Show I AN AMERICAS CATHOLIC The force of American character was strikingly displayed in the matter of the contest between the Roman Catholic church nnd the Knights of Labor and at the same time independence and Americanism canistn at the head of the Roman church a in this country were asserted in a manner which sho aid dispel the fears of those peo pie who arc all the tmo prating about I the danger of the civil government f athn into the hands of the Catholics and being guided and directcl from Rome Two or tiree years agoit will be rcmem a 7 41 erecl Cardinal TASCHEREAU head of the hierarachy Canada proclaimed against the Knights whose organization he classed among the secret societies against which the general inhibition of the holy see runs The cardinal had taken much time to con sider the matter and had consulted the Pope in the case before he issued the following lowing mandate which was read in all the churches of Lower Canada Having learned that the delegates of a society known as the Knights of Labor have tried to reemit re-emit members In parts of this province we deem it our duty brethren to put you on your guard against it andmark we do not speak in our own name but in that of the holy see whose advice we have sought In October 18S5 we sent to Rome an authentic copy of the rules and consti tutions of that society The congregation of the holy office having examined them with all due precaution sent us this answer which should boor bo-or you an absolute rule of conduct and keep you away from the society of the Knights of Labor On account of the principles organization and statutes of the Knights of Labor that association associa-tion is to be relegated among those which are prohibited by the holy see Had it not been for bigbrained farsighted far-sighted American Catholics that order would have stood for this entire continent and the Knights would have gone down the victim of tne church Cardinal GIBBONS took the matter in hand and called to Baltimore Bal-timore a commission of archbishops who decided that GIBBoNs should go to Rome lie went and represented to the Pope that an organization the head of which had been called into conference by the President Presi-dent of the United States cannot be deemed hostile to authority He also said that workingmen not only had the right to protect pro-tect themselves but there was an obligation obliga-tion resting on the entire people to assist them in finding a remedy for the dangers with which civilization and social order are menaced by avarice oppression and corruption It was a manly presentation and appeal which the cardinal made and it was American jhe pleaded for workingmen working-men and showed that the danger was not from their banding together for protection but from the combination of employ ers against the poor laborers The result suit was something almost unprecedented The Pope revoked the order which had been issued on the representation of the Canadian primate and the Knights of Labor organization which had been threat ned with destruction was saved We refer to this matter merely as an incident ident showing that there is not much danger dan-ger of the Romish church dominating this country as so many members of other churches seem to fear The being a Catholic does not destroy the American inn in-n Americanborn citizen Cardinal Gin BOSS is a churchman but he is none the less an American loyal patriotic and devoted to the welfare and greatness great-ness of the republic He is imbued bued with the American spirit which manifests itself in measures for the educa tion and improvement of the condition of the masses in the strengthening of the na tion by making better citizens of the people peo-ple and in the recognition of the principle that the state 3 supreme in matters of civil government With such men as Cardinal GiBBOXb at thc head and they will be like him in senti went if they are Americans the republic will not be in danger of domination ination by Rome if the Catholics shall number num-ber onehalf instead of onesixth of the nation na-tion as at present |