A FRAUD EXPOSED.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 187, 27 October 1876, Page 14

A FRAUD EXPOSED.

The fraud exposed by the following letter is of so mucli importance, ! and so discreditable, that we give the communication a prominent place in our columns. SlR > — Permit me to draw yonv attention to a most contemptible trick in journalism, of which I find the ' Australasian ' has been guilty. It has kept by it for a quarter of a century an article from an I obscure journal, which was published at a far end of the earth, and dressed it up as the current literature of the day, in an editorial column to impress on its readers the arrogance and tyranny of the Church of Rome. The article in question was written by an ill-informed Catholic, in fact, a born Protestant. : The worthlessness of it was so manifest to the * Australasian/ | that it needs must drag in the Archbishop of St. Louis as the author. , His Lordship being so far away, lie was considered safe game. His , Lordship was thus calumniated. — ' Australasian,' 4th March, 1876. | " One of these episcopal dignitaries who wears his heart upon his sleeve for critical daws to peek at, is the Eoman Catholic Archbishop of St. Louis, who controls and inspires a newspaper called the ' Shepherd of the Valley,' which speaks out with delightful freedom. These I are ipsisslma. verba of the gentle 'Shepherd of the Valley': — 'The Church indeed, tolerates heretics here, when she is under restraint, t but she hales them mortally, and employs her forces to procure their annihilation. As soon as the Catholics are here in possession of a considerable majority, as certainly they will be some day, although the moment may delay its coming, their religious liberty will have come to an end in the United States. Our enemies say so, aud we | agree with them. Our enemies know that we do not pretend to be better than our Church, and as to what concerns that Church, its history is open to the eyes of all. They know, then, how it acted , with heretics in the middle ages, aud how it acts with them now, ■ whenever it has the requisite power. In the meanwhile, the lovers of freedom throughout the whole of Christendom ought to be very much obliged to the Eoman Catholic Archbishop of St. Louis for assuring them through his 'Shepherd of the Valley' that just as the Church acted with heretics in the middle ages, so she will act with them now whenever she has the requisite powiT.' " I brought the above under the notice of my honored friend, and his ! reply is below :—: — St. Louis, Mo., U.S., 12th July, 1876. My dear Sir,— ... As reg.ards the extract from the c Shepherd of the Valley/ the following facts will, I trust, satisfy ! any honest mau that the Catholich Church, or any of her bishops or priests, cannot be held accountable for its contents. 1 st. It was not written by any bishop or priest, or by anyone officially authorised by such to express the mind of the Church on the subject. j 2nd. A paragraph similar (though, 1 believe, not the very same) was published by an ardent young convert in this city, about 25 years ago, in the paper named, which was not then, and never was, ! an official.organ of the archbishop, and simply reflected the opinions I of its young editor. ' 3rd. The sentiments in the extracts you sent me have been repeatedly disclaimed by members of the hierarchy of the United j States, and the paper named has been dead for nearly 20 years. i I was not even a priest when the extract was first printed, so | you need not fear that I hold sucli opinions. Wishing you every j blessing, and with kind regards to your family, I remain, Yours very faithfully in Christ, (Signed) fP- J. Rtan, C.B. To John O'Carrolan, Esq., Ovens. No comment on the gross fraud so happily exposed through the agency of Mr. Carolan is necessary. The exposure tells its own tale, and that is one of unscrupulous bigotry and perfidious malignity. We most earnestly deaire that we could spread a report of I this scandalous business wherever the ' Australasian ' circulates ; for we are persuaded that no honest Protestant, much less any genuine Catholic, under whose notice it had come, could ever after- • wards entertain the slightest respect for a journal that had been j convicted of such conduct. — ' Advocate'