Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-12-17
FROM WASHINGTON.
The New Religious AgItatiOn-Ex
Speaker blaine and tue Presi-
dent-1he AntI-CaIhOlic Order.
rspecisl TO he Baltimore Gazetts.l

WASHINGTON, December lot is
quite apparent 10 the close observer of
political signs as they appear in the
action of public men at the centre OF
agitation that there is not entire har-
mony IN the Republican party on the
religions issue which the office holding
faction is so Jealous = iaborin to r lis },
Thoughtful men must have marked
the significance of ex-senator B aines
,etter 70 an OHIO friend, which was
made pubic only few days since. 1t
wa4 written just after the Quo cleo
ton ard with full knowledge of the
influence of the religious agitation in
| that contest.
EX-sPEAKER BLAINE'S TACTICS.
Mr.. Blaine is too shire vd and saga
] cious a politician not to know that if it
| mad not been for the demagogical Cry
which his party raised IN tn Il State on
! the common school question it would
| have been beat II by from ten to TWEEN
| ~ thousand votes. But Mr.. Is anne Is
som thing more than u mere politician.
| He is d statesmen, with broad and hb-
! eral views. and. / believe, sincere
patriot. AS close and intelligent
| student Uf history ne knows and real
| lpon the agitation of religious qpe>-
lions. END especially when they are
dragged into the political arena and
made to subserve the ambitions OF
bold, designing men like General
| Giant. THIS country has Just passed
through a contest wine Gu aroust IT. the
| highest pitch mems p tsslOne: but tlat
would ''pae its Intellectual fire. when
| compared with the fierce antag oDis ms
| which would attend secta ian >tI :fe.
! 70 avert such q dreadful Calamity Mr..
Blame proposes constitutional
| ampndment He does not believe that
! there X auy real caus 20 apprehend
| the overthrow of our cOmmOn-@chOOi
! -yatem; neither does he believe that
! Any cou>i! 'rAO t. number OF & ItnOlIcs,
e tner Of tiio priesthood IT Ialty, q
SIRE q division of the school fund.
H, However, sees the danger OF am
bltious GemagOgues ike Graut flaming
the smOuide.lug embers of religious
biGotiy into the flaming fires of per>e
cutlDn, setting fdtnliy against family,
aud bringing unntUersb q woe upon
the who'll Land: ana to prevent MS II
proposes t. take away the little grnuuo
! ~4.Ct, Grant uuI his u1Scrupui fol
lowers Lave t. Stand upon. l. Ike TIE
true patriot and the liberal Statesman
that he demonstrated himself to b
last winter by his opposition to til.
force biiI ana the President & Arkansas
Job, he desires to lnaugurate an era o
goodwill aud bsotheriy love whlci
shall date from the centennial ami
versary of ini-peni, me-.
OTHER VIEWS.
This | believe 10 be ths real Obiec
he has i'll view i'll framing the IN biec
tlrnable amendment winch he proposes
There are. however, other persons uert
who, perhaps with more political fore
sight than | have, claim that mr
Blaine had only his own interests a
heart Enen he wrote to hi OliU fr;eDC
They say that he las ''tnfrd term O!
the BRAN, aud III proposing c)u"t!tu
tIOnat amendment he SImp,E meant &
knock Grant iii the head by settling
the secc4rIan issue in advance If 1875
On the other hand, [ believe, n com
mon with many others wiser aud bet
Ter Informed than | am, that Gran
was aiming as much ut Blaine as at Tia
| Catnoic Church when lie by his De
Moires speech threw the religion
tir band into the political arena HI
! kuew that Blaine was one of his mos
: ! formidable competitions for the R.
puollcAn nomlnatOrs next year, apC
he sought to kIll him off by stlrrin,
up a re lGi )us war-by ArrayIDg Pro
test Mt bIgotry against the Catholics
He knew that MIR. Blaine was reaTe,
= by Catholic parents, and that many o
: his relatives, notably the Ewing fnmii,
t of Ohio. are processing Catholics ant
/ although Blaine is not member O
~. 4 -
: standing the well known fact that hi
wife is a Presbyterian and his famil,
is being reared in that faith, stll
Grant hoped that if the sectarian Is
Il sue was we'll defined the ex- SDe ak
+ would suffer thereby. l am incline,
to think that Mr. Blaine saw this iittl,
game, and this, probably, may hav,
Qulckened his resolve TO eliminate th
J | church question from the campaign o
i | 1876. This view Is strengthened b,
+: | the publication yesterday IN Mr.
: Balne's home organ of the letter writ
! ten to him by John Y. Foster. edto
, of the Newark On. j. Courier. Th
F.. following Significant and remarkable
| statements which Mr.. Foster make
+ | becO ne ali the more important IL vieS
] ! of what ! have ust said MIR. Foste
say
, A potent factor in our next con
vention will be the secret anti Cathoii
order. Grant IS a mem Der, and it ia
: a good deal of strength in Congress
[ think you ought to go in. 1t can b.
arranged SO that you can be initiate,
anywhere by one person. The orde
: is spreading widely. My obligation
. do not permit me to say more thai
this, except that Grant no doubt relic
upon it to pro note his aims"
Why is this letter printed now if no
for the purpose of letting the countr,
know OF the existence of this anti
Catholic order and that Grant Is
-3eu.bsr of it? This letter, of course
; was not printed without the consent Q
Mr.. Blaine; aud that admitted. the ob
get Of The publication is apparently
.Acant 10 explode the Grant job b,
: jettILg 4 G eht Of day shine 10 upon
these dal Is aud dangerous intrigues.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.
| The President will send into Con
gress next week special messag
warmly endorsing the recommendation
II the inteTOcrnnic O. ual Commission
IL :sTur of the Nicaragua route.
ILLNESS OF SENATOR CAMERON.
senator cameron III lying seriously
i'll Of cold aui fcufn ais advanced ag,
his friends aE8 appr~n, ns.ye of the re
ult.
CUTTING D 1WN ESTIMATES &C.
A leading democratic representative
who mas Carefully gone through the
! foot OF eetim says the sum total Cal
be reduced over forty millions withou
,mpniring the efficiency Of the pubic
seFvice.- U'0shing'on special to Bal
tinlOre Sun
The MAJORITY TACTICS.
WASHINGTON, December lot is
more than probable that no session Of
; the House of Representatives will b.
held on any Monday until aft er the
holiday recess. On that day Monday
NC er cali OF tie States, the Repub.
lcaLs can introduce SUCH reSoiutlo:-s as
|