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back as the year 1837. It is impossible to avoid being impressed by the close resemblance they bore to the course of argument on the dogma of Papal Infallibilitywhich was evolved more than thirty years later from the travail of perplexed times and the pressure of irresistible necessity.

NOTABLE

CHAPTER X.

AND TALENTED CONVERTS-PROBLEM HOW TO EMPLOY THEM-A WAVE OF REVOLUTIONARY HATE AND MURDER—ATTACK ON THE PAPAL NUNCIO-FEARFUL SCENES IN CINCINNATI-ARCHBISHOP PURCELL'S DANGER-SHADOWS OF THE CIVIL WAR-TROUBLOUS TIMES FOR CATHOLICS-THE ARCHBISHOP'S PRUDENCE. Among the many distinguished conversions made by Archbishop Kenrick, the case of Professor Haldeman seems to be somewhat peculiar. This gentleman was at the head of the Museum of Natural History in Philadelphia, and when he applied to the Bishop of the diocese for instruction he was asked what reason induced him to seek the Church. The answer he is said to have made was singular. He said simply, "Bugs," and when asked to explain this enigmatical word-so the story goes-he replied that it was from the study of orderly economy in the insect world that he became convinced of the Divine ordering of everything in creation, and also in the Church which He founded. If this conversation really took place, the Archbishop himself makes no mention of it. In his letters to his brother he tells of the reception of the Professor and his wife, and their daughter, Mrs. Wentz, into the Church, but there is no allusion to the entomological anecdote. This, however, is no proof that it is not true.

Dr. Ives had been for many years the Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina. His renunciation of this honor was made under very striking circumstances. He went to Rome, sought an audience with the illustrious Pius IX., and laid his episcopal ring and the other in

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signia of his office, according to the Protestant usage, at the feet of the ruler of the Catholic world. There is good reason to believe that this dramatic incident served to inflame the bigotry of the time, as it soon afterward broke out in murderous fury. The immediate spark which fired the magazine, however, was the arrival of the Papal Nuncio to Brazil, Cajetan Bedini, Archbishop of Thebes. On his way to South America this distinguished prelate landed in New York, and received a cordial welcome from a host of distinguished people, Catholic and non-Catholic. Before setting out from Rome the Nuncio had been given a letter from the American Minister in Rome (Mr. Cass) explaining, for the information of the President, the nature of his mission and testifying to his exalted character and abilities. Desirous of seeing something of this new world so full of interesting peoples and institutions, the Archbishop made a tour of the principal cities, and after traversing the North and the West, paid a visit to the national capital, where he was courteously received by the President, Mr. Franklin Pierce. Although the President was friendly, it was not so with the Secretary of State, Mr. Marcy. This official at once interfered, with a view to prevent any further rapprochement between the Holy See and the Republic, and owing to his mischievous hostility, the Administration ultimately decided not to recognize the Nuncio as a member of the diplomatic body, as his rank and his previous experience in delicate international problems most undoubtedly qualified him to be. Then he returned to New York, at the invitation of the Mayor, and was most hospitably entertained as the city's guest. While there it was his pleasing duty to contribute to the great growth of Catholicity in the States by consecrating three new Bishops-viz., those of Brooklyn, Newark and Burlington-on 30 October, 1853.

But these auspicious functions by no means indicated the general character of the Nuncio's reception in the United States. Like an ominous shadow the wretched ex-priest and Italian revolutionist, Alessandro Gavazzi, followed his footsteps around the country and sought to inflame popular passion by every vile means known to those who become renegade to their faith and their vows and have no means of livelihood but their powers of vituperation. Of all this ill-omened band-and they were several-Gavazzi was probably the worst. It has been the writer's lot to witness the effect of his poisonous diatribes in several cities. Wherever he went riot and tumult followed in his wake, and it required the utmost efforts of the municipal authorities to check the murderous fury of the mobs which listened to him, no less than the violent indignation of the Catholics at the hideous slanders which flowed from his lips in a constant stream. Gavazzi was aided in his fell work by a couple of revolutionary organizations-Italian and German. The Italians had been banished from Italy as dangerous revolutionists-men who followed the teachings of Mazzini. Banishment did not serve to cool their desperate ardor. They did not hesitate to abuse the hospitality of the United States by openly preaching their terrible doctrine of the dagger. The discovery of a plot to assassinate the Nuncio in New York revealed the length to which they were prepared to carry their own teachings; nor did their hope of effecting this object die out with the nipping of the conspiracy. They called to their aid a different organization, a society of German infidels. This cult was strong in Cincinnati, where it had a newspaper devoted to the propagation of its tenets. Archbishop Bedini, it was known, was about to visit that city, and immediately the atheistical organ set to work to inflame the revolutionary spirit against him.

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It is difficult, in these "piping times of peace," to realize what pandemonium reigned in those terrible days when fanaticism tried to let loose the dogs of war. The best means to impart an idea of their effect and spirit would be, perhaps, to reproduce the mass of letters from Archbishop Purcell to Archbishop Kenrick, describing the state of Cincinnati at the time and asking the advice as well as the prayers of his brother prelate. The Ohio Archbishop in more than one place tells of the constant danger of assassination and the many dreadful threats made against him, both in public placards and in private letters. The organ of the German infidels openly counselled murder. It hurled the vilest epithets at the Papal Nuncio; it stigmatized him as a "human butcher," the "bloodhound of Bologna," a "hyena ;" and it asked was there "no ball, no dagger for a monster never equaled on earth?" This frantic appeal did not remain unanswered for long. The very same evening an attack was made on the Archbishop's residence, where for the time the Nuncio was lodged, by a force of about five hundred of the infidel organization. But, anticipating such an outcome, the Archbishop had stirred the civic authorities to action for the public safety. The mob found the house protected by a strong force of armed police. This did not deter them from violence; they advanced with the determination to carry out their fell purpose; a conflict took place, a volley was fired, and eighteen of the rioters fell dead or wounded. Then the mob broke and fled, but not before about a hundred of their number were captured by the guardians of the peace.

Even a lesson so terrible as this hardly availed to put an end to the fell spirit of infidel violence. Although no further attempt at organized riot was made, murder lurked at the street corners waiting its opportunity.