Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-08-15
Florida was purchased from Catholic Spain; and
rtoxas sxas atnlan fhrnnuh the fundamentally of

Florida was purchased from Catholic Spain; and
Texas was stolen, through the instrumentality Of
Sam Houston, from Catholic Mexico. If all
these States are not now Catholic in religion, it
only shows that the sect is not 80 dangerous as
it is represented At the proper time, and in the
proper way of getting it, we of the South will
want and must have, and DiN hdue, Cuba. NOW,
if the doctrines of the Know Nothings prevail,
she herself would scorn an alliance the conslde-
rations of which would be the exchange of the
most valuable territory of its size in the habita-
Bile word on the one hand, for miserable and con-
temptible rear-yassalage on the other.
When we reflect upon the character Of our
in the cold regions of the North-remember
that the admission of every new State adds In
stantly two votes in the Senate and one in the
House to the majority already against us-when
we consider the fact that natural laws will pre-.
vent the expansion Of our Institutions every.
where throughout our domain, save in Texas and
in Kansas, and that the Territories of Oregon,
Washington, Nebraska, Utah and Minnesota are
rapidly growing into States, the ultimate ac-
QUESTION of Cuba is presented to US as an i'm
perative political necessity. Cuba would not
altogether restore and perpetuate the political
power between the two sections; but desire to
direct your attention to this point: that If the
principles of the Know Nothing Order prevail, it
then becomes absolutely impossible that the
equilibrium can ever be restored; for we and
our institutions can expand but in one direction,
and that is in the Catholic direction. Are the
people of the South willing 10 live forever at
the merry of majority which is oaily and
hourly increasing in strength and fanatlcIsm
Better, far better, would it be for US and our
children, to give to every Catholic upon earth
homestead, and stock it with negroes, at our
own expense. In "ploughman's phrase" the
Northern fanatic has the long end OF tho single.
tree, and if we turn our backs upon the Catho-
lie, the Freesoiler will keep it forever. With
ample power in his hand, and lawless fanaticism
in his heart, what injustice, what insult, what In
jury, will he not infict upon US!
have never yet seen Catholic Abolitionist,
and of the three thousand preachers of religion
who insulted the Senate by an impertineut pro-
test against the Nebraska bill, not one was a
Catholic. | have never read or heard of an anti
slavery sermon written by Catholic priest in
America, and it is my deliberate judgment that
Northern hostility to Catholicism is hostility to
slavery. have observed that the Know Nothing
presses ask, with much earnestness and apparent
purpose, I" if any Catholic priest was ever known
10 take the oath of allegiance, or to vote, in
America" Admitting that they have not, can
see no great significance in the fact. NaturalI.
zation would confer upon them but two rights
which they do not possess without 1.-THE right
to hold and devise real estate, and the right 20
yote-neither of which does he value. His
Church provides him with home, which is the
property of the Church, and supplies all his
wants abundantly. His Church is bis estate;
and in view of his celbacy, any other estate
would be an encumbrance. In his refusal TO
vote, he is supported by the habit Of many Pro-
teslant clergymen, who uniformly decline the
ballot.box from IN apprehension that even this
slight connection with party politics may impair
their influence in "the care OF souls" The
Protestant or Catholic minister who refuses 10
vote, but conforms to the spirit Of our State
Constitution, which disqualiAes them both for
political Office, because they are, by their pro-
fession, dedicated 10 the service of Cod
leave the religious faith of the Catholic to
his Maker and himself. Wisdom and her twin,
humility, suggest that, while We avoid his faults,
we shoald initiate his virtues, and not be thank
ing God at the market that u we are not as other
men are." James Balmes, Catalonian priest,
high in authority with his Church, and an eman-
icipatonist, when defending his sect, before the
Abolition jury Of Europe, against the charge pre-.
ferred by NJ Guisot, that the Catholic Church
nau consented 10 rHe continuance. ol slavery,
gave utteranee to the following language:
SIN colony where black slaves abound, who
would venture to set them at liberty all at once
Their intellectual and moral condition rendered
them incapable of turning such an advantage TO
their own benefit and that OF society; in their
debasement. urged on by their haired, and the
desire of vengeance, which ill.treatment had en-
cited in their minds, they would have repeated,
on large scale, the bloody scenes with which
they had already, in former times, stained the
pages Of history. And what then would have
happencds Society, thus endangered, would
have been put on its guard against principles
favoring liberty; henchforth it would have re-
garded them with prejudice and suspicion, and
the chains of serrtude instead of being loosened,
would have been the more firmly riVeted. Out
of this immense mass of rude, savage men, set
at liberty without preparation, it was impossible
for social organization to arise, for social organ
izaton is not the creation of Il moment, especially
with such elements as these; and in this case,
since it would have been necessary to choose be.
tween slavery and the annihilation Of social or
der, the instinct Of preservation, which animates
society as well as all beings, would undoubtly
have brought about continuation of slavery
where it still existed, and its re.establishmcnt
where it had been destroyed. Happily the
Catholic Church was wiser than philosophers;
she knew how to confer upon humanity the ben.
eft of emancipation without injustice or reVolu.
ton. She knew how to regenerate society, but
not by rivers of blood."'
Letit be borne in mind that these remarks
were made in reference partly TO white slaves
captured in war-to slavery as it existed at the
time when the master had the right of life and
death over his slave, which right was exercised
by Quintus Flaminius, who slew his slave in the
midst of festival when Vedius Polio threw
one of his 10 the. fishes because he broke q
tuinbler; when the Spartans in stampede as
sembled all of theirs, at the temple of Jupiter,
and put them to death; when, at Rome, should
a master be assassinated, every slave that he had,
the innocent and the guilty, had to die, as when
Pedonius Secundus was killed, four hundred of
his slaves were executed. Lett be remembered
also that the influences of benign religion were
the instruments to "regeuerate society,"" to
which Balms referred, and not to ruthless as
saults upon q sacred Constitutional compact.
How mild and liberal the sentiments of this
dangerous O Catholic upon an institution which,
rs it then existed, was a crime and curse, com.
pared with those Of the Abolitionists Sumner
and Giddings, and the Know Notiiings Hale and
Wilson, upon an institution uncondemed by
Christ, and blessing TO the negro! : -:
But the political relations which the Catholic
does or may bear to the people have the honor
to represent, it has become my duty to discuss.
And if in this land, famed for the plenitude of