The Loyalist

by James Francis Barrett

  CHAPTER V

  I

  The Corner of Market and Front Streets was brisk with life and activityat twelve, the change hour, every day. Here assembled the merchants ofthe city, members of the upper class who cared enough about the rest ofthe world to make an inquiry into its progress; men of leisure abouttown whose vocation in life was to do nothing and who had the entire dayin which to do it. All conditions, all varieties of character joined theranks. Soldiers, restless from the monotony of army life and desirous ofthe license usually associated with leave of absence; civilians eager inthe pursuit of truth or of scandal; patriots impatient with the yoke offoreign rule; Tories exasperated with the turn of the war and itsaccompanying privations;--all gathered together at the Old London CoffeeHouse day after day.

  It stood, an imposing three-storied, square structure, with a great wingextending far in the rear. Its huge roof, fashioned for all the worldafter a truncated pyramid with immense gables projecting from its sides,gave every indication of having sheltered many a guest from the snowsand rains of winter. A great chimney ran up the side and continuallybelched forth smoke and sparks, volumes of them, during the days andnights of the cold winter season. A portico of no particular style ofarchitecture ran around two sides of the ancient building and affordeda meeting place for the majority of the guests. It was furnished withmany chairs, faithfully tenanted when the season was propitious.

  Thither Stephen and Mr. Allison were directing their steps more than aweek after they had last met at the home of the latter. It was by themerest chance they encountered. Stephen was seeking a healthful reactionfrom a vigorous walk through the less-frequented part of the city; Mr.Allison was making his daily visit to the Coffee House. Stephen hadoften heard of the tavern, but had never been there. Still he wasresolved to seek an introduction to its clientele at the firstpropitious moment. That moment had now come.

  Upon entering, their attention was at once arrested by the animateddiscussion in progress at a table in the nearest corner of the room. Anofficer of the Governor's Guard, in full regimentals, booted andspurred, in company with a gentleman, finely dressed, was talking loudlyto Jim Cadwalader, who was seated before them holding a half-openednewspaper in his hand. It was plain to be seen that the soldier wassomewhat under the influence of liquor, yet one could not call himintoxicated.

  "Gi' me that an' I'll show y'," exclaimed the soldier as he grabbed thepaper from Cadwalader's hand.

  "Y' were told," he went on to read from it, "that it was t' avoid the'stabl'shment 'r count'nancin'," he half mumbled the words, "of Pop'ry;an that Pop'ry was 'stabl'shed in Canada (where 't was only tol'rated).And is not Pop'ry now as much 'stabl'shed by law in your state 's anyother rel'gion?" "Just what I was sayin'," he interpolated. "So thatyour Gov'nor and all your rulers may be Papists, and you may have aMass-House in ev'ry corner o' your country (as some places already'xper'ence)."

  "There!" he snarled as he threw back the paper. "Isn't that what I wuztryin' t' tell y'."

  "You can't tell me nothin', Forrest," retorted Jim.

  "Course I can't. Nobody kin. Y' know 't all."

  "I can mind my own bus'ness."

  "There y' are agin," shouted Forrest, "y' know 't all, ye do."

  "Don't say that again," Jim flared back at him. "I'll--I'll--I'll----.Don't say it again, that's all."

  "'Cause y' know 'ts true."

  "It's a lie," Jim interrupted him. "Ye know it's a lie. But I don't'spect much of ye, 'r of the Gov'nor either. None of ye 'll ever bePapists."

  "Now you're talkin' sens'ble; first sens'ble thing you've said t'day. NoPapists here if we kin help it."

  Stephen and Mr. Allison, keenly interested in this remark, moved nearerto the table. Cadwalader was well known to Mr. Allison. The others weretotal strangers.

  "What's he goin' t' do about the help from France? Refuse it 'cause it'sfrom a Catholic country?" asked Jim.

  "He don't like it and never did."

  "Is he fool 'nough t' think we can win this war without help?"

  "He won it once."

  "When?"

  "Saratoga."

  "That's his story. We didn't have it won and it won't be won withouttroops and with somethin' besides shin-plasters." He turned sideways,crossed one leg over the other and began to drum upon the table.

  "We must hev help," he went on. "We must hev it and it must come fromFrance 'r Spain."

  "They y' are agin," repeated Forrest, "as if one wuzn't as much underth' Pope as th' other."

  "Forrest!" he turned toward him and shook his finger at him in amenacing sort of way. "Don't say that agin. Mind what I tell ye. Don'tsay it again--that's all. When I'm mad, I'm not myself."

  "Is that so? I s'pose I'm wrong agin, an' you're right. Tell me this.What did yer fool leg'slature in Vi'ginya do th' other day?"

  "I don't know," murmured Jim. "What did they do?"

  "There y' are agin. I thought y' knew it all. Think y' know ev'rythin'an' y' know nothin'. Passed a resolution fur a Papist priest, didn'tthey?"

  "And why?" pronounced Jim, flushed with anger, his lower lip quiveringwith emotion. "'Cause he did more fur his country, than you or I'll everdo. Father Gibault! And if it wazn't fur him, Colonel Clark'd never hevop'nd th' Northwest."

  "That's just what I say. The Papists'll soon own the whole damncountry."

  Stephen and Mr. Allison moved as if to join the discussion, which had atthis juncture become loud enough to lose the character of intimacy. Jimwas well known to the guests of the house. The man who was known asForrest, was, it was plain from his uniform, a Colonel in the army. Theother man was a stranger. Much younger than his companion, tall, manly,clad in a suit of black, with his hair in full dress, well-powdered andgathered behind in a large silken bag, he gave every appearance ofculture and refinement. He wore a black cocked hat, whose edges wereadorned with a black feather about an inch in depth, his knees as wellas his shoes adorned with silver buckles.

  "If they did own th' country," was Jim's grave reply, "we'd hev ahealthier place to live in than we now hev."

  "An' whose doin' it?" shouted Forrest. "The Papists."

  "Thou liest!" interrupted Mr. Allison, intruding himself into theirmidst, "a confounded lie. Remember, the Catholics have given their allto this war--their goods, their money, their sons."

  "Heigh-ho! who're you?" asked the soldier. "What d' you know 'bout thearmy? Hardly 'nough 'f them to go aroun'."

  "A malicious untruth. Why, half the rebel army itself is reported tohave come from Ireland."

  "How do you know?"

  "From the testimony of General Robertson in the House of Lords. And ifthese soldiers are Irishmen, you can wager they're Catholics. And whyshould we pass laws 'gainst these crowds of Irish Papists and convictswho are yearly poured upon us, unless they were Catholic convictsfleeing from the laws of persecution?"

  "What ails ye, Forrest," rejoined Jim, "can't be cured."

  "Take care 'f yourself," angrily retorted the Colonel, "an' I'll takecare o' myself."

  "If ye did, and yer likes did the same, we'd git along better and thewar'd be over. I s'pose ye know that yer friend Jay lost Canada to us."

  "What if he did. Wazn't he right?"

  And then he explained to him.

  II

  Canada had been surrendered to England by France in a clause of theTreaty of Paris in 1763, with a stipulation, however, that the people ofthe territory in question would be permitted the free use of the Frenchlanguage, the prescriptions of the French code of laws, and the practiceof the Catholic religion.

  South of this region and west of the English colonies between the Ohioand the Mississippi rivers, stretched a vast expanse of territory knownas the Northwest Territory, where dwelt a large population without laws,with no organized form of government save the mere caprices of pettymilitary tyrants, placed over them by the various seaboard colonies whoseverally laid claim to the district. At the request of the people ofCanada it was voted by the English Parliament to reanne
x the territorynorthwest of the Ohio to Canada and to permit the settlers to share inthe rights and privileges of the Canadian province. This was effected bythe Quebec Act in 1774.

  It was truly a remarkable concession. The inhabitants of this vaststretch of territory were freed for all time from the tyranny ofmilitary despots, their lands and churches secured to them and theirpriests given a legal title to their tithes. It was the freest exerciseof the Catholic religion under the laws of the English Government.

  But what a storm of abuse and protestation was raised by the fanaticalportion of the Protestant population! The newspapers of the day aboundedwith articles, with songs and squibs against the King and HisParliament. The mother country witnessed no less virulent a campaignthan the colonies themselves. "We may live to see our churches," writesone writer to the _Pennsylvania Packet_, "converted into mass-houses,and our lands plundered of tithes for the support of a Popish clergy.The Inquisition may erect her standard in Pennsylvania and the city ofPhiladelphia may yet experience the carnage of St. Bartholomew's day."Processions were formed about the country and in some places the bust ofGeorge III, adorned with miter, beads and a pectoral cross, was carriedin triumphal march.

  The forms of protest found their way ultimately into the halls of theFirst American Congress which convened in Philadelphia in 1774. Therecent legislation was enumerated among the wrongs done the colonies bythe mother country. Feeling became so bitter that an address was issuedby the Congress on the fifth of September, 1774, "to the people of GreatBritain" saying: "We think the Legislature of Great Britain is notauthorized by the Constitution to establish a religion, fraught withsanguinary and impious tenets, or to erect an arbitrary form ofgovernment in any quarter of the globe." "By another act the Dominion ofCanada is to be extended, modeled and governed, as that being disunitedfrom us, detached from our interests by civil as well as religiousprejudices, that by their numbers daily swelling with Catholic emigrantsfrom Europe, and by their devotion to administration so friendly totheir religion, they might become formidable to us, and on occasion befit instruments in the hands of power to reduce the ancient freeProtestant colonies to the same state of slavery with themselves."Little did they think that the breach they were attempting to heal waswidened by their procedure. The author of the address was John Jay, alawyer from New York, with whom Papaphobia was a mania.

  Nor did the failure of this method of diplomacy become apparent untilseveral years later. The measure of appreciation and the expression ofsentiment of the Canadian people in regard to this ill-timed andunchristian address, conceived in a fit of passion and by no meansrepresentative of the sentiments of the saner portion of the population,took expression at a more critical time. When, in 1776, the members ofthe same Congress, viewing with alarm the magnitude of the struggle uponwhich they had entered and to whose success they had pledged theirhonor, their fortunes and their lives, sought to enlist the resources oftheir neighbors in Canada, they met with a sudden and calamitousdisappointment. To effect an alliance with the border brethren, threecommissioners were appointed--Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, andCharles Carroll of Carrollton. Father John Carroll, a Jesuit priest, wasinvited by the Congress to accompany the party.

  Arriving in Canada, it soon became evident to the committee, that theirmission was to be unproductive of results. The government did not takekindly to them, nor would the Bishop of Quebec and his clergy trust thevague expressions of the United Colonies, whose statute books, theypointed out, still bore the most bitter and unchristian sentimentsagainst all priests and adherents of the ancient church. Bigotry hadapparently defeated their purpose. How it had done this was still quiteobscure, until it was discovered that the British Government had takenJohn Jay's address, translated it into French and spread it broadcastthroughout Canada. "Behold the spirit of the Colonists," it went on toremind the people, "and if you join forces with them, they will turn onyou and extirpate your religion, in the same manner as they did in theCatholic colony of Maryland."

  The effect is historical. The commissioners were compelled to return;the brave Montgomery was killed before the walls of the city; Canada waslost to the Colonies and forever forfeited as an integral part of theUnited States; all of which was due to the narrowness and intolerance ofthose who in the supreme hour could not refrain from the fanaticism ofbigotry.

  It must be said, however, out of justice to the colonists that they didnot persist in their spirit of antagonism towards the Catholics. Thecommencement of the struggle against the common foe, together with thesympathetic and magnanimous concurrence of the Catholics with thepatriots in all things, soon changed their prejudice in favor of a moreunited and vigorous effort in behalf of their joint claims. The despisedPapists now became ardent and impetuous patriots. The leaders in thegreat struggle soon began to reflect an added luster to the nation thatgave them birth and to the Church which taught them devotion to theirland. The rank and file began to swarm with men of the Catholic faith,so many, indeed, that their great Archbishop, John Carroll, could writeof them that "their blood flowed as freely (in proportion to theirnumbers) to cement the fabric of independence, as that of any of theirfellow citizens. They concurred with perhaps greater unanimity than anyother body of men in recommending and promoting that government fromwhose influence America anticipates all the blessings of justice, peace,plenty, good order, and civil and religious liberty."

  Only among the few was the spirit of intolerance still rampant, andamong these might be numbered Colonel Forrest.

  III

  "See now who's t' blame, don't ye? The likes o' ye an' that poltroon,Jay, up there in New York. See who started this affair, don't ye?"

  "That's what you say. Egad, I could say all that an' save half thebreath. I've got my 'pinion, though, and that'll do fur me."

  "Ye're so narrow, Forrest, ye've only one side."

  "Is that so? Well, so is the Governor."

  "Is that his opinion, too?" impatiently asked Mr. Allison.

  "What?"

  "Does he view matters in that light?"

  "Did I say he did."

  "Yes."

  There was no further response.

  Stephen had, by this time, become thoroughly exasperated with this man,and was about to eject him forcibly from the room. His better judgment,however, bade him restrain himself. A tilt in a public drinking housewould only noise his name abroad and perhaps give rise to muchunpleasantness.

  "How can a man consistently be subject to any civil ruler when healready has pledged his allegiance, both in soul and in body, to anotherpotentate?"

  This from the man in black, the fourth member of the party, whoheretofore had maintained an impartial and respectful silence, not somuch from choice perhaps as through necessity. His name proved to beJohn Anderson.

  "You mean an alien?" Stephen inquired.

  "If you are pleased so to term it. The Pope is a temporal lord, youunderstand, and as such is due allegiance from every one of hissubjects."

  And then Stephen took pains to explain, clearly and concisely, the greatdifference between the two authorities--the civil and the religious. ThePrince of Peace had said, "Render unto Caeesar the things that areCaeesar's, and to God the things that are God's," which declarationadmitted of an interpretation at once comprehensive and exclusive. Heexplained how the Catholic found himself a member of two distinct andperfect societies, each independent and absolute within its own sphere,the one deriving its charter from the natural law, the other directlyfrom God. He then pointed out how these societies lived in perfectharmony, although armed with two swords, the one spiritual, the othertemporal, weapons which were intended never to clash but to fight sideby side for the promotion of man's happiness, temporal and eternal.

  "But it is inconceivable how a clash can be avoided," Mr. Andersonreminded him.

  "Not when it is remembered that each authority is independent of theother. The Church has no power over civil legislation in matters purelysecular, nor has the state a right to interfere in e
cclesiasticallegislation, in matters purely spiritual, nor over spiritual personsconsidered strictly as such. In every Catholic country the King, as wellas the humblest peasant, is subject to the laws of his country insecular matters, and to the laws of his church in matters spiritual."

  "Yet at the same time he cannot fail to recognize that the one issuperior to the other."

  "Only in so far as the spiritual order is superior to the secular."

  "Not in temporal affairs as well?"

  "Not in the least. Only in the recognition of the fact that thesalvation of the soul is of more importance than the welfare of thebody. In this is the mission of the state considered inferior to that ofthe Church."

  "If this be true, how can a Catholic pay allegiance to a society whichhe believes to be a subordinate one?"

  "He does not consider it subordinate. It is supreme within its ownsphere. Theoretically it is subordinate in this: that the care of thesoul comes first; then that of the body. The state is the greatestinstitution in matters secular, and in this respect superior to theChurch. The Church makes no pretense of infallibility in statesmanship.Hence, a Catholic who is true to his Church and her teachings makes thebest citizen."

  "Why?"

  "Because, to him, patriotism is inculcated by religion. Throughout hiswhole life his soul has been nurtured by his Church on a twofoldpabulum,--love of God and love of country."

  "The Catholic Church expressly teaches that? I thought----"

  "Exactly," agreed Stephen, interrupting him. "The Catholic has beentaught that the civil authority, to which he owes and pays allegiance,is something divine; for him it is the authority of God vested in Hiscreatures and he gives ear to its voice and yields to it a sweet andhumble submission as befits a child of God, doing His Will in allthings. For he recognizes therein the sound of the Divine Voice."

  "I see."

  "He remembers the teaching of his Church, derived from the words of St.Paul writing on this subject to the citizens of Rome, 'Let every man besubject to higher powers, for there is no power but from God; and thosethat are, are ordained of God,' and the letter of St. Peter, the firstPope, 'Be ye subject, therefore, to every human creature for God's sake;whether it be to the king as excelling; or to governors as sent byhim--for so is the will of God.'"

  "You must have been reading the Bible," interrupted Mr. Allison with asmile.

  "I have," answered Stephen, as he continued with little or no attentionto the interruption.

  "The Catholic obeys the voice of his rightly constituted authoritybecause he feels that he is obeying the voice of his God, and when heyields obedience to the law of his land, he feels that he is yieldingobedience to God Himself. His ruler is the mouthpiece of God; theConstitution of his state a most sacred thing because it is theembodiment of the authority of God and he would rather die than commitany untoward or unlawful deed which might undermine or destroy it,precisely because it is from God."

  There was no response. All had listened with attention to Stephen as heemphasized point after point. All, save Colonel Forrest, who wore asardonic smile throughout it all.

  "You should 've talked like that on Guy Fawkes' Day," he muttered, "ifyou wanted t' hev some fun. We'd hev some hot tar fur you."

  "Thank God!" replied Stephen. "We shall witness no more such outbreaksof fanaticism. They have long enough disgraced our country. They are, Itrust, forever ended."

  "The Pope Day Celebration ended?" asked Anderson in surprise.

  "I hope so. Since General Washington issued the order soon after takingcommand of the army, abolishing the celebration, the practice has neverbeen resumed."

  "Wash'ton thinks he owns th' country," mumbled Forrest in a halfarticulate manner. "Likes th' Papists, he does. No more Pope Day!Cath'lic gen'rals! French al-lies! P'rhaps 'll send fur th' Pope next.Give 'm 'is house, p'rhaps. Give 'im th' whole coun'ry. No damn good tous, he ain't. No damn good----"

  The next moment Stephen was upon him with his hands about his throat,his face flaming with rage and passion.

  "You hound! No more of that; or your treason will end forever."

  He shook his head violently, tightening his fingers about his throat. Ashe did, Forrest writhing in the chair under his attack, began to fumblewith his hand at his hip as if instinctively seeking something there.Stephen's eyes followed the movement, even while he, too, relaxed hishold to seize with his free hand the arm of his adversary. Only for amoment, however; for he immediately felt himself seized from behind bythe shoulders and dragged backwards from his man and completelyoverpowered.

  The man who was known as Anderson took charge of the Colonel, helpinghim to his feet, and without further words led him to one side of theroom, talking softly but deliberately to him as he did so.

  A moment later they had passed through the door and vanished down thestreet in the direction of the Square.