Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-05-15


One is arbitrary, aud Of a temper unsuited to
free Institutions; another is aristocratic, and
untitled to the genius Of democratic people.
Some, too, may be suspected of an effort 70
engross the political offices and power of the
country, and appropriate them TO their own
members If they prescribe others, they must
themselves be prescribed; and in this new era
Of secret political associations, there is room
given for every suspicion, and opportunities
are afforded for the most dangerous combna
tons. Who does not know the peculiar sus-
capabilities of sectaran Jealousy? Who can
fail to see the dangers of the warfare which
would thus spring up amongst the different
Christian sects? And when men become
weary of the agitation Of such contests, in
which each set of religious opinions is in turn
prescribed, will they not say at last to the gov
eminent, TEL us what to believe; establish
your church; relieve us from this state of I'M
certainty, and let each man enjoy once more
in peace the shade of his own vine and fig
tree"
1t seems TO me far better to pursue the pres
ent practice; tolerate all religions; and have
each church free to pursue its mission in its
own way, and to select the most appropriate
field for its labors. If you then have more
churches, you have more Christians also, and
if there must be human tribunal to set upon
their differences, let it be that of public opinion
Here is a jurisdiction which can take charge
Of matters far too delicate for the positive regu-
la'ion of government, Questions of morals, Of
honor. of social aid personal propriety, which
involve distinctions far too nice, and shades of
colorng far too delicate to be defined by posi-
tive law, may be satisfactorily adjusted here.
Here, too, is a field of battle where none can
he xrha 1,eha tho IL
weapons, and Truth must be the gamer, no
matter who comes out victor in the contest.
On this side we know there will be peace and
safety on the other there must be danger and
discord And we are to run all this risk, for
what? Because, you say, there is probability
that the interests of the Church may clash with
those of the State, and that, in such case, the
American Catholic might vote not according 10
his duties as citizen, but to his feelings as a
churchman Take your own suppostion, this
is but remote possibility, d case Of mere
chance; bat if you prescribe the Catholic for
his religion, you make that danger certain of
which there was but chance before. You put
him under the ban; you refuse him the equal
privileges of citizen, and stamp upon him
the brand of inferiority. His first object, then,
is to remove that stigma. He no longer acts
with the great parties Of the country, accord
ing to his opinions upon political issues which
concern all, but his first object is to remove the
oppression under which he labors, and he feels
justified IN voting in any manner 10 secure that
end. The very thing which you dread will as
suredly come TO pass, and, through your own
agency, he will vote not as an American citi
zen, but as Catholic; he will no longer come
forward, as now, to give your government a
ready and cheerful support; that government
IS no longer bound TO him by the ties of interest
and sympathy, if it proscribes aud Expresses
him. He viii become Indifferent, and perhaps
hostile to the government, which has treated
him as an alien and as member of an infe-
rior caste Of society. Why estrange one who
is 50 valuable as friend and convert him,
perhaps, into an enemy?
But, fellow citizens, | went little too far,
when | said it was proposed to prescribe
Catholics from all Offices IN this country. There
are some Offices, which the sons and daughters
of that Church are still considered competent
TO discharge. / mean the offices Of Christian
charity, of ministration to the sick. The sis
ter of charity may enter yonder pest-house,
from whose dread portals the brayest and
strongest man quails and shrinks she may
breathe there the breath Of the pestilenee which
walks abroad, in that mansion of misery in
order TO minister TO disease where it is most
loathsome, and to relieve suffering where it is
most helpless. There, too, the tones of her
voice may be heard mingling with the last &C.
cents of human despair, to soothe the fainting
soul, as she points through the gloom of the
dark valley Of the shadow Of death to the Cross
Of Christ, which stands TRANSPORTED in celestial
light, to bridge the way from Earth to Heaven
and when cholera or yellow fever invades your
cities, the Catholic Priest may refuse to take re-
fuge in fight, holding the place of the true
Soldier Of the Cross, to be by the sick mans
bed, even though death peryades the air, be
cause he may there tender the ministrations o.
his holy Office to those who need them most
But, if some Of the objects Of their care should
arise from the bed, which, but for them, would
have been the bed Of death, and should any
such say to them, if be be Protestant, " an
going forth to prescribe your Church, to pu
you under the ban, to declare you unworthy
Of the common privilege Of citizens, and to de
grade you as caste, because j am afraid lha
you, poor priest, and you, gentle sister, vii
rob me Of my rights, and deprive me of M
liberties 2" what would they say TO such an ad
dress as this? They might not utter the thought
but would il not be the feeling OF the least rebel
lious nature, If il were stin human to say
"let him 90, like the Pharisee Of old, ENJOYING
his greetings in the market place, and his chic
place at the feasts, and thank his God that b,
is not a sinner as this publican" But wha
would you say fellow-citizens, to such a senti
ment if it were uttered in your presence? Yor
would say that it was a sentiment unfit to b.
either entertained or expressed.
But for what is it that am pleading, here il
Virginia, before an intelligent audience Of he
sons, and in the year Of our Lord, 1856? Fo
Religious Freedom, for Liberty of conscience
] can scarcely realize the idea, am almos
ashamed to confess it, and yet it is even so. /
any man had foretold to me, two years ago
that such an heresy could be exhumed from
the dead, and that the breath Of life could b.
so breathed into it as to give it vitality enough
to become living issue upon the soil of the
Old Dominion, should have laughed to scorr
the prophet and his prophecy. And here is q
thing, they tell me, to be feared; and certainly
a thing formidable enough to be met. mud
ldrestigia retrorSum"-"let there be no steps
backwards" said John Hampden; noble
maxim certainly as applied to the march of hu-
man liberty. Here, though, is not step back
wards, but retrograde march Of centuries,
and from light into that darkness again out OF
which we had once emerged with so much pain