Litchfield enquirer., 1866-10-25
nghe 4iIs ofAsohpi.Aap Hashe..

Vasd. Pnbishedby Appleton < Go. 1866.
 A full and candid biography of of the ablest and most noted prelate of the Romish commu- pion among us-ef the great exemplar of Irish American Catholicism-could not but be an fintefastings and instructive work. Such ,, in &s haiht is } the book before us Though written by a Catholic. it is the production of a scholar. and of man who aims at the truth. There is of course much prejndice,against Rsotsstaa1ism but little UT none .of that in. tense sectarianism which 90 oftep disgusts the general reader and the catholic Christian in popish writers. There is incidental evidence enough, that. in Romish eyes, the distinction between 2, protestant and an infdel will not be of much future avail to the former; hat it is a belief which this biographer seems to hold with regret rather that with that complacent satisfaetion, which stirs onr righteous ndigna tioh against so many upholders of the exclu, sive churches. The literary execution of this work is very, creditable; there is no cant, and little of theausual biographical oyer-estimation The, narration is simple, as it should be, and the character of the subject of the history, clearlys carefully and neatly delineatedl IT ' Archbishop Hughes was born in l797, emi- grated to this country when twenty years of age, and worked for some time as day labor CT till he could gain admittance to Mount St Marys College. Soon after his ordination in 1928 De was called by his bishop to Phiadel- phia where he gained great reputation as preacher and indulged his pugnacious hamor in fnuHerous controverses with Protestants, in aA of which he exhibited wonderful pluck and confidence, joined with considerable. skill as 5 conttotersiaiist, If, as we suspect he was often worsted, he never knew it. Among oth- works pf controversy be wrote Catholic nov tel called Andrew Dunn wherein we read of ns less than eight apostate eathplies who all, sew erally, died sudden spdd deaths7--a line of argument we never before recollect to have seen used against any sin but that of promiscuous -danc ing. s,,nh .,,. ,,' ., ..,.,' .'s.. -',- Z Z Inl 1883 he lost the bishopric of Cincinnati by queer mistake :, Mir Hughes and Mr Pur- lceT lad both been recommended for the posi- 'tion.l The Cardinals were in doubt. and asked .ths advice of'Bishop Eegland, then at Rome, sFho urged the appointment of Mfr Hughes as .beipgqthe filter for Western diocese because he was self made man: The next day as Bishop EnglaEd metahe cardinal who had sd fvised with him, the latter exclaimed. "Well. Bishop [ The question is settled; | As, soon as I told thezeafdinals what you said about Mr I PurceEs being sel f.made. man. they agreed upon him Unanimously" The Bishop deem ing it the work of God, was silent. s,, ~gaa @ .. B Ina838 Mr Hughes became bishop of the di- oeese of New York then eomprising that State and mos. mos. of New Jersey During his vigorous padmioistrstion the number of churches in ereased from less than thirty to over four hundred, and. his original diocese was, divided into five, bishoprics. His Irish yalor ,sesmed, throughout, tempered with such a aproportion, of discretion as made him feared as an antagonist while much respected as an earnest, outspoken supporter of, views often anything but popular He did not re lceiys hla appointment as archbishop till 1850 from which time he renamed equal, indeed, in rank, but far superior in reputation. to any
 of the American prelates. @'" 'l , .r ;. ;. 4, stranger mixture of shrewd sense and childish superstition, than he seems to Pro iestast eyes, it is impossible to concelve - When bisface is turned towards Rome he is al faith and submission but he bends to nothing else,an conducts himself towards all the res, of the world as born ruler of men, admi. ting no superior scarcely any equal. He is phe. nomenons we'll worthy of aote- "a half f-udal,
 half radical potentate, now shedding tears Of l .emotion and tenderness" over papal puerl- |ities. like the pompous announcement of the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary now making violent, revolu- tionary harapgue in Ireland worthy of a Fe- 1 niau Head Centre; again, fighting grandly un. der the American banner of freedom of con. science, for the presenting faith of Bloody Maya, veritable Thomas Becket, living moving, and having his being,in the nineteenth tcentusy.p aes ? # i, al. br.Ias1 2. ss~a sa3 | h his career as a mere Romisb prelate we
 naturally find little to admire. He deprived the Remish laity of what little cootrol they once had over ecclesiastical matters. He
 vaHHsed away Catholic youth from ourrpublie fscboois; their best chance of being trained ap real Americans and not native born foreigners.
 His pretext was the reading of the bible his real objection was to all instruction not under strictly Romish inauence.os sa .za s'- a7o s''There are certain outworks of the church, : says he. "which gre conservative of her dignity and safety These keep her enemies not oaly from entering her gates, but alsofrom apS ptoaching her wells outside.''' 9*'a' ;#'; I" Hence the bishops in Ireland never pronounc, ;; cd a wiser decision than when they refused to allow their people to receive the Catholic scriptures soith Cathohc notes, explanations and Gpp,Ouals from some of those rascallg socje-