My desire to discover the causes of this phenomenon increased from day to day.

In order to satisfy it I questioned the members of all the different sects; and I more especially sought the society of the clergy, who are the depositaries of the different persuasions, and who are more especially interested in their duration.

As a member of the Roman Catholic Church I was more particularly brought into contact with several of its priests, with whom I became intimately acquainted.

To each of these men I expressed my astonishment and I explained my doubts; I found that they differed upon matters of detail alone; and that they mainly attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country to the separation of Church and State.

I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet with a single individual, of the clergy or of the laity, who was not of the same opinion upon this point.
This led me to examine more attentively than I had hitherto done, the station which the American clergy occupy in political society.