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| From the U. S- Catholic Miscellany.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY
GOVERNOR TROUP,
Os Georgia.
I iriE. —I feel no small share of re
[rct at finding myself obliged to
bite what you have very thought-
U ss ly made necessary.—l have just
head your Oration as it has appeared
|n o Southern Recorder of the 15th
August. It is not because of the
bunt of taste which you exhibited
Lvour poetical selections; in'the
hrst of which you place before us tbo
Be ith of a tyrant preparatory to your
li>coursc upon the death of Jefferson,
Bid in the second you tell us that
Bi-'thcr such has fallen, because Ad-
Bms is no more. Neither do I com-
Bbiin because in your effusion you do
But manifest as much capacity for
ireaiiug your subject as might be ex
pected from much more humble as
pirants to the fame of Oratory. I
shall not quarrel with you for the
charge which you make upon General
Washington and John Adams, or one
of them having during his Presidency
weakened aud destroyed the Con
stitution ; though the one is embalm
ed in the recollections of the wise
and the good, and the other was the
object of your panegyric. But my
charge against you is that you have
made a very wanton attack upon., a
Jorge number of your fellow citizens
You have said that in the declara
tion of Independence Mr. Jefferson
embodied what was valuable of Mag
na Charta, the Bill of Rights, and
act of settlement. £>ir,a subsequent
parage of yours and of which I re
grit to know that you are the author
is the following :
"The political constitutions of Eu
rope, the offspring of Feudalism and
essentially despotic, were still moro
corrupted by an union with the con
stitution of the Roman Church—
Priests came in aid of Kings and No
bles to multiply aud perpetuate abus
es, and the Divine right and iofallib
dy of Royalty were preached by the
successors of St. Peter, to make a
mystery of government, and by im
pressing the hopelessness of reform
but through Divine grace, to perpet
uate the dominion of the few and
the vassalage of the many—when
therefore it was said that govern
ment was no mystery, that rational
beings are capable of self govern
ment, that all men are equal, and
that governors are but the servants
efthe people, created by aad re
sponsible to the people, the promul
gators of these obvious truths were
decried as wild euthusiasists and vis
ionary theorists, whose doctrines
otight amuse the multitude, but cou’d
never be reduced to practice.”
Under any circumstances, such a
declaration coming from the mouth
o! the governor of one of the old
thirteen states, must be galling to the
Roman Catholics of America : but,
sir, if the statement which you made
be untrue, and if you have in this
instance calumniated institutions with
"hcKt. mature and whose History you
appear to have little or no acquaint
ance; the insulted Catholics will .lot
be compensated for the injury which
you have done them, even should
they discover that you are an honor
able man, who feel contrition for
your offence ; they may pardon you,
but still they suffer.
-Magna Charta, sir, was but a par
tial assertion of the rights of Eng
lishmen against the feudal tyranny
o! their conquerors—Feudalism was
introduced into Engiaud after the
unfortunate overthrow at Hastings
by \Y illiarn the conqueror. Previous
ly to this, the English hada free gov
ernment, they had written charters,
fixed laws, aud well defined princi
ples : they also had in its full vigor
»he Roman Catholic religion ; and
'he bpst gunarantee and bulwark of
their liberties was voluntarily given
to them from conscientious convic
tion, and by the advice of Bishops
and Priests, by a king whom the Ro
-sla, ‘ Catholics generally revere as a
saint. The laws of Edward the Con
fessor, sir, are at once the result ol
Catholic regal justice, and the best
protection of British liberty. They
are the collected excellence of the
laws of a series of Catholic kings.—
Those of Kent were promulgated
firstly Ethelbert in 602 ; and their
enactment by which the fixed system
of law was substituted, for the mon
arch’s, or the Witten’s caprice was
one of the first results of this king’s
conversion by priests sent from the
Roman Church, by the successor of
St. Poter. So early did they com
mence their labour to make govern
ment not mystery but law. His suc
cessor Withred, in 696, continued
their improvement ; three years be
fore, Ina had done the same for West
Sex ; a/id in 790, the Mercians re
ceived their laws from Offa. Alfred
who was not only a most religious
and pious Roman Catholic, but a
student in Ireland, and a learne at
Rome, and a disciple of the Pope in
the art of government, embodied the
great principles of justice and of right
which he found in those several
codes, and in the laudable customs
of his nation ; and gave to all Eng
land her first national code of law
and is justly styled the father of Brit
ish liberty. He also gave a special
code to Guthrum the Dane, who be
came a Roman Catholic, and made
an alliance with him in 870 cr 71,
and by which this convert was to
govern the Danish Catholics who
were permitted to remain in East
Angle. Athelstan, Edmund, Edgar,
and Ethelrel improved those laws ;
and from a conviction of its being his
duty to secure for the people over
whom he was called by their own
free choice to reign, as much liberty
and security as he could; Edward the
Confessor compiled his code of laws.
During this whole period there was
no feudal principle in England ; they
had free customs and fixed law's and
allodial tenure.
Feudalism was established in sev
eral places upon the Continent of Eu
rope. I agree with you in stating
that it was essentially despotic ; but
your Excellency must have forgotten
your historical researches when you
made your next assertion, “ that
those teudul constitutions were still
more corrupted by an union with the
constitution of the Roman Church.”
Had your Excellency condescended
to w'rite without ambiguity, 1 should
have had less trouble in my answer.
Gentlemen like you perhaps do not
care to learn even obvious distinct
ions, where Propery is concerned;
but Sir, the knowledge of the eco
nomy of even a nest of ants, would
be no degradation. There is as ob
vious a distinction between the con
stitution ol the Roman Church and
that of the Roman Catholic Church,
as there .is* between the constitution
of the City of Washington and the
const iution of the United States ; but
perhaps you never took the trouble
of examining either the one or the
other* Believe me that your Excel
lency would write and speak better
upon any subject by being acquaint
ed with its nature. If in your Ora
tion you meant what you said, the
Roman you made just as in
telligible an assertion, as if, you had
gravely told your auditors, that the
constitution ofoi.r Colleges essential
ly literary, became much better by
an union with the constitnion of the
City of Washington. But if you
meant the Roman Catholic Church,
when you said “ Roman Church,” as
l assume, you did, you contradicted
all history.
. Si*-, if you do not know, you and
every man in such a station as you
fill, ought to know more of the histo
ry of the European governments
than you exhibit; you ought to know
that feudalism at its first establish
ment in Southern Europe, was not
only despotic but ferocious, and that
iis spirit was softened by the Roman
Catholic Church, and its usurpations
were resisted and checked by that
same church. I shall now glance at
a few facts to which you have direct
ed my.attention, and confining my
self to them, exhibit to you enough
to make you fell that you have acted
unwisely in venturing to attack a
church of whose principles you know
so little.
We have seen,, Sir, that England
had not fcndal principles in her con
stitution at the time of king Edward
the Confessor, who died on the sth
of January 1066—The Norman Will
iam soon found his sword had hewn
a passage to the British throne. He
preferred the Norman to tho British
principles ; and first established the
feudal tenure in the island ; though
in 1070 he confirmed the laws oi Ed
ward. yet through his whole reign
lsis first object was to make the Eng
lish nation submit to mitigated feu
dalism. Tho Church had before the
conquest, held her psosessions*either
by the allodial tide or that of frec
ulms, but the great object of the con
Hse tibienmt artu, pacisque imponere mortal, parccre subjects et debellare guperbos.—Virgil.
MILLEDGEVILLE, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1826.
queror was to have the litle to these'
lands, and all other'rights to any
temporalities which she held, depen
dent upon, and derived from the
king, upon the feudal principle ; in
some instances he and his successors
were able by the dint of oppression
to fore the clergy to a surrender of
their ancient rights, and acceptance
of anew feudal title for the whole or
for a part, from his majesty. The
old Saxons who did not accept of
such titles when offered, were dis
possessed, and Normans very gladly
became feudal possessors in their
stead. The laws of the Confessor
and the ancient rights gradually fell
into disuse or were superceded.
Thus during the reign 9 of the two
first Williams, the two Henries, Ste
phen, Richard, aud John, there exist
ed an almost ceaseless war between
those Monarchs and the Churcli, ui
consequence of the resistance of the
Prelates to the kingly usurpations :
the Barons were generally awed or
interested, and the people w re en
slaved, the clergy alone made resist
ance in a body, though lfequently
for peace sake some of that order, as
they did at Clarendon to the second
Henry, parted with much of their
rights and of the property of which
Ihey were but trustees ; some as
Becket, lost their lives ; and as Lang
ton, were driven*into exile, This is
not the picture of the Constitution of
the Church uniting with that of feu
dalism to make a despot more corropt
ly powerful. Will your Excellency
vouchsafe to accompany me to
Runnyinede ? Who produced the old
copyof Edward’s laws, and taught
the Barons and the freemen their
rights ? Who brought them to the
altar to swear that they would hold
together and persevere m seeking tlie
restitution of. their rights 1 Who
stood forward *to claim trom John
that restitution, and whose steady
demands aved the crouching tyrant
more than the gleaming ol the armour
which glittered on that field 1 It was
Langton the Roman Catholic Arch
bishop of Canterbury. Thus, Sir,
whatever of good is to be found in
Magna Charta, is due to tho very
people whom Governor Troup has
wantonly insulted.
Feudalum was restrained in Eng
land by the Roman Catholic Churcli
aud sir, but that neither my leisur
permits me, nor does the subject re
quire it, I would shew you the same
result upon the Continent of Europe.
We shall stay in England, sir, be
cause you have chosen it for your
ground. With the exception of the
third Edward, there was scarcely a
monarch who did not endeavour to
make his feudal prerogative prevail
over popukir right, and in all those
cases with scarcely an exception!
the king experienced the opposition
of the Church ; until in the ferocity
of his rage and lust the eighth Hen
ry laid that church prostrate at his
feet, because it would not sacrifice
eternal trutli to his beastly passions
This, may it please your excel! :ncy
was the commencement of the reli
gious reformation of England. Now
indeed for the first time the princi
pal of feudalism gave to the first Brit
ish monarch every thing he sought ;
be was now lord paramount in church
ind State. Need I inform Governor
Troup what immediate consequences
flowed from this usurpation ? The
Parliament became a mere mockery;
the royal proclamation had the force
of law; any freeman who sought to
obtain the benefit of the great char
ter was transmitted to a dungeon :
no charter was title; did any Bishop
dare to raise his voice to vindicate
his right, he was sent to the scaffold;
an honest Chancellor’s fate was to be
similar. Under Edward the sixth the
Bishop's commission might be super
seded. Thus, sir, the genuine prin
ciple of perfect feudalism was estab
lished in England, only upon the de
struction of the constitution of the
Roman Catholic church; and a more
obedient set of gentleman to the
powers that be, has never been ex
hibited to the world, than in the sub
stitutes for those turbulent prelates
who contended for their aucieut
rights, and chartered property. Eve
ry semblance of liberty, save the
shadow of a Parliament was now lost;
when the Bill of rights was introduc
ed and passed, it was but an attempt
to restore long lost liberties which
had ben tyrannically trampled upon
contrary to the laws, usages, and
principles of the ancient Catholic
English people. Those enumerated
and enacted in tho act of settlement
are no more. The Roman Catholic
church has no principle in her consti
tution, no tenet in her doctrines, no
custom in her discipline which teaches
or implies that a king reigns by di
vine right. When kings state that
they rule by the grace of God, they
mean by his favor or kindness as the
word implies.—You’need not go to
religion for its meaning, and certain
ly not to the Roman Catholic reli-
gion to explain that it is by a super
natural gift or favor of God that
George the fourth now persecute-*
Roman Catholics. As I suppose you
are a classical scholar, you must know
that the words gratia dei are a gene
ric expression, which according to
the context are to be translated
either the kindness of God regarding
a temporal or a spiritual benefit: the
Roman Catholic church never class
ed the possession of a crown and
sceptre amongst her Sacraments. It
your excellency means to speak or to
write upon those subjects again, it
would be well if you took the pains
to study them ; because I believe the
Almighty never promised to give
historical or classical or legal infor
mation to Kings or to Governors by
mere inspiration. Thus, sir, if Mr.
Jefferson drew up with consummate
lehcity a excellent declaration, “em
bodying what is valuable in Magna
Charta, the Bill of Rights and act of
settlement,” it is no disparagement to
his genius to assert, that the two lat
ter only “invigorated and restored”
what had beeu previously given in
Magna Charta, but the force of that
charter was impaired by feudalism to
which the Roman Catholic church
gave opposition, and which feudalism
bv the destruction of that church got
full vigour to cestroy the charter :
and that this charter was obtained
and established by the R. Catholic-,
in opposition to a feudal tyrant, and
was but the imperfect restitution of
what Roman Catholics had creat
ed and enjoyed by the aid of their
church, before a feudal conqueror
robbed them of tbeir rights ; and that
the English Roman Catholic clergy
endured their greatest hardships,
because of their opposition to feudal
tyrants.
Your excellency having in defiance
of all records stated iu reference to
England, that Roman Catholic pries
came iu to aid kings and nobles i
perpetuating and multiplying as well
as establishing the abuse of Feudal
ism I come to examine your others
assertions.
“ The Divine rights and infallibili
ty of royalty were preached by the
successors of St Peer, to make a
mystery of Government, and by im
pression the hopelessness of reform
unt through Divine grace, to per
petuate the dominion of the few and
the vassalage of the many.”
Your sentence is wretchedly con
structed ; but still we can discover
your meaning.—Will you please to
inform us what successor if St. Peter'
preached the divine right > fkings ?
Have not the Popes been generally
accused of asserting that kings held
their crowns from the Holy See, and
not from God : by papal, not by di
vine right I —What successor of Pe
ter ever prcaclied or taught the in
lallibibity of kings I —Have they not
been generally accused of acting to
wards kings not only as if their ma
jesties were fallible, but criminal ?
Have they not been at war with
kings?—Have they not deposed
?—What page of history what
record, what fact exhibited to your
Excellency that they preached that
government was a mystery ? I have
sometimes heard of the Popes’ stat
ing: that a king reigned by Divine
right ; but I have never heard or
read that any Pope Preached such a
doctrine, until I read it in your ora
tion: but for you was reserved the
high distinction of being I believe the
first public authority to charge the
Pope with preaching that kings are
infallible. There are some persons,
may it please your excellency, hold
as an opinion, that some of our state
governors imagine themselves to be
infallible; perhaps there were in
former times kings who really had
as high notions of their own opinions
as any of our governors : the ob
stinacy of such kings might also have
caused considerable loss of territory
to their states
Now your excellency must admit
that in revolting against king George
111. Mr, Jefferson and his assotiat 3
were aided by a Catholic King, the
eldest son of the Roman Catholic
church ; and the revolt was against
a protestant king who persecuted
Roman Catholics for not swearing
that they would desert and reject the
Pope. Yet with admirable facility,
with a tact peculiar to yourself, you
give as the prelude to your insult up
on the Roman Catholics, and ’ your
assertions regarding the Pope, a de
claration that it was the most in
veterate of tho enemies of Rome, was
the superstitious protestant despot.
v Mr. Jefferson had already done
enough for his country and for his
own fame—-He had marched with
his comrades in the van guard of
freedom, had palsied the arm of des
potism, broken the chains of supersti
tion, declared the independance oi
his country, and promulgated the na
tural, imperscriptibie and unaliena
ble rights of man.”
In doing all which he was aided by
Roman Catholics IMA Roman Cath
olic signature to his declaration pledg
ed not only life and sacred honour,
but a million of money; Gen. Wash
ington testified that no blood was
more freely shod in defcnca of Mr.
Jefferson’s principles, than that of
Roman Catholics; the king ofaCath
olic nation, the king of all others
most attached to Rome, sent his fleets
and arihies to be the co-partners in
palsying the despots*arm, and break
ing the chains of superstition.... What
superstition ? Certainly not Roman
Catholic; because ther* was no Cath
olic superstition to enchain any per
son whom Mr. Jefferson had freed.
What it mean ? Protes
tant superstition ! Be it so, if you
will. It is not my province to con
tend with you that it was not. But
if so, I ask you; why you attack the
Pope and the Roman Catholic church
in the next paragraph ! —Come gov
ernor, honestly declare that you used
the words ns many of our fellow-citi
zens use them every day, merely for
their sound, and without considering
whether they had reason or not Why
would you then carelessly insult a
large portion of your fellow-citizens?
I have done. Yours,
A ROMAN CATHOLIC.
THE MYSTERIOUS GUESTS.
About sixty years ago, two En
glishmen one day arrived at Calais
in the Dover Packet. /They did
not take up their quarters at the
hotel of Mons. Denseiu, on whom
the author of the Sentimental Jour
ney bestowed such celebrity, but
went to an obscure Inn, kept by a
man of the name of Du Long. They
desired to have his best apartments,
spent a great deal of money, relish
ed the produce of his wretched
kitchen, and thought his adultera
ted wine perfectly genuine. From
day to day Du Long supplied they
would continue their Journey, and
proceed to the capital: for, that
they had come merely to see Calais,
was an idea too absurd to enter any
body’s head. But so far from con
tinuing their journey, and proceed
ing to the capital, they did not even
inspect what was worth seeing at
Calais : for, except going out uow
and then to %hoot snipes, they kept
close at home, eating, drinking, and
doing nothing. “ They may be
spies,” thought the host, ‘or runa
ways, or fools. No matter : what
is that to me ? They pay honest
ly.’ When he was sitting in one
evening over a pint with his neigh
bor and relation, the grocer, they
used to rack their brains about the
mysterious guests. * They are spies,’
said the grocer; ‘ one of them squints
with his left eye.’ A man may squint
without being a spy,’ rejoined the
host; • I should take them for run
aways, for they read all my news
papers, probably for the sake of ad
vertisements.’ His kinsman then as
sured him that all Englishmen spend
at least a twelfth part of their lives
in reading newspapers. The con
clusion to which they generally
caine was, that as the said foreign*
ers wore apparently neither spies
nor runaways, they could not pos
sibly be any thing else than fools, —
Here the matter rested- In this o
pinion Du Long was still more con
firmed when, at the eud of a few
weeks, one of his guests, an elderly
man, thus addressed him: Land
lord,’ said he, ’we like your house;
and if you will acquiesce in a cer
tain whim, it is probable that we
might continue for a long time to
°pend our money with you.’ ‘ Your
honors have only to give your com
mands ; an inkeeper is, by profes
sion, the slave of all the whims that
throng to him from all the four quar
ters of the globe.’ * You have, to
be sure, continued he, ‘ had a pro
digiously large beast painted on
your sign ; but your house is only a
fly auiong inns ; it scarcely contains
three tolerable rooms, and unfortu
nately, they all look into the street.
We are fond of rest, we want to
sleep. Your watchman has a very
loud voice, and the coaches roll the
whole night along the street, so as
to make all the windows rattle.—
We wake every quarter of an hour
to curse them, and fall asleep again,
to be again waked in another quar
ter of an hour. You must admit, my
dear fclloy, that this is enough to
destroy our health, and exhaust our
patience.’ The host shrugged his
shoulders. How can it be helped ?’
'Very easily,’ replied the stranger,
* if you are not afraid of a little ex
pense, in which we will go halves,
without requiring at our departure
the smallest compensation.’ Du Long
whose barren field had, since the
arrival of the Englishmen, been daily
fertilized with a shower of guineas,
promised to do all that lay in his
power to satisfy his guests, but he
could not help the rattling of the.
coaches and bellowing of the watch-
fOR $4 IF NOT PAID IN SIX MONTHS.
NO. 42....V0L. I.
man. ‘Neither is it necessary’ an*
swered the stranger. ‘ Behind your
house yon have a snug little gar*
den, though you are no lover of gar*
dening; for, except a little parsley
for your soups, observe nothing in it
but nettles. The old garden wall,
too, in spite of its thickness, is just
ready to tumble. Suppose yott
were to make use of this space to
run up a little building, a sort of
pleasure house, even if it were to
contain no more than a couple of
rooms. It might be supported by
the old wall, by which means a con*
siderable part of the expeuse would
be spswed, and the wall itself would
be propped up. As I just now men
tioned, for the sake of a quiet lodg
ing, we would willingly defray one
half of the costs, and we are
gone, the building will be yours;
you will then have an additional
couple of convenient rooms to let.-
If, on the other hand, you object to
our proposal, we must leave you.’—
The host, howevor, had not the least
objection, though he thought, with
in himself, 1 My kinsman aud 1 were
right enough iu concluding that these
People were fools.’ He immediate
ly sent lor a bricklayer; the placfe
was examined, and the Englishmen
described what they should like to
have done. Joists and bricks werß
quickly brought; three light walls
were run up; the old garden wall
formed the fourth, from which sloped
a half roof , so that the whole looked
more like a wc nd-house than a habi
tation ; but the strangers were satis
fied, and Du Long laughed in his
leeve. Two months thus passed ia
mutual content: the golden spring
flowed abundantly, though the wine
grew worse and worse every day.—
The two Englishmen very seldom
quitted their lodgings, where the
ate, drank, and read the newspapers.
The only thing that surprised tlfe
landlord of the Golden Elephant was,
that, for the sake of nocturnal re
pose, they had built a house for
themselves, and that new he very
often preceived a light the whole
night through in their apartments
He once conjectured they might be
coiners ; but, as all the money they
spent passed through *his hands,
and their guineas, alter a most care
ful examination, were always found
to be good, his kinsman and he had
again no other alternative than to
set them down for fools. One fine
day in Autumn he saw them go out,
with their guns slung over their
shoulders. They told them they
were going to take the diversion of
snipe shooting, and took leave of
him for three days. The three
days were passed, and so did the
fourth, but the strangers did not
mako their appearance. On the
fifth, Dn Long shook his head ; otj
tho sixth, his kinsman began to shake
his also ; on the 7th this suspicious
circumstance was communicated to
the police ; and on the eighth, the
deserted habitation was broken open,
w ith all the formalities of law. O®
the table was found a billet, the
contents of w hich were as follows i
‘ Dear landlord—ls your have auy
acquaintance with history, you must
know that the English were one-',
during a period of two hundred and
ten years, in possession of Calais;
and they were at length driven out
of it by the Duke of Guise, who
treated them in the same manner as
our Edward 111. did the French;
that is, drove them out of the town
and seized all their effects. Not
long since, we were so fortunate as
to discover, in n chest of old p
uwnts, deeds that proved that one
of our ancestors formerly possessed
at Calais a large house, on the site
of which three houses stand at pre*
sent; yours is one of the three.—
When our ancestor was obliged to
flee, he buried his gold and silver at
the foot of a thick wall, which is still
in existence. Amoung his papers
we found one which afforded Satis
factory information respecting the
situation of the building. We int
mediately repaired to Calais, and
luckily found h public house on the
spot so interesting to us; we took
lodgings in it, examined every thing,
and concerted pressures to take posr
session of oqr lawful inheritance
without excdspg notice. In what
manner we removed all obstacles is
w 11 know nto you. The great hole,
and the empty iron chest, which vcni
w ill find under the wall in our cham
ber, are proofs that we have been
successful. We make you a present
of the chest, and advise you to fill
up the hole, and to gr e yourself no
further concern about ns ; ai inqur
ries will be in rain, as the names
we went by were only assumed.—
Farewell.’ The landlord ol the Gold
en Elephant stood stock still, and
with open mouth. His kinsman
came ; both looked at the hole, and
then at the empty chest, and then at
one another, and agreed that the
stramrers were not such loots as they
i had taken them tor.?