The American. (Omaha, Nebraska) 1891-1899, May 29, 1896, Image 1

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    THE AMERICAN
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Thu "RICAN.
BOo to 7.
THE AMERICAN
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"AMEK1CA FUR AMERICANS" We bold that all men are American who Swear Allegiance to the UoiUd Statos without a mental reservation In favor of the Pojhj.
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Volume V
OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY. MAY 20, 189G.
NUMBKB 22
REV. SGOTT F. HERSI1EY
we should be en the same plane lin
guistically, however we might differ In
natural dignity and intelligence.
Writes His Reply to the Car
roll Criticism of the Inde
pendent of March 19.
Relations of the Roman Catho
lic Archbishop to the Irish
Uprising Against Federal
Government, Make In
teresting History.
To the Rev. H. R. Carroll, D. D., Re
ligious Editor New York Independent:
, My Dear Sir. I address myself to
jour second criticism of my article in
the Boston Daily Standard of a few
weeks ago. My statement that Presi
dent Lincoln communicated to Arch
bishop Hughes the personal responsi
bility which would attach to him if the
New York draft riots should continue,
you dismiss, with the statement that
you could find no clew of such a com
munication, that it would have been
absurd, and that the archbishop did
make Union speeches.
Until I read your editorial, I do not
remember of ever having seen In a re
liable paper a denial of Hughes' re
sponsible relations to the New York
draft riots. I have heard the matter
discussed by men who were In public
life at the time. In his interesting
narrative of personal interviews with
Lincoln, Chinlquy reports the presi
dent as saying that he had sent word
to Hughes that the "whole country
would hold him responsible If he did
cot stop the rioting at once." You
might attach little importance to his
testimony, if it was not corroborated by
every known fact.
Let us look at some of these facts.
We will reduce them to order, that
their judicial effect may stand out
with better advantage.
1. Hushes was bitterly opposed to
everything savoring of an American
spirit in the American Roman Catho
lic church. He even disputed with
Brownson on this. He was opposed to
the liberty and Independence of the
press. He organized a political party,
whoee sole platform was a demand for
money for his church. He was more
responsible than all other men for the
shameful stealing of money from the
public treasury of New York city, for
Roman Catholic schools, and a great
part of which was used for other ec
clesiastical purposes. He wrote the
first demand for money, supporting a
grant for eight schools, and in person
lobbied the common council. No Cath
olio of his generation did so much in
attempting to overthrow our common
school system.
2. Before the war Hughes had once
prepared his people for a gigantic riot.
To quote from his own great admirer
(Brann) Hughes "made preparations
for war. He garrisoned every Roman
Catholic church In New York city with
an armed force of one or two thousand
men.
And then he issued a special
edition of his paper and referred to the
movers of a public meeting, called to
protest against the un-American course
of Roman Catholics, as "church'
burners, convict-suckers and grave-
robbers."'
3. Archbishop Hughes was in full
accord with the papal policy in Europe.
He was a-keen, sharp and diplomatic
churchman. He was in this country
what Meternich was in the Old World
except he had to work as an ecclesias
tical diplomat, but he was at every
point in agreement with the plan of
the Jesuit party (called the St. Leopold
Foundation) in Europe, to people the
United States with a Roman Catholic
population sufficiently large to gain po
litical control,
4. He believed in, and worked for,
the temporal, Ipolitical power of the
pope. He ordered collections taken in
the churches of his diocese to aid in
preserving that temporal power. The
amount taken was reported to be
153,000. If this course was pursued
over the world, I am wondering how
much money 'was lifted from the
pockets of the ignorant faithful to erect
a politico-ecclesiastic monarchy to op
press and degrade their own rights.
And I still more wonder how that
money was used. I suppose that is a
papal diplomatic secret
5. Archbishop Hughes, through the
earlier part of the war, strongly sup
ported the cause of the Union, as well
as the president. I am willing to grant
it was from patriotic motives. He was
appointed by the president to go to
Europe and counteract confederate
diplomacy among the thrones of the
Old World. On his return he still
Bee med to favor the Union cause. But
1 remind you, sir, that Hughes was a
The A. P.
papal diplomat of the school of Meter
nich. The facts about the relations of
the Roman Catholic Irish and the
New ifork draft riots must be taken
into consideration in forming an estt
mate of the archbishop's true position
d. .Horace ureeiey said in a per
sonal letter to Hughes: "Nineteen'
twentieths of your people voted for the
extension of slavery, and secured its
triumph in 1844. Your people for years
have been, and to-day are, foremost in
the degradation and abuse of this per
secuted race (negro) in depriving them
of civil rights, in abusing them by
mobs, and assaulting them on the
street."
Now I beg to remind you that in
June preceding the riots, the Roman
Catholic church party in Mexico
(where the French and the Austrian
Catholic Prince Maximilian were en
gaged in the attempt to establish
papal empire) gave open allegiance to
the French, who at once entered the
City of Mexico, by virtue of this high
support. Un July 4 the foreign news
give evidence of an attempted Franco-
Mexico-Confederate alliance. And,
you remember, that at this time the
Louis Napoleon government was the
only one which, in councils of state,
persistently held, as right, the politi
cal power of the pope of Rome.
Then came the New York draft riots.
The spirit of those riots in your city,
and in Boston, Buffalo and several
other cities was not a mere outbreak
against the draft; it was the spirit of
conspiracy in the Interests of the south
em rebellion. The draft was only the
occasion.
The Home Journal says of the riot
ers: "All were Irl6h, every soul of
them." The riot . an Irish-Roman
Catholic mob in conception, leaders,
members and depredations committed.
You will find In several cities the
prominent leaders arrested were Irish
Roman Catholics. In Boston the
leaders arrested, for inciting and con'
ducting the riot, bore such names as
McNamara, McGrath, McCann and
Campbell. At the great and noisy
celebration of Tammany Hall Irish
and Roman Catholic of the 4th of
July, just a few days before the out
break, in the elaborate program of
toasts, the customary toast to the presi
dent of the United States was omitted.
In that awful reign of terror, which
more resembled the French Communes
than anything we have ever had in
this country before or since, men and
women were shot down with cool de
liberation, property was destroyed,and
institutions were burned, and at least,
in one instance, with some of the in
mates. Among the incidents was that of a
A. has wiped out Mason and Dixon's Line. May it never be re -
man who, being asked if he was for the
Union, said he was. He was roughly
handled, robbed and thrust aside. As
his assailants passed on, some persons
who saw the assault from the windows
called out to the man that he must not
say ha was for the Union, but that he
was a "Democrat Catholic." Frequent
cries were heard of "Pull down that
d d rag," referring to the flag. Two
well-known citizens observed an Irish'
man with musket push his way through
women and children, and taking care'
ful aim, open fire on the soldiers. He
loaded and fired four times in succes
sion, while they watched him. A col
lege was about to be fired by the mob,
but was saved by its proximity to a
Roman Catholic church. The priest
appeared before the mob and told them
if they set the college on fire ft would
endanger the church. He seemed to
have no other ground on which to
make an appeal. This state of affairs
lasted for four days, with a million and
a half of property destroyed, more than
1000 killed, and a general embarrass
ment of business.
Now, sir, where was Archbishop
Hughes, and what was he doing all
this time? It does not appear that he
wrote one sentence or spoke one word,
though he knew these conspirators
were his own people. For four days he
sat in his archepiscopal residence, and
did nothing to stop the unwarranted
attacks on the government of his coun
try. Then came the demand of Horace
Greeley, the letter of the governor of
the state, and at least the reputed let
ter of the president.
Then he Issued a call to those called
nuters, - ana wno ne aaaressea as
11 a 1 1 - .
"Catholics." He aesured them in the
call they "should not be disturbed by
any exhibition of municipal or military
presence." The Daily Times editorially
designates this as "implying the as
sumption of a power superior to that of
law."
In beginning his address, the next
day, to the four or five thousand who
answered the call, he tells them that
he does "not see a rioter's face among
you." He told them that every man
had a right to defend his shanty at the
risk of his life that they should re
tire, not to give up their principle or
convictions, but to keep out of the
crowd. Not a word about their crime.
Not a word about the preservation of
the Union, the support of the presi
dent, or their obligation to be loyal to
the authorities. It is not strange that
Nlcholay and Hay (Life of Lincoln)
characterized it as "a strange speech."
It is not strange that that able writer
on the subject, Major T. P. McElroth,
(in "Annals of the War") dismissing a
mild criticism directed to another, con
tinues: "There was better ground for
pbnsure in the attitude assumed by
Archbishop Hughes toward the riot
ers. Although that prelate had yielded
on July 13 to the pi-ensure exerted on
him, and issued a brief address to the
Irish, urging them to abstain from vio
lence, he caused to be published a long
letter to Horace Greeley, exposing his
sympathy with the opponents of the
war." The major continues to say that
If the archbishop had made his address
four days earlier incalculable suffering
and loss would have been prevented.
Now, my dear doctor, here are some
of the facts. I might pursue them fur
ther. They are sufficient to convince
others, If not enough to lead you to
confess, that the position of the Irish
Roman Catholics In New York city,
witn Archbishop Hughes at their
head, does not appear very gratifying,
I have no gall or malice in which to
dip my pen when I write about my
Irish fellow-citizens of the Roman
Catholic faith. I am ready to defend
them in every just right to which they
are entitled under our constitution
Some of them are intelligent, loyal and
patriotic; many others are fearfully
duped by their priests. While not de
priving them of one constitutional
privilege, neither can I shut my eyes
to the way In which they have gen
erally been misled by a foreign power,
And when I present in a wholly truth
ful way the indisputable facts of his.
tory, you cannot expect to call my
statements false in the IndevcnilerU.
without receiving in return a fusilade
of additional incontrovertible facts
from the arsenal of historical accuracy,
1 our known disregard for truth
when treating on themes which con
cern the papal church results in
hatching a like brood In Roman Catho
lio papers. A small Roman Catholic
paper in this city, finding much to ad
mire in your editorial of March 19
which I hope all the people will read
and then read these replies! savs ot
myself that I am "Scotch, born of Ca
nadian parents." Well, I shouldn't
mind that, as papal despots everywhere
have reason to remember the old
Scotch blood. Long and warm may it
flow through Canadian or any other
racial stock. But the fact is, my an
cestry has been in this country for at
least a century and a half, and I was
born out in Indiana, of American blood
on both sides, and on the very day the
governor of that state was extending
honors to that noble champion of civil
and religious liberty, Louis Kossuth,
who was characterized by your Arch
bishop Hughes as a "Hungarian dema
gogue." And yet, we know, sir, he
was one of the most magnanimous,
heroic and unselfish patriots that has
established.
ornamented the cause ot modera lib
erty, i
Desiring to give you time for reflec
tion on your other errors) I pause lor a
week, when I shall address myself to
you again, unless in the meantime you
write a confession of repentance.
I subscribe myself yours In great con
tentment, Scott F. Hershey,
Boston, April 17.
A Good Thing.
The following Is a pretty good thing,
It is an extract from a letter written
oy wong unin r'oo, a Chinaman, to
Dennis Kearney, the Irishman who
was once conspicuous for his crusade
against the Chinese in this country,
The letter was written some years ago,
but a reproduction of a part of It may
not be untimely just now, when we are
hearing so much of the "Irish-Amerl
can vote," and when many of the class
of foreigners to which Donnls Kearney
belonged are making themselves con
spicuous in the conduct of American
affairs:
you ana I are both citizens of the
United States by adoption. You have
achieved such fame as belongs to you
by Insisting that the race to which I
belong shall be denied the advantages
which tms country has always offered
to your own. I, on the other hand, In
the face of the enmity of your race and
its friends, represent the just demand
of my people for fair play as against
yours. I belong to the most ancient
empire on this globe. You, by your
own statement, belong to the most de
pendent and Ill-treated nation of serfs
ever deprived of its liberties. The flag
of my country floats over the third
greatest navy in the world. Yours is
to be seen derisively displayed on the
17th of March in the public streets and
triumphantly hoisted on an occasional
gin-mill. The ambassadors and consuls
of my nation rank at everv court !n
Europe with those of Russia, Germany.
England and France. Those of your
race may be found cooling their heels
In the lobbies of any common council in
which the rum-selling Interest In poll
tics predominates. The race which I
represent is centuries old In every art
and science. That of which you are
the spokesman apologizes for its pres
ent ignorance and mental obscuritv
1th the idea that your learning and
literature were lost in the mythical
past. If you and I were each to ad
dress the American people in our na
tive tongues we should be equally un
intelligible to our audiences. In speak-
ng the language of this oountry.whlch
is naturally the language of neither of
us, we should meet on the same ground.
Perhaps you speak English as well as I
do; some Irishmen do. In such a case
A (Juration!
Under the United States govern
ment, has the Roman Catholic church
legitimate authority to forbid and pre
vent Roman Catholic children from at
tending our public schools? That Is:
Has she the right to enforce such a
prohibition by such penalties as she
may choose to inflict upon the parent
or children? We do not ak about
what authority Rome claims, but does
such authority exist, that the Roman
church may compel parents to keep
their children outof our public schools?
If such a right or authority exists,
Romo may compel millions to grow up
without a proper education In our coun-
try, as she does by neglect In papal
countries. But how could our ffovern-
mont protect itself against such a horde
of unlettered papists who know nothing
but to obey, without question, the de
crees and edicts of a forolcn dosoot.
whether it be to worship an idol or kill
a heretic! Civil government has a
right to demand good behavior and
good citizenship of all the Inhabitants
ithln'lts jurisdiction. It Is the legiti
mate business of the government to see
that All men enjoy their rights and' to
see that the people are orderly and-i
maintain righteous conduct. If the
civil government has authority to de
mand good behavior of all citizens,
tbat Includes authority to teach them
what is the morality and rectitude in
cluded in good citizenBhip and what
are crimes against society. - .
It seems to us tbat the papal attack
on our publlo schools smells of treason
It Is, at loaHt, revolutionary and subver
sive of constitutional rights and detri
mental and hostile to tho interests of
society and the whole nation. Much
of papal power lies in the ignorance 0
the masses. Make eve&fa.pist in the
world an Intelligent fpbristian,- ac
quainted with the BlIey.religion wd
history, and the whole-RonrfshTiystem
would collapse at oboV-o1 the pope
would be left alone. Aict every Ameri
can defend oouragloufcjy ;our school sys
tem and other American institutions
involving the rlgh&o! man and the
right of private judgment. Lei them
think for themselves , And act as moral
and responsible Agents, and not' let a
knave and deoelfef thik for them. ,u
.. -- Calvix.
. ( II t t
Good Logic.
The rrusbyUrian has the following
"A Poughkeepslc lady left a certain
church $300 to pay the expenses of
masses for her soul's repose. Judge
Barnard has annulled this feature of
the will. Either the deceased lady's
soul must now repose without masses,
or the churah must offer them without
receiving any monetary consideration
therefor."
Did the judge consider a woman who
would leave a will, with such a pro
vision, insane? If he did, what does
he think of the gentlemen who wear
dog-collars, and are the recipients of
this money for the masses? Again, if
a man has a right to give three hun
dred dollars for a yellow dog, why
should a woman not have a right to
give three hundred dollars to a white,
dog collared man? Again, if a man
can be sued for obtaining money under
false pretences, why cannot the men be
sued who have Influenced this woman,
and many other persons, to pay for
things which they can give no positive
evidence that they can furnish? Again,
if there were a precedent established
by a successful suit of this character,
and a person was to leave three hun
dred dollars In the hands of a priest
for masses and he did not perform the
work, could the estate recover the
money because of his not doing the
work? It would be a relief to many If
this paying for useless prayers was
somewhat ventilated. If people want
to give money to the Roman Catholic
church, let them give it, but not under
any such idiotic Idea that It will assure
the repose of their soul after death. "
Augustine.
Had So Flag Flying.
The flag law Is being enforced by pa
triotic Americans with a vim.
Yesterday In Jacksonville, 111., the
mayor of the city, president and trus
tees of the Illinois college and the
trustees of the Catholic parochial
schools were Indicted by the grand jury
for violating the flag law. Among
those Indicted are Bishop James Ryan
of the Roman Catholic church, vicar
general of the diocese, Mayor Charles
H. Windmayer, a trustee of the Ger
man Lutheran school which failed to
hang out an American flag, and all the
trustees of those institutions which
failed to obey the law.
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