“To-day you are commanded to add your efforts to those of this traitor, to strike me. They want you to add a new thorn to that crown of shame which the bishops have placed on my forehead.
“But how can I be guilty for having called you as a witness of the iniquities of my enemies? Have you forgotten with what sincerity and promptitude I signed, as well as my brethren of St. Anne, the act of submission to the Bishop O’Regan? Have you forgotten the desolation of your heart and mine, when (on the conditions you well know) I declared to my people that I would no longer be their pastor?
“Since the bishops of Canada command you to speak in the name of the God of truth and justice, I, also, ask you to speak. Yes, state to the people of Canada, how shamefully Mr. Desaulnier has deceived the generous people who surround me here. Yes! tell your surprise, your just indignation, your bitter sorrow, when Mr. Desaulnier refused, in Chicago, to fulfill the sacred promise he had made! Tell the nature of the new document which he wanted me to sign at Chicago. Declare honestly that you said to me: “My poor friend, you can not sign that act without lying and dishonoring yourself forever.”
“Since the bishops of Canada command you to speak, raise your voice to say to the Canadian people what you wrote to Dr. Letourneaux and to myself:
“They do not wish to know the truth in Canada, more than at Chicago, about the shameful conduct of Mr. Desaulnier in this affair!!
“Yes, speak! Give to my dear Canada the reply which the bishop of Chicago made when you asked: “Have you any accusation in hand against the character of Mr. Chiniquy?
“I need your testimony upon this question, for the bishop of Chicago, forgetting what he confessed to you, is circulating, through my enemies, a thousand calumnies against me, which are reproduced to-day, by the bishop of Montreal.
“Say to Canada that the bishop of Chicago assured you that he had interdicted me, only because I disobeyed him in refusing to leave St. Anne, whilst, at the very time, he held a letter brought by four witnesses, saying that I was ready to obey, and that I would prefer going to the end of the world, rather than be interdicted.
“If, having said all these things, you are still commanded to strike me, do so, dear friend. Though your blows go more directly to my heart than all the thunders of Bishop O’Regan, they will never shake my constancy, nor make me betray my brethren; they will neither make me change my convictions nor force me any longer to bend the knee before men who wish us to submit to their capricious and impious commands rather than to the laws of the God of justice, truth and mercy, whose priest I have the honor to be. I have sworn at the foot of the altar to preach truth and justice; nothing will make me break my oath.
“Do you remember with what dignity you refused, one day, to bow before one of those modern divinities who believe that everything is allowed them on earth?