The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1864-03-24
! TERMS oFlAovERTIeINoL
'TissiFs"rnn,cst sthtsophesAt Santiago.

We shall not attempt to- rival the
melo-dramatic scqhie pictdresqlfeness
with which contemporaries, metrp-
politan and provincial, have described
the appalling loss Of, life in the city of
Santiago, the capital Of the republic of
Chilli, OccasiOncd by the burning of
the great Church of the Jesuits willis
some three thousand worshippers were
prayerfully engaged in celebrating
the Feast Of the Immaculate Concep.
ton. When great misses of people
are oyertaken by appalling and de-
structive calamities, whether by the
burning and wreckipg of ships at sea,
the explosions and Holdings in mines,
frightful accidents on railroads, or the
numerous other casualties with which
i'm England We are so familiar, there is
Nothing that appears to us so utterly
heartless as the fierce Indignation with
viii h persons are assailed who are Of
ten themselves among the greatest suf.
ierers from such dread occurrences,
and SO ignorantly absurd as the fury
with which systems are condemned to-
which such dangers are merely. and
often very remotely, incidental. We
are well aware that no words could
describe the real horror of the dread
inl scene in Santiago presented by the
burning Of 4 church containing when
the fire broke out three thousand per-
sons, OfwhOm two thousand for tho
most part women, lost their lives.-
But no laisehood could be invented
more atrociously malicious in itself,
and in its purport, than to represent
the Clergy Of the church Of la Cam
pfna as more intent upon preserving
| the Ecclesiastical furniture and deco
rations of the church than the lives of
the people. All who know anything
Of what Robert Sohthcy. in his histo-
4 rv of Brazil, has written of the Jesuit
Missions Of South Amcrica--of the
trightful, selfdcnying sufierings Ct
these most earnest and devoted SER
wants Of the Most High, in civiIizing,
and in preserving the old Indian ra-
cesi 80 contrary to what took place in
the New England States-will certain
ly not require TO be assured that Of
the thousand who escaped from the
burning church the majority owed
their lives to the intrepid energy Of
Clergy.so maligned in the columns Of
the English newspapers These Mis-
sionaries, says Southey, "were every
way qualified for their office. They
were Jealous for the salvation of souls;
they had disehghged themselves from
all the tics that attach us to life. and
were therefore not merely fearless Of
mai'tyrdom. but ambitious oft" The
Hon, F. Walpolt, in his "Four Years
in the Pacific records that sail South
America was explored under the di.
reetion of the Jesuits. Overcoming
every difficulty; surmonnting tolls;
braving unheard of and unknown dan.
gers, smiling at and glorifying in
wounds, hardships, death itself, these
jealous men spoke of Jesus and his
love and mercy in7the remotest nook
in this vast coiitincnt't'~ 81 0Elrss
Sir Woodbinc Parish describing the
Jesuits Missions in Paraguay. also
says:-'''lt' we lOUls at the good which
they did. rather than for the evil
which they did not, we shall find that
l in the conrse Of about century and
halt, upwards ofabout million of In.
dians were converted by them to Chris
tianity, and were taught to be happy
and cohtented tcder the mild and
peaceful rule Of their paternal Pastors
IA blessed lot when ,contrastcd with
the savage condition Of the unreclaim-
ed tribes around them" Now, in San
I tiago-whcrc the Hon. Mr.. Walpolc
tells us the Jesuits have excellent
schools, in which the children of the
| poor arc educated free of expense, and
where the Priests, mostly taken froht
T the higher classes, are educated at tho
university, and are well informed
order of mei''-we may be very sire
! that such indifiercRce to the lives Of
! thousands perishing fellow.creatarcs
as our cotempOraries impute to the
Clergy, hid inst as little real existence
as the writers were witnesses of
i tho horros described by yrthem.1 The
humiliatihg consideration; however, is
1 that they wrote with the certainty
that, by heaping abuse upon the Priest
hood, and by ridiculing the tircum-
stance Of upwards oftwo thousand wo-
men being found in n church, instead
of ut SOME. monster concert in somc
such Temple Of Fashion as our own
Crystal Palace, they would crafty the
7 taste and cohciliote the bi%diudiccs of
the great majority of their readers
i They did not venture to say word
about the evidence supplied by such
an attendance at a religious service in
a parish church of the prevalence of
devotional habits In city whose whole
population does hot exceed two hun
| drcd thousand souls! A contemporary,
in the true spirit of an old Pagan,
compares the dying in the church with
the slaughtered in shndry beleaguered
i cities, and accords the palm of refer
ence to such as have had the satisiAc-
ton Of dying fighting for their lives"
Surely to, such writers the death on
the Cross by one who had only TO ask
to obtain the aid of "twelve lCgions of
angels can present little that is sub
timely hcroicl II the temporal life Of
a Christian be of less importance than,
the frame Of mind in which ho eNehanr>
res it for life eternal the saffSeated
. inmates of the hnrninn nhNrAA ,ASah