Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-01-17
Not Afraid of the Pope.

1t appears that there is at least one Know
Nothing member of Congress who is not
afraid of the Pope. This gentleman is Mr..
Eustis, of Louisiana. In a speech in the
House on the 9TH inst, Mr.. Eustis said
Gentlemen talk about the Papal power.
The honorable gentleman from North Caro-
lima Mr.. Resde] the other day asked the
honorable gentleman from Georgia, Mr.. Ste
phens, whether he would vote for Catholic
whose religious opinions he suspected of
being hostile to the general interests of the
country. W hat right has that gentleman to
challenge the nationality of his peer, his
equal, and require him to purge his con-
science, before he can hold communion with
him on the footing of the American citizen ?
What right have you to denounce him as a
traitor to his country, and compel MIN to
stand before your bar as a criminal-as an in
dividual hostile to the institutions of your
country?
l tell you, gentlemen, you have just as
much right to put your hands in another
mans pocket, to see if the money he has be-
longs to him, as to take that position to-
presume to ask him whether he entertains
opinions hostile to the institutions of this
county, all 4s, lar
Gentlemen ought to r~ecollect that here, in
this Congress, there is not a single Catholic
priest. And. for my part. 1 am opposed to
all religious interference with our political af-
fairs. / am in favor of maintaining and keep
ing up the divorce between the Church and
State which has been established by our great
fathers. But, sir, that very same reason
which makes me a deadly enemy Of Cstho-
lie interference with our institutions, makes
me blush for my countrymen when l see the
Protestant Church selling its robes by drag
Cling them in the mire of politics. Cries
of "Hear, hear!' and "Good!'] Your Leg
i~slarures are filled with gentlemen who wear
white cravats and black coats. "Hear, hear,
and laughter Your Congress has a large
proportion of these clerical gentlemen. And
l ask you. with all due respect and courtesy
to gentlemen Of the cloth, to show me a
Catholic priest or an accredited agent of the
On urch of Rome in this Hall. Laughter,
and cries of "Hear, hear!" Gentlemen who
talk about the Pope of Rome ought to recol-
lect that that poor old man, who is an object
of so much terror to them, is now in the Gus
tody OF a guard of French soldiers.
But, Mr.. Clerk, l have consumed more
time than l desired to have done. 1 will
simply close my remarks by asking the gen.
tleman from North Carolina Mr.. Reade
where he gets the authority for thus black
balling his peers, his equals, the Catholics?-
where he gets the authority for stamping
them as the mere tools of the Pope of Rome?
where he gets the authority for consider
ing them as unworthy of participatingin the
great councils of this country? Does the
gentleman find his authority, or will he find
it in the Constitution of the United States ?
Will the gentleman find it in the treaty be-
tween France and the United States, by
which the territory of Louisiana was coded
to this country, and by which the religious
rights of its inhabitants were guaranteed to
them? Will the gentleman find it in the
Farewell Address of the Father of our Coun-
try-in that address which is so often quoted
by the orators of the American party !? Will
the gentleman find it in that great book, the
Billie, TN which SO much vcncration has been
wasted so unproftably in the Philadelphia
platform? | will tell the gentleman where
he will find it. He will End in the teachings
and in the inspiration of that dark spirit OF
fanaticism which is the curse of the Anglo
Saxon race. The gentleman will find it in
tna. spirit by WHICH IrOAcslaits Wcic utiNcu
from New England by their fellow Protest
ants in our colonial days. lie will find it in
that spirit which made the Episcopaleans Of
Virginia drive away their Puritan brethren
from that State. And where did these per-
secuted Puritans and Protestants in general
go? What spot did they choose as an asy-
lum in order to be protected from their Pro-
testant prosecutors? | will tell the gentle
man where they went in these colonial times.
They went to the colony of Maryland-to
that colony whose inhabitants were under
the influence of " the aggressive policy of the
Church of Rome and its corrupting tenden-
cies." Yes, these Puritans sought a refuge in
that colony which first in the United States
established the law protecting every man
from religious persecution.
1t would be well enough for the Know
Nothings who are so d~readfully alarmed
about the advances of the Pope to take Mr..
Eustis's remarks to hear; and pay heed to
what he says. He is one of THAR own num-
Der, and is probably as conversant with the
feelings and sentiments of the Catholics of
the United States as any of them.
REcovERY.-Mr. n. Albertson, who was
roll.ad na.r lhi, a f..w ,iayS sinca has re-