their farms and barns filled with grain, well stocked with numerous herds of horned cattle, or with sheep and large bands of horses. Railroads and macadamized roads are crossing in all directions. English, Irish, German, French, emigrants from every country and from every clime, have come here in the hope of bettering their condition in life, a prospect which they could never realize in the country of their birth, owing chiefly to its dense population.
The moral aspect, however, of this country differs widely from the picture drawn of its material prosperity; for here all the European vices and crimes are found, I dare say, more deep and dark. The depraved, the criminals let loose, or who have escaped from justice, the vagabonds and scum of every country come here to find a congenial home and only serve to increase that moral disorganization which the numerous American Protestant sects, Mormonism included, were fomenting already so much by their destructive principles.
In a country which prides itself on its unbounded liberality and liberty we might have hoped that the Catholic religion, if not protected, would at least have been screened from persecution. This is no longer the case. A party has arisen under the name of " Know-nothings," the principal aim of which appears to be, should they be able to reach it, to crush our holy religion throughout the land. The members of this secret society are bound by abominable oaths and extend their innumerable branches through every State. It may be said, in general, that the ministers of all the different Protestant sects belong to it; many have become notorious by exciting the rioters in various parts to burn churches; to insult publicly priests and even religious ladies [sisters, nuns, etc.] ; they are trying every nerve to bring forward a code of anti-Catholic blue laws; and threaten to establish inquisitorial tribunals wherever their power might extend.
This picture, sad and shameful as it may appear in this nineteenth century, is not, however, without its better side. 92