Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-03-08


We use the word ghost designedly, because
vrl we verify believe that Popery as political
power has no longer an existence and we
- iIsethe phrase Political Popery, in order to
Indicate that we mean no disrespect to the
-. Roman Catholic faith, of which it becomes
ln rs, as pubic journalists, representing the po-
ilsHi liteal opinions Of many believers therein,
-is to write as courteously as of any Protestant
: denomination.
,ri..r Misguided religious enthusiasm is to be es-
saf peeially deprecated. Like Alecto, as des-
s'a'T cribed in the Enead, it arrays brothers in
aims, fills houses with hatred, and brings the
6.,s ScQprge and the torch it has thousand
tenr names and a thousand arts of iniuring. We
oh stOinot propose to enter the question of the
compatibility of Romanism and Republican
isrl !; it would be waste of time. Mr.
srsi. CHANDLER has gone over the whole ground
-aoo ina speeehre-pubished in the last number OF
r the Western Democratic Reuie,0 But we do
earnestly assert that there is no danger to our
g.ss Liberties from the Catholic population.
- "a We-are sustained i'm our assertion by the
~ testimony Of religious and enlightened Pro-
~ tcstants s.l'-. 20
=. AT the time Of Lord GoRDoN's anti-popish
riots when the mansion and library of the
- all accomplished MANSFIELD were destroy
led by the insensate mob, DR.. JOHNSON who
was sturdy Protestant said that to raise the
i.isery Of pOpery in that age was like raising the
sab cry of fire in the general deluge So it is
~ now But even if it were not so, the Catho-
' he and and anti Catholic elements in our for
80, eign population, if let alone would neutrslize
Is-ateaoh Other-Americans might stand aloof
rro rrBut other mssseeptionaJle Protestant testi-
moHy IS not wanting We quote from Bun
-, YAN's PnGRIMs PRoeREss
r-fsr- Now saw in my dream, that at the end
so of the valley Law blood, bones and mangcd
ase bodies Of men that hal gone this way former
"; and while was musing what should be
s-s the reason, espied cave where two giants,
3s5s Pope and Pagan, dwelt in old times, by whose
power and tyranny these men were cruelty
put to Death But by this place Christian
went without much danger, whereat / some
baa what wondered but l have learned since
iTis THAI Pagan has been dead many day and
-' asfor the other, though he be yet alive yet he
Is by reason of age and also of the many
"a sshrewd brushes that he met with in his
-Gcavouneer DAYS, grown crazy and stiff in his
si joints, thathe can now do little more than sit
- in his caves mouth. grinning at pilgrims as
b they go BY, and biting his nails because he can
gfa-n0t come at tiem-'i ID .llala auihgni b
oilss1sWe aonot, Of course, endorse the bigotry
80 Of this passage but we extract it for the bene-
,s,a itof those who regard BuSYAN as an author
city. ID % vliissr sdi f9 .7nsaff9 sffeo1 Oa
-zEi9 JoHN aBUNYAN says the old Pope is too
-, stiff IN the joints to be dangerous. The gIo-
- rous cid tinker is against the anti-Catholic
.ra wing of the Know othings. M ba ~
5d For aditferent class of minds we have q
y" different quotation-one from the calm, saga
cious, candid, Protestant historian, HENRY
HALI.AM. We have in our minds eye now
- an eminent lawyer who once adorned and
lFshonored the highest judicial station in his
State. pure IN his character, unimpeachable in
his cOnduct--the model of agentleman and a
judge--aud whose very name savors of Cath
olicitv and an irish origin and yet, it is said,
ed afraid of the Pope For him and those like
him, We quote from HALLAM. The language
~, nsed has reference solely to the Political
Pos0er of the Pope, and was not intended by
AsaHALLAst as any reproach of the doctrines of
the Catholic Church tial pez y
1t is an advantageous circumstance for
- the philosophical inquirer into the history of
iaeeclesiastieal dominion that, as it spreads it
self over the vast extent of fifteen centuries,
the dependence of events on general causes,
rather than on transitory combinations, or the
4,,s character of individuals is made more evident
and the future more probably foretold from a
consideration of the past than we are apt to
- find in political history. FFue centuries haze
noa0 elapsed, during every of sohiel the au-
tortyoft the Roman See has svccessirely declined
SlosCly and silently receling from their claims to
temporal poscer, tie Pont!5s hardly protect their
= dilapidated citadel from The revolutionary coaac.s-
-. soRs Of modern TIMES, the rapacity of govern
seats, and the gro,cing aUerseess to ecclesiasti-
cal influence.
~ 8 But if thus bearded by unmannerly and
threatening innovation, they should occasion
ally forget that cautious policy which neces-
sity has prescribed, if they should attempt,
an unavailing expedent, to revive institutions
which can be no longer operative, or princi-
Piles which have died away, their defensive
efforts will not be unnatural, and ought not to
excite either Indignation or alarm. A calm,
comprehensive study of ecclesiastical history,
not in such scraps and fragments as the ordi-
go nary partizans of ephemeral literature
obtrude upon US, is, perhaps, the best anti
dote to extravagant apprehensions. Those
20 who know what Rome has once BEEN are
best able to appreciate what she is those who
haveseen the thunderbolt in the hands of the
GIsgores and the Innocents will hardly be
e. intimidated at the sallies of decrepitude, the
sls impotent dart of Pnam amid the cracking
ruins Of Troy 30 ~ ~ H- 80 j
We. are compelled TO protest against the
s...- poisonous tendency of some of the attacks Of
the new organization; as we believe that they
lead to virtual destruction of the constitn
-. tiofsof our country.
-s4o- The constitution of the United States moi
only prevents Congress from passing any Law
respecting an establishment Of religion o.
prohibiting the free exercise thereof but ex
y 1ressly declares that no religious test shall
sol.ever be required as a qualification for any
office or public trust under the United States
These provisions in their letter, we know, art
i..only applicable TO the action Of the genera
government. But they embody an expires
Ore Sion Of the uainciple Of perfect religious free
R..,1.,l ii ,so.x.r