The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-05-02

men, But he says that II the Catholics had
nine-tenths Of the people Of this country,
instead Of one-tenth, they would prosecute
the other, they would continue the burning.
Why don't they do 1t in Spain. In Italy, in
France. in Belgium, in Austria, in all these
countries where Catholicism is vastly In the
majority? Why, the spirit OF the age
won't permit It, Men have changed. The
heart Of mankind is softer, and what II the
use Of bringing up all these horrors Of the
past in this kindly Christian civilization Of
the Nineteenth century? Why, 1t reminds
me Of the story Of the drunken fellow COM
ing along Cha than street, New York, and
he met a poor Jew going along tie street
with a bundle under his arm. The drunken
fellow drew off, hit him terrible blow and
knocked him in the gutter. The Jew got
up and says what for you do that?'
why" he says. you Jews crucihed
Christi YES" said the Jew. but that
was eighteen hundred years ago." II don't
care" said the fellow, II never heard Of it
until last night" Uaughter.)
Why. my friends. when Ireland under tie
lead Of the great Daniel O'Connell relieved
the Catholics Of all disability that they
could not practice the profession Of law or
medicine or anything else, could not hold
land. could not lease land for more than
short period, when Daniel OConnell, as
sisted by the generous spirit of the Eng
lish people, wiped out all those disabilities,
when every country is moving In the direc-
ton Of liberalism. why. we have this old
world trumpery brought up. the inquistion
and the Gun Powder Plot and all the rest
Of the horrors Of an undeveloped and brutal
past. 1t is all wrong. There can be no ex-
cuse for it.
Now no man has more respect for the
Episcopal Church than I have believe
the Episcopalans to be good, honest citi
xens. and excellent gentlemen. and yet
could go on and tell you how an Episcopal
bishop Of Massachusetts, In the last year Of
"a vorh1{ odd 70
strate that slavery was divine institution.
I can tell you how another bishop OF the
Episcopal Church gave up his charge,
mounted his horse, and became one Of the
generals Of the confederacy. I have no
doubt If had the spirit to dig up the rec
ords Of the past and find the horrible ut
terances Of the past, as my friend has done,
I could demonstrate to you that the Epis-
copal Church was the enemy Of civilization.
Why, I could point you to the fact that
and rights Of the pope; that the Episcopal
Church is the church Of England to this
day, and could ask you, how can an Eng
lish church be true to American institu-
tons But, my friends I would not debase
myself so far as to do anything Of the
kind, and would not insult your intelli-
gence. for l believe the Episcopalians are
just as good citizens as we have got.
According to the records Of the United
States there were $4,000 Irishmen enlisted
II
Union. (Applause) Will the professor
come over here from Canada, where he was
In the safe shelter of that country during
that awful struggle. and tell the children
Of those Irish heroes that they could not
be trusted, and that when their fathers
died for their country they perpetrated a
fraud? (Applause) My friends, let US be
reasonable and just and generous. It Is
not worthy Of this American age. Of this
American civilization. There is not q star
on our broad banner nor stripe that has
anything to do with this persecution OF men
for opinions sake. (Applause.) There Is
not an inch Of that banner that would JUS
tify a man In taking an oath that his fell
low citizens should starve If he could make
them starve. Why, 1t Is against all Chris
tianity. it Is against all civilization. 1t is
against all reason. it is against all patriot
| ism. (Applause)
I grant you, my friends, that the Catho-
| lie church has been the old church Of con-
| servatism. 1t claims to stand just in the
tracks Of St. Peter. 1t has come down the
grandest and the most wonderful repre-
sentative of unchanged force that the world
has ever seen. We are progressive. The
world Is progressing It Is dragging the
church forward.
want to say. my friends that do not
believe in some Of the authorities quoted
by the professor. I doubt their anthem
ITCHY When he comes up here and admits
that this A. P. A. organization sent out an
and published documents which were forg
cries, he
CASTS DOUBT UPON EVERY DoCU-
MENT
he may produce. False in one thing, false
in all. (Applause) In the trial Of a case,
If the plaintiff is found perpetrating forger-
les, what will they do? Why. the suit ends
and the forger is sent to prison. In what
shape does this organization stand before
the country today. admitting that 1t has
used forged documents? Why, my friends
there is no platform to walk on. It gives
way under you. You cannot tell what TO
trust Why. they put out a declaration
that Lafayette said the Catholic church
tenths of the A. P. A. believed that was 50.
A reward Of $10O was offered to Josiah
Strong. who published that in his book II
he would produce his authority for 1t, and
he has never produced It, Why. my friends.
this is terrible thing. Imagine a Repub-
lican coming on this platform and quoting
to you bogus proclamation Of Cleveland $,
telling the Democrats to kill all the Repub-
leans. Gaughter2, Why. a man who
would use it would be drummed out Of
town. and the party that would believe 1t
would be classed with the imbeciles Now,
do not say this extensively. because
| know there are intelligent gentlemen who
are listening to me here that do not be-
| neve it.
Now then, my friends. another thing he
| makes terrible bug-a-boo about, that the
pope in this encyclical advises Catholics to
attend to their political duties. Why, isn't
| that the advice that every man In this
| country should give to every other man,
| and isn't it the advice that the A. P. A.
| gives to it's followers and haven't they been
| doing it? Why, isn't it the duty of every
man to attend to his political affairs and to
attend meetings and caucuses and conven-
tons? The first business Of this country
Is politics, because everything depends upon
1t. and the man who fails to perform his
duty in that fails to perform the duty OF a
good citizen. Then he makes a cry about
the Catholics being In favor OF parochial
schools They are, they are trying to pre-
serve them. I saw a statement in a paper
in Wisconsin that the German Lutherans
there have got 1900 parochial schools in
S. counties. Why don't they tax the Ger
man Lutherans and say that they are the
enemies Of mankind and trying to over
throw this country? 1 tell you, my friends,
the more we look into this thing, the more
it appears narrow as all these charges are.
Then he went on to tell you about the
| illiteracy Of some nations. Why, I say the
nation In Europe that has the least IL
| literacy is Belgium, Roman Catholic
country. Applause) And say to you
| that on the other hand there are sections
| OF our Southern country where taking the
| white people alone. the illiteracy Is almost
as bad as anything in Italy. 1t is the
climate that is at the bottom Of these
| things more than anything else. believe
with old Carl Schurz that there can't be
much liberty in any country where the
snow doesn't fall part Of the year. That
4 is the reason such free country
1 here in Minnesota because it lays on the
| ground greater part of the year. U4augh-
| teri 1t Is easy enough to tell about these
| things but it Is wrong to bring up the
| people with spirit of hatred in their minds
| iowa I'd each otl1or