New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-06-11

| hood. Lot US examine the question which
| may thus soon be introduced into American
politics.
the New World is indispensably necessary
to the existence of the Roman hierarchy
Without this toothold the power OF Rome
is gone forever. The spirit of progress in
tho Old World has weakened the hold Of
the Church ON the population of Europe
Education, science. the representative form
| Of government, whether monarohical as in
Enelsnd, or republican a. in France, are
combining to force the Vatican to elect be-
tween extinction or reform. The elements
of sntsgonism in Europe prevent the
growth OF the spirit of reform there. The
policy of the Concordat and the bigotry
of IN intolerant priesthood only serve to
keep alive the evils which are drawing the
papacy down to ruin. The spirit of reform
which is to infuse fresh life into HER
arohy must come, therefore, from the land
where renewal of ecclesiastical and po-
litioal power is to be found. Amer
lea is that land, aud hence Rome will
be impelled by every motive which can
move her to come forward, and take
sides with the people with the cause of ho-
msnity as against the despotism of prop
erty and the tyranny and wrong of caste, or
sink into hopeless decay. How can she
ally on the one hand of the negro serf-
laborer of the South, and on the other the
cooperative defender of the white wage
laborer of the North. Such . move in.
wolves of necessity many sweeping changes
in the Roman communion and in the polit-
ical hierarchy which forms the sword of
that communion. If Rome persists in this
move she must no longer seek to elevate
the clustered nun above the wife and
mother a. the ideal of womanly purity.
TIE priest must not be PLACED above the
father and husband. The convent must
not be placed above the home az place of
sanctity. The Roman communion must, in
. word, draw nearer to the Old Catholic
spirit Of Germany, to the creed of the ORR
entail (Greek) Church, and to the Anglican
Catholic brotherhood if she wishes to dsaw
America to her side. If the Roman hier-
archy can do this, ii can rin america, be.
cause the so-oailed Evangelical Christian
Church is so eaten up with race caste,
social-caste, and love of money, and
the idol-worship of property, that it
has ceased to be Christian except in name,
and hardly in that But if Rome
adheres stubbornly to the confessional, to
her superstitions and her degradation of
homo and the divine family institution by
making these secondary to the nun, the
priest and the convent, she will lose
America as she has lost Europe. The Vati-
can must accept education and free thought.
The world ia familiar with the spirit, cour.
eye and craftsmanship of tae Roman her
srchy, and lot no American Protestant de-
lude himself with the idsa that Rome can
not change if necessary. In the past this
hierarchy has not hesitated to make the
choice and the sacrifice when these involved
the life or power of the church. and the
free thought of the North will wish Rome
god speed if she thus becomes to the poor
and oppressed in America what she was to
the poor and oppressed Of Europe in the
third, fourth and fifth centuries of the
Christian era. As the ally Of the rights Of
the people against wealth, desp0t;sm and
political injustice. the Roman hierarchy
would thus become the leader and pro-
tector Of the great mass of the laboring
poor under this white mans govern
ment." The Catholic Church would. in
such case, becomes the one conspicuous
antagonist of caste, Of property despotism,
of unjust laws in the New World. The
church could open her places of worship
for schools, her workshops, her homestead
farm communities, to all men of all races,
of all creeds and of all conditions in life.
Building her power thus on the people and
the human brotherhood, she would become
in herself the final realization of the pledge
of Abraham Lincoln, that q government
OF the people, by the people tor the people
should not perish from the EARTH" for she
would be suon government. and such
government the world demands and will
finally have. If Protestant America proves
faithless to the cause of the political
brotherhood of man, as now represented in
the cause Of the negro, why should not
Rome advance to the front, seize the oppor-
tunity and by making common cause with
the people in America prepare the way not
only for permanent power here, but for a
revolution in Europe that will shatter into
fragments the German empire and the
British monarchy'
Let the Protestant lamplighters who
plan their puny schemes oy gaslight look up
sometimes to the stars. A new day for hu-
manity is dawning. The rays of this
glorious dawn begin already to cast their
rosy beams athwart the worlds political
sky. The great forces of organized and
selishness are making ready to
tear each other. Out of this conflict and
rivalries will come the opportunity upon
which some worldwide organization can
seize for making the cause of the brother.
hood of man universal. May the promise
Of this day of rejoicing for mankind not
end in disappointment. Whoever leads the
van in this holy cause will have the prayers
Of the oppressed and the blessings of
heaven to cheer and support him. Who
shall thus lead! B.
Prices of Ladies' Dresses.
1t seems An absurdity for woman to sit
down to make 8 dress now a days, for in
every large establishment dresses are to be
obtained in apparently limitless pr0fusion,
and in styles ss diversified ss need be to