The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-03-07

the discussion practically agreed "
come to the same conclusion, namely,
that converts to Catholicity must come
from the ranks of Protestantism-and
Professionalism in it's primary signifi-
cance-and not from Professionalism in
what it stands for today and to which
it is daily drifting, namely, rational
ism, transcendentalism and downright
infidelity. Father John wound up the
conversation by stating, and very truly,
that Catholicity will advance and pros
per through conversions from the ranks
of enlightened Protestants who are
seekers after truth. led on by the ex-
ample of a model Catholic people, hI
the gradual diffusion of Catholic doc
trine, and by the grace of God silently
operating upon their hearts.
CONVERSATION ".
"Catholicity," remarked O'Flanagan,
hardly holds its own in this country,
Notwithstanding its apparent increase
The number of Catholics now in the
country is not equal to the number of
Catholics who have migrated hither,
and their descendants. Our losses are
greater than our gains by conversions
Our losses are great" replied Wins
low, but that is not what discourages
me, for they are due to accidental and
temporary causes, every day becoming
less operative, as the numbers of the
clergy, churches, school houses, hos
pitfalls and asylums increase. Neither
am 1 one of those who despair of seeing
the church prevail here; but | cannot
persuade myself that any general con-
version of the American people will
take place till they modrate their De-
mocracy."
Democracy" interposed De Bonnie
vile, sis fatal to genuine loyalty, and
n nf "
easily converted to Catholicity. They
have no tendency to it, and necessarily
find it repugnant to their habits and
dispositions. Our friend al Rome, per-
haps, is not mistaken in his hopes of
the conversion of the country, but he
seems to me mistaken in regarding its
Democracy as one of the circumstances
favorable to it,
"Mr. Calhoun, the great South Caro-
lima statesman, remarked to me one
day." answered Father John, chat we
made a great mistake in this country
when we substituted the word Democ-
racy for the word Republican. Words
are things, and from the habit of call
ing ourselves Democrats we have come
to embrace Democratic notions. The
American people in 1875 were Republi-
can, but not Democratic and the fed
eral constitution was, in 1887, avowedly
formed with a view to checking the
tendency to Democracy which had be-
gun to manifest itself in several of the
states. The government of the coun-
try was not originally, and is not now,
purely Democratic, because under it the
people have no right to alter or amend
the constitution, whether Of state or
Union, save by virtue of a constitu-
tional provision, and in the way and
manner the constitution provides.
When the constitution is formed, and
has gone into operation, the conven-
ton of the people which formed it is
dissolved"
But asked Diefenbach, "are not
the people sovereign, and does not the
sovereignty inhere in them and persist
in them even under constitutional
forms?''
That" replied Father John, SIS the
Democratic doctrine, but it is not the
American doctrine, or was not when
our civil and political institutions were
adopted. The sovereignty inheres in
the organism, and can be exercised
only in accordance with it's laws. The
error of our politicians has been in
overlooking this fact and assuming that
the sovereignty, after the constitution,
persists in the people outside of the
organism, and that their will. ex-
through the organism, is supreme, and
is to be regarded as the sovereign will.
This doctrine came into vogue under
General Jacksonis administra ton, and
is the fruitful source of lawlessness
and disorder. I do not think this doc
trine favorable to Catholicity any more
than to good government, for it is es-
sentially opposed to all law as law,
and substitutes for the government of
law, the dominion of arbitrary will.
Pure Democracy, like pure monarchy,
is the government of mere will, and
all governmnt of mere will is a des-
potism under a monarchy, and an
archy under a Democracy. The radical
difference between Democracy and Re-
publicanism is that the latter places
sovereignty in the organism, and sub
jectS its exercise to law while the for
mer places 1t in tn popl outsid of the
organism, and leaves it's exercise with
out legal restraint. Democracy is the
absolutism of the people, republican,
ism is a government limited and sub
jected to a constitutional organism.
Republicanism is freedom; democracy
is Incompatible with freedom. 1t either
does not govern at all, or it governs
arbitrarily. The worst tyranny France
ever suffered was under the Jacobins,
those pure democrats of the last CEN
fury. The American institutions are
not democratic, though the American
people are becoming democrats and
giving their institutions a democratic
Interpretation or altering them in a
democratic sence. Hence our grave
political danger
This danger" added Winslow, "our
friend at Rome does not seem to be
aware of, and hence he gives a wrong
i'm sci Of 11n
Perhaps replied Father John. "he
did not think it necessary to dwell on
it; perhaps, also, he does not regard
it as so threatening as it really is;
perhaps he is more democratic in his
own personal convictions or tendencies
than we, who are some what his Sc
niors and are no longer subject to
the illusion of mere names; but, I'M
doubtedly, the point he wished to i'm
press upon the minds of his readers
is that in this country there is as yet
much real freedom, and full legal free
dom for the Church, which j. I'M
doubtedly, not only a fact, but a fact
favorable to the growth and expan-
sion of Catholocity amongst us. He
did we'll to dwell on this fact. The
Catholic can well accept and defend
as favorable even to his Church our
institutions, according to their original
intent. What he has to guard against
is presenting them as favorable to the
Church in the sense it has now be-
come the fashion to interpret them
fashion which makes them just what
the dominant sentiment of the coun-
try for the time chooses The danger
the Catholics run here is the taking
of that sentiment as the constitution
and following it out in our political
action instead of resisting it and do
ing all in our power to bring the prac-
tica Interpretation of our institutions
back to their original republican mean
Dcr-ta,.o in ra1a ti1,c the r,r,,t,1;,..r,