No. I. OCTOBER, 1888.

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�* COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED SERIES.*�

Price, 2 cents. I\ionthly, 25 cents a year. Per 1000, $10.00. I

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AN

0PEN LETTER

TO THE FRIENDS OF

fREE,SCHeeLS·

AN8

AMERICAN LIBERtIES.

FRO�1 THE

COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED,

Appointed at the 111àss il1eetz'llgs d Citizens Ileld OJl the e'l/e7lingof July II, I888,

at Fa.nera] flail and T'remont Temple,

Boston .

. --_.

----

WttbIisfJrb bJl the Qtommittre of <!Dm �unbr£b.
OFFICE: ROO:\l 22 CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE,

BEACON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

Entered at the Post Office, Boston, as Second Class Matter.



ROOM 22, CONwnW \nONAL IrOFSi13,

R)·,t�)ll, Fehruary 1, lSS9.

fIRE BOSTON COMl\HTTEE OF ONE IIUXDlUm, whose aim it is to

protect, and to preserve inviolate from all sectarian influence, our

American Common Free Schools; to prevent the prostitution of school

offices to the service of selfish political ends; to promote such public
interest in the Common School as will secure its continual development
,l" 1118 true primary educator of the people; and to assist by all moral

anll political means in preventing any encroachments by ecclesiastical

organizations on the rights, functions and possessions of the State, are

enabled by the generous liberality of a friend to send sets of all the

tracts it has published to a very large number of persons all over the

country. For these tracts we bespeak a careful perusal on the part of

those receiving them, They have been prepared with great care, and

contain truthful and in no case exaggerated statements upon their sev­

eral topics.

From the tract,
" The Victors) in Boston," it will be seen what was

the condition of this city last summer, and what has been accomplished

largely through the work of the COM:\HTTEE OF ONE HUNDRED. The

conditon of Boston six ID onths ago, is the present condition of very

many towns and cities elsewhere, though the inhabitants thereof may

not realize it. What has been done in Boston, can with God's blessing

be done in other p laces.

In carrying forward its work, the Committee have printed and cir­

culated over half a million tracts, nearly four million pages, and

forwarded to Congress a large number of petitions praying for the

submission to the several states of a constitutional amendment, which

will prohibit the interference of any religious sect with the system of

Common Public Schools. Persons in other states desirous of securing

signatures to such a petition can receive blanks on application at this

office. At the urgent request of many friends, a Lecture Bureau bas

been established, and individuals, lyceums and societies wishing' the

services of speakers or lecturers are requested to address the secre­

tary, who has on his list the names of some of the ablest and most

eloquent clergymen and laymen of Boston and vicinity, who bave

made a thorough study of this subject in all its phases.

As this work of guarding the interests of the Public School, and

promoting its efficiency requires money, the Committee will be glad to

receive contributions from the friends of the movement; and every

dollar thus contributed will be loyally and honestly expended.

If the Committee is sustained and similar committees formed in

the various towns and cities of the Union, it will not be long before

the sanguine hopes, arrogant claims and astonishing boastings of the

priests of Rome, end in utter confusion and irretrievable disappoint-

ments. HEV. JAMES R. DUXN, D. D.,

P. O. Box 1:145. Secretary.



AN OPEN LETTER
TO THE FRIENDS OF

FREE SCHOOLS AND AMERICAN IlIBER TIES,
FROM THE

COMMITTEE OF ONE IIUNDRED,

Appointed at the Muss �Meetings of Citizens held on the evenin,'l of
July 11th, 1888, at Faneuil Halt and Tremont Temple, Boston,

When the politic and patriotic Seward said in the
Senate of the United States, "I see in this country an

irrepressible conflict; slave labor and free labor cannot
exist together; one or the other must go down;" he ut­
tered a prophecy which we have lived to see fulfilled.
Another struggle of no less magnitude is now upon our

Country, and it is equally true that an irrepressible con­
flict exists between the emissaries of Rome and Repub­
lican institutions. 'I'his the men who have inaugurated
the conflict boldly assert. Thus, the rector of the-Bos­
ton Catholic Cathedral declared in Boston on the evening
of Aug. 3rd., 1888, "that we had reached a stage when
near at hand was to come a contest for the mastery; who
was to govern?" In this utterance he was but echoing
the woras of the Homan Catholic Plenary Council at
Baltimore, in 1885: "If in any age," says the Council,
"surely in ours are the Church of God" i, e. of Rome,
"and the spirit of the world locked in an awful and hotly
contested combat over the education of youth." "These
utterances,

"

we are told, "are dictated under the person ..
al supervision of the vicar of Christ himself;" while Wen ..

ninger, in a work widely circulated and commended to
"the faithful," "The Apostolical and .Infallible Authority
of the Pope," on page 11, says, "It is time to define our

[3J



)

position more accurately, and to let our enemies feel our

strength and the utter impossibility ofengaging us in any
compromise."
In entering upon this conflict, which, let it be remem

bered, is not a struggle for victory, but for life, it is well
to keep in mind the aims of the Papal emissaries.
L We charge the Papal hierarchy ioith. hostility to

our American liberties, and with seeking to supplant these
with the spirit of servile obedience to the Pope of Rome ..
Pope Pius IX. in his address on the affairs of the Repub­
lic of New Granada, says, there should be "no free edu­

cation, no freedom of worship, no freedom of the press."
These, and kindred liberties, in his Encyclical and Sylla­
bus of 1864, he stigmatizes as "the liberty of perdition,"
as "impious, absurd and erroneous doctrines," as "detes­
table sentiments, pregnant with the most deplorable evils,
and pests of all others most to be dreaded in a state," and
with Gregory XVI. calls upon"God to arise and repress,
confound, and annihilate this unbridled license." With
such hostility to our liberties proclaimed by the head of
the Papal hierarchy, is it to be wondered that American

organs of Rome should exclaim in terms similar to that

used by the "Shepherd of the Valley," the official Jour·
naI of the Bishop of St. Louis, in its issue of Nov 23.,
1851. "If Catholics ever gain a sufficient numerical ma­

jority in this country, relioious freedom is at an end, so
our enemies say, so we betieoe;" or that the "Freeman's

Journal," the organ of Archbishop Hughes, should say in
its issue of January 26, 1852,

"No man has a right to
choose his religion." The right to do so, Pope Pius IX.
declares to be a false and monstrous error, and Pope Leo
XII!., in his Encyclical of Jnne, 1888, most emphatically
condemns it, and calls it "a degradation of liberty."
Dr. o. A. Brownson, in his Catholic Review of June,

1857, affirmed that" .Protestantism of every form has not,
and never can have any fright where Catholicity is tri­

umphant." In this statement Dr. Brownson was simply
repeating history, as the Papal hierarchy has never permit­
ted a spark of liberty to glow when it could be extiti-



5TO TILBJ FRIE�DS OF FREE SCHOOLS.

guished. When it had full sway in Italy, the man in that

country who wrote a page or made a speech in favor of

liberty, had to fly the kingdom or be dragged to a dun­

geon; and we are to judge the Papacy, not by its pliabil­
ity where it cannot rule, but by the way which it shows its
h.inrt where it er.n act without let or hinderance. Very
Hignificant are the words of Pius the IX. in his allocution
to a Consistory of Cardinals Sept. 1851: "We have taken
this principle for basis :-that the Catholic Religion, with

all its rights, ought to be exclusively dominant, in sucli

sort that every other worship shall be banished and

interdicted;" and while lamenting the progress of liberty,
he adds, "It is a cause of supreme bitterness to the heart

of the Holy Father not to be able otherwise to impose a
limit to so much evil, as he certainly uiould if he could

make use of other means to bridle their insane license."

II. We charge the Papal hierarchy with plotting to
overthrow our civil institutions, founded upon the will of
the people, and to re-construet and found them upon the

will of the Pope. It would undermine the foundation
of a government that gives it shelter and protection. It
does not conceal its purpose to take possession of this

government, and administer its affairs according to the
dictum of the Pope. "The Roman Catholic," says
Father Hecker, in the '.' Catholic World" of July, 1870,
" is to wield his vote for the purpose of securing Catholic

asocndency in this country." "Undoubtedly," says Dr.
Brownson in his Review of July 1864, "it is the intention

of the Pope to possess this coururi], In this intention
he is aided by the Jesuits and all the Ca.tholic prelates
and priests." And Dr. Brownson said that" every article

relating to the church he submitted to the Bishop for
his inspection, approval and indorsement." Again, in
his Essays, at pages 380-383, Dr. Brownson says" The

people need governing, and muet be governed. They
must have amaster and this master is the'Pope oj Rome,
whom the Almi,qhty Goel has placed us under to obey."
And the Oatholic World for Sept. 1871, says of the

government, if interpreted by the Protestant or non



6 AN OPEN LETTER

Catholic principle,
" We do not accept it, or hold it to be

any gOl'ernment at all, or as capable of performing any
of the proper functions of government. If the American

government is to be sustained and preserved at all, it
must be by the rejection of the principle of the Reforma­
tion (that is, the government of the people) and the
acceptance of the Catholic principle, i. e., the government
of the Pope."
Indeed, the dogma of Infallibility is a declaration of

perpetual war with whatever constitutes the glory of our
modern civilization: The Syllabus of Pope Pius IX.
is aimed as an exterminating blow at the government of
the United States. It arraigns, tries, aud pronounces
judgment upon our institutions, and commands all
Romanists everywhere to unite in executing that judg­
ment. It is an insolent attempt of a foreign despot to
excite among the adherents of Popery, sedition against
the government, assuring them that Heaven only can be
reached by untiring activity in the work of destruction.
This same position is taken by the present Pope in his
Encyclical just published. In this he denounces a
government by the people and for the people, as the
degradation of liberty and the downright path to tyranny,
and declares it ought to give way to a government by the
church, (i. e., by the Pope). And yet in the face of
these most explicitly [tv-owed aims of the Papal hierarchy
to reduce Americans to submit to a government of the

Pope, the Roman Catholic Bishop Keene, ofWashington,
had the effrontery to declare in Boston in August, 1888,
that the "man who says that in the aims of the Catholic
Church there is anything antagonistic to the principles
of our government, lies!

"

III. We charge the Papal hierarchy with teaching
disloyalty to the state, and disobedience to the civil gov-.
ernmeut. It seeks to build up a hierarchy irresponsi,
ble to the laws enacted by the people, with authority and
powers above those of the national and state govern­
ments, and sufficient to compel obedience to a: papal
decrees issued by the Pope from the Vatican; nn obedi ..



TO THE FRIENDS OF FREE SCHOOLS.

ence enforced if need be by the Inquisition, which on page
186 of Plain talk about Protestantism, is declared to be

"the most Legitimate andmost NaturaI exercise of
Eccle­

siastical Authority." In another Roma�l Catholic book,

Le Jlfaister's Letters, published by Patrick Donahoe, in

Boston, in 1843, we are told that the inquisition is
"in

its very nature, good, mild and preservative.
It is the

universal, indelible characteristic of every
ecclesiastical

Institution. You see it in Rome, and you see it wher­

ever the true church has power." In an article in

Donahoe's ]}Iagazme for Sept. 1888, by a Roman Catho­

lic priest, on "Church and State" it is boldly proclaimed
as a doctrine of the church that the state is bound to

"protect the church by taking care that she shall
have

full liberty of carrying on" [her work] "and by
remov­

ing any obstacle that may be thrown in
her way, so far

as they can be removed, or so far as it
is expedient to

remove them."

Again, the Papal Hierarchy claims to have supreme

jurisdiction over this country, and holds"
Th e state to be

only an inferior court, receiving its authority
from the

church, anc1liable to have its decrees reversed on appeal,"

(Brownsqn's Essays, p. 282), and that,
"in the case of

conflicting laws bet ween the two powers,
the laws of the

church must prevail over the state." This is the
doctrine

taught in the Pope's Syllab'u8 of 18G-t;
and in the Pas­

toral Letter issued by the Second National Council of

the Roman Catholic church held at Baltimore in 1866,

we are told that" in prescribing anything contrary to the

divine law" (as interpreted by the Pope) "the civil

power transcends its authority, and has no
claim on the

obedience of the citizen," as the eivii power is never

absolute or independent, but snhject to the church.

And Cardinal Manning, speaking in the name of the

Pope says (in Sermons on Iùeiiqiou« Subjects, 1873)
"I

acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no

prince, and I claim more than this, I claim to be
the

supreme Juc1ge and director of the consciences of men,

of all men; I am sole, last, supreme Judge of what is

7



8 AN OPEN LETTER

right and wrong. Moreover we declare, affirm, define
and pronounce it to be necessary to salvation to every
human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff," and.
on page 278 of a book prepared for the use of the Roman
Catholic colleges and schools by the Rev. F. X. Schouppe
of the Society of Jesuits, and bearing the imprimatur of
Cardiunl M:mning, we are told that "The civil laws are
binding on the conscience only so long as they are con­
formable to the rights of the Catholic Church," and on
page 279 that "Human laws are susceptible of dispensa­
tion. The power to dispense belongs to the sovereign
Pontiff." This is plain language. It cannot be mis­
understood. Civi l laws are not binding when they con­
flict with the decrees of the Pope. Thus the Catholic
1Vòrld of August 1868 says that the Pope" as the head
and mouthpiece of the Catholic Church, administers its
discipline and issues orders to which every Catholic under
pain of sin must yield obedience."
In view of such declarations and teachings, we ask, Is

it possible for a consistent Roman Cntholio to be at the
same time a l.iyal American citizen? We believe it is
not, indeed we affirm that the oath of allegiance to our
government taken by Roman Catholics, and by which
they have obtained the rights of the ballot, citizenship,
and office, amounts to nothing-if they are true Catholics­
and has no binding obligations, when the interests of the
Homan Catholic church requires it to be disregarded; and
it is not worth to such Romunists, the paper on which it
is written. Bishop England, of Charleston, S. C., in his
"Letters Concernino the Iiomaii Ohancery," p. 158, quotes
Canon 16 of the Third Lateran Council, wherein this
sentence is found. "For they are not to he called oaths,
but rather perjuries, which are in opposition to the wel­
fare of the church and the enactments of the Holy
Fnther ;" and the Bishop, in defending this view, Rays
"These nrc the principles which I have been taught from
Homan Catholic authors, by Roman Catholic professors;
they are the principles which I find recognized in all
enactments and interpretations of councils ill the Roman



TO TIlE
FRIENDS OF

FREE
SCHOOLS.

Catholic church, from
the Council at

Jerusalem,
held by

the Apostles, down
to the present day."

Now for the practice.
When the Roman

Catholics in

Great Britain, sought legislation
granting

them political

privileges,
the '�Vicars Apostolic"

who governed
the

Homan Catholics
of that country,

confirmed in their

collective"
Declaration" made in 1826,

the solemn
declar­

ation made to the
British Parliament

"that neither
the

pope,
nor any

other prelate or
ecclesiastical person

of the

Ron1.an Catholic
church has any 'right

to interfere,
di­

rectly or indirectly,
in the civil government,

nor to oppose

in any manner,
the performances

of the civil
duties which

are due tJ that
govBrnment.

That the allegiance they

owed was sovereign, complete,
perfect and

undivided."

(See testimony
of Bishop Doyle

and others
before a

committee of the House
of Lords in 1825-6.)

On the

strength of
this most explicit avowal,

the British
Par­

liament in 18:29 granted
the legislation sought.

But

notice that the pope
subsequently in

Encyclicals
and let­

ters, and finally
in the Syllabus of 1864,

most emphati­

cally
asserted his right to interfere

in civil matters,
and

to define the
limits of civil obedience,

and when
Roman

Catholic prelates were
asked to

reconcile these
state­

ments, the
Rev. Dr. John H.

Newman,
afterwards Cardi­

nal Newman, replied"
that the British

ministers ought to

have applied to
Rome to learn the

civil duties of British

subjects, and
that no pledge from

Catholics 1.DClS of any

value to which
Rome ioae not a party."

See Dr. John

xewman's pamphlet, Reply
to si.. TV. E. Gladstone,

1875,

p�lge
14.

Has the Papal hierarchy
changed

since then?
When

a few years ago
Roman Catholic

children were
withdrawn

from the public
schools in Cincinnati,

the School
Board

appointed a
committee to confer

with the Roman
Cntho-

1i0 Archbishop to bring
about some union.

The Arch­

bishop replied"
that during the sitting

of the
Oecumenicn l

council at Rome, he
would ask the opinion

of Pope Pins

IX. on the subject,
and then

communicate to the
School

Board." That is it,
America must send

to RQm� to



10 AN OPEN LETTEH.

learn from an Italian priest what are the duties of Amer­
ican citizens, and "no pledge from Catholics is of any
value, to which Rome is not a party."
IV. We charge the Papal hierarchy with being hostile

to free education, ancl seeking the destruction of the
Public School system. It boldly stigmati�es the public
schools as " a National Fraud," "a social cancer presaging
the death of national morality, and the sooner they are
destroyed the better" (Catholic 'Telegraph). "'That they
come from the Devil, and to the Devil they must go"
(-F';'eenUUt's Journal, Dec. 11, 1869). "Better languish
and die under the red flag of England, than to live to
beget Children of Perdition under the flag of a prosely­
ting republic" (Catholic Celt of Buffalo).* So also at
a Roman Catholic Convention held at St. Louis, Oct. 17,
1873, Priest Phelan said, "The reason why the children
of the country go heels over head to the devil, must be
attributed to the education they receive in the public
schools; hence these children turn out to be learned
horse thieves, scholastic counterfeiters, and well posted
in all the schemes of deviltry;" and the Cincinnati Cath­
olic Telegraph insolently ana exultingly shouts, "It will
be a glorious day for the Catholics in this country when
under the blows of justice (?) and morality (?) our school
system shall be shivered to pieces." The Roman Catho­
lic priest, Monsignor Capel, according to a newspaper
report of a conversation, which was widely circulated
and never contradicted, said, "The time is not far away
when the Roman Catholics, at the order of the Pope,
will refuse to pay their school tax, and will send bullets
to the breasts of the government agents, rather than pay
it." "The ·order can come any day from Rome," "It
will come as quickly as the click of the trigger, and it
will be obeyed, of course, as coming from God Almighty
himself."

Anel for the Free School, which creates an atmosphere
* Fat.her Walker ill St. Lawrences Roman Catholic Church, N. Y. City, said"
The public schools are the nurseries of vice. They are Godless schools, and t.hev

w ho send chil d reu to them cannot expect the HlPl'C,\' of nnll ..• I uioul l as soon
administer the sacraments to a dog as to such Cathoiic«

,t

(X, Y. Herald, ;,I,larch 15,
18,;:'). .



TO THE FRIENDS OF FREE
SCHOOLS. 11

of freedom, which radiates the light
and warmth of lib­

erty, which is the nursery
of true Republicanism, the

papal hierarchy would
substitute the parochial school,

where the children are taught to consider our govern­

ment, not as that of a supreme
and independent state,

but simply a province of Rome,
and subject to the Pope,

and where all the grand ideas of nationality
and citizen­

ship and loyalty are stamped upon
and crushed mit.

Under penalty of being denied
the sacraments and abso­

lution parents are commanded
to take their children Irom

the public schools and send them
to the parochial. The

Archbishop of Quebec says,
"Our Fifth Council forbids

Catholic parents to send their
children to Protestant or

Godless schools; it commands to refuse
absolution to par­

ents, who, being warned, persist iu expo�ing
their chil­

clren to this great danger." See pago
41 of that remark­

able Roman Catholic book, "Christian versus
Godless

Schools," which is endorsed by an autograph
letter from

Cardinal Newman, and bears the imprimatur
of Cardi­

nal Gibbons, and a number of American Archbishops
and

Bishops. In this same book on pages 83, 84, 85, 88,
90,

we have this commandment and sentence
reiterated bv

different Roman Catholic Bishops, and the further pro­

hibition, ou page 88, by Cardinal McCloskey, against

admitting" to the sacrament
and confirmation, any child

who has not passed two ye �s at least,
at a Catholic school."

'I'he papal hierarchy claims
the exclusive right to edu­

cate the child, for, said Bishop McQuaid, in
a Lecture at

Horticultural Hall, Boston, Feb. 13th, 1876,
"The state

has no right to educate, and when
the state undertakes

the work of education it is usurping the powers of
the

church." Bishop McQuaid demands"
the non-interfer­

ence of the state in church or school." We reply,
" .Non­

interference of the church in state or school."

To which shall the school belong is the question? 'Tho

church or the state. Dr. Brownson in his
review says

"The attention of the Catholic world has been
directed

to this subject by those whom God
hath sent to rule over

us, and [}! struggle which will
end in a victory for the



12 AX OPE� LETTER

church, has begun between Catholicity and the state, to
see who shall have the child." The claim of the church
is based on the ground, says Bishop McQuaid, in his
lecturo at Horticultural Hall, "that the parental responsi­
hilityfor the child's salvation limits his public education
l)y the state to what the father chooses he shall learn."
This "parental prerogative" doctrine places the entire
education of the child in the hands of the priesthood.
Both the parent and the child belong to the Pope. What
does I10me care for the parent's conscience? Where is
the conscience of the individual Romanist? In the keep­
ing of the Pope. It is not the parent that raises objec­
tion to the Public School. It is not the parent that
demands the surrender of the school to the church. It is
the priest, who is not a parent!
After Bishop McQuaid had made his eloquent appeal

on Sabbath afternoon at Horticultural Hall, in behalf of
the parental conscience, in the evening he preached at
Cambridgeport, and there showed the extent of the
"parental prerogative." After reading_from the Syllabus
condemning all Catholics who approved of any education
apart from the faith and power of the church, he said
with a lowering of the voice, and an intensity of manner
and tone which well conveyed the verbally suppressed
menace, "Whosoever does not believe in the Syllabus as
the infallible truth of God eases to be a Catholic: he

may perhaps attend mass, and go to confession; but"
-and he spoke with an emphasis sure not to be misunder­
stooc1-"I would not like to have the absolving of him."
See Lecture by F. Abbott on the Sabbath following, at
Horticultural Hall.
But while we admit that the father, in his sphere, is

responsible that the child should be a wise sonethe state
is as responsible in its sphere that he should become a
good citizen. What is the state? A branch or servnu t
of the church ? No. It is a Eying organism, inde­
pendent and complete in itself, with a God-given life as
mnch so as is the church or the individual. And it is
the right and duty of the state to see that all proper



13

means are taken to preserve and perpetuate its life, as

much as it is the right and duty of the individual thus to

preserve his life. If the state neglects to do this, it fails

to fulfill its mission and -the divine purpose couoeruintr

it, and deserves to die. It becomes therefore the solemn

and imperative duty of the state to see that every child

within its bounds receives an education that will fit it to

b .come a useful member of society, and a healthy mem­
ber of the state life.

Now what claims has the papal hierarchy to have such

training of future citizens in its hands? What is there

in its past history to give us confidence? Is there any­
thing in its precepts, principles, and practice, which is a

pledge that it will not abuse the trust? Is the state pre­

pared to abdicate its functions in the matter of educating
her future citizens, and entrust the training of her youth
to those whom Napoleon banished from all the schools of

France because he found that nothing was taught there

except the creed and the elements of the papal faith;
to those whom Bismarck banished from the schools of

Germany; to those who have been removed from all the
educational institutions of Italy? If the state is not

prepared to entrust her youth to the training of the Jes­

nits, then let the people arise and say so in the pulpit, on

the platform, through the press, and at the ballot box, in

tones so loud and clear that their echoes shall reverberate

within the walls of the Vatican.

If America is to be perpetuated as a nation of free
men and free institutions, then she must herself see that

au education fitting for good citizenship is given to the

youth in her own schools, free from all sectarian interfer­

ence and control, or in schools subject to state inspection
mul supervision ..
That there is need for prompt and decisive action, if

our schools and American liberties are to be preserved,
who doubts? The note of warning has been given more
than once, but still we have slept. Let us heed the last

loud note that rang out from Faneuil Hall. When

Homanism can secure in the city of New York, within



14

fifteen years over $12,000,000 from the state; when,
after the passage of the constitutional amendment for­

biddiilg all appropriations for sectarian purposes, the
Homan Catholic Orphan Asylum can have its water tax
removed, while the Protestant Deaf and Dumb Institu­
tion must pay its tax of $1,250 j when thousands of dol­
lars can be appropriated by the common council of
New York City to erect a tablet in the Council Ohambel'
to the memory of v Catholic priest; when an American
citizen is summoned to Rome to answer for the crime of

holding and expressing an independent opinion in politics,
and because he declined to go, is excommunicated and de­

graded; when, at the bidding of Home, a tirne-honorcd
text-book is removed from a school in Boston, because its
truthful history exposes the bad deeds of Home, and the
teacher is removed from a position he had faithfully and

creditably filled for nineteen years, because he would
illustrate that truthful history; when, for the like
offense, faithful teachers r r j removed from other schools
to give place to the millions of Home; when, iu New
York, Ohicago, San Francisco and other cities and towns
these things are being done, priests are chosen as princi­
pals of schools and as superintendents, and school funds,
in defiance of the constitution and statutes, are being
paid to Home to teach sectarianism and anti-Republican­
ism; when we are boldly told by the Homan Oatholic press
(St. Peters, Homan Oatholic paper, N. Y., Aug. 26,1871)
" that there is a House of Studies in Maryland with hun­
dreds of students, where at length the Jesuits of this

country have commenced to educate their scholastics ac­

cording to the time-honored rules of the society /" when
a Roman Oatholic lobby is maintained at Washington to
look after its interests at the Oal iital, and as a result of
that lobbying a bill introduced into Oongress twelve
years ago looking to the passage of an amendment to
the Oonstitution that would forever put our schools

beyond sectarian interference and control, was "smoth­
ered," nine .I osuits at one time having been pointed out

upon the floor of the House of Representatives, working



rI'O �NtE FlU�NDS O] :PRÉE SCHOOtS. 15

£01' its defeat; when, as a further result of such lobbying,
of the $308,299.98 expended last year by the government
for education among the Indians, Rome secured $168,-
9:>9.13, while all other denominations got but $139,340.8b;

when, for contract day-schools, the Catholics received

$7,632.92, and all the others but $2,214.35; when such

is the condition of things, surely it is high time to awake I

Once more, remember that in 1800 the proportion of

Roman Catholics to the total population of the United

States was 1 out of every 88, in 1820 1 out of 40, in

1840 1 out of 18, in 1860 1 out of every 12, in 1880, 1

out of 8, or some say 1 out of 6. At this rate how long
would it be before they were in the majority?

* And

while they are thus growing with fearful rapidity, they
are quietly organizing, organizing in every village, town

and city in the union, subsidizing or muzzling the press,
whenever possible, and taking advantage of the exigen­
cies of political parties and unscrupulous demagogues, to

advance their ulterior aim, the control of the American

Republic.
"We hear much of the danger of Mormonism, but

Mormonism is a child's rattle compared to the thunder of

the Vatican." If our liberties are to be preserved, the

people must awake and meet this papal hierarchy, and

say to it in language that cannot be misunderstood,

"Respect our Free Institutions and we will respect you;
but if you touch these, you

become our enemies, and

must be treated as such." For it is a Freemens' country,
and it is not the Pope's, and by the help of God it

never will be the Pope's. If not ready to change the

glorious stripes of our Red, White and Blue banner into

yellow flames blazing out Rome's fiercest hatred against
all who know and love the truth, then let us arise, and

"in the name of our God set up our banners." Let the

friends of Free Schools and American liberties organize,­

organize in every city, town and village, irrespective
of

party, sect or sex. The battle is
to be fought not only

* Priest Hecker in his book, "The Church and the Age," published
in 1887,

Rays on page 56. "The Catholics
will outnumber, before the close of this century,

all other believers in Christianity put together in the republic."



AN OPEN LETTER

on the platform and in the pulpit, but in every' schooland election district in the country. To aid the peoplein this struggle is the aim of
""rHE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED,"

and they are now about to publish literature on the sub­
ject, in the form of leaflets, tracts and documents for
wide and general distribution.
Pastors and others who wish to have the subject pre­sented to their congregations and churches; and associa­

tions and committees who desire the services of lecturers
and speakers on this theme are invited to address
Lecture Committee, P. O. Box 1345, Boston, or call at
the office of the Committee, Room 22, Congregational
House, Boston, and those who are prepared to offer their
services in such capacities are requested to do the same,
stating the title of their subjects. The Committee
would also be glad to hear from those in other cities and
towns of the country, who are engaged in this patriotic
movement of defending our Free Schools and American
Institutions against all papal efforts aimed at their over­
throw, that the defence may be more efficient and ef­
fective, and the enemies' repulse complete and decisive.
All communications to be addressed, Committee of Cor..
respondence, Care of

THE Co�nIITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED,
Box 1345, Boston, Mass.

THE AMERICAN CITIZEN
I:"\ a weekly paper of eight pages, published by a number of gentle­

men whose patriotic purpose is to inform the public on all important
American issues. If you wish full information concerning the doings
of the Romish Church as to the Public School, and such other matters
as the secular press has not the courage or disposition to publish; if
you wish information as to the importance of restricting immigration,
of amending our naturalization laws, and of additional temperance
legislation, send for THE AMEHICA� CITIZEN, 115 Nassau Street,
New York; $2.00 a year; sample copies sent f'ree,

COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED, ROOM 22, CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE, BOSTON, MAS3.



NO.2. NOVEMBER. 1888.

Committaa of Dua Hundraa Sarias.
PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED.

OFFICE: ROOM 22 CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE, BE-AeON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

Monthly, 25 cents a year. Per 1,000, $4.

THE SUBSTITUTE

FOR.

SWINTON, ROMANIZED.

"Swinton's History," the Boston School Committee
said, "was removed in the interest of truth and fair­
ness," its "teaching," they said, "is not correct; it con­
veys the impression that an indulgence is a permission to
commit sin." Swinton's History teaches nothing of the
kind. The foot note on page 320 says: "These indulgen­
ces were, in the early ages of the Church, remissions of the
penances imposed upon persons whose sins had brought
scandal upon the community. But in process of time
they were represented as actual pardons of guilt, and
the purchaser of indulgence was said to be delivered
from all his sins."

On this misrepresentation Swinton was removed, and
Anderson's NewGeneral History was substituted because,
as one member of the School Committee said, "It gives
a fair account of indulgences." But when he made
this statement he said what was not true. We appeal to
the book. Anderson's History DOES NOT CONTAIN A
WORD ABOUT INDULGENCES. What then are we to
understand? That the Committee had not examined the

book, and had been imposed upon?* or having examined
:II: The following indicates this as a possibility. In the meetinsr of the school com­

mittee, at which Anderson'e History was adopted, a member inquired upon what

Entered at the Post Office, Boston �s Second Class Matter,



2 THE sunSTITUTE FOR SWINTON, IWUAXIZED.

it, thèy would impose upon the public? We leave the

gentleman to explain. It was further said
in the Com­

mittee: "H facts are to be given in a history they must

be given as they are, and not distorted." Very true,
and

that is just what Swinton does. But how
about the his­

tory that does not give the facts?
On page 598 of

Anderson's new General History, we

read that irr the reign of Maximillian L, "Martin Luther

published his famous ninety-five theses against
the doc­

trines of the Catholic Church." Is this what the mem­

bers of the Boston School Committee call" truthful his­

tory?" Do theynot know thatMartin Luther's
theseswere

against the abuses of INDULGENCES? Again on page 599,
we read that" From the spread of Luther's tenets grew
what is called the Reformation." And this is all that

the School Committee of Boston would teach the youth
of America concerning one of the greatest and granilest
events of modern history. Cardinal John Newman, a

very high authority of the Roman Catholic Church, says
in his pamphlet in reply to Mr. W. E. Gladstone's" Vat

...

ican Decrees," that �'while Protestants speak of the

blessed Reformation, Catholics, when they describe it,

speak of it as the so-called Reformation.'" Singular

agreement between Anderson the author and Newman

the Cardinal.

Why is it that Anderson's General History, so highly
commended by the School Committee of Boston speaks
thus slightingly of such a great event, and otherwise

falsifies and distorts history? Why? "Anderson's"

History has been RmIAxlzED.

grounds the book was recomuieuded, and made
the following statement:

'
At a

meeting of one of the sub-committees SOOl1 after
Swinton was dropped, two puoks

upon History were upon the table-Fisher
and Anderson, which a member of the

text-book committee-also a member of this sub-committee was engaged at inter­

vals of business in looking over. The owner of the books came up to this
tr',em­

ber of t11e text-book committee and said r 'You may
take those books home it you

wish.? t Ql1, I don't care to,' was the reply. 'Take them home with you.
J can

easily g�t others,' was urged. 'Oh, it is not necessary, fifteen
minutes is em ugh

jor me on any history.' Now I had noted the pages
to which this member had

beep. giving his attention, and when he laid down the
books I took them up. and

opened to the pages where he had been reading and found
the subject _.matter 1 ) be

such as referred to the causes which led to the Reformation." Thp. :o;tntf'ment cl 'Rf'd

with this quest ion : "Now I would like to know if, upon this ground alQ'4f32 4.11 ter­

�QP' hill:) been reçqmmended by the text-book cormultte� rr
"



THE SUBSTITUTE FOR SWINTON, ROMANIZED. 3

In a Roman C.ltholic work, Judges of the Faith, pub­
lished at Baltimore and bearing the recommendations
and endorsements of two cardinals and several Bishops of
the Roman Catholic Church, thus giving it high author­

ity-we find, on pages 23, 24, 25, eight school books

strongly condemned, some. of which, the author says,
were "put on the Index of Prohibited Books." Of the

e�ght he condemns, Swinton's and Anderson's Histories
were the first named. Now, how does it happen that
one book thus condemned is substituted by the agents of
the Romish Church for another condemned book which

they had succeeded in removing from the public schools?
The natural inference is, the book has been Romanized
an d doctored to meet the wishes of the Roman Catholic

hierarchy.

THE OLD ANDERSON PIWIIlBITED.

On page 163: In speaking of

King Henry II. of England in the
middle ages, it says, "His next ob­

ject was to reform. the abuses and
correct the vices of the clergy, who,
being by the instìtutìonsof William
the Conqueror, amenable only to
ecclesiastical authority, set the com­

mon laws of the 'realm at defiance."

On page 179: In speaking of

Henry IV., after describing the part
the king and his son took in the bat­
tle near Shrewsbury (1403), when

they" signalized themselves by their
feats of'- strength and daring;" it

says, "Henry, in order to gain the

favor of the Church, caused severe
laws to' be passed aqainst the Lol­
lards (the followers of 'Vickliffe),
and one of them was condemned
and burnt at the stake (1401). This
'Was the first English subject that
'Was put to death on account of his

'religious opinions."
On page 191 it says: "The reign

of Philip II. (of France) is also
noted for the p ,RSECU'l'ION of the

.AlbJgellse::).'�

THE NEW ANDERSON ROMANIZED.

On pa,ge 350, it says of King
Henry II. of England: "His next
object was to diminish. the powers
and prioileqes of the clergy, who
were, by the institutions of '\Villiam
the Conqueror, amenable only to
the ecclesiastical courts by which if
found guilty they were delivered up
to the secular. power for punish­
ment."

On page 367, after describing in
the same language the part the kin,g
and his son took in this battle, ALL
after t he word" daring" is omitted,

On page 383 it says: "This reign
is memorable for the rise of the 1-

bigenses.'
,



4 THE SUBBl'LTUl'E .F0U SWINTON, ROl\IANIZED.

Qn page 384 tlus entire passage is
omitted;

l
l

On page 549 the words in itaucs

are emitted,

.

On page 549 it says: "The Hum
..

bel' of those who fell in Paris alone

has been estimated at 10,000; but it
is impossible to ascertain. the number

of' »ictims with accuracy.

COMMITTEE Of ONE HUNDREO, ROOM 22, CONGREGATIONAl. HOUSE, BOSTON, MASS.

On pàge 192: Under the reign of
Louis IX. of France it says,

" The

Inquisition was established at Tou­
louse, and all who refused to con-
form to the tenets of the Church of
Rome were merc£lessly punished."
On page 194: we are told that the Iu the new book all of this is

reign of Philip IV. of France "is omitted.
particularly noted for the contest
which arose between the King and
the Pope (Boniface VIII.), on ac-
count of the attempt of the latter to

prevent the taxation of the clergy.
Boniface in vain issued bull after

bull, all of which were treated with

contempt and defiance by Philip;
who, after the death of Boniface suc-
ceeded in placing the Archbishop of
Bordeaux under the title of Clement
V. on the papal throne, and trans­
ferred the seat of the papacy from

Rome to Avignon, where it remained
for about 70 years."
On page 293, under the reign of

Charles IX., we read "that the
Queen Mother entered into a con­

spiracy to remove him (Admiral Col-
igny) by assassination, and thus
arouse the 'oengeance of the Hugue-
nots, so that a pretext m'ight be
found fOI' their destruction.

On page 293: In speaking of the
St. Bartholomew Massacre, it says,
"
The number of those that fell in

Paris is estimated at 10,000; the
whole number slaughtered in differ­
ent parts of the kin,qdom amount­
ing to 30,000 •.

From this it will be seen that the Roman Catholic hier­

archy not satisfied with establishing schools of their own
and Iìllinv them with scholars taken from the public
schools, have decided to remove from the public schools

truth-telling histories, and substitute for them, histories
which pervert and suppress the truth. How long will
the American people submit to such foreign interference
with A '1wri<:'ll1 Iristitutions ?



No. �. DECEMBER, lS88.

UommittBB of One Hun.tlretl Series.
PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED.

OFFICE: ROOM 22 CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE, BEACON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

Monthly, 25 oents a year. Per 1,000, $4.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST GO I

THE FIAT ItAS GONE FORTH FRmr THE VATICAN.

l OP� l'lUci IX.

Than whom neither Council nor Bishop has spoken as

plainly on public education,-in the 45th proposition
of the Syllabus issued by him in 1864, declares" 'I'hat
the Romish Church has a right to interfere in the

discipline of the public schools, and in the choice of
the teachers for these schools." And in proposition 47th
that" public schools open to all children for the educa ...
tion of the young, should be under the control of the

Romish Church, should not be subject to the civil power,
nor made to conform to the opinions of the age." While
in proposition 48th he says" Catholics cannot approve of
a system of educating youth which is unconnected with
the Catholic faith and power of the Church."

Such a system he declares in his Apostolic Brief to the

Archbishops of Freiburg 1864, "Must necessarily be

guided by the spirit of error and lies."
"Peter having thus spoken-to use the words of the

Irish Bishops-through Plus, the question is settled; as
in him (the pope) all speak, all affirm, all deny; for he
is the infallible doctor and pastor of all Christians."

But, in the words of Father Jenkins, "We feel inclined
to pile up the evidence on this subject to the very skies."
So we quote the testimony of Cardinals, and Councils,

Entered at the Post Office, Boston, as Second Class JJfatter.



2 THE PURI.IC SCHOOLS MUST GO.

Archbishops and Bishops, Priests and Press. Listen to

CARDINAL ANTONELLI

who was verily" the power behind the throne." To Mr.
Dexter A. Hawkins, who, some years ago, investigated
under a commission the conditions of the public schools
in the papal states, the Oardinal said, he "thought it
better that the children should grow up in ignorance
than to be educated in such a system of schools as the

state of MASSACHUSETTS supported; that the essential

part of the education of the people was the Catectiiem ;
and, while the arithmetic and geography, reading and

writing and other similar studies might be useful they
were not essential."

The public schools must go ! So say
THE COUNCILS OF ROME.

T/w Sacred Oongregation of Propaganda in its in­
structions to the American Bishops, 1875, assigns as a rea­

sonwhy the Roman Catholic Church is hostile to the public
schools, that" teachers indiscriminately of every s.ect, are

employed-who are left free to sow errors and the seeds
of vice in tender minds."

The Second Plenary Oouncii of Baltimore, 1866,
ascribed to the public schools" that corruption of morals
which we have to deplore in those of tender .years."

The Second Provincial Council of Oregon, 1881, said
that "swearing, cursing and profane expressions are
distinctive marks of public school children," and all were

enjoined to preserve the little ones from the poisoned
atmosphere of these godless institutions."

ARCHBISHOPS

declare the public schools must go !

Archbishop Segher in his lecture on the "Secular
School System" says, "it is grossly and monstrously
immoral;" it is "a blot, a blemish, and a disgrace on this

country, a living scandal and an opprobrium which
covers its promoters with shame and infamy."
Arot-oiehop Williarns, of Boston, when a committee



TII� PUBLIC SCHOOLS :MUST GO. 3

waited upon him to complain al Rev. Mr. Scully of
Cambridgeport, refusing to give absolution to parentswho sent their children to the public schools. The
Archbishop "sustained the priest and gave the rebels to
understand that their Bishop considered himself insulted
by the bare suspicion that they would find any supportfrom him as favorable to public schools."
The public schools must go! So say

THE BISHOPS.

Bishop Gilmour of Cleveland, in his Lenten pastoralof 1873, authorizes confessors to refuse the sacraments
to parents who send their children to public schools.
Bislwp St. Patois of Indiana in a pastoral of 1872

"objects to the public schools on account of the infidel
source from which they originated."
Bishup Baltes of Alton, in his Lenten pastoral of 1870c:111s our public schools " Seminaries of infidelity, aud assnch most fruitful sources of immorality."
The public schools must go! So echo

THE PRIESTS.

Father lVClllcer on the evening of Sabbath, March 14,
1875, said in St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church, 84th
St., New York: "'l'he public schools are the nurseries of
VIce. They are godless schools, and they who send their
children to them cannot expect the mercy of God. . . .
I would as soon administer the sacraments to a dog as tosuch Catholics."
Priest Phelan at a convention held at St. Louis, Octo­

ber 17, 1873, said, "The children of the (public) schools
turn out to be learned horse thieves, scholastic counterfeit
ers, and well versed in all the schemes of deviltry. He
frankly confessed the Catholics stood before the countryas the enemies of the public schools. They would as
soon send their children into a pest-house, or bury
them, as let them go to the public schools. They wereafraid the child who left home in the morning, would
come back with something in its heart as black as hell."

The Roman Catholic priest U(/pel, according to a



4 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST GO.

newspaper report of
a conversation, which was widely

circulated and never contradicted, said, "The time is not

far away when the
Roman Catholics, at the order of the

pope, will
refuse to pay their school tax,

and will send

bullets to the breasts of the government agents; rather

than pay....
The order can come any day from Rome...

It will come as quickly as the click of the trigger, and it

will be obeyed, of course, as coming from God Almighty
himself."

The public schools must go! So voices

THE RO�IAN CATHOLIC PRESS.

The Catholic Teleg?"aph of Cincinnati says: "The

secular school is a social cancer presaging the death of

national morality... The sooner it is destroyed
the bet­

ter; it will be a glorious day for Catholics in this country,
when under the blows of justice (?) and morality (?) our

school system will be shivered to pieces."
The Freeman's Journal of Dec. 11, 1869, exclaims,

"Let the public school system go to where it came
from

-the devil."

The Catholic World, January 1870, says, "We are op­

posed to the common schools as they are,
because our church

condemns them." This same magazine for April, 1871,

says: "We do not
indeed prize so highly as some of

our countrymen appear to do the simple ability to read,
write and cipher.•.. The best ordered and

administered

state is that in which the few are well-educated and lead,

and the many are trained
to obedience, are willing to be

directed, content to follow, and do not aspire to be lead­

ers.... We believe the peasantry in old Catholic coun­

tries two centuries ago were
better educated although for

the most part unable to read or write,
than are the great

body of the American people to-day."
Thus Father

Hecker echoes the sentiments of Cardinal Antonelli, and

would have the public school give place to the reign
of

the "dark ages."

COMM'TTEE OF ONE HUNDRED, ROOM 22,
CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE, BOSTON, MASS.



No.4. JANUARY, 1889

OommittBB of OUB HUUdIBd SBriBs.
PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED.

OFFICE: ROOM 22 CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE, BEACON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

Monthly, 25 cents a. year. Per 1,000, $4.

IS SWINTON RIGHT!

OH,

THE TRUTH ABOUT INDULGENCES.

The battle now being waged in Boston on the "School

Question" turns on the truth or falsity of the language in
Swinton's"Outlines of the World's History" (page 320),
where that author defines "indulgences" as sold by the

representative of the Roman Catholic Ohurch, in Germany,
at the beginning of the 16th century. The language
alluded to is as follows:

"These indulgences were, in the 'early ages of the

church, remissions of the penances imposed upon persons
whose sins had brought scandal upon the community.
But in process of time they were represented as actual

pardons of guilt, and the purchaser of indulgence was
said to be delivered from all his sins."

The question is whether this definition is true or false?
Whether an "indulgence," at the time and in the place
of which Mr. Swinton speaks was understood to mean a
remission of sins ? We claim that the term was so

understood, and the first witness we present to substan­

tiate that claim is Martin Luther himself. It is well­

known that this intrepid monk opposed Tetzel in a series
of propositions or "theses" as they are called, and

which, h:lY1ng- committed to paper, ho nailed on tho <loel'

P;'(J,tfl'P.,r} at the Post Office, Boston, as Second Clas .
.:; ]I.rattr(q



2 IS SWINTON RIGHT?

of the church at Wittemberg. These theses are directed

against the sale of indulgences as carried on by Tetzel.
The fifth of these theses reads: "The Pope has no power .
to remit any other penalty than that which he has im­

posed." In other words the Pope has no power to remit

any other than the temporal punishment of sii}, i.e., the

penances inflicted by his own authority. Hemember that
Luther is refuting a counter-statement of Tetzel. What
therefore could that counter-statement have been but the

declaration that the Pope lwd power to remit not the

penance merely, but the sin itself?
The seventy-eighth thesis reads: "The Pope's indulgence

cannot take away the least of our daily sins-so far as
the blame or offence of it is concerned." What must

have been the counter-statement to this thesis but that

the Pope's indulgence was able to accomplish that very
thing and take away the blame and the offence of sin?
Bear in mind that we are here dealing with an entirely
unprejudiced witness so far as the tenets of Protestant­
ism are concerned. Luther at this time was a loyal
Catholic, a staunch defender of the Pope, and even of
the doctrine of indulgence itself when not carried too far.

These same theses abundantly establish these facts.
In addition to these theses we have Luther's letter to

the Archbishop of Madgeburg, preserved for us by
Romca: Oatholic historians, in which he complains of
the "scandalous traffic" of Tetzel and his associates, and

says that they persuade the common people" that they
will be sure of salvation if they only buy their letters of

plenary indulgence," and" that there is no sin which the

indulgences, will not absolutely and at once efface."
Our next witness is the distinguished historian Ranke,

not a Roman Catholic indeed, but one whose fairness to

that sect has laid him open to the charge of writing history
.

from a Catholic point of view, and who is frequently and

favorably quoted by Roman Catholic authorities. What
does Ranke say about indulgences in the 16th century?

Precisely this, that the Reformation "may be said to

have ori�inated ip. the violent shock which Luther's



OR, THE TRUTH ABOUT INDULGENCES.
3

religious feelings received from the sale of indulgences,"
which he subsequently describes as "the doctrine of a

forgiveness of sins to be had for money."
Our third witness is Cardinal Gibbons, who admits all

that is necessary to admit to justify our position. In his

work entitled" The Faith of Our Fathers" (p. 390), he

says: "I will not deny that indulgences have
been

abused." On page 393, he enters into the following pal'­
ticulars : " John Tetzel, a dominican monk, who was

appointed the chief preacher to announce the indulgence
iu Germany, was accused by Luther of exceeding his

powers by making them subservient to his own private
ends. Tetzel's conduct was disavowed and condemned

by the representative of the Holy See. The council of

Trent, which was held Bome time afterward, took effect­

ual measures to put a stop to all irregularities regarding

indulgences, and issued the following decree:'Wishing
to correct and amend the abuses which have crept into

them, and on occasion of which this signal name of indul­

gences is blasphemed by heretics, the holy synod, enjoins,
in general, by the present decree, that all WICKED TRAF­

FIC for obtaining them which has been the
fruitful

source of many abuses among
Christian people, should be

wholly abolished.'" We thus cannot ask any stronger
corroboration of Swinton than this from Cardinal Gib­

bons himself. He practically acknowledges, and so does

the Council of Trent, a "WICKED TRAFFIC" in

indulgences by the hands of John Tetzel, in Germany,
which gave rise to the Protestant

Reformation under

Martin Luther.

Our last witness, for we are limited as to space, is the

vicar-general of the Archdiocese of Boston, known as
the

Very Reverend William A. Byrne, who in a sermon
on

the subject of indulgences preached in St. Joseph's

Church, Sept., 30th, 1888, and reported by the secu­

lar press, said:" It was the preaching of
an indul­

gence granted by Pope Leo X. that gave Luther
his first

starting point in his attack on the Catholic Church.
The

exag�erated claims o] some Dominican monks, headed



4 IS SWINTON RIGHT?

by John Tetzel, as to the efficacy of indulgences,
and

certain abuses attending the collection of alms (?) as a

condition for gaining them, gave him a convenient
and

plausible pretext for repudiating certain
doctrines of the

church," etc.
What do we need more than the above testimony, in

every instance, but one, from
Roman Catholic sources,

to fully justify not only the statement in Swinton's
His­

tory, bnt almost any statement
on this question to be

found in any of our standard
Protestant books? Indeed

the more one considers the matter the more difficult he

finds it to believe even in the intelligence of the school

c-ommittee of Boston, without reference to its loyalty
either to the truth or to our common schools.

One is

obliged to saywithMr.EdwinD. Mead,
that the whole com­

motion at Wittemberg has no meaning, and the begin­

ning of the Reformation no explanation,
unless the doc­

trine of indulgences wns being represented
and under­

stood substantially as Swinton says it was.

THE AMERICAN CITIZEN

I� a weekly paper of eight pages, publ ished by a number
of gentle­

men whose patriotic purpose is to inform the public on
all important

..American issues. If you wish full information concerning
the doings

of the Roruish Church as to the Public School, and such other matters

as the secular press bas not the courage
or disposition to publish; if

you wish information as to the importance
of restrictlnx immigration,

of amending our naturalization laws, and of additional temperanee

legislation, send for THE AlVIEIUCA� CITIZE�,
115 Nassau Street,

::�C'W York; $2.00 a year; sample copies sen t tree.

��MMITTEE.
OF ?,'lE H�NORED�

ROOM
22�

CONGREGATIONAl., HO.USE. 60STON�
r�lA",";·



Monthly, 25 cents a year. Per 1,000, $4,

No. 5 A ]'february, tssa.

Oommittes of OnB HundIBd sensa
PUBLISHED BY THE COMrv'lITTt:.E OF ONE HUNDRED.

OFt:iCt: ROOM 22 CONGRE.GATIONAL HOUSE, BEACON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

THE GREAT VICTORY IN BOSTON.

The recent uprising in Boston which created THE COMMITTEE OF

ONE HUNDRED, and wrought at the municipal election, December

11th, 1888, such a political revolution as excited the wonder and called

forth the admiration of the friends of liberty in this and other lands,
has been described by the enemies of the movement as a religious
crusade against a particular sect, begun and carried on by Protestant

bigots. The object of this tract is to show that the very reverse was

tbe case; that instead of being fired with religious bigotry and race

prejudice, the leaders and supporters of the movement were really

seeking to preserve to Homan Catholics the civil, educational, and relig­
ious liberties guaranteed oy the state and nation, and instead of bigoted

clergymen inaugurating the movement, Roman Catholics began the

conflict. They sought to take the control of the public schools out of

the bands of those who would conduct them in accordance with Amer­

ican ideas and all à non-sectarian basis, that they might conduct them

hereafter in the interests of the Church of Rome; and in this attempt
the Romanists were seconded by all the members of the Boston

School Board, excepting Mrs. Fifield and 1\ii�s Dr. Hastings, the only
two women on the Board. vVhat are the facts?

On the 8th of May, 1888, the Rev. Theodore Metcalf, a Roman Catho­

lic priest, complained iu a letter to the School Board, which was imme­

(Hately published in the papers, that Mr. Charles B. 'l'ruvis of the

English High Sebool, hnd
v

trespassed on the forbidden ground of

religion, and made statements which were an outrage to Catholics, iu

his endeavor to explain the Catholic doctrine of Indulgences." 'I'h is

communication was referred to the Committee on High Schools. alln

notwithstanding 1\11'. Travis, in a letter to the Chairman of the Com­

mittee, most emphatically denied that the statements made to eILH�i­

date the passage on Indulgences were ever" put in such a way m; to

throw ridicule or contempt upon any boyar upon any religion," that

Committee, in a report signed by J. D. Blake, Willìam C. 'Villiamson,

Joseph D. Fallon, Thomas O'Grady, (all Catholics save Williamson)
sustained the charge, and recommended that 1\11'. Travis be transferred

to some other department, and the text-book, which they held misled

the teacher, oe removed. The report was accepted, and Swinton's

Outlines of theWorld's History, which had been in use in the schools

for ten years, was taken out, and 1\1r. Travis, who had been a teacher

for some twenty years, was transferred from Mediæval to Ancient

History. The ground taken by the priest was that Swinton's History

Entered at tile Post o.tfice, Boston, as Second Class Matter.



'-rIm GR1£AT ViCTORY IN ROSTON"

iti a sectarian book,- but this is not so. Like all other impartial bisto
..

rtes, Swinton simply records an unpleasant fact in the, history of the
Roinish Church, concerning the sale of indulgences which happened a

few hundred veal'S ago. The School Committee removed the book

because they said,
,.
its teaching is not correet ; it conveys the impres­

sion that an indulgence is a permission to commit sin." Swinton's

History teaches nothing of the kind, (see tract
4' Substitute for Swin­

ton, Romanized.")
This intermeddling by a Romish priest, with the public schools, the

citizens of Boston felt they must rebuke, aud through the press and in

public meetings they freely expressed their ìndiguation. The mo.st
memorable uieet.inas were those held on the evening of July 11, III
Faneuil HaH and Tremont Temple. Never did Boston witness such a

spectacle as the grand old cradle of Liberty presented on that night.
The historic structure was packed to its utmost capacity, and n finer

audience, or a more patriotic and enthusiastic one never gathered
beneath a roof and as the speakers one after the other avowed the
determiuation of the people to defend at all hazards, the public schools

against Jesuitìcat intrigue, the famous old building fairly rocked with
successive tempests of applause.
On this night at Funeuil Hall and Tremout Temple, the initiative

steps were taken towards forming the Committee of One Hundred.
On entering upon its work, the Committee-composed of leading citizens
of Boston, clergymen and laynien,-made some important discoveries
and soon realized the magnitude as well as importance of the work

they had undertaken. 'I'hey found, for instance, the municipal govern­
ment in the control of Roman Catholics; from the Mayor down, the
baud of the priest was seen and his influence felt. The city's charita­
ble institutions, under a board of directors were being rapidly Roman­
ized, In some the sacred desk was displaced by the confessional box,
and the Bible removed to make way for an image of the Virgin. The
School Committee of twenty-four members, having in charge all the
educational interests of the city, the Primary, and the Grammar, the
High, Latin and Normal Schools, and composed of twelve Catholics,
eleven Protestants and one Jew, was practically ru l1 in the interest of
Romauism. For vears the text-books had been submitted to the exam­
ination of Jesuit �priests, and until they were mutilated to suit these
gentlemen they cou Id nut be used ; while other books, as for instance
Dickens' Child's History of England, and Miss Thompson's History of
England, were from time to time quietly removed from the schools
because they contained things displeasing to those Romish Inquisitors.
Steadily and persistently competent and experienced Protestant teach­
ers were dismissed and their places filled by incompetent Roman Catho­
lic teachers. This was easily done, as the standing committee of the
School Board on nominations was composed of four Roman Catholics
and one Protestant, and when nominations were made to the Board,
all the Roman Catholic members were on hand to vote approval. while
several of the Protestant members were invariably absent; and the
masters to whose schools the iueompeteuts were appointed, were given
to ,understand that if they cared aught for their places and their sal­
aries, they had better keep still and sav uothiuz.
] n some instances, priests would wurn teachers not to mark Ror.ian

Catholic children late or absent, who were off attending mass, other­
wise they would pay for it; while in others a priest would go to a
school during school hours, and have leave given him to take out



THE GREAT VICTORY IN BOSTON.

Roman Catholic scholars that they might attend some mission service
in a Catholic church. Almost all the division committees having in
charge the public schools had on them Catholic majorities, while the
other standing committees were largely formed in the same interest;
on some of the most important committees, all the members were
Catholics.
Such in brief was the situation of things when the Committee of One

Hundred was created. After the School Board had removed Swinton
and transferred 1\1r. Travis, the Committee of One Hundred, as well
as the Evangelical Alliance of Boston sent committees to the High
School and Text-book Committees, to protest against such changes, but
their protests were disregarded. The School Board refused to recon­
sider their action, and substituted for Swinton's History, Anderson's
New General History, thus proving beyond all question. that the mem­
bers were managing' the schools according to the dictates of the
Vatican, as Anderson's History had been Romanized and prepared
in the interest of Rome. (See tract, The Substitute for Swinton.)
Meanwhile, the Committee of One Hundred, by means of the pulpit,

the platform and the ch'eu lation of literature, was bringing to light
the deep laid plans and �Jesuitical intrigues of the Romish hierarchy
concerning the public schools, and preparing the people to elect in
December new membel's of such a character as would secure a recon­
struction of the School Board, and free it from mischievous Jesuitical
control.. In this work the Committee were wonderfully aided by some
loyal and patriotic organizations of women, such as the Loyal Women
of American Liberty, Independent Women Voters of Boston, Bunker
Hill Educational and Suffrage Association, and the W. C. T. U.
The first named organization especially did a grand work in pro­
moting' the assessment and registration of women to vote for School
Committee.
While this was gotng on, Boston was stirred from centre to circumfer­

ence. For awhile it looked like a spirited trial of strength between
. Protestants and Catholics. At times the latter were massed in certain
sectiou-, awl brought up to the assessors' office in crowds, among whom
were Yery many who could neither read nor write, and were therefore
disqunl itled from voting; and this their leaders knew, but it was done
to creare a scare among the friends of the public schools and induce
them to retire from the contest on the ground that the Roman Catholic
women voters would greatly outnumber them; meetings were held
nightly in the basements of some Catholic churches, and ill halls where
Catholic women were initiated into the mysteries of writing their own
names and learning to read from a card, some lines of the Constitution,
copies of said card being hung up in some ward rooms over the regis­
trars' desk. Secret circulars were sent by the Catholic leaders among
the women of Roman Catholic parishes, in which the party of the
other side were stigmatized as bigots who were attacking the Catholic
church, and the Irish race; and Catholics were urgently called upon to
register and vote to rebu ke the bigots. But in this they did not succeed;
the American women who hall rallied to the defence of the schools
were not to be thus frightened. The scene at the City Hall during the
weeks given to the assessment of women who proposed to vote was
unique and unparalleled. Committees of Catholic and non-Catholic
women attended through all the sessions of the assessors, to assist
women desiring to be assessed, and many an office-holder at the City
Hall helped on the work of Catholic assessment, and at the close It was



4 'l'H'E GREAT ViCTORY IN B081'ON.

found that 25,000 women were assessed; of that number only 21,000
afterwards registered and thus qualified themselves to vote.

Next followed the selection of candidates for School Committee, after

months of careful examination and pains-taking scrutiny , in confer­

ence with committees of the several organizations of women. The

Committee of One Hundred selected the names of nine men and two

women, none of whom were Catholics (as eight of the old Board hold­

ing over were of that faith) but all of whom were eminent citizens,
well known to possess unusual qualifications for serving 011 the

School Committee, and of pronounced patriotic and non-sectarian

sentiments. With this ticket, containing the same names as that of the

Republican ticket, the Committee of One Hundred went into the

field, and entered upon a vìzorous campaign; and notwithstanding
the Democrats and a so-caned citizens' convention had each a ticket

containing the names of several Catholics, and at the eleventh hour

some female suffragists, (notwithstanding the women voters in con­

vention assembled had voted not to issue an independent ticket,)

printed what they called the woman's ballot for School Committee

and sent it by mail to the thousands of registered women voters in

Boston, and though the tendency of this ticket was to deceive the

women who bad rallied to defend the schools, as it contained some of

the names on the ticket of the Committee of One Hundred, with sev­

eral Catholics also,- the Committee, however, were able in time

through the press and by energetic action to sound the alarm, so that'

the Committee's ticket with that issued by the Republicans for Mayor
and School Committee, came out victorious. This victory was all the

more marked as a-heavy penetrating rain prevailed all day. But the

disagreeable weather and the peculiar circumstances so new and try­
ìnz did not in the least daunt the women of Boston. Zealously and

effectively hundreds of them labored from the opening to the closing
of the polls 011 that ever to be remembered 11th day of December,
1888, when the heaviest vote by many thousands ever known in the

city was polled. It was a signal victory. It was a double and a treble

victory; a victory over Jesuitical intrigue, over the elements, and over

the basest kind of misrepresentations and forgeries.- a victory that

thrilled the whole country, and gave new life and inspiratlon to t hose

who, in every state had been struggling to defend the public schools

against the encroachments of Rornanism. From every state and ter­

ritory in the Union, from islands of the Pacific, and from beyond the

f"nas, the Committee of One Hundred have received congratulatory
letters, and inquiries as to "how it was done?"
This tract is designed to give an answer to this question. 'I'he story

is very briefly and imperfectly set f'orth ; none but members of the
Committee have even a faint idea of the work it has been doing since

July 11th, a work the results of which are largely due to the promi­
nent part taken by- many of the clergy of Boston of all denominations,
in giving light and information on the subject from the pulpit, the plat­
form and through the press.
A completer organization this city has never known. nor has a more

important field ever been presented for operations, and it will be no

fault of the Committee of One Hundred, if the ,glorious results
achieved by the election are not made permaneut.

COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED, ROOM 22, CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE, BOSTUN, MA�S.