ut in Ireland, Scotland and
Holland, Protestants are worshiping in some of the churches erected by the
piety of our Catholic forefathers and wrested from them by violence.

Observe, also, that in all these instances the persecutions were inflicted
by the express authority of the _founders_ and _heads_ of Protestant
churches.

The Puritans of New England inflicted summary vengeance on those who were
rash enough to differ from them in religion. In Massachusetts "the Quakers
were whipped, branded, had their ears cut off, their tongues bored with
hot irons, and were banished upon pain of death in case of their return
and actually executed upon the gallows."(319)

Who is ignorant of the number of innocent creatures that suffered death in
the same State on the ridiculous charge of witchcraft toward the end of
the seventeenth century? Well does it become their descendants to taunt
Catholics with the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition!

In the religious riots of Philadelphia in 1844 Catholic churches were
burned down in the name of Protestantism and private houses were sacked. I
was informed by an eyewitness that owners of houses were obliged to mark
on their doors these words, _This house belongs to Protestants_, in order
to save their property from the infuriated incendiaries. For these acts I
never heard of any retaliation on the part of Catholics, and I hope I
never shall, no matter how formidable may be their numbers and tempting
the provocation.

In spite of the boasted toleration of our times, it cannot be denied that
there still lurks a spirit of inquisition, which does not, indeed, vent
itself in physical violence, but is, nevertheless, most galling to its
victims. How many persons have I met in the course of my ministry who were
ostracized by their kindred and friends, driven from home, nay,
disinherited by their parents, for the sole crime of carrying out the very
shibboleth of Protestantism--the exercise of private judgment, and of
obeying the dictates of their conscience, by embracing the Catholic faith!
Is not this the most exquisite torture that can be inflicted on refined
natures?

Ah! there is an imprisonment more lonely than the dungeon; it is the
imprisonment of our most cherished thoughts in our own hearts, without a
member of the family with whom to communicate.

There is a sword more keen than the executioner's knife; it is the
envenomed tongue of obloquy and abuse. There is a banishment less
toler