Rome's Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Assassination plot was known to the Bishop of Montreal

That the assassination plot was known to the Bishop of Montreal (Bourget) and a number of his priests, before its accomplishment, and received their sanction, was made plain by their subsequent conduct. As soon as the news of the assassination of the President was flashed over the wires, Fathers Boucher and LaPierre kept themselves on the lookout, and ready to aid any of the conspirators who might make good their escape to Canada. John H. Surratt and a companion, whose identity was never discovered, returned to Montreal, on the early afternoon of the 18th of April, the fourth day after the assassination. The unknown conspirator then sank out of sight. Surratt was spirited away from the hotel within fifteen minutes after he had registered on his return. He had registered on the same book, on his return from Richmond to Canada, on the 6th of April, had gone back to Washington and played his part in the conspiracy on the night of the 14th of April, and now, on the afternoon of the 18th had gotten back to Montreal, and was so carefully watched for, that almost at the instant of his arrival, he was spirited away, and kept hidden carefully, in the house of Porterfield, one of Thompson’s assistants, who, for his greater security, had relinquished his American citizenship, and had taken the oath of allegiance to the British crown. Porterfeld told him that the detectives were on the alert, and lost no time in hiding him away.

Porterfield, deeply exercised for the safety of his charge, as also for his own, only kept him until he could conununicate with Father Boucher, a Roman Catholic priest, who lived in an out of the way country parish, forty-five miles from Montreal. Father Boucher immediately sent his servant man to bring Surratt to his place for further hiding. DuTilly, Father Boucher’s man, arrived before the house of Porterfield late in the evening of the 21st of April, and, taking Surratt into his carriage, drove him away under the cover of darkness, and placed him in the keeping of his master, Father Boucher. Here he remained for two months, under the most careful watch and guard of his keeper. Whilst here, he was visited frequently by some of his friends in whose employ he had incurred his guilt; and by another Father, LaPierre. This LaPierre was canon to Bishop Bourget; ate at his table, and was to him the same as a hand and arm.

A circumstance having occurred that made it necessary for Father Boucher to unload his charge, he sent him back to Montreal, as secretly as he had taken him away from there, and placed him in the care of Father LaPierre.

This Father provided Surratt with an upstairs chamber in his own father’s house, right under the shadow of the Bishop’s palace. Here he kept him for three months, never permitting him to leave his room in the daytime, and never at night but in company with himself, and in disguise. Thus was Surratt kept hidden away for five months, in the care and at the charge, of the Roman Catholic Church; two of its priests keeping watch, and ward over him, with a full knowledge of his crime, thus making themselves accomplices after the fact, as they also, no doubt were, before its accomplishment. But how about Bishop Bourget? He stands behind the scenes, it is true, but was he not equally guilty? The organization of the Hierarchy is a complete military despotism, of which the Pope is the ostensible head: but of which, the Black Pope, is the real head. The Black Pope is the head of the order of the Jesuits. and is called a General. He not only has the absolute command of his own order, but directs and controls the general policy of the church. He is the power behind the throne, and is the real potential head of the Hierarchy. The whole machine is under the strictest rules of military discipline. The whole thought and will of this machine, to plan, propose and execute, is found in its head. There is no independence of thought, or of action, in its subordinate parts. Implicit and unquestioning obedience to the orders of superiors in authority, is the sworn duty of the priesthood of every grade; just as it is the duty of officers in the army; and as much the duty of the laity to their priests, as it is of the rank and file in an army to their immediate commanders.

There is a complete chain of responsibility, extending from the head all the way down to the membership. Thus the whole vast organization can be wielded, as a unit, to accomplish the plans and purposes of its head. The priest is virtually an intellectual slave to his bishop, the bishop to his archbishop, and these again to the cardinals, and all, finally, to the Popes, white and black. This being the case, it is clear that no priest would have dared to take on himself such grave responsibilities as did Fathers Boucher and LaPierre, involving so much danger to themselves, as also to the character of their church, without the knowledge and assent of their bishop. It would have been held to be an act of insubordination, fraught with the most serious consequences to themselves. But the canon occupies a peculiar relation to his bishop, and is supposed to have no other duty, but to carry out the orders which he receives from his superior. In this view of the case, which represents truly the relations between Bishop Bourget and his Canon, LaPierre, can we rationally come to any other conclusion than that Bourget was in a moral point of view, also a member of the conspiracy; neither would Bishop Bourget have dared to give his consent to this crime on his own independent responsibility. He knew he was acting in harmony with the desire and purpose of the Hierarchy, for the destruction of our government.

The Jesuit plans with the utmost art and cunning, unhampered by any moral restraints, and always with the utmost secrecy; and carries out his plans in the dark. We think, however, that this case, we have succeeded in tracing him through all the devious wanderings of his dark and slimy path, and, in fixing upon him the responsibility for the assassination of President Lincoln.

But we are not done yet. In the early part of September, 1865, these unholy Fathers thought it safe to unload their charge onto their brethren in England; and so made arrangements for sending Surratt across the Atlantic, under an assumed name, and in disguise.

For this purpose they arranged for his passage on a British steamer, the Peruvian, which was to sail from Quebec on the 16th of September, 1865.

A physician with whom Boucher was well acquainted, by the name of McMillen, had just gotten the position of surgeon to this vessel, and they arranged with him to take under his especial charge, a man by the name of McCarthy, who, for certain reasons, wished to cross the Atlantic under an assumed name, and in the most secret manner. The day before the Peruvian was to sail from Quebec, these two unholy Fathers conveyed Surratt, in a covered carriage, to the steamer that was to carry passengers for the Peruvian from Montreal to Quebec. They had disguised Surratt by coloring his hair, painting his face, and putting spectacles over his eyes. Father LaPierre went also in the disguise of a citizen’s dress. Arriving on board the steamer, Surratt was immediately stored away in a stateroom, from which he did not emerge during the voyage, LaPierre remaining in his room with him. Reaching Quebec, these two unholy Fathers placed their charge in the care of Dr. McMillen; and then took their final leave of him.

They had consigned him to the care of their friends in Liverpool, by the hands of Dr. McMillen, and through whose aid Surratt succeeded in placing himself under the care of the Roman Catholic Church in a foreign land. Rome is everywhere, and always the same, and he can feel safe as long as he is in the custody of the church. Here he waited for the Peruvian to make another voyage to Quebec and return. He sent by the surgeon, to his rebel employers in Canada, a request to send him some money; but only to receive the answer that they had no money for him. The expense of sending him across the continent, to Italy, thus fell on the church. His rebel friends had now forsaken him; but the church stood by him. He was sent to Italy and was mustered into the army of the Pope. Here he remained safely hidden away for a year or more; but was finally discovered by a government detective who had been sent in search of him, and who went voluntarily, hoping to get the offered reward, and who had enlisted in the same company to which Surratt belonged. This detective informed our government of his discovery; and through the agents of our government the Pope was informed that his soldier, who had enlisted under the name of Watson, was none other than the notorious John H. Surratt, who was a member of the conspiracy that accomplished the assassination of President Lincoln.