Rome's Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Etnic breakdown of the US population at the end of the 19th century

In reply to the boast so freely made by Roman Catholic editors and orators that the Irish fought the battles of the civil war and saved the nation, the following document, received from the Pension department at Washington, is here given:

Whole number of troop . . . . . . . . . . . 2,128,200

Natives of the United States . . . . . . . .1,627,267

Germans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189,817

Irishmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144,221

British (other than Irish) . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,040

Other foreigners and missions . . . . . . . 87,855

The “Desertions” were as follows:

Natives of the United States . . . . . . . . 5 percent

Germans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 percent

Irish Catholics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 percent

British (Other than Irish) . . . . . . . . . . . 7 percent

Other foreigners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 percent

In other words: of the 144,000 Irishmen that enlisted. 104,000 deserted. And it is reliably stated that most of these desertions occurred after the recognition of the Confederacy by the Pope. It is also a fact that of the five percent of native Americans rated as deserters, 45 percent of the 5 percent were Catholics. –TOLEDO AMERICAN, as quoted on page 115 of “Why Am I An A.P.A.”

This is a sufficient proof of the charge heretofore made that a good Roman Catholic can only be loyal to the Pope and so can never be loyal to our government, and to our Protestant institutions.

It is true that there were some able and brave Roman Catholic officers in the Union army, who were truly loyal to the cause; as also many in the ranks who were nominally members of the Roman Catholic Church: but these were they who had been educated in our free schools, and had thus become so imbued with the American Spirit, that they were no longer good Catholics. All honor to these!

Not only by desertions and resignations was Roman Catholic disloyalty made apparent, but more conspicuously by the draft riots that followed, the rioters being made up, almost entirely, of Irish Roman Catholics. Arch-bishop Hughes posed as a Union man; and was so far trusted by President Lincoln, that he solicited his good offices at Rome, to prevent the Pope from giving recognition to the Confederate government; he being well aware of the consequences that would follow such recognition. The Archbishop proved a traitor to his trust; and the Pope’s letter to Jefferson Davis followed closely on the heels of his visit to Rome, and resignations and desertions commenced. Then followed the terrible riots in New York City, when a draft became necessary to fill up our depleted ranks. For three fearful days and nights the city was terrorized by the violence of an Irish Catholic mob, right under the shadow of the Archbishop’s palace. The Archbishop kept secluded in his palace, and as mute as a mouse, until notified by Mr. Lincoln that he would be held personally responsible for its continuance. He then came forth; and by a few kind words to the rioters, whom he addressed as his friends, the mob immediately dispersed, and order was restored. It only took a few words from him to accomplish what could not have been accomplished without much bloodshed, and perhaps the destruction of the city, by a military arm of our government; but mark those words were not spoken until it became necessary to the personal safety of the Arch-bishop. The traitor was here revealed. And now we come to the last desperate conspiracy to overthrow our government, and make the rebellion a success by a resort to the favorite policy of the Jesuits, that of assassination.

It is my purpose now to review the facts connected with the assassination of President Lincoln, and the attempted assassination of Mr. Seward, and the purpose to assassinate Vice-president Johnson, Secretary Stanton and General Grant. The object of this scheme of wholesale assassinations of the civil and military heads of the government, was to throw the country into a state of chaos, and thus retrieve the fast failing fortunes of the Confederacy. These facts, as developed on the trial of the conspirators before a military commission, and on the trial of John H. Surratt two years later, before a civil court, together with evidence secured by Father Chiniquy, and given to the world in his book, ”Fifty Years In The Church Of Rome,” show conclusively the hand of Rome in this stab at our nations life. I will now proceed to pass these facts in review, in their proper order, and to show their

(For a full account of which see my book entitled, “Assassination of Lincoln, A History of the Great Conspiracy and Trial of the Conspirators by a Military Commission and a Review of the Trial of John H. Surratt.”)

I do not propose to affirm or deny the charge that is now being commonly and openly made by patriotic papers and lecturers that Rome was responsible for the assassination of our martyred President, but simply to present the facts, and leave my readers to draw their conclusion from a consideration of the facts in the case. My own personal convictions will no doubt be made obvious before I get through. The very fact that the charge is being made by a high class of men, men noted for intelligence, patriotism and uprightness of character, justifies us in making a careful scrutiny of the evidence on which it rests; that we may fairly judge whether or not it has been justly made. It is a charge of too much gravity and of too serious an import to be made lightly, or on insufficient grounds.