Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-01-11
ron rnr AnraInAS onaAn.


American party and its opponents, the pretensionl
Of the Pope Of Rome and the mtolerant spirit O
Roman Catholicism is perhaps, not the least either
In the facts assumed OF IN those elected by pro
per discussion Of the question.
IL has been commended, on the one side, that
every Protestant denomination In the United States
maintains the constitutional principle Of a separa
ration Of Church and State while, on the Other
hand, the Papal Church always, and every where
maintains the doctrine of obedience of the civil &c
the ecclesiAstc authority. Seventh resolution al
City Hall meeting.) This no one has AZ yet success
fully controyerted nor has the doctrine been de-
MED by the representatives Of the church--but, IN
fact reafrmed almost daily as 1t has been practsed
whenever The position Of parties justified tie at
tempt But, involved In this is another principle,
which the friends of tho Church of Rome have
Popery in all ages and countries This has been met
by the assertion that the Roman Catholics Of the
colony of Maryland, did ordain and establish reli.
gious federation, and practised free and univer-
sal religious toeraton" as ono Of their historians
has said !; but, besides Church historians they
have the authority ofGcn. Pierce, In his speech at
Baltimore, when he addressed a." large and ntelli-
gent crowd" OF unborn Kaoso-NotAings, as the
sequel proved, and proclaimed the infinite salts
faction he felt in standing upon the soil ef State
who was the first to proclaim religious federation,
without adding that his own did not allow Catho-
lies to hold oHice.) With such high authority, 1t
is perhaps an act Of bodncss in me to question the
fact but, have heretofore had the temerity of
differing with the administration upon the defni.
ton Of treason, may now be excused for differ
ing with the aforesaid authorities upon the ques-
ton Of liberation, and it's meaning or Specification
In thus differing announce my proposition, and
propose to show--6rst that the Catholics Of Mary
land, as a body polite, did not manifest DISPOSE
ton to liberation, but the contrary; that the
laws passed by them, and which shall here
after quote, were proscriptive that they were
not in condition to claim the privilege Of
granting religious liberation, because they were
third-rate power, owing allegiance to Protestant
King, and that to establish such claim they must
first show they held the sovereign power; and,
finally, that tho continuance Of their laws thereafter
referred TOY in force in this country, and the
ution thereof would have banished from the country
any President who has occupied the executive
chair and visited with DEATH Jefferson, tho Adamses
and Fillmore. This, you may say, Is a bold under
taking, but 1t is easily proved by their own autho-
rity. BY reference to Bacon's edition Of the laws
Of Maryland, published from the original acts and
records DR.. Bacon was domestic chaplain to Fred
eric Lord Baltimore, and published in 1855, you
will find that at general session Of the assembly,
begun and held at st. Mary's, in April, l84s,
law passed by which 1t was enacted that blssphemy
against God, denying our Saviour Jesus Christ to
be the Son of God, or denying the Holy Trinity
or the godhead Of any of the three persons, &C.,
was to be punished with death and con6scation of
lands and goods to the lord proprietors.
BY the second section, persons using any re.
proachful words or speeches concerning the Virgin
Mary Mother of God, for the first offence were to
pay a5 sterling to tho lord proprietary; or, in de-
fault of payment, to be publicly whipped and i'm.
prisoned at the pleasure Of the lord proprietary,
his lieutenant general for the third offence, they
we're to forfeit lands and goods, and be forever
banished from the province.
This law was rc-enacted in 1875 and made a
perpetual law twenty-five years after the act passed
under Cromwells commission an act
averring religion, &c.
After having been re-enacted, it remained until
after the establishment of the Church of England
in the colony-l704-3d year of Queen Ann, when
ii was repealed.
BY this law no one was allowed to question the
doctrine Of the Trinity, for any difference of opin
ion upon the part of others from the tenets Of the
Church of Rome would have been violation Of
law for we cannot loose sight Of the fact that these
terms, Trinity and Holy Mary, Mother Of God, are
used in doctrinal sense; and to question their
doctrine was certainly violation Of law, for tho
very enactment involves the doctrines Of the
Church. What does the Roman Church mean by
the Holy Virgin, Mary, Mother of God 1t is but
description, and il Is to their catechism and
books Of authority are to look for their meaning
About the time Of Pope Paul the Fifth, think,
one father Salazer taught that the Virgin Mary was
the accomplishment Of The Trinity. This idea was
nculcated about the latter part Of the sixteenth
and the beginning Of the seventeeth century-but
in all the churches Of the Pope she is styled Mother
Of Cod Refuge Of Sinners the Gate Of Heaven
and, having robbed paganism Of everything that
was HhBNnuCtub hhu bioitous w DtotoN upoii
her, she has been looked upon and addressed as
the disposer and depositary Of salvation, and styled
Queen Of Heaven, opposing the wrath Of Christ
against sinners. And now the Catholic bishops,
called together at Rome, are about to declare that
she, as well as the Saviour Of the world, was Of
immaculate conception, supernatural being What
sort Of federation could have been involved in such
mockery of God, such perverson Of truth, the de
NAL Of which was certain Punishment and confsca-
ton Of lands and goods. II this be federation, God
forbid that our country should ever be compelled
10 say. vc have no better.
It Is unnecessary, however, 70 comment further
upon the spirit Of that law, because II speaks for
ITSELF and, as have said no President Of the United
States Of whose history know anything could have
subscribed 10 IL, I have mentioned those whose pc
cular religious views are familiar to the people,
who would have suffered punishment u that law
had been executed. have said they were not In
a condition where they could claim credit for re-