Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-01-04
DEMOCRACY DIsHONoRED.

 Can it be possible that the statement you made editorially, yesterday of the conduct of the Uni ted States minister at Rome is founded on fact, or has .even grain of truth to sustain it? Our government is non-sectarian-we have no Church Establishment in alliance with our civic system. The term Church and State" has never formed a political cry in Great Britain; and all religions as well as men are equal in the estimate of our Constitution. It is, therefore, inconceivable that an officer of Legation at any foreign Court would so far violate the spirit and principle he is sup posed to represent 1t would be dishonoring Democracy"
 This passage from long and indignant letter received this morning in which the writer, who signs himself t'An American Catholic" evidently hesitates between be- lief in our Ministers impropriety at Rome, and incredulity of our statement of that officials unmannerly and discourteous ex- hibition of bigotry. There need not be any hesitation, friend. The accusation has been made with circumstantiality that defes contradiction; and if corroborative proof were needed, we have it supplied in the fact that Cardinal Gibbons was made
  lands jubilee compliments to the Pontiff when, unless for the interposition of CO., gent causes, the representative of the Uni ted States at the Italian Court would have been, by usage and in diplomatic etiquette, the agent in the offering. It will be argued that MT Stallo is only accredited to the Court of King Humbert-that he has no embassadorial relation with the Vatican that the Pope in his official regard stands only in the light of private Roman Citi- zen, and that no duty devolved on him to pay tribute of respect to His Holiness. But no one asked him to do this. The President appreciated the occasion and the circumstances, and did not commission the representative of his government to per form an unwilling and distasteful act of gentlemanly respect to the aged Pontiff. The President knew, it is presumable, of his representatives demonstrative discour- tesy to Catholic citizens and ecclesiastics of eminence, including members of the Pro- poganda and the College of Cardinals; and did not tempt sighting rejec- tion, at the Holy See, of the man who mis- represents his government. But the Pres ident remembered that the Holy See was at one time a regal Temporal institution; as it is now more than imperial in its Spirit ual jurisdiction-that the bigotted enthusi- asm of Garibaldi and the weak duplicity of Victor Emmanuel, had made no inroads on the sacred trusts committed to Peter and fulfilled by the Saints successors; and that to-day, though excluded from the brotherhood of earthly Sovereigns the Pope of Rome reigns supreme in the hearts of more willing subjects than any King or Kaiser the world over-and even in combi- nation-can boast of The President of the United States saw and appreciated all this He joined in the universal tributes to the great man in the great station of Christ's Vicar on Earth; and he did not ask the very small creature who holds the seals of our legation ut Rome to accompany the gift of respect with the insult of his unacceptable presence.
 But why is this Minister retained al Romeo President Cleveland in the great country over which he rules, has millions of Catholics devoted to his person and principles; and faithful to the Constitu- tion, which guarantees religious liberty as well as civil equality to all. These mil lions of Catholics are component parts o1 the great Sovereignty of the People, whicl MT Stallo represents at Rome; and it comes to this, that Mir Stallo, when obtrudine his offensive bigotry of language; and his coarse and in-mannered conduct on the Catholics of the Eternal City is in effect offering insult to his masters-to the Cath olic constituents of the People" he rep resents, Individually this gentleman may be as vulgar and vicious as he chooses may decry sacred things and treat reverend personages, whom nations honor, with ig. norant contempt; but he must be taught that he cannot impart into official life the blackguardism of his bigotry, or compro mise his government by his personal 1nis doings. The removal of this gentleman from the post he has dishonored cannot be long postponed. He must not be permit ted to drag the name and fame of the Repub lie through the mud and mire of Roman roads, for the delectation of an anti-pa- pal Roman rabble. Our correspondent re- fers to the toleration prescribed by ou1 Constitution. We have had instances, in our not very remote history, where the Constitution as it is found in books, did not meet answering echo in the conscience of know-nothing bigots. This we can not perhaps prevent in social or individual life; bat surely the Administration pos sesses the power of putting an eud to it in official capacity. Still there is not much danger of the dishonor to Democ- racy, of which our correspondent writes. We should not affix upon great party, the miscoduct of an individual representa- tive, any more than we would confound the character of a creed with the guilt of it's votaries.
 THE HOSPITAL THAT IS TO BE.
 That's it 'tNever is but always to be blessedn with that important adjunct to