. It would increase i our natural misery, and leave us no
anodyne, but that | filthy and abominable one, auricular confession and
I Popish pardons. Does not this deserve the execration of the virtuous
and pious of all denominations? And are you prepared, fellow citizens,
for such a state of things? I am aware that there are some amongst us,
ready to tear from their bosoms, for base and selfish purposes, every
thing good, which the God of glory through the merits of his Son, has
planted there. There is nothing so absurd that pride and selfishness
will not adopt and maintain it. It is said that Alexander did really
believe himself to be a god. The vilest and most profligate of the
Caesars demanded Divine honors. Some of the Popes of the Romish church,
even when rotting and dropping to pieces, from the effects of disease,
brought upon them by licentiousness and dissipation, would have the
world believe that they were infallible, and even impeccable; so says
Balarmine, an authority not to be disregarded by Papists.
Bishop Hughes tells us that in this country, we cannot prosper as a
people, unless we adopt the religion of the Pope, and encourage the
Pope's subjects to overthrow this government, and not to be ruled by
its laws or its people. _Americans shant rule us_, is a Popish motto now
borne aloft by Papists through the streets of New York, and other cities
in the Union. Such language as the above resembles rather the ravings of
some poor lunatic, than that of a sober, honest republican, and appears
to be more like that of a maniac, sitting in some desolate cell, with
a crown of straw, swaying a sceptre of the same material, and fancying
himself an Emperor, than any thing else; but to me there is nothing
inconsistent and strange in such language or such conduct; I know
the pride of a Popish Bishop. I have been too long among them, not to
understand well their vanity and arrogant pretensions; and though their
conduct may not be such as to fit them for a lunatic asylum, still it
never fails to unfit them for all the uses and purposes of civil life,
and renders them dangerous citizens. There is nothing extraordinary
in this; it seems to be the natural consequence even of the physical
organization of man. Inordinate ambition and false pride, are said by
anatomists to have a powerful effect in turning the brains of man; but
it is truly strange that, shocking as madness is in itself, and terrible
as are its consequences, it sometimes affects people in such a manner as
to turn our pity into laughter. We have an instance of this,--and a very
prominent one,--in the case of the unfortunate changeling, Brownson,
who, but the other day, was admitted by Bishop Fenwick into full
communion with the Popish church. But nothing else could be expected by
those who understand Popery, and see the broad difference between its
system of morality, and that of pure Christianity. Modern Popery is made
up from the philosophy of the ancient Pagans, and some German writers.
It has man attractions in the eyes of superficial Christians; has many
aspects, and some of them of an attractive character. Unsophisticated
people, such as many American theologians are, see, in the morality of
Popery, apparently, much philanthropy and practical Christianity, and
these so judiciously blended together by Popish cunning and Jesuitical
craft, that its true character--nay even the deeds themselves--are
entirely forgotten, in their admiration of the brilliant though false
light, in which they appear.
For instance, to take that miserable man, Brownson, by the hand, and
raise him from a state of utter destitution, to which his own follies
and imprudence reduced him, had in it much apparent philanthropy and
practical Christianity; the Popish Fenwick found him in great want,
every religious society shunned him, as if the brand of Cain were upon
him. There was not even to be found a political party that would
have any thing to do with him; he betrayed and left them all in rapid
succession, and they in turn left him alone and unaided All the powers
of his mind (it is said that he once possessed some) were broken and
crushed; there was no peace, no resting place for him. Both theologians
and politicians raised their hands and pointed at him the finger of
scorn--the former, as a rebel against the King of Glory--the latter, as
a traitor to the puny king of their respective parties.