Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01

under the English government We refer
again to the Guibord case, in Montreal We
have given the details of this miserable bust
ness before, and will only say now that
Guibord was as devout Catholic as the
bishop Of Montreal himself. Some trouble
arose between him and the bishop, which led
the latter to curse the former. Guibord
appealed TO the pope, hut before his decision
was received he died. Now begins the long
struggle over the burial Of his remains. Six
years have been consumed 10 fruitless
attempt to bury Guibord in cOnsccrated
ground Bat now the highest British court
has decided in favor Of such burial, aud
issued q peremptory decree TO that effect.
But when the authorities undertook to exc
cute tho decree, they found reckless, des-
perate mob on the ground to prevent it,
And it still appears that the sanction Of the
bishop of Montreal is the ground of action
of that mob.
Here there is the head of the Ronan
church in Montreal in open and defiant
rebellion against his queen, and the question
to be settled is whether the authority Of the
state is to be over-ridden and set at defiance
by the ecclesiastios of the Roman church.
One or the other must yield
On recent Sunday the bishop of Mon.
trea issued a pastoral letter cursing forever
the ground within which Guibord may chance
to be buried, and thus placed upon it the
anathemas Of the church. Hero we give our
readers the substance of the document;
But if. however. we have managed to pro-
vent breach of the public peace, yet Mt the
same time we have taken every means to
uphold the honor of our holy church and to
prevent the PROCLAMATION of our consecrated
ground, the means being TO declare that, by
virtue of the divine power we had in the
name of the Lord of Lords, the place where
the body of this rebellious child OF the church
should be buried should be entirely cut off
from the consecrated cemetery and should
be for the future accused There is no
necessity to inform you that, under the sol
emn act of our conservation to God, full
power has been given to us TO bind and to
unbind, to bless and to curse, to consecrlte
persons, places and churches aud to interdict
them to separate from the body of the
church the limbs which disturb and outrage
it; to deliver to Satan those who, by their
own acts, sever themselves from the church.
so that they shall be considered from hence
| forth rs heathens and publicans, SO that they
shall not return to God without Il sincere
repentance. 1t is by virtue of this divine
| authority, etc, aud To prevent future troubles,
I - \.
| though any one shall pretend Ignorance of it,
that the spot in the cemetery where the body
OF the late Guibord shall be buried evun
| though in the future it be eNhumed IN any
manner whatever, will be in fact and in
manner (ipS0 .fdctO) interdicted and sepa-
rated from the rest of the cemetery. Such
is the declaration we have to make to you.
| Therefore you need have no fear that in tho
| present case your cemetery can lose its
sacredness, or that the holy rites it has upon
its sanctified and blessed places can be sacri-
feed or trodden under foot.
Such a document requires no comment to
to show its internal spirit, and its impiour
assumptions. Here the bishop takes the
| position Of open defiance against the queen
and the final issue of the affair will be
awaited with great interest by the Christian
community.
And we have still another illustration oil
the same defiant hostility of tho church
against the state, in the conflict described
below, between ecccsiastic and civil power
in Canada. And the same bishop seems to
have his hand 10 these movements. ReaC
carefully
MONTREAL, September I2.-Another in
stance of conflict between ecclesiastic ant
civil authority, involving II somewhat SINH
lar principle to that which has caused the
Guibord riots, is helping on the bitterness o.
fictonal feeling here. In the parish Of Yer.
cheres new road was projected. tho route
| being through land owned by n Catholi,
church. Thu land Wps valued and appro
priated, in the usual Way, by the civil author
tiles. The church tried By lawsuit Il
regain it, and the case went up through
court after court, being finally decided
against the ecclesiastics. Now the church
has appealed for mid to tho bishop of Mon.
treal, who has responded in command Il
the people of Vercheres to return the lane
and pay all the costs of tho litigation about
$4,000. Accommodation Is TO be the pen
atty OF disobedience. The report here is tina
the people are divided in sentiment, but thai
| ~
bishops order. In that case the authorities
| will call upon the government for defence
against expected riOting. A force of Orange
men have been hired to build the road. ant
the Catholics are preparing to drive then
away when they begin work, Much trouble
is certain, and bloodsllcd probable"
And here allow US to remark that tn
same intolerable bigotry, and the same Rend
ish purpose are at work in the Unite,
States to get the control Of our government
and to overthrow our free institutions.
becomes every American citizen, and ever
Christian philanthropist, to wake up to
consciousness of our danger, and to come t,
the rescue before it shall be too late.
p s. We had written the above befor
we received the protest of our friend fror
the West against our comments upon tn
Catholic question. But we now see no rea
son for recalling or changing anything w
have written. The best information at on
command fully sustains our Wow OF thi
question. 1t may be that "the Cathoi
clergy denounced the action of the mob" il
public, but does any man doubt that thei
sympathies we're all with the mob, and tina
they tacitly approved Of preventing tn
burial Of Guibord2 Docs any one believ
that any Catholic will be excommpnicated
or that the ground will be cursed whore h
is to be buried, in consequence Of haVin
participated in this riot 2
In the pastoral letter quoted above motto
the assumption, "But if, however, we hav
managed to prevent breach of the publ
peace, yet at the same time we have take
every means to uphold the honor of our hol
church," etc. Now, what really preVepte