The Woodstock age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1844-1845, 1844-06-27
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN DAN.
err.
MISUNDERSTANDING AMER
lCANS-MOBS, BURNINGS, AND
MURDERS,

THE CATIIOLICS-NATIVE AMER
lCANS-MOBS, BURNINGS, AM
MURDERS.
An effort appears to be making, will
the view ofyirtuaIy deprying that sect o
Christians called Catholics, from cnjoyin!
the liberty which in this country is guar
antced by our Constitution and laws to al
sccts and all religions. What cannot be
done by law, is attempted through false
hood, mlsled public opinion, and excited
mobs.
With pain and Indignation we have seer
efforts, by misrepresentation most foul, tc
make the Catholics as a sect, responsible
for the late riots and murders in PhiadeI.
pha,
The New York Journal of Commerce
a poitico-rcIigious newspaper, on the 3Otl
nlllmo, contained an article with the fol-
loving caption, viz
"I'hc Roman Catholic Murders in Phil.
adclphia,"
Beginning with IN assumption that Ro.
man Catholics were the murdcrcrs, the
journal goes on to sustain its position 1t
thus states the case, viz;
"Thc material facts are, that political
meeting Of American citizens, convened
Tor the purpose Of discussing questions of
public Importance, was fired upon, several
persons killed and wounded, the assembly
broken up and driven from the ground,
and the American flag under which they
had assembled lramplcd under foot: that
when, a few days after the meeting re-as-
sembIed for the same purpose, and under
the same Gag a fire more deadly than the
first was opened upon them from bindings
in the nclghborhood, looped-hoIed before.
hand, and with the use OF arms which
from their number and character proved
that the attacks had been pIaned dcIbcr-
ately, and by other persons besides those
who were present at the time. This attack
was resisted, and the houses from which
1t proceeded were set fire to, upon which
an extensive conllagration cnsued The
armed men were driven from their posi-
tlonS, and mob was gathered which con-
;lnued for several days, during which time
two churches were burned, and other acts
ofylolcnce committed upon property, but
no lives taken. The men who composed
the dcllberative assembly we're protestants
and chiefly natlve-born citizens; the men
who fired upon them we're Roman Catho-
lies, and chiefly, if not wholly, of foreign
birth"
The journal, we are compelled to saw.
misstates the facts, and arrives at a concln-
sion which the real facts show to be alb
surd if not wicked. That conclusion is,
that "thc ottacks had Jcm planet dcHbr-
atciy.'
That handful Of Roman Catholics. in
one OF onr great cities, should deliberately
plan an attack on protestant assemhlaGc,
implies not only want of common sense,
but Of that instinct which teaches even the
brute creation to regard their own per.
sonal safety What, in the conception
even of a child, must be the consequences
of an attack by Catholics on Protcstants,
where the latter ou,numbcr the former a
hundred to one? What but the dcstruc-
ton of the Catholics themselves, What |
but the burning of their own houses, the |
destruction of their furniture and goods,
and turning ont their wives and children,
to wander through the country houscless
and starvingl Does the journal really
believe the Catholics would deliberately
enter upon career of this sort with their /.
senses about them, even if Us dcpraved as
its editors suppose them to be!
This is not all. Those who have read
the accounts as TO the commencement of
the riot, cannot have forgotten that the pre-
sence of the natives in the market-housc
when the aifray began, was itself purely
accidental. They had met at some dis
lance in an open lot, and had there COM
menccd their proceedings, aud retired TO