It is true that, to make his case good, he had ordered the old fence to be taken away, in order to make a new one, many feet inside the old one. But this miserable and shameful subterfuge rendered his crime still greater than it had at first appeared. What added to the gravity of that public iniquity, is that the Bishop of Chicago had received that piece of land from the city, for a burial ground, only after they had taken a solemn oath to use it only for burying the dead. Every load of that ground sold then, was not only an act of simony, but the breaking of a solemn oath! No words can express the shame I felt, after convincing myself of the correctness of what the press of Chicago, and of the whole State of Illinois, had published against our bishop, about this sacrilegious traffic.
Slowly retracing my steps to the city from the cemetery, I went directly to the bishop, to fulfil the promise I had made to the French Canadians, to try to obtain the restoration of their fine vestments. But I was not long with him without seeing that I would gain nothing but his implacable enmity in pleading the cause of my poor countrymen. However, I thought that my duty was to do all in my power to open the eyes of my bishop to the pit he was digging for himself and for us all Catholics, by his conduct.
“My lord,” I said, “I will not surprise your lordship, when I tell you that all the true Catholics of Illinois, are filled with sorrow by the articles they find, every day, in the press, against their bishop.”
“Yes! yes!” he abruptly replied, “the good Catholics must be sad indeed to read such disgusting diatribes against their superior; and I presume that you are one of those that are sorry. But, then, why do you not prevent your insolent and infidel countrymen from writing those things! I see that a great part of those libels are signed by the French Canadians.”
I answered: “It is to try, as much as it is in my power, to put an end to those scandals that I am in Chicago, to-day, my lord.”
“Very well, very well,” he replied, “as you have the reputation of having great influence over your countrymen, make use of it to stop them in their rebellious conduct against me, and I will, then, believe that you are a good priest.”
I answered: “I hope that I will succeed in what your lordship wants me to do. But there are two things to be done, in order to secure my success.”
“What are they?” quickly asked the bishop.
“The first is, that your lordship give back the fine church vestments which you have taken from the French Canadian congregation of Chicago.
“The second is, that your lordship abstain, absolutely, from this day, to sell the sand of the burying ground, which covers the tombs of the dead.”