Page:Notes of the Mexican war 1846-47-48.djvu/287

Rh of these numerous sacrifices. All the revolutions since Cortez' rule were caused by the Catholic Church rule, and it will be continued on as long as the vara (rod) of this church is held over their heads.

There is no liberty here; the high priest of the Catholic Church crushes the liberties of its people; and I have never heard that a country ever prospered where a religious power rules or governs. Look at Rome, for instance—one time the finest and richest, as well as one of the most wicked cities in the world. The most cruel, perfidious, licentious, and abandoned, and generally speaking, the wickedest men and women the world ever saw, figured in the history of the Eternal City. Literally, there were monsters in those days, and the greatest monsters were the priest and patrician, and not the plebeians or humble citizens. Oh, yes! look at whole Italy, once so grand and noble, once the acknowledged ruler, held sway over nearly all the known world, as she sat in royal grandeur, enthroned on her seien hills, now a miserable waste, divided into petty sovereignties, and a by-word for guilt and degradation; all its glory and wealth has forever been banished by the system of the Roman Catholic Church, the sworn foe of religious liberty. Oh, yes! look at this city of Puebla—a fair and a most beautiful and the best planned city I have ever seen, situated in one of the most fertile and richest countries on earth; yet, see the degradation and misery that prevails amongst its people—all under the Catholic rule, composed of the most ignorant, bigoted, and superstitious men in the world.

Saturday, September 11, 1847.—This morning, on dress parade, the sentence was pronounced on those convicts by the court-martial, which broke up last evening. After the parade we entered upon the solemn duty of consigning our lamented comrade, Jacob Danner, to his final and long resting place; from dust thou comest, and to dust thou must go. He was carried to the grave by four members of our company, viz.: Robert Eurick, Peter Ahl, William Patterson, and Thomas O'Neil. The flag of the First Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, surrounded the pall. The funeral was followed to the