M Vrtsbgterian 'anner. I'iTTSIBIGII,IIItBRDAT, DECEMBER E, 1861. tartan catholitism.—our leading article, This week, taken mainly from a paper read at the'Taie meeting of the .World's Evan k Alliance, trill be found extremely , , Tt IRtereeting on this subject.. It is long, but in, , . tea this account, the more valuable. luotations are richly instructive. tagl,sklanguage tiberia.—Un !der this heading we give, on our fourth page, , a• *very interesting article, from the lonization Hered, The-Christian phi la'rrthrOpiSt' especially' if the intgo-Saxon blood strongly courses his veins, must read i; ; 0 with delight. tie* Yeas—The first of Xanuary is near at, hand. A renewal of subscription to the Banne is r ia,ono . of theimportant pressing . , . ,51.nties., Also the making of a • holiday prdtent of the Banner to.y,our xnarrie,d'son, or daughber,.or to yonefriered, and espe . .e'rallY to your poor neighbor. '.ll , e'W-'stibiciiirers are solicited. TILE NEWS iFRO/1- ENGLIND, We 'give' nicii4 than usual space, this to %reign intelligoece. We do not ward it as perfectly reliable, or, at least, , up . As expressmg the purposes of the Gov o ernment. We, would await tbe -opening of decal:Lents, by `a 'messenger just arrived, before' spooking too PoSitively. But there - is evidently much ill feeling toward, us in England. There are men there who would seize on any pretext to get up a war against in this day of our trouble. Alliey bate Democracy, whether it be pure, op in the form of a Republic. They know that it is the aristocratic sentiment of the •Srluth,•which.his brought on the rebellion. For: this •sentiment they have a fellow i'epling,, and they think that now is ' the Aime-to,give the death blow to free govern- Ment-4hat is, to government by the peo :pie." And especially as they feel confident of the aid of France, they wish now to _, " • There are, however, many reasons adapted to:deter England for seeking the quarrel. hey'wanthread from us every year, and this year, in large quantities. We are by Tar the best customer they have for their tinu • mafaetures. Our navy, and especially , the. pr! . .vateters we could fit out, would 4 urn.their mercantile.xnarine. No nation Aiiluld injure them as we could: And they , can hardly confide in LOUIS NAPOLEON. He is' exceedingly cunninv and somewhat Youicrupulous. He has Waterloo still to aVinge, and naval supremacy to attain; and a war between Great Britain' and the llnited States would be his opportunity most emphatically. Ile may flatter the English till he gets them thorotighly embroiled with us, and then find occasion against 'them. Russia also has a longing eye toward Turkey and India, and would, re joice to find England's full energies occu pied in another. quarter. Then there is the long line of border, on our North, stretching from Nova Scotia, by New Brunswick, the Canadas, and Westward to the.Pacifte, every mile of which is assail able by our troops. England, is likely to think, twice, before she passes the irrevock: ble decree of war. Sill!, it becomes us to look calmly and Wisely into the, case. If we really have done:wrong in capturing MASON and Sra- DELL, let us make the reparation. It is hard.to do right under a threat. But. let us= bear it. Justice becomes us. If, how airer we have done no wrong, let us nerve .eurserv'es for the conflict. There is no use in yielding, under a show of force, to an unjust demand. If we begin to yield, we knoW not where the end may be. Providence evidently has some great pur pose to accomplish.. The American. Revo lution did 'much for freedom and religion. So also did the .French Revolution. And the Revolution in Italy is doing much. But thdre to st ll an immense amount of oppres stop, in the world. And God hates oppres- Oen. It may be-that he intends to use ha inustirring up the peoples in Europe to wierfain 'their 'appraisers, as well as to ad- Mmie humatt'rights at home. To him -let ithe,app eel be toade. ,; Christians *ill, under the present aspect ofi affairs; go %15 a throne of grace with greater, ardor, cm& under a deeper sense of need. May the LOrd. execute his purposes in nterey. The lasE I Verdino. Of 411 e, opinion of the Law-Offiaercrof the British"Orown, is thus given: tir f‘ It is, we qtrde,rstand, the opinion or these jurists that the ; right of the Federal Government, actin:kg by its officers,. was con- Me#,p ,t 714 visiting and the searching of the inagpacket; that if any men or things believed to be contraband of .war had been found, op, board,of , her, the proper scourse was to take her into port and submit the question. Court, which , would hear evidence : auff-argument on both sides, :rid ,Would decide the caee according to. pre cedent and authorities." • this is the real state of the ease, there bilthen not much' to guarfel about. The right' of search is adiiitied,- and also the right to capture — the vessel, with all on boaid, and to send all into port to be adju dicated,;by our own forms 'of law. Cap tain ,WILKEB was ••tod complaisant The Secretary of the Navy has already intimated that he should haye sent,in the vessel,with , fraiglit and ,15 . apiogers. , Then our Courts would have had ...'ship, cargo, and contra handl passengers, all to judge. Now only tlia , i,littier; and but . f:iiir of them, are ba c tnrzuw .. t . volelit b , Cannot the =matter be the more etudji settled ? Surely, it can, if justice and the sttirit'ofpOace are to Preside. rkrwd.liris d'ri'ven intet a 'War with It Eng. failleire ,iitititTicisecdte it wilb, vigor. .We We / to ‘ 37.; , ,: pyt r=,. ,l, , = 1., Arpin f robably A f ,,tu t mr 9 ti g to ,combat for victory against Augland and "the- South united, lte_againat4be_South. alone. We wcI NA? , Tt i :l• 3 9#Mei iffiler , 421 °Te7i 1 P71 1 .9 , M 1 .9 niora tra nut;wc ,have, hrimanly speaking— the 'pewer - to,Oonquetuboth, and would Ad didssib4urifelvils to thi l 'task.' We "would 1 11,1, .. ** a -unit V. t nee I liff" .1 • I , ~, u fight wet gwe load repel a wanton Te.ll .' , il. '4 e ;Objee . atlßT ll l94"P a .assv i t ky England,in suokoir cliVihttmetea.i,, ':`; 01 r 1 114 . 1'1 i vim. . i r ''el/14704i derc' r - &■ 'llf • Endan tint ,? If . iin)7. erwill. ©, 4., e, or .peace uv aont . 4 wit,. ~, 'r , 0 e x iii • :Ii • , J ..8 J ' *"it * ----* 1 ' ' er3 nave r- '.,' 1." 'itig ' M* " ". :° ',TIT' eCp 'l4O iim • eatuoßcenio . -k,` ".13ill , a. maw , . Y. INFLUENCE OF CIVIL AND RHLIDIOUS.,II4- ERTY ON ROMAN CATHOLICISM IN' THE UNITED STATES-OF AMERICA. This is the title of a paper read at the Conference of the Evangelical Alliance at Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 7th, 186], by Rev. ROBERT BAIRD, D. D., of the United States. The paper is published, in the Christian World, of December, and is an ably written and instructive document Dr. BAIRD is one of our most industrious men. He has devoted many years to the Evangel ical cause, has travelled much • both in America and Europe, is a close observer of men and things, and is qualified for his work by the possession of a clear head, a warm heart, liberal lamitiments,,and en lightened and deep,piety. The article is quite too long for our col urns, or we mould love to present it to our readers. We shall try, 'by extracts and condensation, to give them some of its most important facts. Dr. BAIRD says : "On the 23d day of June, 1757, was fought the battle of, Plassy. The hero of that battle, was ROBERT CLIVE.. The vic tory which the troops of ,the East India Company there achieved over Surajah Dow lah-laid the foundation off, what became, in less than a century;, the vast British Em pire in India, with 175,000,000 inhabitants. The battle referred to terminated forever the hopes of both Mohammedanism and Romanism for supremacy in India, and se cured that great country as a domain for Protestant Christianity. " Two years later, (on the 12th day of September, 1759,) the battle of the Heights of Abraham, of which General WOLFE was both the hero and the victim,, destroyed forever the ascendency of Rome and the Jesuits in North America, by transferring to Great Britain the vast possessions of France in tbeCanadas, and the great coun try which stretches far Southward, between the Allegheny and the Rocky Mountains. Thus in two short years the French Crown lost a prospective empire in the plains of India, and an actual one in the valleys of the' gt. Lawrence and Mississippi, which • combined exceeded twice the extent of Eu , rope. This was a great loss for the son of ST. L ;it was a greater one for the pre tended successor of ST. PETER the Fisher man. " But this was not all. France ceded to Spain the great territory of Louisiana at the mouth of the Mississippi, by-the-same treaty (that of Paris 17-63,). by which -she ceded the Canadas and the Valley of the Mississippi to England—thus giiing to that Roman Ca.tholic..lKingdom complete do minion on the North coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In the year 1800 France recov ered Louisiana, but only to sell it in 1803 to the United States.. In 1821 Spain sold Florida to the United States; and in 1845 Texas, after having been torn from Mexico, was annexed to the United States; and thus the domain of, Protestantism was still furtherenlarged. ln 1848, New. .Mexico and the country, between it:arid:the Pacific Ocean, including Upper California, was added to the United -States. -These- polit ical changes contributed immensely .to en large the, territorial-extent of- Protestant ism in ,North America.- With the excep- - tion of the :Russian possessions in the North-western corner,. and the Republic of Mexico, and the States of ( `en tral America in the South, Protestantism has gained terri torial.possession of the whole of that vast continent. "Equally great has been the numerical in crease of Protestantism in North America. In the British possessions, where, in the days of the French dominion, Romanism had complete and undisputed' possession of the gronnd, the Protestants are nearly three times as numerous as the Roman Catholics. In the United States, seven eighths of whose area once belonged to France and Spain, and by consequence, were under the spiritual sway of the ,Bishop or Rome, the most ardent partizan of the Pope will hardly maintain that one person in seven is a ,Rorna.ri Catholic. It would, probably, be nearer the truth to say that not more than the one-eighth part of the population (now more than •31,000,000) is to be reckoned among the adherents of the Roman Catholic Church. "The discoveries of JOHN and SEBASTIAN CABOT gave to England her claim to a large portion of the Atlantic coast of North America; and when she , successfully com menced the colonization of that coast in 1607, the French were in possession of the Northern part of it, and the Spanish' the Southern. Several of the charters which the English monarchs gave to the colonies planted under their auspices, affected to give a title to the country Westward as far as the " South Sea," or what we call the Pacific Ocean. The colonies, even at the outset, with one temporary exception, were Protestaut—inchiding those from Holland and Sweden. But when these colonies be-. gan to push their way across the Allegheny Mountains into the great central valley, they found it sfudded over with French villages and Jesuit missionaries. Du Quesne, (now Pittsburgh) Detroit, Vincennes, St. Louis, Kaskaskia, Natchez, New Orleans, Mobile, were Roman Catholic settlementsas much so as Montreal and Quebec in Canada, and St. Augustine in Florida. But how great the change! In Louisiana, where thell,o man Catholic Church had great advantages, and• where there. was not one Protestant Church in 1803,-Protestantism has now a vast influence, if not a complete ascendency. Out of the original provinft or territory that bore that name, and was :acquired from France during the: Consulate ef NA POLEON 1., there,have been formed no less than five it not six large States,_ in all ex cept one of whiaTProtestantism is the re ligion of the majority or:the, people. In Florida, -Texas and California, Romanism is now an insignificant element. In only one city or town of Pfeiportance, (that of. New Orleans.) in all the great vallerof the . Mississippi does the Roman Catholic Church have a majority of the people, even in those 'in which it - was the dominant connu-, nion at the - comineocement of this century.: In Maryland, which was, in an important sense, a Roman Catholic colony, the Ro man Catholic ascendency lasted but a little, while. Whatever mayoha,ve been thecause —whether it is to be sought in the political movements .which severed the French and Spanish colonies spoken of, from their, re spective mother-countries, or in-the superi or qualifications of the: Teutonic or Saxon race over the Latin for colonization, or -the divine, energy of the. Gospel, -which Prot estantism carries with it, or all these com bined—certain it is, that Romanism has no where held its own when brought into COB tact with Protestantism in that part of . North America which'now constitutes Brit ish America and United Stite." thes , The paper then proceeds to state, that, the , Constitution and laws or the United States guarantee every rational right, and 'entire liberty equally to Protestant and Roman Catholic, to Jew and every other ioaiiit - li'then . notes as one effect of thisperfect religious liherty,upon Alm minds of Roman Catholics, that they are induced to affirm, then. ADMIaATION 4:4' the great and,distinc live characteristic of our i inOtittitions. other .e(eot is,' that it leads them 'to enter tain ,very, *root, views Tot', the ,uoreasona, Oennsa t 'Wickedness , oft PERSEcuirnost for tinusakejof Ithirdteffeet ,that”actherents.ofoerßonian'Catholferi3lig tonofrinm wleatim*colluittiytifeyitir grate, altiost invariably, attach sthemselves to that POLITICAL party which.is considered most favorable to the largest political lib erty. The influence of civil and religious liberty upon Romanists is seen also in the desire which speedily springs up, after their arrival in the States, to have their children EDUCATED • and in their patron izing of the NEWSPAPER press; and in their growing dislike to the CONFESSIONAL; and in their diminished reverence for the MASS and ABSOLUTION; and in their toler ance of MIXED marriages; and in the wan ing power of the Hums over the people. All these points are elucidated by Dr. BAIRD, and proved in a manner most con vincing. We can well conceive, as we were informed by a. gentleman who was present, that the reading of the paper was a rich treat to the Geneva conference; and even to us, to whom the facts are not new, for we had had occnlar demonstration of the truthfulness of what is said, their con templation, as presented, affords new pleas ure. God is working for the conversion of Romarti.sts, as well as for the downfidl of Romanism. Under the light of education, and the- freedom of inquiry, and the lib erty of choice and conduct, in our happy land, ten Romanists embrace Protestantism for every Protestant who' leaves ,an Evan geli,cal Church to unite with the Papacy. Dr. BAIRD'S paper concludes with the following comprehensive and cheering state merits: The sum of what may be, said on this subject is this: That although the. Roman Catholic Church in the United States has changed none of her dogmas, (.which,.in deed, could not be expected from a' Church that professes to be infallible,) the Roman Catholic religion wears some aspects that are in some measure peculiar to that country. We will specify a few. She is compelled to be, or profess to be, the friend of tolera tion, and even of Religious Liberty. Some Of her organs and, advocate.s have been even clamorous, to, an extent that is suspicious, on the sulkjP.ct. She has been forced to be the friend of popular,•even of Republican, institutions, and some of her priests have even had the qourage, to mention that Rome has alwaysand everywhere been the advocate of both civil and political liberty, and that she has ever professed friendship for popular education, (though with some reserve,) and for the freedom of the press l In all these respects the language of some of her friends forms a striking'contrast with the utterances of the Bishops of France, Aus tria, Italy, Mexico and South America. On these subjects her intelligent laymen are far 'in advance of the clergy, and yet there are few of the latter who do not in reality feel the influence of the political and religious atmosphere by which they are surrounded. . "'Still more : • the Roman Catholics in the United States are daily, and in many ways, affected by influences Silent as the dews Of heaven, but still powerful. Their children go with Protestant children to the same Public Schools in many places; in many cases their children attend the Pro testant Sabbath Schools; their puns, men are to be found in the same workshop or. factory with Protestant young men; •and share in discussions which often have a most - decided influence on the peculiarities of their Church.; their. young men often be= lobg to the same, fire companies, the same military companies, often attend the saline Temperance Societies and political meet ings with Protestant youngmen. The pres ,ent war is having a wondertideffeat in bring-' ing them into contact with Protestant sol diers, Protestant . chaplains,. Protestant prayer-meetings in the. camp, Protestant tracts and the New Testament. "In many respects - Romanism with us wears a considerable resemblance to Pro testantism. Its more repugnant features are concealed as much as possible. The infamous things in the past history of the Roman Catholic Church are plausibly ex plained away or denied. It is felt that, the less said about the' atrocities of' Rome- in ages gone by—such as the persecutions or the Albigenses and Waldenses, the Hugue nots in France, the Protestants in Flan ders, in Hungary, in Poland, and the events in England in the reign of BiboDY MARY, or even about the sale •of indul gences, the better. No priest with us would dare to boast of infamous conduct among the female members, of his parish, as is reported of some in Ireland. in Cuba, in Mexico, in South America. If a priest becomes openly a drunkard, or a bad man in any way,'he is not ''allowed to remain long in 'the same parish. He is' sent to some distant part of the country, or to Canada, or back to• Europe, if net, deposed. ";As in other Protestant' countries, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is a far better Church—exerts a far better influence on the community—than it does in countries where it has the ground ; to itself.