[An example of Protestant literature encouraging the "evangelization" of French Canadians.]

Your Heritage; or New England Threatened

Rev. Calvin E[lijah] Amaron, A.M.
President of the French Protestant College, Springfield, Mass.

Springfield, Mass.
French Protestant College
1891

[French Protestant College is now known as American International College]

(i)

TO MY MOTHER

Whose noble life has been spent in scattering the light
of the Gospel among the French Canadians
of Canada,
whose strong and saintly character
has left its impress on so many lives, and whose memory
will ever be sacred to her
children, with profound gratitude and affection
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.

(iii)

PUBLISHERS' NOTICE.

At the beginning of the college year 1890-91, the Students' Missionary Society of the French Protestant College, made arrangements with the president of the institution, for a course of lectures to be given monthly in different churches of the city, on the French Canadian immigration problem.

Several requests having come from the students and others, that these lectures be published in book form, the society has sought and obtained the consent of the author, to give them to the public.

President Amaron has consequently enlarged his plan; he has added many details and introduced various topics which it was impossible for him to touch in his lectures.

The Students' Missionary Society offers this book to the public, assured that it will meet a felt want, in communicating much valuable information on a problem of absorbing interest, bearing as it does on one of the most vital questions now before the country.

(v)

(vii)

INTRODUCTION.

By Rev. Joshua Coit, Secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society.

The importance of the French-Canadian problem in New England can hardly be overstated. The present number of French Canadians in New England (in Massachusetts one twelfth of the whole population); their certain increase, both by immigration and by propagation; the openly declared purposes of those who control the great mass of this people as no other class in our land is controlled:--all unite to make this problem a present and pressing one. The French already begin, not only to feel, but also to boast of the strength of their numbers. The Boston Herald of June 25 1891 in its very full report of the "Fęte Nationale" held by the French Canadians in Pawtucket R.I. on St. Jean Baptiste's day, June 24, credits an ex-Mayor of Pawtucket with saying: "Mr. Thibault, in his address in French, made a remark that I have heard in English many times to-day. "Here are the future rulers of the country." This is because there is no other race more prolific than the French Canadian unless it be the Irish." These are significant words uttered by one, repeated by many and endorsed by a mayor of no mean city.

It may seem foolish to pay any heed to what should be looked upon simply as the idle boast of a Fęte-day orator. But the same hope or expectation crops out in many ways

(viii)

and in many places. Formerly and until recently the order from the bishops and priests to this people was "Do not become citizens in the states, but return with your gains to your old homes in Canada". And the order was obeyed and the French were a shifting, restless class among us. But now the word has gone forth: "Become citizens" and this is obeyed. The French are buying farms and homes. Many have become voters already and very many more have taken out the first papers. This means that there is gathering among us a large mass of voters more pliant and obedient than ever the Irish were to be controlled by orders from their superiors. Great care is taken by the Romish priests, not only through the parochial schools but also from their pulpits, to keep these people well in hand. That they succeed so well is to be accounted for not simply by the ignorance of the people, though this is deplorable, but also by their piety, which is admirable. The danger to our land of this state of things among any considerable portion of the people is plain and will become plainer as the years go by. What risks are in store for our civil and religious liberties. What confusion between public and parochial schools. What conflicts at the ballot box.

This book assures us that the warfare has already begun and brings before the public an array of facts that should be considered by every lover of his country. Make what abatement you please on account of the enthusiasm of the author, there still remains uncontrovertible evidence of peril.

If New England is to maintain its high standing in our land as a home of intelligence, education and religion, she must recognize the changes that are taking place from year to year and awake to the danger of an imperium in imperio.

Let the French Canadians be truly Americanized and

(ix)

freed from subjection to a foreign power and by their industry and frugality they will add strength to our strength. But kept distinct in language and religion, told by those to whom they listen to remain French, they add weakness.

There is no better way to Americanize them than by the influence of Christian education. They seven French Protestant churches under Congregational auspices in Massachusetts, the missions under other denominations, the French Protestant newspaper and the French Protestant College are all in the way to do great service to the State by moulding the characters of those who, if the prophecy of the Pawtucket orator be true, are to be the future rulers of the country.

Boston, Mass., June 25th, 1891.

Philosophers tell us that the three great bonds which bind peoples together are community of race, language and religion. The French Canadians are separated from us by difference of religion, language, and race, and by far the most important of these differences is that of religion. Remove that difference, and they will be speedily Americanized.

Manifestly there is an irreconcilable difference between papal principles and the fundamental principles of our free institutions. Popular government is self-government. A nation is capable of self-government only so far as the individuals who compose it are capable of self-government.--Rev. Josiah Strong, D.D.

The Facts concerning the enormous immigration of French Catholics from Canada, the attempts to control them here by Jesuit influences, and the access of the gospel to some of them, are astonishing.--Rev. Wolcott Calkins, D.D.

(x)

(xi)

PREFACE

The closing years of this century are to be a crucial epoch for this great American nation. During this period certain things must be done. They cannot be deferred.

The growth of the nation or its decadence, will depend largely on what is done or left undone, by way of solving great and perplexing problems, the magnitude and importance of which, are realized by few.

The rapid growth and prosperity of the American republic, has engendered an unhealthy optimism. It is thought by thousands who are generally reckoned as cautious and thoughtful, that the nation rests on foundations absolutely immovable. It is imagined that the grand and noble institutions to which the nation owes its past greatness, are proof against all adverse powers. They are so strongly established that they will stand even when left unprotected.

This optimism constitutes a source of danger and weakness. It leads men to underestimate the strength of opposing influences and principles. It makes them indifferent to the great changes which are taking place in the nation. They are unwilling to read and thus make themselves acquainted with stubborn facts, which if known, would have the tendency of opening the eyes. When others raise the

(xii)

voice of warning, basing their fears on facts they know, they are not believed.

It is a mistake to think, that foundations are all laid at once, and once for all. Foundations decay, or again they become too weak for the superstructure and must be replaced by others stronger and more adequate.

This decade is in a sense, a foundation epoch. Time has impaired some of the pillars the Pilgrims and Puritans rightly considered to be indispensable to the stability and real growth of the nation. The public schools have been so secularized, that they have the tendency of leaving the children of foreigners, whose imperfect faith they are instrumental in destroying, without any faith at all. Their mission is not to teach religion.

Again, new wants have developed, unknown to the founders of the country. To meet these, new methods of work are imperatively demanded. Institutions with aims similar to those founded by the fathers, but radically different in their methods of work, are required by the new state of things around us. The time to lay the new foundations is to-day. Five years hence, the wisdom of doing now what God asks of us, will be very manifest.

It will be the aim of the author of this little and unpretentious book, to call the attention of unselfish and Christian politicians, of reformers and educationalists, of lovers of God, of humanity and of native land, to the important question of French Canadian immigration in New England and the United States.

For reasons which we will endeavor to make clear, it has become the conviction of a good many leading minds in this country, that New England has a somewhat important not to say, serious problem to face, connected as it is, with the

(xiii)

Irish and other Roman Catholic immigrant populations that are filling up the land, and the views of which in matters religious, educational and political are in almost every particular opposed to the fundamental principles which must necessarily govern a Protestant republic.

It is our hope and prayer, that a new impetus may be given to the work of evangelization so auspiciously begun among the French speaking population of this country, the results of which have gladdened many hearts.

We are satisfied that a vast field of usefulness is opening before us, that it is already ripe for the harvest, and that as soon as the Christian public has become acquainted with the facts pertaining thereunto, and that wise and judicious as well as practical methods are suggested for the evangelization and Americanizing of these oppressed and downtrodden multitudes, the help required will not be slow in coming.

It is our purpose to furnish some information on this important question, to the many who ask for it and whom we have not been able to satisfy because we had not in a tangible form what was desired. We have tried to gather the most important facts, and we give them to the public in the hope that God's work may be helped thereby.

Calvin E. Amaron.

French Protestant College, July, 1891.

(xv)

CONTENTS.

PART I.

THE INVADING FORCE.

CHAPTER I.
OUR PURPOSE.

A plea for the evangelization of the French Canadians because they have not yet the Gospel. A patriotic as well as religious movement. French Canadians not becoming Americanized, but drifting into infidelity. New England called to do for herself what she is doing for the West and foreign field. We must not forget the great changes which have taken place. The ship of state is in danger but yet safe if we do our duty.

CHAPTER II.
OUR ATTITUDE.

We love the French Canadian Roman Catholics and desire to give them the Gospel, educate them that they may become prosperous American citizens. Impossibility for them to attain unto this, whilst under ultramontane rule. Americanism and Ultramontanism mutually destructive. The Gospel alone can solve this problem.

(xvi)

CHAPTER III.
SOME OF THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE INVADING FORCE.

The descendants of the French Canadians are the best of colonists, actuated by the best of motives. Privileges and advantages enjoyed by the Romish church. Protestant England's sad neglect and its results. New England's present opportunity. Why the Americans should warmly espouse this evangelistic cause. French help in time of war. Huguenot influence in America. Influence of French Protestant theology on New England.

CHAPTER IV.
SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INVADING FORCE.

The French Canadians a desirable portion of our foreign population. How we should form our estimate of a people. Many uneducated because Rome would not educate them. She must be held responsible and must not be allowed to do here what she has done in Canada. French Canadians intelligent, polite, religious. French Canadian literature comparatively rich. This population offers one of the most promising fields for missionary work. How the first missionaries found the people when they began their work. Instances of Romish superstition. Gratifying results of missionary efforts. Duty of the American church to care for the converts driven from Canada to New England by persecution.

CHAPTER V.
THE NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE INVADING FORCE.

Sources of information, United States census and Roman Catholic clergy. French speaking people 1,000,000 in the United States, about 500,000 in New England and New York. Strength in other states. Immigration is destined to increase. Errors as to its causes. True reason, the crushing burdens imposed by Rome upon the people. Burdens enumerated. Practical establishment of the church of Rome in Quebec, tithes, taxes. People fairly crushed. Wealth of the church enormous.

(xvii)

Statistics given. Results: decline of population by exodus to the United States. Canadian statesmen admit they are powerless in checking it.

CHAPTER VI.
THE PROBABLE FUTURE GROWTH OF THE INVADING FORCE.

There can be no doubt as to the increase of the French in New England. 1. Because the state of things which has produced this large immigration is more pronounced than ever. 2. Because the French clergy no longer oppose but rather favor the movement, because they hope to realize their dream of national predominance over New England. The French parochial schools are creating a French Ultramontane colony in New England, a foreign state within our state. 3. Because the French race increases much more rapidly than the American. The priests explore this mine. Extraordinary figures, one family numbers seven hundred descendants. Premier Mercier's estimate of the strength of this population in 1891 and fifty years hence. Decadence of the Yankee family. Serious consequences unless the French are converted to the Gospel and to American modes of thought. Three alternatives, one of which must be chosen: Romish rule, infidelity or conversion to evangelical truth.

CHAPTER VII.
ITS AIMS AND PURPOSES FOR THE FUTURE.

French Protestants in full sympathy with American institutions. Some of their persecutions. French Canadian nationality no bar to unification. The obstacles lie in Romanism. The pope rules the French Romanist. His aim is to please him first, then if he can, the republic. Plan of clergy: to prevent the fusion of races, keep the French as they are, and in time create a New France on American soil. Racial troubles in Canada caused by the Romish clergy. They may end in a war. The French settling here. M. Rameau's view. Real estate in the hands of Canadians in New England over $18,000,000. A word of warning.

(xviii)

PART II.

THE ALLIES AND ENGINES OF WAR OF THIS FORCE.

CHAPTER I.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY.

We are engaged in a real conflict. The powers of medićvalism are arrayed against the American civilization of the nineteenth century. The French clergy the leading force. Two classes of priests, the sincere men and those who are not. Both classes are striving to keep the French under the power of ecclesiasticism. The priests are the sworn enemies of the assimilation of the races. Their interference with the religious liberty of the people. Their interested motives.

CHAPTER II.
THE LIBERAL WING OF THE LAITY.

French liberals in losing faith in Romanism, lose all faith. Self-interest becomes the governing principle of their life. They become Rome's allies because of the profit it brings them. Majority of educated French belong to that class. They need the goodwill of the masses and these are under the priests. The liberalizing influences of this country, without the Gospel, lead thousands of French Canadians into infidelity. The Gospel alone can save them.

CHAPTER III.
WEAK AND UNINFORMED PROTESTANTS.

The weakness of our Protestantism constitutes Rome's strength. Uninformed Protestants help Rome to hurt this country. The character, aims and purposes of French Ultramontanism are not known in New England. Hard to convince the Americans of the danger. Let them inform themselves. Rome is building on their good faith. There is too great a fear of Rome on the part of ministers, business and professional men and

(xix)

especially politicians. They refuse to help to evangelize the French but build up Romish institutions. Sympathy and help refused our converts, Romish clerks get all the best places. Source of weakness and danger. A word of timely warning.

CHAPTER IV.
SELF-SEEKING POLITICIANS.

Politicians the allies of French Ultramontanism. Rome rules Canada. New England becoming her slave. The secular press is gagged on these vital questions. The public are not given the information needed. No reports can be obtained and Rome can work in the dark. Words of commendation for Rome have a prominent place. Mercenary considerations and political exigencies.

CHAPTER V.
ENGINES OF WARFARE.
I.--THE FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

French Romanism works after a well-defined plan. It plants its churches everywhere it can and instills the old ideas. From the pulpit the people are warned against the dangers of assimilation. The priest gets much information about Protestants through the confessional. Unwise Protestants build French Romish churches instead of giving these people the Gospel.

II.--THE FRENCH PAROCHIAL SCHOOL.

Duty of the state to make inquiries about these. The French hierarchy the sworn enemy of the public school system. They hate these schools because they do not make Romanists but Americans. Purpose of the parochial school: to prevent the French from becoming enlightened American citizens. They are a menace to the state. They will bring this country to the same sad state as Canada. They will make rebels of the French. More than time to face this most serious problem.

(xx)

III.--THE FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRESS.

A powerful agency. Large number of French papers. Edited by men who have no faith in Romanism but yet help it. Having lost all faith they have no principles. They do as Rome bids them do because it pays. Many could not live otherwise. All criticisms of the church suppressed. American institutions abused and misrepresented. Masses deceived and ill-directed. Protestants reviled especially French Protestants. Extracts. Source of danger among the uneducated masses.

IV.--THE NATIONAL CONVENTIONS.

Romish centralization. French societies formed and gathered into state and general conventions. Sanctioned by American officials because they are unaware of the purposes of these conventions. Governor of New Hampshire. What are these conventions? Anti-Protestant, anti-American gatherings, from which French Protestant Canadians are excluded. The priests the leading spirits. Purposes: Establishment of parochial schools, preservation of language, manners, customs, traditions of Quebec among the French of New England and the creation of a New France here. These conventions are a source of danger.

103

V.--THE NATURALIZATION CLUBS.

Opposition of clergy to naturalization. The French now being here to stay, the priests desire the help of their vote. The naturalization movement now favored. Policy changed. They become voters but not American citizens. Important difference. French naturalization clubs one of Rome's strongest engines of war against our American civilization, because the French voters are the blind tools of Rome. The priests will sell them to either party. Protestant education among the French alone can solve the problem.

112

(xxi)

PART III.

THE CONQUEST OF THIS FORCE.

CHAPTER I.
THE NATURE OF OUR WARFARE.

The inevitableness of the conflict. It is forced upon the people of this nation. Its institutions must be protected. love for the French Canadians forces us into it. We wish to set them free. The warfare is not a carnal one. We fight for moral and educational reforms. We consider this warfare to be: 1. Necessary, because of the insufficiency of Romanism as a system of religion. Brief sketch of Romish teachings. 2. Justifiable, because of Rome's utter failure to make of French Canada a prosperous nation. A parallel between New France and New England. 3. God-imposed. It is our duty to save this people. God will hold us responsible if we fail to do it. The safety of the nation demands it.

116

CHAPTER II.
OUR METHODS OF WARFARE.--MISSIONARY WORK.

Our first work consists in removing prejudices and communicating knowledge. The French Canadians have a misconception of Protestantism. Examples. Personal house-to-house work needed. Distribution of the Bible. Cottage-meetings. Meetings on the plan of Mr. M'All's in France. Use of the stereopticon views. The students of the college can do much valuable work. Our forces should be economized by a proper division of the missionary field. The field awaits the worker.

130

CHAPTER III.
OUR METHODS OF WARFARE.--CHURCH WORK.

The formation of churches for foreigners is for the time being a necessity. Objections refuted. Brief history of the French Protestant church movement in Massachusetts. Number of churches. Membership. Sunday schools. Character of these churches; first French, then bi-ling-

(xxii)

ual, finally wholly American. Rome's opposition to this. Reason why we approve of this movement. The best way to advance the welfare of our nationality. 'Tis wisdom for Americans to help us. Problem of hilltown churches. Partial solution of it.

140

CHAPTER IV.
OUR METHODS OF WARFARE.--PUBLICATION WORK.

Power of the press. The wisdom of using it in this work. Its long felt need. Foundation of Le Semeur Franco-Américain. Its history. The formation of the French Evangelical Publishing Society. Its officers. By whom it is indorsed. The work it contemplates. 1. Publication of tracts, pamphlets and literature adapted to present needs. 2. The publication of a weekly paper, Le Citoyen Franco-Américain. Its mission: (a) To represent the work of French evangelization. (b) To act as a family paper among our converts. (c) To act as a missionary among those scattered all over the land. (d) To rectify the wrong statements made by the French Catholic press. (e) To reach thousands whom no other agency can reach. Its influence for good cannot be overestimated.

156

CHAPTER V.
OUR METHODS OF WARFARE.--EDUCATIONAL WORK.
THE FRENCH PROTESTANT COLLEGE.

I. --ITS HISTORY.

The first steps taken. The idea of a college not thought of at first. The first efforts meet with opposition because of a misconception of the purposes of the founders. First year of labor one of trial and difficulties. Obstacles removed. Brighter hopes and assurance of ultimate success. Removal to Springfield, Mass.

169

II. --ITS CHIEF AIMS.

To give a course of education that will fit the French Canadian population for citizenship. The character of this education. 1. It must be Christian and especially

(xxiii)

so, for the population we deal with. Early training deficient. Rome has left the young men without any faith. The college must give them moral and religious culture. Much must be undone before the work of building can begin. 2. To supplement the work done by the mission churches. Pastors need help. Converts must be taught before they can teach. The home training is inadequate. The College has new foundations to lay. 3. To prepare young men for Christian service, as lay-workers, evangelists, missionaries and teachers. The broad field the college has before it.

180

III. --ITS PLAN OF WORK.

The domestic arrangements; what work is required of the students. Benefits derived. Course of studies and Faculty. Languages taught. Religious life and the place the Bible occupies; how it is taught. Daily worship and how conducted. Church attendance. Chapel service and students' missionary society and work.

190

IV. --ITS PRESENT STATUS.

As an institution of learning. Its board of management. Its location. Its buildings and grounds. The public consideration accorded it. Its sources of revenue.

[198]

V. --ITS BROADER AIMS

To offer young women the same advantages as young men enjoy. A regular college course. Course of instruction in house-keeping, including sewing and cooking. Preparation of a body of educated, cultured and refined French Canadian young women for the home and for the church.

[198]

VI. --ITS PRESSING NEEDS

New buildings are required and an endowment fund. Additions to the teaching staff in the preparatory and college departments. A scholarship fund required to aid needy students. The prospects for a strong and powerful institution are encouraging.

201

[To part one]