THE ALARM BELL, NO. 1. BY A CONSTITUTIONALIST

New York: Baker & Godwin, 1863. 16pp, stitched but loosened. Lightly dusted and worn, Good+.

This is the first [and only] issue of an intended series of anti-Catholic propaganda, curiously focusing on a papal conspiracy centered in Austria. The anonymous author focuses on "Abraham Lincoln and the British Minister at Washington, and the Crown of Great Britain; the People of the United States, and the People of Great Britain." The restoration of the Bourbons to France, he explains, "was followed by the so-called Holy Alliance, the secret object of which was... the perpetuation of absolutism and the Roman faith everywhere."
The Catholic (truncated) Church has exploited "the incompatibility of Northern and Southern institutions." Northern free labor had steadily established its superiority over slavery. When Calhoun-style nullification created a crisis of the Union, "the Austro-American influence lent its aid to intensify this resistance," intending to weaken free institutions and support Slavery. Irish emigrants of the North and "Austrian agents" in particular supported the "slaveocracy." The author explains how the Roman Church has helped to spread slavery, and "would have quietly overturned our Constitution, and established a despotism in its place."
The pamphlet perfectly illustrates the prevalence in American society of conspiracy theories-- whether focused on the Slave Power, Masons, Catholics, Abolitionists, and other purportedly suspicious groups.
Sabin 16146. OCLC 1153422929 [1- Cerritos College], 228676379 [1- Huntington] as of February 2024. Not in LCP, Bartlett, or AAS online site. (Inventory #: 39836)