Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-04-06
necklp free Dress.
BURLINGTON, FRIDAY APRIL 6. 1855.
Mr.. Banks and Mr.. Chandler.

Mr.. j. &. Pitrats Review of the speech of
lion. j. X. Chandler on the political power
of the Pope--a neat pamphlet of 70 pages
published by Edward W links 4 Company
of Boston-is before us. The origin Of the
book is on this wise Last December, Hon.
Mr.. Banks member of Congress from Mas
sachusetts, made speech in defence of the
propriety Of the new and secret political or
ganization of which he was understood to
be II member. Among other reasons for
it he gave this one that it is widely be-
licved among his fellow citizens that u pow
crful influence is felt in the decision of po-
ltical questions in this country from "obe-
dicnce to ecclesiastical direction in polit-
ical affairs" and furthermore, be sup
posed it undcniable 4" that the exercise of
temporal power over governments by the
Romish church, repeatedly exercised with
in the last thousand years, had never been
disavowed or disclaimed by any Pontif, or
general council acquiesccd in by the Pope
In substance he said also, that allowing,
as he cheerfully did, to every man the right
70 free exercise Of his religious faith in
this country, =" if it be true, that the Pope
is held by any men to be supreme in secular
as in sacred fairs Shat lie can absove men
from their relations with others not of the
true faith, it is not strange that men should
Hesitate in support Of his followers"
To this speech Of Mr.. Banks formal re-
Ply was made, few weeks after, by the Hon.
j. r. Chandler, a representative from Penn
sylvana and member of the Roman Catho-
lie church. The drift of Mr.. Chambers
reply was to show, that while it was not to
he denied that the Roman Pontifs had in
fact dethroned Kings, and released subjects,
and transferred their allegiance to sue
ceeding monarchs, who might have been do
posed by the same authority, their power
had not been exercised as ola right inherent
in the spiritual Office Of the Pope, but as
one conferred upon The Pope by monarchs
for their own support, and approved by the
people for their own benefit and further,
to show that any such claim Of power as was
imputed to the Pope, viz the right to inter-
fere in the government Of other countries,
had been disallowed and denied (Mr {.
docs not quite venture to say by the Popes
hhcmsclres) by cardinals, and by eminent
bodies competent to say what the true faith
of the Romish church il on the subject re-
fcrred to.
The review of Mr.. Chambers speech by
" John Claudius Pitrat, n member of the
University Of France &c. &c and formerly
Roman Catholic Priest, is worthy Of
,,areful pcrusal Uo o;vao he g NJ.
Chambers speech, and comments upon it
sentence by sentence from beginning to end.
His manner of dealing with the subject is
rather Frenchifcd, and therefore his ar.
gument to our view, will not be appreciated
by American readers in general, as easily
AS it would have been, if he had separated
the main points of the speech from the
rest Of it, and confined himself closely to
them. lie maintains with ability, that hon
est as Mr. Chandler may be in his argu-
ment, the argument itself is entirely fala-
cious, and in reality does nothing to break
the force of Mr., Banks chief propostion,-
to wit,-that an interference in the tempo.
raj affairs of rulers and people had been cx-
crcised boldly and often by the Popcs, and
the right to do so had never been disclaimed
by them. We understand Mr. Ptrat to con-
cede that " the dogma Of the temporal power
Of the Pope is not held by the Catholic
Church as a dogma separate, distinct from
the dogma of the spiritual supremacy Of the
Pope: but he asserts that the exercise Of the
spiritual supremacy does confer an indirect
temporal power-substantially no different
IN kind or degree from what it would be if
set forth as distinct dogma, and Of course,
that oil the evidence and argument Of Mr.
Chandler, does not touch the real point,
50 far as its practical bearing is concerned.
The denials OF cardinals and school men
which Mr.. Chandler quotes, are in his
view lodges, which Mr.. Chandler would
more easily see if he had been bred 10 the
priesthood, and thus had been made acquaint-
ei with the subtleties which arc rcsorted to
by it's members to disguise the real doctrines
and purposes of the Papal Sec.
Mr. Pitra. therefore agrees to the main
position Of Mr. Banks as to the claims of
Romanism in times past, and so do We
Neither do we see any ground to believe that
any special lessening OF its claims has taken
place in these latter days, although they
are put forth less obtrusively than they once
were We agree also in considering Ro-
inanism, in its essential character, to be a
foe to free American Institutions We say
the same of any thing which contains an
r!ement Of despo,,sm in its fundamental prin-
ciples or in its systematic practice. Whcth-
or 1t calls itself Il Government, u Church,
Party, an Order, Society or anything
else, 1t makes no difference, in our view
But we do not consider Il man an enemy to
the land and therefore prescribe him as a
candidate for Office, simply because he ad-
heres to some system which has faulty and
dangerous elements in it. The man il often
better than the Objectionable points of his
religious or political faith would tend to
make him. lie should be judged Of as he
", not as we fear lie might become under
some remote contingency.
Beyond question evils have come from
the amazing rapidity with which foreigners
have poured into our country, and especially
from the ease with which they have been adj
mitted by thousands to vote before they had
acquired the iaintest conception of the du-
ties OF an American citizen Corrupt rol.
Itcians have turned to account the Ignorance
OF the masses, and the control exercised over
them by their spiritual advisers, we doubt
not, We believe our present chief rulers at
Washington specially guilty that way
10 their shame be it spoken, because they