The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-11-07
The Catholics and the Election,

IIeSlueHl.-JlH. IyQg
, The Catholics and the Election.
Since the late Ohio election the most Rev
Arch olshop OF Cincinnati and his Right
Rev. CoadjIttor have been favored auonv.
mously, by kind friends with letters and
newspaper slips, from which they learn
, that they have incurred the high displea-
sure OF certain paruZans by voting for
Governor John Brough. -.
Mr.. Mahony, of the Dubuque Herald,
who obtained some county office in the last
election, the conductors of the Chicago
Tunes, and others OF that class, are exceed
lngly exercised about the matter. The
I1mes, after quoting from Mahony's paper,
puts the case as fellows:
Archbishop Purcell and Bishop Rose
Grams have the satisfaction of rejecting
that they have worked for the overthrow
OF their friends, have departed from the
usages of their church, and have wrought
1or the triumph of those who thus insulted
tnem and their church, reviled it's head,
ana treated with contempt and ridicule its
sacred symbol, the cross of Christi
Now, We're the argument merely be-
tween the two prelates and the defeated
demagogues, we would remain silent. A
beaten politician has right to feel angry,
ana 1t matters very little whom he scolds.
overwhelmed by such appalling majori-
tleS, IKE snake under cart-load of sand,
ne must be expected to wriggle and spit
poison, IN trying to make his way up to
the light again. Were they not very much
lrrItated, they would be more than politi-
clans; and would never be guilty of the
inconsistency of vituperating, inAthe name
OF freedom, a Catholic Bishop for exercis-
ing his freedom.
The Democratic party has demanded for
1t the Church) the same rights and tolera-
ton that were extended, to other denomi-
natl0nS hn IL,
has been the course of the Democratic par
ty, why should it cease to be now? Did
Archbishop Purcell ana Bishop Rosecrans
do more than exercise a right-''extended
to all denominations''-of voting according
to their own judgment and conscience?-
Wnen, IN former years, they voted the
democratic ticket, they We're never abused
for departing from the usages of their
Church, or declared to have done any thing
out OF place, except by the Know Nothings.
, But Archbishop Purcelland Bishop Rose
Grams owe no apology to any man for exer-
clslng their rights as citizens, much less to
the broken-down demagogues, who, under
, the false pretense of friendship, and with
the stolen flag of the old Democracy, have
betrayed their people into hostility to the
interests oflabor and freedom. -
Whatever OF political rights the Catholics
have enjoyed in this country, they owe not
to the Democratic party, nor to the Repub-
| iiCttA parry, DOt W tle american people,
9 The spirit Of that people has been such that
! ! no party could succeed with religious per-
secutlon as its platform. If persecution
had been popular, the Democrats-at least
the race now yisble-would have been as
quick to adopt it as their opponents. In
New Hampshire they kept a religious test
!, excluding Catholics from office through
long years of unbroken ascendency. In
= the United States-during years on years o.
control-they uniformly refused to grant
Catholic chaplains to Catholic sailors anG
soldiers, and compelled those same Catho
lie sailors and soldiers to attend ProteStan
worship. During the administration of Mr.
7 Polk, they treated with contempt and in
e dignity a letter addressed by the head O.
= the church to our Government, praying fol
kindness toward the Catholics, leaving il
in some waste box for nigh six months
: , and never replying to it at ALL They have
never had the courtesy to accredit a CathO
lie as charge at Rome. They have sane.
l. toned the oppression of the State SchOO
l System upon Catholics, whereby our poor
people are compelled to educate their OWL
children, and pay taxes for the education
, of the children of their rich PrOtestan
neighbers, and given currency to the cal
{ umny that in petitioning for their rights
$ the Catholic priests designed to seize upo1
the school fund and use ii in propagatine
their religion. They have, in this city, shu
D out from Catholic children, imprisoned il
{ the House of Refuge, all possibility of re.
ceiVing instruction in their religion, OF
practicing its duties
They have always been forward in sym.
Y pathizing with the European movements
g I.ugainst the Church. Lately the Confeder-
= ate wing of the party, now in open revolt
= against the verdict Of a popular election
e addressed an appeal to the Protestant pref
: udices of the people of England, in which
they ignore the existence of the Louisiana
e creoles, and of the sparse Catholic popula-
e ton of Mobile, Charleston, Savannah and
: Richmond, and declare that their cause is
the cause of Protestant people.
7 In q word the Democraticp politicians have
: no more affection fer us than their oppo-
nents. They love us where we have many
+ votes. In the roar Of many voices only
can they detect the sweetness Of the Irish
: brogue, and the softness of the German ac-
cent. If there is a prospect that our sup
e port will pay they will fawn upon us; and
: if it will profit them more, we may expect
to feel the fangs of the creatures now bark
2 ing at our prelates. sea-
We owe oursecurity from oppression and
? wrong to the American people-to those
/ who are true to the old flag, and the old
: order of things, when an election was final
ity, and Archbishop Purcell and Bishop
: Rosecrans did not "work for the overthrow
of their friends but on the side of the
f people, as the result has shown.
But even ola Lne CatnOllcS owe ever SC
much to the politicians who now practi.
5 cally deny us the right to vote, they would
not in conscience give their gratitude that
shape in which payment was demanded.
If man helps me when I am right. graft
5 titude does not bind me to help him when
, he is wrong. If he helps ME out of prison,
am not obliged to help him put some one
, else in. They asked US to desert our coun-
e try in its hour of need, to vote our State
f into isolation and aimless rebellion, to
make our soldiers abandon the ground
J they have fought over, and the graves OF
their comrades, to force them to stack arms
on this side Of the Ohio, and wait for the
!, armed Confederates to come and give us
} peace" within our own borders, after the
J style of Quantrell and John Morgan. They
, wanted us to back down from maintaining
our right of free election, and acknowledge
, ourselves the menials of those whose only
J title to command is that they own slaves.
They asked us to make Cincinnati border
town, to break down our National Govern
ment, to leave ourselves prey to rowing
lguerrillas and unbridled mobs; this was
more than we could give. We and our