Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-10-02
Further Evidence that Col Fremont is
Not a Catholic
[From the New York Evangelist, Sept. ISL


[From the New York Evangelist Sept
1t is not our business to enter into the strife
Of ID!aics That is not our vocation, and We
haYe Teligiously abstained from such contests
y Sd Shall we depart from this line of strict
! proSHfy. But we are sometimes appealed to
for Information as TO matters of fact, by rea
ders who imagine that we may have special
means of knowing the truth. La such case
we are willing to tell what we know-not for
the sake Of party but of truth. This we may
do without sacrificing our neutral aud indepcn-
dent character If we can help to correct an
error, or to disabuse the public mind of false
impression, we are doing service to right
minded men Of all parties. We do not urge
our readers to vote one way or.the' other, but
We do wish them to vote intellige.!y
1t is well known that one of she candidates
for the Presidency has been charged.witL .be-
inc a Roman Catholic To this story we new
er gave the slightest Importance, consideringIt
as one of those bald falsehoods which We're
fabricated for a party purpose, and which would
drop into oblivion and be despised, as soon as
it had served its object But as the origna-
tors Of the story cling to it with greater per-
tinacity, thinking it very effective weapon to
excite odium aud prejudice, some good men
have thought it worth while to set the matter
at once and forever at rest Clergymen of this
city have been applied to by members Of their
churches, and by letters from abroad to make
personal inquiry, since the public would have
entire confidence in their statement, knowing
that they were not likely to be deceived them
selves, and that they would have no motive to
miSstate the fact.
Thus appealed to-a uuaajsr Of cL.rgyeea,
though very reluctant to anything which could
bring their names 'be!ore the pul-H.. !. connec-
ton with any political question, caf7:dop. Coi.
Fremout torthc fgrpoESe IF rtran. conrersa-
feom in regard 10 tbs. rG7igious pro!essiqr and
J4tef This they did-not for Their own per
sona satisfacton-for not one.of them had
doubt about the matter-brt simply that they
might be able to satisfy others by an assurance
from his own lips. Among those Who went
were Rev. DR.. De Witt, of the Dutch Reform.
cd Church Professors Henry B. Smith and
r.. ID. Hitchcock, of the Union Theological
Seminary Rev. David b. Coe, Secretary Of
the Home Missionary Society, and one of the
editors CT this paper. Rev. Henry Nj Field.
They were received with great cordiality, and
Col. Fremont responded very frankly and
cheerfully to their inquiries
When it was remarked that some of our
good people were disturbed about his religion,
he replied, smiling, that he was glad that his
opponents were willing to admit at least that
he had sgme religious feeIing-that he was
not wholly Indifferent to Christianity. One Of
the ministers inquired if the account Of his
early religious education and of his joining the
Episcopal Church, as given in Bigelow'S life
of Fremont, was correct? He replied that he
ha@ been born and educated in the Episcopal
Church that he had been confirmed as a mem
Der Of that Church, and had never had a
shadow of a thought of leaving it,
When alluSion was made to the persistent
assertions that he was Catholic, he replied
that he could not imagine how such a story
took its rise, for that in fact he had hardly
been inside of Catholic Church more than
half a-dozen times i'll his life, and then upon
occasions Of public interest or Of curiosity.
All this was said very quietly, and with no
apparent desire to intru!e his religion or to
make capital out of it. but to state the simple
fact of bis religious education and belief No
one conld listen to this frank yet modest state
mcnt without feeling that it was perfectly in
genuouS and that with no bigotry towards
Others he was sincerely and unatlectedly at
tached to the religion III which he had been
educated by his piouS mother