Reform and Politics: Part 2 from The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume VIIWhittier, John Greenleaf
Religion
Reform and Politics: Part 2 from The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume VII
Whittier, John Greenleaf
United States -- Politics and government
The withdrawal of the temporal power of the Pope will prove a blessing to
the Catholic Church, as well as to the world. Many of its most learned
and devout priests and laymen have long seen the necessity of such a
change, which takes from it a reproach and scandal that could no longer
be excused or tolerated. A century hence it will have as few apologists
as the Inquisition or the massacre of St. Bartholomew.
In this hour of congratulation let us not forget those whose suffering
and self-sacrifice, in the inscrutable wisdom of Providence, prepared the
way for the triumph which we celebrate. As we call the long, illustrious
roll of Italian patriotism--the young, the brave, and beautiful; the
gray-haired, saintly confessors; the scholars, poets, artists, who, shut
out from human sympathy, gave their lives for God and country in the
slow, dumb agony of prison martyrdom--let us hope that they also rejoice
with us, and, inaudible to earthly ears, unite in our thanksgiving:
"Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! He hath avenged the
blood of his servants!"
In the belief that the unity of Italy and the overthrow of Papal rule
will strengthen the cause of liberty throughout the civilized' world, I
am very truly thy friend.
INDIAN CIVILIZATION.
THE present condition and future prospects of the remnants of the
aboriginal inhabitants of this continent can scarcely be a matter of
indifference to any class of the people of the United States. Apart from
all considerations of justice and duty, a purely selfish regard to our
own well-being would compel attention to the subject. The irreversible
laws of God's moral government, and the well-attested maxims of political
and social economy, leave us in no doubt that the suffering, neglect, and
wrong of one part of the community must affect all others. A common
responsibility rests upon each and all to relieve suffering, enlighten
ignorance, and redress wrong, and the penalty of neglect in this respect
no nation has ever escaped.
It is only within a comparatively recent period that the term Indian
Civilization could be appropriately used in this country. Very little
real progress bad been made in this direction, up to the time when
Commissioner Lang in 1844 visited the tribes now most advanced. So
little had been done, that public opinion had acquiesced in the
assumption that the Indians were not susceptible of civilization and
progress. The few experiments had not been calculated to assure a
superficial observer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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