The true Democrat., 1855-11-06
Letter W. Capt Pike vs. Catholicism. To the Unprejudiced People of Arkansas RESPECTED FRIENDS:

10 the Unpreludiced feOpIe or Arkansas RESPECTED FRIENDS:
 The course pursued by Capt. Albert Pike in his anti Catholic budget of charges and as sertions unsustained by shadow of proof, re minds me much of the conduct of the clo,on ir the play, who amused himself hberaNy at the expense of his neighbors character and repu- tatlon; but, when pressed hard for authority tc sustain his coarse, waggish and insdious asser- tlons, repled-I A'aoo it, it IS in ny m'ina, but forget a.
 We'll, 1 should have thrown on the noble Captain the onus probandi of all his notorously untrue assertions, did I not know that his influ- ence and position might, in the mean time, add little more to the stock of prejudice and bigo- try already floating in the market against the professors of the ancient faith l. therefore. waived all right had to demand proof. and showed, from saoorn testimony, of the highest and mostunexceptionable character, that to hold strict communion with the Apostolic See if is not demanded nor claimed of me, as Catho- lie, to admit in the Pope any political or tenn poral power Tn this country, to regulate my con duct Tn civil matters as member of the great American family.
 now pass to the correction of other mis- takes and interpretations, into which the distinguished gentleman of the Know Nothing party has fallen, in his fervor and zeal for the prescription of myself and my religion.
 |" am no favorer," said he in the apology, "of the faith of the Catholic church. I look upon the doctrine of the infallibity of the Pope with infinite contempt"
 Bravo!! No Catholic has ever disputed the right of Captain Pike to show no favor to the faith Of his church, and no disappointment, as far as know, has ever been felt He is most graclously excused by all concerned, and can confne his sympathy and charity to any nar- row limit or channel that his fancy and taste may incline him. But pray what right has he as an honorable gentleman in society whose great ambition should be to cultivate the kind est feelings between citizen and citizen of all denominations to stand up and misrepresent the religion of the oldest and most numerous christian society, by telling the world in the sub llmlty ot his contempt, that the infallblity of the Pope Is doctrine of the Roman Catholic church? It certainly puzzles me to discover where, or in what school, the noble Captain should have read his theology; for I feel that am advanced Tn years, and have devoted long lie to much study, and as yet have only been able to learn that it is no article of the Roman Catholic faith that the Pope is infal- llble, and moreover, that 1t has never been an article of the Roman Catholic faith that he is lnfallible, and what I here say of the infalibi ity of the Pope, I say the same of the depos- ing power, which is no doctrine of the Roman Catholic church, notwithstanding the anti-Ca- tholic budget of Capt. Pike to the contrarv.- Catholics are not called upon by any tenet of their church to believe that the Pope is infall ble nor that he can depose princes and rulers of States and absolve their subjects from their allegiance, which has been shown in preced- ing letter; and, therefore, when the great cham. plon of the Know Nothing party in Arkansas. hurled large quantum of his infinite con- tempt against Catholics. he forgot that he was only Illuminating that sly contempt against phantom ot his own rich imagination and beqr- ing taise testimony agal,lst his o,on neiq.b0rs.- But the Capt. Is not at all pleased with the l Pope He says he is to me but a man. and l often very ordinary, very narrow minded and unprnciplei man.' This reminds me- for cblv, ot the very extensive intelligence of an h1sh hoy-s3r who esteemed himself much more than hls nelghbors were disposed to do, visited Rome, and on his return to the land of
 
 the Pope was a very ignorant man, as he did not speak the English language fluently. Why, exclaimed Pat digging in the garden. your honor ought to know that the English is not the court language of Europe, and some peo pie say that it is no language at all. The proud aristocrat held down his head and walk ed away. Had Capt. Pike the good fortune of having been born under any other sun, except the Massachusetts, I would be led to think that he did not escape the company of the Irish aristocrat. The next charge and not the less false and offensive is that the Catholic re- ligl0n Is not favorable, but dangerous to civil liberty" (except always Louisiana and else- where) and that "the Papacy is hostile to re- publicanism, and would tomorrow destroy it all over the world if it had the power" The merest tyro or meanest novice in the study of history would be able to give flat denial to this base calumny. Ask the impar- tial historian of what religion were the brave and patriotic mountaineers who descended from their cloud-capped fortresses and in the plains beneath battled triumphantly for their families and their homes against countless legions of imperial Austria, until with a Catholic prayer on his lips their undaunted leader proclaimed that the land of the Swiss should enjoy the blessings of a republican government, and this proclamation of freedom, be it known was published to the world two hundred years be- fore the dawn of what is called the reforma- tion. Monsieur Rochette, in his letters Sur la Swisse, published in Paris in 1923, says that in the canton of St Gall, where the Catholic po- pulation doubles that of the Protestant, the latter enjoys the same civil and religious liber- ty this day with his Catholic fellow citizen, whilst in the inverse sense in the republic of the ~ Al. .1. l f T II oppression But to the point Is the Catholic religion dangerous to civil liberty and hostile to repubicanism? The most patriotic and learned discourse I have ever read in favor of repubicanism, and which finds a place in my library, was pronounced in 1794, by the cardinal Bishop of Imola. who was subsequently, by the cardinals made Pope. Italy, that land of science, literature and the fine arts has had her republics One of them (San Marino) has this day proudly blazoned on her portals that inspir- ing word LIBERTY, and lies within the compass of morning stroll from Rome tracing back the origin of her foundation over thirteen hun dred years previous to the eldest son of the Roman Catholic church sending his fleets and armies to be the copartners of the patriots of '76, in palsying the despot's arm and breaking the chains that held three millions of souls in subjection to a tyrant's will.
 American republicans you believe and know all this and will you forget it, anl unjustly pro- scribe Catholics and foreigners?
 king of Catholic nation (ao other aoouM do aD and of all others the most attached to the See of Rome, cheeJuNy aided a suffering and oppressed people, against Protestant king, who persecuted Roman Catholics for rot be- coming perjurers in swearing that they would desert and reject the spiritual and ecclesiastical authority of the successor of Peter> What Catholic priest or Catholic layman has ever been found so recreant and hated so much popular liberty, as to present on his knees an humble petition to George the III, to allow him to raise a regiment to put down what he called the American rebellion?
 As I am ayerse to dealing in mere assertions.