Young Sam : or, native Americans' own book! containing the principles and platform on which the order stands; accompanied by an array of some of the most thrilling facts ever published


IIff

YOUNG SAM
OR,

NATIVE AMERICANS’ OWN BOOK!

Containing the

PKINCIPLES AND PLATFORM

ON WHICH

THE ORDER STANDS;

ACCOMPANIED BY

AN ARRAY OF SOME OF THE MOST THRILLING
FACTS EVER PUBLISHED. ^

Shall Foreign Influence Rule ? Never ! ! /

BY A NATIVE AMERICAN

NEW YORK

:

AMERICAN FAMIIiY PUBIilCATION ESTABLISHMENT.
128 NASSAU STREET.

.

185 5



Entered accoi ding to Act of Congress, in the year 1365,

B Y E. H U T C H I N S 0 N

;

la the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the SouthcTi !>^itricl

of New York.



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

The following work is intended to supply a
want at the present time in respect to the all-

absorbing subject of Foreign and American

influence in this Republic. A portentous cloud
seems to be rising in the East. As it gradu-

ally approaches our zenith, it becomes darker

;

its thunders begin already to roar and its light-

nings to flash, and it is feared that a tempest

of inconceivable terror will soon be upon us,

and demolish our glorious temple of freedom,

unless the Almighty arm shall interfere and

save us. From Maine to Georgia the country
is convulsed with intense excitement upon this

subject. Shall true Americans govern them

selves, or shall foreigners, unacquainted with

our laws and brought up under monarchical

governments, rule ^ Shall those who are tem-
porally and spiritually subject to a foreign

prince be our legislators, and change our laws

as they are directed by the Pope of Rome 7
Such a result is to be feared, unless True Na-



viii CONTENTS.

tive Americans come up to the work like men,

and rescue our liberties before it shall be too

late. We believe that the present excitement
will not cease

;
we believe that true Americans

and Protestants will labor and pray until our

happy country shall be regenerated from the

influence of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny.

In the present work will be found some of

the most thrilling facts and startling develop-

ments ever published in respect to the pre-

meditated destruction of our religious free-

dom.

Deacldifidcs



I

CONTENTS.

Ris2 and Frogress dp the Papal Power, Spirittal

AND Temporal

Permanent Persecution op the Inquisition

Contest between the Pope and the Bible

Abominations op Jesuitism

Curious Extracts

Oath op a Jesuit Bishop

A Brooklyn Romish Father
Luther’s Account op his Books, written when he was

A Papist

Rome’s Theory op Lying ......
Increase op Popery

Supremacy in America the Design op Popery .

Popery in the Nineteenth Century ....
Catholics Owe no Allegiance to the United States

Licentiousness the Fruit op Celibacy . - .

Encyclical Letter op Pope Pius IX .

Confession op Priest Ribmbauer

Jesuit Thieves . . . . “ ,

Miracle op the Skull .......
Morals of the Jesuits

Buying Salvation . ......
Christ the only Living Head . . , . .

Popery and Despotism .

PA«n

11

22

47

49

55

57

58

59

60

61

66

69

74

75

78

84

86

87

88

94

95

96



X CONTENTS.
FAGI

The Romish Priesthood . . ... 97
.Bishop Hughes and Gregory XYI. . . - . 98

Holy Well and Rock 99

Papists and Despots against American Liberty . 100

Romish Church not always the same . . . 101

Pope equal with God 102

The Title of Papist 104

Means by which Popery may be Checked . . . 105

Cardinal Joke by a Roman Priest .... 106
Nunneries . . 107

Popish Idols . • 108

The Confessionai. 109

Blessing the Bell 110

The Native American Flag Ill



PHILADELPHIA PLATFORM,

ADOPTEb UNIVERSALLY BY THE SOUTH AND PART OF THE NORTH.

At a regular meetiDg of the National Council of the Ameri-

can party, begun and held at Philadelphia on the 9th of June,

A. D. 1855, the following was adopted as

The Platjorm and Principles of the Organization.

L The acknowledgment of that Almighty Being who rules

over the universe—who presides over the councils of nations
-—who conducts the affairs of men, and who, in every step by
which we have advanced to the character of an independent

nation, has distinguished us by some token of providential

agency.

II. The cultivation and development of a sentiment of pro-

foundly intense American feeling
;
of passionate attachment

to our country, its history and its institutions
;
of admiration

for the purer days of our national existence
;
of veneration

for the heroism that precipitated our revolution; and of

emulation of the virtue, wisdom, and patriotism that framed

our constitution, and first successfully applied its provisions.

III. The maintenance of the union of these United States

as the paramount political good
;

or, to use the language of

Washington, the primary object* of patriotic desire.” And
hence

:

1. Opposition to all attempts to weaken or subvert it.

2. Uncompromising antagonism to every principle of policy

that endangers it.



PHILADELPHIA PLATFORM.

3. The advocacy of an equitable adjustment of all political

differences which threaten its integrity or perpetuity.

4. The suppression of all tendencies to political division,

founded on ‘‘ geographical discriminations, or on the belief

that there is a real difference pf interests and views ” between

^
the various sections of the Union.

5. The full recognization of the rights of the several States,

as expressed and reserved in the Constitution
;
and a careful

avoidance by the general government, of all interference with

their rights b}" legislative or executive action.

IV. Obedience to the Constitution of these United States,

as the supreme law of the land, sacredly obligatory upon all

its parts and members
;
and steadfast resistance to the spirit

^

of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pre-

texts. Avowing that in all doubtful or disputed points it

may only be legally ascertained and expounded by the judicial
,

power of the United States.

And, as a corollary to the above

:

1. A habit of reverential obedience to the laws, whether
National, State, or Municipal, until they are either repealed

or declared unconstitutional by the proper authority.

2, A tender and sacred regard for those acts of statesman-
ship, which are to be contra distinguished from acts of ordi-

nary legislation, by the fact of their being of the nature of

compacts and agreements; and so, to be considered a fixed

and settled national policy.

V. A radical revision and modification of the laws regula-
ting immigration, and the settlement of immigrants. Offer-

ing to the honest immigrant who, from love of liberty or

hatred of oppression, seeks an asylum in the United States, a

friendly reception and protection. But unqualifiedly con-

demning the transmission to our shores, of felons and paupers



[

PHTLABELPHIA PLA'BFORM.

VI. The essential modification of the Naturalization Laws,

The repeal by the Legislatures oi the respective States, of

all State laws allowing foreigners not naturalized to vote.

The repeal, without retroactive operation, of all acts of

Congress making grants of land to unnaturalized foreigners,

and allowing them to vote in the Territories.

VII. Hostility to the corrupt means by which the leaders

of party have hitherto forced upon us our. rulers and our poli-

tical creeds.

Implacable enmity against the prevalent demoralizing sys-

tem of rewards for political subserviency, and of punishments

for political independence.

Disgust for the wild hunt after offiee which characterizes

the age.

These on the one hand. On the other :

Imitation of the practice of the purer days of the Republic

and imitation of the maxim that “ office should seek the man,

and not man the office and of the rule, that the just mode

of ascertaining fitness for oflSce, is the capability, the faithful-

ness, and the honesty of the incumbent or candidate.

VIII. Resistance to the aggressive policy and corrupt ten-

dencies of the Roman Catholic Church in our country by the

advancement to all political stations—-executive, legislative,

judicial or diplomatic—of those only who do not hold civil
allegiance, directly

^

or indirectly, to any foreign power

whether civil or ecclesiastical, and who are Americans by

birth, education and training—thus fulfilling the maxim,
‘‘ Americans only shall govern America,”

The protection of all citizens in the legal and proper exer-

cise of their civil and religious rights and privileges; the

maintenance of the right of every man to the full, unrestrain-



PHILADELPHIA PLATFORM.

ed and peaceful enjoyment of his own religious opinions and

worship, and a jealous resistance of all attempts by any sect,

denomination, or church, to obtain an ascendency over any

other in the State, by means of any special privileges or ex-

emption, by any political combinations of its members, or by

a division of their civil allegiance with any foreign power,

potentate or ecclesiastic.

IX. The reformation of the character of our national legis-

lature, by elevating to that dignified and responsible position

men of higher qualifications, purer morals, and more unselfish

patriotism.

X. The restriction of the executive patronage—especially

in the matter of appointments to office—so far as it may be
permitted by the Constitution, and consistent with the public

good.
' '

»

XI. The education of the youth of our country in schools

provided by the State : which schools shall be common to all,

without distinction of creed or party, and free from any infiu-

ence of a denominational or partizan character.

And, inasmnch as Christianity by the Constitutions of

nearly all the States
;
by the decisions of the most eminent

judicial authorities, and by the consent of the people of

America, is considered an element of our political system, and

as the Holy Bible is at once the source of Christianity, and

the depository and fountain of all civil and religious freedom,

we oppose every attempt to exclude it from the schools thus

established in the States.

XII. The American party having arisen upon the ruins,

and in spite of the opposition, of the whig and democratic

parties, can be held in any manner responsible for the obnox-

ious acts or violated pledges of either. And the systematic



PHILADELPHIA PLATFORM.

agitation of the slavery question by those parties having ele-

vated sectional hostility into a positive element of political

power, and brought our institution into peril, it has therefore

become the imperative duty of the American party to inter-

fere for the purpose of giving peace to the country and perpe-

tuity to the Union. And as experience has shown it impos-

sible to reconcile opinions so extreme as those which separate

the disputants, and as there can be no dishonor in submitting

to the laws, the National Council has deemed it the best

guarantee of common justice and of future peace to abide by

and maintain the existing laws upon the subject of slavery, as

a final and conclusive settlement of that subject, in spirit and

in substance.

And regarding it the highest duty to avow their opinions

upon a subject so important, in ’distinct and unequivocal

terms, it is hereby declared as the sense of ' this National

Council, that Congress possesses no power, under the Consti-

tution, to legislate upon the subject of slavery in the States

where it does or may exist, or to exclude any State from ad-

mission into the Union, because its constitution does or does

not recognize the institution of slavery as a part of its social

system
;
and expressly pretermitting any expression of opinion

upon the power of Congress to establish or prohibit slavery in

any Territory, it is the sense of the National Council that

Congress ought not to legislate upon the subject of slavery

within the Territories of the United States, and that any in-

terference by Congress with slavery as it exists, in the Dis-

trict of Columbia, would be a violation of the spirit and inten-

tion of the compact by which the State of Maryland ceded the

district to the United States, and a breach of the national

faith.



FHILADEL1>HIA PLATFORM.

Xlir. The policy of the government of the United States,

in its relations with foreign governments, is to exact justice

from the strongest, and do justice to the weakest
;
restraining

by all the power of the government, all its citizens from inter-

-ference with the internal concerns of nations with whom we

are at peace.

XIY. This National Council declares that all the prin-
ciples of the order shall be henceforward everywhere openly

avowed
;
and that each member shall be at liberty to make

known the existence of the order, and the fact that he him-

self is a member
;
and it recommends that there be no con-

cealment of the places of meeting of subordinate councils.

E. B. BARTLET, of Kentucky,
President of National Convention.

C. J). Beshler, of New Jersey, Corresponding Secretary.
James M. Stephens, of Maryland, Recording Secretary.



STARTLIN.G FACTS

FOR

MTIVE AMERICANS, CALLED “KNOW-NOTHINGS/

RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE PAPAL POWER, SPIRITUAL
AND TEMPORAL.

Every reader is aware that, till the reign of Constantine,

the Christian v hnrches were but private associations, frequent-

ly proscribed, and totally unconnected vdth the political sys-

tem. In those days of persecution and religious fervor, the

bishops of Rome w^ere assuredly far from aspiring to govern
provinces

;
they would have been too happy to be left to the

mimolested exercise of obscm^e virtues
;
they obtained on earth •

no other crown but that of martyrdom. Constantine permit-

ted the churches to acquire real property, and individuals to

enrich them by legacies
;
and with wealth, ambitious prospects

of worldly distinction began lo open before these pastors of

the flock of Christ.

They declared themselves the authorized vicegerents of

Heaven, as the successors of St. Peter in the episcopal chair

founding their claim upon the words of Christ to that apostle,

“ On this rock will I build my church,’^ and hence asserting
that the Church of Rome is the only true church, though they
could not produce a tittle of evidence that Peter had ever set

Act in th?t citv.



12 STARTLING FACT., FOR NATIVE AMERICaNS,

Forgeries of papers and documents are of frequent recur-

rence in the history of the temporal power of the Popes. The

eighth century was the era of the most impudent of these

frauds. Between the years ’756 and 179 was fabricated a

donation from the Emperor Constantine to Pope Sylvester,

a few lines of which will be sufficient to show its palpable ab-

surdity. “We attribute to the chair of St. Peter all the
imperial dignity, glory, and power .... Moreover, we give to

Sylvester and to his successors our nalace of Lateran, incon-

testably one of the finest palaces on earth
;
we give him our

crown, our mitre, our diadem, and all our imperial vestments
;

we resign to him the imperial dignity .... We give as a free
gift to the holy pontiff the city of Rome and all the western
cities of Italy, as well as the western cities of the other coun-

tries. To make room for him, we abdicate our sovereignty

over all these provinces
;
and we withdraw from Rome, trans-

ferring the seat of our empire to Byzantium, since it is not

just that a terrestrial emperor shall rUain any power where

God has placed the head of religion.” It would be useless to

waste a vmrd on so clumsy a forgery, which, however, serves

to convey some idea of the expedients employed in the eighth

century to establish the temporal power of the Popes.

So much is certain, that before the ninth century they

laid claim to no independent temporal power, but acknowl-

edged the emperors of the East or West as their sovereigns.

The pretensions which they soon afterward began to put for-

ward were founded on those clumsy forgeries just mentioned,

which, but for the extreme ignorance of the people of those

days, never could have gained the slightest degree of credit.

A power, though not sovereign, may nevertheless be effetr
tive. Such was that of the Popes from the time of Charle-

magne. A positive temporal power, though subaltern, delega-
ted, or borrowed, did thenceforward exist in the hands of tlie

bishops of Rome
;
and from that time the continual wars



CALLED “know-nothings.'’ 13

lietWeen the priesthood and the lay soYereignty had no other

object than to emancipate and to increase that power.

It is at the commencement of the 9th century that we

we begin to perceive, not indeed the establishment, but the

first symptoms of the temporal power of the Roman prelates.
The principal of the causes that could not fail to lead to this

result consisted in the prodigious progress of all the ecclesias-

tical institutions. Several of the Popes and many other pre-

lates had, by {heir virtues and talents, deserved the respect

of nations and the esteem of kings : they had gained those

imposing reputations which, in times of public troubles and

disasters, are always the beginnings of power. Zealous mis-

sionaries had carried the light of the Gospel to most of the

countries of Europe, and prepared, nay, even forwarded, by

religious instructions, the civilization of some of the barbarous

nations. On all sido& those richly endowed churches and
monasteries, the pious liberality of princes and private persons,

augmented every where, and especially at Rome, the treasures

and immovable property of the ('iergy ;'its territorial posses-

sions gradually became extensive 'mough to be insensibly

transformed into principalities—a mci^amorphosis but too easy

under such weak and tottering governments. Add to this
the frequency and the solemnity of councils, the general in-

terest excited by their decisions, and the almost inevitable

contact of their discussions with the order or disorder of polit-

ical affairs.

Charlemagne, the conqueror and succe&uor of the Lombard

kings, assumed the title of King of Italy, and in the year 800

was elevated to the, dignity of emperor, not by the Pope alone,

but by an assembly of the clergy, nobility, and people of

Rome. He possessed the supreme dominion of the whole
Peninsula.

A council went so far as to represent Constantine the
Great as addressing the bishops in these terms; “God has



14 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,
/

given you power to judge us, but you cannot be judged by

men. God has set you up over us as gods, and it is not fit

that man should judge gods This belongs only to him of
whom it is written, ‘ God hath seated himself in the synagogue
of the gods, and he judgeth them !’ ”

The subsequent dissensions among the numerous descend-

t^nts of Charlemagne afforded the Popes abundant occasions

to set themselves up for judges of their pretensions, to obtain,

in retmm for the service which they rendered to some, a right

to humble the others and a right to rule them all. Hence

those enterprises of the Popes, who, looking upon themselves

as dispensers of an empire of which they were but the first sub-

jects, pretended, mu the shadow of a purely spiritual
power' to dispose of the sovereignty of States.

Though there was not yet any authentic act exalting

the Pope into a sovereign, and emancipating the authority

which he exercised in Rome and the surrounding districts
from the imperial supremacy, yet his power was becoming de

facto independent
;
and, since he fancied that, in anointing

the emperors, he was actually making them
;
since he dared

talk of their dignity as a gift for which they were indebted to

him, he was no doubt strong enough to set bounds to anj-

obedience which they might have required.

It was not till the latter half of the eleventh century that

the whole extent of the Papal pretensions wms manifested,

and that those pretensions began to be enforced with imbound -

ed arrogance and inflexible perseverance. Hildebrand, the

most Temarkable personage of his time, wms elevated to the

papal throne in 1013. In his ardent mind, the idea of a

universal theocracy had grown up into a passion. To ensure

the empire of the priesthood over the rest of mankind, and

the domination of the Pope over the whole priesthood, he felt

the necessity of reforming their maimers and conceutratiug

their relations, of cutting them off more completely from



CALLED “know-nothings/
, 15

#

tiie rest of the world, and forming them into one great

family.

The unlimited aggrandizement of the pontifical power con-

tinued to be the ruling principle of Hildebrand’s conduct,

after- he had seated himself in the papal chair by the name of

Gregory YII. Like all rigid enthusiasts, he thought himself

disinterested, and was, without remorse, the scourge of the

world.

To this Pope are xttributed the following twenty-seven

maxims, forming a complete declaration of the sovereignty,

spiritual and temporal, of the Homan pontiff, including the

right of deposing all princes, of giving away all crowns, of

reforming all laws

:

“ The Romish Church is the only one that God has founded
“ The title of uvimrsal belongs to the Roman pontiff alone
“ He alone can depose and absolve bishops.
“His legate presides over all the bishops in every council,

and may pronounce sentence of deposition against them.

“The Pope can depose absent persons.

“It is not lawful to live with such as have been excom-

municated.

“ He has power, according to circumstances, to make new
laws, to create new churches, to transform a chapter into an

abbey, and to divide a rich bishopric into two, or to unite

two poor bishoprics.

“He alone has a right to assume the attributes of empire.
“Ail princes must kiss his feet.

“ His name is the only one to be uttered in the churches.

“It is the only name in the world.
“ He has a right to depose emperors.
“ He has a right to remove bishops from one see to another.
“He has a right to appoint a clerk [priest] in every

church.

“He whom he has appointed may govern another church,



16 ^STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

and cannot receive a higher benefice from any private bishop

“No council can call itself general without the order of the
Fope.

“No chapter, no book, can be reputed canonical without
his authority.

'*

“No one can invalidate his sentences; he can abrogate
those of all other persons.

“ He cannot be judged by any one.
“ All persons whatsoever are forbidden to presume to con-

demn him who is called to the apostolical chair.

“To this chair must be brought the morerimportant causes

of all the churches.

“The Roman church is never wrong, and will never fall
into error.

“Every Roman pontiff canonically ordained becomes holy.
“It is lawful to accuse when he permits, or when he com-

mands.

“He may, without synod, depose and absolve bishops.
“ He is no Catholia who is not united to the Romish

Church.

“The Pope can release the subjects of bad princes from all

oaths of allegiance ”

Absurd and extravagant as these assumptions may appear,

such then became,, and such has never since ceased to be, the

system of the court of Rome.

When Gregory saw William the Conqueror firmly seated
on the throne of England, he did not scruple to summon him

to pay homage for that kingdom to the apostolical chair.

Sardinia, Dalmatia, Russia, were, in the eyes of Gregory,

but fiefs dependent on the tiara. “ In the name of St. Peter,”

he wrote to the Russian prince Demetrius, “'We have given

your crown to your son, who is to come and to receive it at

our hands, on taking an oath of allegiance to us.” Nicepho-

rus Botoniates, Greek emperor, he commanded to abt'li<*-ate



CALLED “know-nothings.” 11

the crown
;
Boleslaus, king of Poland, he declared to be de-

posed
;
Solomon, king of Hungary, he referred to his aged

subjects, to learn from them whether their . country belonged

to the Romish Church.

From the end of the tei)th century, the decretals of Isa-

dore had sown the seeds of pontifical omnipotence : Gratian

collected and fecundated them. Represented as the source

of all irrefragable decisions, as the universal tribmial for set-

tling all dilferences, for dispelling a]J doubts, for clearing

away all difficulties, the court of Rome soon found itself con-
sulted from all quarters, by metropolitans, by bishops, by

chapters, by abbots, by monks, by nobles, nay, even by

princes and private individuals.

So early as the first half of the twelfth century, we find

that even in Rome itself, doctrines closely resembling those
of the reformers of the following ages, were publicly promul-

gated. Arnold of Brescia, one of the superior spirits of those

dark and turbulent times, after studying at Paris under Abe-

lard, returned, in 1136, to Italy, full of new ideas respecting

religion and the Church. His bold, independent mind, his

intimate acquaintance with Christian antiquity, and his per-

suasive eloquence in the pulpit and in the professor’s chair,

gave prodigious weight to his denunciations of the ambition

and despotism of the clergy. Condemned, in 1139, by the

second council of Lateran, he sought refuge in Prance, where

his doctrines procured him numerous adherents. The excom-

munication pronounced against him and his followers by Pope

Innocent II. could not quench the spreading flames of disafi

fection
;
and Arnold, removing to Zurich in Switzerland,

preached his doctrine without molestation till 1144, when

the people of Rome, having expelled the Pope, established a

semblance of a republican government in their city. Pro-

ceeding thither at the head of 2000 Swiss, Arnold proposed

the restoration of consuls, tribunes, and the equestrian order



18 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMKRICANS

of the ancient republic
;
he farther urged the exj»ediency of

depriving the Pope of all civil power, and limiting that which

the Romans were obliged to leave to the emperor. For sev-

eral years the pontifical authority was not recognised in the

capital, nor was it recovered till 1153 by Eugene III., aided

by the influence of Frederick Barbarossa. Venerated by the

people, and protected by the senate, Arnold continued to dis-

seminate his doctrines at Rome till the accession of Adrian

IV., the only Englishman that ever sat on the pontifical

throne, who, to get rid of so formidable an opponent, laid, for

the first time, the whole city under an interdict. This bold

measure produced universal consternation and dismay
;
the

Romans solicited pardon, and the senate banished the re-

former. Scarcely had Arnold left the city, when he was

seized by the soldiers of Frederick Barbarossa
;
the emperor

delivered him up to the Pope, by whose command he was

burned alive, unknown to the Romans, at daybreak, and his

ashes were thrown into the Tiber, “lest,” says Fleury, “the

people might collect them as those of a martyr.”

The history of the Romish See in all ages proves that pre-

tentions once advanced by it are not very readily abandoned.

It was during the pontificate of Adrian’s successor, Alex-

ander III., that the audacious conduct of Becket, archbishop

of Canterbury, encouraged by the Pope, brought a violent

death upon himself, and the deepest degradation upon King

Henry II. The circumstances of that melaiicholy struggle

between the sovereign authority and the omnipotence of the

Church are too well known to every reader of English his-

tory to need recapitulating here.

Among the three huvidred popes and anti-popes whose
names history presents to us, we know of none more imposing

than Innocent III. “In his actions, his principles, and the

ctiects produced by both on the state of Europe,” says an elo-

quent living writer, “ we scarcely recognize a human being



19CALLED “kNOW-NCTHINGS.^

He, in fact, takes a stand wliolly above the class of figures

which form tlie ordinary pageant of history.

“A pope,” said Innocent, “ a vicegerent of Christ, if less
than God, is greater than man : he is the luminary of day

;
the

civil authority being only the pale orb of night.” It was Inno- ^

cent who discovered in the first chapter of Genesis this celes-

tial theory of the two powers : and it was with such allegories,

evidences of the ignorance of his age and of his own, that he

subjugated the West; disturbed the Easf, ruled the earth, and

deluged it with blood. “ Sword, sword,” he e:j^claimed, when

informed of the landing of the French in England, “ sword,

leap from the scabbard
;
sword, v-het thyself to exterminate

The grand engines by which the Popes
^
were enabled to

maintain their usurped supremacy over temporal sovereigns

were excommunication and interdict. By the one, refractory
princes were excluded from all the offices of the Church, and

theii* subjects were forbidden on the like penalty to render

them assistance or service of any kind : by the other, the in-

terdict, the effects of excommunication were extended to a

city, a provmce, a whole kingdom.

The Bible became a proscribed book, which the laity were

forbidden to read in the vernacular language. Public worship

itself was ordered to be performed in Latin, an unknown

tongue to the great mass of those who heard it. The clergy,

conscious that what they taught as Christianity wms not to be

in the Scriptures, now set up in their stead the unwritten

word, or tradition, such passages from the Fathers as could

be construed into a sanction of their corruptions, and legends

too childish for nm-sery tales.

As a new source of revenue, purgatory was invented, in
order tc make the dead as well as the living tributary to the

rapacity f Rome—Purgatory, a place so near the region of
everlasting .^orment, that the same fire pervades both. No
bodily pain can convey an idea of the agony inflicted by a



20 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

single spark of this fire. If tlie vicegerent of God wished to

promote a new practice of devotion, or to encourage a particu-

lar shrine, or to excite men to slaughter their unoffending

fellow-creatures, he granted to those who should promote

these objects a dispensation for so many years of purgatory

;

sometimes for centuries or thousands of years, and the indul-

gence was often plenary^
—“a toll ticket,’’ says Southey, “en-

abling the soul to pass scot-free.” The Church, in its infinite

benevolence, sold these -indulgences.

To rivet the chains of slavery upon the souls as well as the

bodies of men too firmly to be thrown off, private, or, as it is

called, auricular confession of sins to a priest, was made an

imperative duty of all Catholics of bofh sexes, at certain times

and seasons. V Of all the practices of the Romish Church,’>

says Southey in the work already quoted, “this is the one

which has proved most injurious. And if it be regarded in
connection with the celibacy of the clergy, the cause will be

apparent why the state of morals is generally so much more

corrupt in Cathohc than in Protestant countries.

“The Church of Rome,” continues Southey, “appears to

have delighted in insulting as well as in abusing the credulity

of mankind, and to have pleased itself with discovering how far

It was possible to subdue and degrade the human intellect.

If farther proof were needed, it would be found in the prodi-

gious doctrine of trausubstantiation. According to this, in

the sacrament, when the words of consecration have been

pronounced, the bread becomes that same actual body of

flesh and blood in whicii Christ suffered upon the cross.

The }jriest, when he performed this stupendous function,

had before his ejes and held in his hands the Maker of heaven

and earth
;
and the inference which they deduced from so

blasphemous an assumption was, that the clergy were not to

be subject to any secular authority, seeing that they could

create God their Creator.



21CALI.ED “know-nothings.”

“If such, then, were the power of the clergy, even i»f the

meanest priest, what must be attributed to their earthb- head,

the successor of St. Peter ! According to the canons, the

Pope was as far above all kings as the sun is greater than

the moon. He was king of kings and lord of lords
;
and the

Popes declared it was to be held as a point necessary to sal-

vation that every human creature is subject to the Roman
pontiff. The proudest sovereigns waited upon him like

menials, led his horse by the bridle, and held his stiiTup while

he alighted
;
and there were ambassadors who prostrated

themselves before liim, saying, ‘ 0 thou that, takest away the
sins of the world, haVe mercy upon us

Christ had bestowed upon the Pope the same infallibility

which resided in himself
;
consequently, if he should enjoin

vices to be committed, and prohibit virtues, the Church would

be bound to believe that vices were good and virtues evil.

He could change the nature of things, and make injustice
justice.

All this was certain, because the Church was infallible.

A necessary consequence of notions so arrogant, of doctrines
which taught that there was no possibility of attaining salva-

tion out of the bosom of the Romish Church, which inculcated

the duty of persecuting, and, if possible, exterminating all

whom it was pleased to call heretics, and gave the murderers

a right to seize the property of the victims, was a spirit of in-

tolerance, to which History can scarcely fmmish a parallel,

unless, perhaps, in the immediate successors of the prophet

of Mecca.

The Catholics affect to turn the charge of intolerance

against the Protestants themselves, forgetting or wilfully shut-

ting their eyes to the fact that the intolerance occasionally

exhibited by the Protestants soon after the Reformation was

but a relic of Popery, which the principles whereon that Refor-

mation was founded were destined ere long to destroy. A



22 STARTLING FACTS FOR NAJIVE AilERICANS,

glance at the page of History will convince ev5ry reader that

the Catholics ha.ve invariably been the first to persecute;

that, if the Protestants ever appeared in the character of per-

secutors, it was after they had been provoked, and by way of
retaliation.

It is idle to adduce the execution of Servetus at Geneva,

the case of two Arians burned in London in the time of James

1., the hardships inflicted on the Nonconformists under Charles

11., and other facts of that kind. What are these compared
with the massacres committed by the hordes of the Crusaders,

under Peter the Hermit, on the Jews in the cities of Western

Germany
;
the extermination of the Albigenses

;
the persecu.

tions of the Yaudois
;
the slaughter of millions of human

beings in America, in the name of Jesus Christ and the Virgin

Mary
;
the massacres of St. Bartholomew and in Ireland

;

the permanent persecution of the Inquisition, and the auto-da

fes of Spain. Portugal, and Italy, for centuries
;
the expatria-

tion of hundreds of thousands of families from Spain, France,

Salzburg
;
and, to crown the bloody catalogue of Catholic per-

secutions, we may add the assassination of two kings of
France, Henry III. and Henry lY.

!

PERMANENT PERSECUTION OF THE INQUISITION.

The Inquisition, the most formidable of all the formidable

engines devised by Popery to subdue the souls and bodies, the

reason and the consciences, of men to its sovereign will, was

a capital contrivance for rendering persecution permanent, as

the Jacobins of recent times did the guillotine. Indeed, the

one was only a slower process than the other for arriving at

the same end.

Tlie immediate motive for its establishment was, the sup-



CALLfiL “ KNOW-J^O-tBEINGS.^

pression of th ) alleged heresy of the Albigenses, whom the

Church, in her maternal anxiety for their eternal salvation,

undertook, in spite of their natural sovereigns, to reclaim or

—

to exterminate. Innocent III., the then dispenser of her tender

mercies, considering that, whatever might be done against the

Albigenses by open force, there would still be left a great

number who would persist in their sentiments and in the pro-

fession of their doctrines, conceived the plan of a permanent

tribunal for the detection and punishment of heretics.

To this end it was requisite that the persons composing it

should be entirely dependent on the court of Home, and aln

golutely devoted to its interests. It was requisite that they

should have no other duties to divert their attention
;
that

they should be of low condition, in order that they might

feel themselves honored by an employment which consisted at

first in the mere search after heretics. It was requisite that

they should be without family ties and connections, so as to

have no consideration for any person whatever
;
that they

should be obdurate, inflexible, without pity and without com-

passion
;

because the intended tribmial was to exceed in

severity any that had ever existed. Lastly, it was requisite

that they should be zealous in behalf of religion, men of little

or no ability, but interested, from particular motives,- in the

destruction of heretics.

Innocent, who was not satisfied with the bishops and their

officials, whose zeal against heretics was, in his opinion, not

sufficiently active, thought that in the monks of the recently

established orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis were to be

found all the qualities just enumerated.
'

For the court of Rome they had the strongest possible at-
tachment. The solitude and retirement of which they made

profession, but of which, as it appeared in the sequel, they soon

began to tire, afforded them leisure to attend incessantly to

this new callmg. The meanness of their dress, the poverty of*



m STARTLIlS^G FACTS FOR NATIVE ivMERICANS,

tLeir monasteries, and, above all, tlie public mendicity tad hii'

mility to which they bound themselves, could not fail to make

them regard tlie office of Inquisitors as one that flattered any

relic of natural ambition which might yet lm*k within their

minds. The general renunciation which they made, even of

the names of the families from which they sprung, must go a

great way towards stifling those sentiments which the ties of

kindred and civil connections generally inspire. Besides, the

austerity of their rules, and the severity which they were com

tinually practising towards themselves, were not likely to allow

them to have much feeling for others. Lastly, they were

zealous, as possessors of newly established religions most com-

'monly are
;
and learned, after the fashion of the times

;
that

is to say, well versed in scholastic quibbles and in the new

canon law. Moreover, they had a particular interest in the

suppression of heretics, v/ho were incessantly declaiming against

them, and spared no pains to discredit them in the minds of

the people.

On these mouks^ therefore, the Pope conferred the office of
Inquisitors of the Faith, and they acquitted themselves in such

a manner as not to disappoint his expectations. At fii’st^
however, their duty was limited to laboring for the conversion

of heretics by means of preaching and instruction
;

to. exhort-

ing princes and magistrates to punish those who persisted in

their errors
;
to inquiring the number and quality of the- here-

tics, and also what dhgree of zeal and diligence was shown by

Catholic princes, magistrates, and bishops, in searching out

and inflicting punishment. Theii ''eports on these points were

transmitted to the Pope, to be used as he should think fit

;

and from these inquiries the persons who were engaged in them

received tlie name of Inquisitors.

Sometime afterwards, their authority was extended, and

they were empowered to grant indulgences, to publish crusades,

*to animate nations and princes, to put themselves at the head



t

CALLED “know-nothings.” 20

of the crusuders, and to lead them on to the :xtL'paiiou of

heretics. In later times, the Inquisition was also made use

of, to condemn as heretical all books in which the rights of

temporal princes and potentates are carried too far in the

opinion of the court of Rome
;
and every occasion was seized

for enlarging its powers in order to render it a more effective

instrument, under the pretext of religion, against all who should

dare to oppose the temporal pretensions of the Pope. This

terrible engine of the most cruel tyranny was gradually intro-

duced into all the Italian States, except Naples and some of

the provinces of France, and into the kingdoms of Spain and

Portugal : but the Papal See was baffled in all its attempts

to obtain the formal establishment of the justly dreaded trh

bunaHn the other European States.

The Inquisition, comprehended under the name of heretics,

all who spoke, wrote, taught, or preached anything contrary

to the Holy Scriptures and the traditions of the Church
;

all

who praised the customs and ceremonies of other religions, or

held that it was possible to be saved in any other Church than

the Romish
;

all who maintained opinions contrary to those

received at Rome and in Italy respecting the sovereign and
unlimited authority of the Popes, their superiority even to

general councils, and their power in temporal matters over

princes
;
in short, all who spoke, wrote, or taught against the

determination made by the Popes on any subject whatever.

The mere suspicion of heresy opened a still wider field to

the operation of the Inquisition, To speak against the sacra-

ments, to deface or destroy images, to keep or lend forbidden

books, to abstain from the ordinary j)ractices of Catholics, as,

for example, to pass a whole year without confessing and com-

muni''.ating, to eat meat on fast days, to neglect attending

mass on the days prescribed by the Church, were each a suf-

ficient cause for incurring that suspicion. To save, to. assist,

or to favor a heretic in any way whatever was a crime ; nay,

2



26 STARTLIXa FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERR^ANS,

to neglect to denounce one, even though the nearest and dear-

est relative, was an oJffence which exposed a person to excom-

munication, and to the horrors of the Inquisition, as a sus-

pected heretic. This tribunal likewise took cognizance of

charges of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft
;
and, as the belief

in these imaginary crimes was almost universal, especially in

Italy, none contributed so much as they did to crovm the

prisons with women of all conditions. But Tvdth the Inquisi-

tion the most heinous of all transgressions was to give any,

even the slightest, offence to its officers. This was held to be

a capital crime, and neither birth nor character, neither office,

nor rank, nor dignity, was a safeguard from the penalty. If,

therefore, a man was seized in the midst of his friends, or in

the circle of his family, not a hand durst be lifted in his defence,

not a voice in his favor. From that moment, the prisoner

was cut off from all intercourse with his kind
;
without friends

or kindred, without counsel, succor, or consolation, he was

left to his judges and to himself, and frequently to his bitterest

enemies. An exact inventory was taken of everything found
in his house and about his person

;
and all or at least part

of his property was seized, by way of security, for the expenses

and fines which he might be sentenced to pay : for rarely

did a prisoner get out of the clutches of the Inqiiisitiou with-

out being half ruined, unless he were very rich.

The prisons of this most terrible of all tribunals were un-

wholesome, subterraneous dungeons, situated at a distance

from all traffic. To these dreary abodes the light of day never

penetrated. Here the wretched prisoners were not allowed

to see or to speak to any one. If the proximity of one dun-

geon to another allowed the inmates to converse, they were

forbidden to liold communication
;
and if they were overheard

talking to themselves or to one another, they were most cruelly

scourged. When a prisoner had passed several days, or per-
haps months Without even knowing the crime of wliich be was



CALLED “KNOW-NOTHIKGS” 27

accused or the witnesses against him, the jailor, as if of his

own motion, advised him to apply for a hearing
;

for it was

an invariable maxim with this tribunal that the accused should

always be the applicant, and be «rade to impeach himself.

When brought before his judges, they affected entire ignorance
of his case, inquiring who he was, what he wmnted, and if he

had anything to say. The prisoner of course gave the best

account that he could of himself, and was released, as the In-

quisition was too regardful of human life to send to the stake

those who wmre brought before it for the first time
;
but his

family was declared infamous, and his first judgment rendered

Mm incapable of bearing arms or of holding any office in the
Church or in the State.

Spies, who were called Familiars of the Inquisition, were

then sent to dog him, to pick up his every word, and to watch

his every motion. These men, pretending to be his friends,

wormed themselves into his confidence : and sometimes his

ov.m servants or Ms nearest relatives played tMs treacherous

part. On the slightest suspicion, he wms again apprehended :
the wretched man wms then irretrievably undone, for never

was the Inquisition known to forgive twice.

After he had again languished for several months, he again

applied for a hearing, at the secret suggestion of his judges,

who, if they could not draw” from him such a confession as

they desired, ordered him to be put to the torture, of which

there were three kinds. The first, called squassation, con-

sisted in tying back the arms by a cord, fastening weights to

Ms feet, and drawing him up to the full height of the place by

means of a pulley. Having been kept suspended for some

time, he wms suddenly let down with a jerk to within a little

distance of the floor, and with repeated shocks all his joints

were dislocated
;

this species of torture was continued for

an hour and sometimes longer, according to the pleasure of

the inquisitors present, and to what the strength of the sufferer



28 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICAN 8,

seemed capable of enduring. If this torture was not ^nifficient

to overcome him, that of water was resorted to. He was
obliged to swallow a great quantity, and then laid in ,i wooden

trough, provided with a lid that might be pressed down as

tight as the operators pleased. Across the trough was a bar,

on which the sufferer’s back rested, and by which the spine

was broken. The torture by fire was equally painful. A very
brisk fire was made, and the prisoner being extended on the

ground, the soles of his feet were rubbed with lard or some

other combustible matter, and placed close to the fire, till the

agony extorted from him such a confession as his tormentors

required. Not satisfied with their success, the judges doomed

their miserable victims to the torture a second time, to make

them own the motive and intention for the actions which they

acknowledged to have committed
;
and a third time, to force

them to reveal their accomplices or abettors.

If these infernal cruelties failed to wring a confession, arti-

fices and snares were resorted to. Suborned wretches were

sent to their dungeons : pretending to comfort and assist them,

or even to be prisoners like themselves, they launched out

against the Inquisition as an insupportable tyranny and the

greatest of all the scourges with which God had ever afflicted

mankind. Their dupes fell the more readily into the snare,

as it is hard to withstand the services of friendship and com-

passion performed for us when in the extremity of misery. The

Inquisitors seconded these artifices to the utmost of their

power. They assured tlie sufferers that they sympathized

with them
;
that all they aimed at was their eonversion

;
that

the slightest confession, which they might make to them in

private, and which they promised to keep inviolably secret,

would be sufficient to put an end to (heir afflictions and to

procure their liberation.
^

^

The upshot was, that if the accused was held to le con-

victed in the judgment of the Inquisitors, or by witnesses, or



29CALLED ‘‘ KNOW-NOTHINGS.”

by his own confession, he was sentenced, according to the

heinousness of the offence, to death, to perpetual imprison-

ment, to the galleys, flogging, or some other punishment.

After condemnation, the execution was deferred for one or

perhaps several years, that the sacrifice of a great number of ^

delinquents at once might produce a more striking and terrible

effect.

The wholesale executions of the Inquisitions, being .con-

sidered as a religious ceremony, were styled in Spain and

Portugal Autos-da-fe, or Acts of Paith. These were cele-

brated in general at the accession' of a king to the crown, or

on occasion of his majority, of his marriage, or of the birth

of an heir-apparent. By the besotted and priest-ridden in-
habitants of those countries, these horrible sights were at last

regarded nearly in the light of public amusements. Execu-

tions on a smaller scale took place every year towards the

conclusion of Lent, on the Friday immediately preceding Good

Friday.

By daybreak, the tolling of the gi’eat beU of the cathedral
summoned the faithful to the horrid tragedy. Persons of the

highest distinction eagerly offered their services to escort the

victims
;
and grandees were often seen assuming the character

of familiars of the Inquisition. The Dominicans, with the

standard of the execrable tribunal, opened the procession.

The condemned walked barefoot, with a pointed cap on their

heads, and dressed in a san-benito, a yellow frock, wfith a cross

on the breast and on the back, and covered wifti painted re-

presentations of the faces of fiends. The penitents, on whom
•some penance only was imposed, came first, and after the

cross, which was borne behind them, followed such as were

doomed to die. Effigies of persons wHo had escaped, and the
remains of the dead that had iucurred condemnation, appealed

lin the fearful procession lying in black coffins, on which wore

pa/nted flames and infernal figuics
;
and it was closed by



30 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE IMERICANS,

priests and monks. Passing through th? principal strei ts of

the city to the cathedral, a sermon was preached, and theif

sentence read to the delinquents, each of them standing mean-

while, with an extinguished taper in his hand, before a crucifix.

A servant of the Inquisition then smote them on the breast
with his hand, -to signify that the tribunal had ceased to have

any power over them. The condemned were then delivered

up to an officer of the civil authority, and soon afterwards

conducted to the place of execution. Each was asked in

what faith he would die
;

if he said Catholic, he was strangled

before he was burned
;

the others, who persisted in their

opinions, were consigned alive to the flames. These autos-da'-

fe of which the professed historian of the Inquisition gives such

harrowing details as thrill the blood with horror, the people

of both sexes and all ages thronged to witness with transports

of satisfaction and joy surpassing those displayed on any other

occasion. Even kings deemed it a meritorious act to attend

those cruel exhibitions, with their whole court, and to feast

their eyes on the torments of the wretched sufferers.

The effects, moveable and immovable, of all the prisoners

condemned to death were confiscated
;
as for the others, their

property, having been seized immediately after their appre-

hension, was almost entirely consumed before they were re-

leased, through the mismanagement of the sequestrators, pecu-

lation, confiscations, and fines.

From the mode of proceeding adopted in the Inquisition, it

could not be Otherwise than tliat many innocent pei'sous should

perish along with the guilty. This was a fact admitted by

the Inquisitors themselves, but which gave them no sort of

concern : for it was one of their principal maxims—better
put to death a hundred Catho'. ics irreproachable in their faith,

than let one heretic escape. The former, they argued, were

sure of paradise
;

wliereas, a heretic, if he gets off, may infect

and lead to perdition a great number or souls.



CALLED KNOW-NOTHINGS.’’ 51

Neither were those innocent sufferers allowed to eoinplain

of the injustice which they experienced
;
this woul d Lave been

a fresh crime, which would have been punished with the more

severity, since it involved the reputation of the tribunal, which

never acknowledged itself to be in the wrong. Of course,

they had no other consolation than that held forth to them by

the Directory of the Inquisitors, in these vrords : “Let no one

complain that he is condemned unjustly, or murmur against

the ecclesiastical judges, or the judgment of the Church. But,

if he is unjustly condemned, let him rejoice in that he is conr

demned for justice.” If this language was not intended fo’p

insulting mockery, it wears at least all the appearance of such

:

in what other light can it be viewed, when addressed to men

who find themselves stripped of all they possessed, or have

been condemned to the galleys, to exile, to perpetual imprison-

ment, or even to a most cruel and infamous death ?

The power of this infernal tribunal extended to the dead as-

well as the living: Even the bones of persons long consigned

to the grave, when competent evidence could be found to

convict them of heresy, torn from their resting places, were

doomed to the flames, and their property to confiscation.

The court of Rome considered the Inquisition as its master-
piece, as the firmest and most solid support of its power,

spiritual and temporal. Hence it put all things under the

feet of this tribunal in the countries subject to its authority.

There the most extravagant maxims were held to be incontest-

able, and the most unfounded pretensions established beyond

dispute. Thus the infallibility of 'the Popes, their superiority,

to general councils, their dominion over the possessions of all

the churches in the world, the power to dispose of them as

they pleased, their pretended authority over the temporal con-

cerns of sovereigns, the right which they claim of deposing

Dhem, of absolving their subjects from the oath of allegiance

and giving way their dominions, are maxims which none dared



32 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

to doubt in the countries of the Inquisition, much less to con-

test them, lest they should expose themselves to all the hor-

rors of that detestable tribunal. No wonder that the Popes,
in return, so warmly supported all its pretensions, and earn-

estly and incessantly labored to procure for it so extensive an

authority, that it at length became formidable to the very

princess by whom it was adopted.

But in no country of Christendom did the Inquisition

acquire such unbounded power as in Spain. There it was in-

troduced so early as the middle of the 1 3th century
;
though,

in some of the petty kingdoms hito which the Spanish penin-

sula was then divided, the States manfully opposed its admis-

sion, particularly in Castile and Leon, where the bishops as-

serted their exclusive right of judging in all religious matters.

When, however, all these minor sovereignties had, in the

course of the next two centmies, gradually merged into one

monarchy, its rmers, the crafty Ferdinand and Isabella, per-

ceived what important aid they might derive from the employ-

ment of such an engine as the Inquisition, in the execution of

their ambitious, arbitrary, and cniel plans. They had already

made several successful attempts towards reducing the power

of the feudal nobility, and mvesting the crown with absolute

authority. The population of Spain at this time was com-

posed of Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans. The Moors

still retahied the kingdom of Granada, which, however, was

already threatened by the preparations of Ferdinand and

Isabella. In the principal cities of Spain, the Jews had their

synagogues, aiid formed a ’distinct class from the rest of the

inhabitants. The commerce of the country was for the most

part in their hands
;
they were the farmers of the sovereigns

and of the grandees, and the only burden imposed upon them

was a moderate poll-tax, which they were obhged to pay to

the clergy. The wealth which they had acquh’ed by industry

excited great envy and hatred against them, and these p.:s-



CALLED .“know-nothings.' 33

sions were fostered by ignorant priests. About a century-

earlier, the sermons of a fanatical monk, Feman Martinez

Nunez, who preached up the persecution of the Jews as a

good work, were the principal cause of the riots which4;ook

place, in 1391 and 1392, in various cities, where the populace*

rose and plundered and murdered the Jews, many of wbom,

in order to save their lives, sul^mitted to be baptized.

After the reduction of several restless grandees in the

South of Spain, cardinal Mendoza, archbishop of Seville, made,

in 1411, the first attempt to establish a Tribunal of the Faith.

By his command, punishments, both public and private, were
inflicted on many of the inhabitants of Seville of Jewish

descent, who were accused of secretly following in their houses

the laws and custoins of tneii forefathers. A plan was formed
for extending the same species of Inquisition over the whole

country, and submitted to the government by Mendoza. Fer-

dinand and Isabella approved the establishment of such an m-

stitution, wliich promised at once to gratify the persecuting

spirit of the age, and to be a useful tool in the hands of the

State. It was calculated that, by means of this tribunal,

wholly dependent on the court, the Jews, bdth secret and

acknowledged, and the Mohammedans, might be suppressed,

the royal treasury enriched by the property of all delinquents

which would devolve to it, and the power of the grandees and

even of the clergy curbed.

Two grand obstacles, however, required moving before the
Inquisition could be solidly established in Castile. The con-

sent of the States was absolutely necessary
;
and some value^

it was considered, ought to be attached to the consent of the

Pope. The institution of the new tribunal proposed by the

cardinal was therefore the most important question discussed

at the diet of Toledo in 1480. When the superior adminis-
trative authorities, the supreme council of Castile, the council

of State, and the council of Aragon, were confirmed by the



34 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

States, he declared that it was necessary to have likewise a

permanent tribunal for matters relating to the faith, and for

the administration of the ecclesiastical police. In spite of all

opposition, it was determined that such a tribunal should be

'instituted by the name of General Inquisition
;
and it was

opened at Seville in 1481.

The first Grand Inquisitor, who indeed w'as appointed three

years before, was Thomas de Torquemada, prior of the Domini-

can convent at Segovia, and confes,=or to cardinal Mendoza.

He nominated 200 assistant inquisitors, and had a body-guard
of 50 horse

;
so that the Dominican convent soon became too

small for the numerous prisoners, and the king was obliged to

give up the palace in the Triana suburb to the tribunal. At

the first auto-da-fe, or execution, which was always kept as a

grand festival, seven relapsed Christians were burned, and

many more did penance. Hereupon, 17,000 persons, as

Spanish historians relate, accused themselves to the Inquisi-

tion
;
upwards of 2000 were doomed to the flames in the first

years, and a much greater number fled to the neighboring

countries.

The Pope, for his part, had opposed the foundation of the

Spanish Inquisition—a metamorphosis of an ecclesiastical into
a secular tribunal. Soon after the appointment of the new

Inquisitor, he had authorized the archbishop of Toledo, a bitter

enemy of Mendoza’s, to bring to judgment o professor of Sala-

manca, who was accused of heretical opinions, and several

times cited the Inquisitor-general to Rome
;
but Torquemada,

instead of obeying the summons, sent a friend to conduct his

lefence. A warm dispute ensued between the court of Spain
and the Pope, till, i>i 1483, Sixtus lY. was obliged to give

way, and to confirm Torquemada as Inquisitor-general of Cas-

tile and Leon . xit the same time he was empowered by the papal

bull to, establish siicli subordinate tribunals for religious lna^

r.ers as he might tiiink proper, to displace the judges previous-



CALLED
‘
‘ KNOW-NOTHIK Gf. } 35

fy appointed by the Pope, and to remodel the former mode of

proceeding, in cases of heresy, according to the new system.

A subsequent bull subjected Aragon, Yalencia, and likewise
Sicily, then under the sway of Ferdinand, to the jurisdiction

of the Inquisitor-general of Castile
;
and thus the Inquisition

became the supreme tribunal in both the kingdoms composing

the Spanish monarchy
;

for, at the assembly held at Tarragona

in 1484, the States of Aragon w^ere obliged to swear to pro‘

tect it.

The introduction of this tyrannical institution excited fer-

ments and insurrections in various parts of Spain. Shocked

by the cruelty of the judges, perhaps also excited by the jealous

bishops, various cities, and Saragossa in particular, refused to

admit the Inquisitors, several of whom were sacrificed by the
popular fury. The power of the Crown soon overcame this

resistance : thenceforward, the kings became absolute judges

in matters of religion, and the honor, the property, and the

life of every subject were at their arbitary disposal. >They

appointed the Grand Inquisitor, and by them, or at least

under their immediate influence, the assistant-judges were

elected, and two of these were always members of the supreme

council of Castile. Thus this tribunal became wholly depend-

ent on the cornet, and a powerful instrument for founding the

despotic authority of the sovereign on the ruins of the ancient

liberties of the country, for reducing the mighty influence of

' the clergy, 'for crushing the high-spirited nobility, and for

suppressing the privileges of the State.

The confiscated property of condemned persons devolved to

the king, and, even when it w^as given to the Inquisition, he

had power to specify the purpose to which it was to be ap-

plied. Ferdinand and Isabella, indeed, expended part of the

produce of these confiscations in the endowment of monasteries
* or hospitals

;
still much wealth was diverted from the Church

by the Inquisition
;
and that this institution was obliged to



56 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

serve as a tool for replenishing the royal coffers ‘exhausted by

war, is proved by an ordinance issued by Torquemada in 1 48 1

;

for so early as that was the treasury of the Inquisition drained

by royal assignations, to such a degree that the salaries of

the officials could not be paid.

The first ordinance of Torquemada’s, declaring that this

court was to be held for the service of God and of their high-

nesses, was issued in 1484 ; by virtue of it, proclamation was

to be made in every parish, enjoining heretics or relapsed

Papists to denounce themselves to the Inquisition within the

space of thirty or forty days. Torquemada, tormented by

gout, resigned his office
;

and, dying in 1498, was buried in

the Dominican convent at Avila, which, founded with the con-

fiscated property of heretics, was, strictly speaking, a monu-

ment of his cruel activity.

At first, the jurisdiction of the Inquisition was not precisely

determined : by the ordinance of 1484, tribunals subordinate

to the Inquisitor-general were established in the province of

Spain. In later times, the supreme court was at Madrid.

The Grand Inquisitor was its president
;
of the six or seven

assistant judges, whom he nominated at the king’s recommenda-
tion, one, agreeably to an ordinance issued by Philip III.,

was always a Dominican. Under him were a fiscal, two

secretaries, a receiver, two referendaries, and several officials,

as they were called, appointed by the president with the king’s

assent. The court sat every day, excepting holidays, in the

royal palace
;
and, on the last three days in - the week, two

members of the council of Castile were present. It was the

duty of the fiscal to examine the statements of witnesses, to

denounce delinquents, to apply for their apprehension, and to

accuse them when .secui’ed. Tlie secretary, besides making

minutes of the proceedings, was charged to watch in the

strictest manner the slightest motions of the accusers, witnesses*

and accused, by which their nost secret feelings might be



87CALLED
‘

' KNOW-NOTHIXOS. ”

betrayed The officials were persons emplcyed in appre/iend^

ing the accused. A sequestrator, who was obliged to give
secui’ity to the court, had the management of the confiscated

property, the produce of which w^as handed to the receiver,

who paid the salaries and discharged the assignations to which

the funds of the tribunal were liable. The number of the

agents and spies of the Inquisition, called familiars, was com-

puted to exceed 20,000
;
and such offices were sought after,

even by members of the highest families, because considerable

civil immunities and ample indulgences were attached to them.

The Jews and the Moors were the especial objects of the

persecution of the Inquisition in Spain. The former, who

were very numerous in that country, were left, till the second

half of the 14th centmy, in nearly undisturbed enjoyment of

their privileges, which were considerable. Favored by the

sovereigns, they were appointed to public offices, allowed to

have their own court of justice, and to acquire landed property.

With the increasing power of priests, the impoverishment of

the nobles, and the abuses arising from their own usurious

transactions, they became more and more exposed to envy,

hatred, and persecution. In Aragon, during a season of ex-

traordinary drought, they were expelled from the cities
;
and

in 1391 and -2 an indiscriminate slaughter destroyed great

numbers of them in Seville, Cordova, Toledo, Yalencia, Cata-

lonia, and Majorca. Many saved their lives by submitting to

be baptized, or by flight to Africa. . *

In the 15th century, the tyranny exercised by the Inquisi-

tion against those who had been baptized and were not allowed

to emigrate, and compulsory conversions, continued to thm

their numbers. Thousands were burned or subjected to cruel

punishments. At length, after the conquest of Granada,

Ferdinand and Isabella resolved to drive the Jews out of

Spain. Accordingly, in 1492, they published an edict, com-

mandirg all those who would not change their religion to



38 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

quit the Spanish dominions. The space of four moi.ths was,

however, allowed them to decide, with permission to sell their

property, to carry with them what they could, and to retire

whithersoever they should think fit. At the same time, all
Christians were forbidden, on the severest penalties, to hold

intercourse, with those people, or to supply them with provi-

sions and munitions.

It is not known how many Jews left Spain on this occasion :
some authors compute them at 110,000 families, others at

800,000 souls. Yast numbers retired to Africa, Italy, and

the East. Eighty thousand settled in Portugal, on the frontiers

of Spain
;
but they were received only on condition of paying

a yearly tax of eight gold crowns per head for the right of

hospitality
;
and this was granted merely for a certain term,

after which they were to seek a retreat in some other country,

upon pain of being made slaves. In 1495, King Emanuel

commanded all Jews to leave his dominions, and directed the

children of the poor above the age of fourteen years to be

taken from them, and shipped off to the Serpent Islands. The

last Jews emigrated in 1491
;
and, jn 1506, 2000 of the new

converts, who had embraced Popery to evade the decree of

expulsion, were slaughtered in. Lisbon. The lot of the same

class in Spain, under the lingering horrors of the Inquisition,

was, if anything, still more pitiable.

After the conquest of the kingdom of Granada by Eerdinand

the Catholic, in 1491, part of the Moors retired to Africa, but

most of them remained in Spain, and great numbers of these

assumed the external appearance of Christianity. Here they

continued to live as industrious and quiet subjects, till that

sanguinary bigot, Philip II., in his cruel zeal for Popery, re-

solved upon their total destruction. In 1511, his oppressions

and persecutions drove the Moors of Granada into insurrection,

after the extinction of which 100,000 of them were expelled.

Philip III., instigated by thfe same inhuman spirit of religioiu



CALLED “kNOW-NOLHI.' &S.” m

intolerance, and urged by tiie Inquisition, renewed the pers^

cation of the Moors, and finally decreed their total expulsion

fi’om the kingdom of Spain, on the plea that, though thes«

people conformed externally to the rites of Christianity, thej

Were still Mohammedans in their hearts, and might corrupt tkt

true believers. Thirty days only were allowed them to pre

pare for their departure, and death was the tUreatened penalty

for 'remaining beyond that time. In this dilemma, the de-

scendants of the ancient conquerors of Spain elected a king,

and attempted to oppose the royal mandate
;
but, unprovided

with arms, they were soon compelled to submit. By this
equally barbarous and impolitic measure, Spain lost about a

million of her most industrious inhabitants. It is universally

admitted that the expulsion of the Jews, Whose commercial

activity brought great wealth into the country, and of' the

Moors, whose agricultural skill and industry were a still more

important source of prosperity, was the main cause of the

subsequent rapid decline of Spain from the most powerful

state in Europe to comparative insignificance.

‘ Such were the deplorable effects of that spirit of immitiga

^ble intolerance, praised, preached, and imperatively enjoined

as one of the highest of Christian virtues, by the antichristian

See of Rome i
The possession of powers so extensive and so uncontrolled

as those of the Inquisitor-general, naturally generated an ar-

rogance unmatched, save by that which the wearers of the

tiara themselves exhibited. I shall quote one or twc in-

stances.

Among the reports circulated respecting the abdication of
the Emperor Charles Y., the most extraordinary was, that the

intercourse which he had had with the German Protestants

had given him some inclination for their opinions, and that he

had gone into retirement, that he might have liberty to end

his days in exercises of piety conformable with his disposition



40 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

It was alleged that he could not forgive himself for the marmei

in which he had treated the brave princes of that party, whom
the fortune of arms had thrown into his power

;
and that their

virtue, which in their adversity shamed his success, had insen-

sibly excited in his heart a sort of esteem for their opinions.

This esteem was manifested in the choice which he made of

persons, all suspected of heresy, for his spiritual guides—Dr.
Caculla, his preacher, the archbishop of Toledo, and, above

all, Ponce, bishop of Dresse, his confessor.

It is further related that a singular circumstance contributed

to this change in Charles’s sentiments. Among the occupa-
tions with which he beguiled the solitary hours of his retire-

ment, was the makii}g of w^oodeh clocks. Finding that it was

impossible to make two of them to go exactly alike, he is said

to have been deeply struck with the folly of his own former

efforts to force millions of men to square their opinions ac-

cording to one standard.

Such an acknowledgment, if it really was made, was well

worthy of the monarch who, when urged to take Luther into

custody, in violation of his letter of safe-conduct, when the

Reformer appeared before the diet of Worms, on the ground

that, according to the orthodox Popish maxim, faith ought

aot to be kept with heretics,- made this noble reply ; “I will

not, like Sigismund, my predecessor, have cause to blush.'” Id
this answer, Charles alluded to the case of the intrepid Huss,

who, being sentenced to the flames, insisted on the performance

of the pledge given by the emperor for his safety
;
and, as he

spoke, fixed his eyes on Sigismund. The appeal brought a

deep blush into the face of the false-hearted prince.

Soon after the decease of Charles, it became known that, in

the cell in which was his abode in the convent of St. Just,

near Placentia, in Estrernadura, there had been fotind many

papers written by him on religious subjects, which deviat^Ml



CALLED
‘

‘ KNOW-NOTHLS GS/’ 41

but little from the doctrines of the Protestants, But Uv) thing

tended to confirm the notion of ajeaning to their opinions so

much as his last will. He had left no legacies to the Church,
or to found masses for the good of his soul

;
and the document

differed so much in language from the testamentary papers

of zealous Catholics, that the Inquisition of Castile deemed

itself authorized to institute proceedings against it.

The Inquisitors durst not, however, make any stir till the

arrival of his son, Philip II., not knowing his sentiments, and

how he might take the matter. But this prince, having marked

his arrival in Spain by the execution of all the partisans of

the new opinions, the Inquisition, emboldened by his example,

first attacked the archbishop of Toledo, primate of Spain,

nexi Caculla, and lastly Ponce, the late emperor’s confessor.

The king having suffered all three to be imprisoned, the

people regarded this permission as an evidence of his zeal for

religion
;

but the rest of the world beheld with horror the

man in whose arms the emperor had expired, consigned, with

the consent of his own son, to the most cruel and ignominious

of all punishments. In fact, the Inquisition not only accused

those three persons of having had a share in the emperor’s

will, but had the hardihood to condemn them along with that

document, and many of the monks of St. Just, to the flames.

Philip, whose inhuman soul was jealous of his father’s glory,

at first felt some pleasure at seeing his memory exposed to

this insult
;
but, roused by the noise which this sentence made

in the world, he prevented the complete execution of it by the

gentlest and most secret means that he could devise, so as not

to irritate the Inquisitors, or to lower the authority of their

tribunal. Caculla was burned alive, together with the effigy

of Ponce, who had died in prison a few days before. The

archbishop of Toledo appealed to Rome
;

it was only by the

influence of friends and money that he extricated liimself from



42 startling facts for native AMERICANS,

the danger
;
and nothing farther was said about the will of

the emperor.

Another instance of the daring presumption of those pri(;sta

was exhibited in the time of Philip III. That king, being

present at an auto-da-fe, at which two monks were burned

for holding some new opinions in religion, expressed some pity

for the sufferers. The Grand Inquisitor, when informed of the

circumstance, openly quarreled with the king, and would not

be reconciled till he had received a cupful of his most Catholic

majesty’s blood, which he then caused to be burned by the

executioner.

Indeed, it was not always that royal spectators deigned to

bestow so much as pity on the agonized sufferers. In a letter

to Bishop Burnet, written at Lisbon, in 1706, by Mr. Wilcox,

afterwards bishop of Gloucester, he describes the execution of

a man and a woman. The practice there was to set up so
many stakes as there were prisoners to be burned. These

stakes were about four yards high, and within half a yard of

the top was attached a small board, on which the prisoner

was seated when chained to the stake. Around the foot was

piled a considerable quantity of dry furze. The flame, however,

seldom reached higher than the seat, and, if there happened

to be a wind, it seldom reached so high as the knees of the

sufferer
;
who, if it was calm, might expire in half an hour,

but, if windy, might survive an hour and a half or two hours,

till really roasted, not burned to death. In the case mentioned

by Wilcox, the woman was alive in the flames half an hour,

the man about an hour.. The king and his brotlier were

seated at a window so near, that the latter, while burning,

addressed them for a considerable time in the most movmg

terms. The only favor he implored was a few more fagots,

but even this he could not obtain. The wind being a little

fresh, his hinder parts were absolutely roasted
;
and, as he

turned himself around, his ribs opened before he left off’ speak-



CALLED '‘know-nothings,” 48

ing, the fire being recruited as it wasted, to keep him just in

the same degree of heat
;
nor could all his entreaties procure

a larger allowance of wood to despatch him more speedily.

Grievously as the national character of the Spaniards, once

so generous, noble, frank, and light-hearted, was debased by

the influence of this tribunal of blood, so deeply did the ancient

glory of Spain decline under that change. It was not till the

eighteenth century that, though the Inquisition retained its

original constitution almost unaltered, the horrors of that

dark tribunal began gradually to abate. The av/ful spectacle

of an auto-da-fe was more rarely exhibited. If we consider

the most remarkable demonstrations of. its activity during that

period, we shall nevertheless find that this institution, in spite

of the restrictive vigilance exercised by a more enlightened

policy, continued to be a tool which, under more favorable

circumstances, was capable of producing revolting effects. If,

in 1114, it condemned several monks to death on account of

their infamous lives, and, in 1784 and 1804, doomed several

persons to imprisonment and penance for making philtres and

telling fortunes, or imposed recantation and ecclesiastical

chastisement on many more for indiscreet expressions, no one

could discover in such circumstances cause for alarm. So

much the more strongly must it have been excited, when, in

1763, several heretics were consigned to the flames at an auto-

da-fe at Llerena
;
when, even in 1777, the Inquisition armed

itself with all its terrors against Olavides, for his patriotic at-

tempt to bring the wastes of the Sierra Morena into cultiva-

tion by the labor of foreign colonists
;
and when, in 1780,

an oldN^man at Seville was sentenced by this tribunal to be

burned alive as convicted of witchcraft.

Such was the barbarous spirit of the Inquisition till it was

surpressed by Napoleon, in 1808. After its restoration by

Ferdinand YII., many enlightened men strove to destroy the

superanuated tool of a gloomy policy, but witheut success

;



44 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICAS S,

tili it was totally abolished by the constitution of Cortes, in

1820, and, on the recommendation of the principal European

powers, in 1823, not again restored.

Llorente, in his History of the Spanish Inquisition, com-

piled from its own records, calculates that, from the year 1481

to 1808, this tribunal condemned, in Spain alone, 341,021 per

sons. Of these 31,912 were burned in person, 11,659 ii

effigy, and severe penances were imposed on 291,456.

I shall not dilate further on the horrors practised under the

pretext of religious zeal by this most atrocious institution, than

to extract some interesting particulars, not so generally known,

respecting the State of the prisons of the Inquisition at Toledo,

on the arrival of the French in that city. The narrative is

furnished by a French officer, who served in the corps unde-

general Lasalle. After describing the manner in which an

entrance was forced by cannon, and the liberation of the pris-

oners, many of whom were butchered by the populace, he thus

proceeds

:

“ Graves seemed to open, and pale figures, like ghosts, is-

sued from the dungeons, which emitted a sepulchral odor

Bushy beards, hanging down over the breast, nails grow^ to

the length of birds’ claws, disfigured the skeletons, who, with

laboring bosom, inhaled, for the first time during a long series

of years, the reviving breath of beneficent J^ature. Many of
them were reduced to cripples, the back arched, he head

inclined forward on one side, and arms and hands hanging

down, rigid and helpless. On closer examination, it was
found that these poor wretches had been confined in dens so

low that they could not rise up in them, and hence their bodies

had, during a long imprisonment, naturally contracted this dis-

torted form. In spite of all the care of the regimental sur-

geons, several of them expired the same day. The light of

the sun made a particularly painful impression on the optic

nerves. From this portraiture of these unfortunate creatures,



CALLED '^KNOW-NOTHINGS.” 45

the state of the prison may be so accurately inferred that it is

unnecessary to givo-a more particular description of it.

“ On the following day, general Lassalle minutely inspected
the whole place, attended by several officers of his staff. The

number of machines for torture, especially the rack for stretch-

ing limbs, and the drop-baths, producing one of the most lim

gering of deaths, which are already known, thrilled even men

inured to the battle-field with horror Only one of these imple-

ments, unique in its kind for refined cruelty, and disgraceful to

reason and religion for the choice of its object, seems deserving

of more particular notice.

In a recess, in a subterraneous vault, contiguous to the pri-

vate hall for examinations, stood a wooden figure, made by

the hands of monks, and representing the Virgin Mary. A
gilded glory encompassed her head, and in her right hand she

held a banner. It struck us all, at first sight, that, notwith-

standing the silken i-obe, descending on each side in ample

folds from her shoulders, she would wear a sort of cuirass.

On closer scrutiny, it appeared that the forepart of the body
was stuck full of extremely sharp nails and small narrow knife»

blades, with the points of both turned towards the spectator.

The arms and hands were jointed
;
and machinery behind the

partition set the figure in motion. One of the servants of the

Inquisition was compelled, by command of the general, tc

work the machim, as he termed it. When the figure extended
her arms, as though to press some one most lovingly to her

heart, the well-filled knapsack of a Polish grenadier was madsg

to supply the place of a living victim. The statue hugged it

closer and closer
;
and, when the attendant, agreeable to

orders, made the figure unclasp her arms and* return to her

former position, the knapsack was perforated to the depth of

two or three inches, and remained hamging on the points of

the nails and knife-blades. To such an infernal purpose, and

in honor of the true faith, was the Madonna rendered subset



46 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

vient !—she, the immaculate and blessed, who transfused celes*
tial grace into the pencils of the greatest painters, and the

highest charm of which art is susceptible, into the works of

the most eminent sculptors I

“ One of the familiars, as they are called, of the Inquisition '

gave us an account of the customary mode of proceeding on

using this machine. The substance of his report was as fol-

lows :

“ Persons accused of heresy, or of blaspheming God or the
saints, and obstinately refusing to confess their guilt, were

conducted into this cellar, at the further end of which numer-

ous lamps, placed round a recess, threw a variegated light on

the gilded glory, and on the head of the figure and the flag

m her right hand. At a little altar, standing opposite to
her and hung with black, the prisoner received the sacra-

ment
;
and two ecclesiastics earnestly admonished him, in the

presence of the mother of God, to make a confession. ‘ See,

said they, ‘ how lovingly the blessed Virgin opens her arms .

to thee I on her bosom thy hardened heart will be melted

there thou wilt confess.^ All at once the figure began to’

raise her extended arms : the prisoner, overwhelmed with

astonishment, was led to her embraces
;
she drew him nearer

and nearer, pressed^ him almost imperceptibly closer and

closer, till the spikes and knives pierced his breast. Either

agony and terror extorted a confession from the writhing

wretch, or, if he still withheld it, he remained insensible in

th6 arms of the figure, while the blood trickled from a hun-

dred small, but not mortal wounds. Oil and healing balsam

were applied to them
;
and on a carpet, spread at the feet of

the figure, in the vault now brilliantly lighted up, he was left

to come to himself. If this experiment failed, he was re-

manded to his dungeon, there probably to await fresh tor-

ments.

‘‘It deserves remark, that the barbarians, by a perversion



CALLED “know-nothings.” 4*t

of language worthy of Satan himself, gave this machine of

torture the appellation of Madre dolorosa—not the afflicted,
hut the afflicting mother.”*

CO^iTEST BETWEE^f THE POPE AND THE BIBLE.

Reader

—

Will you please to notice the following :

Pope. I am the head of the church.
Bible. Christ is the head of the church. Eph. v. 23.

Pope. Therefore, as the church is subject to the pope, so

let all obey him in all things.

Bible. Therefore, as the church is subject to Christ, so let

wives be to their own husbands in all things. Eph. v. 24.

Pope. I must add to the Bible, because it is not a suffi-

cient rule of faith and practice.

Bible. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall

add unto him the plagues written in this book. Rev. xxii., 18.

Pope. Believe and trust in me, and I will see you saved.

Bible. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketb

flesh his arm. Jer. xvii., 5.

Pope. Make for yourselves little gods.

Bible. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Ex. xx., 3. .
Pope. Make unto yourselves the likeness of Saint Peter.

Bible. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,

or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above. Yer. b.

Pope. Bow down to the little gods and serve them.
Bible. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve

them. Yer. 5.

Pope. Every one that will not obey the pope, shaH be de-

stroyed by the Inquisition.

* Thfi World in Miniature— Spam and Portugal, i.> 171-180.



48 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

Bible. Thou shalt not kill, Yer. 13.

Pofe. The priests, who are too holy to be lawfully married,

may take every opportunity to ***** * satisfy lust.
Bible. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Yer. 14.

Pojpe. Or if the above be impossible, they may betray some

other man’s wife.

‘ Bible. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife. Yer.lt.

Pope. I will make the people believe that I and the priests

have power to forgive sins, and thereby get their money.

Bible. Thou shalt not steal. Yer. 15.

Pope. I must keep the Bible from my people, because it
is injurious to them.

Bible. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul

;

the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Psalm

xix. t, 8.

Pope. I have prescribed a decree, that every man and

woman not belonging to the holy church of Rome, shall be

considered a heretic
;
but every one belonging to my church,

and bemg obedient to me, without regard to the Bible, shall

bave pardon for any crime, and shall be prayed out of purga-

tory by paying so and so much

:

“ So bald das Geld im Kasten klingt,

, So bald die Seel’ in Himmel springt.”

Bible. Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and
that write grievousness which they have prescribed

;
to turn

aside the needy from judgment, and to take away Ihe right

from the poor of my people, that 'widows may be their prey,
and that they may rob the fatherless, x. 1-3.

What tongue can describe the abominations of popery ?



/

CALLED “know-nothings.’’ 49

ABOimATIOi^S OF JESUITISM.

We call the attention to the following extracts from a small
work entitled “ Secret Instructions of the Jesuits.” We hope
they will be deeply pondered over by every native-born Ameri-

can :

1. Emmaniid Sa, “ The reSgZZww of Roman

priests is not treason, because they are not subject to the civil

government.”

In the face of this article, we have between two and three

hundred Roman priests arriving yearly in this country, and
instructing catholic foreign^s to vote for men of their own

religious principles.

2. Bdlarmin, Controvers., lib. v., cap. 6, p. 1090. “The

spiritual power must rule the temporal by all sorts of means

and expedients, when necessary. Christians should not tolerate

a heretic king.”

Our constitution denies this principle in toto. If Christians

should not tolerate a heretic king, they certainly should not

tolerate a heretic ^ruler. A small Tnajority of our present
rulers are “ heretics’^—consequently they should not be tolerated
by catholics.

3. Salmeron^ Comment Evan. Hist., vol. iv., pars. 3' tract

4, p. 411. “Tlie jpope hath suprevie fower over the whole

earth, over all kings and governments, to command and en-

force them, to employ their power to promulge popery
;
which

mandate of the pope they are bound to obey, and if they re-

sist, he must punish them as contumacious.”

Then the pope must have supreme power over this govern-

ment, and can command our rulers to obey his orders, and to

compel the authorities in this land to use every means to in-

crease popery, notwithstanding it is diametrically opposite

to the letter and spirit of our constitution and our laws.

3



50 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

4. Sanctarel, Tract de Hieres., cap. xxx., p, 296. “ The

pope can depose negligent rulers, and deprive them of their

authority.’’

5. Lessms, lib. 2, cap. 42, Dub. 12, p. 632. “ The. pope

cam annul and caned every possible obligation arising from an

oaihP

We would ask, then, in what manner the oath of allegiance,
which is taken by foreigners in this country, can be binding on

Catholics ?—for it appears that the pope can at any time annul
and cancel them. Were the pope at any time to say that the

oath of allegiance to this country was not binding on his sub-

jects, and should “annul and cancel every possible obligation”

arising therefrom—we should suddenly find in our councils,
and through our land, a number of mdividuals, enjoying equal

rights with American citizens, who are in truth foreigners,

and owing allegiance to a foreign potentate.^ With such facts

as these in the face of our native citizens, we trust that they

will come forward, and aid us in ejecting from ofBce men who

hold principles so entirely opposed to our present constitution.

It cannot be said that opposition to such principles can be

intolerant. Is it not rather a natural using in self-defence ?

Is it not saying that we wish the eyes of American people

opened, and the secret principles of foreign demagogues ex-

* posed ? They now openly state that in a few years they will

ask no favors of us
;
and when that time comes, Americans

will learn that they will grant none.—May God long put off
that dreadful day !

We have recently met with some curious displays of Roman-
ism, which we think will edify pur readers

:

Extreme Unction.—In the “ Beehive of the Roman Court,’’
book iii., chapter 2, is the following account of their extreme

unction : “ Whensoever anyliody lies a passing, so that there

is no more hope of life in him, the priest 3hall then anoint

him. vith holy oil, bless him with crosses, and conjure him



CALLED “know-nothings.” 51

with certain words, and then he can never come i.at( Kell
;

for

all the devils will run away from before the crosses, like a

dog before a flitch of bacon
;
and therefore must he take up

his lodgings either in the suburbs of hell or in purgatory,

where he shall have his househire and firewood free, till such

time as, with soul-masses and pope’s pardons, he have gotten

a plot of ground in heaven, to build a house thereupon, of

merits and good works.”

Po;pish Prmdvmnt.—Chevreau, the French historian, says

:

“I heard a sermon preached by a prelate who was greatly

celebrated, on the feast of Mary Magdalene. Having enlarged

on the subject of her repentance, the prelate gravely added :
‘ Her tears opened to her the way to heaven. She traveled

by water to a place, where few other persons go by lancll ”

The Rosary .—Dominic was the author both of the rosary
and of the Inquisition. Among other testimonies to the
miraculous benefits of the rosary, the following is told in the

fife of the first grand inquisitor ; “A girl, named Alexandra,
was induced by Dominic’s preaching to use the rosary

;
but

her heart followed after the world. Two young men, rivals
for her affections, killed each other, and, in revenge, their rela-

tives cut off her head, a#id threw it into a well. The devil

immediately seized her soul, to which he said he had a title

;

but, for the sake of the rosary, the Virgin Mary interfered,
rescued the soul out of his hands, and gave it permission to

remain in the head at the bottom of the well, till it should

have an opportunity of confessing and being absolved. After

some days, it was revealed to Dominic, who went to the well
and told Alexandra to come up from the well. The bloody

head obeyed, remained on the well-side, confessed its sins, re-

ceived absolution and the mass-wafer, and edified the people

for two days
;
when the soul departed, to pass two weeks in

purgatory, on its way to heaven.”



52 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AiaERICANS,

Spanish Sermons.—Southey, iu his letters from Spain, quotes
the following passage from a Spanish sermon : “ Many reasons

have been assigned for the earthquake and darkness at the

crucifixion, but this appears to be the only rational cause

:

The Yirgin Mary, who, through humility, always looked upon

the ground, lifted up her eyes to the cross. Deprived of the

light of her eyes, the earth trembled, and the sun hid himself,

ashamed to behold her superior radiance !”

Ensor assures us that a Spanish friar, preaching upon the

Lord’s temptation, exclaimed: “Happily for mankind, the

lofty Pyrenees hid this delightful country, Spain, from the

eyes of the Redeemer, else the temptation would have been

too strong for the Lord !”

Spanish Theatricals.—In Spain plays are performed in honor,
and for the benefit, of the Virgin Mary and the saints

;
and

balls and bull-fights are given for the deliverance of souls from

purgatory. One of the playbills thus concluded: “To the

Empress of Heaven, Mother of the Eternal World, the lead-

ing Star of all Spain, the consolation, faithful sentinel, and

bulwark of all Spaniards, the most holy Mary. For her bene-

fit, and for the increase of her worship, the comedians of

Seville will perform a merry comedy entitled El Legatarios.”

Indian Estimate of Roman Priests.—Cacica, a Peruvian, be-
ing condemned to die by the Spaniards, who had massacred ten

millions of people, was persuaded by a Franciscan priest to

turn Christian, and then he would surely go to heaven. The

heathen man inquired : “ Are any Spaniards there To

which the friaf replied : “It is full of them.” Upon which

the Peruvian retorted : “Then I prefer going to hell, rather

than have any more of your company.”

Bedds Eloqvmce.—The popish legend tells us that Bede, in
his old age, was blind. In that conviition he once preached to

a heap of stones, thinking he was iu a church. The stones



CALLED “know-nothings/ 53

became so mncli affected by bis eloquence and piet} that they

cried out : “Amen, venerable Bede, amen
!”

Pojpe^s Bull.—Pope Clement YI., in his bull against the
emperor Louis, thus denounced that monarch : “ May God strike
him with imbecility and madness ! May heaven overwhelm
him with its thunders ! May the anger of God, and of Peter,
and of Paul, fall upon him in this world, and in the next

!

May the whole universe revolt against him ! May the earth
swallow him up alive I May his name perish from the earhest
generation, and may his memory disappear ! May all the
elements be adverse to him ! May his children be delivered
into the hands of his enemies, and be cursed before the eyes

of their father !’^ Such are the tender mercies of popery !

lAbther's Account of Pope Leo X, and the Purchasers of Tet-

zePs Indulgences.—-“The pope was born of the devil, and is
full of devils, lies, blasphemy, and idolatry. He is antichrist,
the robber of churches, the violater of virgins, the chief of

pimps, and the governor of Sodom. The papists are all asses^

Put them in whatever form you please—boiled, roasted,
baked, fried, skinned, beat, or hashed—they are all the same

—

asses !”

Calvin.'—In the Spanish Index Expurgatorius is this re-
mark : “Let the name of Calvin be suppressed,'and instead

of it, put Studiosus qui^am, a certain scholar.” The hatred

of the papists to that reformer is his highest eulogy and

honor.

Spanish Inquisitors Dry-pan and Fire for Refractory Girls..

—The woman who frightened the girls at Aragon, that they
might submit to the inquisitor’s sensuahty, showed them three

tortures : “1. The dry-pan, for heretics and those who oppose
the inquisitor’s will and pleasure : they are put naked, alive,

into the pan
;
and the cover of it being locked up, the execu-

tioner begins to put a fire in the oven, and augments it ^intM



54 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERKLN3,

tlie body is reduced to ashes, 2. The great wheel, set with

sharp razors, is designed for those who speak against the pope

and the inquisitors
;

for they are put witliin the wheel, and

the little door being locked, the executioner turns the wheel

till the person is dead. 3. The pit full of serpents and toads

is for those who contemn images, and refuse to give respect

and veneration to ecclesiastical persons
;
for they are thrown

into the pit, and so become the food of seiqients and toads.”

When the girls were frightened almost out of themselves at
these horrid scenes, they were led to the inquisitor’s chamber,

and, as they thought, were happy to escape the “dry-pan,

wheel, and snakes,” by gratifying his lascivious desires.

Pope's Valuation ofa CardinaVs Hat.
—

“ Pope Benedict

offered Petrarch the poet a cardinal’s hat, upon condition that

he would persuade his sister to become his mistress. The

poet indignantly refused. His brother, however, acceded to

the offer
;
but, after the pope had satisfied his ungodly wishes,

he refused to make her brother a cardinal, who in consequence

became almost deranged, and entered a monastery.

—

Beehive

of the Romish Court, book i.

Satan and a Monk.—Among the records of the second coun-
cil of Mce is the ensuing circumstance, which, it is said, was
narrated by Stephanas in that assembly : “There was a monk

who was continually tempted and troubled with a devil, even

till his old days
;
and when, in the end, he began to wax

weary of it, he then did pray the devil very friendly, that he

would leave him alone in quiet. But the devil answered him,

that if the moiik would promise to do, and swear to keep

secret, a thing that he would command liim, then he would

leave off to trouble him any more. The monk promised him,

and took thereupon a deep oath. Then said the devil : ‘If

thou wilt that I shall trouble thee no more, then thou must

not pray any more to that image,’ meaning an image of the



CALLED “kI^D^V-NOTHINGS.^ 55

Virgin Mary, bolding her child in her arms, which the monk

worshipped. But the monk was more crafty than the devil

;

for he went and confessed his doing the next day to the abbot,

and the abbot dispensed with his oath to the devil, upon com

dition that he should continue his adoration of the image.”

The above specimens of popery are from authentic Romish

documents, and fully develop its deceitfulness, and the wretched

debasement of those who believe in such “ strong delusions

and lying wonders.”

CURIOUS EXTRACTS.

Extreme Unction.—A papist in Jersey, being very sick,
lately sent for a priest, from a distance. His wife and children

were Protestants. When the priest arrived, he ordered the
whole of the family out of the house. What he did no pferson
knows

;
but, upon his departure, the priest informed his silly

disciple’s wife that her husband would not live more than

two w^eeks, if so long. He died about the time specified
;
and

it is strongly suspected, from other circumstances, that the

priest, according to custom, administered a slow poison, that

the wretched creature might not survive his extreme unction.

During the time of the cholera, the Papists and their priests,

who visited Iheir friends that were sick in the hospitals, were

a serious annoyance, not only to other patients, but to the

medical men and the attendants. One of the superintendents

of the funerals addressed a Roman priest thus: “How can
you be so foolish as thus to cany on your tricks ? You can-

not belive in your own nonsense. Y^ou know that your silly

ceremonies cannot do the dying, people any good.” “ Yery

true,” said the priest, whom the Jesuit Dubois has lately pro-
hibited from saying mass

;
“but it is necessary to do it, just



66 STARTLIKG FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

to satisfy the ignorant people. They do not know any better.

Tliere is no meaning in it, and all we do it for is only to pacify

them.’^ That is the Jesuit’s account of his own mummery !

Curing a Hen'dia Cow.—Some time ago an Irish Papist
bought a cow of a Protestant, and, according to custom, it

became necessary to exorcise the four-legged animal, to drive

away the heresy which she had contracted in consequence of

having been owned by a Protestant. The Romish woman
accordingly brought forth her bottle of “ blessed water,” with

which to purify the cow
;

but she mistook the article, and>

instead of the water, took up a bottle of vitriol. Having

poured some of the vitriol upon the creature, as soon as she

felt the brnmiug, the cow began to roar and kick lustily,
“ Arrah ! said the woman, but the crathur is a terrible ould

heretic !” Then she poured some more vitriol upon her, which

only increased her restlessness and bellowing
;
upon which the

woman added : “ Och ! by Saint Patrick, but the harasy is

very dape in the baste !” Thia is a fair specimen of the

wickedness and superstition which the Roman priests teach
their infatuated devotees.

Priest’s Fees .—The London Times complains of the system
of taking fees adopted by the priests in Ireland, and states

that in Munster and the other parts of the land, the fee for

marriage is sometimes as much as twenty pounds. The bride

has to ask forty persons and the bridegroom the same number..

Each person has to contribute bs. toward the priest’s fees.

Baptisms are hs. each, and the sums collected at funerals are

Very considerable. There are also fees for blessing cattle,

which sometimes amounts to as much as fourteen pounds per

annum. Some time ago, when a former government asked

them what fees they would give up if they had a provision

made for them, their reply was that they would give up all

but the marriage fee^



CALLED “know-nothings” 5t

OATH OF A JESUIT BISHOP
t

“I, A. B., now in the presence of the Almigh',} C^od, the

blessed Yirgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the

blessed St. John Baptist, holy apostles St. Peter and Paul,

and the saints and sacred host of heaven, and to you my
ghostly father, do declare from my heart, without rmnial res^
ervaticm, that his holiness Pope Urban is Christ’s Yicar-Gem

eral, and is the true and only head of the catholic or univer-*

sal church throughout the earth
;
and that by the virtue of

the keys of, binding and loosing given to his holiness by my
Saviom.’ Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings,

princes, states, commonwealths, and governments, all being

illegal without his sacred confirmation—and that they may

rafely be destroyed : therefore, to the utmost of my power, I
shall and will defend this doctrine, and his holiness’ rights

and customs, against all usurpers of the heretical (or Protes-

tant) authority whatsoever
;
especially against the, now pre-

tended authority and Church of England, and all adherents,

in regard that they and she be usurpal and heretical, oppos-

ing the sacred mother Church of Borne. I do renounce and

disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince, or

state, named Protestant, or obediei to any of their inferior

magistrates or officers. I do further declare, that the doctrine

of the Church of England, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and

of others of the name Protestants, to be damnable, and they

themselves are damned, and to be damned, that will not for-

sake the same. 1 do further declare, that I will help, assist,

-

and advise all or any of his holiness’ agents, in any place where-

ever I shall be, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, or in any

other territory or kingdom I shall come to, and do my utmost
to extirpate the heretical Protestants’ doctrine, and to destroy

all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise. I do further

promise and declare, that notwithstanding I am dispensed with,
to assume any religion heretical, for the propagating of the

3*



58 STAKTLlNG FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

mother Church’s interest, to keep secret and private all tier
,

agents’ counsels, from time to time, as they entrust me, and

not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, Afriting, or

circumstances whatsoever
;
but to execute all that shall be

proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me, by you, my
ghostly father, or any of this sacred convent. All which, I, A.

B., do swear, by the blessed Trinity and blessed Sacrament,

which I am now to receive, to perform, and on my part to
keep inviolably

;
and do call all the heavenly and glorious

host of heaven to witness these my real intentions, to keep
this my oath. In testirpony hereof, I take this most holy and
blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist

;
and witness the same

further with my hand and seal, in the face of this holy convent,
this day of An. Dom. &c.

A BROOKLYN ROMISH FATHER.

That popish Father Walsh, of whom the true account has
already been published respecting his refusal to bury the corpse

of Shields, who was drowned, has since given another specimen

of his Jesuitical abominations. A young man, named Peter
Roway, on Saturday, December 3, was choked while eating

his dinner, and died upon the spot. As he was a Papist, that

crafty priest, who presented th. Jesuit prelate Dubois a five-

hundred-dollar note for Melchisedek’s fatner, and another five

hundred-dollar note for Melchisedek’s mother, was called

upon, by his superstitious Roman friends, for some ‘blessed

earth,’ and for permission to bury the corpse in the popish

graveyard. Mr. Walsh positively refused to permit a grave

to be dug, and declared he would stand at the gate of the

burying-ground to keep the corpse out, if it was necessary.

The friends of the deceased then begged him to sell them some

^blessed earth' But he refused, declaring that ‘the deceased

had not received the unction of the church, and that lie w{is



CALLED “ KNOW-NOTHINGS.’ 59

damned, and ought to be lost,’ This fact, I was told one

of the friends of the young man who died so suddenly. So

much for Fathe.r Walsh’s Jesuitism and Popery. What do you

think of the Brooklyn Romish father and his tricks ?”

In reply to this last question, we simply say, that we think

that he is a very consistent JCsuit, who carries on the Papal

craft in its genuine spirit and character. But we are con-

vinced that the Papists who can so long patiently tolerate

such things, are really the people concerning whom the Apos-

tle Peter spake. Father Walsh “makes merchandise of their

souls,” to make tools of them for his own ghostly ends here,

and to destroy their immortal souls forever, unless “they

repent and come out of Babylon.”—Protestant Vindicator.

LUTHER’S AUCOUNT OP HIS BOOKS, WRITTEN WHEN HE
WAS A PAPIST.

“ Before all things, I entreat you, for oiir Lord Jesus Christ’s

sake, to read my writings with cool consideration, and even
with much pity. I wish you to know that when I began the

affair of indulgences af the very first, I was a monk, and a

most mad Papist. So intoxicated was I and drenched in Papal

dogmas, that I would have been most ready at all times to

murder or assist others in murdering any person who shotQd

have uttered a syllable against the duty of obedience to the

Pope. I was a complete Saul
;
and there are many such yet.

There were, however, and are now, others, who appear to me

to adhere to the Pope on the principles of Epicurus, that is for

the sake of indulging their appetites, when secretly they even

deride him, and are cold as ice if called upon to defend the Pa-

pacy. I was never one of these
;
I fv^as ever a sincere believer

;

I was always earnest in the doctrines I professed
;
I went

seriously to work, as one who had a horrible dread of the day
ofjudgment, and who, from his inmost soul, was anxious foT

salvation. You will find, therefore, in my earlier writings,



60 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

with how much humility, on many occasions, 1 gave up very

considerable points to the Pope, which I now detest as blasphe^

mous and abominable in the highest degree. This error my

slanderers call inconsistency : but you will have the kindness

to make some allowance on account of the times and of my

inexperience.’’

ROME’S THEORY OF LYING.

THE CONFESSIONAL A COVER FOR CRIMINALS.

PecentCY a man, by the name of Brian Leery, a devoted

member of the Romish Church, was executed in Ireland for

attempting to murder Sir Francis Hopkins. This man pro-

tested his innocence in the most positive manner, even on the

scaffold. His case enlisted the strongest sympathies of the

Romish Church, and a petition, signed by the priests, was

presented to the lord lieutenant on his behalf. But the evi-

dence of his guilt was so clear and convincing, that his lord-

ship, in concurrence with the judge who tried the case, refused

to interpose to prevent his execution. The powerful yet

unavailing efforts made to save the unhappy man, served to

strengthen the presumption of his guilt. There seems not to

have been a shadow of doubt of his guilt.

On supposition Leery was guilty, his conduct in he awful
circumstances in which he was placed, strange as it may

appear, may be accounted for on tlie principle of Romanism,

which justifies the criminal in denying his guilt, as he did.

Roman theology teaches the lawfulness of such conduct in
extreme cases. St. Liguori (vol. i

)
says, ‘ To swear with

equivocation, when there is a just cause and equivocation

itself is lawful, is no mir He defines a “just cause” to be
“ any honest end in order to preserve a spiritual or temporal

good.” He gives various examples to illustrate the principle
“ It is asked whether the accused, legitimately interrogated .



CALLED “kI^OW-NOTHII^GS.’^ 6l

can deny a crime, even with an oath, if the confession of the

crime would be attended with great disadvantage.” In reply,

LigTiori gives a host - of authors who answer in the affirma-

tive, such as Cardinal de Seego, Tamborin, Sanches, Tiva,

Sporer Cardenas, Sessius, Sa, Tillucius, &c., &c. These and

many others teach that “ an accused person, in danger of

death, exile, the galleys, loss of property, &c., can deny the

crime even with an oath, by understanding that he did not

commit it, so that he is bound to confess it.” If he has

sacramentally confessed his crime, His crime is taken away.

He comes forth from the confession an innocent man, and can

lift up his hand to heaven and protest his innocence. Thus

Rome has set her seal and sanction to lying and perjury.

This principle Liguori and Elbel teach should be suggested

to confessors and penitents. Such are the morals of Rome

in the nineteenth century. '

OChEAbb OF POfEEY.
It is only about 60 years (a writer says t years ago) since the

first Papal see was created by the Pope in these II. States.

There is now 1 archbishop
;
30 bishops

;
21 sees

;
1,000

priests
;
150 churches and cathedrals

;
431 missionary sta-

tions
;
63 female seminaries

;
2l theological seminaries

;
25

colleges and literary institutions
;
36 female convents.

It is now estimated that tb^re are in the United States

2,500,000 Papists under the ^ /ernment of the pope of Rome,

all of whom are sworn enem* to this republic, and that the
annual increase is about 150,000.

An Irish paper lately says : “We never recollect to have
seen such preparations as are making among us to emigrate

to America.” A correspondent in Germany says, that “ hun-
dreds of thousands of German Papists are preparing to come



62 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

to the United States. So great is the desire of the Belgian

population to emigrate to America, that a Belgian paper says :

“The authorities are determined to ship all her poorest class

here.’^ Belgium is a Papal country.

The Roman Catholic church has built or consecrated over

thirty new churches in the United States Vithin the year.

The number of missionaries received from abroad dm'ing the

same period is estimated at one hundred and twelve.

Let it be remembered that it is chiefly to the western states

that this mighty stream of emigration tends. It is there the

battle must be fought, which is to decide whether this land is

to be occupied for Christ, or whether it is to become the strong-

hold of Popery. One third of our population is akeady in the

western states. Sixty years ago a man might have taken his

,
stand on the banks of the Ohio, at Pittsburg, and drawn a

line north to Lake Erie, and southward along the Alleghany

and Cumberland mountains to the gulf of Mexico, and the

whole white population west of that line would have been less

than a quarter Of a million. Here we have an increase of

twenty-four fold in about 60 years.

Archdiocese of Baltimore, Md.-—Churches, 59
;
chapels, 12

j

churches building, 1
;
other stations, 20

;
clergymen on the

mission, 44
;
clergymen otherwise employed, 3 1 ; ecclesiastical .

seminaries, 5
;

clerical students, 56
;
literary institutions for

young men, 4
;
convents, 5

;
female academies, 5 ; charitable

institutions, 2 T ; religious institutions, 12 ; catholic population,

90,000.

Diocese of Philadelphia, Pa.—Churches, 61 ; chapels, 6 ;
clergymen on the mission, 41

;
clergymen otherwise employed,

3
;

ecclesiastical seminary, 1
;

clerical students, 80
;
literary

institutions for boys, 4
;

literary institutions for girls, 6 ; char-

itable institutions, 4 ; catholic population, 10,000.

Dioc'se of Pittshirg, Pa.—Churches, 41 ; clergymen, 23 ;
'clerical Ftuidents, 8

;
academy for boys, 1

;
schools for young



I

CALLED “ KNO-S^-TO HIMGS.’^

ladies, ^ ^ charitable iastitations, 4 ; cat! olic flopilatioa,

30.000.

Diocese of Nm GburcKes, 110; chapels 10; other
statioQS, 65

;
clergymen od the mission, 96

;
clergymen other-,

wise employed, 6 ; ecclesiastical seminary, 1 ; clerical students,

20
;
college for young inen, 1 ; literary institutions for young

ladies, 3 ; institutions under sisters of charity, 11 ; asylun^

for orphans, 6
;
orphans supported and educated, 420

;
cath-

olic population, over 200,000.

Diocese of Detroit, ilfic/^.-^Churches, 12 ; chapels, 15 ;

churches being built, 10
;
other stations, 16; clergymen cm

the mission, 14
;
catholic schools, 16

;
charitaWe societies and

convents, 11
;
catholic population, 40,000.

Diocese of Ciiidnmti, Ohio.—•Churches, tO ; churches build-
ing, several

;
oth.T stations, about 50

;
clergymen on the mis-

sion, 56; clergymen otherwise employed, 10 ; ecclesiastical sem-

inary, 1 ; clerical students, 19 ; college for young men, 1

;

convents, 5 ;• academies for young ladies, 2 ; charitable insti

tutions, 5 ; religious associations, 12 ; catholic population,

65.000.

Diocese of Hartford, Cl—Churches, 10 ; clergymen, t.
Diocese of YinsjcwMs, Inf.—Churches and chapels, 50 ;

clergymen in the ministry, 33
;
clergymen otherwise employed,

6 ; theological seminary, 1 ; ecclesiastical students, including

four in Europe, 19
;
convents, 3 ; literary institutions fm*

young men, 2 ; female academies, 5 ; scliools under direction

of brothers, 3
;
catholic population about 25,000.

Diocese of Chicago, III.—Churches, about 38
;
churches

building, about 8
;

stations, numerous
;
cleigymen on mis-

sion, 21
;
clergymen otherwise employed, 2 ; ecclesiastical

seminary, 1
;

college, 1 ; convent, 1 ; catholic population,

over 50,000.

Diocese of Milwa^hie, Wisconsin.—Churches and ch^ipels,



64 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERIgANS^

18
;

churches building, 6
;

clergymen, 9 ; academy, 1 ;
schools, 4

;
catholic population, 20,000.

Diocese of Dubuque, Iowa.—Churches, 13
;

stations, 8

;

Indian mission, 1 ; clergymen, 13 ; religious academies, 3 ;

catholic population, 5,800.

Diocese of New OrUans, La.—Churches, 46 ; private sta*
tions, 26

;
clergy on missions, 40

;
otherwise employed, 11

;

ecclesiastical seminary, 1
;

ecclesiastical students, 10
;
college

for young men, 1 ; free school, 1 ; charitable institutions, 6

;

benevolent associations, 4 ; convents, 4 ; Catholic population,

160,000.

Diocese of Natchez, Miss.—Churches, 5 ; clergymen, 6 j
stations, 16

;
churches building, 4.

Diocese of Nashville, Term.—Churches, 3 ; chapels, 3
stations, 30

;
clergymen, 8 ; ecclesiastical seminary, 1 ; cleri-

cal students, 3 ; academy for young men, 1 ; academy for

young ladies, 1
;
school for colored people, 1

;
circulating

libraries, 2.

Diocese of Louisville, Ky.—Churches, 40 ; chapels, 10 ;
other stations, about 15

;
clergymen on mission, 31

;
clergy-

men in various institutions, 23
;

ecclesiastical institutions, 3 ;

colleges for young men, 3
;
convents, 4

;
female academies,

11
;
charitable institutions, 2

;
catholic population, 30,000.

Diocese of Richmcmd, Virginia.—Number of clergymen, 11

;

churches building, 3
;
churches built, 10

;
ecclesiastical semi-

nary, 1
;

clerical students, 10
;

college for young men, 1

;

school for young ladies, 1
;
charitable institutions, 2.

Diocese of Mobile, Ala.—Churches, 12
;
stations 30, ; cler-

gymen, 12
;

ecclesiastical seminary, 1
;

clerical students, I

;

college for young men, 1
;
female academies, 4 ; charitable

institutions, I
;
Catholic population, 11,000.

Diocese of Boston, Mass.—Churches, 32 ; churches building
8 ; other stations, about 15 ; clergymen on the mission, 31

*



CALLED “know-nothings.” 65

clergymen otheiwise employed, 3 ; Catholic college for young

men, 1 ; orphan asylum, 1 ; schools, numerous ; Catholic pop-

ulation, 65,000.

Diocese of Charleston, S. C. — Churches dedicated, 15

;

churches not dedicated, 5 ; churches building, 2 ; churches

about to be erected, 3 ; stations, about 50 ; clergymen on

the mission, 19
;
clergymen otherwise engaged, 2

;
clerical

students,, 4
;
convents, 2

;
female academies, 2 ; charitable

mstitutions, 6
;
catholic population, over 10,000.

Diocese of Little Rock, Ark.—Churches, 2 ; stations, 6

;

clergymen, • 2
;
convents, 2 ; female academies, 2.

Diocese of St. Louis, Mo.—Churches, 33
;
churches build-

ing, 4
;
other stations, about 25

;
clergymen on the mission,

31
;
clergymen otherwise employed, 29

;
ecclesiastical semi-

naries, 3 ; Indian mission, 1 ; colleges for young men, 2

;

academy for boys, 1 ; convents, 8 ; academies for young la-

dies, 8 ; schools, t ; charitable institutions, 6 ; Catholic popu-

lation, about 100,000.

In Canada, on the north. Popery is the established religion

of one province, and is hberally supported by the other. They

number 10 bishops, 133 priests, and 500,000 Papists. In

Texas equal activity is displayed. In. South America and

Mexico, they have 44 bishops, 5,000 priests, and 23,000,000

Papists. Total for the new world, 80 bishops, 6,000 priests,

26.541.000 Papists. The whole number in the world : Arch-

bishops, 141
;

bishops, 584
;

vicars apostolic, 11
;

prefects,

9 ; apostDlicals, 3 ; priests and Jesuits, 400,000 ; monks,

600.000
;
and 156,000,000 of Papists From 1800 to 1842,

40 new se^ have been created.



66 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

SUPEEMACY m AMEEICA THE DESIGN OF POPEEY.

The illustrious La Fayette, the companion and fellow-soldier

of Washington, observed, “If ever the liberty of this republic

is destroyed, it will be by Roman priests.” And the father

of his country, probably with’ an eye to the encroachments of

the same power, warns his countrymen to guard against

“ foreign influence.” We lay it down as an incontrovertible
truth, that Catholic European nations are determined to plant

their institutions among us, until they reduce this free and en-

lightened republic to the dominion of the Roman see.

There is abundant proof that a foreign conspmacy has been

organized in Catholic Europe, to embarrass and overthrow the

institutions of this country, and that Austria is a member of

it. One of the most formidable instruments for effecting its

object, is the Leojpold Foundation, estabh’shed in Vienna, May
13th, 1829, to support Catholic missions in the IJnited States.

;^ivery member of this society agrees to offer daily one Peter

and ava, with the addition, “St. Leopold, pray for us ;” and

every week to contribute a crucifix. The valley of the Mis-

sissippi has been mapped as well as surveyed by the Jesuits of

the Vatican, and Popish cardinals are rejoicing in the prospect

of the entme subjection of this land of freedom and intelligence

to Papal supremacy. The Rev. Dr. John Angell James, an

eminent clergyman of England, says : “ The church of Rome
has determined to compensate herself for her losses in the old

world, by the conquests in the new.” Hence a' Papal editor

in Europe says: “We must make haste—the moments are
precious, America may become the centre of civilization.”

The Right Reverend Dr. Reze, of Detroit (now in custody

at Rome), a few years since, writing to his master, the Pope

of Rome, says : “We shall see the truth triumph, the temple
of idol? overthrown, the seat of falsehood brought to silence,



CALLED •' know-nothings; 67

and all the United States embraced in the same faith of that

Catholic church, wherein dwell truth and temporal happiness ”

A Popish priest in Indiana, told a Protestant minister that
the time would come, when Catholics would make Protestants

wade knee deep in blood in the valley of the Mississippi. In

conversation with a Catliolic priest, a Protestant minister

lately observed, “ Cathohcism is making rapid progress in this

country, and will doubtless ere long obtain' the ascendency ”

To which the priest replied, “There is not a member of put

church but believes the same.”

Bishop England, in a letter to his holiness the Pope, writes :

“Within thirty years the Protestant heresy vyill come to an

end. If we can secure the west and south, we will take care

of Ne\y England.” This same dignitary said to his Catholic

brethren at Yienna, “All that is necessary is money and

priests to subjugate the, mock liberties of AmjericaV

The Boston Pilot says: “Catholics should control and

SWAY the destinies of the far west. Catholic enterprise first

measured its immense lakes, opened paths in the eternal forests,

and traced its mighty rivers from their mountain nurseries to

the ocean. The west was a conquest of the Catholic spirit

—

THE Jesuit spirit, if you will. The Church has a right to

claim the immense valley of the Mississippi of which the Jesuit

inissionaries were the first explorers—the lands that bank the
Ohio and the Illinois, and those adjoining the great lakes.

“We long to have an Irish jpolicy in America: and if good
presses in Canada, and this republic, will carefully copsult each

other’s position, lending ai^ and approbation

—

that jpolicy can

be established.”

A Bomish doctor in the south, speaking of the difficulties
Catholic missionaries find in converting the western Indians,

closes with this as the principal obstacle: “Tteir continual

traffic among the whites, which cannot be hindered as long as

republican government shall exist.” Wiiuld the Romish



68 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

doctor put an end to our republican government? Doubtless,

if he had the power, he would do as the Catholic French com-

mander did, who introduced Catholicism into the Sandwich

islands at the cannon’s mouth, or as a New York bishop would
have long since done to the Protestants, for not granting him

$50,000 to establish Popery in our city.

Speaking on this subject, the Rev. Dr. Beecher, formerly of

Cincinnati, says : “We have reached an appalling crisis
;
the

work is vast and difficult, and is accumulating beyond our

sense of danger and deliberate efforts to meet it. Our ablest

patriots are looking out on the deep, vexed with storms, with

great forebodings and failings of. heart, for fear of the things

that are coming upon us.” Recently an eminent minister of

the gospel in Europe, addressed the people of this country in

the following emphatic language: “Rouse and inflame the

zeal of Protestantism in America, to disappoint the apostles

of darkness of their wished-for prey.”

Will any one say there is no cause for apprehension
;

that

there is no danger
;
that we are sounding a false alarm? We

answer, his 'z^?i-holiness the pope, will not view it in this light.

His plans are deeply laid
;

his emissaries are secretly and

effectually laboring with the most untiring zeal to accomplish

their purposes, and make proselytes to their religion. And
shall we, the descendants of the pilgrims, who fled from tyranny

and opposition
;
who planted the Protestant religion in the

wilds of America
;
who watered it with their tears, and in-

voked the blessing of God with their most ardent prayers
;

shall we stand still and quietly submit to this worst of all

bondage ? F )rbid it, gracious Heaven !



CALLED ‘‘know-nothings.’^ 69

POPERY THE MRETEENTH CENTURY.

To THOSE who believe that Popery is entirely changtd from

what it was, that its spirit of intolerance no longer exists,

and that Rome is keeping pace with the refinement of the

age, we present the following facts of recent occurrence

:

. A convert to Protestantism, traveling along the road
leading to Scariff, Ireland, in the county of Clare, was

accosted by some laborers in the field. After threatening

him several times, they at length suffered him to pass, saying,
“ If you dare to come this *way again, you bloody Sassenah.

rascal, we’ll blow your brains out.”'

—

-Limerick StaTidard.

A savage-looking ruffian violently attacked the Rev. Mr.
Marks, a Protestant clergyman, late of the Molyneux Asy-

lum, in the public streets of Dublin, and without provocation,

knocked the reverend gentleman down. What next ?—War
ier.

On the evening of Wednesday last, 13th inst., as John
Honner, a respectable Protestant, was returning home from

the Macroon Sessions, he was savagely assaulted midway

between Castletown and Enniskeane, by some persons at pre-

sent unknown
;
no less than sixteen wounds having been

inflicted on his head and face, besides several others on his

body and limbs
;

his skull was severely fractured .—Cork
Standard.

The names of nearly one hundred persecuted Protestant

clergymen are given in the Tipperary Constitution. The

manner in which they were treated is thus mark ed : stoned

to death
;
murdered

;
stoned

;
fired at

;
dangerously assault-

ed
;

assaulted
;

abused and persecuted
;

plundered
;

inter-

rupted and assaulted in the performance of duty house

attacked, demoliffied, or burned down
;
driven from his home,

or his country.



7.Q STARTLIN,G FACTS FOR NATIVE AMER10.NS,

Who was it, a few years since, that drove six hundred
families from the Austrian empire into the Prussian territory,

because they would not renounce the reformed religion ? It

was popish priests.

Who was it that drove the Rev. Mr. Rule from Cadiz ?
Papal authorities, by direction of the archbishop of the see.

Who flogged a man nearly to death for renouncing Popery
in the state of Pennsylvania ? It was a Popish priest. In

the neighborhood of Doylestown, a German Catholic attended

a funeral sermon of a Protestant minister, after which a priest

called and asked him if he had become a Protestant. “ If

you have,” said he, “ you have committed a mortal sin
;
con-

fess your sin to me.”
—

“ I have confessed my sin to Christ,”
said the sick man, “ and obtained absolution.” The priest

urged him with increasing warmth to confess—he declined
The priest then seized a chair, jumped on the bed, and

pounded him with it till he broke it in pieces : he then tooh

from his pocket a raw-hide, and began to scourge him, to

compel him to confess. A stranger passing by, hearing the
noise, entered the house, and finding the priest in the act of

scourging the sick man, he seized him by the collar, and

dragged him down stairs. Soon after, the man died. The

priest was arrested, and tried in Doylestown court-house, and

fined fifty dollars and costs, and left the country.
,

Who was it that threatened the city of Boston ? It was
the lady superior of the consumed convent, who said, “ The

Bishop has more than 20,000 Irishmen at his command, who

will tear your houses over your heads, and you may read youi

riot acts till your throats are sore.”
‘ Who was it, a short time since, that said, “ The first chance

I have of seeing your face, if powder and ball will do it, you

will drop.” It was an agent of the Pcpe, who signed liimself

'‘A Friend to Truth.” The person to whom the threat was

addressed was the Rev. Mr. S.



CALLED KNOW-NOtHiJfGS
^ n

A few years ago a Protestant minister of tLe west, after
preaching to his own congregation on the subject of Popery,

was met by the priest of the town at the church door, and

told b} him that “ were it not for the laws of the country,

he would cnt his throat ” “ Yes,” said the minister, “ I know

that already

The Rev. Mr. Nast, of Cincinnati, who has been instrii-'

mental in the conversion of many German Papists, by preach-

ing, lecturing, and publishing a German paper, received a

letter a few months since, stating that “if he did not stop

his efforts, they would do with their fists what their priests

cannot do with pens—knock your eyes rntP
An Episcopal clergyman in the west, stated that a member

of his church mamed a Roman Catholic lady^ who by his in-
fluence was converted to the Protestant faith. The father of

the young lady called to inquire if it was so. “ Yes,” said the

daughter, “ it is.” On leaving the house, he said to his son-in-
law, “ Sir, I will never be satisfied till I have washed my hands
in your heart’s blood.”

A few years since a young lady of New York attended a
lecture on popeiy by one of the city ministers, was hopefully

converted, returned home, and told her father that she had

concluded to renounce popery and embrace protestantism. “ If

you do,” replied her "father, “ I’ll flog your protestantism out

of you.”
—“Act your pleasure,” replied she. He immediately

took her up stairs, tied her to a bed-post, and proceeded to'

flog her protestantism out of her. In the act Of fainting, he

untied the rope, and threw her upon the bed. Since that time

she has gone into eternity.

Some time ago, M. Maurette, a French Roman priest, was
brought to the kdowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and in

consequence abandoned the pale of the idolatrous and apos-

tate church k which he had been brought up. Being con-
tinced himself of the danger of continuing in Babylon, he wLsk



STAliTLIN<} FACTS FOR NATIVE AltlftTCANS,

ed to iuduce as many as possible of his countrymen to fiee out

of her infected communion. With this view he published &

statement of the reasons that had led him to adopt the protes-

tant faith, and plainly and forcibly exposed the superstition of

Rome, by the usual arguments employed hy the divines of the

French yrotestant church. For this he was condemned, on the

17th of May, 1844, by the court of Assizes of L’Ariege, to d

yejoFs imjnisonmentj and a pm of 600 franvsl as being guil’
ty of “insulting, and turning into derision, a religion, the estab

lishments of which is legally recognized in FranceP

You have all heard of brutish papal persecutions at Dae
masGiis, where two or three of the unprotected sons of Abrar

ham were recently flogged, soaked in large vessels of water

—

their eyes pressed out of their sockets with a machine—dragg-
ed about by the ears till the blood gushed out—thorns driven
in between the nails and flesh of their fingers and toes, and

candles put under their noses, burning their nostrils. This is

'poj>ery ! After hearing of this act of persecution, and hun-

dreds of others constantly taking place in papal countries, and

our own country, who will believe that this unchangeable

church has changed her system of butchery ? What she has
been she is now, and you, my protestant brethren, would feel
it if she had the power.

The church of Rome has shed the blood of 50,000,000
of the human race for . protestmg against and renouncing

the anti-christian doctrines of her system. The laws which

enacted these human sacrifices stand all of them unrepealed;

they are in full force to this day—this we shall now prove
from her standard works. The following propositions, taken

from Dr. Den’s System of theology (a text-book for every pa-

pal theological seminary in the land), will put this matter be-

yond a doubt :

—

1st. “ Protestants are heretics, and as such are worse than

Jews and pagans.”



CALLED “ KNOW-NOTHINGS.” 7a

^d. “ They are, by baptism and blood, under the power of

the Roman catholic church.”

3d. “ So far from granting toleration to protestants, it is

the duty of the church to exterminate the rights of their reli-

gion.”

4th. “It is the duty of the Roman catholic church to com^

pel heretics to submit to her faith.”

5th. “That the .punishments decreed by the Roman catho-

lic church are confiscation of goods, exile, imprisonment and

death.”

The following paragraph of an oath was taken from the

Jesuit confession of faith published in Germany at Berlin, as

late as 1829 : “We also swear that we will persecute this
cursed evangelical doctrine, as long as We have a drop of

blood in our bodies : and we will eradicate it secretly and

publicly, violently, and deceitfully, with words, and with deeds,

the sword not excluded.” This is the oath taken by every

Jesuit, and let it be remembered that multitudes of the priests

in our country are Jesuits.

We next give some notes from the Popish Testament, com-
monly known as the Rhemish Testament

;
they need no com-

ment.

^^Protestants.—To be present at their service, and all com-
munication with them in spiritual thmgs is a great and damn-

able sin.”

“The church service of England, they being in heresy and

schism, is not only unprofitable but damnable.”

“ The translators of the English Bible ought to be abhorred ^

to the depths of hell.”

“Justice and rigorous punishment of sinners is not forbidden,

nor Christian princes for putting heretics to death.”

“Heresy and apostacy from the catholic faith, punishable

by death.”

4



STARTIJNG FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,
*

“Heretics ought, by public authority, either spiritual at

temporal, to be chastised or executed.’^

The blood of millions of saints, shed by the papal church, “ is

not called tie blood of saints, any more than the blood of »

thieves, man-killers, or any other malefactors, for the shedding

of which, by order of justice, no commonwealth shall answer.’^

These notes are taken from a version of the Holy Scrip-

tures, revised for the Irish Romanists of the present day, pub-

lished by a Roman archbishop, and sanctioned by the highest
authorities of the Romish body..

CATHOLICS OWE NO ALLEGIANCE TO THE U. STATES.

Every Romish bishop, before he is permitted to exercise las

episcopal functions in the United States, is obliged to take an

oath, in which he solemnly swears “to defend the dominion of

St. Peter against every aggressor
;
to preserve augment and

extend, the rights, honors^ priviliges, and powers, of the Lord

Pope and his successors
;
to observe and enforce his decress,

ordinances, reservations, provisions, and all dispositions what-

ever emanating from the Court of Rome
;
to persecute and

combat, to the last extremity, heretics, schismatics, and all

who will not pay to the sovereign pontiff all the obedience

which the sovereign shall require.’’ Consequently, no catholic

bishdp can become a citizen of this country, nor even put him-

self under the control of the government. There is not one

of these bishops, nor of the numerous army of priests, it is

believed, are naturalized citizens. Are these men to be tnisled ?

Should they be allowed to interfere with the laws, or institu-

tions of the country, while preserving, in the must solemn

form, an allegiance t) a foreign power, and tha’t power a

deadly enemy to oiu* liberty and religion ?

/



15CALLED “know-nothings”

^ LICENTIOUSNESS THE FRUIT OF CELIBACT.

Celibacy, in the stringent form in which it now exists in the

Romish church, owes its origin to Gregory VII. It forms

one of the most mournful and shocking pages in human his-

tory. It has been the polluted fountain of multiplied abomin-

ations. The relations of the best and most credible ecclesias-

tical historians, especially from the twelfth centmy to the

Reformation, are absolutely frightful, and would utterly ex

ceed behef, if not corroborated by the testimony of universal

history. St. Bernard, in the twelfth century, admitted and

lamented the improprieties of the priesthood, “ who committed

in secret such acts of turpitude as would be shameful to ex-

press.”

Agrippa, another historian, accuses the bishops of taxing

the inferior clergy for liberty to violate the laws of chastity.

“ One bishop,” says he, “ on one occasion, boasted of having

in his diocese 11,000 priests, who paid their superior every

year a guinea for leave to keep a concubine.” Licenses of

this kind were common in many European kingdoms.

Henry K., professor of theology, and vice-chancellor of the

university of Paris, in the fifteenth century, di’aws a picture

equally odious, including pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, and

monks. He attributes ignorance, pride, simony, and licentious-
ness, to the pontiff, the cardinals, and the prelacy, while the

priests, according to him, “wallowed in sensuality.”

Clemangis declared the adultery and impurity of the clergy

beyond all description: “They frequent stews and taverns,
and spend their whole time in eating, drinkiug, rioting, gaming,

and dancing. Surfeited and drunk, these sacerdotal sensualists

fought, shouted, rioted, and blasphemed, and passed directly

ffom the embrace of the harlot to the altar of God.”

Alvares, a Spanish author, asserts that “ the sons of the



n STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIYE AMERICANS,

Spanisli clergy were as numerous as those of t'ie laity.” “ They

will pass,” says he, “without confession, from their conmbines

to God’s altar.” It is almost beyond credit, the extent to

which tj;iis authoi represents the evil to have spread. The

seductive arts of tie priests became so notorious and alarming,

as to require the interference of the pope. On one occasion,
a papal enactment required all who had been solicited or in-

sulted by the priests to inform against thfe guilty. Maids and

matrons, of the nobility and peasantry, of every rank and

situation, crowded to the inquisition. In Seville alone, it took

all the inquisitors and thirty notaries thirty days to take the

depositions of these injured women.

TJhe German clergy are represented to have been as bad as

the Spanish. The evidence of their horrible licentiousness

appears in the decrees of councils, princes, and emperors. One

German council asserted that the priesthood were widely

guilty of ’unchastity, voluptuousness, and obscenity. Some

are charged with living in open concubinage
;
others of com-

mitting incest
;

and, according to its expressive language,
“
wallowing in sensuality, plunging, with slackened reign, into

the lake of misery, and mire of filthiness.” Albert, duke of

Bavaria, 'depicted the infamy of the German priesthood in

glowing colors : “ The recital,” says he, “ of clerical criminality

would wound the ear of chastity.” “ Debauchery has covered

the ecclesiastics with infamy.”

Switzerland was the scene of similar profligacy. It rose to

such a height, prior to the Reformation, that the Swiss laity

compelled every priest to take a concubine of his own, in order

to preserve the safety of others. Clemangis also narrates,

that the laity would tolerate the clergy only on condition of

their keeping concubines.

The French clergy were by no means behind those of other

countries in this disgraceful career. According to the account

of Mezerey, an eminent historian all the French ecclesi astics



CALLED “kNOW-NOTHIKGS.^ TT

were m a sad state of irregularitj. The m^ority had concu-
bines, while some of th-e deacons had four or, five female com-

panions.

The Italian and Roman clergy surpassed all others in infamy.

A select council of cardinals and bishops, assembled by
Pope Paul III., have drawn a picture of the morals of the

Roman clergy, which is absolutely frightful. Amours were

carried on in open day, and with most unblushing effrontery.

Popes, too, were as badly implicated as the clergy. Some of

these hierarchs licensed houses of ill fame, and gathered large

taxes from this source. John, Boniface, Sextus, Alexander,

Julius, Leo, and other popes, were notoriously guilty of adul-

tery and incest. A Roman council convicted John XII. of
adultery and incest with two of his sisters. John XXII. was

also guilty of a like crime. So profligate were the clergy,

that the meeting of a council in a city was enough to demoral-

ize it. At a general council in Lyons, a Cardinal Hoge, in
a speech to the citizens, immediately after the dissolution of

the sacred synod, alleged that, by the perpetration of licentious-

ness, the city had been converted into one Vast fermenting,

overflowing sink of pollution. At the general council of Con-
stance, it‘was quite as bad. It is said that the number erf

females of bad character in attendance was not less than .fif

-teen hundred.

These are but specimens of the deliberate assertions of the

most authentic historians of the church. And what a horrible;
disgusting picture do they present ^f the fruits of the celibacy

of the clergy ! Human depravity never had a worse develop-
ment, if these accounts are to be believed—and believed they

must be, if any credit is ever to be put in any history. And
what this practice has done once, it will do again. The.grosser

and more open manifestations of crime, of course, are prevent-

ed by the civilization of the age
;
but to deny that the same

^»use wilL produce the same effect, would be to deny that



STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

human passions still exist, and that the depravity of the heart

is more intense in one age than another. Celibacy has ever

* been the source of impurity and licentiousness. It is so now,

There are evidences in our own possession, which will show

chat the Romish priesthood, since the Reformation—nay, in
our own country—are deeply implicated in the crime, so deep*
ly as to proclaim, in tones that should reach every parent’s

heart, so long as it forms a feature of Catholic policy—the
priesthood are never to be trusted.

ENCTCLICAL LETTER OF POPE PIUS IX.

GRANTING A GENERAL ffUBILEE.

To OUR Venerable Brothers, the Patriarchs, Primates, Arch-
bishops, Bishops, and other Ordinaries having Grace ant
Communion with the Apostolic See

—

Pius P. P. IX.

Venerable Brothers—Health and apostolic benediction !
While contemplating the whole Catholic world with the solici-

tude and affection of our apostolic charity, we can scarcely

give expression, venerable brothers, to the grief with which

our heart is afflicted when we behold the Christian and civil

commonwealth disturbed, oppressed, and troubled on all sides

with most deplorable calamities of every kind to a lamentable

extent
;

for you well know how Christian nations are afflicted

and tried with the most cruel wars, or with intestine distur-

bances, or pestilential disease, or mighty earthquakes, or other

great evils. And all this the more lamantable because, among
so many evils and misfortunes, the children of darkness, who

are wiser in their generation than the children of light, struggle

more and more every day, with all kinds of diabolical frauds,

artifices, and efforts, to wage the most bitter war against the

Catholic Church, and its salutary doctrine, to pull down and



CALLED KNOW-NOTHINtJS ” t9

destroy the authority of all legitimate power, to corrupt and

deprave the minds and intellect of the people—to propagate
on all sides the deadly poison of indifferentism and increduhty,

to confuse all rights, divine and human, to stir up dissensions,

discords, and the commotions of impious rebellion, to encour-

age crime and all kinds of depravity, and to leave nothing

untried, so that, if it were possible, our most holy religion

might be obliterated from the midst of us, and human society

overturned from its foundation.

Knowing well, therefore, in the midst of such imminent dan-

ger, that by the singular kindness of a merciful God, we have got

in prayer the means of obtaining all the good of which we

stand in need, and of averting the evils which we fear
;
we have

not forgotten to raise our eyes towards the lofty and holy

mountain, whence we hope to obtain aid. And, in the humility

of our heart, we do not cease, with fervent and earnest prayer,

to implore and beseech Almighty God, rich in mercy, that,

taking away warfare to the end of the earth, and removing

all dissensions. He would bestow upon Christian princes and
their people, peace, concord, and tranquility

;
and that He

would espicially grant to the princes themselves a pious care

always to guard and propagate Catholic faith and doctrine,

in which the happiness of their people is principally comprised
;

that he would rescue both princes and people from all the

evils with which they were afflicted, and gladden them with

all true prosperity
;

that he may bestow the gifts of His

heavenly grace upon those who are in error, so that they may

return from the road of perdition to the paths of truth and

justice, and be converted to God in sincerity of heart But

although we have already ordered prayers to implore the

Divine clemency to be offered in this our city, nevertheless,

following the footsteps of our predecessors, we have deter-

mined to have recourse to your prayers also, and t( those of

the universal Church



80 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

We have, therefore, venerable brothers, written to you this
letter, oy which we again and again implore of your excelleift

and well-known piety, that, for the above-mentioned reasons,

you would, with all care and diligence, urge the faithful en-

trusted to your care that, laying down the burden of sin by

means of truth penance, they would, by prayer and fasting,

and alms-giving, and other works of piety, endeavor to appease

the wrath of the Lord provoked by the wickedness of men. In

your own piety and wisdom, explain to the people how many

are the mercies of God to all who invoke Him, and how great

is the power of prayer, if we approach the Lord without allow-

ing the enemy of our salvation to come near us—for, that
we may use the words of Chrysostom, “ Prayer is the fountain,

the root, and the mother of innumerable good things. The

efficacy of prayer overcomes the power of fire, curbs the fury

of lions, subdues wars, assuages strife, calms the tempests, puts

demons to flight, opens the gates of heaven, breaks the chains

of death, expels disease, repels misfortune, strengthens totter-

ing cities, and removes the scourges of heaven, the snares of

men, and all other evils.” But we earnestly desire, venerable

brothers, that while fervent prayers are offered up to the most

clement Father of mercies for the above-named purpose, you

and your people would not cease to implore Him, supplicating

with still more earnestness, according to the encyclical letter

of the 2d day of February, 1849, given to you at Gaeta,

that by the light of His Holy Spirit, He would pi*opitiously
deign to enlighten our mind, that we may be able as soon as

possible to decree concerning the conception of the most Holy

Mother of God, the immaculate Yirgiii Mary, what may

pertain to the greater glory of God, and the praise of the

same Virgin, our loving mother.

And now, in order that the faithful entrusted to you may
pray with more fervent charity and more abundant fruit, we

have determined to bring forth and offjr those Weitsures cf



CALLED " KNOW-NOTHINGS/’’ 8,1

heavenly gifts, the dispensation of which has hcen entrusted to

us by the Most High, for which reason, relymg on the mercy of

Almighty God, and on the authority of His blpssed apostles

Peter and Paul, out of that power of binding and loosing

which the Lord has committed to us, though unworthy, by

this letter, unto all and each of the faithful of your dioceses,

of either sex, who, within the space of three months, to be fix-

ed by each of you, and to be computed from the day which

each of you shall have appointed, having confessed their sins

humbly and with a sincere detestation, having expiated them by

sacramental absolution, shall have reverently received the

most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, and shall have devout-

ly visited eithei; three churches pointed out by you, or three

times at one of them, and shall have there, for some space of

time, offered up their pious prayers to God according to our

intention, and for the exaltation and prosperity of our holy

mother the Church, and of the apostolic see, for the extirpa-

tion of heresies, for the peace and concord of Christian princes,

and the peace and unity of all Christian people, and shall,

moreover, within the same interval of time, have fasted once,

and give some alms to the poor, according to their devotion

—

do concede and grant a plenary indulgence of all their sins,

in the form of a jubilee, wLich indulgence may also be apphed

in the way of suffrage for the souls in purgatory. And that

tliis indulgence may also be gained by nuns, and by other per-

sons living in strict cloister, and also by those who are in pris-

on, or are prevented by bpdily infirmity or otfier impediment

from performing apy of the aforesaid works, we give to con-

fessors the faculty of commuting the same into other works

of piety, or of postponing them to another proximate time,

with the power also of dispensing with the communion for

children who have not yet been admitted to their first com-

munion. Wherefore we give to you the power on this occa-

Kion, and during the aforesaid space of three months, that you



82 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

may confer on the confessors of your dioceses, by our apos*
tolic authority, all those same faculties which were conferred

by us in the jubilee conceded by our encyclical letter of the

21st of November, 1851, transmitted to you, published, and

beginning, “Ex aliis nostri,’’ with, however, all those excep-
tions reserved by us in that letter.

Moreover, we give you the faculty of granting to the faith-

M of your dioceses, both laity and ecclesiastics, secular and
regular, and of whatsoever institute, the permission to choose

for tnemselves, for this purpose, any priest as their confessor,

whether secular or regular, of those who are approved, and of

giving the same permission to religious, although exempt from

the jurisdiction of the ordinary, and to other women residing

within cloisters.

Act, therefore, venerable brothers, as participating your-

selves in our solicitude, and as being constituted watchmen

on the walls of Jerusalem. Cease not, in union with us, day

and night, in all prayer and entreaty, with thanksgiving, hum-

bly and earnestly to cry to our Lord God, and implore His

divine mercy, that He may propitiously avert the scourges of
His anger, which we deserve for our sins, and that He may clem-
ently pour out, upon all, the riches of His bounty. We have
surely no doubt but that you will most fully comply with these,

our desires and requests
;
and we are quite certain that all,

more especially ecclesiastics and religious men and nuns, and

also the faithful laity, who, living piously in Christ, walk wor-

thily in the vocation to which they have been called, will,

with the utmost ardent effort of piety, address their suppliant

prayers to God without intermission. And that God may
the more easily incline His ear to our prayers, let us not omit,

venerable brothers, to ask the suffrages of those who, being

already crowned, have obtained the palm
;
and in the first

place, and always, let ns invoke the Mother of God, the Im-

maculate Virgin Mary, than whom there is no more fit or



88CALLED “ KNOIT-NOTHINGS.”^

nore powerfal intercessor with God, and who is the mother

)f grace and mercy
5
and let us invoke the patronage of the

Eoly Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the saints ’who

'eign 'wdfh Christ in heaven But before all things, with re-

doubled efforts, assiduously exhort, admonish, and encourage

those entrusted to your care, that they may continue immova-

ble, and Avith daily increasing stability in the profession of the

Catholic religion, that they may most carefully avoid the snares,

fallacies, aud frauds of hostile men
;
that they may walk with

a still more ready step in the paths of God’s commandments,

and that they may most diligently keep themselves from sin,

which is the most abundant source of evil to the human race.

Wherefore cease not especiallj' to inflame the zeal of parish

priests, that, fulfilling them own duty sedulously and religous-

ly, they may never omit to imbue and instruct accurately the

Ohi’istian people committed to them in the holy rudiments and

precepts of our Divine faith, to feed them diligently by the ad-

ministration of the sacraments, and to exhort them in sound

doctrine.

Finally, as a sign of all heavenly gifts, and in testimony of

our most ardent love, receive our apostolic benediction, which,

proceeding from our inmost heart, we permanently bestow up-

on you, venerable brothers, amd upon all the faithful, clerics,

and laity, entrusted to your vigilance.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter’s, on the 1st day of August,

in the year 1854, in the ninth year of our pontificate.

Pius F. P. IX.



84 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE A^IERIOaNS,

CONFESSION OF PRIEST RIEMBAUER.

The following extracts are from the “ Confession of the Rev.

F. Riembauer, a Roman Catholic Priest, who was convicted of
the murder of Anna Eichstaedter.” We copy from the' “ In*
vestigator,” edited by J. F. Polk, brother of the President of

the United States :

—

“ The letters that I received from Anna Eichstaedter filled

me with terror. Unless I would provide for the child, and

receive her into my house, she threatened to denounce me to
my ecclesiastical superiors. The result of my visit to her at
R^-tisbon increased my alarm. I explained to her' my pecu-
niary embarrassments, and the impossibility of my receiving
her

;
but she would not listen to any excuses, and would be

convinced by no arguments. My hmwr [!], my position, my
powers of being useful, all that I value in the world, were at

stake. I often reflected on the pindjple laid down by my old
tutor. Feather Benedict Sattler, in his Ethica Christiania (a

principle which he often explained to h*is young clerical pupilsj,
‘ That it is lawful to depive another of kfe, if that he the oidy

means of preserving om’s ow7i honor and reputation^

“Two days afterward, I buried her
;
and as the hands nad

stiffened in am attitude of entreaty, they rose above the grave,

and I was forced to remove them. I have nothing more to

relate, except that I have frequently said masses to her soul,

and that her death has always been a source of grief to me,

though the motires udiich led me to effect it were praiseworthy.

These motives—my only motives—were, to save the credit of my
honorable professio7i, and to prevent the many evils and crimes

which a scandalous exposure must have occasioned. Had I
not stood so high with my people, I would have submitted to

that exposure. But if the faults of a priest, rcv( red as I was,



CALLED “ KNOW-NOTHlNGSi^' "8’5

had been revealed, many men; would have thought my example

justified their sins; others would ha\e lost confidence in

their clergy, and some, perhaps, might have thought religion a

fable. As these calamities could be prevented only by the
getting rid of Anna Eichstaedter, I was forced to get rid of
her. The end was good—her death was the only means.
Therefore, I cannot believe that it was a ckime. The same

motive induced me to endure, year after year, a dungeon. As
soon as I had reason to believe it to be the will of God that
I should myself reveal what I have done, I made a full confes-

sion.

“My failings (so far as they were failings) were the incidents
of my position. They were thefailings of celibacy. They nexier
disturbed my co'nsdence; for I could defend them, both by reascm-
ing and by eor.amjple taken from ecclesiastical history ; and I think
that I deserve credit for having so managed my conduct as to
give no jyublic offenee.”

^ ^ ^ Jf:

In one of his examinations, he said: “I thought upon the

I’emark of St. Clement, of Alexandi*ia, that ^man is never so

obviously the image of God as when he assists God in the crea-

tion of a human being To do so cannbt be against the will

of God, since thereby the number of the elect may be increas-

ed
;
nor against the will of the church, since it adds one to

the number of her communion
;
nor against that of the state,

which gains a citizen. ‘My conscience, therefore, gave we no

uneasinessl

Such abominable principles need, in a community like ours

no comment,



86 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

JESUIT THIEVES.

A WRITER in the Dublin Warder giv'^s the following schedule
of the amount of the robberies perpetrated by the Jesuits of

Ireland. ' We have changed the sums into American currency

:

Dues at confessions . . . $1,360,000

Christenings . . . 150,000

Extreme unctions and burials . . . . . 210,000

Marriages . . . I,t50,000

Purgatory
. . . 450,000

Collections in mass-houses . . . .. . . 2,400,000

Curate’s collection . . . 100,000

Maynooth .* . . 40,000

Total . . . $6,510,000

Besides these items, he avers that the product of stations,

monWs mind, saying masses, remission of penance., memdiaini

friars, indulgences, jubilees, AU-scmW day, and the exactions in

bacon, poultry, oats, oatmeal, straw, hay, grocer ies, rvvne, spirits,

and the contributions of all the necessaries of life, w'ould double

the above sum; so that the priests of the 1,800 popish

parishes in Ireland contrive to filch from the ragged, starving,

wretched papists in that island, at least thii’ceen millions of

dollars per annum, which they publicly squander in every

species of the lowest and most brutalized proffligacy.

According to this review, we can calculate the amount of

robbery transacted by the Irish massmen, and the Italian and

Drench blood-sucking Jesuits, and their confederated conspira-

tors in the United States. The Irish papists are ten times the

number of those in the United States
;
but then the latter

are full five times as able to pay the priest’s demand as the

former. The consequence is, that the American pajiists pay

yearly to the pope’s deputies only $6,500,000 for the privilege

of being led blindfold into the dungeon of everlasting despair.



I

€?ALLED -nothings” St

MIEACLE OF THE SKULX.

Two MEN, digging a grave in a churchyard at Alaccn, upon

the river Seine, found a skull, which they thie v upon the

grass by them, with the common unconcern of grave-diggers
;

but soon perceiving it to stir, they ran to the curate of the

parish, and told him what they had seen. The superstitious

curate immediately supposed it was the skull of some saint

that had been buried in that place, and therefore posted

thither, where, to his great surprise and joy, he found the skull

still moving, upon which he cried out, “ A miracle ! a mira-
cle ! ” and resolved to have the precious relic deposited in his

church with all proper ceremonies
;

for which purpose he sent,

in all haste, for a consecrated dish, a cross, and holy water,

his surplice, stole, and cap, ordered all the bells to be rung,

and sent to give notice of the joyful news to the parishioners,

who thronged in crowds to the place. Then he had the skull

placed in the consecrated dish, and, being covered \vith a nap-

kin, it was earned to the church in procession
;
during which,

great debates arose among the parishioners, every one insisting

that some of their family had been buried in that place, in order

that they might assume to themselves the honor of having

a saint in their family. ITpon their arrival at the church, the

skull was placed on the high altar, and a Te Demi was begun
;

but when they came to the verse, “ Te per m'hwm terrarumf
a mole, unluckily crawling out of the skull, discovered the

secret cause of its motion
;
upon which a stop was put to the

ceremony, and the congregation, being greatly disappeiutedj

dispersed.



STARTLING PACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

MORALS OF THE JESUITS-

When, as in the case of the Jesuits, a society of persons

set themselves up as universal teachers of mankind, and every-

where manifest a disposition to monopolize the instruction of

youth, it is proper to inquire into the nature and tendency of

their systems of instruction. The question needs to be viewed,

not so much in a literary, as in a moral and religious point of

view. A course of instruction may be such as to refine the
taste and sharpen some of the faculties of the mind

;
at the

same tiRae it may utterly corrupt the -mind, or vitiate and

extinguish every virtuous sentiment and^feeling.

The Jesuits, we know, manifest great skill in adapting their

instructions to youth. What may be called the mechanical
part of education, they have carried to the highest point of

perfection. The whole disciplinary process is calculated less

to make correct thinkers, than subtle disputants and plausible

declaimers. All this would be comparatively harmless, if

they did not employ education as a means of injecting moral

•poison into the mind. On this subject the clergy of Paris give
the following testimony: “The principal evil of the Jesuit

morality is, that it not only depraves the morals, but corrupts the

very principles of morality. To substantiate this heavy charge,

we shall summon only Popish witnesses—eminent Jesuit doctors.
In the year 1643-44, when the tide of immorality w'as sw’ollen

by the Jesuits to an alarming extent, they were impugned by

the university of Paris, in a work entitled “The Moral Theology

of the Jesuits,” extracted faithfully from their wTitings, by

Moiis. Perrot. From this work it appears that there is no

important truth in Christian morals which the Jesuits have

not corrupted
;
nor any maxim, however erroneous, scandalous,

or impious, which they have not labored to establish. It com



GALtED
‘

‘ KNOtr-NO-mrNGS, ^ 89

sists of a large collection of extracts from tie N'^'ritings of no

less than one hundred and forty-seven Jesuit authors, publish-

ed by authority, as verified and collated by the commissioners

of the parliament of France. By order of parliament, a

copy was presented to the king, to put him in possession ' of

the most ample knowledge of the perverse and poisonous doc-

trines of the Jesuits. The strongest and most indisputable

evidence against the morality of the Jesuits is thus furnished

from their own a^ccredited and authorized writings. We shall
briefly touch upon the principal ^ points which relate to and

illustrate the morals of the Jesuits.

Unity of Opinion.—The Jesuit Daniel says : “The constb
tution [of the Jesuits] ordained three things : The first, that

our members do not introduce new opinions
;

the second, that

if at any time they should hold an opinion contrary to that

which is commonly received, they shall adhere to the decision

of the society

;

the third, that in controverted questions,Tn

which either opinion is from being common, they restrict them-^

selves to conformity. Thus, however corrupt and pernicious

the opinions and doctrines of the Jesuits may be, we see they

are one and unchcmgedhle.

Prohahle Opinions.—According to this doctrine, “in the
concurrence of two opinions, of which one is more probable'

and in conformity with law, the Other less probable, hnifavor-

ing concupiscence, it is lawful to follow the latter in practice.”—

-

Extract des Asseidions, tome i., page 27. “That opinion

is considered highly probable,” says Yalerius Beginald, “which

is supported by high authority, or by an •argument of com

siderable weight.” Yincent Fillucius says: “The authority

of one good and learned doctor renders an opinion probable,

because his authority is not slight foundation.” Also, George

de Rhodes says: “The authority of one good doctor is a

sufficient reason on which to ground the probability of any

c^inion, so thsit:' every'one may safely follow itr
j



90 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICA <S,

This doctrine of probable opinion, it will be seen, jpens a

door for the admission of any error. I am taught that I may
safely do anything for which I have the authority of one good

Jesuit doctor. What, then, may I do? Is, then, each Jesuit

doctor infallible
;

this out-Romes Rome. Rome justifies
herself in much that she does, simply on the ground of her in-

fallibility
;
but here the authority of one good Jesuit doctor

is a sufficient reason to ground the probability of any opinion,

so that every one may safely follow it !

!

From the case thus

presented, it is evident that the object of introducing this doc-

trine of probable opinions was not to solve conscientious

scmples, but rather to remove from the minds of their pupils

any scruples that might stand in the way of their most flagi*

tious purposes.

Philosophical Sin.—The doctrine of philosophical sin, as
held by the Jesuits, tmches the art of sinning philosophically.

The Jesuits—wonderful masters !—instruct us how to sin,
not vulgarly, but philosophically. The^ give such definitions

of sin, and such definitions respecting the various modes of

sinning, as a philosophical mind may be supposed to do to

palliate or iustify the act of sinning. According to this doc-

trine, an action the most criminal in itself offends against rea-

son, but does not displease God, nor deserve eternal damna-

tion, if the agent who commits it knows not God, or does not

actually think of him, or does not reflect that he offends.

“Probable ignorance’,” says Yincent Fillucius, “which origin-

ates in a wilful fault, or voluntary cause, excuses from sin,

provided its effects were not foreseen.” George de Rhodes

says: “If a man commit adultery or homicide, in-

deed but very imperfectly and superficially upon the wickedness

and great sinfulness of these crimes, however heinous may be

the matter, he still sins hut slightly “It is also certain,’’

says Vasejuez, “that a full knowledge of such wickedness is

requisite to constitute mortal sin
;

for it would be unworthy



CALLED “ know-nothings/’ 9.1

of the goodness of God to exclude men nom h is glory, and tc
reject them for ever, for a sin on which they had not rtfededh

Behold, what morals ! What do a lawless banditti think of

the right or wrong of an action before they plunder -a party,

or murder those who offer resistance ? And yet, according
to this refinement of Jesuitism, any one individual act, how-

ever base, is not criminal, provided the agent is so hardened

in sin that he can do it without any scruples about its law-

fulness. Into what depths of Satan will these moralists lead

us? Whither will they ultimately lead those who resign

themselves to their infernal guidance ?

Perjury, lying, and false witness, are all inculcated and just-

ified by Jesuit moralists. Emmanuel Sa says: “It is not

mortal sin to swear that you will not do that which it is better

to do, nor if you swear a false oath as to words, but a true

one as to the meaning of the inquirer
;
and as you are not

bound to swear according to the meaning of the inquirer, you

may according to your own,” &c. Francis Suarez says : “It

is not intrinsically wrong to use equivocation, even in making

an oath, whence it is not always perjury.” To the same effect

writes Thomas Sanchez. Leonard Sessius says : “If a judge

examines concerning an action which has been committed

without sin, at least without mortal sin, the witness and the

accused are not obliged to answer according to the meaning

of the judge.” Hence it follows, that there is no compulsion

to answer according to the meaning of the judge, but that

equivocation and mental reservation may be used. But this

is not all : these moralists tamper with the judge, as well as

with the witness, and justify him in receiving bribes. In

answer to the question, “Is a judge bound to restore the

bribe which he has received for passing sentence?” Jchn

Baptist Taverna replies : “If he has received the bribe for

passing an unjust sentence, it is probable that he may keep

It. . . . This opinion is defended and maintained by



9a STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

fifty-eight doctors For a jiust sentence a judge may not re*
tain a bribe, because we may suppose he obtained it by com-
^Ision. For an unjust sentence, then, he is not bound to re*

store it until compelled by law. Thus do these Jesuit moralists

justify villainy and wickedness even in the representative and

guardian of justice.

On the subject of theft mid secret compemation^ Emmanuel
Sa writes : “It is not a mortal sin to take secretly from one

who would give if he were asked, although he may be unwil-
ling that it should be done secretly, and it is not necessary to

restored Again : “ It is not theft to take a small thing secretly

from a husband or a father
;
but if it be considerable, it inust

be restored.” Again : “ He who from urgent necessity, or
without causing much loss, takes wood from another man’s

pile, is not obliged to restore it.” Again, Valerius Reginald

says : “ Servants may not take the property of their masters,

secretly, by way of compensation, on pretence that their wages

are not equitable, unhss it shall in reality appear to be the

case,, in the opinion of an experienced man,”—say in the opinion
of a. Jesuit confessor or director. Again : “ Servants are ex-

cused from sin and from restitution, if they only take an equitor

lie compensation^^ Such is the teaching of the Jesuit moralists

to that large and useful class of society, on whom our domes-
tic happiness to so great an extent depends. Satan himself

could not give worse advice^—^advice more ruinous to them,
selves and society. Farewell to peace and confidence between

masters and servants,’ employer and the employed—farewell
to domestic happiness—^when our servants shall fall under the
influence of the Jesuits and do according to their teaching.

We have yet to mention the doctrine which caps the climax
of Jesuitical presumption, and carries out their system of

morality into its most appalling consequences. It is that

which justifies homicide, regicide, and assassination. The Jesuit

doctors, B. S. A. Salmeron and Gregory of Valence, establish



CATJ.EP “ KNOW-NO^HINQS.^^

positively the right of assassination politique. These, mth

many other eminent (Joctors, justify murder, assassination, on

the part of private individuals, at the beck of priests, bishops,

OF the Pope
;
yea, they instigate them to the deed, and applaud

it as meritorious, when done with the devout intention of pro-

moting the interests of the holy see. They also justify similar

deeds for ends purely personal. Yea^ they justify the com-

mission of murder, when it becomes necessary to conceal their

own delinquencies.
^

Such are the morals of the Jesuits, as confessed by their

own writers. Who can overrate the pernicious nature and
influence of Jesuit morality? How is it possible to paint
their moral maxims in colors sufficiently dark and detestable ?

It is impossible to find, in any human language, terms sufficient-

ly strong to characterize this foul and hideous system. We
witness here a progression in spirit and wickedness which has

no parallel in the history of man. And all this, too, under
the sanction of the name of Jesus, as though the great Teacher

of Christian morals was the father of such abominations ?

Think of the lofty principles of Christian morality—morality,
pure and* stern, suljlime and awful

;
think of its unsparing

denunciations of sin
;
think of the soul-purifying and elevating

views of revealed religion, and of the exalted character (rf

the Saviour : then turn and see this hellish monster, Jesuit-

ism, rising from the bottomless pit to destroy every plant of

virtue, and put out the light of hope.

ZuiNGLius, on 2 Thes. ii., in answering the Papal applica-

tion of it to the protestants, says :

“Let our doctrine be examined, and it will appear that

they are false. We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified,
and that he is the only Reconciler and only succor of man

;
but

the Papists preach the Pope, the antichrist, whom here Paul
so accurately describes.



94 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS^

BUYING SALVATION.

Tetzel^s outrageous sale of indulgences, and the arts of

Romish priests in obtaining money by promises of masses and

prayers, once roused an indignation in Europe, which found

expression in the Reformation. But has the comipt practice

ceased ! Is the Romish Church altered in this odious partic-

ular ? The following paragraphs, published in a late number

of the Catholic Herald, for the purpose of stimulating its read-

ers to contribute to the support of a den of mendicants in Ire-

land, will answer the question

:

“The Trappists daily offer their fervent and most grateful

prayers for their generous and liberal benefactors.

“T. They celebrate every day the holy sacrifice of their

benefactors.

“2. A memento is said for them at every private mass.
“ 3. They are prayed for at the midnight office, and at the

canonical hours of the day.

“ 4. The community make a general communion for them on

the first Thursday of every month.

“5. Every Friday the holy sacrifice is celebrated for .the

deceased benefactors.

“ 6, They are prayed for when the community are informed

of their illness.

“I. K de 'profundis is recited every afternoon by the com-
munity assembled, for the deceased benefactors.

“ 8. Every special benefactor shall be associated with the

prayers and good works of the whole society.

Notwithstanding a thousand such evidences of the unchang-

ing folly and corruption of popery, we sometimes meet with

Protestants who tell us of the improvements in Romanism*

Where is the improvement?



CALLED “know-nothings^ 95

CHRIST THE ONLY LIVING HEAD.

The Church is in the wilderness,

And many a snare is round her spread,
Yet in the midst of all distress

She looks to Christ, her living head.

She feels that neither friar nor saint,

• Nor aught below, nor aught above.

Of heavenly birth, or earthly taint.

Can separate her from his love.

She glories in his cross alone,

She brightens in each smile he gives,

She gazes on his heavenly throne,

And in his promises she lives.

She breathes no prayer to heaven’s queen

To whom the Eomanists have cried
;

What mother ever stood between
The bridegroom and his chosen bride ?

Columbia I thou spring of might and poww
Thou birthplace of the bright, the biave

Never, “not even for one hour,”

Give place to her that would enslave.

^ •

0 never ! never ! be it said
That hearts all noble, bold, and free.

Should, by the wily serpent led,

Yield and succumb to popery.

This be thy long, thy lasting word,

In lands abroad, or streets at home,

Long as thy voice shall e’er be heard,

jVo treatxi with apostate Rome



06 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

POPERY AND DESPOTISM.

Popery always has been the ally and supporter of despotism
j

and it is fair to suppose that it always will be. The real

tendency of a system ought to be understood after centuries

of active operation, especially if that tendency be uniformly

and forever in one direction : but the genius of universal his-

tory challenges a single proof that popeiy has ever put forth

any other than a despotic, oppressive influence. Church and

state is the grand law of Catholic development. Always and

everywhere it has created this union, if left to pursue its own

ends. And so it must be in the very natui-e of the case. It
would be as wise to expect to gather grapes from thistles,

or to receive figs from thorns, as any other fruit fi*om a

system whose principal feature is the subjugation of all au-

thority, human and divine, to one will, and that the will of the

church. The fundamental principle of popery is, that all

power is by divine appointment in the pope
;
the fundamental

principle of freedom is, that the people are the source of power.

There is, and must be, an eternal clash between the two

;

whoever doubts it, should go to Rome and examine for him-
self. The world affords not another so complete a specimen

of the union of church and state, or rather the subjugation of

the state to the church, as modern Rome presents. The testi-
mony of another, whose reputation and great respectability

place him above suspicion of misrepresentation, is so conclusive

on this point, that We ask the reader’s attention to it :

—

“Popcri/,” says the writer alluded to, embodies in itself the

closest union of church and stale. Observe it at the fountain

, head. In the Roman states, the civil and ecclesiastical offices
are blended together in the same individual : the is the

king; a cardinal is the secretary of slate; the cmisislory of

cardinals is the cahinet covAidl^ the ministry, and they are vice’



GMJ.ED “ KNOW-NOTHINGS.” 9t

toys in the provinces. The archbishops are ambassadors to

foreign courts
;
the bishops are judges and magistrates ; . and the

road to preferment, to most if not all the great offices of the

state, is through the priesthood. In Rome and the patrimony
of St. Peter, the temporal and spiritual powers are so closely

united in the sahie individual, that no attack can be made on

any temporal misrule, without drawing down upon the assailants

the vengeance of the spiritual power exercised by the same

individual. Is the judge corrupt or oppressive, and do the

people rise against him, the judge retires into the bishop, and

in his sacred retreat cries, ‘ Touch not the Lord’s anointed.’

. . . Take,” continues the same writer, “ from popery its name

of rdigio% strip its officers of their pompous title of sacredriess,

and its decrees of nauseous Cant of piety, and what have you re-

maining ? Is it not a naked, odious despotism depending for its

strength on the observance of the Strictest military discipline

in its ranks, from the pope, through his cardinals, archbishops,

bishoj^, &c., down to the lowest priest of his dominions ?”

When the effect is separated from its cause, or the charac-
ter of the fruit from the nature of the tree which bears it. We

may reasonably expect that the Roman Catholic rehgion may

be predominant in this country, without producing similar

political results as are now developed at Rome and in the
papal states, and not till then.

THE ROMISH PRIESTHOOD.

By the concurrent testimony of all travelers in South
America", Cuba, Malta, and Italy even, the priesthood consti-

tutes the most licentious class in the community. “ Clerical

celibacy,” says the regent of Brazil, “is the chief source of

public immorality in Brazil.” And no doubt the same is

true elsewhere. Infidelity itself is less a fear to public morals

than Romanism.
0



STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

BISHOP HUGHES AND GREGOBY XYI.

Bishop Hughes, the sturdy defender of the popedom, has

taken great offense at the publication of an article in the Cou-

rier and Enquirer, purporting to be a letter from the correspon-

dent of the Boston Atlas at Borne, in which certain things

are imputed to Gregory XYI., which present the character

of his holiness in rather an unfovorable light. The thing was

soon reported at headquarters, and, as we might have expect-

ed, drew forth the direful fulminations of the zealous vicar,

which have been chronicled in the Freeman’s Journal. Know-

ing what the characters and lives of his predecessors gene-

rally have been, we were not at all surprised at the account

given of Gregory XYI.

The bishop does not consider and refute in detail the impu-

tations cast upon his master, but, Jesuit-like, lumps them all

together and stigmatizes them as calumnies—a gross and in-
famous libel on his moral character. He says: “The stupid
calumny is refuted by the whole life of the deceased pontiff

:

the voice of Catholic and Protestant Europe has pronounced

against it.” If Gregory was the holy man he is represented
to have been, why that solemn high mass and dirge at St.

Mary’s Roman Catholic chapel, Moorsfields, London, attended
with great pomp, for the repose of the soul of the pope ? Bishop

Kenrick also, with great splendor, celebrated pontifical mass

for the repose of the soul of his late holiness. Pope Gregory

XYI. Why must the self-styled vicar of Jesus Christ pass
through a period of purgatorial sufferings ere he can attain

the blessedness of heaven ? This idolatrous ceremony must be

performed in every branch of the papal church ere the pope

can be released from purgatorial fires, and his soul, purified

from sin, find rest in heaven.

The bisliop may assure himself, that his unqualified contra*



CALLED “know-nothings.” 94

diction of the charges brought against Gregory will not be

counted a just and conclusive refutation of them. Dying at

the advanced age of eighty-one years, it would te strange it

his passions had not cooled somewhat, and he had not main-

tained the appearance of sobriety and decorum before the

world. If indeed he was not a bad man, sensual, proud, and

ambitious, it must have been owing to the fact that popery

did not exert its natural and legitimate influence upon his life

and character. But time will bring the truth to light, and

set this matter right between the bishop and those who called

in question the purity of the head and pmk of catholicity.

HOLY WELL AHD ROCK.

Neak the village of Bin, Ireland, is a small well about

twelve or thirteen feet in circumference. Around this is built

a wall about eighteen inches in height, and nearly as thick

You may see on Sunday mornings dozens of poor deluded
priest-ridden slaves going around this well on their bare knees

and counting their beads. They place, every time they go

around, a small piece of rag on a withered white thorn-bush.

This they do as penance' for venial sins
;
but before they con-

clude the penance, they make a kind of finish at the rock which

is near the well. The rock is very large
;
and they go around

this also on their bare knees. They have to get off their knees

every time they go round, to place a small stone on the top

of the rock for the same purpose as on the rag bush. There

is also a small track in the rock : to this they pay great rever-

ence, which they signify by bowing each time they come /

opposite to it. They say, that St. Patrick having knelt de

this rock, has left the track above mentioned by his knee.



100 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

PAPISTS AND DESPOTS AGAINST AMERICAN LIBERTY.

The duke ofRichmond, who was governor-general ofCanada,

was a violent papist. Shortly before his death he made the

following disclosures, respecting the designs of European des-

pots and papists upon the liberties of this country, the truth

of which the developments of time, since that period, have

;oo fearfully confirmed. Speaking of tlie government of the

United States, he said, “It was weak, inconsistent, and bad;

and could not long exist. It will be destroyed
;

it ought not,

and will not be permitted to exist
;

for many and great are

the evils that have originated from the existence of that gov-

ernment. The curse of the French revolution, and subsequent

wars and commotions in Europe, are to be attributed to its

example
;
and so long as it exists, no prince will be safe upon

his throne
;
and the sovereigns of Europe are aware of it,

and they have been determined on its destruction, and have

come to an understanding upon this subject, and have decided

on the means to accomplish it
;
and they will eventually suc-

ceed hy subversion rather than conquest. “ All the low and sur-

plus population of the different nations of Europe will be car-

ried into that country
;

it is, and will be, a receptacle for the

bad and disaffected population of Europe, when they are not

wanted for soldiers, or to supply the navies
;
and the Euro-

pean governments will favor such a course. This will create

a surplus and a majority of low population, who are so very

easily excited
;
and they will bring with them their principles

;

and in nine cases out of ten, adhere to their ancient and for-

mer governments, laws, manners, customs, and religion, and

will transmit them to their posterity
;
and in many cases pro-

pagate them among the natives. These men will become citi-

zens, and by the constitution and laws, will be invested with

the right of suffrage. The different grades of society will



CALLED KNOW-NOTHINCS.” 101

then be created by the elevation of a few, and by degrading

many, and thus a heterogeneous population will be formed,

speaking different languages, and of different religions and sen-

timents
;
and to make them act, think, and feel alike, in politi-

cal affairs, will be hke mixing oil and water
;
hence, discord,

dissension, anarchy, and civil war, will ensue
;
and some popu-

lar individual \^ill assume the government* and restore order,

and t;he sovereigns of Europe, the emigrants, and many of the

natives, mil sustain him.” “The church of Rome has a de-

sign upon that country
;
and it will, in time, be the established

religion, and will aid in the destruction of that republic.” “ I

have convei*sed with many of the sovereigns and princes of

Europe, and they have unanimously expressed these opinions

relative to the government of the United States, and their de-

termination to subvert it.”

.. I

ROMISH CHURCH NOT ALWAYS THE SAME

During the first three hundred years, their Papal indulgences

were yet imhatched

;

their purgatory fire was yet unkindled
;

transubstantiation was yet unbaked
;
the treasury of merits

was yet uninvented
;
the Pope’s transcendent power was yet

uncreated
;

ecclesiastics were unexempted
;
and deposing of

kings yet undreamed. The people were as yet not cozened of

the cup
;
communion in one kind was yet unthought of

;
it

was not then customary to mutter liturgiesi in a tongue un-

known
;
nor were wooden or brazen gods then worshipped

;

they worshipped that which they knew “in spirit and in truth

;

and they called on him in whom they believed.”

/



102 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

THE POPE EQUAL WITH GOD.

2 Thessalonians, ii. 3, 4.

“And that man of sinhQ revealed, the son of 'perdition,
who opposeth and exalteth himself above aH that is called

God, or that is worshipped
;
so that he, as God, sitteth in the

temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

The place in which the person spoken of in this passage was

to be manifested, was the visible church—the ti'rm of his ap-
pearance was subsequent to the first great apostasy from the faith

and purity of the gospel, and previously to the second advent

of Christ. Beyond a doubt, the character pointed out is the

Pope of Rome. The representation made in the above passage

and the account given of his mode of operation, in the 9th

and 10th verses, will apply, strictly, letter for letter, to no other

character of which we have any account.

Both the name and works of God have been appropriated
to the Pope by the highest authorities and the most eminent

theologians of the Romish Church.

I. The rmne of God has been given to the Pope. His
holiness has been complimented with the name of deity, and

the vicegerency of heaven has been acceded to him.

Jacobatius, Durand, Gibert, and Pithou, on the authority

of canon law, style the pontiff the Almighty’s vicegerent,

“who occupies the place not of a mere mom but of the true

God.^’—Jacob. YII., Barclay, 222
;
Pithou, 29

;
Decret. I,

vii., c. 3.

Gregory the II. says : “The whole western nations reckon-

ed Peter a terrestrial God; the Roman pontiff, of course, suc-

ceeds to the title and estate. Labb. viii. 666
;
Bruy. ii. 100.

This blasphemy, Gratian copied from the canon law. “ The Em-

peror Constantine,” says Nicholas the First, “ conferred the



CALLED KL"OW-KOTHINGS.^ 1C3

appellation of God on the Pope, who, therefore, hdng God,
cannot he judged hy manP—Labb. ix. 15^2.

According to Innocent the Third, “The Pope holds the

place of the true God.”

The canon law in the gloss, denominates the Roman hier-
arch, “ our Lord God.’^ Extrao. Tit. XIY,, c. iv., Walsh,

p. 9.

The canonists generally reckon the Pope the one God, who

hath all power, human and divine, in heaven and earth.—Bar-
clay, II., iv. 220.

Marcellas, in the Lateran council, and with its full appro-

bation, called Julius “ God on earth.”—Labb. xix. 731, Bin.
9, 54.

II. The works as well as the name of God have been
ascribed to the Pope by Innocent, by distinguished Catholic

writers, by the canon law, and the Lateran council. Accord-

ing to Innocent, Jacobatius, Durand and Decius, “The Pope

and the Lord form the same tribunal, so that, sin excepted,

the Po'pe can do nmrly all that God can do.”—Jacob. III.
Jacobatius and Durand say, “The pontiff possesses a plen-

itude of power, and none dare say to him, any more than to

God, what doest thou ? He can change the nature of things
and make nothing out of something and something out of
nothing.—Extrao. Tit. IT., c. 2

;
Jacob. III.

;
Durand, I.

50, &c.

These are not the views of these writers alone
;
they are

found, in all their absurdity and blasphemy, in the canon law,

which represents the Pope as responsible to no being in the

universe, and attributes to him the power of performing the

works of God, and making something out of nothing. The

Pope, according to Lainez, at the council of Trent, “has the

fower of dispensing with all laws and the same authority as

the Lord”



104 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERR ANS,

An archbishop, in the last Lateran Synod, called Pope
Julius “jyrince of the worldP—Labb. xix. 100.

Another orator styled Leo, “the possessor of all power in

heaven and in earth, who presided over all the kingdoms of

the globe.”—Lupin iii. 602
;
II Theis. ii. 4.

This blasphemy the holy, infallible Roman council listened

to without expressing their disapprobation or dissent, and the

haughty pontiff himself doubtless with great complacency

The man of dn, then, “sat in the temple of Crod,” or that

which was called so, and both by his silence and his state,

showed himself that he was God.”

“ Some Popes,” says Coqueville, “have allowed themselves

to be called Omnipotent.”-w-CoqvLQYil\e, 408.

THE TITLE OF ‘’PAPIST."

It has been objected to by some Protestants, and by the

Papists, that this is an opprobrious title
;
and that we ought

from courtesy, to lay it aside in our writings and speeches.

We answer, we shall not lay it aside. It is one of the
many very appropriate and highly expressive names of the

followers and worshippers of their head, and Lord> the Pope.

They own him as their only king. They admit him to

occupy on earth, the place of Jesus Christ; ^Oeneat locum

Christi.” They admit him to be the head of all indulgences

as the fount of pardoning power. Por the priest pronounces

pardon '^judicially,” from the “tribunal of confessions,” by

Virtue of the power to pardon sin, and give absolution, given

to him through his bishop, from the Pope. They are in the

strictest sense, called Papists
;
eien as true believers are

called Christians after Christ.

But, the fact is, the principal authors of Roman history,

and the expoundei’s of Romanism, do glory in the name of



CALLteD “ KNOW-NOTHtNGs/^ 105

Papists. This is not generally known by either Protestants*

or Papists. Bishop Barlow in his work, “ Brutem fiilmen,^

has shown this. In his epistle to the reader he proves out of

Baronius, in his “ Martyrol. M’’ that he boasts of this title.,

and glories in it.

We shall quote the words of Baronius, in his “Martyrolo^
gy,” under Octobet 16. “The modern heretics call Catholics^

Papists. Certainly they would not give them a more glorious

title. Let it, therefore, be our praise livings and our epitaph

when dead, ever to be called papists. Sint ideo nobis viven-

tibus, hasc semper prmconia laudum, et post-mortem tituli

sepulcrates, ut et semper dicamur papistse.’^

And, moreover, we may add, th^t Gother recognized the

title in his book, Papist misrepresented,^^ See London

Protestant Journal, for August^ 1831.

mm BY WHICH POPERY MAY BE CHECKED.
For American Christians to close their eyes to the efforts

of the church of Borne, to extend her influence and to secure

to herself dominion over this country, were criminal. And
for those whom God has placed as Watchmen upon the walls
of Zion, to refrain from sounding the alarm in the holy moun-

tain, were to render themselves responsible for all the injuries

which the cause of Chi'ist or our common country or indi-

vidual persons, should suffer from such negligence.

The combined influences and resources of the papal hier-

archy in both Europe and America, are becoming more and

more concentrated upon this country, the United States,

Aloney to the amount of millions on millions, is poured forth

from the treasuries of popery and tyranny in Europe, to build

np institutions to extend influences which are deemed efficient

for bringing the people of America under the spiritual domb
5*



106 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AilERICANS,

nion of the great antichrist, and the political despotism

exercised by those European tyrants who are leagued for the
overthrow of our spiritual and political freedom. Every art

which Jesuitical and anti-christian subtlety can devise and

practice, is put in requisition for decoying the unwary and for

allurmg with the glare and splendor wherewith the great

harlot bedecks herself, “the kings of the earth to the com-

mission of spiritual fornication with her.’^

And how are we to be affected in view of these deep-laid
schemes, these mighty efforts and these rapid strides of suc-

cessful operations of anti-christ and tyranny? We are not
to remain indifferent : nor are we to sink . into hopeless

despondency, or trembling with fearful apprehensions, to

suffer Our hands to hang down in inactivity. Xo : we must
arise to the work—we must come up promptly, fearlessly, to
the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord againk the

mighty. We must, in the strength of the Captain of Salva-
tion, check the encroachments of popery—we must rescue at
least some of the prey already in the jaws of the roaring lion,

from destruction.

CAEDmAL JOKE BY A EOIAK PEIEST.

One of the Popish priests of New York has, for sometime
past, as is currently reported, been confined to his bed and

room, in consequence of not having complied with the com-

mands of his own craft, by the requisite abstinence during

Lent. One of his brethren desired an Irish Papist to carry

a verbal message to the priest who was tortured from the tips

of his fingers to the ends of his toes with the racking gout

The unthinking creature fulfilled his jommis?ion, and delivered

the following memento. “Mr. **** sends his compliments to

Father ****, and advises him to eat less, and drink less, and

I



CALLED “know-nothings.^ 107

to fast and pray, as he does
;
and then you will not he trou-

bled with the gout ! The rage with which Father **** was

filled could only be vented in language. “ By Saint Patrick,’^
said he, “it is well for you that I cannot stir hand nor foot,

or I would kick you into purgatory at one toss, you

Frightened out of his wits at the pries-t’s (denunciation, the

Irishman quickly returned to give the othjer waiting priest

who employed him, an account of his doings. He pacified the
terrified messenger by assuring him, that the threat of Father

’v^as of no importance : as he had not his vestments on,

and as the gout was inflicted upon him for penance for his

sins
;
while he was doing that penance, he could not act as a

{Miest.

NUlf SERIES.
It is indubitable that the monastic system is one of the

most depraved and anti-republican departments among all the

machinations of popery. Aware of that fact, and conscious

that Protestant money cannot be obtained in the United

States, for the erection and endowment of male and female

convents, direct application is made to American citizens, for

pecuniary aid in behalf of those pestiferous institutions, only

in peculiar circumstances. All the large sums which are con-

stantly transmitted from Europe for papistical purposes, are

especially applied to the establishment of the monastic system
;

for it should be remembered, that every Jesuitical institute,

whether demtfully named seminaries or colleges, or asylums, are

only male or female convents, which are subject to all the mcmas

tic discipline and regulations.

One of the great delusions which pervades all classes of

the American community is this—that Bomanism is now, and
in the United States, of a totally different character from ip



108 ' STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE .iMERICANS,

attributes in Europe or South America, and during the dark

ages
;
and also, that although nunneries may have be^ th«

mere brothels of Roman priests, and “filthy, 'furderous dmd*
in France, Italy, and Spain, prior to the reformation, yet in

this country they are now abodes of piety, purity, and wisdom,

We know not how to account for this indescribable and infat-
uated skepticism, except by fearing that the awful declaration

of the Apostle Paul, 2 Thes. ii. 8-12, may be fulfilling in the

experience of our citi^ns, and even of our churches. “ That

Wicked is revealed, whose coming is after the working of Sa-

tan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders
j
and with

all deceivableness of unrighteousne^ in them that perish
;
be

cause they received not the love of the truth that they might

be saved. For this cause God shall send them strong delu-

sion, that they should believe a lie
;
that they all might be

damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un-

righteousness.”

POPISH IDOLS.

Among the many curious relics in the monastery of Heile

gen Krutz, in Austria, is shown a pretended large piece of

“the true cross,” of mahogamy! Now every body knows that
mahogany is an American wood, which was not carried to

Europe until about 250 years ago
;
and yet well-educated

Papists shut their eyes and close their lips to the absurdities

of the priests who thus beguile their ignorant rotaries.



1

CALLED “ KNOW-NOTHINGS ” 109

THE CONFESSION AL.
A COVER FOR ALL CRIMES.

In proof that the awful secresy of the priesCs closet super-

sedes and extinguishes all moral obligations^ as well as every

duty due from the subject to the state, one important and

conclusive case occm*s to us as singularly marked, being con-

nected with the destiny of Henry king of France.

A popish fanatic, named Barriere, had consulted his priest
in confession, and also afterwards a Dominican monk called

Father Seraphim, on the lawfulness of killing Henry IV.,

expressing his fixed determination to murder that monarch.

The priest considered this resolution most orthodox, and kept

the secret. But. the monk did not so view the affair
;
and

having in vain used every persuasion 'possible to induce the

assassin to renounce his detestable desi^, the Dominican

anticipated the crime, and sent intelligence to the king^s

ministers. The papist would-be regicide was taken and put

to death. Henry having been erroneously informed that

Barriere, instead of having simply consulted the monk, also

communicated his plan to him in confession, when the Domin-

ican was afterwards presented to him, said—“ Did not Bar-
riere reveal his wicked design to you in confession ?” Not

only should all the wretchedly-duped Roman Catholics listen

to the monk’s reply, but all Protestants should lay it to heart.

Greatly agitated, the Dominican, Father Seraphim, replied

—

Sire, do not imagine it—I would not have divulged it in that
case for the world. I know of what vast consequence is the

seal of the sacrament of confession for the glory of God, the

good of the church, and the safety of individuals. Barriere
.

only proposed to me his intention of murdering your majesty,

and only by way of asking my opinion.” This exposure of
popery must satisfy all persons as to French secresy.



110 STAKTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

BLESSO'G THE BELL*
[Extract of a Letter from a Father to his Children.]

Another superstition of the Romanists is peculiarly appa-

rent in the baptism of bells. The ceremony of thus blessing

them is supposed to consecrate them to the 'service of God,

to the end that he may give them the power, not merely of

striking the ear, but oftouching the heart ! When a bell is
to be thus blessed, a procession is made from the vestry, and

the officiating priest having seated himself near the bell, de-

scribes to the people the holiness of the act about to be per-

formed, and then sings the miserere. Next, he blesses some

salt and water, and offers a prayer that the bell may acquire

the virtue of guarding Christians from the stratagems of Satan,

of driving away ghosts, of breaking the force of tempests, and,

among other things, of raising devotion in the heart He then
mixes the salt and water, and, crossing the bells thrice in the

name of the Trinity, pronounces over each of them, “ God be

with you.” This being done, he dips the aspergillum, or sprink-

ler, in the holy water, and with it washes the bell, during

which ablution psalms are sung. After this, a vessel, contain-

ing what is called oil for the infirm, is opened by the dean,

into which the officiating priest dips the thumb of his right

hand, and applies it to the middle of the tell, marking it with

the sign of the cross. The twenty-eighth psalm being then sung,

the bell is marked with seven other crosses, dmdng which

water is again applied as a sort of baptism, consecrating it in

the name of the Trinity, and calling it after some particular

saint, whose name, as a godfather, it bears thenceforward.

The bell is then perfumed with incense and myi*rh, which is

styled, in a prayer used on that occasion, “ the dew of the Holy

Ghost.”



V

CALLED “know-nothings.” Ill

THE JiATIYE AMEECAI FLAG-

^
When Freedom from her mountain height

Unfurl’d her standard to the air,

She tore the azure robe of night,

And set the stars of glory there.
^

She mingled with its gorgeous dyes

The milky baldric 6f the skies,
^

And striped its pure, celesti£|,l white,
With streakings of the morning light

;

Then, from his mansion in the sun,
,

She call’d her eagle bearer down,

And gave into his mighty hand
The symbol of her chosen land.

Majestic monarch of the cloud,

I Who rear’st aloft thy regal form,
To hear the tempest trumpings loud.

And see the lightning lances driven.
When strive the warriors of the storm.

And rolls the thunder-drum of heaven.
Child of the sun ! to thee ’tis given

To guard the banner of the free,

To hover in a sulphur smoke.

To wara away me battle-stroke,
And bid its blendings shine afar,
LiKe rainoows on the cloud of war,

The harbingers of victory

!

Flag of the brave ! thy folds shall fly

—

The sign of hope and triumph high,

When speaks the signal trumpet tone,
'And the long line comes gleaming on.

Ere yet the life-blood warm and wet.
Has dimm’d the glistening bayonet,

Each soldier eye shall brightly turn

To where thy sky-born glories burn

;

And as his springing steps advance,
Catch war and vengeance from the glance.



112 STARTLING FACTS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS,

And when the cannon-mouthings loud
Heave in wild wreathes the battle-shroud«

And gory sabres rise and fall
Like shoots of flame on midnight’s pall

;

Then shall thy meteor glances glow.

And cowering foes shall sink beneath
Each gallant arm that strikes below

That lovely messenger of death.

Flag of the seas ! on ocean wave

Thy stars shall glitter o’er the brave

When death, careering on the gale,
Sweeps darkly round the bellied sail,

And frighted waves rush wildly back,
Before the broadside’s reeling rack,

Each dying wanderer of the sea

Shall look at once to heaven and thee.

And smile to see thy splendors fly
In triumph o’er his closing eye.

Flag of the free heart’s hope and home

!

By angel hands to valor given

;

The stars have lit the welkin dome.

And all thy hues were born in heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet

!

Where breathes the foe but falls before us,

With Freedom’s soil beneath our feet.

And Freedom’s banner strean^g o’er us^





r' /

/
§

t

I

/ . •
’

' f

I

.1

I

;

r