M. M. Mangasarian

“ And if France did not go the way of Spain, it was because, when she returned to the republican form of government once more, she put no faith in the professions of loyalty to the republic by the priests, and refused to consider their candidate to the presidency. By ousting the church from politics in France, that unhappy country has recovered her health, has entered the path of peace and progress, and is today one of the freest and foremost nations of the world.
What can the church do for a people? Look at Spain.
What can a country do without the church? Look at regenerated France. ”

“ What today is the difference between Austria, for instance, and America? In Catholic or religious Austria, the interest of the church is above the rights of man. It is well for religion to be free, but it is not free in Austria; it is well for thought and speech to be free, but they are not free in Austria. ”

“ Speaking only in the capacity of a private citizen, it is my opinion that, according to the Constitution, a Catholic is not eligible to be a candidate for president. Neither is a sincere and consistent Christian of any other denomination. Nor is a believing Jew. The Constitution explicitly ignores the religious interests of the nation; it does not even so much as mention the name of God. Had the document been created by infidels it could not have been more indifferent to the subject of church or religion. ”

“ Everywhere France must become the defender of the Catholic church. It was not to the interest of France to waste its substance in a sort of Catholic crusade, tramping from east to west, for the glory of the church, but it was only by sacrificing France to the vatican that Napoleon hoped to change the frown of the pope into a smile. Finally it occurred to the emperor that a war with Germany, the rising Protestant power of the north, would restore his popularity with the church. ”

“ Every faithful Catholic leaves his estate to the parish priest, or to some religious order. Property accumulates by leaps and jumps. What happens in one town happens in every other; the country is overrun with the agents of a foreign power. The church is making hay while the sun shines. As some of the principles of free government were still in force, even with Napoleon on the throne, these religious orders were asked to obey the law and secure a permit before pursuing their vocation. They answered that the church was above the state, and that they must obey God rather than men. ”

“ I submit that the United Presbyterians are quite consistent, and that they deserve the respect of all [4] who hold that courage and sincerity are better than ambiguity and inconsistency. A Christian, therefore, can accept a nomination to the presidency, for instance, only by either stultifying himself and belittling his church, or by disregarding the Constitution, its spirit as well as its letter.
Nor would it be "bigotry" to contend that a Protestant or a Catholic candidate, to whom God is first and country second, should under no circumstances be voted into presidential power and influence. ”

“ To crush this republican movement and restore the runaway pope to his throne, the church needed an agent. The agent must be strong enough to strangle the Italian republic and to recover for the pope his temporal power. Spain was too decrepit to be summoned to the task. Austria had already too much of Italy in her grip; the only nation that could disinterestedly fight for the pope would be France. ”

“ It is a sad and shocking story of intrigues, plots, conspiracies, treason, machination, finesse,—of manoeuvre and scandal, of sudden strokes and startling surprises, which have alternately cooled and heated the brain of the nation, and which have cultivated in the people the unhealthy craving for excitement. ”

“ Even as it would not be an act of intolerance to deny the presidency of this country to a foreign-born citizen, it would not be intolerant to deny it to Catholics, for example. They are simply not eligible. Both Protestant and Catholic ought to say, when invited to the office, that they can not conscientiously swear to maintain a Constitution which fails in its duties to the Creator, and that if elected they will obey God rather than the Constitution, for a Christian can not serve two masters, neither can he be a Christian and not a Christian at the same time. ”

“ When we have God for a teacher, or his vicar on earth to rule us, what would liberty be good for? It follows then, that the Catholic church can not consistently be subject to any secular power, being a "divine" institution. This statement can not be successfully controverted, and if so, we call the attention of the president of the United States to it, as well as of all those who believe that it is possible to have Rome in the White House and be a republic at the same time. ”

“ The French were repulsed. When the news of the disaster to the French forces reached Paris it threw the country into a state of delirium. Scarcely anybody not in the conspiracy had suspected that the innocent looking measure presented to the assembly by the president of the republic really authorized the declaration of war against Italy; and no one so much as imagined that "a given point in Italy" meant Rome, or that "the interests and the honor of France" required the restoration of the principle of absolutism in Italy. ”

“ No professors in the Sorbonne, or in any institution, who did not bow to the pope and his creature on the throne of France, were permitted to teach. Secret orders and religious schools sprang up everywhere like mushrooms over-night. The emissaries and the missionaries of the faith became exceedingly busy in the acquisition of property. In a small town, suddenly, as it were, a few beg [14] garly monks and nuns make their appearance; they have not where to lay their heads; the community has to provide them with the necessaries of life. ”

“ In all the churches high mass was celebrated, and a Te Deum chanted in honor of the new regime. "There are no more devoted and sincere republicans in France than the Catholics," wrote Veuillot in l'Univers, the organ of the church. In asking you to keep this in mind, I also request you to note that the Catholic church in America seems to be today just as devoted to the American republic as the French Catholics professed to be to the republic of 1848. ”

“ The movement was so irresistible that the pope, Pius IX, was compelled to make terms with the leaders. It was agreed that, henceforth, the country, instead of being governed exclusively by the clergy, as heretofore, should be governed by two chambers, the members to one of which should be appointed by the pope; the members to the other should be elected by the people. The two chambers, however, as was to be expected, could not get along together. The priests were not used to obeying, they were used to commanding. They obeyed only God. ”

“ It gives me real pleasure to admit also that there are sincere, brave, noble and pure minded men and women in all the churches. What I am trying to do is to prove, by citing history, that a supernatural order and a merely human state can not pull together. ”

“ A short time after, this same religious colony is in possession of the finest establishments in the town, with long bank accounts to their credit. Wealth flows into their coffers from rich widows and dying millionaires. ”

“ He also intimates that to refuse to vote for a Catholic on account of his religion would be bigotry! The Lutheran, Baptist and Presbyterian bodies have, if I am not mistaken, officially protested against the president's pronouncement. These Protestant churches declare that it is not fair to call them bigots for objecting to a Catholic for president. ”