in their seats, and Stephen suspected for a
moment that he was being treated with an air of disdain. He shifted his
point of view suddenly.

"To say that the Catholic people of this country are dissatisfied with
the conduct of the war is begging the question, and brands them with a
stigma which they wholly undeserve. We admit for the sake of argument
that our early cousins may have proved themselves somewhat intolerant,
and, perhaps, rendered conditions of life disagreeable to us; still gold
must be tried by the fire. We grow vigorous under storms of persecution.
And while it is true that the American Congress of 1774 protested
against the legislature of Great Britain establishing a 'religion
fraught with impious tenets,' yet it is equally true that the Congress
of 1776 resolved to protect 'all foreigners in the free exercise of
their respective religions.' The past has been buried by this; the
future lies before us.

"We do not grieve on that account. Rather are we proud of our adhesion
to the cause of independence, and you, yourselves, are no less proud of
your own efforts in this regard. The Commander-in-chief is warmly
disposed towards the Catholic element, not alone in the army, but among
the citizenry. His own bodyguard is composed of men, more than thirty of
whom bear Catholic names. One of his aides, Colonel Fitzgerald, is a
Catholic. His Captain and Commander of the Navy, nominated and appointed
by himself, is a Catholic, John Barry. We are appreciative of the
services of our General, and we are ready to render ourselves worthy of
the esteem and the respect in which we are held by him, as was evidenced
by his abolition of the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day, so detestable to
us.

"I repeat this to impress upon you that this is not the time for
religious controversy or for nicely calculating the scope and the extent
of our service. The temper of the times requires unity of action and
definition of purpose. Our people respect us. Whatever restrictions were
lodged against us in the past have been broken down now before the
battering ram of public opinion. The guarantees for the future given by
our own brethren, that we shall be permitted the free and unrestricted
exercise of our religious observances as well as the right to worship
God according to the dictates of our own consciences, are of more
endurable texture than the flimsy promises of the enemy. Our noble and
generous ally, France, already has procured fo