children have been presented at its sacred font; year by year our sympathies have strengthened, and our trust has been confirmed in its rites and

promises; and I can suppose no circumstance to which its principles and its ceremonials may not to me be all sufficient. But I am not, cannot be blinded to the many excellencies of the Catholic Church; and especially as its Institutions regard America; they are, beyond comparison, the best adapted to curb the passions of a young, a fierce, impetuous, intelligent, generous and high minded Democracy ;*-to protect the Religion of a Republic from annihilation; to subdue the struggling and discordant interests of an immense Territory into harmony, and to enchain the sympathies of a whole people in one magnificent scheme of morality and devotion. “ They shall be one fold under one Shepherd."

The Institutions besides, of this Church, are themselves based upon that very equality which their discipline so efficiently modifies. There is one common law, and one alone, for all-in the

* And of that Democracy I am the proud adherent, the faithful advocate, and the devoted admirer.

words of the Old Testament, so admirably adapted to the description of the Catholic Faith ;-"Here the wicked cease from troubling; and here the weary are at rest; here the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master." These words cannot be said to the same extent of any other Church whatever.

The celibacy of the Catholic Clergy (a matter about which all this busy gossiping world concerns itself infinitely more than they do themselves,) is another great advantage in the wilds of this great continent, and in her populous cities. No domestic or personal anxieties distract or lead them from their flock; "Dès qu'un Prêtre se marie, il n'est plus Prêtre ;"* observed the Marquis de Talaru, to me one day, upon the Mississippi. And I frequently experienced the truth of the remark.

I yield this tribute of just and high commendation to the professors of this Faith with pleasure mingled with pain; for I owe them much excuse;— I blush for my former weak and contemptible

* As soon as a Priest marries, he is no longer a Priest.

intolerance. I was reared in the vulgar prejudices of ignorance against Catholic teachers and their disciples :-in England, I knew them not;—sought them not;-loved them not; but among the many benefits derived from my visit to America, has been that one of exceeding value, the acquaintance and friendship of the excellent and enlightened Bishop of New York, who holds so high a place in his adopted country.*

Struck with his high qualities, for but to see him is to discover them, I began to seek his converse, and to wish his friendship; freely and faithfully these favours were asked, freely and faithfully they were given. And from him I learned to believe that other Catholics were good and true; to think that Popish Priests and Jesuits

* I had a favour to ask from him on the behalf of a friend, and called upon him, simply introducing myself as the friend of Dr. Lingard, the Historian of England. It was a matter of the highest gratification to me to find the name of this revered and gifted person as widely known, and his talents and character as highly appreciated in America as they are in England. I have described his person, way of life, and manners, to numerous readers and admirers of his Works throughout my travels;-on the noble St. Lawrence, on the lovely Lake of the Hurons, on the beloved Mississippi, in Canada, throughout the United States, (even in Connecticut,) the Americans, with their free and independent habit of praising merit, all ascribe honour to Dr. Lingard.

were not altogether bigots, and hypocrites, and licentious livers; and thence I asked the generous Bishop to give me the means of judging for myself, by putting into my hand the suitable introductions. He gave me a letter to Dr. Ignatius Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, in Canada. With this as a general passport I presented myself throughout the United States, and visited, probably, more thoroughly the Catholic Institutions, both of that country and of Canada, than any other traveller ever possessed the means of doing. I saw their Colleges and Seminaries, their Schools and Churches; I saw those angelic women the Sisters of Charity and of Mercy serving the Hospitals, curing the insane, attending the poor and vile, and pouring balm into every affliction of mind or body with which an inscrutable Providence visits humanity; I saw the learned Jesuit Fathers fulfilling their vows of self annihilation, and making the cause of education peculiarly their own; wonderful in their resources, and raising up the means of good even in the desert; I saw the accomplished and graceful Ursulines training up their young and lovely pupils in meekness, in modesty, in cheerful

ness and knowledge; and I heard the eloquent preachers of this eloquent Faith, denouncing crime and encouraging virtue, and surpassing in vigour, and attraction, and influence, the preachers of all other sects of Religion.

And thus by their works do I judge them,-for these things I have seen with my eyes, and heard with my ears, and I know them for truth. And I have arisen from their contemplation impressed with the conviction that in the increasing prevailment of the Catholic Religion, lies the best safeguard for this great country of America against the evils, both public and private, which spring from the excess of liberty, (the natural result of a Democracy;) and from the unavoidable and conflicting differences which may in future. rend asunder the golden chain of the Union.

This interesting and most curious subject is capable of being extended through volumes; to have dwelt upon it incidentally, through a few pages, is but to awaken without satisfying inquiry. I am not aware that any previous writer (for I have never read the works of any traveller whatever on