By Greg Szymanski

The investigation concerning whether Abraham Lincoln was killed by the devious and cunning hand of the Jesuit Order with the assistance of the Vatican has been well hidden from the American people.

Although numerous books, long since taken off the library shelves to protect the guilty parties, document the Jesuit and Vatican connection to the Lincoln assassination, it still remains a mystery and something most Americans consider as preposterous.

But if the truth be told and Americans were allowed to read the facts hidden in these books, the proposition forwarded by Eric Jon Phelps, author of Vatican Assassins, to banish all Jesuits from American soil wouldn't appear so outrageous.

In fact, if the real history of the Jesuits and the Vatican ever be truthfully told it would also be easy to see why America in the 1860's cut-off all diplomatic relations with the Vatican, not to be reinstated until President Ronald Regan officially reinstituted relations during his Presidency.

However, besides most Americans not even realizing the above, has anyone really bothered to ask why diplomatic relations with the Vatican were originally cut-off? Could it have had something to do with many American leaders who actually understood the Jesuit connection to the Lincoln assassination?

Furthermore, has anyone ever asked why Reagan reinstated official diplomatic ties with the Vatican? Was it because high leaders in our government understood the Vatican and Jesuits were going to play a big part in the final overthrow of freedom, leading to fascism and martial law which, by the way, is the government of choice of the Jesuit Order and the Vatican.

In an effort to uncover the veil of secrecy, here is a passage taken from a book well hidden by the Jesuits and written by BREVET MAJ.-GEN. THOMAS M. HARRIS in the late 1800's entitled "Rome's Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Listen how the opening passages in the book, dedicated to the memory of Lincoln, are questions that should be asked today, but are strangely kept out of the stream of discussion, indicating how deep the devious power of the Jesuits and the Vatican has infected the free institutions of our country.

The Anti-Catholic agitation that is now so rife in the United States, marks a crisis in our history. Hundreds of intelligent, patriotic, conscientious men are earnestly, laboriously, and courageously devoting themselves to this agitation.

Newspapers have sprung up all over the country to give warning of danger, and to arouse the spirit of American patriotism.

Societies are being organized all over the land to protect and defend American institutions against the aggressions and encroachments of a Foreign political power that has gotten a lodgment in this land of Liberty, and that is evidently bent on the destruction of our free institutions, and substituting for them the Papal despotism; a despotism that lords it over the minds, the consciences, and the actions of its subjects; and thus renders them incapable of loyalty to any other government.

What does it all mean? It is evident that a crisis is even now upon us; a crisis in which the world-old contest between freedom and despotism is to be definitely and finally settled. This is an old fight. The cause of liberty seemed to have achieved the victory when our forefathers achieved their independence through a successful revolution and founded our government on the principles for the first time formally announced in our Declaration of Independence; securing to our people the natural rights of man; freedom of the mind and conscience, freedom of worship, and freedom of speech and of action, and protection in the exercise of these rights.

Here, in the wilds of a newly discovered world, was established a well considered, well understood, and truly democratic government; a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." The tree of liberty was here planted in a fertile soil, and a congenial clime, and has become a well-rooted, vigorous and fruitful tree, of goodly stature. Its branches overshadow the land, and its fruit is pleasant to the taste. The question now is, shall it be plucked up by the roots, and burned in the fire?  

To this question more than twelve million of American freemen, for themselves, their wives, and their children, and in behalf of humanity, return, in the most emphatic manner the answer: "Never!" and stand ready, if need be, to seal that answer with their blood. The fruit of the tree of liberty is so sweet to the taste, so refreshing and so invigorating that we are ready to say with Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty, or give me death."

It is because of a conviction that our government is threatened by a wily and formidable foe; that the cause of human liberty is in danger that we are in the midst of this anti-Catholic agitation. Is all this imaginary, or is there a real danger hanging over us like a cloud? Is the Roman Catholic Church the friend, or the foe of liberty? Is it a branch of the Church of Christ, in common with the various Protestant denominations, laboring in common with them, for the establishment of Christ's Kingdom on earth? If we answer this question in the light of history, in the light of present experience, in the light of the monstrous claims of the Pope, and in the light of the spirit by which it is everywhere and always animated, and in the light of its present efforts in our country, and in all lands, we must say that it does not, in any degree, bear the marks of a church of Christ. It is, in fact, only a compact, well-organized, and powerful political machine, wielded in the interest of the greatest despotism that has ever cursed the earth.

Knowing how so few people get a chance to hear "the dark side of the story" regarding the duplicity and evil cunning of the Vatican, as well as their connection with the Lincoln assassination, here are more pertinent passages from General Harris' book:. Please read every word since we have no idea how long we have before the Jesuits figure out a way to take these words off the internet.

The Jesuit plans with the utmost art and cunning, unhampered by any moral restraints, and always with the utmost secrecy; and carries out his plans in the dark. We think, however, that this case, we have succeeded in tracing him through all the devious wanderings of his dark and slimy path, and, in fixing upon him the responsibility for the assassination of President Lincoln.

But we are not done yet. In the early part of September, 1865, these unholy Fathers thought it safe to unload their charge onto their brethren in England; and so made arrangements for sending Surratt across the Atlantic, under an assumed name, and in disguise.

For this purpose they arranged for his passage on a British steamer, the Peruvian, which was to sail from Quebec on the 16th of September, 1865.

A physician with whom Boucher was well acquainted, by the name of McMillen, had just gotten the position of surgeon to this vessel, and they arranged with him to take under his especial charge, a man by the name of McCarthy, who, for certain reasons, wished to cross the Atlantic under an assumed name, and in the most secret manner. The day before the Peruvian was to sail from Quebec, these two unholy Fathers conveyed Surratt, in a covered carriage, to the steamer that was to carry passengers for the Peruvian from Montreal to Quebec. They had disguised Surratt by coloring his hair, painting his face, and putting spectacles over his eyes. Father LaPierre went also in the disguise of a citizen's dress. Arriving on board the steamer, Surratt was immediately stored away in a stateroom, from which he did not emerge during the voyage, LaPierre remaining in his room with him. Reaching Quebec, these two unholy Fathers placed their charge in the care of Dr. McMillen; and then took their final leave of him.

They had consigned him to the care of their friends in Liverpool, by the hands of Dr. McMillen, and through whose aid Surratt succeeded in placing himself under the care of the Roman Catholic Church in a foreign land. Rome is everywhere, and always the same, and he can feel safe as long as he is in the custody of the church. Here he waited for the Peruvian to make another voyage to Quebec and return. He sent by the surgeon, to his rebel employers in Canada, a request to send him some money; but only to receive the answer that they had no money for him. The expense of sending him across the continent, to Italy, thus fell on the church. His rebel friends had now forsaken him; but the church stood by him. He was sent to Italy and was mustered into the army of the Pope. Here he remained safely hidden away for a year or more; but was finally discovered by a government detective who had been sent in search of him, and who went voluntarily, hoping to get the offered reward, and who had enlisted in the same company to which Surratt belonged. This detective informed our government of his discovery; and through the agents of our government the Pope was informed that his soldier, who had enlisted under the name of Watson, was none other than the notorious John H. Surratt, who was a member of the conspiracy that accomplished the assassination of President Lincoln.

With a shrewd show of virtuous innocence, the Pope hastened to clear his skirts, and those of his underlings, by ordering his arrest, and rendition to our government, without waiting for its requisition. He was arrested by the Pope's authority, but was allowed to escape by his guards; and thus given another chance for life and liberty. The story was, that he made his escape by a bold leap over a precipice, at the risk of his life. "Tell this to the marines; the old sailors will not believe it." He was finally captured at Alexandria, Egypt, and was brought home in chains, where he was held to answer for his crime. Let us here pause a moment to consider the relations of the Hierarchy to this crime.

The testimony given on the trial of John H. Surratt, clearly convicts two of its priests, Boucher and LaPierre, of being accomplices in the conspiracy; and by implication, as clearly convicts the Bishop of Montreal, Bishop Bourget. This testimony was spread before the world, and so must have been known to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, yet it never called any of these priests to accountability, or held them responsible for this crime; the crime of the ages! No one of them was ever held to have forfeited his standing or good character in the church, on account of his connection with this conspiracy; and so, the Hierarchy stands before the world today, as having given its approval to their conduct in this matter.

We now come to the trial of John H. Surratt before a civil court. It is not our purpose to go into a general review of the trial; but only to show the interest taken in it by the Roman Catholic priesthood; the animus of the defense toward the government; and the means resorted to, to make sure of his acquittal. The hand of the Jesuit is everywhere traceable throughout the history of this trial; and by that hand, one of the most important trials that the history of American jurisprudence records, was well nigh turned into a farce by the skill and cunning of the defense. The cunning of the Jesuit was exercised in the preparations made in advance, to make sure of acquittal of the accused. The law of Congress, specifying particularly how juries to try cases in the criminal court, in the District of Columbia, should be secured, and was entirely ignored, in some of its most important and essential particulars. Counsel for the defense had been selected with special care. There were three of these: Mr. Merrick and the two Bradleys, Sr. and Jr. Of these, only one, Mr. Merrick, was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. The Bradleys were Episcopalians; but in their political sympathies, hostile to the government; and in full sympathy with its enemies, and with the assassins.

When the jury that had been drawn for this trial was challenged by the prosecution, and good reasons shown for its rejection, the counsel for the defense made a most vigorous, earnest and persistent effort to prevent its being set aside by the court. It is evident that they must have had a special reason for being so urgent for its retention, as the failure of the officers, whose duty it was to secure this jury, to observe the requirements of the law, was made so apparent that it could not be controverted. It leaked out, however, that sixteen out of the twenty-four drawn were Roman Catholics. and so, the reason for their determined effort for its retention was made obvious. It was set aside, and a venire was summoned, from which to obtain a jury. A jury was finally obtained, through a two-day effort and as the prosecution desired to remove, as far as possible, all religious and political considerations and influences from the trial, a considerable number of Roman Catholics were accepted on this jury. The trial then proceeded.

The defense proceeded at once to put the government and not the prisoner at the bar, on trial, They arraigned it for the murder of an innocent woman, Mrs. Surratt; and for having secured her conviction through an illegal tribunal, organized to convict, and not to try. By every means in their power they aroused a partisan spirit of political and religious bigotry; and so, surrounded the court with the air and spirit of a political convention, and removed, as far as possible, from the trial, the air and spirit of a judicial procedure. The result was a hung jury. The author was informed by a very intelligent man, who took a prominent part in this trial, that, meeting one of the jurors, who appeared to be a very frank and intelligent man, on the day after the trial, he asked him if he felt free to tell how the jury stood. He replied that they were very nearly equally divided for conviction and acquittal. He then asked him if they did not think that he was proven guilty. "Oh, yes," he replied, "we thought he was proven guilty, but we thought his conviction would be a triumph for the Radicals, and we thought that the hanging of his mother was about enough."

A most noteworthy fact in connection with this trial, as bearing upon the subject of our investigation, was the deep interest manifested by the Roman Catholic priesthood of Washington in this trial; and their sympathy with the accused. There was scarcely a day, during the trial, but what one or more of them was found in the courtroom. They also made it manifest that they were there in behalf of the prisoner at the bar; and that they were ready to aid in his defense was very apparent.

Whenever the prosecution brought a witness on the stand whose testimony was particularly damaging to the accused, a witness was always found to rebut his testimony; and was always a member of the Roman Catholic Church. It was also a very significant fact, that no one of all these witnesses was able to pass the ordeal of Judge Pierrepont's cross-examination unscathed. It looked as though the task of these priests was to aid the prisoner's counsel, by finding the witnesses that they needed; and stuffing them with the needed testimony. It was thus made manifest, during the trial, on more than one occasion, that witnesses had been hunted up and furnished with a cooked up testimony to meet the requirements of the case. It is worthy of note that whenever the prosecution thought it important to rebut any testimony a witness was always promptly found for them: and was always a Catholic. The manner of these witnesses in testifying and the fact that they could never stand the test of Judge Pierrepont's searching cross-examination, justly gave rise to the suspicion that they had been suborned and were delivering a cooked up testimony. And these facts gave rise to the suspicion that it was the special business of someone to find and stuff the witnesses for the occasion.

John H. Surratt had been a student at St. Mary's College for a year or two, at the breaking out of the war. He had commenced a collegiate course, having the priesthood in view. His sympathies were so strongly with the South that he left the college, gave up his priestly aspirations, and engaged actively in the secret service of the Confederate government.

As a student, he was very popular at the college and seemed to have won the favor of the president and faculty. The summer vacation at the college occurred during the progress of the trial, and the president took occasion to spend a day in the courtroom, and sat, all day, at the side of the prisoner in the dock. His presence there was no doubt intended to have its effect on the Roman Catholic members of the jury. It was as much as to say. "You see which side I am on." Many of the students of that college took occasion to visit their former fellow student during the trial; and always manifested their sympathy for him by the warmest friendly greetings; taking their places at his side.

How different was their treatment of his, and their fellow student, L.J. Wiechmann, who has also had the priesthood in view, but finding himself unable to continue at college, turned aside, temporarily, to replenish his pecuniary resources. He first found employment as a teacher in one of the Roman Catholic schools in the city of Washington; but finding a more lucrative position in one of the government offices, in the military department, he resigned his position as teacher, and became a clerk under General Hoffman, who was Commissary General of prisoners.

Mrs. Surratt rented her property at Surrattsville, and took a house in Washington, and as a means of support, took in boarders. Through his acquaintance with her son, John H. Surratt, at St. Mary's College, Wiechmann became an inmate of her house; and boarded and lodged there for some months before, and up to the time of assassination. In this way he saw many things that occurred in that house in connection with the conspiracy, but without understanding their import; and as he was a very agreeable and obliging young man, bright and intelligent, he seems to have been a favorite with Mrs. Surratt. He frequently escorted her to church, as she was a very devout Catholic; and was used by her on two occasions, just before the assassination, to drive her down to her former home at Surrattsville. The last time was on the afternoon before the assassination. As soon as the assassination was made known, the military police of the city and General Baker's whole secret service force, were set at work to discover the perpetrators of the crime.

It was soon ascertained that it was John Wilkes Booth who had shot the President; and the detectives soon discovered that Surratt was an accomplice of Booth; and that Booth had been a frequent caller, of late, at the house of Mrs. Surratt; and so, within six hours after the assassination, Mrs. Surratt's house was visited by the detectives, and all of its inmates were kept under their surveillance. Wiechman went, voluntarily to the Provost Marshall's office, along with another of the inmates of Mrs. Surratt's house, by the name of Hollohan, and submitted to a honestly and conscientiously, in answer to the questions put to him, narrated all that he knew in connection with Booth's visits to Mrs. Surratt's house. This examination developed the fact that Booth's business there was always with John H. Surratt, and in his absence, with his mother; and that it was always strictly private and confidential in its character.

Wiechmann was thus discovered to be an important witness in the case, and was so held by the government.

After the arrest of Mrs. Surratt and Payne, Wiechmann recognized Payne as a man who had made two visits to Mrs. Surratt's, once under an assumed name and other suspicious circumstances; and remaining there three days on the occasion of his last visit. He left for Baltimore, but returned a few days later, clandestinely, to the city, and occupied quarters that had been provided for him by Surratt, where he was kept hidden away; but had been visited, on one occasion, by Mrs. Surratt, to the knowledge of Wiechmann. All of these things he faithfully related to the examining officer. On the trial of Mrs. Surratt he showed himself to be conscientious witness to the truth. He was placed in a very delicate and trying position, in being called upon to testify in a case where those with whom he had been intimately associated, and trusted as friends, were on trial for the highest crime that they could have committed; and that involved their lives. His bearing before the court made it manifest that he felt very deeply the delicacy and gravity of his position; but that he could not shrink from a frank disclosure of the facts that had come within his knowledge, in connection with the case.

The facts disclosed by this witness, taken by themselves, though calculated to give rise to strong suspicions of Mrs. Surratt's connection with the crime, were not sufficient to have convicted her. It was only when the testimony of Lloyd and of Colonel Smith was made to supplement that of Wiechmann, that her guilt was clearly shown. Because Wiechmann had been thus brought into the case as a witness, and had given an honest and truthful testimony, he was most cruelly followed up with the persecutions of the Roman Catholic priesthood; and was treated, by both priest and layman, as an excommunicated person, only worthy of scorn and contempt; and on no account to be associated with. He was given to know that he would never be allowed to enter the priesthood: and it was only through the good offices of the government that he was allowed to find any employment by which to gain a livelihood. He never met the fact of any priest after that, for many years at least, but to see the deepest _expression of hatred and scorn. He was completely boycotted, and ostracized by his church.

He was made a witness again on the trial of John H. Surratt, when every effort was made by the counsel for the defense to cause him to contradict the testimony he had given before the commission; but without avail. To discredit him, much of the cooked up testimony previously referred to was brought in.

In this effort, also, they were foiled. He was badgered on the witness stand for two whole days, and treated with the most scornful contempt by the counsel for the defense. He was branded by them as a perjured witness, although they had been unable to impeach him by the methods known to the law. He was even charged with having been a member of the conspiracy; and that he had testified falsely, to save his own neck by convicting Mrs. Surratt. It was even charged that he had bought his immunity from the government by consenting to give the testimony which it had prepared for him, in order to convict Mrs. Surratt. This charge had also been reiterated publicly, within a very recent period. Wiechmann was on the witness stand, at the time of the visit of the president of St. Mary's college, and of its students to Surratt, in the courtroom, but could not gain the slightest token of recognition from any of them. They were fast and free to show their warmest sympathy with the man who stood before the world as guilty of the murder of the President of the United States, but would not recognize the man, who, but recently, had stood on equal terms with him at the college, as a fellow student. And why was this? The only obvious reason was that he had been an honest and conscientious witness to the truth.

The same treatment was given by the counsel for the accused to another witness: Dr. McMillen.

It will be remembered that this witness was the surgeon of the Peruvian, and that it was to his care that Surratt had been committed, under the name of McCarthy, by his co-conspirators, Boucher and LaPierre.

The voyage across the Atlantic occupied seven or eight days, and as the doctor was the only man on board in whom Surratt could confide, and as he was carrying in his breast the secrets of a great crime, that was weighing heavily on his conscience, and being all the time haunted by the spectra of detectives, it was natural that he should seek relief in the confidential companionship of McMillen. He became very communicative, and related the difficulties that he experienced and overcame, in making good his escape from Washington, and in getting back to Canada, after the assassination--the parts taken by Porterfield, Boucher and LaPierre, in keeping him hidden away in Canada for five months, and many other things relating to the conspiracy; and finally, he revealed to him his identity. The testimony of this witness was entirely conclusive as to his guilt, and so, he was particularly obnoxious to the prisoner's counsel.

He was treated by them, from the start, just as they would have treated a witness who had been convicted of perjury, although they were unable to discredit him, by the legal methods. They could not look at him, or speak of him, but with the air and language of scorn and contempt. So important did it seem to discredit this witness, that priest Boucher voluntarily came all the way from Canada, to rebut his testimony. His man, DuTilly, was also brought: but notwithstanding the fact that they showed themselves to be swift witnesses, of the most ready kind, they failed to discredit this witness. Under the searching cross-examination of Judge Pierrepont they were made to corroborate the testimony given by the doctor, in all of its most essential and important particulars, and the unholy Father was made to convict himself of being equally guilty with the prisoner. (See report of the trial of John H. Surratt, published in two volumes by the government.)

It would seem that the Jesuits had had it in mind, from the beginning of the war, to find an occasion for the taking off of Mr. Lincoln. Early in the war, they set a paragraph going the rounds of the press, as far as they had it under their control, to the effect that Mr. Lincoln had been born in the Catholic Church, and had been made a member of the church by his baptism into it and that he had apostatized and became a heretic. Mr. Lincoln had seen this statement going the rounds of the press, and believed that such a gross falsehood would not have been published without a purpose. On the occasion of a visit from Father Chiniquy about this time. Mr. Lincoln called his attention to this paragraph, saying he had been greatly perplexed in trying to discover the object of its publication; and asking him if he could give any clue to the motive that had inspired such a falsehood. I will give Father Chiniquy's own account of his interview with the President on this subject.

"The next day, I was there at the appointed hour, with my noble friend, who said, 'I could not give you more than ten minutes yesterday. but I will give you twenty today: I want your views about a thing which is exceedingly puzzling to me, and you are the only one to whom I like to speak on that subject. A great number of Democratic papers have been sent to me, lately, evidently written by Roman Catholics, publishing that I was born a Roman Catholic; and baptized by a priest. They call me a renegade, an apostate, on account of that; and they heap upon my head mountains of abuse. At first, I laughed at that, for it is a lie, thanks be to God. I have never been a Roman Catholic. No priest of Rome has ever laid his hand on my head. But the persistency of the Romish press to present this falsehood to their readers as a gospel truth, must have a meaning: Please tell me, as briefly as possible what you think about that.' "My dear President:" I answered, "it was just this strange story published about you, which brought me here yesterday. I wanted to say a word to you about it; but you were too busy.

"Let me tell you that I wept like a child when I read that story for the first time. For, not only my impression is, that it is your sentence of death, but I have it from the lips of a converted priest, that it is in order to excite the fanaticism of the Roman Catholic murderers, whom they hope to find, sooner or later, to strike you down, they have invented that false story of your being born in the church of Rome, and of your being baptized by a priest. They want by that to brand your face with the ignominious mark of apostasy. Do not forget that, in the Church of Rome, an apostate is an outcast, who has no place in society, and who has no right to live. The Jesuits want the Roman Catholics to believe that you are a monster, an open enemy of God and of the church, that you are an excommunicated man. I have brought to you the theology of one of the most learned and approved of the Jesuits of his time. Bussambaum, who, with many others, say that the man who will kill you will do a good and holy work. More than that, here is a copy of a decree of Gregory VII, proclaiming that the killing of an apostate, or a heretic, and an excommunicated man, as you are declared to be, is not murder; nay, that it is a good, a Christian action. That decree is incorporated in the canon law, which every priest must study, and which every good Catholic must follow.

"My dear President. I must repeat to you here, what I said in Urbanna, in 1856. My fear is that you will fall under the blows of a Jesuit assassin, if you do not pay more attention than you have done, till now, to protect yourself. Remember that because Coligny was a heretic, as you are, he was brutally murdered in the St. Bartholomew night; that Henry IV was stabbed by the Jesuit assassin, Revaillae, the 14th of May, 1610, for having given liberty of conscience to his people, and that William, the Taciturn, was shot dead by another Jesuits murderer, called Girard, for having broken the yoke of the Pope. The Church of Rome is absolutely the same today, as she was then; she does believe and teach, today, as then, that she has the right and that it is her duty to punish with death any heretic who is in her way as an obstacle to her designs.

"The unanimity with which the Catholic Hierarchy of the United States is on the side of the rebels, is an incontrovertible evidence that Rome wants to destroy the Republic, and as you are, by your personal influence and popularity, your love of liberty, your position, the greatest obstacle to their diabolical scheme, their hatred is concentrated on you; you are the daily object of their maledictions; it is at your breast they will direct their blows. My blood chills in my veins when I contemplate the day which may come, sooner or later, when Rome will add to all her other iniquities, the murder of Abraham Lincoln."

The charge that Rome was responsible for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln was first made, so far as I am advised, by Father Chiniquy; and was founded not only on the facts which I have here given; but the facts that came to him as a result of his own personal research. His charge is distinctly and explicitly made in his book. entitled, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome." He there shows that Mr. Lincoln had incurred the deadly enmity of the Jesuits by foiling and disappointing them in an effort they made to convict Father Chiniquy of a crime, of which they had falsely accused him; and which, had they succeeded in convicting him, would not only have ruined his reputation, but would have secured his incarceration in prison.

Mr. Lincoln defended Father Chiniquy, and being furnished, apparently by a special Providence, with evidence that revealed their wicked conspiracy to destroy him, and convicted them of perjury, he was able triumphantly, to defeat their wicked scheme; and gave them such a scathing as made them tremble with rage, and slink away with vows of vengeance in their hearts.

Father Chiniquy, in making his warm acknowledgements to Mr. Lincoln, could not refrain from shedding tears. Upon Mr. Lincoln's expressing surprise at this, and saying to him that he ought to be the happiest man in the world, Father Chiniquy replied, that it was for Mr. Lincoln, and not for himself, that his tears were falling. He then explained the cause of his emotion, saying that, knowing the Jesuits as he did, and reading a purpose of vengeance in their murderous eyes, he knew that they would never rest until they had compassed his death. This occurred at Urbana, Illinois, in 1856. In the Providence of God, the duty fell on Mr. Lincoln of putting down a most formidable rebellion, and of maintaining the authority of the government by its military arm; and Father Chiniquy, realizing that a state of war would afford the Jesuits the opportunity that they sought, to at once wreak their vengeance on personal account, and give a stab at the life of the government, made three different visits to the President during his administration, to give him warning of his danger and to put him on his guard. As Father Chiniquy has kindly give me liberty to use his book freely for the purposes of this book, I have given above the result of one of these visits, and shall make still further use of his book, in closing up this inquiry.

In doing so. however, I feel that I ought to commend Father Chiniquy's book to all who desire to inform themselves fully of the character, claims, and wicked purposed of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. Father Chiniquy had a long, varied and cruel experience in the Roman Catholic Church; spending twenty-five years of his life in its priesthood. By the grace of God he was led to see and abjure the errors of the church in which he had been reared, and so, becoming a Christian, he has spent nearly another fifty years as an able and honored minister of the Protestant church, and in warning the nation of its danger from the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, and especially from the Jesuits. Would that every American citizen could read his book! It would prove to him an eye opener.

We have now traced the history of this assassination as revealed by the testimony given before the Military Commission, and before a civil court, two years later; and we find ourselves coming in contact with the Roman Catholic Church, at every point, and always as a deeply interested party, thus showing its relation to the crime. Its sympathy was always with the assassins wherever we came in contact with it. Its animus toward government was always seen to be that of the bitterest hatred and scorn. Its manner that of a lion robbed of its prey. Its every effort was to shield, and give aid to those on trial; and when it failed in this, to cast obloquy on the government, and to bring it into contempt. Thus the history of this great crime reveals to us Rome's responsibility for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, not as an individual man, however much of personal hatred on the part of the Jesuits might have led them to plan for his death, but as the head of the nation they desired to destroy. But we shall now proceed to give the most positive and unequivocal proof of the complicity of the Romish Hierarchy in, and its responsibility for, this crime.

Father Chiniquy was so well satisfied that the priests of Rome were at the bottom of this plot, that he spent a great deal of his time in investigating the matter, to see if he could not find convincing proof of the fact. The result of his investigations will be best given in his own words.

"Murder will out" is a truth repeated by all nations from the beginning of the world. It is the knowledge of that truth which has sustained me in my long and difficult researches of the authors of the assassination of Lincoln, and which enables me, today, to present to the world a fact, which seems almost miraculous, to show the complicity of the priests of Rome in the murder of the martyred President.

"Some time ago, I providentially met the Reverend F. A. Conwell of Chicago. Having known that I was in search of facts about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he told me he knew one of those facts, which might perhaps throw light on the subject of my researches.

"The very day of the murder, he said, he was in the Roman Catholic village of St. Joseph, Minnesota State, when, at about six o'clock, in the afternoon, he was told by a Roman Catholic of the place, who was a purveyor of a great number of priests who lived in that town, where they have a monastery, the State Secretary Seward, and the President, Lincoln, had just been killed.

"This was told me," he said. "in the presence of a most respectable gentleman, called Bennett, who was not less puzzled than myself As there were no railroad lines nearer than forty miles, nor telegraph offices nearer than eight miles, from that place, we could not see how such news was spread in that town. The next day, the 15th of April, I was at St. Cloud, a town about twelve miles distant, where there are neither railroad nor telegraph. I said to several people that I had been told in the priestly village of St. Joseph, by a Roman Catholic, that Abraham Lincoln and the Secretary Seward had been assassinated, the very day before, which was Friday the 14th, at 10 o'clock p.m.

"But how could the Roman Catholic purveyor of the priests of St. Joseph have told me the same thing, before several witnesses, just four hours before its occurrence? I spoke of that strange thing to many, the same day and the very next day I wrote to the St. Paul Press, under the head of "A Strange Coincidence."

"Some time later, the editor of the St. Paul Pioneer having denied what I had written on that subject, I addressed him the following note, which he had printed, and which I have kept. Here it is; you may keep it as an infallible proof of my veracity.

"To the Editor of the St. Paul Pioneer: You assume the non-truth of a short paragraph addressed by me to the St. Paul Press, viz.:

"A STRANGE COINCIDENCE!

"At 6:30 p.m., Friday last, April 14th, I was told as an item of news, 8 miles west of this place, that Lincoln and Seward had been assassinated. This was three hours after I had heard the news."

St. Cloud, 17th April, 1865.

"The integrity of history requires that the above coincidence be established. And if anyone calls it in question, then proofs more ample than reared their sanguinary shadows to comfort a traitor can now be given.

Respectfully,

F.A. Conwell.

"I asked that gentleman if he would be kind enough to give me the fact under oath, that I might make use of it in the report I intended to publish about the assassination of Lincoln. And he kindly granted my request in the following form:

"STATE OF ILLINOIS,

COOK COUNTY.

"Reverend F. A. Conwell, being sworn deposes and says, that he is seventy-one years old; that he is a resident of North Evanston, in Cook County, State of Illinois; that he has been in the ministry for fifty-six years, and is now one of the chaplains of "Seamen's Bethel Home," in Chicago; that he was chaplain of the First Minnesota Regiment, in the war of the rebellion. That on the 14th day of April, A.D., 1865, he was in St. Joseph, Minnesota, and reached there as early as six o'clock in the evening in company with Mr. Bennett, who, then and now, is a resident of St. Cloud, Minnesota. That on that date, there was no telegraph nearer than Minneapolis about 80 miles from St. Joseph; and there was no railroad communication nearer than Anoka, Minnesota, about 40 miles distant. That when he reached St. Joseph on the 14th day of April, 1865, one Mr. Linneman, who then kept the hotel of St. Joseph, told affiant that President Lincoln and Secretary Seward were assassinated; that it was not later than half past six o'clock on Friday, April 14th, 1865, when Mr. Linneman told me this. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Bennett came into the hotel, and I told him that Mr. Linneman said the President and Secretary Seward were assassinated; and then the same Mr. Linneman reported the same conversation to Mr. Bennett in my presence. That during that time, Mr. Linneman told me that he had charge of the friary, or college for young men, under the priests, who were studying for the priesthood at St. Joseph; that there was a number of this kind at St. Joseph at the time. Affiant says, that on Saturday morning, April 15th, 1865, he went to St. Cloud, a distance of about 10 miles, and reached there about 8 o'clock in the morning; that there was no railroad or telegraph communication to St. Cloud. When he arrived there he told Mr. Haworth, the hotelkeeper, that he had been told that President Lincoln and Secretary Seward had been assassinated, and asked if it was true. He further told Henry Clay Wait, Charles Gilman, who afterwards was Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, and Reverend Mr. Tice, the same thing, and asked them if they had any such news; and they replied that they had not heard anything of the kind.

"Affiant says that on Sunday morning, April 16th, 1865, he preached in St. Cloud, and on the way to the church, a copy of a telegram was handed to him, stating that the President and Secretary were assassinated on Friday evening at about nine o'clock. This telegram had been brought to St. Cloud by Mr. Gorton, who had reached St. Cloud by stage; and this was the first intelligence that had reached St. Cloud of the event. Affiant says further, that, on Monday morning, April 17th, 1865, he furnished the Press, a paper of St. Paul, a statement that three hours before the event took place, he had been informed, at St. Joseph, Minnesota, that the President had been assassinated, and this was published in the Press.

(Signed) FRANCIS ASBURY CONWELL.

"Subscribed and worn to by Francis A. Conwell, before me, a Notary Public of Kankakee County, Illinois, at Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, the 6th day of September, 1883.

STEPHEN R. MOORE

Notary Public."

Father Chiniquy adds,

"Though this document was very important and precious to me. I felt that it would be much more valuable if it could be corroborated by the testimony of Mr. Bennett and Mr. Linneman, themselves, and I immediately sent a magistrate to find out if they were still living. and if they remembered the facts of the sworn declaration of Reverend Mr. Conwell. By the good Providence of God, both of these gentlemen were found living, and both gave the following testimonies:

"STATE OF MINNESOTA,

STERNS COUNTY,

City of ST. CLOUD,

"Horace B. Bennett, being sworn, deposes and says, that he is aged sixty-four years; that he is a resident of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and has resided in this county since 1856; that he is acquainted with Reverend F.A. Conwell, who was chaplain of the First Minnesota Regiment in the war of the rebellion; that on the 14th day of April, 1865, he was in St. Joseph, Minnesota, in company with Mr. Frances A. Conwell; that they reached St. Joseph about sundown of said April 14th; that there was no railroad or telegraph communication with St. Joseph at that time, nor nearer than Anoka, about 40 miles distant. That affiant, on reaching the hotel kept by Mr. Linneman went to the barn, while Reverend F.A. Conwell entered the hotel; and shortly afterward, affiant had returned to the hotel, Mr. Conwell had told him that Mr. Linneman had reported to him the assassination of President Lincoln; that Mr. Linneman was present and substantiated the statement;

"That on Saturday morning, April 15th, affiant and Reverend Conwell came to St. Cloud and reported that they had been told at St. Joseph about the assassination of President Lincoln; that no one at St. Cloud had heard of the event at this time: that the first news of the event which reached St. Cloud, was on Sunday morning, April 16th, when the news was brought by Leander Gorton, who had just come up from Anoka, Minnesota; that they spoke to several persons of St. Cloud concerning the matter, when they reached there, on Sunday morning, but affiant does not now remember who those different persons were, and further affiant says not.

HORACE P. BENNETT.

"Sworn before me, and subscribed in my presence, this 18th day of October. A.D., 1883.

ANDREW C. ROBINSON, 

Notary Public.

In regard to Mr. Linneman, Father Chiniquy says:

"Mr. Linneman having refused to swear on his written declaration which I have in my possession, I take only from it what refers to the principal fact, viz.: that three or four hours before Lincoln was assassinated at Washington, the 14th of April, 1865, the fact was told as already accomplished in the priestly village of St. Joseph, Minnesota.

"He (Linneman) remembers the time that Messrs. Conwell and Bennett came to his place (St. Joseph, Minnesota) on Friday evening, before the President was killed, and he asked them if they had heard he was dead, and they replied they had not. He heard this rumor in his store from people who came in and out. But he cannot remember from whom.

October 20th, 1883. J.H. LINNEMAN."

We have now before us positive evidence that these Jesuit Fathers, priests of Rome, engaged in preparing young men for the priesthood away out in the village of St. Joseph, in far off Minnesota, were in correspondence with their brethren in Washington City, and had been informed that the plan to assassinate the President had been matured, the agents for its accomplishment had been found, the time for its execution had been set, and so sure were they of its accomplishment, that they could announce it as already done, three or four hours before it had been consummated. The anticipation of its accomplishment so elated them that they could not refrain from passing it around, in this Romish crowd, as a piece of glorious news.

It is plain from this testimony that Good Friday had been set, as the time for its accomplishment; and that ways and means had been planned, and that there was to be no such word as fail.

At the time that this news had been transmitted to these Fathers, it was not known that President Lincoln would attend Ford's theatre; and so, it is plain that had not this opportunity been afforded to Booth and his co-conspirators, they would still have attempted it in some other way; that their purpose had been fixed; and so desperate was their determination that they would not have been foiled in their attempt by any difficulties that they might had had to encounter.

The word had been passed to this Jesuit college in St. Joseph, Minnesota. and no doubt to all other Jesuit institutions in the United States, in Canada and in the Confederacy, that, on that Good Friday, Lincoln was to be slain.

That this was to be done to overthrow our government is to be seen in the fact that Secretary Seward was also to be taken off that day.

This news could only have been communicated to these Jesuits by their Jesuit friends in Washington, who, under the protection and hospitality of our government, were thus, in the hour of its sore trial, and extreme peril, planning and plotting for its destruction: and ready, for this purpose, to resort to their favorite policy of assassination. I feel, however that I must give my readers Father Chiniquy's own construction of this evidence. He says.

"I present here to the world a fact of the greatest gravity, and that fact is so well authenticated that it cannot allow even the possibility of a doubt.

"Three or four hours before Lincoln was murdered in Washington, the 14th of April, 1865, that murder was not only known by some one, but it was circulated and talked of in the streets, and in the houses of the priestly and Romish town of St. Joseph, Minnesota. The fact is undeniable; the testimonies are unchallengable, and there were no railroad or telegraph communication nearer that 40 or 80 miles from the nearest station to St. Joseph. Naturally every one asked: 'How could such news spread? Where is the source of such a rumor?'

"Mr. Linneman, who is a Roman Catholic, tells us that, though he heard this from many in his store, and in the streets, he does not remember the name of a single one who told him that. And when we hear this from him, we understand why he did not dare to swear upon it, and shrunk from the idea of perjuring himself.

"For everyone feels that his memory cannot be so poor as that, when he remembers so well the names of the two strangers, Messrs. Conwell and Bennett, to whom he had announced the assassination of Lincoln, just seventeen years before. But if the memory of Mr. Linneman is so deficient on that subject, we can help him and tell him with mathematical accuracy.

"You got the news from your priests of St. Joseph! The conspiracy which cost the life of the martyred President was prepared by the priests of Washington in the house of Mary Surratt, No. 541 H Street.

"Those priests of Washington were in daily communication with their priests of St. Joseph; they were their intimate friends.

"There were no secrets amongst them, as there are no secrets among priests. They are the members of the same body, the branches of the same tree. The details of the murder, as the day selected for its commission were as well known among the priests of St. Joseph, as they were among those of Washington. The death of Lincoln was such a glorious event for those priests! The infamous apostate, Lincoln, who, baptized in the Holy Church, had rebelled against her, broken his oath of allegiance to the Pope, taken the very day of his baptism, and saved the life of an apostate! That infamous Lincoln, who had dared to fight against the Confederacy of the South after the Vicar of Christ had solemnly declared that their cause was just, legitimate and holy! That bloody tyrant, that godless and infamous man was to receive, at last, the just chastisement of his crimes, the 14th of April. What glorious news! How could the priests conceal such a joyful event from their bosom friend, Mr. Linneman?

"He was their confidential man; he was their purveyor; he was their right hand man among the faithful of St. Joseph .

"They thought that they would be guilty of a great want of confidence in their bosom friend if they did not tell him all about the glorious event that great day. But, of course, they requested him not to mention their names, if he would spread the joyful news among the devoted Roman Catholics, who, almost exclusively, formed the people of St. Joseph. Mr. Linneman has honorably and faithfully kept his promise never to reveal their names, and today we have in our hand the authentic testimonies, signed by him, that though somebody on the 14th of April told him that President Lincoln was assassinated, he does not know who told him that!

"But there is not a man of sound judgment who will have any doubt about the fact.

"The 14th of April, 1865, the priests knew and circulated the death of Lincoln four hours before its occurrence in their Roman Catholic town of St. Joseph, Minnesota. But they could not circulate it without knowing it, and they could not know it without belonging to the band of conspirators who assassinated Abraham Lincoln."

Our case is now before the jury of our countrymen. What say you, gentlemen? Is the charge that the Roman Hierarchy was implicated in the assassination of our martyred President sustained by the evidence which we have presented; or, has it been unjustly made?

We have no doubt of the verdict of the American people when all of this evidence, both circumstantial and positive, shall have been duly considered and weighed.

The case is too plain to admit of a reasonable doubt; and the charge of being sustained, we have before us matter for the gravest consideration, and calling for the wisest, firmest and gravest consideration, and calling for the wisest, firmest and most heroic treatment. That same foe to our liberties, secured to us in our Constitution and Governmental institutions, that so insidiously and malignantly sought to take advantage of our civil war, which it had had a great hand in fomenting, to overthrow and destroy our government, is still in our midst; and under the guise of friendship for and love to our governmental institutions, is gaining position after position, to be used, finally, for their destruction. There is an impending crisis, an irrepressible conflict, before us. The history of the assassination of our martyred President, which we have now before us, reveals the desperate character of the foe that we are called to face. It is unwise to shut our eyes to the situation that confronts us. It may not be a pleasant task to contemplate the greatest of possible dangers; but it will be wiser to do so than to shut your eyes and cry peace! peace! when there is no peace. Rome will never let go her hand, nor relax her efforts to establish her despotism until she shall have been completely despoiled of her power.

Then let the trumpet be sounded throughout the length and breadth of the land, to marshal the hosts of freedom for the conflict. Let us agitate, agitate and agitate; and then let us organize for the conflict. Let this be a war of discussion and agitation for the peaceful settlement of the great issues involved, that it may not have to be settled on the field of carnage and blood.

If it fails of the former, and much to be desired settlement, then there is but the other dread alternative left. It can never be a drawn battle; it will be a fight to the finish. Rome seems now to have the advantage in the contest: but it is only because the hosts of freedom are not fully awake to the issues involved. A wily Jesuit Arch-bishop has had the ear of the President recently elected; and has endeavored to control his cabinet and other appointments in the interest of his church; and the patriotic people, who voted for McKinley, have expressed great disappointment at the freedom of access which the wily Jesuit has to the executive head of our nation. They have felt mortified and grieved to see him take up his quarters in Washington, and for months giving his attention to the political, rather than to the spiritual interests of his church. They have felt that it was ominous of no good to see this Arch-bishop and Cardinal Gibbon cultivating such friendly relations with the President, evidently for the purpose of securing certain very desirable appointments. And they have felt disposed to censure the President for allowing this to be.

But they have no reason to find fault with the President. The Arch-bishop got the party down at St. Louis, when he caused the committee on platform to reject the resolutions offered to it by the representatives of the American Protective Association; the party having made this surrender to him, he felt himself to be master of the situation, and expected, of course, to have the President in his power, just as it has turned out that he has.

Neither would the case have been different had Bryan been elected. The party that nominated him would not have entertained these resolutions had they been offered in the Chicago convention; and the candidate could not have taken higher ground than his party.

It would only have been another Archbishop that would have taken him in charge, and the result would have been the same. We have, however, grounds for encouragement in the fact, now well known, that States, which the wily Jesuit had thought he had well fixed, have been smashed by the volume of protests that came to the President from all parts of the country. The patriotic orders were weak in the convention. but strong in protests.

It becomes us now to consider the cause of their weakness in the convention. Their weakness did not lie in lack of numbers, but in the want of an organization. The vote of the various patriotic orders in the United States outnumbers the Roman Catholic vote by at least three to one; and yet it was the Roman Catholic vote that could command the consideration of the political leaders of the land. It is easy to see why this was the case. The thorough organization of the forces of the Hierarchy is well understood. It is known that this vote can be wielded, virtually, as a unit by the priesthood, and that it can be secured by whichever party makes the highest bid for it. It is thought to be a balance of power vote in a presidential election, and the priests desire to have it so considered, in order to secure the highest price for it; not in cash, but in place and power. This is the secret of Rome's power with the politicians.

And now the question of prime importance is, how is this power to be broken?

It can only be done by a compact and thorough organization of the entire patriotic vote of the country. This vote is sufficiently large to control the entire situation; but is powerless in its present disorganized condition. It is vain to think of gaining the victory over Rome through either of the two dominant parties. They have gotten so demoralized, through long subservience to Rome, and know so well the power of its organization, and have so little dread of the patriotic organizations in their present scattered and disjointed condition, that nothing short of a crushing defeat will ever cause them to follow the dictates of patriotism. It will take a new party. The flame of patriotism must be aroused to the height of a sublime endeavor. Men must be taught to follow the flag, rather than party. We must have a party that will boldly take its stand on a platform of American fundamental principles. It must declare for the immediate incorporation of the XVIth Amendment into our National and State Constitutions. This will settle, for good, the question of the appropriation of public funds to any sectarian purposes whatever, and secure the complete separation of the Church and State.

It must also declare for such amendments to our emigration laws as will exclude all undesirable classes from coming to our shores: such as criminals, paupers, illiterates, vicious, and all who are in any way disqualified for making good and desirable American citizens. Then, to those admitted, the limit of their probation must be extended to such a length of time as is necessary to enable them to become acquainted with the nature and to catch the spirit of our institutions. The right to vote must be based upon a qualification of intelligence. The rightful jurisdiction of the civil power must be exercised over all private institutions in which people are held under surveillance and control for the preservation of the rights and liberties of their inmates. No property held by any religious society, other than actual houses of worship, should be exempt from taxation. Now, whatever party can rise to the highest of these requirements for the protection of our institutions, and will incorporate these measures in its platform, should receive the undivided support of the American Protective Association, and of all of the other patriotic organizations, and individual citizens; provided, that in connection with these, it shall embrace all other reforms in our policy that are essential to the prosperity of our country. A party that is sound in its Americanism, and patriotic in its purposes, may be safely trusted to find, ultimately, the right side of all other questions.

The People's party ought in addition to its other reform measures, to be able to arise to the height of these requirements; but it will perhaps be found to be too much under the influence of the politicians, who seem to think that to set themselves against the Romish Hierarchy would be fatal to the success of any party. It will, in all probability, be found necessary to organize the patriotic forces into a new party, that will have the courage to accept, and to meet the issues presented fairly and squarely; and to take the name that logically presents itself: "The Protestant American Party."

They are but the garnered fruit of the tree of the Reformation. The foe we have to fight is the same that they had to contend against. The contention is in a part, at least, over the same issues; for it is the civil claims of the Papacy, and not its religious dogmas, that we are, in the present field of operations, called upon to resist. These latter we accord to it the right to hold, and to teach; believing with Jefferson that "error is harmless whilst truth is left to combat it;" so, that, however erroneous, and soul-destroying we may think its dogmas to be, they must still be held to be under the domain of reason, and to be overthrown by truth; and so, not under civil control. But the claim of the Papacy to supreme civil jurisdiction must be met, according to its nature, in the field of politics. To admit this claim is to surrender all human rights, and human liberty, to the keeping of a fallible fellow-mortal; and to enthrone him as a despot. This is what is done in theory by every loyal son of the church of Rome; and to bring all mankind into the same bondage with himself is ever to be his supreme endeavor.

Every Roman Catholic priest, of whatever grade, believes the Pope to be Christ's vicar on earth, and to stand to the human race, in all matters, spiritual and temporal, in the place of God. This places him in the position of supreme authority; so that all civil power must be dispensed under his direction and control. Every priest not only believes this, but is put under the obligation of his oath of ordination to use all the means that may at anytime be in his power to bring the whole world into the acceptance of this dogma, and to submission to the Pope's authority.

This is what the whole body of the Romish priesthood in the United States are engaged in today; and it means the subjugation of our Protestant civil institutions, and the surrender of our liberties. Here we have Romanism pitted against Protestantism, and its success simply means the destruction of our government, and the enthronement over us of the Prince of all Despots.

Let us then have the courage to take a name that immediately suggests the issues involved in the contest, and the nature of the contention, and thus raise a banner that will draw to its support every lover of liberty, and foe of despotism. Nothing would more alarm the foe we have to fight than this party name, that would so clearly indicate the real matter at issue; and nothing would more cheer and encourage the hosts of freedom.

I am aware that this proposition will be met with the objection that it would be unwise and dangerous to introduce the element of religious differences into our political contests, and especially, to make this the basis of party organizations.

But it is sufficient to meet this objection with the simple truth, that it is the civil claims of the Romish Hierarchy that we resist; and these come clearly under the domain of politics. In this resistance we do not interfere with, or even call in question, the Papal system of religion. Every American citizen, who had had his mind expanded with the Protestant ideas of civil and religious liberty, will ever stand ready to accord to his Roman Catholic fellow citizens the same right to protection in their rights of conscience, in matters of religion, that he claims for himself; but he will at the same time see to it, that under the guise of religion, he shall not be allowed to undermine the very foundation of these privileges.

Our country must be maintained as it is now, the land of liberty, under the protection of Protestant institutions. Let us then declare to the world this purpose, by bringing it under the control of a "Protestant American Party."

The Hierarchy has never had to encounter anything in this country that has given it so much concern as does the present patriotic awakening. It affects, however, to regard it with contempt, but at the same time redoubles its efforts to tighten its grasp on the politicians. It is to them that it looks for help, and appeals for aid. It tries to hide the real issues, by its usual resort to misrepresentation and falsehood. It represents it as a revival of know-nothingism. In this it is not so far wrong. The A.P.A. is, however, built on a broader foundation, as a result of a wider knowledge, and more extended experience of the deadly hostility of Rome to our civil institutions; and so upon a better comprehension of the safeguards that are necessary for the protection.

It represents this, and all the other patriotic organizations as founded on bigotry and for the purpose of religious persecution, and so, as being un-American and unpatriotic. And all this is to throw chaff into the eyes, that they may be closed to the threatened danger.

But in this way many well meaning people and true friends of our institutions. and lovers of our country's flag, are being deceived, and lulled to sleep. Now, why does Rome resort to this line of defense? It is because all of the facts are against her, and so, as they cannot be denied or controverted, her policy is to hide them out of sight, by changing the line of vision. Rome knows; and every American citizen ought to know, that these anti-Catholic agitators are unearthing her purposes, and uncovering her plans to get hold of all the departments of our Government; and then give to the Pope all that he claims as Christ's vicar; supreme control over our civil institutions; that he may wield the civil power for the upbuilding of the so-called church. We have only to turn to the pages of history to learn how he would use this power. We want no more of his interference with our God-given rights. We want no more union of church and state; and the danger lies more than anything else, in the seeming incredibility that there should be any persons found at this late day, and in this land of ours, who would favor a return to the rack, the thumbscrews, and other instruments of inquisition torture, for the promotion of the glory of God, and the salvation of souls.

Let the incredulous look at Rome's boasted declaration: Semper eadem. (Always the same.) Let them also scan the declarations made by Romish priests of every grade, in recent years, in the Roman Catholic Journals and Periodicals, and they will learn that all that Rome wants is the power to enable her to revive these mild methods of propagating her version of the Gospel of Christ. Why doesn't she meet the charges that are made against her openly and fairly? When it is charged that she is storing away arms in the basements of her churches, why does she not proffer the keys, and invite inspection? When it is charged that she is restraining helpless females of their liberty, for the basest purposes, and inflicting upon them untold cruelties to bring them under subjection to a lecherous, drunken priesthood, why does she not open her doors, and appeal to the civil magistrates to make the most rigid inspection and examination, that they may thus show the charges to be false? This she has never yet done, and never will do; neither will she permit it to be done as long as she can find means for successful resistance.

In the name of liberty, in the cause of humanity, let us compel her to submit to such inspections. In the name of Protestant Americanism, let us set up our banners for complete subjugation of this corrupt, unscrupulous, and dangerous foe to liberty, and murderer of human rights.

Let it be known to the world that American freemen will ever stand on the watch tower, and will compel the submission of all within the domain of our government to submit themselves to its rightful authority---that there can be in this country in civil affairs no power greater than the State.

Greg Szymanski

Listen to my Radio Broadcast live Monday night at 8pm Pacific time on LewisNews, returning Jan. 1 2006 Radio http://webs.lewisnews.com/radio/index.htm. Greg is also regular on Rense.com the first Thursday of every month at 9-10 pm pacific time.