Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/24

 BROWNSON

BROWNSON

Orestes Augus

not on natural, law, he objected to the testamentary and hereditary descent of property; and, what gave more offence than all the rest, he condemned the modern industrial system, especially the system of labour at wages. In all this he only carried out the doctrine of European Socialists and the Saint- Simonians. Democrats were horrified by the article; Whigs paraded it as what Democrats were aiming at; and Van Buren, who was a candi- date for a second term as President, blamed it as the main cause of his defeat. The man- ner in which he was assailed arous- ed Bro wnson's in- dignation, and he defended his essay with vigour in the following number of his "Review", and silenced the clam- ours against him, more than regain- ing the ground he had lost, so that he never c o m- manded more attention, or had a more promis- ing career open before him, than when, in 1844, he turned his back on honours and popularity to be- come a Catholic. At the end of 1842 the " Boston Quarterly Review" was merged in the "U. S. Demo- cratic Review", of New York, a monthly publication, to each number of which Brownson contributed, and in which he set forth the principles of "Synthetic Philosophy" and a series of essays. on the "Origin and Constitution of Government", which more than twenty years later he rewrote and published with the title of "The American Republic". The doc- trine of these essays provoked such repeated com- plaints from the editor of the "Democratic Review", that Brownson severed his connexion with that monthly and resumed the publication of his own review, changing the title from "Boston" to "Brownson's Quarterly Review". The first number was issued in January, 1844, and the last in October, 1875. From January, 1S65, to October, 1872, he suspended its publication.

The printed works of Brownson, other than con- tributions to his own and other journals, from the commencement of his preaching to the establishment of tliis review consisted of his sermons, orations, and other public addresses; his "New Views of Christianity, Society, and the Church" (Boston, l*v'.o), in which he objected to Protestantism that it is pure materialism, to Catholicism, that it is mere spiritualism, and exalts his "Church of the Future" as tin- synthesis of both; "Charles Elwood" (Boston, 1840), in which the infidel hero becomes a convert to what the author rails Christianity and makes as little removed as possible from bald' deism; and "The Mediatorial Life of Jesus" (Boston, 1842), which is almost Catholic, and contains a doctrine of life which leads i" the door of the Catholic Church. Be soon

alter applied to the Bishop of Boston for admission, anil in October, 1844, was received by the Coadjutor Bishop, John B. Fitzpatrick.

I'h.' Catholic body in the United States was at

that time largely composed of men anil women of

the labouring cla. who had emigrated from a coun- try in which they ami their forefathers had suffered cent iiiies ,,f persecution for the Faith, and hail too long felt themselves a down-trodden people to be able

to lift their countenances with the fearless indepen- dence of Americans; or. if they were better-to-do, feared to make their religion prominent and extended to those of other faiths the liberal treatment they hoped for in return. It was Brownson's first labour to change all this. He engaged at once in contro- versy with the organs of the various Protestant sects on one hand, and against liberalism, latitudinarian- ism, and political atheism of Catholics, on the other. The American people, prejudiced against Catholicity, and opposed to Catholics, were rendered more preju- diced and opposed by their tame and apologetic tone in setting forth and defending their Faith, and were delighted to find Catholics labouring to soften the severities and to throw off whatever appeared ex- clusive or rigorous in their doctrine. But Brown- son resolved to stand erect; let his tone be firm and manly, his voice clear and distinct, his speech strong and decided. So well did he carry out this resolu- tion, and so able and intrepid an advocate did he prove in defence of the Faith, that he merited a letter of approbation and encouragement from the Bishops of the United States assembled in Plenary Council at Baltimore, in May, 1S49, and from Pope Pius IX, in April, 1854. In October, 1855, Brownson changed his residence to New York, and his "Review" was ever after published there — although, after 1857, he made his home in Elizabeth, New Jersey, till 1S75, when he went to live in Detroit, where he died in the following April. A little over a year before moving to New York, he wrote, "The Spirit Rapper" (Bos- ton, 1854), a book in the form of a novel and a biogra- phy, showing the connexion of spiritism with modern philanthropy, visionary reforms, socialism, revolu- tionism; with the aim of recalling the age to faith in the Gospel. His next book, written in New York. was "The Convert; or, Leaves from my Experience'' (Xew York, 1857), tracing with fidelity his entire religious life down to his admission to the bosom of the Catholic Church.

Brownson had not been many years in New York before the influence of those Catholics with whom he mainly associated was perceptible in the tone of his writings, in the milder and almost conciliatory attitude towards those not of the Faith, which led many of his old admirers to fear he was becoming a "liberal Catholic". At the same time, the Wai of the Rebellion having broken out, he was most earnest in denouncing Secession and urging its sup- pression, and as a means to this, the abolition of slavery. This alienated all his Southern and many of his Northern supporters. Domestic affliction was added by the death of his two sons in the summer of 1864. In these circumstances, he felt unable to go on with his "Review", and in October of that year announced its discontinuance. But he did not sit idle. During the eight years that followed, he wrote "The American Republic; Its Constitution. Tendencies, and Destiny" (New York, 1865); leading articles in the New York "Tablet", continued till within a few months of his death; several series of articles in "The \\ e Maria"; generally one or two articles a month in "The Catholic World"; and, instructed by the "Syllabus of Errors" condemned by Pope Pius IX. ' Conversations on Liberalism and the Church" (New York, 1869), a small book which shows that if. for a short period of his Catholic life, he parleyed with Liberalism, he hail too much horror of it to embrace it. In January, lsTo. "Brownson's Quarterly Re- view" appeared again and regularly thereafter till the end ot 1875 Hi- la-1 article was contributed to

the "American Catholic Quarterly Review", for

January, 1876. Brownson always disclaimed having

originated any system of philosophy and acknowl- edged freely whatever he borrowed from Others; but he had worked out and arrived at substantially the philosophy of his later writings before he ever