The American patriot., 1854-12-27

once been fashioned by the poisonous influences o.
defective education, it is not conceivable thas
change Of climate and scenery, and the genial IN
fuences Of this hospitable land, can revolatonlze
in a moment his habits Of thought. new ma
ture more consonant with the responsibilities ora
republican citizen, more congenial tothe novel
duties he has assumed, must be the work Of time
For an adult immigrant the task is never a light
one to forget the lessons of his youth-to weed out
the preudices of nativity and education; change
of soil and transfer of allegiance are the least
onerous half of his self imposed duties. With
his children, it is different. Sitting in our shooi
houses, side by side with children of American
parents, acquiring knowledge from the same class
books, playing the same games; they learn to
speak the same language and think the same
thoughts; and the second generation, cast from
the cradle in the Republican mould, arrive at man
hood thoroughly imbued with love, devotion, and
a shrewd appreciation Of the institutions OF the
land of their adoption.
As an inseparable ally, and by far the most
dangerous element Of foreign influences, we re-
gard the Roman Church. We are well aware
that the American party has been charged with
interference with religious opinions and the rights
Of conscience, because Of its hostile attitude to
out Of whole cloth. The one Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church, as it claims to be, which. sits
clothed in historic grandeur upon the Seven Hills,
which reaches back to the time when Paul
stood before Agrippa, and the primitive Chris,
tians found shelter and concealment in the cata-
combs-which supplies the chasm between ancient
and modern timcs-which has swayed the minds
of men for eighteen hundred years, and given
them more comprehensive guidance than any
other institution--this prisca Jsdes with its long
line of two hundred and sixty Popes, stands in
no peril from the movement of the American
party Its peculiarties of fath its salient points
of doctrine, it is-not intended to question. In
the conscientious exercise of his private thoughts
| the Roman Catholic will be left free as air-his
craven images, his marvels and miracles, his Ma
donnas and Virgin Marys, his idols all jeweled
and bespangled, and all the symbols and solemn
mummeries of his faith which are SO offensive to
the Protestant taste need fear heretical profa-
nation at the hands of the new Political Power
They are all his especial property; his in public,
and in private, in the chapel and the closet; his
under the ample guaranty of the Constitution
and Laws; and while many may question the funda-
mentals of his creed, there are none Of Americon
birth who would so far violate the spirit Of free
dom as to question his right to its undisputed
worship.
| No! 1t is not the Roman Catholic Religion,
but the Roman Catholic Polity at which the hos
tility of the new party is leveled 1t is not the
claim to spiritual, but to temporal inallibility-
in the Head of that Church which is regarded by
that party as dangerous to American liberties.
The belief of the Romanist that the word of in
spiration, the deed of miracle, the authority to
condemn and forgive spiritually We're transmitted
by Christ to the College of Apostles, and by Peter
bcqueathed in perpetual stewardship to his sue
cessors, the Popes, is an incident of his faith o.
no repugnance whatever to the American party
or any other party Of this Republic. Neither is
it of the slightest political moment that Holy
Mother Church should lead captive the fancy O.
her devotees, by volunteering to the beleaguered
sinner all the delusive but face machinery of hel
theory of salvation, such as the mass, holy water
cofesson, absolution, and that pleasant fgment o
Purgatory, which holds out to the bankrupts Wit
have saked their souls in the game of life, snu,
halfway house on their journey to the lowe
regions, where they may sojourn awhile, ant
"play an after game Of salvation" But whcl
His Holm ess, the Pope, that fat old gentleman
in scarlet hailing from the Vatican" is invested
by the Catholic Priesthood, and the Catholic BODY
of this Republican land, with all that he claims
supremacy, not alone spiritual but temporal a
well, point Of subscrviency is reached whicl
brings his disciples in direct conflict with tn
spirit of our institutions and the letter of tn
Constitution. At this anti-national spirit, thi
anti-republican crnging to q foreign potentate
whose banner is borne aloft in every land by
priesthood that never dies and whose most zealou
missionaries are host of Jesuits, active, sleep
less, intriguing and unprincipled, whose characte
for slipperness and subtlety we would not $
needlessy asperse as to suppose any one of ther
hampered with a conscience, the American min
is justly iucensed. .l..--. Adj.
1t has been remarked that "it is not on tn
chair and tomb Of Peter, but on the seat Of Con
stantnc, on the ruins of the Empire, that tn
genius of the Papacy was enthroned," and ther
seems to be no reason to doubt that the ecclesas
tic strength was first asserted in temporal maj
ters when Alarc sacked Rome, and the timid En-
peror hid himself in Ravenna, leaving the Bisho