The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-03-07
L. d. AND THE PORE.

Inere 10 an old proverb which 1mpiie
that certain characters should be blessed
with good memory; and we will add tha
better memory would be q good thinl
for l.. d. He says that our assertion tha
he confined the Pope's denunciation
against free discussion and the rights o
conscience to the liberals Of Europe, il
false. To convict him Of forgetfulness v,
quote from his previous communication
".It would be unfair and unjust to stretch
the denunciations Of the s. Pontiff aimed
at tie radicals and infdeis Of Europe
30 as to make them include our own noble
and free government" But he says now
"the Pope never made any such denunci.
ations." To set that matter at rest we
quote once more from the Pope's encyclical
letter as published in the "Catholic Tele.
graph" The Pope says: "From their
totally false notion Of social government.
they fear not 70 uphold that erroneous
opinion most pernicious to the Catholic
church and to the salvation of souls, which
was called by our predecessor Gregory,
XVI. deli ransenfasn, namely, that "Libsr.
ty Of conscience and of worship is the
right of every man and this ought in
every wellgoverned State to be proclaim
ed and asserted by the law" That is
precisely the "erroneous opinion most per-
nicious to the Catholic Church," which
is proclaimed by the Constitution and laws
of our country, and which is thus de-
nounced in the above set phrase by Pope
Plus aud by his predecessor Gregory.
Notwithstanding these plain declara-
tions, L. D. denies that the Pope ever
made them, but says the Pope simply as
serted that "citizens are not allowed to de.
clare their opinions of whatever kind
through the press" and in that far L. d.
sustains him, and instances the case of
the Mormons, the dissemination of whose
principles be asserts ought to be checked
But our Constitution secures the rights of
conscience, free discussion and freedom of
the press, SO that the Pope and L. D. by
his own admission are opposed to these
fundamental principles of liberty.
But the Mormon is an extreme case
true, but if the principle is not good for an
extreme case it is worthless. Protestants
might regard the Catholic as an extreme
case. and Catholics have regarded and
still do regard the Protestant as an extreme
case, wherever they have the power. The
Jewish priesthood regarded the Christian
as an extreme case, and SO crucifed our
Lord and murdered bis Apostles and
Christians have regarded Jews and infidels
as extreme cases, and persecuted them by
the inHiction of barbarous punishments
for the exercise Of freedom Of opinion and
the rights of conscience. Regarding that
error may be tolerated so long as truth is left
free to combat it, and that no man has
right to enforce his faith and opinions on
another by the terrors Of the law and
physical force, our government secures
equal rights to all.
l.. D. says our second false assertion is
that the Pope denounces public schools.
Our proposition was that the Pope de-
pounced our public school system as
established by the people in this country
BY Law, for the purpose of securing the
benefits of . common school education to
the children Of the people. A similar sys-
tenn is in operation in Prussia under the
supervision of the Government. These
schools are designed to educate the
youth Of the land OF all religions and of no
religion on common platform. Now,
any one who will take the pains to read
the Pope's letter and its appendix. will
find that such system of educatior is de-
nounced over and over again, and it is
insisted that oil schools should be under
the authority of the church and the super
vision of its clergy. And any person who
Is familiar with the course of the Catholic
priests in this country has long since
been made painfully aware of their posi-.
ton in regard to our common schools. If
every Protestant denomination had made
their separate and exclusive elaine as the
Catholics have, the common school system
ofour country would long since have been
overthrow and destroyed.
IF the Protestants do enjoy liberty Of
conscience and the rights of worship in
Italy, Spain and other Catholic countries,
as asserted by L. D., it Is . new thing,
unknown to all past history, and in viola.
ton of the principles and practices Of tbe
Catholic Church in all ages, and in spite
Of the encyclicals Of Pope Plus and hi