Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-03-05
KIRWAN ON THE ARCHBISHOP.
From the N Y. Observer
rur .pcu.,suor ,,r,,,.,-, me
INcREAsING: s1RwAN THINKS NOT.

INCREASING: SIRwAN THINKS NOT.
''Archbishop Hughes, in his recent lectur
IN Baltimore, expressed the opinion that sh,
Roman Catholic Church in this country car
anticipate little increase to its numbers o.
strength from immigration; and that the fu
ture hopes of the Church must be based upor
its retaining its present numbers, and upon the
increase from conversions. He thinks the pre-.
sent condition Of the Church, and the numer-
Gus accessions which, he says, have been made
10 1t from converts of American BIRTH Justify
the most saGguine expectations in this regard. ,
We clip the above from the papers, as a
brief synopsis Of lecture delivered recently
In Baltimore by Bishop Hughes of this city
The bishop has so utterly fallen from the posi-
ton he once occupied, that his opinions, on
any subject. weigh not a feather beyond the
!liIterate circle Of which he is the centre; and
] on this account we might be excused from no.
ticIng the above characteristic paragraph. We
! supposed. also, that his tremendous effort to
raise the window, and, with covered hands, to
/ cast out that vile insect, Brooks, had so com
! pletely exhausted his powers, that we should
not hear of him again, until they had sufficient
| time to recover. We supposed that he would
have confined himself to the duties of his Of
fce, which are, mainly. mumbling masses,
Watching the political vane so as to know
where, and fer what party, to set his traps,-and
outstanding the income of the Calvary Gem
etery" We expected, occasionally, to hear
OF his gracing mass meeting of Irishmen met
to consult, and to fight, about the liberation
OF Ireland or q lecture in the Tabernacle. by
the poor, feeble, tickle, fallen Bishop Ives.
who has discovered since he hung his trinkets
over the tomb of St. Peter, what blessing it
was that printing was so long undiscovered,
ard what q blessing ignorance is, because it
compels ignorant people to learn divine truth
from the priests lips, that cannot lie, instead
OF learning it from the printed page, which
may lie!! But the bishop has disappointed
ihas ventured another experiment upon the /
.credulity of the public, of which the above is
given as the substance. Let us briefly analyze |
the assertions of the pretentious paragraph.
/. 'sThe Catholic Church in this country |
can anticipate little increase to its members or
strength from immigration" This sentence
is designed, no doubt, to lull the appreheu-
Sions Of Protestants, on the one hand, and to
excite prejudice against the Known othings
on the other. Many arc alarmed at the infdx
of the squalid Popsh population that infest
our seaboard, and that are crowding all the
ways of access to the interior Of the country |
They are everywhere, like the frogs of Egypt,
and they are just as much, and as little to be
feared. Since the beginning of the Russian
war, and since the opening of the present ref
ormation in Ireland, and since the increasing
benefits of the ssencumbered Estates Bill"
there, have been made apparent, emigration
has been greatly diminished from Ireland and
Germany. But when the war is ended, and
when high prices and low wages again rule,
the tide will rise to its full again I; and papsts,
as poor as priests can make them, will be pour
ed in ship-loads on our shores. And the par
.iai check, for obvious causes, is laid at the
loor Of the Know Nothings, every one of
whom the pious bishop loves with the love he
bears to Erastus Brooks. Time will prove the
bishops assertions TO be utterly baseless.-
need not be alarmed; but the pa :
1ists viii come. And the more the better
And the Know Nothings have sins enough to
answer for without having charged upon them
he effects of the causes above stated. We
nave not doubt but that one hundred thous- ,
ind Irish in this country are now laying aside
rom their earnings enough to bring as many l
more of their friends here within the next
'ear. And every one that comes will be sure .
o be followed by one or two others. I
2. 'sThe future hopes of the Church must {
,e based upon its retaining its present num- 7
'ers,and upon the increase from conversions
iere the hopes of popery are made to rest up
N two legs. The right leg is, 'sretaining its $
resent numbers" that is, retaining those who }
re now papists, with their children, and de- S
cendants. But this is impossible. In Italy, i
n SARDINIA, in Spain, and even in ireland, the S
lost servile and priest-ridden country on the C
lobe, the church cannot retain the people C
'ithin its pale. They beard the Pope-they I
xlle his impertincnt bishops who would put b
he crozier above the crown-they send home
is Nuncios-they denounce the priests as
erfdous robbers-they protest against the
ogmas and claims of the church. Can it be
therwise in the United States2 Nobody
nows better than John Hughes the extreme
ificulty CT keeping even the Irish in the tra- 4
es here. Just as rapidly they exchange !,
heir brogues for shoes, and their native friezc
oats for broadcloth, and their potatoes and
atmeal for meats and bread, are they rising
, the region where men assert the right to
link for themselves. And when men think a
,r themselves, it is all over with the priest Z.
this is so with the raw material, what must s.
be with the children, brought up amid our Fl
'hools, and all our institutions, which are TO q