We would like to know why Archbishop Chapelle should be given the best stateroom in a transport ship sailing for Manila, while our pure-blooded, honest, sincere Protestant boys who wear the blue were huddled together like so many cattle.
Ah, this is the reason: Archbishop Chapelle is an emissary of the Pope of Rome and stands ready at all times to serve the wishes and obey the orders of that Italian pontiff, and our officials were aware of this fact and they did not want to stir up the Catholic officials for fear of losing a few votes, as both of our old parties have sunk so low into the quagmire of filth that they would allow their country to sink to the level of Romish abominations if they thought by so doing they could control the Catholic vote for either party.
Was one of your boys on this transport ship? Was your kith and kin aboard this vessel that showed this ungodly discrimination between the soldier boy who wrung a poor mother's heart by leaving the parental fireside? If such was the case, you can vividly see the injustice done to these brave lads in favor of this Archbishop Chapelle, as these boys were on their way to this terrible land of disease and death to help plant the emblem of liberty upon the ramparts of these far-away Islands, and this same Archbishop Chapelle was on his way to destroy the influence of these boys' mission.
The time is not far distant until the Protestant world will wake up to the realization that they have been humbled before this Italian pontiff for the simple reason that our officials are willing to cater to Catholicism in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands for the sake of votes.
We do not care whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, this chapter should fire your blood to the fullest extent, for I am telling you truths, and if you have got the common decency of the most ignorant liberty-loving American you will right now make a resolve that Protestant America must redeem her pledge to Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands to liberate them not only from the hardships placed upon them by a foreign nation, but liberate them from the bonds of Catholicism, which not only binds the body, but chains the soul with the fetters of ignorance and superstition.
When it became known that the government of the United States was to interfere in the affairs of Cuba, the Catholic Church put all of her machinery to work immediately in order to fool Uncle Sam and cajole him into dealing only with the government of Spain, which would permit Catholicism to exist in these Islands, and the pages of history only tell us too well how successfully she laid her plans, as to-day we have the awful spectacle of beholding the government of the United States playing the part of "protector," while she is quietly aiding the identical institution which caused the misery in these far-away countries.
What I tell you in this chapter is true, as I was a Catholic priest and was on the inside of the workings of Catholicism at that time, and what I relate is not guess work nor imagination, but it is plain, unvarnished and unadulterated truths, and the American people will sooner or later wake up to the realization of these awful truths, for just so long as the United States permits Catholicism to control the destinies of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, just that long turmoil and misery will remain in these tropical regions, for Catholicism has sworn by all of her imaginary saints that Protestantism shall never rule these countries, and so far she has carried out her threat truly and well, as Protestantism to-day has no more control over the inhabitants of these islands than she did before the damnable creed of the Pope was molested by the appearance of Dewey's guns at Manila.
Can you expect these countries to grow in greatness, and can you expect the inhabitants of these countries to become giants in intellect when they practice the cungerings of Catholicism?
We want to give the reader an insight in this chapter to what Catholicism practices in this country and in other countries that are not near so densely ignorant as Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, and then you can have an idea of what the inhabitants of these countries may expect in the way of advancement from Catholicism, and what I will repeat is the abominations that I have helped to practice myself for thirty years; therefore I know whereof I speak and no man dare dispute.
We will take a Catholic cemetery, for instance, and in order that the ground may be sanctified and fit to receive the dead bodies of those who believe in the Catholic faith a bishop must sanctify this earth and consecrate it before it is fit to conceal the body of one of the Pope's followers.