Alexander Tilloch Galt

“ With the immense range of power given by the Act of Confederation to the Local Legislatures, covering the whole body of civil law, it is of most serious import to us to learn that the maintenance of all our civil rights is henceforward to be entrusted to a body of men who are taught that the Pope is supreme, and that all human enactments are subject to his revision whenever he may please to pronounce that they fall within the charmed circle of " faith and morals." ”

“ We shall search in vain for a period when human power, human law, and Civil government, have not been grasped at by the Church as a means of compelling obedience to their dogmas. It is thus clear, that unless Civil society chooses to wield the weapon against itself, the "spiritual sword" of the priesthood will be powerless to wound. ”

“ The 'Syllabus,' as its title shows, is nothing but a collection of those errors of the age that we live in, which Pope Pius, in earlier Rescripts of different dates, has declared to be errors, and which accordingly he has condemned. The condemnation of errors, according to the traditional practice of the Church, is made in various forms; sometimes they are condemned as heretical; sometimes as savouring of heresy; sometimes as schismatic; sometimes simply as erroneous, or false; sometimes as dangerous, or scandalous, or perverse ”

“ It is impossible that in a Province of the Protestant empire of Great Britain, on the continent of America, in the presence of Forty Millions of Protestants, a slavery should be imposed upon us by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, which exists no longer even under the shadow of the Vatican. Free speech—free thought—and a free press, must have the fullest scope in America ”

“ Should the encroachments of the Hierarchy, and their influence over their people, once more provoke a contest, history will possibly repeat itself, and the discord of Quebec be extinguished by the change from a Federal to a Legislative Union of British North America. Many events already transpiring point to such a change, and if the Protestants are once thoroughly alarmed, and find their civil rights invaded, it may be found the easiest and safest measure to restore harmony. ”

“ Assuredly, our very dear brethren, those do not deserve your suffrages who show themselves hostile to religion, and to the divine principles which it teaches; who advance and maintain in their speeches and writings, errors which the Church condemns; who, in order to secure their election at all costs, make use of corruption, lies, frauds and the excess of intemperance; who refuse their Curés the right to give instructions with regard to the conscientious duties devolving upon the candidates as well as the electors, pretending that they ought not in any way to mix themselves up in elections ”

“ Wretched as my health is, I should strive to drag myself to Rome, even if I were to die upon the road, and supposing once I got there, I could not get an opportunity of speaking, I should go if it were only to protest by my presence, by that sad and steady look of which Bossuet speaks, against the rascalities which are going to be enacted, and are likely to triumph. ”

“ These observations are, I suppose, trite enough, but I think they will not be considered out of place, when they are intended to preface my appeal to all good citizens, whether Catholic or Protestant, to resist the present attempt of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy to control the Local G-overnment of Quebec.
The State—whether rightly, Protestants as generally think, or wrongly, as the Syllabus teaches—has the supreme power on earth, and can compel compliance with its decrees. The Courts of Justice declare the rights and obligations of every one, in the eye of the law. ”

“ No evidence has been produced before their Lordships to establish the very grave proposition that Her Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects in Lower Canada have consented, since the cession, to be bound by such a rule as it is now sought to enforce, which, in truth, involves the recognition of the authority of the Inquisition, an authority never admitted but always repudiated by the old law of France. ”

“ It is eminently suggestive of the light in which our Quebec rulers are regarded to observe the very different ground occupied by the Roman Catholic Church in this Province, from that taken in Ontario and the Maritime Provinces.
The contradictory attitude of the Church of Rome in different countries, and at this moment even in the Dominion, can only be explained by the extraordinary elasticity with which it adapts itself to surrounding circumstances. Wherever it reigns supreme, and controls the Civil Government, it is exclusive, despotic and grasping ”

“ Has such change affected the general rights of Protestants as citizens of Quebec, and especially weakened their guarantees obtained at Confederation? The reply must necessarily be argumentative, and addressed rather to those Protestant politicians, now basking in the sunshine of Episcopal favor, who say: all this concerns Roman Catholics only; both political parties are alike in professed submission to the Church; it does not affect us so long as we are unassailed, and meantime we should act with those who in the past were our friends and allies. ”

“ The Civil power can do nothing which tends to the injury of the Church, and ought to abstain from such acts as would clash with the laws of the Church, and, indeed, should also, at the request of the Church, co-operate toward its benefit and the attainment of its supernatural end. ”

“ There is scarcely a subject that can be named that does not fall more or less directly within the scope of the Local Legislature; and, as citizens of Quebec, the Protestants have, therefore, good reason for jealous apprehension at the encroachments of the Hierarchy. It is not sufficient for their re-assurance to be told these measures concern Roman Catholics only, and that they may repose in security upon the guarantees obtained at the completion of Confederation. ”

“ In France, therefore, it cannot be denied that a mighty change has occurred since 1870 in the attitude of the Church, when we see the cherished liberties of centuries swept away.
In Germany the conflict created with Civil power, through the Vatican Decrees, is still more evident, and pregnant with instruction to our Hierarchy here, if they will receive the lesson. ”

“ Should it prove, as many gloomily predict, that these Decrees have left no common standing ground, as fellow citizens, for those who are in, and those who are out of the pale of the Roman Church, it will soon be painfully manifest, and each must act as his conscience dictates. ”

“ It is a widely different thing to guarantee the peaceful enjoyment of their "culte" and "dimes," from pledging the faith and power of the Crown to the enforcement of the decrees of a foreign power, even though that power acts under the insidious guise of only dealing with "faith and morals." ”

“ It would ill become a man of my years and experience, even if it suited my taste, to use the language of menace, but I may fittingly employ words of entreaty and warning,—and I therefore do in the most earnest manner, pray for such sympathy and help as will arrest the designs of those who are now troubling us. ”

“ Can it, with any truth, be said that this state of things exists to-day? In answering this question, I shall have further occasion hereafter to cite various official utterances of the Hierarchy in Lower Canada, and leave it to others to reconcile them with the continued exercise of "free speech, a free press, and free political action." But, first, let me quote from the Syllabus Errorum certain opinions which are expressly condemned.
That it appertains to the civil power to define what are the rights and limits within which the Church (Roman Catholic) may exercise authority.— (Syl. sec. 19.) ”

“ On the other hand, if no voice of warning be raised,—if nothing be heard but adulatory pæans to the Hierarchy, to obtain their political support and influence, how can we expect to receive attention, when we appeal to a Government at Ottawa, almost all of whose supporters from Quebec owe their seats to the clergy—and of whose opponents, a like proportion are also hopelessly entangled. ”

“ An Augsburg reviewer takes objection to my expression: 'It is by no means an established fact among Catholic theologians, that the Syllabus with its eighty propositions belongs to those definitions of doctrine which are to be characterized as infallible;' and is of opinion that in saying this, I show that the notes cannot be relied on, which I have given to make it plain how an utterance of the Pope may be recognized as ex cathedrâ. I, on the contrary, find that in this case, as in a hundred others, we can fully rely on the notes which have been given, for they are really good and sound notes ”

“ It is familiar to all that the Vatican Decrees are intended to be the conclusion of many ages of agitation and strife in the Roman Catholic Church. For centuries the contest has been waged between the Ultramontanes and their opponents. ”

“ These guarantees were obtained under a totally different state of public affairs from that which exists now; and, being intended as a protection for the faith and liberties of the minority against possible wrong to be sustained at the hands of the Roman Catholics, it becomes of essential importance to recognize the serious change that has been wrought in the Church of Rome through the publication of the Syllabus and the promulgation of the Vatican Decrees. ”

“ It would be perfectly idle to expect that the Lower Canada Liberals would, as a party, take the same ground I do, when we see that the very opening of the question arrays one of their most distinguished leaders, and a Protestant, in the same ranks with his life-long opponents. ”

“ Although I am myself, I trust, a sincere Christian, yet reading and observation have taught me that Religion, be the particular creed what it may, is a sentiment of the human mind, more or less profound according to the idiosyncrasy of the individual. ”

“ Apart from its moral teachings,—which have very widely differed in different ages, and among the various races of the world,—it has no temporal power whatever; it deals exclusively with the interest of man beyond the grave; and though men have constantly presumed to pronounce upon the future fate of their fellow mortals, it is certain that the final judgment will be rendered by the Omniscient, who alone cannot err. ”

“ The necessary and logical deduction from this peculiarity of the religious sentiment, has been, that, from the very earliest ages, and under every system of faith that has prevailed, the teachers have been compelled to seek from the Civil powers, the authority to enforce their doctrines. ”

“ At the fifth Provincial Council of the Hierarchy, held at Quebec in 1873 (approved by the Pope in
September, 1874) , among many other Decreta affecting the conduct of the "faithful," I find the following judgment upon the relations of the Roman Catholic Church towards the State:—
"We assert that the Church is a perfect Society, independent of the Civil power and Superior to it. ”

“ That is the place whence I observe, with the disinterestedness and impartiality of a dead man, all that passes in this world, and it is thence that I can speak with the authority of a dead man, to those who are still willing to hear me. ”

“ The Bishops were brought more directly under the control of the Sacred College, vacancies in the Episcopate were filled with men more suited to the requirements of Rome, greater development was given to the establishment of religious bodies, and the control of education, both in its higher and inferior branches, was sought to be placed in the hands of the priesthood. ”

“ It is only the first indication of growing discontent, and should not be disregarded till other and more menacing demonstrations are made. One thing is certain, that the rest of the Dominion cannot allow Quebec, to become the seat of chronic agitation and disorder, to the injury and danger of the other members of the Confederation. ”

“ During this time, in treating with heretics, Christians acted according to the words and examples of the Apostles. What this way was, the Apostle Paul told the faithful: 'A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition avoid, knowing that he that is such an one is subverted and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment.' (Titus iii. 10, 11.) ”

“ The influence already exerted over the consciences of the simple and trustful French-Canadian peasantry is already most marked and we may readily conjecture what it will become when the education of the masses is all entrusted to the same hands. ”

“ That the Roman Pontiffs and Œcumenical Councils have exceeded the limits of their power, have usurped the right of Princes, and have even committed errors in defining matters of faith and morals.— (Sec. 23.)
That the Church has not the power of availing herself of force, or any direct or indirect temporal power.— (Sec. 24.)
That the immunity of the Church and of ecclesiastical persons derives its origin from civil law.— (Sec. 30.)
That the commonwealth is the origin and source of all rights, and possesses rights which are not circumscribed by any limits.— (Sec. 39.) ”

“ The second allegation is more important, as, if my fears are really groundless, and unsustained either by fact, or by reasonable deduction, then my interference has been mischievous, and is not even to be excused by any moderation or liberality displayed by me in the past. ”

“ With reference to this point, I have read with much interest, a very able and temperate letter, that appeared in the Toronto Globe, dated 15th March, by an "Ultramontane," and I entirely agree with him that so far as
the attitude of the Roman Catholics is concerned, they ought to seek and obtain an authoritative statement of that which their Church requires. ”