Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1845-02-03
CATHOLICISM.

The greatest objection on the part of Native Anne
rfeans to. foreigners, is that many of them are Ca
thciies. They are, and we must Judge the tree by
its fruits. Had we, ourselves been orn and edu.
Gated in Catholic communities zoe might have been
Catholic, too. We have been taught from our in
fancy to abhor the Catholics The primer which
was put into our hands when me gan to learn to
read, contained as matter Of poetry for infant
minds,
"Abhor that arrant whore of Rome, -
And all her blasphemies,
And drink not OF her cursed cup,
Obey not her jecreesi"
Can we ever forget? And then, how John Bunyan
was kept twelve years in Bedford jail leaving US to
ascertain for ourselves, that he was the victim not
of Catholic, but Of Protestant persecution. And,
then, too, how our fathers fed to this distant sa-
wage Wilderness to find refuge from cruel, relent-
less persecution; leaving childish simplicity I'M
informed of the fact that this was Protestant,
not Catholic, persecution. And IN the thousand
tales of revolutionary times, to which childish
intellect attended, with inexpressible interest and
wonder, our attention was never once called to the
fact that it Protestant England that strove to
crush our liberties, while CATHOLIC France was
tending to US her powerful and efficient and. And
when the minister visited the school, he told US how
dear and scarce the bible used be before the art
of printing and how very few could own either that
or any other book, and how very few could learn
TO read in those times. Did we ever dream that it
Catholic 10 whom the world wss indebted for
the art of printing! and that Proestants were in
debted for the privilege of having the bible and all
other books, to what Catholic had done, long be-
fore Martin Luther was born. We began to stu
dy Geography and were told how the science had
been, US it WERE not improved, but originated by
the knowledge and of the Mariners compass.
Yes, commerce, navigation, geography, all grow
ing out of another invention by Catholic. CO.
lumbus, the immortal discoverer of the world,
was with all his heart and soul, Catholic, too;
and he sa lied and made his discoveries under the
patronage of sovregns whose style and title was
"Most Catholic Calico, g the Columbus Of
the Heavens" the inventor OF the telescope; who
began to instruct the human mind to launch abroad
into newly discovered universe; Calico was a
Catholic all over. We studied ancient history;
and Rollin, the accomplished, the philosophlc, the
dspassiona,e the pious professor OF Catholic uni
verslty was our favorite author. Cuvier, who be-
gan to tura and read the leaves of a new volume
fraught with blossoms of truth the most exalted;
with ina ges Of unspeakable loneliness and wonder;
food for the sublimest meditation themes tor devo-
ted praise; the ineligible records OF by gone races
and former worlds; the secrets OF ages before man
was created; the realized wonders of the elder
world, a. it were, created again by science'-Cu-
vier was Catholic, too, and professor OF Cath
olc University. And in view of all this, and hun
dred fold more of simila! evide noes, can we hear
without feelings of strong dlsapprobaton and deep
regret, the everlasting denunclatons from the pupl
and the press, against Romanism as system OF in
ye,erate and deadly hostility to the progress and
expansion of the human intellect Might not our
spiritual guides adopt for themselves and those I'M
der their care more liberal and emil ghtened cour
True, we read of dreadful prosecutions; but Rome
has nothing peculiar in this respect This country,
during the go years of It's history, witnessed al
most nothing ofbtoods persecution for religion. and
not a solitary instance by Catholics. In Catho-
lie population of well nigh 200, 900, COO, in Europe
aad America, and in countries where their power
is unlimited and supreme, when and where have
they authorized bloody persecution for eligion
within the last 30 yearsl But, we are told, look
to what they did in former periods,' We have read
accounts of all this; and have read too, of the
bloody and ferocious depotism of the Druids, in
Ancient Briton; of the human sacrifices and canni-
bal practices Of our English ancestors, be-
fore they had learned. from either Pagan Chris
tan Rome, ,he lessons of superstition and cruelty.
Protestants have done something in the work ofper-
secu,ion, as the history OF Henry the VIII, and
Elizabeth, the history Of ireland. the history of the
Purtans and Of other sects of dissenters, sufficient
ly show. "But Catholics are the enemies of free
dcm,' We are tod. Our Revolutionary Congress