Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-12-22
Democracy and Popery.

OF restoring the Pope to ciyi
9 power, it is high time for American
! citizens TO ask, "What does de-
mocracy, as held by these gentle
men, mean -
They have publicly joined with
; the Roman Catholic priests ofthis
8 city in p otest against the over
Il row Of the Pope's temporal
7 throne ard n demanding his re-
storation,
If there is eny word thoroughly
| understood in this country il is
this fundamental watchword Of lib
erty, democracy-government by
: the people. 1t implies the right
t Of the people to choose their own
rulers and to determine their own
, form of government. 1t is, also,
the natural and necessary foe OF
3 despotism, the one man power, and
Of every form Of tyranny over the
minds and limbs Of men. If de-
mocraey has any enemy in the
world more fierce, cruel, outspoken
and resolute than another, that
worst enemy Of liberty is the Pope
Of Rome. In his famous Bull
issued before the Council was as
sembled in Rome, the present Pope
gave expression to sentiments
which were pronounced in antagon-
ism to the civilization of the nine
teenth century, aud expressly de-
nouncing those ideas which are
peculiarly democratic and Ameri-
can, The Pope condemns the lib
erty of the press, freedom of wor-
ship, the right Of private judgment
and all those cardinal doctrines Of
independence which made this
country the asylum for refugees
from the despotisms OF the Old
| World
Mcssrs. O,Connor and M'Keon
know these things, and knowing
them, they ask the restoration Of /.
that hoary tyrant to his throne !! |
We venture to challenge history
to furnish, within the last Gour cen
turtles, any utterances from any
Government more thoroughly an
tagonistic to human liberty and the
rights ofman, than the Pope's last
Syllabus and the doctrines of the
Cath0ljc Hord, a Romanist
monthly magazine Of this city. I
The sentiments are not only mon
archical. they are autocratical, and,
taken in connection with the decree
Of intallibility, they are utterly
subversive Of the foundations of
democratic institutions. Believers
in the divine right of kings, and the
blind slaves Of religious despotism,
might be supposed to be capable Of
bowng their necks to such a yoke,
But that Charles O'Connor and
John M Keon, champions of the (
New York democracy, leaders of t
the party Of the most advanced $
ideas of fliberty, men who profess |
to be democrats on abstract prin l
ciple, philosophical democrats, {
thouA htful, intelligent democrats, {
disintcrested democrats, above {
office, and teachers of the founda- :
ton dogmas Unpopular lights; that :
these men should unite with horde +
of Romish priests to agitate for the /
restoration of a pure autocrat to a ,
throne of unlimited despotism, is q
one of those phenomena that first .
dazzle the sight with their exceed /
inc novelty and then puzzle the q
brain for an explanation.
Charles O'Connor is said to be
the author of the manifesto put
forth by the priests and their fol
lowers Johr McKeon is one of /
the sioners of it. a few Romanist e
Iaymen were selected as rep t
to sion with the priest 7
hood. They were two of them. G
They signed their names as demo- I
crats. asking the world to put a ty y
rant on a throne, without a check t
to his power or a Init to his will. {
1t is a stupendous farce. or a case {
Of blind ianaticism that has no
eouol since The Crusades. a
If il were Roman Catholics, we
could not be republican or demo !,
cratic. To be Roman Catholic U
and democratic republican, is an Y
lbsurdity. Take the latest mani !
'estoes of the Pope and Of bis e
organ, the CatboHc World, in this II
,ity, and find in them the actual ?
doctrines of the most exclusively II
"