with his life what he had done for me, caused me to break into sobs and tears.

As Mr. Lincoln had finished writing the due bill, he turned round to me, and said, "Father Chiniquy, what are you crying for? ought you not to be the most happy man alive? you have beaten your enemies and gained the most glorious victory, and you will come out of all your troubles in triumph."

"Dear Mr. Lincoln," I answered, "allow me to tell you that the joy I should naturally feel for such a victory is destroyed in my mind by the fear of what it may cost you. There were, then, in the crowd, not less than ten or twelve Jesuits from Chicago and St. Louis, who came to hear my sentence of condemnation to the penitentiary. But it was on their heads that you have brought the thunders of heaven and earth! nothing can be compared to the expression of their rage against you, when you not only wrenched me from their cruel hands, but you were making the walls of the court-house tremble under the awful and superhumanly eloquent denunciation of their infamy, diabolical malice, and total want of Christian and human principle, in the plot they had formed for my destruction. What troubles my soul, just now, and draws my tears, is that it seems to me that I have read your sentence of death in their bloody eyes. How many other noble victims have already fallen at their feet!

He tried to divert my mind, at first, with a joke, "Sign this," said he, "It will be my warrant of death."

But after I had signed, he became more solemn, and said, "I know that Jesuits never forget nor forsake. But man must not care how and where he dies, provided he dies at the post oi honor and duty," and he left me.

Here is the sworn declaration of Miss Philomene Moffat, now Mrs. Philomene Schwartz:

'STATE OF ILLINOIS, }

Cook County,

SS.

Philomene Schwartz being first duly sworn, deposes and says: That she is of the age of forty-three years, and resides at 484 Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago; that her maiden name was Philomene Moffat, that she

knew Father Le Belle, the Roman Catholic priest of the French Catholics of Chicago during his lifetime, and knows Rev. Father Chiniquy; that about the month of May, A. D. 1854, in company with Miss Eugenia Bossey, the housekeeper of her uncle, the Rev'd Mr. LeBelle, who was then living at the parsonage on Clark street, Chicago, while we were sitting in the room of Miss Bossey, the Rev. Mr. LeBelle was talking with his sister, Mrs. Bossey, in the adjoining room, not suspecting that we were there hearing his conversation, through the door, which was partly opened; though we could neither see him nor his sister, we heard every word of what they said together, the substance of which is as follows—Rev. Mr. LeBelle said in substance, to Mrs. Bossey, his sister:

"You know that Mr. Chiniquy is a dangerous man, and he is my enemy, having already persuaded several of my congregation to settle in his colony. You must help me to put him down, by accusing him of having tried to do a criminal action with you.'

"Madame Bossey answered: 'I cannot say such a thing against Mr. Chiniquy, when I know it is absolutely false.'

Rev. M. LeBelle replied: If you refuse to comply with my request, f will not give you the one hundred and sixty acres of land I intended to give you; you will live and die poor.'

"Madame Bossey answered: 'I prefer never to have that land, and I like better to live and die poor, than to perjure myself to please you.'

"The Rev. Mr. Le Belle, several times, urged his sister, Mrs. Bossey, to comply with his desires, but she refused. At last, weeping and crying, she said: 'I prefer never to have an inch of land than to damn my soul for swearing to a falsehood.'

"The Rev. Mr. Le Belle then said:

"Mr. Chiniquy will destroy our holy religion and our people if we do not destroy him. If you think that the swearing I ask you to do is a sin, you will come to confess to me, and I will pardon it in the absolution I will give you.'

"Have you the power to forgive a false oath?' replied Mrs. Bossey to her brother, the priest.

"Yes,' he answered, 'I have that power; for Christ has said to all his priests, "What you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."'

"Mrs. Bossey then said: 'If you promise that you will forgive that false oath, and if you give me the one hundred and sixty acres of land you promised, I will do what you want.'

"The Rev'd Mr. LeBelle then said: All right!' I could not hear any more of that conversation, for in that instant Miss Eugenia Bossey, who had kept still and silent with us, made some noise and shut the door.

"Affiant further states: That some time later I went to confess to Rev. Mr. LeBelle, and I told him that I had lost confidence in him, He asked me why? I answered: 'I lost my confidence in you since I heard your conversation with your sister, when you tried to persuade her to perjure herself in order to destroy Father Chiniquy.'

"Affiant further says: "That in the month of October, A. D. 1856, the Rev'd Mr. Chiniquy had to defend himself, before the civil and criminal court of Urbana, Illinois, in an action brought against him by Peter Spink; some one wrote from Urbana to a paper of Chicago, that Father Chiniquy was probably to be condemned. The paper which published that letter was much read by the Roman Catholics, who were glad to hear that that priest was to be punished. Among those who read that paper was Narcisse Terrien. He had lately been married to Miss Sara Chaussey, who told him that Father Chiniquy was innocent; that she was present with me when Rev'd LeBelle prepared the plot with his sister, Mrs. Bossey, and had promised her a large piece of land if she would swear falsely against Father Chiniquy. Mr. Narcisse Terrien wanted to go with his wife to the help of Father Chiniquy, but she was unwell and could not go. He came to ask me if I remembered well the conversation of Rev'd Mr. LeBelle, and if I would consent to go to Urbana to expose the whole plot before the court, and I consented.

"We started that same evening for Urbana, where we arrived late at night. I immediately met Mr. Abraham Lincoln, one of the lawyers of Father Chiniquy, and told him all that I knew about the plot.

"That very same night the Rev'd Mr. LeBelle, having seen my name on the hotel register, came to me much excited and troubled, and said, Philomene, what are you here for?'

"I answered him, I cannot exactly tell you that; but you will probably know it tomorrow at the court-house!'

"Oh, wretched girl!' he exclaimed, 'you have come to destroy me.' "I do not come to destroy you,' I replied, 'for you are already destroyed!'

"Then drawing from his portmonnaie-book a big bundle of bank-notes, which he said was worth one hundred dollars, he said: 'I will give you all this money if you will leave by the morning train and go back to Chicago.' "I answered him: Though you would offer me as much gold as this room can contain, I cannot do what you ask.'

"He then seemed exceedingly distressed, and he disappeared. The next morning Peter Spink requested the court to allow him to withdraw his accusations against Father Chiniquy, and to stop his prosecutions, having, he said, found out that he, Father Chiniquy, was innocent of the things brought against him, d his request was granted. Then the innocence and honesty of Father hiquy was acknowledged by the court after it

667

had been proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln, who was afterwards elected President of the United States.

"(Signed)

PHILOMENE SCHWARTZ.*

"I, Stephen R. Moore, a Notary Public in the County of Kankakee, in the State of Illinois, and duly authorized by law to adminster oaths, do hereby certify that, on this 21st day of October, A. D. 1881, Philomene Schwartz personally appeared before me, and made oath that the above affidavit by her subscribed is true, as therein stated. In witness whereto, I have hereunto set my hand and notarial seal.

"STEPHEN R. MOORE,

แ Notary Public."

That lady is still living, 1886, and at the head of one of the most respectable families of Chicago, residing at 482 Milwaukee Avenue.

Chapter LIX.

MOMENT OF INTERRUPTION IN THE THREAD OF MY "FIFTY YEARS IN THE CHURCH OF ROME," TO SEE HOW MY SAD PREVISIONS ABOUT MY DEFENDER, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, WERE TO BE REALIZED-ROME THE IMPLACABLE ENEMY OF THE UNITED STATES SHE WANTS TO CONQUER AND RULE THEM, IN ORDER TO DESTROY ALL THEIR RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES AND LIBERTIES.

HEN it became evident, in 1851, that my plan of forming a grand colony of Roman Catholic French-speaking people in the prairies of Illinois was to be a success, D'Arcy McGee, then editor of The Freeman's Journal, official journal of the Bishop of New York, wrote me to know my views, and immediately determined to put himself at the head of a similar enterprise in behalf of the Irish Roman Catholics. He published several able articles to show that the Irish people, with very few exceptions, were demoralized, degraded and kept poor, around their groggeries, and showed how they would thrive, become respectable and rich, if they could be induced to exchange their grog shops for the fertile lands of the west. Through his influence, a large assembly, principally composed of priests, to which I was invited, met at Buffalo, in the spring of 1852. But what was his disappointment, when he saw that the greatest part of those priests were sent by the Bishops of the United States to oppose and defeat his plans!

He vainly spoke with a burning eloquence for his pet scheme. The majority coldly answered him: "We are determined, like you, to take possession of the United States and rule them; but we cannot do that without acting secretly and with the utmost wisdom. If our plans are known, they will surely be defeated. What does a skillful general do when he wants to conquer a country? Does he scatter his soldiers over the farm lands, and spend their time and energy in ploughing the fields