The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-24

December %, 1895.
To the Editor of "The CaU'-DEAR SIR: /
find that most of the other participants in this
controversy have expressed their thanks 10
THE CALL for the fairness which 1t has dis
played. II have not done so up 10 the present
the reason is not that have been less sensible
OF YOUR honorable and manly conduct The
large demands have made on your space bear
witness to my confidence that should receive
fair treatment at yonr hands wish now,
however, 10 put down in words what my
actions have already signlhed. am deeply
grateful 10 THE CALL for the just manner Ia
which it has treated this controversy. Your
contemporaries have given ana still give one
side of the case and refuse admission to the
other. / am thankful that there Is one journal
in san Francisco which dares to be 1ust.
The Rev DR.. w. W. Case has descended once
more from his pulpit to smite the Phillstlne III
Metropolitan Hall. When on former occasions
I criticized mis- utterances he tried to evade re-
sponsibility by challenging the accuracy OF the
record. Thanks to the enterprise OF The CALL
that loophole is no longer left him. To-day we
have mis- lecture in full, printed, evidently,
from the manuscript. He may wag his tongue
as he pleases, but, thank the Lord, his feet are
safe in the stocks.
/ do not intend, Mr. Editor, to comment on
the reasoning of DR.. Case, for a diligent exam
ination has failed TO reveal any trace of reason
ing in his discourse The introduction thereof
consists OF a eongeries OF words about Roman
ism. Popery, Papacy, Europe, Asia, Africa,
America, cuttlefsh and Dr.. Case. The body OF
the lecture is made up of certain alleged facts
and OF certain alleged quotations. To this
vance to pardon me if at times my language is
more forcible than dignifed. promise to use
all the gentleness possible in an 'expe1-
mentum in corpore vile"
Dr.. Case has left his distinguished cousin,
Justus II. Nelson. to anguish in a Brazilian
prison and now turus TO Spain. stated con-
corning Justus H. Nelson, that he was jailed for
blackguardly behavior on the pubnc streets
and for indecent writing in the public prints.
DR.. Case denies the charge, but fails 20 produce
an d thority. / have named the source OF my
49,, M 1grFrlr m n INN
about his cousins mild and gentle character.
The petty wars of half century tell US OF the
mildness of the missionary. Byron's descrip-
ton IS not inappllcable to him, HE was as
mild-mannered & man as ever cut throat or
scuttled ship"
Dr. Cases words about Spain are as unre-
liable as his words about Brazil. Let me in
form the doctor that Spain had granted full re-
lgious freedom before England had repealed
one of the penal laws. To-day any Protestant
preacher that peaseS can traverse the whole
peninsula, and as long as he behaves himself
he will not be molested Let me tell Dr.. Case
that ne can search every prison in Spain and
he will not find solitary prisoner who might
be set side by side with the Baptists and Adj
ventists OF the chaingGngs of Maryland or
Tennessee. Neither can he parallel for bigoted
malignity the system of.espclal and OF persecu-
ton whereby Methodist deacons and Methodist
elders gathered evidence 10 imprison these
M1llerites who would serve God rather than
man.
AS an evidence of Spanish intolerance DR..
Case relates the fact that naval officers have
been ordered out for religious procession.
fail 10 see in that order any evidence of intoler
ance. Il the Methodists or the salvation Army
get up big procession tomorrow to walk the
streets of san Francisco a detachment of po-
icemen will march at their head. II any of
the officers when ordered out for that duty
should plead scruples of conscience or cry in
tolerance, imagine the Police Commissioners
would give him short shTift.
In no other case is attendance at religi-
Gus procession compulsory in Spain. The
following note from the editor OF the Diario de
California, to whom applied for information
in the absence OF the Spanish Consul, explains
"The assertion that the individuals of the
army, of the navy or of the civil government
are bound TO uncover and kneel in professions
under penalty of eight years imprisonment is
a lie which we do not hesitate to call gross and
malicious. A. P. ALVAREZ,
editor Diario de California"
The extent OF DR.. Cases ignorance can be
measured by his statement that Spain is "low
in the scale of nations" Such an expression
might be pardonabe in backwoods eXhorter,
but from a man VINO has lived for four years
within reach OF the newspapers it is pardon
able. There is no need for me, Mr.. Editor, to
dilate on the greatness OF Spain. Every hill
and hamlet in California proclaim it. While
DR.. Cases ancestors were living on shellhsh
and clothed in skins the Spanish soldiers had
conquered the Old World and coloniZed the
new. When she was most Catholic then was
Spain greatest To-day in morality, in civiliZa-
ton, in art in literature, in refinement, she
stands as high as any nation in the world. 1t
is true she has not tried TO build up great
manufactures or q great army or great navy,
but manufactures are not always sign OF
civilization, and the best defense of country
is TO be found in the patriotism of her citizens.
Men of unprejudiced minds who travel through
Spain speak Of the people in terms OF highest
praise; it is only the Methodist missionary
who ISLANDERS and vilifes, for his trade is SLAM
der and upon vilifcation he thriveS.
From Spain DR.. Case gayly skips to the
United States. 'The priests are in politics."
he cries; ."they have been in our politics for
ar1rv For hl CT rtIn oil oct
every day ] have categorically contradicted
that charge. have demanded particulars.
have asked for names, for dates, for places, and
the answer l get is, 1.-THE priests are in poll
tics"
But stay. DR.. Case does condescend to names
His soaring Imagination, however, will not
1t roosts in the past. Fifty years ago." he
cries, Archbishop Hughes was head and ears
in politics. lie did all in his power at that
early stage of our history TO destroy the public
school system in this country"
Allow me, Mr.. Editor, in answer to this
charge to call on the great Archbishop him
self For John Hughes none but John Hughes
should speak. On the 18th OF May, 1874, when
the same vicious agi tation, fomented by vicious
preachers and conniyed at by cowardly poll
ticians, had thrown New York iEto ferment,
and when there was danger that the burnings
OF Catholic churches and Catholic converts
which had a few days before disgraced Phila-
delphia might still disgrace New York, John
Hughes wrote an open letter to the Knownoth-
ing Mayor, James Harper.
That letter is his apologize, his justification.
Let me quote a passage from ii which is as ap-
plicable now at the end of half century as it
was in 1S44 1t is John Hughes reply TO his
calumniators for all time:
Now. l going 10 meet James Gordon Ben
nett. not in abuse but as my accuser and with Mr.
Bennett my first accuser l associate Colonel
William Stone my second. Let these, by name,
represent the whole class of editors orators and
reverend divinc5 who have assailed me, and now
am prepared 10 meet them all.
Either Bishop Hughes has entered into col
fusion, politician, with political agents, or he
has not.
Either he has driven or attempted to drive the
has not.
Either he has organized political party in New
York, or he has not
Either he has blackened, or required to be black
eDed. the public schoobooks OF New York, or he
has not.
Finally, either he has done actions and ex-
pressed sentiments unworthy of Christian Bishop
and an American citizen, or he has not.
These are propositions which the plainest
capacity is competent to understand, and now
taking Bishop Whites estimate of the Amer
lean character | am about to constitute the
American people-Whigs, Democrats, Catholics
Protestants, Jews, Gentiles, citizens both of
native and foreign birth, as judges between
james Gordon Bennett and Colonel William
L. Stone on the one side and Bishop Hughes on
the other.
shall not anticipate the judgment of the
public. l shall merely say that / believe it
viii be just, and jue-'~ C all that / require.