LETTER LXXV. The new notion that there exists a conspiracy against the liberties of the United States, is without a parallel in the annals of romance. It seems to be the last effort, almost too marvellous, alas! for the taste of the American people, of a haunted, sickly, dreaming imagination! A conspiracy among all the clergy, native as well as foreign, of the first as well as of the second order; deeply, systematically, fearfully entered into with the Emperor of Austria, and the Pope, and the exiled kings of Europe? Quousque tandem- -The object of which is to subvert the liberties of America. The posterity of Carroll are labouring to destroy the work of his patriotism! The sons of Maryland, whose ancestors opened their arms to Christians of all sects, and proclaimed universal toleration, are now engaged in forging fetters for their brethren, and combining, with a foreign monarch, to enslave a whole Republic! A new stratagem this, to rouse up the ignorant, and to influence the prejudices of the vulgar. But, the texture in which the design is concealed, is so light, that it requires no besom to remove it :-the weakest eye may penetrate it, and the dullest mind detect the lurking imposture. We believe in the supremacy of the Pope, therefore we are "subject to a foreign master!" We believe the Pope to be the successor of St. Peter-therefore we have conspired with Austria against our own native country. We acknowledge a spiritual jurisdiction in the Roman Pontiff-therefore is he our temporal Lord! All the popes have not been distinguished for the virtues, moderation, humility, which should adorn their persons, therefore the Pope is little better than antichrist! Preposterous conclusions these! And, yet, are they gravely made to flow from premises, in which they cannot be found: and that, too, by men who would not be pleased not to be reputed among solid reasoners ; among the philosophers of the age. We are We enter upon a most interesting topic. prepared to face the bug-bear, to brave the imaginary spectre, to encounter the unpopular subject. They who have armed themselves, in frowning panoply, against it, will be made to resemble the famous Knight of La Mancha, in whose vision, wind-mills became giants, and sheep bristled into a field of spears! He who dreamed of a "conspiracy "may fancy himself a captain in Israel, raised up by the special goodness of Heaven to save the people. He may range along the brook, a visionary David, seeking, in its pellucid waters, for a pebble, which he will aim, in terrible simplicity, at the head of the Roman Goliath, and stretch him all bloody, gasping, writhing, agonizing, upon the sward. But, is it a mere dream-a feverish dream. It will not be very long, I trust, ere you will be fectly of my opinion. per. LETTER LXXVI. The Pope antichrist! : And Florentine earnestly be lieves he is and nothing can persuade her to the contrary! And why? Because her minister applies to him the character described by St. Paul, in the second epistle to the Thessalonians, ch. 2. v. 4: "He opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God." These words would, indeed, be applicable to the Pope, if he did claim to himself any of the attributes of the Deity. If he did, really, require the worship of his idolatrous subjects -or if he even deemed himself more than man, not obnoxious to human frailties, or unable to commit sin. Instead of this, the Pope acknowledges himself a sinner, “in thought, word, and deed;" this he humbly avows at the foot of the altar-whenever he commences the mass- -to God, to the Saints, and the whole world. He is bound by the common law of confessing his sins to a Priest: and, he can no more dispense himself from that obligation, than the lowest peasant of Campagna. He places all his hope in the merits and passion of Christ, through whom he looks for the reward promised to the good and faithful. He feels that the higher his station, the more awful his responsibility: and the neglect of his duties will be visited most “powerfully" on his soul, in the world to come. In a word, he is convinced, that he may be condemned hereafter, while his meanest subject may be crowned in heaven. Does this look like raising himself above "all that is God?" Does this convince Florentine that he is marked with the character of antichrist! The sensible Catholic views the Pope as the chief Bishop of the Church, endowed with a merely spiritual jurisdiction, which cannot interfere with the laws and privileges of any country. He would be bound to oppose any encroachment which might be meditated on the rights of government. He is guided by the golden maxim: "Whoever is not faithful to his country cannot be true to his God." He acknowledges no power whatever in the Pope to absolve from the oath of allegiance, or annul the obligation of citizen to citi. zen, whether Catholic or heterodox. He does not believe, as an article of faith, that the Pope is infallible, in his official capacity: he is obliged to believe that, in his private character, he is perfectly fallible, and prone to evil, like all the other children of Adam. This is our doctrine, on this subject, which is every day, so deliberately misrepresented, notwithstanding all our protestations, and solemn declarations. As members of the Catholic Church, we are his spiritual children, we submit to his spiritual authority, we venerate his spiritual character. As Americans, we know no head but the chief magistrate of the United States: we are opposed to the Pope's exercising temporal power out of his own dominions: we arraign his conduct, as we would every other sovereign's, before the tribunal of justice and candour. As a ruler, if he act and govern as a father of his people, we applaud him; if he degenerate into any thing that may savour of tyranny, we condemn him. Judge, now, whether a good and enlightened Catholic, layman or ecclesiastic, could be so depraved in principle, and so recreant to his birthright, and so reckless of the glorious liberties of his country, as to join a foreign conspiracy, to league himself with despotism and intrigue, to subvert them all, and to rear upon their fragments the iron throne of oppression! And, what epithet should be applied to the man, who dares to implicate so many thousands of freemen in so foul and dastardly a conjuration! What phrenzy, citizens, has seized Tell who can drive back to its midnight cell |