Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1889-11-14
The Catholic Congress.

CORRESPONDENCE of the ALEXANDRIA GAzETTE.I
BALTIMORE, Nov. II n, 1SS9.-The Catho.
lie congress Just held in this city was not
cnly remarkable as being the hrst OF ils
kind ia The United States, but for the large
numbers Of representative men who attended
it. The highest estimate OF numbers made
beforehand was 1000 bus there were, by
actual count $500, ali men Of Intelligence
and education, and every State in the Union
wss represented Among the delegates
were two Indian chiefs and about halfa doZ
on colored men. These were treated, as is
The custom of the Catholic church, exactly
as Others, aud it was upon the motion OF one
of them that the report Of the committee on
resolutions Wes adopted. The speakers
and writer's having been for the most part,
carefully selected beforehand, both address
ca and papers were exceptionally good. VI
the former. the speech of Daniel Doug herty,
of New York, was urquesiiona6iy The
finest. though those Of Hon a. Mercier, pre-
nier of the Province of Quebec, Canada,
and Judge Dunno, OF Florlda, lacked, per
haps only the beautiful voice OF the siiTer
toDgued orator." to make them eqnal 10 BIZ.
OF the papers, that Of Col. Bonaparte Of
Baltimore, on The Necessity of 1ndepend-
! Guc6 1OE tue OUe, INC HieotCsl
historical research that IT Hon. Condo
B. Pallar, of st. Louis, OF Catholic
| Literature WAS the most elegant
and scholarly, and that OF Judge
Kelly, of ST. Paul, on Religion
il Education" the most practical. Be
tween tina last named and Judge Dnnue,
there was a radical difference of views on
the school question. Both were thoroughly
in accord as to the necessity of educating
children religiously, but Judge Dune COZ
tended that The Stale had no right what
ever TO educate at all, while Judge Kelly
was satisfied with the present school system
except as to the want Of religious instruc
! ton and EXPRESSED the hope and belief that
the religious sentiment OF the country would
ultimately demand 8 change ard find way
to effect It, without treuching upon the
rights or offending the religious convictions
OF any. as Premier MERCER had stated YVES
done lii Canada by The Catholics of Q lebec
upon the demand Cf the Protes
tsnt minority in that province. A
far az could be judged from vote of
| thanks rendered him by the congress "for
his able and very practical paper" the ma.
| io.ity agreed WITH him, but the fact that the
declarations Of the congress make no alu
sion ct all to public schools, but merely ex
press the fixed determination CT the Catho-
| lie body to provide Catholic education for
every Catholic child, would indicate some
difference oil opinion on the subject. Though
many of the bishops and large number CT
priests attended The sessions, they took very
little part in the proceedings. Cardinal
| Gibbons made short address, as did Faith
err Nugent, of Liverpool, Eng but Monsig-
| nor Gadd, the representative of Cardinal
| u Nyuohn of Salfor6 |
confined himself TO The delivery of q message
of conaratulatiou, and Archbishop Ireland |
merely opened The first service with prayer
AID made few remarks by rtqnest, at the
close No other Clergyman spoke at all, |
and if the Italian, English, Canadian and |
| Mexican bishops attended at al, it was a. |
spectators. The utterances Of the congress |
were clear and explicit and most of them |
such as would command the assent OF
orthodoxy p otestants generally.
Virginia had but small representation, !
only about twenty, mostly youog men FROM |
Richmond, attending. Norfolk Was repre- |
scented by Major Michael G!ennan, of the
TirQinian, and Alexandria by Mr.. Richard |
L. Carne. From New York there were
quite number OF men we'll known in the
poiitica! world, such as Mayor Grant, ex
Mayor Grsce, Judge DAILY and his brother,
The theatrical manager, Richard Croker. the
eader of Tammany, ex u Senator Ker
nan and others. Senator kenna, OF West
Virginia, was one of the vice presidents, and
ex.Gov Carroll, OF Mary land, grandson OF
Charles Carroll, of Csrrolton, presided. The
people of Baltimore were lavish 10 their at
ieutions aud bospitallies. At noon each
day an elegant lunch was served 10 the an.
mex to the Concordia, but the attendance
WIS so large that lines had to be formed,
and most democratic scene was the result.
Here could be seen 40 archbishop behind
two or three aymeD waiting his turn for
cup of cotf5 while there were priest, eat
ing oysters from plate in his hand,
bishop munching sandwich, or
monsignor and layman seated on berch dis
cussing a glass of milk piece of bread. The
great demonstration of Tuesday night in which
numbers variou ~ estimated from 20 ,OOO to 40
0U0 were in limo with torches, men and boys of
all ages and all classes clearly showed the strong
hold the Catholic Church in this country has upon
the hearts of its sdherenls and thu strong union
which exists between its pastors and its people.
In refereI CO to article in the Sun of this city
to which 1 see you refer in the GAZETTE of last
night, must say that though have no means OF
knowing what the bishops may have decided or
be about to decide in the matter, or whether they
considered the matter at all the congress did not.
so far as societies considered at all Catholic |
organizations alone, were spoken o., except per-
haps when illusions were made TO the right OF la
hoc to organize to oppose the oppression Of capt.
tai and even then mutual forbearance in place of
open hostility strongly urged What
u .uay called secret societies not even men
toned except - depleeate the joining them by
Catholic. FIDELIs.
THE HOG ISLAND BOUNDARY Joseph
Seth and W. A. Jones, representing Mary
land and Virginia, respectively, aud Henry
p. Whiting, of the United States Coast Sur.
vey, met in Baltimore yesterday and en-
deavored to settle the boundary line between
nd I'D Il