The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1876-08-31
From HaTper's Weekly.l
Governor Tilden's Friends in the Rebel
lion.
BIZ EUGENE LAWRENCE

Ultramontanism in 1860 had reached
its lasting triumph in New York. Tn,
city bent before the papal priesthood anC
the Roman Catholic Democracy. Its ex
penses were doubled or trebled. Messrs
Wood, Brooks, and all Tammany Hal
grew rich and prosperous. The Church
had only to ask for donations from thu
city officials, and the peoples money
flowed out without stint. But suddenly
the crash of rebellion was heard ap
preaching, and the foreign rulers of New
York felt themselves in the presence o
an enraged and irresistible nation. AL
the Roman Catholic leaders had declared
themselves on the side of slavery, and
/ Sweeny and Connolly, John Mitchell
Sanders, Wood, Kelly, Tilden, were the
close friends of the chiefs of the South
ern rebellion. Mr.. Fernando Wood nc
doubt expressed the real feeling of all
the ultramontanes when he declared
aloud his active sympathy with the in
surgents. 1t was the papal priests, his
masters, who inspired him when he tel
egraphed to Toombs, of Georgia, his re.
gret that he could not prevent the stop
ping Of the sending of firearms to the
South, or punish those who had seized
them. He was eager to fill Charleston
and Savannah with guns and bayonets to
be uged against the citizens of New York
or Cincinnati. He thought it horrible
outrage to stop the shipment of arms to
the order of Governor Brown, and he be-
came ever after the chief leader of the
ultramontanes. This was as late as jan
uary "a, 1861. and through all that per-
ilous winter tho ultramontane leaders
plotted and intrigued with the maddest
advocates of slavery. The fierce, intol-
Grant spirit of the Charleston oligaEchy
found a natural ally in the overbearing
policy Of Jesuitism.
But the fall Of Sumter struck down for
a moment the whole ultramontane fac
tion with an irresistible terror For
open treason they were not yet prepared.
OF the power Of the people they were
suddenly become conscious. Priests and
politicians yielded to the popular will,
and even consented for the moment to
join in the necessary measures of re-
preston. A few Irish Catholics volun-
teered, perhaps in defiance of the wishes
of their ultramontane leaders, but it ap-
pears that the whole number of persons
Of foreign birth who entered the army
from New York city during the war was
in all about 5000. OF the immense num-
Der of immigrants who had found shelter
in its midst from famine, servitude, des-
pair, in the Old World, so small a pro-
portion were willing to give their lives to
Its defense! Some latent influence had
evidently restrained them, for it was
plainly no want of courage Nor was it
long before the whole Roman Catholic
population showed an extraordinary dis
content with the action of the national
government, and gave its vote with those
who had expressed an open sympathy
with the insurgents, and a resolution to
save slavery at the cost of the republic
The disasters of 1861, the gloom Of 1862,
gave the opposition an access to political
power. The enemies of the government
found their chief support in the ultra
montane population of New York.
From 1862 Tammany Hall began to lift
once more its shameless front. The
Irish Catholic leaders began once more
to defend slavery and plot against free
dom. Seymour became Governor, forced
into Office by the ultramontane majority
OF the city. The city sent as its Repre-
sentatives to Congress the bitterest oppo-
nents of the war for Union and freedom,
the avowed friends of the Southern lead
ers. There was now no secret made of
the tendencies Of the papal editors and
priests. The Church" began to speak
with authority by its servile instruments.
Messrs. Cox, Wood, Herman, and Ran
dali in the sessions of lS63-64, demand
ed change OF measures and submission
to slavery. Every meeting of the Roman
Catholic Democracy in New York teemed
with reasonable utterances; and the
Irish Catholic population of the city. who
had so lately fled from their own blight
ed land to find ease and competence in
New FORK, began now to murmur against
the government, and, in the midst of its
dangers, to add to the perils of the ma
tion. They were filled with fanatical
hatred for the colored race. They were
moved by some secret prompter. They
crowded to the halErebellious Demo
cratic meetings.
1t is in the midst of this new phase of
the ultramontane movement that Mr..
Tilden makes his appearance. At first
he hung undecided upon the ruling of
his party. He was the offspring of the
Roman Catholic supremacy, and one of
the earliest instruments of the papal
priests. For a time he professed loyal
sentiments. But he steadily shrank
from all public support of the govern
ment. His name or voice was not heard
at patriotic meetings, nor did he willing
ly lend aid to the Union administration.
Some secret bond held him in check.
He wavered as the ultramontane element
changed its front. He obeyed his for
elgn masters. At last he is found in
close sympathy with the promoters of
peace meetings at the North, with the
Roman Catholic clubs of New York, and
the desperate agitators at Richmond
He clung to slavery with the teuacity Of
a Cox, and defended its perpetuation
with the ardor of Davis or a Toombs.
In lS6O he was the champion of the in
surgent theories, and in 1864 he was con-
vlnced that the war for the Union must
fail During all this obscure and yet ac-
tive portion of his political career, Mr..
Illden evidently placed all his hopes OF
political preferment upon the support of
the fallen Shareholders and the papal
priests. For them he approached in pol
itics the verge of treason. For them he
was afterward to build up and perfect the
rule of Tweed and Sweeny. His services
to "the Church" were immense; he was
the chief instrument in securing for it
vast sums from the public Treasury; he
placed its friends in high municipal Off
ces; he opened the way to the wealth
and aggrandizement of its members; ul.
tramontanism fourished under his guild
ance, and in return 'the Church" num-
bered him among those it was bound at
least for time to protect and aid. Like
all his political followers, he grew ex-
tremely rich. He became in the West a
railroad king He is said to have given
literally to Roman Catholic churches and
schools from his own wealth-he had al.
ready consecrated to them a large share
of the public But he was now so closely
bound in the tolls of the Roman Catholic
and ultramontane party that all his con.
| duct seems to have been marked by a
certain instinct of fear. To offend "the
| Church" would be to him political ruin
perhaps something worse. From 1866