The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-04-23

London April 2l.--According to the
Protestant Alliance of London, we'll
organized conspiracy exists for the pur-
pose of removing hing Edward VII
from the throne of England. His place
is to be taken, if this portentious
scheme succeeds by the Roman Cath
Ollie duchess of Modena and archduch-
ess of Austria Este, who is the wife
of Prince Louis of Bavaria.
| What seems to have alarmed the
Protestant Alliance and put it on
the qui vive to unmask this alleged
conspiracy against the present king of
England is the fact that William Red
mond, one of the Irish members of
parliament, recently introduced a bill
to remove from the English statute
books certain disabilities under which
Roman Catholics are placed at pres
ent.
was recently held in. London the Prot
estant Alliance protested against and
managed to stop the procession which
| the Catholics intended to hold, and,
growing out of this opposition. has
come the unearthing of this So called
Catholic conspiracy against the thrown.
In the early days Catholics in Eng
land were under very severe penalties
Priests were forbidden to say mass or
teach under pain of death; and Cath
olics were not allowed, to hold pro-
perty. If any Catholic owned horse,
it could be seized by any one who
paid the owner $50. There were hun
dreds of other vexatious and unjust
statutes, which, however, during more
enlightened times, were removed.
Bill Aims at Old Laws.
1t is still illegal in England for
Catholics to hold the position of lord
high chancellor, lord commissioner of
the great SEAL OF the office of lord
lieutenant or deputy or other chief
posts in Ireland. Redmond's bill seeks
to remove these disabilities; and there
does not seem to be any, serious OPP
position in parliament itself against
having these few remaining positions
Ireopened to Catholics
Furthermore this bill, if passed, will
remove the words from the corona
1tion oath, which refer to the ~Catho-
lie religion as superstitious and idola-
trous. The new act also permits re-
ligious orders, such as the Jesuits,. to
hold property in the United Kingdom.
To oppose the removal of these sta
utes the Protestant Alliance is at
tempting to prove the eXistance of
conspiracy to dethrone King Edward.
This conspiracy, says the alliance,
springs from an organization known as
the legitimate Jecobite league.
Various Meetings Were Held.
\ During January, this year, there
were various meetings of this league,
at which toasts were drunk i'll honor
of the accession to the throne of Eng
land of Queen Mary III and "" At
the same time projected by Jacobite
newspaper the Fiery Cross, published
a manifesto which said, among other
things:
eve protest against the assumption
of the title of Edward VII, of Great
Britain and Ireland by the present de
facto monarch as a deliberate insult
and wrong inflicted on Scotland and
its history, and which we demand
shall be Immediately rectifed."
Furthermore, this document went on
to ask that ''our prayers might be
speedily fulfilled in the restoration of
the rightful heiress to the throne of
these realms, at present unjustly occu-
pied by descendant of the usurper,
George, elector of Hanover"
King Not Troubled.
i The king has so far not troubled
himself greatly concerning his de-
thronement. He is said to be consider.
able of a democrat, anyway, and would
rather welcome his retirement into
the unobscure walks of life far re-
moved from the fierce light that beats
upon the throne.
In order to fortify its position, the
Protestant Alliance makes extensive
use of booklet written by Allen Up
ward, wellknown writer and lawyer,
in which he speaks of the claim of
Queen Mary III, and w, as treason of
the worst type.
Upward refers to the fact that, on
account of the night wnen Queen Vic
toria expired the Legitimist league
posted on the gates of st. James pal
ace and elsewhere proclamation an
nouncing the accession of Queen Mary.
This placard was taken the same night
to Osborne and shown King Edward
VII, the prince of Wales and the Ger
man emperor. The author states the
proclamation of Queen Mary was the
secret reason why the announcement
of King Edwards accession was de-
layed.
Remove Catholic Disabilities.
Despite the efforts of the Protest
ant Alliance, however, it looks as if
the removal of Catholic disabilities
from the English statute books were
to be an accomplished fact before long.
The powerful influence of the duke of
Norfolk, stanch Catholic, has been
brought to bear on the point, and he
is supported by many influential per-
sons. among whom are even a num-
~.xlc