The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1880-02-04

u . IL
heart, a. ,,nt; ba WAS * ~ farasav ,,,,,;, n.
was Al uahst ~ s. a. y ~ !, M, .,as
/ 80 and took the Honse bv surnr;sa with HI.
4 maiden. speeeh !, Mt .3s he made his afan,ou.
ploa in the Dartmouth f,ol,aael ~ .. :, 40 NJ.
irenlv ~ tIao saa 5000 soysf
-as--- -..--se s----.. 49,
1. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC QUESTION.
sasfsssmg yet ------. s. 8 asIxs
Observant Americans have regarded
thougitfully recent incidents deyelopjpo the
agressions of the Roman hierarchy. which
have been exposed and resisted bvi members
of that cotnmunion an inconsistent with their
| rights as citizens. The flrst was tho, inter-
ference by Father Dnh,esne. a par;sh nr;est n.
Holyoke, Mass, with the business Of a,parish
Toner whom he had oxcon,municated. A suit
f.. damages against Dufresne resulted, under
charge from Judge Bacon. to which we shall
presently allude. il, d verdict for the plaintiff.
The second was the ATTEMPT of Father Scully.
"a parish priest at Catnbrideebort. Mass to
force. certain of his parishioners to remove
their children from The piblic schools; and
send them to the parochial school, This ac-
tion was subsequently, emphasized by the ap.
prevail of Archbishop Williams.
Most Of our couutfyn5en seem to have re-
garded y iii indifference the PROGRESS of the
Roman Catholics in the Republic, although
tue statistics Of their advance In numbers and
in wealth give color to the boast that they
will soon control the country by the ballot /;
and few probably have carefully considered
what that would mean IL ii should come to
pass. se.s
Father Hecker in his very Ingenious paper
entitled .sThe Catholic Church in the United
States it's rise. relations with the Republic.
growth, aud future prospects, y after present
ing the astonishing proposition @that the
fiaomanI Catholic Church Mas ratified her
whole lifetime for those rights of man and
that liberty which confer the greatest glory
en- the American Republic gives table OF
statistics which rests probably on a more sub.
stantial basis Of historic accuracy. This Ia
BILE shows that in 1778 the Roman Catholics
were one one.hundred and twentieth part Of
the whole population. and in 1890 one oneA
hundred, and seventh part i; and these figures
remind us how very small was their proper
Il
ton at those dates to the American colonists,
who, having laid the foundations of civil and
religious freedom ON the Christian morality
Of. the Bible, fought the battles of the Revo-
hutton and ordained the state and National
Consultations. The tables trace the corapars
alive growth to 1877, when the Roman Cath
olics appear as seven millions to forty, or one
sixth of the whole population Father Heck
err attributes this immense growth not simply
to emigration, but to the great number of
births, and quotes the fact which, assuming
| tito be correct, Is sufficiently startling, that
in Rhode Island the census of 1875 showed
that +" its native American population by par
entage had increased only 1890 per cent. in
ten years past, while the foreign population
by parentage has increased SOIL per cent. in
the same time" OF ME seven millions in
1878, 1887, 600 an. ASSUMED to be Germans
Father Hecker further.shows that the aggre-
gate wealth of the Roman Church in the
United States Increased fro nine millions ii
h1S50 to twenty.six millions in 1850, aid to
sixty millions ia 1870. And that while III the