Address dy Col. Edwin A. Sherman, OK OAKLAND, ( A LI KOHNT A. DELIVERED AT MUSIC HALL, BOSTON, SUNDAY AFTERNOON, OCT. 20, 1889. ]\Ir. Cliairman aud Citizens of Boston : If I fail to meet your expectations it will be on account of a bad cold, which I took on my pilgrimage to Washington to attend the triennial conclave of the Knights Templar. However, I trust you will bear with me, though I shall not enter into any argument upon this occasion, for I believe, like Cromwell, that it is well to watch and pray aud keep your powder dry. [A[)plause.j I sliall not speak from a religious standpoint, but from that of the soldier, the citizen, the patriot, aud the free-mason. [Applause.] In the lirst place, I was a Boston boy. I was born under the shadow of the Plymouth rock. Whatever I am to-day as an American citizen, I owe in great measure to Boston, this home of my early boyhood. For up to the time I was thirteen ^^'ars of age, entering the public schools of Boston at six, all the education I ever received in a school I received in Boston. [Applause.] I wish to pay a tribute to a distinguislied citizen of IMassachusetts, the honorable George Bancroft, to whom the peo[)le of these United States are indebted that the flag of these United States waves over Cal- ifornia. When he was Secretary of the Navy, a Jesuit [ilot which resulted first in the murder of that pioneer missionary, the Rev. Hr. Whitman, then in Oregon territory, now the stale of Washington, was discovered. A plot was entered into by the Jesuits, among them Thither McNamara, who was landed from the English frigate Juno, at Santa Barbara, by which Mexico was to cede to England in payment of its indebtedness, that portion of its possessions, for tlie pui'iiose of [ilant- ing an Irish colonv there, and California was intended to be an Irish Roman Catholic colony. But tlianks be to Got is a complete military organization, ami in everv county and town throughout these United States, under the priest, b}* his direction, the whole of the Roman Catholic population of the male persuasion are being drilled and disciplined. I obtained possession of this onl}’ last year, when they met at Louisville and com¬ pletely organized their national compact. I have made a copy of a por¬ tion of it, and if you will o])tain a copy of it it will give you startling information. Battalions, regiments, companies, eveiywhere, they are compelled to join this military organization. There is one thing about our country that people do not understand. There are no better census takers, no better ones to estimate the value of real estate. The}^ have their men among the priestliood. One priest is sent to gather all the data. He leaves it with his successors to take his place, and thus it moves on and on continuously. You have a corps of the most subtle, astute, com[)lete conspirators that God ever permitted this country to be cursed with, [Applause] and it is ever active in carrying forward its plots to undermine and overthrow the free institutions of this great republic. I am going to relate some facts that are as positive and as certain as that the sun shines. There was no way by which the Roman Catholic church could accomplish its ends and advance its interests, and hasten the time when it could seize possession of this country, until it could plunge this country into a civil war. Chief Justice Taney, of the United States Siqireme Court, was a Roman Catholic, and by his Dred Scott decision started the wheels of the chariots of war in miction. The whole movement of the rebellion was a Roman Catholic conspiracy in the beginning. And a distinguished brother mason, now dead, honored by the masonic fraternity, our Moses and lawgiver, Albert G. INIackay, (God bless his memoiy), born in Charleston, South Carolina, was true and loyal to the end. The Ro[)e was the only crowned head in Europe THE TEllIL OF OFF COUX'IHY. o to recognize tlie Southern Confederacy. Jeff. Davis’ sister was a superioress of a convent in Bardstown, Kentucky. When tlie division of the Democratic party in 1800, came in (Jiarleston, South Carolina, that was the first movement. Then followed secession in Hiberni.a Hall, in that city, and Bisho[) Lynch of Charleston, Father Ryan of Georgia, and Father Hubert of New Orleans, bv direction of the Pope, consecrated the flags, the arms, the weapons of the rebellion of those who were Catholics, and absolved them from their oath of naturalization and allegiance to the United States government. And why? There was a man loved as no other man was ever loved in these United States; a man, in my opinion, equal to, if not superior to him who was Father of his Country, who was selected as a victim four years before he was ever nominated to the presidency, Abraham Lincoln. [Applause.] It fell to my lot at the fime of his funeral in New York, as chairman of a committee of investigation, to follow up and ferret out if possible, the source from which this hatred came. Why was it? What had Lincoln done that Rome should demand his life? The causes were these, and the proofs are beyond question, and perfectly satis¬ factory : It was found that the Pope had determined upon a general ^ colonization scheme to take possession of the Mississippi valley early in the fifties. There was a man of the Roman Catholic priesthood, born in Canada, who had been selected to lead that emigration and to plant it in Illinois. He had money, and his people followed him first to Chicago, and then to Kankakee county, where he laid out a town, St. Ann’s, and built a church. In course of time he fell out with his Catholic bishop, O’Reagan, and among other things the French who had settled in Chicago, determined to have a church of their own. The Irish outnumbered them, and they had no chance. They selected a place, built a church, sent to France and bought the richest vestments, the best pictures and furnishings, and made ready to go into the church. The next Sunday morning they were to celebrate mass. When they aiTived there, there was no church. I have heard of stealing a red-hot stove, but I never before heard of stealing a church, but it was gone, and had been moved away on wheels to another part of the city. They found it filled with the Irish Roman Catholics, and an Irish priest saying mass. They could not get in. They waited their time until the priest should come out, and he treated them with insult, and drove them away. They then went to the Bishop, but received the same treatment, for he had taken their rich vestments and had them in his own house. At last it became necessary that they should appeal to the head at Rome. Father Chiniquy sat down and wrote to Louis Napoleon, in France, and also to the Pope in Rome. The Emperor wrote to the Pope, and the Pope sent out his nuncio. (i nOMAXISM, Cardinal Bedini, who came out there, and tlie Bishop was fiually removed. But ])efore that, matters had taken such shape that they deter¬ mined to destroy Chiniquy. He had the manhood to defend his rights, though a Roman Catholic priest, as an American citizen. He purchased the property with his own money and that of the members of his own church. They built it together. It was theirs ; the title was in him. After failing to accomplish their purposes through the courts, though they reduced him to poverty, a most damnable plot was made for destroying him ; a criminal charge was brought against him, and as it could not be tried in Kankakee, a change of venue was taken, and it was to be tried in Urbana, Champagne county, Illinois—Abraham Lincoln being of the counsel. While waiting for a tardy juror,' five priests in black robes entered at a side door, and took a seat provided for the witnesses. There they ’sat, and with their hands devoutly clasped upon their breasts, looked as if it was a most solemn event. They came to give their aid to a most damnable plot. Before long, Lincoln, looking over and seeing this row of priests, comprehending their object, and bending over the table to the opposing counsel, in a loud whisper, intended to be heard by every one in the room, said, ‘•Norton, Norton.” “What is it?” said Norton. “I have a question to ask you in confidence,” said Lincoln. “What is it?” said Norton. “What have all them fellows there got men’s credentials for? ” [Ap¬ plause.] It was not in that exact language, but it was language that gentlemen will understand by themselves. It broke the spell upon the court. In a few moments a laugh ran through the court. Judge Davis, himself, laughing heartily upon his bench. But Lincoln had accom¬ plished his purpose. He had broken that spell which could be done in no other way. He uncovered the villainy, and the result was that the priests, fearful of being lynched, fled from the city. The next morning, « knowing that the case would be dismissed, he would not permit it with¬ out his consent, and therefore addressed the court and the persons there present in these words : (I have followed this matter clear through, and this is the starting point of the enmity of Rome to Abraham Lincoln.) He said : “May it please your honor, gentlemen of the jury and American citi¬ zens, this conspiracy, I am aware, has failed of its efforts, but I have a few w'ords which I wish to say.” He went on and depicted the career of Father Chiniquy, how he had been unjustly prosecuted, and then in conclusion, said : “As long as God gives me a heart to feel, a brain to think, or a hand to execute my will, I devote it against that power which has attempted to use the machinery of the courts to destroy the rights and character of an American citizen.” [Applause.] A day or two after that. Father Chiniquy went to have a settlement THE PEIllL OF OFF COUXTJIY, with Mr. Liucolii. ‘‘ IIow mucli do you tliiiik you owe me?” “1 don’t know.” “Well, you are broke,” says IMr. Lincoln. “I am,” said Chiuiquy, “but I want to have you draw up a note, and I will sign it and pay you as 1 can, for I must know what are my liabilities.” “ How much do 3 ^ou think you owe me? ” “ Well, I owe Judge Osgood $1200, Judge Paddock $1500 ; you, perhaps $2000 ; but I must have a settle¬ ment and know what 1 have to work for.” Mr. Lincoln turned around and drew up a note, and hearing sobbing behind him, he said, “ Father Chiuiquy, what are you crying about? You ought to be the hapi)iest man alive. You have beaten all your enemies, and come out triumph¬ ant; they have lied in disgrace, and you ought to be the happiest man alive.” Father Chiuiquy placed his hand upon his shoulder, and said, “I am not weeping for myself, but for you, sir. They will kill you; and let me tell you this, if I were in their place and they in mine, it would be my solemn, sworn duty to take your life myself, or lind a man to do it.” Mr. Lincoln turned around, and with a peculiar look iqion his face, said, “Father Chiuiquy, please sign my death-warrant.” That was a simple promissory note for $50. Lincoln received his note and vanished. Now, I hold the note given to me by Father Chiuiquy. [ilxhibiting it.—Applause.] He was offered one hundred pounds for it in London, but in view of what I had done in rendering him assistance in ferreting out this thing from the beginning, he gave it to me, and I had it lithographed and sent him the lithograph, and kept the original note. This was the beginning. When Lincoln started on that tour of political discussion with Douglas, the entire Roman Catholic influence was thrown in favor of Douglas. His wife was a Roman Catholic. There was a greater question before the people caused by the admis¬ sion of the state of California into the Union. When we came to organize the state government and form our constitution, my maiden vote was cast for the delegates to that state convention which met in Mon¬ terey, m September, 1849, and in that constitution we declared that California should have no involuntary servitude or slavery save for criminal offences. [Applause.] The admission of the state of Cali¬ fornia was the cause of those principles coming up which divided the Republican and the Democratic parties into two factions. The polit¬ ical wheel was set in motion, and though Abraham Lincoln got the pop¬ ular vote, Stephen A. Douglas got the legislature. The next turn of the wheel gave Lincoln the nomination for the presidency. Then from that very moment came the releasing of every Roman Catholic from his allegiance to the American government. They followed it through. Our countrymen north and south were hurled against each other, the great mass of them Protestants, as it was intended to be. The scum of Europe now tramples over the graves of our dead countrymen, north 8 no MAXIS M, and south alike. Mr. Lincoln was contiuuall}^ in receipt of these threats of assassination from the time he entered into the defence of Father Chiniquy. He was continually warned from time to time, but at last knowing that the opportunity was favorable, they could make use of their instrument, and Abraham Lincoln must die. Of the men engaged in that conspiracy, Dr. Samuel Mudd was the chief director. He was a Roman Catholic, as was also John Wilkes Booth, Mrs. Surratt and her son ; and in the Judge Advocate General’s office at Washington, there may be seen the Roman Catholic medal taken from Booth’s neck. A short time before that Booth had received the sacrament from Archbishop Spaulding, of Baltimore, and almost identically at the same time the Pope sent from Rome the arms and accoutrements in exact counterpart of the papal guard at Rome, and when Archbishop Spaulding died he was buried with military honors by the papal guard of Baltimore. In this conspiracy every one was a Roman Catholic, either a Jesuit, priest, or layman, who made every effort to conceal it. I do not state this simply upon my own authority ; but refer you to the. official report of the trial before the military com¬ mission. Read it carefully and you will find that all along the line it was for the interest of the Catholic church that even Mrs. Surratt should die. [Cries of “That is so, yes.”] Rome is a sow that eats her own pigs. [“Yes, yes.”] Her son, John H. Surratt, if he had been captured, would have been hung at the same time, but he had gotten the horse for Booth to escape, and waited until he heard the shot. His escai)e had been prepared by Archbishop Bourget, of Montreal, Canada. He went there first, and returned to do his part of the work, and he made his escape and was protected by that Archbishop. He was placed in the charge of Father Charles Boucher of the parish of St. Leboire, Canada ; there he kept him for several months ; finally he took him to Montreal, to another house of the Archbishop, and there they kept him until they got ready to take him away. They took him in a carriage at Montreal to a small steamer which conveyed him down to Quebec, from whence he sailed on the steamer Peruvian to Liverpool, and thence to Havre de Grace, and from there went to Paris and Rome, and enlisted in the Pope’s body-guard. Rome now thought she had him secure, but through Father Chiniquy our government got trace of him. A detective was put upon the track, and when the Pope found that our government knew where he was, he made a pretence of being willing to give him up, but permitted him to make his escape. But he was cap¬ tured at Alexandria, Egypt, and brought back on the United States war-ship Swatara, and tried in the Court of the District of Columbia. It was a pity that the civil law had taken the place of the military. A jury that was never intended to agree was drawn, and this Jesuit priest. THE PERIL OF OUR COUNTRY. 9 the accessory before and after the fact, so far as John 11. Surratt was concerned, had the effrontery to come directly from Montreal, appear in that very court and give this very evidence I am now giving you ; and if you turn to Volume 2 of the trial of John H. Surratt, you will find all that*I have said to you to be the exact truth. The investigation of this matter has been the work of years of the most patient research, and at an expense of thousands of dollars mostly to myself and a few others. The hatred against Lincoln continued after his death. Among all the tributes of the nations of the earth, of societies and organizations, nearly one thousand that are bound in a book by the government, resolutions of sympathy and consolation that came for the American ))eople ; and among them there were some from thirty and more masonic lodges of Europe, supposing that he was a mason, who draped their lodges in black, in France, Italy and elsewhere ; yet you may examine that book from beginning to end—not from one single Roman Catholic society is there the first resolution of sorrow at this damnable act. Then still farther, Rome determined to destroy all evidences, if possible. Her hatred goes into the ground. She believes in cremation from the beginning, but not of her own members; and to destroy the body of Lincoln she plotted its robbery. I had visited his tomb in 1876, at Springfield, Illinois, and saw the dangers to which it was exposed, and there are some of us who have taken a solemn oath, (it rests upon us to-day) not only to perpetuate his memory, but to preserve his remains. [Applause.] It became necessary to keep a guard there, but notwith¬ standing this precaution, they broke open the sai’cophagus, ran out the cedar coffin, and were about to break into it when our friends were at hand. The ghouls were captured, and every one was a Roman Catholic; they were tried and each sentenced to serve out his time in the state penitentiary of Illinois. [Applause.] Then fearing it might be robbed again, the sarcophagus was replaced and the body was placed in the side of the walls of the mausoleum, but the rascally contractor who built that monument had put in pieces of wood, and these rotted and made it unsafe, though the body was not exposed. It was then deter¬ mined to remove it and place it in the front of the shaft and there bury it beside his wife. There it was kept, and four years ago when I came on there to hold memorial services, I brought earth from the tomb of Edward Baker, at Lone Mountain, San Francisco, and mingled them with that of Abraham Lincoln, and then took some back with me, and the bodies of the Union soldiers of California rest under the same sort of earth as that of Abraham Lincoln. A few years ago, in order to place the bodies securely where they could not be longer disturbed, they were placed beneath the floor of the catacomb, and the resting place sealed with Roman cement; and there in a mass of stone, in an 10 BOJJAXLS.y, adamantine casket, to remain until the angel of the resurrection shall smite itandsay, “come forth.” The lock that was put there is still there, and I hold the key of the broken lock of Lincoln’s tomb. [Applause.] And now to the work. I have said this subject needs no argument. It needs action. The moral cowardice of the American people at