Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-09-02
The ROmish Church and the
Vote for the Presidency.

Vote for the Presidency.
The Southern Catholic, of Memphis,
the official organ ofthe Catholic Church
in the Southern States, contains an ar
ticle which lays down the programme
as follows: There are two very essen
tial steps to be taken in order to win
the next Presidential race. 1t is scarce
ly necessary, trust, to urge our fellow
Catholics to assemble everywhere
around the Democratic colors, for they
are all, by choice or necessity, external
to the Republican party, and it is in
credible to believe that any Catholic
who has modicum of self-respect and
love for his church can cooperate with
the party. If hitherto he has done so,
the time is at hand to abandon an or
ganization which is confessedly, and
without longer disguise, at war with
our holy religion
1t seems as if the. Roman Catholic
Church was anxious to precipitate a
collision with the people of this coun-
try. The disturbances produced by the
Papacy in Europe, which led to its be-
ing stripped of its temporal power and
to the expulsion and curbing of the de-
fiant priesthood In Germany, are mat
tiers well known to thoughtful .Ameri-
cans, who regard the claim to oinfallibil-
ity as shockingly blasphemous. The
Pope, who has never left the soil of
Italy, is in the hands of a hierarchy
more unscrupulous than that of the
Dark Ages; more given to dissimula-
tion and more inclined to vituperate
and punish where they dare. But Eu-
ropean Roman Catholics are more en-
lightened than they were, and laugh at
the thunders of the Vatican. European
mOnarchs of Roman Catholic subjects,
however, have been forced to break the
concordat with infallible pretensions to
their own protection; and we have the
sorry spectacle toward the close of the
nineteenth century of the Romish
Church rampant and trying to ride
roughshod over the people of the Euro
pean Continent.
The age and feebleness Of mind of
the Pope, has absolute ignorance of the
worlds condition outside of Rome, and
the mischievous and untruthful reports
Of the Jesuits and other enemies of
liberty and knowledge, have led him
to believe that while In Europe the Ro-
man Church is s-suffering and the priest
hood made to obey the secular law, in
this country-a new country-the peo-
pie welcome the advent of Romish en-
issaries as much as the Pope did the
bestowment of his alleged infallible at
tribute. The people are said to be de-
lighted with the Pope's making an
Irish-American citizen, Cardinal Nc
Closkey, Romish prince, but he being
dissatisfied with condessending to De
Prince McCloskey, has proceeded to
Rome to select a more euphonious
title.
The Southern Catholic, of Memphis,
has torn the mask from the face Of the
Romish Church and made it stand
forth in all its hedeous deformity, as
political body allied with the worst
element of American politics.
Such bold and defiant assertions as
tnat the self-respect of the Roman
Catholic American will not allow him
to cooperate with the Republican par
ty; and more, il he loves his church he
cannot do so, seems a vile SANDER on +
many citizens. But be that as it may,
the truth AS to the Romish hierarchy
in this country is out and undisguised,
and its attitude known; and, doubtless,
a tree people, proud of their freedom
and general intelligence, and under
standing their duty will not fail to per-
form it.
Let the information here given reach
every town and city and hamlet in the
land. Let the people know that the
Romish Church has risen up against
their political power. And let every
citizen who loves his country and Its
free institutions prepare to resist the
influence Of the Romish priesthood in
their infamous attempt to interfere
with the freedom of the suffrage of
American citizens.