The New Hampshire Gazette

From the Philadelphia Catholic Sentinel.

PITTSBURG.

We have heretofore abstained from noticing a most wanton and unjustifiable calumny circulated or insinuated against the respectable and pious pastor of St. Paul's Church, Pittsburg, because we hoped that the public tribunals would not fail to deal out even handed justice on the occasion.— In this hope we have no reason to distrust. but we wish to direct attention to the manner in which the court of justice is sought to be impeded by party excitement, and the agrieved party terrified from prosecuting the actions which have been very properly instituted. The editor of the Christian Herald—an exceedingly dull and extremely bigoted presbyterian paper of Pittsburg—has been cited before the District Court of that place for libel, and the religious editor— Rev. Thomas D. Bard—has devoted a column and a half of his last number to rebuke this unwarrantable interference with the freedom of the press. He tells us—for purpose which need not be mentioned—that the Inquisition is in Pittsburg, and introduces this subject to his readers in the following paragraph, which may excite some suspicion that this gentleman is no wise anxious to let the simple question of libel or no libel occupy the public mind.

"Inquisition in Pittsburg.—This holy tribunal has opened its business, whether in an organized form or otherwise we are not prepared to say—but during the last week several of the liege subjects of his holiness the pope, have been ranging the city, as if they were the very familiars of holy office, in quiring what our citizens have said or what they have heard respecting certain reports that have been in circulation ; and we have the authority of a respectable citizen for saying that one of the inquisitors expressed, by his countenance, all the rage and malignity which history connects with officers of that institution, in former times ; and in proper consistency with the character of one of the attendants on the holy office."

The Pittsburg Times, some weeks since held out the following threat, which we find opportunely copied by the Rev. Editor of the Herald

"Several prosecutions for slander, and one for libel have been instituted against those who have spoken or published matters relating to the dissolution of the St. Clair Nunnery. If measures of that kind proceed any further, it will be necessary to call a public meeting, to appoint a committee, and investigate the whole affair thoroughly and legitimately ; particularly to ascertain if any steps have been taken to gag the press and arrest public scrutiny."

We annex another sample of the spirit by which the editor of the Christian Herald is actuated in making selections for his paper:

"Yet still do we slumber! it may be the sleep of death. It will be if we do not arouse. Already in the future we see forests of bristling bayonets upon a thousand valleys in the hands of foreign incendiary renegadoes. Our altars are demolished—our churches are in ruins—our dwellings are in flames—our hoary-headed sires are rotting in their gore—our children are butchered before our eyes. This crisis is approaching! Is no patriotism left in the American bosom? Shall the scornful defiance which is so constantly and proudly hurled at us, be unmet? We have been haughtily told by a popish prelate that "we are fifty years too late!" Is it so? Can we not yet stay. the out-breaking volcano? If we would, it must be done now—or NEVER!"—Zion's Herald.

We presume that comment is unnecessary. The following plain and temperate exposition of facts which we find in one of the Pittsburg papers, forms an agreeable contrast with the "Now or NEVER" spirit of those who to the crime of base insinuation, scruple not to superadd the enormity of exciting the worst passions of the mob:—

To the just Protestants of Pittsburg.

Much to be deplored is the spirit of the times, which renders it necessary for me, after a period of almost nine years spent with approbation and an unblemished name in the Catholic ministry of this state, and possessing the utmost confidence of a large and respectable congregation in this city, thus publicly to appeal to you in self-vindication against the slanderous tongues, which in my recent absence on account of ill health, so wantonly and basely assailed my character. Were those slanders confined to the region of Pittsburg, and those places where I am known, there would be little to apprehend from the consequences, the tale of falsehood would carry with it its own confutation, and I would be disposed to regard them with silent contempt. But assured of the wide and rapid spread of those infamous rumors, and the additional coloring they assume, as they are repeatedly told, or pass through the bigoted pages of the sectarian press, I deem it a duty I owe not only to myself, but to justice and truth, to put to silence and shame the maligners of my reputation, by a simple statement of the following facts:

1. It is a fact, that for the last two years and upwards, I have had no connection whatever with the convent of Mount Alvernia near Alleghany town, except a rare visitor, and even so by special request or invitation. With the spiritual or temporal direction of that community or their school I have had nothing to do. Neither am I concerned in their late removal. They had, and have, to this day, for their chaplain an aged priest, the Rev. F. Van De Weyer, whose age and acknowledged virtue, elevate him above suspicion, even in the jaundiced eye of Anti-Catholic defamers.

2, It is a fact that the recent removal of the nuns originated, not from any apprehension of exposure from latent vice—in this they challenge the most rigid scrutiny—but simply from a family dispute about authority, which they refuse to recognise in the person of the provincial, the Rt. Rev. Prelate of Detroit, who in consequence of that refusal, and as legitimate proprietor of the establishment, appointed agents for its management. Of the justice or propriety of their removal, it is not my province, and therefore, I forbear to speak. But this I say. that to the piety and virtue of these females. however they may be mistaken on a point of jurisdiction, there are many unsuspected and irreproachable witnesses.

3. It is a fact known to more than 2000 persons present on the occasion, that on Trinity Sunday, the 4th of June, I announced from the pulpit in St. Paul's church—my intention to retire on a tour of health for a few weeks, during which the Rev. Mr. Carrel had agreed would officiate in my place. Many Protestants and some Presbyterian ministers were present at the time in the church, who can testify to the fact. My departure, therefore, could not be termed an 'elopement,' nor could it be a secret' or 'mystery' to any one in Pittsburg, who was curious to know, save to those 'dreamers of dreams, those bigoted slanderers, who to accomplish their end, do not scruple to blacken the fairest characters by the most wantonly wicked fabrications. It is well known that since the death of the Rev. Mr. Maguire, I have been alone to sustain the pastoral charge of one of the largest congregations perhaps in the United States. And to one who knows any thing of the duties of a Catholic pastor, it cannot appear strange, if temporary respite should be deemed expedient. To me it was necessary. How unjust then, how barbarous and wicked to seize on the circumstance of my absence, and publish it to the world, as the result of aggravated infamy about to be exposed! Since my elevation, unworthy as I may be, to the Catholic ministry of this State, my flock as well as my honor has been dear to me as life, and many are the pledges in my possession of affection reciprocated. Let then the humane, let honorable men judge of the injury done me. Judge of my feeling, when, in Philadelphia after an absence of five weeks, I was informed for the first time, of all the wicked things malice had been doing to ruin my character and ministry, and snap those sacred ties, which religion had connected between me and a beloved congregation. That congregation, indignant at this outrage on their pastor's reputation, assembled by their representatives to express their abhorence of the imputation, and without waiting my return or consent, immediately took judicial proceedings against some of the principal offenders. To say I despise this malicious attempt would be insincere. I confess it has given me the deepest pain, and great was the injury it was calculated to inflict. Yet am I disinclined to litigation. At any time I would rather suffer loss, than seek redress by such a course. But the measures already taken could not by me, in justice and propriety, be rescinded, unless a christian disposition were manifested, and reparation corresponding to the injury made by those implicated in the offence. Although by the late events at Boston, it has been more than obscurely proved how far Anti-Catholic prejudice can pervert the courts of law and turn the scales of justice, especially when priests or nuns were concerned, yet we trust there is no Boston or Massachusetts here. It is hoped that in the law and its guardians in Pennsylvania, which by the wise and humane policy of Penn, became one of the first asylums of religious freedom this side the Atlantic, sufficient stability and integrity will be found to secure to Catholics, and even priests, as well as to others, the impartial distribution of justice and equal rights. In this confident hope, I look for the vindication of my injured character, more precious to me than life, to the independent verdict of that law and an impartial jury of my Pittsburg fellow citizens.

And therefore do I, respecting this unchristian attempt, without evidence and pretext, to vilify a community of pious women, who had associated themselves together for the promotion of virtue and education, and to couple my name, though wholly disconnected with them, as participating in the alleged infamy, I appeal to the just and honorable Protestants of Pittsburg and the country. I appeal to the editors of Pittsburg and elsewhere, who have given circulation to these base slanders, and I ask it as an act of justice, that they publish this contradiction in their respective papers, and thus evince their disposition to repair the evil they have done, by arresting falsehood in its course.

JNO. O'REILLY.

Pastor of St. Paul's.

Pittsburg, Aug. 4, 1835.

We are glad to be able to furnish the following authentic declaration of the circumstance which has been so unbecomingly made the pretext for circulating vile slander and keeping alive the feverish excitement produced at Pittsburg by the last session of the General Assembly :

ST. CLARE'S NUNNERY, NEAR PITTSBURG.

TO THE PUBLIC.

"The removal of the members of the Institute of St. Clare, from their late residence commonly styled the "Pittsburg Nunnery," having given occasion to some malignant reports, prejudicial to the character of these ladies, I deem it right to state the real cause of this measure. Some time since, a member of the Institute, who had been engaged in teaching a school in Michigan, came to the Institution, and was dismissed the same evening, as she was not furnished with the usual document, certifying the will of the Superior. The Bishop of Detroit, who is invested with the authority of Provincial of the Order, soon after sent an order for her admission ; but the lady in charge of the Institution declined to obey, alleging that it was not compatible with the rules of the Institute. She was subsequently introduced into the community against the will of the members who have continued to declaim against the measure. This resistance to authority was, I am convinced, the sole cause of the ecclesiastical censures which the prelate inflicted. I am conscientiously persuaded that no ground whatever exists for any charge of immorality, and that no measure was adopted by the Bishop on any such ground. As to the proceedings by which they have been ejected from their residence, I am unable to say how far they were authorized by him. In regard to the attempt made to connect a fact of a disgraceful nature with the community, and to involve, likewise, the character of the respectable pastor of St. Paul's, I presume the public are now fully aware that it is entirely destitute of foundation. The evidence which is ready to be laid before the public tribunals, when the suits for slander, which are now pending, shall be tried, will remove every shadow of doubt on this subject."

Francis Patrick Kendrick, Bishop, &c.

Pittsburg, August 1st, 1835.