The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-08-29

seen that all attempts TO Protestantize Spain
have been nugatory. We have seen it stated
TINT. out of curiosity or momentary ill-fcelings
many were at first found to attend the Protest.
ant place of worship set up near the Church of
St. Catharine; but these, for the most part,
loft so soon as the bells of the parish church
announced the commencement of Mass. Now,
IL is understood the Protestant minister finds
IL almost impossible to hire even q room for
worship, as no landlord will Nenture-such Is
the horror felt for the new sect-to give him
lodging anywhere in the vicinity of Catholic
popuiations. The following is the article:
The advocates of liberty of worship have
been wont to base their demands on two as
susuptions, both of which have turned ont
faIse They told us that owing to the exciu-
sIyism to which Catholic unity condemned us,
trade with us, or take part in our public works,
or even to enter into any kind Of social inter
course that we ourselves were not willing to
fine lamentations of these apostles of liberty of
worship, and the blessings they imaged forth
for our country the moment the sun OF liberty
should have pierced through the iron barriers
that shut us out from the civilized world. By
their showing. Catholic unity was to blame for
every evil that afflicted us. If foreign markets
were closed to MS, it was all owing to Cathohc
unity. If the Peninsula was not covered with
a network of canals, it was all owing to Ca
tholie unity. If our waste lands lsy still un-
bare of vegetation, the whole thing the
result of Catholic unity. OF course it was
quite clear that our want of roads, the Ian
guild condition of our railways the paralyzatien
of our commerce, our backwardness in every
kind of manufacture as well as IN agriculture,
all, all, were the result of Catholic unity:
Nothing, however, save the destruction of
that sacred unity was needed TO change the
face of all things, to turn Disadvantages into
progress, raise death to life, and make even
Spain paradise Il al seemed as , u foreign
txysar aa0 rlxy
their chests of treasure, their secrets OF bliss,
their wealth of science, longing to scatter
those blessings OYER the land the instant they
should have the liberty to erect places of wor-
ship for themselves.
At length the crisis came, day SO sad for
1ls all; but never was theory made ridicu-
lous never did Utopia vanish so quickly, never
was statement more gloriously or more fully
belied. 1t was but yesterday we heard these
promises and assumptions We still hear the
voices of the deputies that advocated liberty
of worship; we still reading the inter
minable articles day by day published by the
organs of the same party. Had we ourselves
defended doctrines such-as theirs, had we Mt
tered promises such as they had, we should in
deed hide ourselves in the very earth for shame
that not one, absolutely not one, has been JUS
tilted by the result,
We have lost the religious unity that illu-
mined all our history, and was our hope for
the. coming future, and in return we have
gained nothing; have inflicted u deep
wound on evefy moral interest without one
single advantage accruing to our material an
tePests. What greatness OF what benefit has
come to us through liberty OF worshipf Is
commerce more prosperous? Is agriculture
improyingq Have The rivers risen from the
beds they have flowed in for ages to scatter
wealth over desert wastes Have roads
been opened up to bring our internal wealth
within reach of all? Has property in town or
country risen in value? Has trade increased
Is there more money in circulation Is the
census greater? Is there moro work donei
Ask amy one concerned. The reply is rs easy
as it must be sad, if shame and anger do not
hinder q reply.
Foreignerst have not come, but Spaniards
have gone; the public treasury is empty and
private expenditure has ceased; our waste
lands have increased in extent, while orr
cultivated fields have diminished; no new
suburbs are being built, while those already
finished have their houses tenantless; no one
buys, and therefore one sells. The Madrid
Town Council (the model, we suppose, for
every other in Spain,C to find work for some of
the hands that have not yet left us, has Thought
it useless to build anything new, and has EN-
ployed those hands in pulling down what
Others had built of old.
Jews from Germany and Professionals from
London have sent their thanks to the
Revolutionary Government, but took care to
stay at home With just snch courtesy do we
thank q little child that offers us its doll, which
is Of no use &c ne, and which we tell 1T to Keep
The heretics that have come have not had
tho means of buying even n burial-place for
fheir own use; and the first one that has dfed
In Madrid, has brought trouble on the Alcalde,
who, being q generous man, has kindly made
tho deceased . present of his own cemetery.
The Correspondence, that gets its news from
supporters OF the situation, and by no means,
publishes anything unfavorable to that cause,
e has often told MS of the coming OF rich
Foreigners, but We have never yet seen any of
them. We heard that Protestants were
hastening to open great bazaars, and that jews
were coming to build immense and elegant
quarters of the city; but we have seen nothing
of either one or the other. And one that had
read the pron1ise made to us would have 6X-
T1ected to see our population danhlea and this
pOos country of ours severed with new
We rsnernber that these newspapers told us
of land purchased in different parts of Madrid
for the erection OF Protestant temples; that
ono was to be begun at the opening of the
Cortes; that the frat stone of a second would
he laid the day liberty of worship should be
voted; that colony of jews were coming to
build a suburb and a synagogue for themselves,
etc. But all these projects are projects still.
even if they have been projected Mt all, and
were not the mere expression of the ill-wiu Of
the writers or the penny-a-liners that were paid
for the insertion.