The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1854-12-01
From til, pinsbargh Christian Alyoclt
JEsUiTIS1T.

From til, rinsblrgh Chdsuan AlYoca,2.
JEsuITIsM.
Recent developments would seem to dis
close that the Jesuites have gotten a finger
into the mails, through which they exercise
Il secret surveillance over the conduct of pub
! lie indvd ais suspected Of hostility to their
Church. This may sound strange in the
ears ola native American, who has always
been accustomed to regard the Post Office as
a sacred and nviolable depository of intelli-
gence;- who. hitherto, has committed to its
safe.kcepng his most secret thoughts with
as lit fear Of betrayal as if confined to his
own breast Yet it seems nevertheless to be
true. The Newark IN. j. Advertiser, of
October 2S, contains list of letters which
were broken open while in possession Of the
, Post Office department, copies of them ta-
ken, and the letters then forwarded 10 their
! destinations! Two of these copies were pub
ished through the M2rristcwn Banner, and
the others circulated from hand to hand
Those published in the Banner appeared also
in another paper, the New Jersey Herald, ac
companed by this very significant remark:
The discovery and possession of these let
ters will show the piotcrs that heir more
mentS are all ,ra'ched ard haorn; their secret
DISCUSSES will be stripped from them, ard il
future they will have to act openly with the
! Wings"
In connection with those disclo osures,
writer observes: sit should be stated in JUS
! tice to the po5tmasters in this district, that
for the last few weeks there have teen fsco
clerks in tie Pos, Office dsPar!msn! at WASH
jRgt0a in this county one OF whom claims to
be a secret agent Of the Postmaster General
! The same writer furnishes pretty clear evi-
dence that these are not isolated cases. -
From the fact" h says, "that copies Of Sc
crct circulars, issued in other States, have
/ been, within the last few weeks, after being
mailed, copied and published without the
knowledge Or Consent of the writers or those
20 whom they were addressed, grave suspi-
cons are suggested that the practice of
breaking open and reading or copying letters
is a common practice under the administra.
ton OF the present Postmaster General, who
was appointed Tor yc,aiiar reasons, and main
tains pecWizr relation to the Know Moth
inrs, whose correspondence, it is said, is
These are certainly remarkable statements
and require the serious attention Of tie pub
lie. That letters have been thus ubstracted
from the mails and rendered public without
the knpwlt dye or assent OF the persons to
whom they belonged, would seem to admit of
no doubt l.. rs is minated this is done
through the completely OF the heads Of this
department OF Government, it is not only un-
prccedentcd in the history Of the country,
but deveopes in the federul administration
the operation, OF a power utterly hostile to
our free institutions, and which should AVA
ken profound sensation il the public mind.
Such secret agents may be allowable under
despotic governments, and employed success
fully to repress political ard religious heresy,
but their use in this country, we think, will
prove failure. Ii the "know Nothings''
should be likely to fail, the "KHOlC S0Hte-
.MiRgs'' would ba certain to unite with them
in resisting snch tyranny. If the Jesuiis, as
, would seem likely from the circumstances
and their known character, have suggested
the use Of these new party tactics, we would
Just whisper in their ear, Gentlemen, you
, have again bundered. You are upon a
wrong track. Your measures carry you fur
ther from your obiec: You have proved but
l dull scholars in the school of experience
have proited but little by increased ac-
quaintance with American character, ii yop
hope by such means to overthrow an obnoI-
ous political organization. The source Of
; power here is the ballot box, and your as
cendancy at the ballot b * is rendered more
hopeless by every such exhibition Of your
, anii-American character. The system you
seek to establish, American citizens believe
can never exist in this country but by the
destruction of their civil and religious lib
critics, and their action at the polls will be
ever fonnd in accordance with this conviction
Were it ot erwise, they would deserve the
slavery they court. They would deserve to
live under government which should de-
prve them o. their Bibles, prescribe the
books they should read, the thoughts they
should ureathe---thrusting itself sbetween
God and the soul-stripping it of its heaven
born rights to think aud act for itself in the
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