The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1861-09-13
Archbishop Hughes On the War.
INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT LETTER FROM
ARCHBISHOP HUGHES TO BISHOP LYNCH, OF
SOUTH CAROLINA.

tains long letter from Bishop LYNCH, OF
South Carolina, to Archbishop HUGHES, in
favor of desisting from the present war;
The reverend relateexpresses surprise that
Irisbmen and Catholics SHOULD enlist in the
war against the South, and repeats the ar
guments with which the public is already
familiar, to show that the South never can
be conquered-that France and England
will certainly break the bockede in order
to secure supply of cotton, and that, in
the interest of peace, the National Govern
ment ought to abandon the contest. The
Bishop of Charleston says that he has ar
rived at the conclusion that the separation
of the Southern States is fat accompG,
and that it is not in the power of the
Federal Government to reverse it. The
South, be says, is not only abundantly sups
piled with food and even clothing for
couple of years to come, but is making rapid
progress in furnishing itself from its domes-
tic resources with the manufactures it has
hitherto been compelled to import from the
North. This being the state of things, he
deprecates the idea of the inevitable recOg-
milton of the independence of the seeded
States being prefaced by a war needless
and bloody" He is bitterly sarcastic on
the Republican party, on whom he lays the
whole blame of the war. I" If there is to
be fighting" he says, 4" let those who voted
the Black Republican ticket shoulder their
muskets and bear the responsibility. Let
them not send Irishmen to fight in their
stead and then stand looking on at the con-
fict, when in their heart fhearts they care
little which combatant wins" The follow
ing is Archbishop HUGHES reply:
New YORK, August %, 1861.
RIGHT Rev. DEAR SIR have received
your letter of the 4th inst. How it reached
me can hardly conjecture; but it came to
hand within about the usual period re-
quired for the transmission of mail matter
between Charleston and New York during
happier years, when all the States, both
North and South, found their meaning in
the words E Piuribus Unum.
: 1t must have run the blockade or lodged
the pickets on hostile borders. have read
it with very deep interest, increased, if any
thing, by the perils of food and field through
which it must have passed.
If even the innocent lightning of the
North were permitted to carry message
into Southern ATTITUDES, would telegraph
you for permission to publish your calm and
judicio1s communication. As it is, howev.
err my only chance of acknowledging it is
through The Metropolitan Record, and with.
out special permission publish your letter at
the same time. In this way it may happen
that during the war, or afterwards my an
swer will come under your inspection.
Yours is, in my judgment, one of the most
temperate views of the present contest that
has ever come under my notice from any
son of South Carolina, 1t is not to be in
ferred, howaver, that because admire so
much the calmness OF its tone and temper
therefore agree with all its arguments and
specHlations.
You say am "reported to have spoken
strongly against the war policy of the Gov
eminent of the United States, as fraught
with much present suffering, and not calcu.
lated to obtain any real advantage" Be
assured that, previous to the outbreak of
military violence, / was most ardently de-
sirous of preserving peace and union, but,
since violence, battle and bloodshed have
occurred, dare not hope for peace unless
you can show me foundation of rock or
solid ground (but no quicksand basis) on
which peace can be re-established. The
nature of your ministry and mine necessari-
ly implies that we should be the friends of
peace 1t was the special legacy of our
Divine Master to his flock. And it would
be strange if we, his appointed ministers,
should be found in the ranks of its enemies.
His words we're as we find in st. John,
Peace | leave to you, my peace give to
you not as the world giveth do l give to
you" And yet st. Paul, in writing to the
Christian converts of Rome, says :: ." fit be
possible, as much as it is in you, have peace
with all men," | think this latter inspired
quotation has at least remote bearing on
our present sad difficulties.
Your explanations of the causes which
have led to this war are entirely Southern
in their premises and conclusions. But
they are so mild, and even plausibIy stated,
that | leave them uncontroverted. Your
description of the evils resulting from the
war is too correct to be gainsayed by me.
Still, here we are in the midst OF sanguin-
airy contest, which, so far as can see, like
hurricane on the ocean, must exhaust its
violence before we can expect the return of
national calm. There is no one who de-
sres more ardently than l do the advent of
that bright day on which we shall all be re.
united in one great, prosperous and happy
country.
Instead OF controverting the correctness
of your views in regard to the causes of our
actual troubles, or determining where or on
whom the responsibility of their existence
rests, l shall beg leave to make my own
statement from point of view which is
found in the general sentiment of the PEG.
pie north of Mason and DixOn's line.
They say that whatever may have been
the anterior origin OF the war, its immediate
cause was the overt action of turning guns,
put in place by the State of South Carols
ma against a pnhic military defense of the