The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-21 00:00:00

JANUARY- 21, 1862.

THE ROMAN CA2IIOLIC BISHOP OF
MONTREAL ON THE AMERICAN WAR.

The following pastoral was read in the pulpits of
the Roman Catholic churches in the diocess of Mon-
treal on Sunday, the 29th of December :
" MONTREAL, DEC. 25, 1861.
" Sir,—To-day the Church celebrates the birth of
the King of Peace, singing with the angels, Glory
to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good-will
to all men ;' but we hear, alas ! but cries and ru-
mours of war.

"Already our Government, in its wise provision,
has deemed fit to call upon the good-will of the

country by a proclamation, which orders that a
company of 75 men be formed for active service
within 15 days from each battalion of militia.
" As many persons do not read the newspapers
which reproduce official documents, you will please
explain to your parishioners the orders which have
emanated from the authorities, civil or military, re-
specting the enrolment in question.
" You will readily make them understand that all
the Government requires of them is to their advan-
tage, and that they should hasten to reply to the
appeal which is thus made to them. You will un-
doubtedly attain this end by laying before them the
following considerations and such others as suggest
themselves to the minds of all serious and reflecting
men.

" War is a scourge, always dreadful to a people.
One of the best means to avert it is to have men
well armed and well disciplined to repel the enemy.
Our Saviour Himself told us so, saying that the
King who wishes to go to war commences by calcu-
lating the strength of his forces ; and if he finds
that he is too weak to make resistance, takes every
means to insure a peace. Alioquin, adhuc ille lonyi
agente,legationem mittens, royat ea quo pacis sunt.
(Luke xiv., 32.) It is highly commendable for a
country to be duly forearmed, in order to prevent
the terrible disasters which armed invasion always
effects, This is what should be done by respond-
ing to the appeal of the Government.
" It is not now question for the Volunteers to shed
their blood on the frontiers, as war with our neigh-
bours has not been even declared, and may not be,
especially if they perceive that Canada has many
strong arms well disciplined for defence. We
incur, therefore, less risk of war by enrolling in
large numbers, and with heartiness, than if we
stood with our arms folded, as cowards and lazy
people generally do.
" In all wars there are always great evils to be
deplored. The country is devastated, the cities
burnt, property pillaged, commerce ruined, the har-
vests destroyed, and, above all, the people are de-
moralised, girls and women are insulted, and the
public morals considerably changed for the worse.
In arming for the defence of our Government it is
clear that we arm for the defence of our property
and for the honour of our families and country.
Nay, more, We render unto Caesar the things
which belongeth unto Caesar,' as our Saviour so
expressly recommends us so to do in the Scriptures;
and consequently we fulfil a religious duty which
merits the eternal reward. _ _ _

" In justice each proprietor is obliged to defend
his property by all the honest means which the law
of God gives him. Now, a country is one large
property divided among the different members of a
numerous family, which is called a naticn. It is,
therefore, the duty of all the members of this great
national family, who are all brothers, being chil-
dren of the same Government, to join in a union as
strong as it is tender to defend their common pro-
perty. They who do not understand this duty, im-
posed upon all the members of a common family, do
not possess the natural sentiments of existence.
" The Apostle St. Paul in teaching Christians to
obey their Governments, also told them why a king
of the earth, who is the minister of God and the
avenger of crime, carried a sword---' Non enim sine
causa giadium portat ; Dei enim minister est, vindex
in iram ei qui malum agit ' (Rom. xiii. 4). And
now, our Government, after having given the coun-
try such liberal institutions that it has truly made
it the most happy country of the earth, offers it to-
day, for the purpose of protecting it against the
invasion with which it is menaced, its powerful
sword—that is to say, its army, its navy, its money,
in a word, all that is necessary to a people which
desires to defend at all cost its possessions.

" Encouraged by such liberal offers, the entire
country will rally with alacrity around the glorious
British standard. At the head of its battalions, if
withal we must come to blows with the enemy, will
march those intrepid Crimean soldiers who were
sent hither to rest after that glorious cam-
paign. Nothing, therefore, can be more encouraging
to the inhabitants of this country than the thought
that to defend their firesides they will fight side by
side with experienced soldiers, and with brothers
whom the common danger will have taught to act
as one man.

" Men of all origins will form an intimate alliance
and be as one for the defence of our common country.
Each will have to sustain under the protecting folds
of the flag of Great Britain its national honour and
its military glory. Many Canadians in doing this
will not forget the deeds of arms of their forefathers,
the memory of which applies to so many persons
and to so many places under their eyes. It will be
seen if the heroes of Chateauguay are still alive,
and if the blood which circulated in their veins still
runs in those of their children and countrymen.
" Truly it is not question for the moment of a
military engagement. The Government expects
that there will be among the population of the
country a true loyalty, and that among the subjects
of her Majesty there will be found enough brave
volunteers to stay enrolment by virtue of the law
which would force young men to enter into the
incorporated militia, and all others able to carry
arms to turn out by general order. Would it not
be better, to avert this extremity, for all the people
of the country to come forward and place themselves
at the disposal of Government, so that they may
receive the best of weapons and learn the use of
them, in order to defend their property, than to
wait until the enemy has put everything to the
torch and sword P Would not battalions of volun-
teers, well armed and well drilled, defend the coun-
try better than bands of poor men, who, not having
been disciplined, would go to the battlefield but to
be slaughtered ? Besides, is it not evident that Go-
vernment would the more attach itself to a country
which had shown such great devotion ? Would it
not favour with affection still more paternal the
already so liberal institutions which it has bestowed
upon it? Will it not be thereby the more impelled
to protect that religion which sustains man on the
battlefield, and teaches him to sacrifice his life for
the love of God and of his country ? A faithful
peoples comes to be as well loved by its Government
as a good child is loved by its father.
" Furthermore, supposing that the scourge of
war with which we are now threatened should
burst upon is, we will take courage in the assu-
rance that we are in a condition and quite ready to
make a vigorous resistance. All who are called
upon to assist in repelling the march of the enemy,
to drive him from their homes, will have learnt be-
forehand to march to victory in having learnt to
fight according to the rules of the military art.
They will have, besides, their zealous pastors to ab-
solve them before the battle, and, should they be
called upon to die the deaths of heroes, they will
have them by their sides to die good Christians.
" From these principles, and others which you
will speak of when needful, our brave people will
comprehend that it is to their own advantage to
offer themselves to their officers immediately, to re-
ceive arms from Government and learn by military
exercise to make good use of them.
" Strengthened by our pastoral injunctions, they
will learn to despise the bad counsels which may
be given them by ignorant or evil-minded persons.
The old adage which religion has graven on the
hearts of our fathers—' My soul to God, my body to
the Kin g'—will animate and sustain their courage.
" As to ourselves, who are placed between the
vestibule and the altar, we will not cease crying
with confidence, ' Spare, 0 Lord, spare thy people
by averting the terrible scourge of war with which
we are threatened.' Let us preach penitence as the
only and the sole way of appeasing the wrath of the
Lord in these evil days. Let us not cease repeat-
ing, in the pulpit and elsewhere, that now and above
all should the mundane cease going to balls, festi.