Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-05-01
MAY /, f775.

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The Centennial OF Religious Liberty.
New York Herald, of Tuesday.
1t was one hundred years ago that
the Continental Congress sent a formal
address to the people Of Canada in
viting their cooperation and hoping to
secure at least their neutrality In the
struggle against Great Britain. At
that period nearly the whole pOpuia-
ton Of Canada consisted Of French
Catholics, who had been ~subjugated IN
the then recent seven years war BY
which Canada was wrested from the
King of France. Our forefathers and
the British Government we're equally
anxious to secure the support Of that
Catholic province. With this view
Parliament passed what was known a
"the Quebec act" ~reInstating the Ca
madam Catholics In the rights they
enjoyed under the French dominion;
and our Continental Congress made
them a pubhcoffe of religious freedom
if they would Join us. Those two acrs
laid the foundation Of partial religious
freedom in England and full religious
freedom IN America As to toe effect of
the first Of these-the Quebec active
viii quote our national historian, Mr..
Bancroft: "The troubles of the thir-
teen colonies" says he, "led the Court
of Great Britain to its first step l the
emancipation of the Catholics, audwith
no higher object in view than to
strengthen the authority of the King
IN America, the Quebec act being that
series of concessions which did not
cease till the British Parliament itself
and all the high Offices Of administra.
ton have become accessible to Pa
pists.''' 1t is equally true that the
invitation extended by the Continental
Congress to the people Of Canada to
Join our resistance TO the British
Crown was the first great step toward
the full establishment of religious
equality In this country. The Quebec
act went into effect May l, l775, and
the address to Canada by a Congress
whose members were imbued with Bit
ter Protestant preiudices, had q great
influence In softening the religious big
otry whichpossesse most Of the colonies
We quote again from Bancroft: But
the desire of including Canada In the
c~Onfederacy compelled the Protestants
Of America to adopt and pTomulgate
the principle Of religious equality and
freedom. In the mastery address to
the inhabitants Of Quebec, drawn 10y
Dickinson, all old religious jealousies
were condemned as lOw-minded infirm-
tiles, and the Swiss cantOns were cited
as examples of a union composed of
Catholic and Protestant States"
Everybody must regard 1t as a singu-
lar, and Catholics will be apt to look
upon it as a providential coincidence,
that the ceremonies of to-day mark
the centennial of the fruitful public
proceedings to which we have referred,
which led to the emancipation of En-
glish Catholics and the complete di-
vorce of Church and State IN this
country. Another coincidence which
we will mention in passing is the fact
that the bull Of Pope Plus VI, ere
ating the first Catholic bishop and
thus organizing the Catholic Church
in the United States, was issued in
1889, the very year that our National
Government vas organized under the
present Constitution
The American prejudice against
Catholics was only partially obliterated
during the Revolutionary War, al
though some events OF the war had a
strong tendency to lessen it. The
chief Of these was the alliance of
France, a Catholic nation, which so
powerfully assisted US IN gaining our
independence and the undivided 10y
atty Of the Catholics Of Maryland
throughout the struggle. The reply
Of Washington to an address of the
Maryland Catholics on his election to
the Presidency is a proof both Of re-
naming bigotry and of his own sense
Of its injuEtice. We can quote but
one sentence, And 1 presume" said
Washington, chat your fellow citi-
zsns viii not forget the patriotic part
which you took IN the accomplishment
Of this Revolution and the establish
mont of this government, or the i'm
portant assistance which they received
from a nation IN which the Roman
Catholic faith is prOfessed." The
gratitude which the country has al
ways felt to Lafayette, KOsciuskO and
De Kalb, and its v~encration for Charles
Carroll, who was the last surviving signer
Of the Declaration of independence have
done much to produce a more liberal
and Just feeling IN the American mind
toward Catholics. But the full achieve
ment of religious freedom IN this
try was a work Of time. Jefferson and
his able coadiutor, Madison, did more
for this great cause, which is a chief
pillar of our institutions, than any 9TH
er American statesmen; but we have
not space to recite their pre.eminent
services to-day. 1t is to them and to
the sense of Catholic services IN our
Revolution that we are indebted for
that noblest conquest of American free
dom by which the rights Of conscience
are wholly emancipated from govern
mental control and the principle of re-
ligious equality is deeply embedded in
the institutions of the country. There
is nothing In our history which better
! deserves a centennial commemOration
than the earliest Of those events which
led to the divorce Of Church and State.
In this centennial view the Inaugural
ton ceremonies to-day have an interest
which a majority Of Americans cannot
be expected to feel in them as q mere
| event in the Catholic Church.
THE y Of NAV