True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1855-02-22
!. RAGAN, Editor and Proprietor.

deprived OF his throne, ana MS suD]ectS
were absolved from their oath Of allegi-
ancet The Pope claimed the right to dis
pose of Henry1s empire, with absolute au-
thority as fief of St. Peter! This case
was referred to and detailed and justified
by the honorable gentleman from Pennsyl-
vania, [NIr. Chandhr.] The same gentle
man admits
"Undoubtedly, the Pope has proceeded
to dethrone Kings, and thus to release sub
jects. History declares that more than
one monarch has been made to descend
from his throne by the edict Of the Popes,
and that the allegiance of his subjects has
been transferred, by that edict, to sue
ceeding monarch"
This is an adj dnission-the argument
would be quite sufficient for our purpose.
Rut before I proceed to reply to the gen.
tleman from Pennsylvania, I propose to es-
tablish the historical fact, that for six or
seven hundred years, the Bishops Of Rome
(the Popes,) have claimed and exercised
the right-as a divine right-to depose
monarchs, and to absolve their subjects.
In 663, the Emperor Constans, went to
Rome, the Pope vent out six miles, with
all his clergy, to meet him, and attended
him, during his stay in Rome, as his lord
and master. But n 1161, Henry H., and
Louis of France, '4net the Pope, and they
gave him such marks of respect that they
both dismounted toreceive him, and hold
ing each Of them, enc of the reins Of his
bride, walked on bot by his side, and
conducted him in that manner into the
castle-a spectacle to God, angels, and
men, and such as had never before been
exhibited to the world"
About this period, began the serious
disturbances between the Kings of Eng
land and the Pope. Hume says:
"The usurpation Of the clergy, which
had at first been gradual, were now be-
come SO rapid, and had mounted to such
height that the contest between the re-
gal and pontifcal was really arrived at a
crisis in England, and it becomes necessa-
ry to determine whether the King or the
Priests, particularly the Archbishop of
Canterbury, should be sovereign of the
kingdom"
The WAR BETWEEN THOMAS A. BECK
EFT AND HENRY II.
The memorable history of this struggle
cannot fail to be interesting, as well as
profitable, in this investigation. Henry
had appointed Beckett Archbishop of Can
terbury. Beckett had made himself fa-
vorite with the Kings as we'll as with the
people.
"The pomp of his retinue, the sumptu-
BUSINESS of his furniture, the luxury of his
table, the munifcence of his presents, ex-
ceeded anything that England had ever
before seen in any subject.
"But no sooner was Beckett installed in
this high dignity, which rendered him,
for life, the second person in the kingdom
with some pretensions of aspiring to be the
first, than he totally altered his demeanor
and conduct, and endeavored to acquire
the character of sanctity. He wore sack
cloth next his skin, which, by his affected
care to conceal it, was necessarily the more
remarked by all the world. He changed
it so seldom, that it was filled with dirt and
vermin. His usual diet was bread, his
drink water He tore his back with the
frequent discipline which he inflicted on
it; he daily, on his knees, washed, in i'm
itation of Christ, the feet of thirteen beg
gars, whom he afterwards dismissed with
presents; he gained the affections of the
monks by his frequent charities to the con-
vents and hospitals; and all men of pene-
tration plainly saw that he was meditating
some great design, and that the ambition
and ostentation of his character had turned
itself towards new and more dangerous
object.
"Becket waited not till Henry should
commence those projects against the eccle-
siastical power. He was himself the ag-
gressor, and endeavored to overawe the
King by the intrepidity and boldness of
his enterprises.
"The ecclesiastics in that age had re-
nounced all immediate subordination to the
magistrate; they openly pretended to an
exemption in criminal accusations from q
trial before courts of justice and were
gradually introducing a like exemption in
civil causes; spiritual penalties alone could
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