This letter was not yet mailed when we heard that the drunkard
priests around us were publishing that the bishop had interdicted
me, and they had received orders from him to take charge
of the colony of St. Anne. I immediately called a meeting of
the whole people and told them: "The bishop has not interdicted
me as the neighboring priests publish; he has only threatened
to do so, if I do not leave this place for Kahokia, by the 15th of
next month. But though he has not interdicted me, it may be
that he does to-day falsely publish that he has done it. We
can expect anything from the destroyer of the fine congregation
of the French Canadians of Chicago. He wants to destroy
me and you as he has destroyed them. But before he immolates
us, I hope that, with the help of God, we will fight as
Christian soldiers, for our life, and we will use all the means
which the laws of our church, the Holy Word of God, and the
glorious Constitution of the United States allow us to employ
against our merciless tyrant.
"I ask you, as a favor, to send a deputation of four members
of our colony in whom you place the most implicit confidence,
to carry this letter to the bishop. But before delivering it, they
will put to him the following questions, the answers of which,
they will write down with great care in his presence, and deliver
them to us faithfully. It is evident that we are now entering
into a momentous struggle. We must act with prudence and
firmness. Messrs. J. B. Lemoine, Leon Mailloux, Francis
Bechard and B. Allaire, having been unanimously chosen for
that important mission, we gave them the following questions to
put to the bishop:
