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Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2009 with funding from
University of Pittsburgh Library System
http://www.archive.org/details/equalrightsinrelOOcent
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
DAR. EM. BR''l
LIBRARIES
EQUAL RIGHTS IN RELIGION.
REPORT
CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS,
AND ORGANIZATION OF THE
NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE,
AT PHILADELPHIA, ON, THE
FOURTH OF JULY, i876.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX.
BOSTON, MASS.:
PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE,
1876.
Copyright, 1876,. By Francis E. Abbot, j« Trust.
CONTENTS.
Religious Freedom Amendment, 5
Officers of the National Liberal League, 6
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Origin of the Liberal League Movement, 7
^ist of Local Liberal Leagues in June, 1876, 11
Origin of the " Religious Freedom Amendment," 12
Origin of the Centennial Congress of Liberals, 16
Origin of the Preliminary Convention, 18
Report of the Preliminary Convention, 20
Appeal of the General Centennial Committee, 24
List of Contributions for the Congress, 26
Form of Application for Membership, ■ 30
Form of Certificate of Membership, 30
Public Call for the Congress, 31
Prefatory Note, 33.
CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS.
FIRST SESSION, 35
Temporary Organization, 35
Address of Welcome, 36
Reply) 36
Report of the General Centennial Committee, ....« 38
Appointment of Committees, 41
Adoption of the Constitution, , 42
Election of Permanent President, . . . . < 52
SECOND SESSION, 52
Election of the other Permanent Officers, 53
Communication from " Union of Radicals," 54
Brief Addresses, 55
THIRD SESSION, , 63
Letters from Distinguished Citizens, 64
Essay by F. E. Abbot, 68
Essay by Mrs. C. B. Kilgore, 75
FOURTH SESSION, 83
Essay by James Parton, 83
Essay by B. F. Underwood, 92
FIFTH SESSION, 107
Essay by C. F. Paige, 107
Report of Committee on Resolutions, 114
Debate on the Resolutions, iig
SIXTH SESSION, ,26
Essay by D. Y. Kilgore, '. 126
Address of John Fretwell, Jr., 133
Further Debate on the Resolutions,'. 134
SEVENTH SESSION, 143
Essay by C. D. B. Mills, .....;....... 143
Resolutions on the Paine Bust, 150
Other Resolutions, 156
EIGHTH SESSION, 163
Patriotic Address to the People of the United States, 163
Closing Resolutions, 169
APPENDIX.
Coiistitution of the National Liberal League, 175
Form of Constitution for Local Leagues, 179
List of Charter Members of the National Liberal League, 181
List of Organizations Represented at the Centennial Congress of Liberals, 184
Protest Presented to the United States Centennial Commission, 185
Address of the Micliigan State Association of Spiritualists, 186
Advertisement of The Index, • 191
5
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AMENDMENT,
PROPOSED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE
FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE U. S. CONSTITUTION.
ARTICLE I.
Section i. — Neither Congress nor any State shall make any law respecting an establishment of religion, or favoring any particular form of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or permitting in any degree a union of Church and State, or granting any special privilege, immunity, or advantage to any sect or religious body, or to any number of sects or religious bodies ; or taxing the people of any State, either directly or indirectly, for the support of any sect or relig- ious body, or of any number of sects or religious bodies ; or abridg- ing the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Section 2. — No religious test shall ever be required as a condi- tion of suffrage, or as a qualification to any office or public trust, in any State. No person shall ever be deprived of any of his or her rights, privileges, or capacities, or disqualified for the performance of any public or private duty, or rendered incompetent to give evidence in any court of law or equity, in consequence of any opinions he or she may hold on the subject of religion. No person shall ever be required by law to contribute directly or indirectly to the support of any religious society or body of which he or she is not a voluntary member.
Section*3. — Neither the United States, nor any State, Territory, municipality, or any civil division of any State or Territory, shall levy any tax, or make any gift, grant, or appropriation, for the support, or in aid, of any church, religious sect, or denomination, or any school, seminary, or institution of learning, in which the faith or doctrines of any religious order or sect shall be taught or inculcated, or in which religious rites or practices shall be observed ; or for the support, or in aid, of any religious charity or purpose of any sect, order, or denomi- nation whatsoever.
Section 4. — Congress shall have power to enforce the various provisions of this Article by appropriate legislation. ,
N. B. — The above is the form of Constitutional amendment proposed by the Boston Index of Jan. 6, 1876, as an improvement upon the earlier form proposed in the same journal of Jan. i, 1874, and has received the approval of the Board of Directors of the National Liberal League.
•6
OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE
ELECTED AT PHILADELPHIA, JULY i, 1876.
«-»-»
PRESIDENT. FRANCIS E. ABBOT Boston, Mass.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Hon. E. P. HuRLBUT Albany, N. Y.
Hon. Samuel E. Sewall Boston, Mass.
Hon. Nathaniel Holmes St. Louis, Mo.
Hon. Henry Booth Cliicago, 111.
Hon. George W. Julian Imngton, Ind.
Hon. Elizur Wright Boston, Mass.
Mr. O. B. Frothingham New York.
Mr. Wm. J. Potter New Bedford, Mass..
Mr. R. P. Hallowell Boston, Mass.
Mr. James Parton Newburyport, Mass.
Mr. F. Schuenemann-Pott, San Francisco, Cal.
Hon. Abraham Payne Providence, R. I.
Rev. M. J. Savage Boston, Mass.
Rabbi B. Felsenthal Chicago, 111.
Rev. W. H. Spencer Sparta, Wis.
Mr. Samuel L. Hill Florence, Mass.
Mr. James Lick San Francisco, Cal.
Mr. E. W. Meddaitcih Detroit, Mich.
Hon. Robert Dale OvreN, New Harmony, Ind. Mr. Karl Heinzen, Editor of Der Pionier,
Boston. Mr. Horace Shaver, Editor of the Investigator,
Boston. ' Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, 'Editor of American
Israelite, Cincinnati. Mr." D. M. Bennett, Editor of the Truth
Seeker, New York. Mr. Moritz Ellinger, Editor of the Jewish
Times, New York.
Mr. B. F. Underwood Thorndike, Mass.
Rev. Robert Collyer Chicago, 111.
SECRETARY. R. H. Ranney I Tremont Place, Boston, Mass.
A SSIS TANT SECRE TA R Y. Miss Jane P. Titcomb v 142 Chandler St., Boston, Mass.
TREASURER. J. A. J. Wilcox.. ■........' 8 Peraberton Square, Boston, Mass.
BOARD OE DIRECTORS. F. E. Abbot. J. A. J. Wilcox.
R, H. Ranney. D. Y. Kilgore.
H. S. Williams.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
D. Y. Kilgore, Chairman, . . Philadelphia, Penn.
S. J.Mathews Monticello, Ark.
J. L. Hatch San Francisco, Cal.
E. B. Hazzen New Haven, Conn.
S. S. Wallihan South Water, Col.
H ARWOOD G. Day Estherville, la.
Hermann Libber Indianapolis, Ind.
Robert G. Ingersoll Peoria, 111.
J. E. Wallace Nevy Orleans, La.
Monroe A. Blanchard Portland, Me.
A. Warren Kelsey. St. Louis, Mo.
Frank J. Mead Minneapolis, Minn.
William Little Manchester, N. H.
Lorenzo W. Billingsley Lincoln, Neb.
George William Thorne Warren, N. C.
George Lewis Providence, R. I.
R. Peterson Paris, Tex.
Samuel Watson* Memphis, Tenn.
J. O. Barrett Janesville, Wis.
FINANCE COMMITTEE.
H. S. Williams, Chairman 24 Temple Place, Boston, Mass.
Mrs. Sarah B. Otis 70 Warren Avenue, Boston, Mass.
Harlan P. Hyde 231 Washington St., Boston, Mass.
HISTOEICAL INTRODUCTION.
The Liberal League movement, as a definite, organized endeavor to accomplish the total separation of Church and State in this country, had its beginning in The Index, a weekly journal established at Toledo, Ohio, January i, 1870, as an organ of Free Religion. The " Demands of Liberal- ism," published below, originally appeared in the issue of that journal for April 6, 1872, and the following appeal in its issue for January 4, 1873 = —
ORGANIZE!
Liberals OF America! The hour for action has arrived. The cause of freedom calls upon us to combine our strength, our zeal, our efforts. These are
THE DEMANDS OF LIBERALISM.
1. We demand that churches and other ecclesiastical property shall no longer be exempted from just taxation.
2. We demand that the employment of chaplains in Congress, in State Legislatures, in the navy - and militia, and in prisons, asylums, and all other institutions supported by public money, shall be discontinued.
3. We demand that all public appropriations for sectarian educational and charitable institutions shall cease.
4. We demand that all religious services now sustained by the government shall be abolished; and especially that the use of the Bible in the public schools, whether ostensibly as a text-book or avowedly as a book of religious worship, shall be prohibited.
5. We demand that the appointment, by the President of the United States or by the Governors of the various States, of all religious" festivals and fasts shall wholly cease.
6. We demand that the judicial oath in the courts and in all other departments of the government shall be abolished, and that simple affirmation under the pains and penalties of perjury shall be estab- lished in its stead.
7. We demand that all laws directly or indirectly enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sab- bath shall be repealed.
8. We demand that all laws looking to the enforcement of " Christian " morality shall be abro- gated, and that all laws shall be conformed to the requirements of natural morality, equal rights, and impartial liberty.
9. We demand that not only in the Constitutions of the United States and of the several States, but also in the practical administration of the same, no privilege or advantage shall be conceded to Christianity or any other special religion ; that our entire political system shall be founded and admin- istered on a. purely secular basis; and that whatever changes shall prove necessary to this end shall be consistently, unflinchingly, and promptly made.
Let us boldly and with high purpose meet the duty of the hour. I submit to you the following
FORM OF LOCAL ORGANIZATION.
JVhereas, It is our profound conviction that the safety of republican institutions is imperilled, the advance of civilization impeded, and the most sacred rights of man infringed, by the least interfer- ence of the State in matters of religion ; and
iVhereas, Certain grave inconsistencies with the general spirit of the United States Constitution '
still mark the practical administration of our political system, threatening the perpetuity of religious liberty, the existence of free public schools, and the peace and prosperity of the entire land ; Therefore, We, the undersigned, hereby associate ourselves together under the following
ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT.
Art I. — The name of this Association shall be The Liberal League of .
Art. 2. — The objects of the Liberal League shall be to secure practical compliance with the "Demands of Liberalism" throughout the country, and especially in :
Also, as soon as five hundred such Liberal Leagues shall have been formed in different places, to send two delegates to a National Convention of Liberal Leagues, to be hereafter called, in order to co- operate with all the liberals of the country in securing the needed reforms.
Art. 3. — The means employed in working for these objects shall be regular local meetings, free discussions, lectures, addresses, conventions, the platform and the press in general, and all such other : means as are peaceable, orderly and right.
Art. 4. — Such measures shall be adopted for raising funds for the League as shall be prescribed in the By-Laws by a two-thirds vote of the members.
Art. 5. — Any person may become a member of the League by subscribing his or her name to these Articles of Agreement.
Art. 6. — The officers of the League shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, a Treas- urer, and an Executive Committee of three members ; and their duties shall be those commonly per- taining to these offices. The President and Secretary shall be ej; o^w delegates to the National' Convention of Liberal Leagues, when called together.
Art. 7. — These Articles of Agreement may be amended by a three-fourths vote of the members present at any regular meeting, provided due notice of the proposed amendments shall have been sent to every member at least two weeks previous to such meeting.
Liberals! I pledge to you my undivided sympathies and most vigorous co-operation, both in The Index and out of it, in this work of local and national organization. Let us begin at once to lay the foundations of a great national party of freedom, which shall demand the entire secularization of our municipal, state, and national government. Send to me promptly the list of officers of every Liberal League that may be formed, and a standing list of all such Leagues shall be kept in The Index. Rouse, then, to the great work of freeing America from the usurpations of the Church ! Make this ■ continent from ocean to ocean sacred to human liberty ! Prove that you are worthy descendants of those whose wisdom and patriotism gave us a Constitution untainted with superstition ! Shake off your slumbers, and break the chains to which you have too long tamely submitted !
FRANCIS E. ABBOT. Toledo, Ohio, Jan. i, 1873.
The foregoing appeal was seconded on the editorial pages of the same issue of The Index by the following article : —
BURN YOUR SHIPS.
When, in 1519, Cortes ordered Juan de Escalante t« bum the fleet which had brought him and his little army to the shores of Mexico, and thereby ]iut an end to indecision, backwardness, and the spirit of faction among his followers, he played the part of a great commander, and laid the foundation of that wonderful Conquest which must always remain ^one of the most romantic chapters of either ancient or modern history. At such a time, seeming rashness was the very soul of wisdom.
To-day the genius of religious freedom commands her little legion of resolute followers, meditating the conquest in her name of an empire vaster than that of the Montezumas — no less, in short, than this great American republic — to emulate the courage of the Spanish Conquistadores. She bids them take a step which cuts off all retreat, and commits them unreservedly to a career which, whatever lies between, must end in a victory never to be stained with pitying or regretful tears.
Religious radicalism, too long "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought," must now prove thai studious contemplation does not unstring the sinews or palsy the arm of action. The debate has been long enough confined to parlors ; it must now emerge into the great world of human affairs. True, the subtile influence of speculation, dissolving the spell of theological creeds which had been woven by speculation itself, has been felt even in legislation and political events. The emancipation of thought has already resulted in amelioration of the Statutes, and the day of "Blue Laws" has gone by. The Unitarian reaction against Orthodoxy which shook New England fifty years ago, the Transcendentalist movement which later convicted Unitarianism of being itself diluted Orthodoxy, and the scientific
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philosophy of religion which now seeks fo remove the dogmatic taint lingering even in Transcendent- alism itself, have quickened thought to so great an extent that the public mind is reconciled to many practical changes in customs and institutions which could not endure the scrutinizing eye of intelli- gence. But w hile the cause of progress has seemed so prosperous and triumphant, observers who look beneath the surface have been steadily considering less evident signs of the times, knowing that every current must have its counter-current, often indeed of greater power. They have noticed the drawing together of the sects, the growing disregard of minor differences, the consolidation of ecclesiastical forces, the increased emphasis of common doctrines, the evident reaction against the spirit of change ; they have remembered the tenacity with which ecclesiasticism always clings to its privileges, and have seen the lowering clouds of inevitable resistance to further innovation ; they have heard the first drops of the shower in the demands, thus far little heeded, for the reconstruction of the United States Con- stitution on a Christian plan. All this, and much more of the same kind, speaks volumes to those who believe that human nature is to-day what it always was, and that the Christian gospel contains still the seeds of intolerance to any extent. These men and women are the seers of the age, discerning the future iu the past and the present. They recognize the great practical task of religions radicalism, and would fain rouse it from dreams to deeds. They summon it to set the seal of action on its thought, and thereby to prove that this is indeed the truth that shall bless mankind.
But meditation is ease, and action is labor and conflict. Even more than conservatism itself, cer- tain sorts of radicalism dread work and deprecate agitation. Yet the only alternative of agitation is stagnation. Unless radicalism is but another name for active toil in the betterment of society, it is worse than its opposite; for Christian conservatism, even of the narrowest type, yearns with the "love of souls," and is not ashamed to agitate. There is no excuse for radicalism, if it shirks the necessary application of its own fundamental teaching.
Does not radicalism summon men to be free? Assuredly, yes! Is it, then, content with the measure of freedom already attained by the world ? Has it no rebuke for the great violations of free- dom still tolerated and submitted to by the American people ? Out upon it, if it so belies its nature ! It is fit only to be spewed out of the mouth by men to whom radicalism is a great serious conviction, and not a play upon words.
Look, you who declare that America is "free enough," at these glaring infringements of all Ub- erty and justice.
I. The Christian Church of the United States, by the statistics of the last census, owns property to the value of $354,429,581. Yet all this enormous wealth pays not one cent to the support of the gov- ernment which protects it as it protects all other property. It is totally untaxed. Single churches like Trinity Church in New York, may own millions in their own right ; yet they are untaxed. The burden of taxation, thus lifted from the shoulders of wealthy corporations, is laid on the shoulders of the community at large ; and the poor man who can with difficulty scrape together enough money to buy bread for his family must pay his share of it, — must pay not only his own taxes, but the taxes shirked by the Christian Church. He may not believe in Christianity, as often he does not ; he may believe its doctrines are delusions and its practice an outrage. But none the less is he forced to pay its taxes, and submit to its control. And this is American liberty! And America is "free enough" !
2. The support of chaplains or Christian clergymen in Congress and iu State Legislatures, in the army and navy and the militia, in asylums and prisons and houses of correction and homes for dis- abled soldiers, must be paid out of revenues collected from the whole people, — from Christians and "infidels," from deists, pantheists, atheists, sceptics, rationalists, and free thinkers of all degrees, as well as from devout believers in the gospel. This, too, is American freedom !
3. Appropriations of public money, raised from the whole people, are in most of the States habit- ually made in some form or other in the interest of Christianity. In New York State alone, milHons have been appropriated to Christian institutions within a few years, mostly Catholic, but many also Protestant. By what right is your money thus cunningly taken from you by the Church ? Politicians are bought, and the people are sold, by the Catholic and Protestant churches of America. And Amer- ica is " free enough " !
4. Religious services are required and sustained by the government in many different ways. The courts are opened with prayers, paid for by the job. Every regiment, every vessel of war, is the par- ish of some clergyman salaried by the government ; and wherever a national or State institution of any magnitude is established, there is the inevitable minister of Christ, preaching the Christian gos- pel. Nay, in almost every public school the teachers must every day discharge the clerical function, and read a portion of the Bible as an act of religious worship. And America is " free enough " !
5. The President of the United States, and the Governors of most of the States, publicly pro- claim religious fasts and festivals in their ofiScial capacity. President Lincoln was the first to appoint a National Thanksgiving; and President Grant has continued the illegal practice. Nay, President
lO
Grant has deliberately made the " Christianization " of the Indians a part of the settled policy of the administration, and thus turned the Federal government into a Missionary Society.
6. Official oaths are necessary in order to qualify for office ; and in many States the testimony of an atheist is rejected by the courts, although his character for veracity may be unimpeachable. In Pennsylvania this disability is carried so far that an "infidel" society has been within a few years declared by Judge Sharswood incapable of receiving a bequest. Yet America is "free enough " !
7. Laws everywhere are in force discriminating between Sunday and the rest of the week, some- times avowedly and sometimes covertly on Christian grounds ; and penalties are imposed for violations of the "sanctity" of the Sabbath. Even in Massachusetts, within a very few months, a peaceable and well-behaved citizen was fined for training a vine in his own house on Sunday. Public libraries are kept shut by the law, against the wishes and wants of a large proportion of the inhabitants; and in a thousand ways the observance of the Sunday-Sabbath is forced upon the entire people. But America is "free enough" !
8. Many laws of various kinds, penal and otherwise, are based upon " Christian" conceptions of morals, as distinguished from "natural" morality. Usury laws, in especial, which sometimes work great detriment to the business interests of whole communities, are in fact based upon the Bible con- ception that it is a crime to take interest for money loaned; although the common sense of mankind rejects the notion in fact. Laws against profanity, against blasphemy, and so forth, still stand on the statute-books to disgrace the State that tolerates them.
In aU these and many other ways, the Church has contrived to establish itself practically as a governmental institution; and in some of the States, as New York and Pennsylvania, Christianity has been judicially declared " part of the common law." To the radicalism which professes to believe that Church and State ought never to be united, yet professes to believe also that America is " free enough," what shall be said but that is a mockery and a sham ?
Now we do not hesitate to affirm that radicalism has a great public duty to discharge in emanci- pating America from this political control of Christianity. We would scrupulously respect the private religious belief of evei-y man, even while we think it superstitious, and, if he desired to listen, would endeavor to make its character clear to him. The right of Christian congregations to assemble, and to conduct their worship unmolested, we should be the first to defend. But the assumption of the Church to direct the administration of the government, and to control the public funds and the public schools in its own interest, we denounce as an intolerable outrage and usurpation, demanding immedi- ate reform. It is an assumption full of the most real and imminent danger to our political and educa- tional institutions ; and the longer it is submitted to, the more dangerous it becomes. It is time to meet this assumption with an overwhelming rebuke at the hands of the American people ; and radical- ism lies under a solemn obligation to rouse the sluggish public to administer this rebuke. Nothing will ensure the perpetuity of the Union but the great principle of the absolute separation of Church and State; and now is the time to assert this principle with an emphasis and startling force never heard before.
Therefore to you, radicals of America, we make a most serious and earnest appeal to organize at once for the discharge of this high duty. You cannot organize too soon or too effectively. Next February the " National Association to secure a Religious Amendment to the United States Constitu- tion" will hold its annual Convention in the city of New York. That movement is a vital one, because it grows out of the logical and practical necessities of the Christian Church. Feeble as it seems to-day, it is strong with all the strength of ideas shared in common by all sects and denomina- tions. Under the stress of events, those ideas must spread, till in some shape or other they are adopted by a great party. How shall we meet them ? Simply by opposing the mischievous change contemplated? No! Let us meet them by a bold and resolute determination to strike out of the government so much recognition of Christianity as it now contains. Carry the war into Africa! Organize yourselves for the peaceful work of educating this nation in the first principles of religious liberty, and their more consistent application. See to it that the States conform their respective Con- stitutions to the grand Constitution of the United States. Make it impossible for reviving mediasvalism to put out the light of the nineteenth century.
One word more. Let us go into this great work with a spirit worthy of it. Cherish no partisan hostility to the men and women who compose the Christian Church. Remember, it is not they, but the system that enslaves them and would fain enslave us, that is the foe. Let the noblest spirit of devotion to freedom, to justice, to equal rights, to universal love and good will, not for ourselves alone, but for ALL, animate and dignify our action. If in this spirit we organize and work for liberty, the common cause of all humanity, our children and children's children shall thank us with grateful hearts, as those that have done well, and not ill, to their fellow-men.
Burn, then, your ships behind you. forget your mutual jealousies, and press forward to the great
II
victory of universal emancipation! In the service of this cause let all liberals be of one mind, one heart, one will, and make it their high ahn to deliver to posterity the priceless heritage of a land sacred to the grandest and fullest freedom yet known on earth !
The responses to these appeals were enthusiastic on the part of very many individual liberals ; but the work of organization was one of great difficulty, and encountered no little opposition. At the time of the Centen- nial Congress of Liberals, the published list of local Liberal Leagues was as* follows [The Index, June 29, 1876]:-^
LIST OF LIBERAL LEAGUES.
St. Louis, Mo. — M. A. McCord, President; P. A. Lofgreen, L. La Grille, Secretaries.
Boston, Mass. — F. E. Abbot, President; J. P. Titcomb, G. A. Bacon, Secretaries.
Jefferson, Ohio. — W. H. Crowell, President; A. Giddings, Secretary.
San Jose, Cal. — A.J. Spencer, President; J. L. Hatch, .Secretary.
Toledo, Iowa. — J. Reedy. President; E. S. Beckley, Secretary.
ViNELAND, N. J. — John Gage, President; Sue M. Clute, Secretary.
JuNCTiONViLLE, Neb. — J. W. Eastman, President; B. L. Easley, Secretary.
Olathe, Kan. — S. B. S. Wilson, President; H. A. Griffin, Secretary.
Detroit, Mich. — W. R. Hill, President; A. T Garretson, Secretai-y.
Breedsville, Mich. — A. G. Eastman, President; F. R. Knowles, Secretary.
Osceola, Mo. — R. F. Thompson, President; M. Roderick, Secretary.
Bath, Me. — F. G. Barker, President; C. Rhodes, Secretary.
Berlin, Wis. — J. D. Walter, President; J. D. Kruschke, Secretary.
Washington, D.C. — George M. Wood, President; J. E. Crawford, Secretary.
Auburn, Ohio. — John Fish, President; G. W. Barnes, Treasurer.
Minneapolis, Minn. — S. C. Gale, President; W. C. Cowles and Frank J. Mead, Secretaries.
New York, N.Y. — D. M.Bennett, President; S. H. Preston, Secretaiy.
St. Joseph, Mo. — P. V. Wise, President; T. H. Kennedy, Secretary.
Eau Claire. Wis. — S. J. Dickson, President; W. Kennedy, Secretary.
Balbec, Ind. — T. Gray, President ; W. Allen, Secretary.
New Orleans, La. — E. Vorster, President; J. E. Wallace, Secretary.
Bay City, Mich. — S. M. Green, President; S. M. Johnson, Secretary.
Clearfield, Pa. — S. Widemire, President; H. Hoover, Secretary.
Sauk City, Wis. — Chr. Spiehr, President; Robert Cunradi, Secretary.
Augusta, Wis. — Davis Jackson, President; George P. Vaux, Secretary.
Watertown, N.Y. — L. D. Olney, President; W. A. Howland, L. M. Delano, Secretaries.
Philadelphia, Pa. — Mrs. Carrie B. Kilgore, President ; John S. Dye, Secretary.
Milwaukee, Wis. — Theodore Fritz, President; D. C. Zuning, Secretary.
Milwaukee, Wis. (Second League). — R. C. Spencer, President; R. Boyd, Secretary.
Northumberland, Pa. — M. B. Priestley, President; Chas. Collins, Secretary.
Northampton, Mass. — E. E. Denniston, President; M. A. Dewey, Secretary.
Medina, Minn. — Allen Grave, President; Taylor Archibald, Secretary.
Coopersville, Mich. — George A. Farr, President; H. Potts, Secretary.
Clinton Hollow, N.Y. — Theodore A. Cookingham, President; Lee G. Graham, Secretary.
Darien, Wis. — Crosby Carleton, President; Daniel Rodman, Secretary.
San FRANasco, Cal. — J. L. Hatch, President; A. J. Boyer, Secretary.
Adel, Iowa. — George B. Warren, President; T. R. North, Secretary.
Three other Leagues also belong in the same list, which was discon- tinued in The Index after the organization of the National Liberal League. They are as follows : —
Eureka, Mich. — J. W. Page, President; Mrs. J. E. Sevy, Secretary, Oil City, Pa. — Henry McVeagh, President; James Robertson, Secretary. Berlin Heights, O. — J. P. Leslie, President; Wm. B. Harrison, Secretary.
All the above organizations officially reported themselves to The Index at the time of their formation ; but their present condition is not known.
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In addition to these, many other Liberal Leagues are known to have been formed ; but, as they neglected to report themselves officially, they were not included in the published list.
In The Index of January i, 1874, ^ "Religious Freedom Amendment" was recommended for adoption in the subjoined editorial article : —
WANTED: A RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.
The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, in consequence of ratifica- tion by three-fourths of the States, became a part of the Constitution on December 15, 1791, is as fol- lows: " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peace- ably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
We submit to the public a proposition that this First Amendment shall be made to read as follows : —
Article I.
"Section i. — Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or favoring any particular form of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Govern- ment for a redress of grievances.
" Section 2. — No State shall make any law respecting an establishment of religion, or favoring any particular form of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Govern- ment for a redress of grievances. No religions test shall ever be required as a condition of suffrage, or as a qualification to any office or public trust, in any State; and no person shall ever in any State be deprived of any of his or her rights, privileges, or capacities, or disqualified for the performance of any public or private duty, or rendered incompetent to give evidence in any court of law or equity, in consequence of any opinions he or she may hold on the subject of religion.
" Section 3. — Congress shall have power to enforce the provisions of the second section of this Article by appropriate legislation."
The necessity of this enlargement of the First Amendment, in order to secure to the people the full and unrestricted enjoyment of religious liberty, is apparent for two reasons : —
1. The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution expressly provides that — "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are resei-ved to the States respectively, or to the people" ; and the Constitution itself, although providing by the third clause of Article VI. that — " Norehgious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust 2<«(&r ///f United States " — nevertheless contains no provision prohibiting the several States from establishing a State religion, or requiring a religious test for office, or disquali- fying witnesses in the courts on account of their religious opinions, or otherwise restricting their religious liberty.
2. In consequence of this defect in the United States Constitution, some of the States are, as a matter of fact, actually guilty of grave infringements on the religious liberty of their citizens. The following State provisions establisliing a religious test for office are In point : —
The Constitution of Maryland declares — "That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief iti the existence of God." \_Decl. of Rights, S7-\
The Constitution of North Carolina declares that — "The following classes of persons shall be disqualified for office: First, all persoTis who shall deny the being of Almighty God" [VII, 5.]
The Constitution of South Carolina declares that — " No person luho denies the existence of tJie Supre7ne Being shall hold any office under this Constitution." [XIV, 6.]
The Constitution of Mississippi declares that — "No person who de?iies the existence of the Su- ^eme Being shall hold any office in this State." [XII, 3.]
The Constitution of Tennessee declares that — ■ " No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of re^vards atidpimishineiits, shall hold any office in the civil department of this State." [IX, 2.]
The Constitution of Pennsylvania declares — "That no person who acknowledges the being of God, and a future state of rewards and punishments shall, on account of his religious sentiments, be
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Jufualified to ho\d any ofUce or place of trust or profit under this Commonwealtli." [IX, 4.] This clause has just been re-enacted by the people of Pennsylvania in the new Constitution adopted on the sixteenth day of last October; and it is interpreted to mean the positive disqualification for office of all persons who do no/ profess the beliefs referred to. " The recognition of a God and of a future state of rewards and punishments," says Hough, in his standard work entitled A Jiicrican Constituiiotts [Vol. II, p. 220. Albany: 1872], "was still demanded of all holding office ; but a belief in the Divine in- spiration of the Old and New Testaments was not included." It should also be remembered that the new Constitution of this State contains a recognition of God in its Preamble which was not contained in the old Preamble, — a result directly due to the efforts of the "God in the Constitution" party, and a virtual admission of their general principle that the State, as such, is bound to recognize God.
Further, the Constitution of Marj'land declares, — "Nor shall any person, otherwise competent, be deemed incompetent as a witness or juror on account of his religious belief; provided he believes in the existence of God, and that, under His dispensation, such person will be held morally accountable for his acts, and be rewarded or punished therefor, either in this world or the world to come." [Dec- laration of RigJitSi 36.] Tyler, \\\\\\% Ainerican Ecclesiastical Law, after stating that "the Christ- ian religion is the recognized religion of the country, and is a part of the common law of many of the States," goes on to refer to the prohibition by the United States Constitution of a religious test of office, and of an establishment of religion; but he adds: "Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of the Federal Constitution, in several of the States certain religious opinions are requisite to receiving the oath of a witness in courts." [Page 22.] Even in Massachusetts, the State Constitution has been construed by the Legislature, in the General Statutes of i860, to peniiit an enactment of this nature : " Every person not a believer in any religion is required to testify truly, under the pains and penalties of perjury; and the evidence of such persons disbelieving in the existence of God maybe received to affect his credibility." In other words, an appeal in the courts to the public prejudice against atheists, however irrelevant to the subject matter of thuir testimony, and however irreproach- able may be their character, is legally approved by the State of Massachusetts.
These and other interferences with religious rights by the several State Constitutions, and the innumerable statutory provisions enacted in the same spirit, together with the more or less frequent acts of oppression growing out of them, would be prohibited as unconstitutional, if the Freedom Amendment should become part of the supreme law of the land. It is needed to carry out the essen- tial purpose, the fundamental idea, on which the whole Constitution rests. If the United States are one nation, — if they are destined more and more to be inspired by the same "enthusiasm of human- ity " which gave the nation birth, — -if all parts of every nation must, as a condition of healthy national life, be governed by one homogeneous law, and vivified by one common spirit, — then the Freedom Amendment is in some shape absolutely essential to the future greatness and happiness of our country. Its ratification would be the death-waiTant of all attempts to pervert the Constitution to the service of Roman Catholicism or any other form of Christianity ; for such an extension and strengthening of the purely secular principle of government would set the seal of hopelessness on every such attempt, even to the satisfaction of its most undaunted supporters. But the proposition of this new Amendment is not made at all in the spirit of a bellicose partisanship: on the contrary it is made with the strongest con- viction that consistency with democratic ideas is the absolute condition of a permanent republic ; that this consistency must be found both in our national and State Constitutions; and that the only way to ensure it in our State Constitutions is to assimilate them to our national Constitution by virtue of some such provision as we now propose. In the opening paper of this issue we have uncompromisingly declared the profound antagonism existing between the two fundamental ideas of the Republic and the Church ; and we now appeal to the country to take such a step as shall ensure the final victory to the idea of the Republic. Not hastily, not bitterly, not combatively, do we make this appeal ; but rather with a deep desire that we of this generation shall be wise for our posterity, and bequeath to ii a supreme law freed from the last, lingering traces of a poisonous ecclesiasticism.
The above form of a "Religious Freedom Amendment" was published weekly in a conspicuous place in The Index for two years. In the issue for January 6, 1876, this form was changed in the direction of greater verbal precision and comprehensiveness, and urged once more upon the liberals of America at the beginning of the Centennial Year, in the following editorial article : —
THE UNFINISHED WINDOW.
When, at the command of Aladdin, the genie of the lamp had erected over-night the wonderful
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palace for the reception of the Sultan's daughter, twenty-three of the windows in the great domed hall were lavishly decorated with jewels of the costliest kind ; but the twenty-fourth was purposely left plain and incomplete, that the Sultan himself might have the glory of putting the finishing touch to such an incomparable structure. For a whole month all the Sultan's jewellers and goldsmiths labored assiduously to decorate this unfinished window in a style not unworthy of its superb companions ; but, after utterly exhausting the resources of the imperial treasury, they found themselves unable to finish even one side of it. In this perplexity, Aladdin ordered them to undo their work and restore to their master his jewels. He then rubbed his lamp, and bade the genie to complete the hall; which was immediately done, to the astonishment and delight of the Sultan.
Is it strange that the inadequate propositions of e.x-Speaker Blaine, President Grant, the Union League, and others, to supply the omitted guarantees of religious freedom in the United States Con- stitution remind us irresistibly of the unfinished window in Aladdin's palace? The majestic Constitu- tion of this great republic was planned and established by men of ideas, — nay, by the veiy genie of Liberty, inspiring their brains, nerving their hands, firing their hearts ; but they left one of its jewelled windows unfinished. The Constitution has no adequate provision for the protection of the most pre- cious of all rights — the right of free religion — the right of free thought, free speech, free press, free education. To-day men of mere shifts and expedients are stepping forward to complete what men of ideas and principles commenced ; but, like the Sultan's jewellers and goldsmiths, they wUl find their puny resources utterly unequal to so grand a task. They will botch the job ; their work must sooner or later be done all over again. Only the genie of Liberty can finish what the genie of Liberty began.
It is persistently urged by many thinkers, both Christian and non-Christian, that the political and social life of every nation is dominated, shaped, and directed by the religion of that nation ; that the mightiest forces at work in national development are religious forces ; that the springs of vitality in great communities as such, no less than in individual existence, can be discovered nowhere but in the universal consciousness of obligation under eternal moral law ; in short, that all political and social institutions are the direct or indirect outgrowth of religious ideas, sentiments, and convictions. Stated in broad and general terms like these, the position is one which we have never controverted and do not now controvert ; but the moment that it is translated into the technical terms of any special world- religion, it mimediately becomes a falsity so far as this country is concerned. We admit that religion is the vital or formative principle of every great national organistn ; but we deny that religion as con- strued by the technical religionists of America is the vital or formative principle of this republic.
What is their claim ? That this is a Christian country ; that Christianity is the national religion of the United States, although the Christian Church, as a visible ecclesiastical organization, is con- fessedly not established by law ; consequently, that a personal God, as the Supreme Being, Author, and Authority of Christianity, — the Lord Jesus Christ, as its authoritative revealer and head, — the Bible, as its authoritative sacred book, — and the " Lord's Day" or "Sabbath," as its authoritative sacred day, — are all part and parcel of the national religion of the United States, and justly entitled, if not to formal recognition (as claimed by the Christianizers of the Constitution), at least to infonnal authority and practical supremacy in all legislation. This claim is maintained and acted upon by the great majority of Protestant Evangelical believers, and is the only ground on which the practices pro- tested against in the " Demands of Liberalism" can be even feebly defended.
But this claim must be denied by every American citizen who comprehends the true spirit of the institutions under which he lives. Just as the Church has an indefeasible right to be judged by its own collective and authoritative declarations, as contained in its great historical creeds and confessions and illustrated by its own corporate acts, and not to be judged by or held responsible for the erratic utterances of individuals who set all these things at defiance ; so also the Republic, as a great State independent of the Church, has an equally indefeasible right to be judged solely by its own authorita- tive utterances in its Constitution, treaties, and laws. Judged by this standard, the United States can- not intelligently be declared to be a Christian countiy ; or, if intelligently so declared, the declaration must be coupled with a demand to amend the Constitution in accordance with the alleged fact. For the Constitution, treaties, and laws of the United States, as a nation, render this country totally inde- pendent of Christianity and all its sacred authorities. The Christian religion has here no national right but to be nationally ignored, and left to provide for itself on its own private responsibility. The Christian Church is not a national church, and the Christian religion is not the national religion; the attempt to make either of them a national institution is an attempt to deliver over this purely secular republic to a foreign power. And that is neither more nor less than treason.
Nevertheless, the republic has its own purely secular religion, declared luminously in its Constitu- tion and exemplified (with sad deviations) in its history. It is the religion of political and personal freedom, of widely diffused education, of equal and universal human rights, of justice between man and man and the brotherhood of universal benevolence which inevitably grows out of justice between
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man and man. Few, perhaps, are prepared to admit that these glorious yet simple things are enough to constitute a religion ; yet what do they lack? They have proved their vitalizing powci- as a religion by creating a political organism of majestic proportions, of an unprecedented type, of a cohesive strength suiScient to survive the earthquakes of foreign war and domestic rebellion ; they have proved their power to create civic heroes by the hundred and soldier martyrs by the hundred thousand ; they have proved their power to kindle fires of self-devotion, self-sacrifice, and moral enthusiasm whioji burn in millions of breasts to-day, and gird Columbia with a wall of living flame ; they have proved their power to inspire in a great nation an inextinguishable faith in its own future, and a purpose stubborn as steel to crush all parties and all administrations which imperil this future by fostering political' corruption or betraying the cause of public virtue and public intelligence. Millions and millions of lives are ready to be devoted to the defence of the republic, and to the defence of the real religion of the republic, just as soon as the enemy that plots their ruin dares to reveal openly its hid- eous face. Freedom, justice, knowledge, equal rights, — these are the religion that builds no churches and hires no priests, but makes every honest citizen's heart an altar and the republic itself a temple. If Christianity, Catholic or Protestant, dares to carry its lust of power so far as to attack overtly the real safeguards of this religion, it will eventually be made apparent that the republic of the United States prizes its secularism above its Christianity, and has a religion of its own against which the gates of heaven shall not prevail.
The religion of every free State is free religion ; and free religion, on its political side, is absolute secularism — the absolute restriction of government to the transaction of all public aSairs by the simple rules of intelligence, justice, liberty, and equal rights, and the absolute exclusion of all rules introducing revelations or supernaturalisms or ecclesiasticisms of any sort. This is the covimoii relig- ion of viankind. Every special religion pretends to include it, but crucifies it in the act. Christianity pretends to include it, but violates it by its peculiar claims. The moment that revelations or super- naturalisms or ecclesiasticisms are introduced into government, the rules of intelligence, justice, free- dom, and equal rights are straightway trampled on. There is not a Christian in the United States who would not declare that he believed unreservedly in intelligence, in justice, in freedom, in equal rights; and a government, therefore, administered faithfully by these purely secular principles, can- not really give him any reasonable cause of complaint. But there is not a Christian in the United States who is sufficiently Christian to think that the government ought not to be absolutely secular, that would not break the laws of intelligence, justice, freedom, equal rights, for the sake of making the government Christian.
Here is the difficulty : all honest citizens want the government to be intelligent, free, just, and equitable, — and some of the honest citizens want it also to be Christian in the sense of giving special privileges to Christianity. But the wish of this Christian party is contradictory of the wish of the whole people, including themselves ; and it is no reason for defeating the wish of the whole people that the Christian party cherish contradictory wishes. Let the government be absolutely secular, and the wish of the whole people is gratified — one wish of the Christian party being gratified at the expense of the other. But if that wish of the Christian party which requires the government to be Christian should be gratified, then not only is the wish of the whole people defeated by this* defeat of justice, but the very Christian party who gain their one wish defeat their own other wish at the same time unwittingly. It is thus plain that the Christian party cannot satisfy at once their two wishes to have the government just and to have it Christian; in any event, one of these two wishes must defeat the other; and it is much better, even for the Christian party itself, that that one of their two wishes should be defeated whose defeat ensures the victory of the wish of the whole people (in- cluding themselves) for real justice to all.
So much only of religion, therefore, can justly be incorporated into our political institutions as is conmion to the whole people ; namely, so much of it as consists in freedom, intelligence, justice, equal rights before the laws. Whatever in religion denies or violates these things tends to destroy our national existence, and is treasonable in fact, if not in intention. But these things constitute the real religion, the purely natural and secular religion, which has created the republic, inspired its whole history, and given it the promise of an illustrious, noble, and happy future. It is manifestly evident that the imperfect guarantees of this political secularism, of this utter divorce of Church and State, need now to be perfected. The "unfinished window" of the Constitution needs now to be com- pleted. Leaving each individual at perfect liberty to add on his own account to this common religion of the whole people whatever tenets he may hold to be true, and whatever practices he pleases that are no infringement of his neighbor's rights, the republic should now restrain and chain forever the restless ambition which seeks continually to impose on the whole people the special religious beliefs and practices of only a part of the people. Let such a Constitutional amendment be now adopted as shall make the separation of Church and State no longer a matter merely of national tradition or dis-
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puted inference, but a great principle fully and explicitly declared in the great charter of all our civil and religious liberties. With this purpose in view, and with all the light thrown on the subject by recent events, we submit the following form of amendment to public consideration : —
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AMENDMENT:
PROPOSED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE U. S. CONSTI- TUTION.
Section i. — Neither Congress nor any State shall make any law respecting an establishment of religion, or favoring any particular form of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or per- mitting in any degree a union of Church and State, or granting any special privilege, immunity, or advantage to any sect or religious body or to any number of sects or religious bodies; or taxing the people of any State, either directly or indirectly, for the support of any sect or religious body or of any number of sects or religious bodies ; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Section 2. — No religious test shall ever be required as a condition of suffrage, or as a qualifica- tion to any otBce or public trust, in any State. No person shall ever in any State be deprived of any of his or her rights, privileges, or capacities, or disqualified for the performance of any public or pri- vate duty, or rendered incompetent to give evidence in any court of law or equity, in consequence of any opinions he or she may hold on the subject of religion. No person shall ever in any State be required by law to contribute directly or indirectly to the support of any religious society or body of which he or she is not a voluntary member.
Section 3. — Neither the United States, nor any State, Territoiy, municipality, or any civil division of any State or Territory, shall levy any tax, or make any gift, grant or appropriation, for the support, or in aid of any church, religious sect, or denomination, or any school, seminary, or institu- tion of learning, in which the faith or doctrines of any religious order or sect shall be taught or incul- cated, or in which religious practices shall be observed; or for the support, or in aid, of any religious charity or purpose of any sect, order, or denomination whatsoever.
Section 4. — Congress shall have power to enforce the various provisions of this Article by appropriate legislation.
This amendment is as comprehensive and as thorough as we can make it. The first section pro- vides for the total separation of Church and State, covering the exemption of church-property from taxation ; the second section provides for the personal religious rights of each and every citizen ; the third section (being Judge Hurlbut's admirable proposition) prohibits sectarian appropriations, and pro- ■ vides for a genuinely unsectarian pubHc school system ; and the fourth section provides for the efficient execution of the foregoing provisions. No measure less thorough ought to be adopted, for no meas- ure less thorough can accomplish the entire secularization of the State. All who intelligently believe in that principle and favor its practical adoption by the nation will, we think, give their cordial assent and sympathy to this proposition. Who will circulate for signatures a petition asking Congress to recommend this Religious Freedom Amendment to the various States for adoption as part of the fundamental law of the land? Who will thus do his part towards completing the "unfinished win- dow" of our glorious Constitution, by decorating it with the priceless jewels of religious liberty, equality, and justice ? Or must it be sung of the great founders of the republic, as Longfellow sang of the dead Hawthorne and his uncompleted romance : —
"Ah, who shall lift that wand of magic power. And the lost clew regain ? The unfinished window of Aladdin's tower Unfinished must remain ! "
The first suggestion of a general participation by the liberals as such in the celebration of the Centennial Year seems to have been made by Mr. E. C. Alphonse, of Orange, New Jersey, in a communication to The Index,
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which with editorial comments was published in the issue of that journal for December 31, 1874, as follows: —
FREE-THOUGHT AT THE CENTENNIAL.
Editor of Index: —
I believe it is a very general purpose on the part of religious organizations to take part in the Centennial Celebration at Philadelphia in 1876.
I would ask if the " Liberals " of the United States intend doing anything on that occasion ; and, if they do, if a programme has been adopted.
Liberals are frc-eininently lovers of liberty everywhere; and it seems meet that they should take advantage of such an occasion to declare their belief and purposes.
It would be a fit time to honor the memories of a Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Allen, and other worthies of the "times that tried men's souls," and to declare anew their idea of, and devotion to, freedom. E. C. ALPHONSE.
[In the absence of general organic union among the liberals of this country, there is no possibility of their being properly represented at the Centennial Exhibition. Though there are various minor organizations of them which may represent themselves on that occasion, there is no likelihood of any concert of action. No general "programme'' can be adopted till there is some really representative body authorized to adopt it : which is not the case. If there were a really national organization, properly constituted for the only national object which concerns all liberals equally, — namely, the protection and expansion of religious liberty, — we should strongly favor its taking part in the Cen- tennial ; but there is no such organization in existence, and Liberalism is still paralyzed for action by its inveterate centrifugalism. If it were only fired by a generous enthusiasm to universalize and consiunmate the American ideal of absolute freedom. Liberalism could celebrate the Centennial by great achievements; but it is not, and (pardon the word) waits to be kicked into discharging the public duty it will not always be able to evade. — Ed.]
The next step in the direction of a Centennial convention of liberals is indicated in this editorial paragraph from The Index of March i8, 1875: —
Mr. Damon Y. Kilgore, writing under date of March lo, says: "Three weeks ago we formed a Liberal League in Philadelphia, and now have over sixty members. The officers are as follows : Isaac Rhen, President; Mary Pratt, Vice-President; Carrie S. Bumham, Secretarj-; Caroline H. Spear, Treasurer; Damon Y. Kilgore, Franklin Skinner, John M. Spear, Executive Committee. We hold meetings every Sunday at 2.30 P.M., and have a large attendance. The first speaker opens and closes the debate, and is allowed thirty minutes. All other speakers are restricted to ten minutes each. Would it not be wise to call a National Convention of Leagues to make provision for a grand Congress of emancipated souls here during the Centennial from all parts of the world ? Authority is marshalling his forces; why not Freedom begin to organize hers? Freedom, like trvith, is feminine; and you will note a large proportion of our officers are women." In response to this suggestion, we would say that, if a sufficient number of Liberal Leagues should vote explicitly to authorize us to issue a call for such a Convention, and also pledge themselves to take part in it by sending delegates, we should be very glad to obey their instructions, without which we could not with propriety take the initiative. No doubt the announcement of such a Convention would give a great and immediate stimulus to the formation of new Leagues all over the country. Is there enough courage and zeal to carry out this plan ?
The above paragraph called out this second communication from Mr. Alphonse in The Index of April i, 1875: —
THE YEAR OF JUBILEE, 1876.
Mr. F. E. Abbot: —
I see that your Philadelphia correspondent, Mr. Kilgore, favors my proposal to hold "A World's Convention of Liberals" in 1S76.
The interest in the coming Centennial steadily increases, and I believe it will be a success beyond the expectations of its most sanguine supporters.
What is to be celebrated in 1876 ? The declaration of the rights of man, — of political and relig- ious liberty. Have liberals no interest in this celebration ? May not their relisi""- be defined as lib- 3
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erty ? To my thinking, no class of men are so much interested in the celebration and perpetuation of liberty, as liberals. Shall we, then, let its Centennial Anniversary pass unnoticed ? I hope not. Let the liberal leagues and individual liberals, then, at once, signify their desire for and willingness to par- ticipate in a convention of liberty-lovers. Invitations to meet with us should be extended to the liberals of Europe ; and a special and pressing one to that noble man — Garibaldi.
You may be sure, Mr. Abbot, that the churches of the United States will make all the capital they can out of the Centennial, and that the Christianizers of the Constitution will make specially strong efforts to advance their schemes in 1876.
Shall we remain idle spectators of the efforts of our enemies — we who love liberty more than they ? For one I say no!
Issue a call of certain sound, clear and ringing : one that shall be heard throughout the land and across the ocean, calling the lovers of liberty, of free-thought, of the human race, to tftcir festival at Philadelphia in 1876.
Yours for 1876, E. C. ALPHONSE.
[We stand ready to help forward this suggestion, which has occurred to many, to the utmost of our ability ; but it cannot possibly be carried out by any "ringing call" alone. There must be pre- limhiary organizatio7i. For this we have been working for more than two years. Start a Liberal League at once in your own town, if you mean to have a Centennial worthy of the liberal movement. There is no time to waste. — Ed.]
Probably nothing would have resulted from this correspondence, if the newly formed Philadelphia Liberal League had not taken prompt action in the matter. A letter to the editor of The Index from Mr. Kilgore, the Chairman of its Executive Committee, written under date of April 26, stated that this League " yesterday passed resolutions in favor of holding a meeting of delegates from all the Liberal Leagues in the country some time this summer, as preparatory to a Convention to be held in this city in 1876. A committee was appointed to take the necessary steps to carry the reso- lutions into effect. It seems to me the best method to facilitate this matter is for each Liberal League to take immediate action in the matter and send the result to you. . . . Although our delegates would be willing to meet wherever the majority might choose, our League would do all in their power to make it agreeable for the delegates to meet in Philadelphia. I therefore suggest Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 17th, i8th, and 19th, as the time, and Philadelphia as the place ; and that each League have the right to send three delegates in addition to the President and Secretary. . . . The members of our committee appointed yesterday are Damon Y. Kilgore, Mary Pratt, and James B. Beam."
Being thus put into definite and practicable form, the project was taken up in earnest. In The Index of May 6, 1875, the following paragraph was published : —
Special attention is invited to the "Liberal League Notice," on the editorial page. The proposal to hold a general delegate Convention of Liberal Leagues at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876, is one that will undoubtedly be welcomed by all who believe in radical organ- ization. We hope it will stimulate the formation of new Leagues all over the country, in order to secure for Liberalism a fitting representation on that great occasion. Let us have suggestions from all who favor this noble project. The Index is heartily at the service of this movement and its friends.
The "Notice " referred to in this paragraph was as follows: — LIBERAL LEAGUE NOTICE.
A public meeting of the Boston Liberal League will be held at Investigator Hall (Paine Memorial Building), Friday evening. May 7, at 7.30 P.M., for the annual election of officers, and for the consid- eration of a proposal made by the Philadelphia Liberal League, to join in holding a delegate Conven-
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tion of all existing Liberal Leagues in that city, at the Centennial Kxliibition in 1S76 — a proposal which will doubtless excite great interest among liberals all over the country. Good speakers are expected to address the meeting on Friday evening, and a large attendance is earnestly desired. Per order of the Executive Committee :
FRANCIS E. AI'.P.OT, President.
The meeting of the Boston Liberal League thus announced was duly held, and gave occasion to the subjoined article in The Index of May 13 : —
NOW IS THE TIME TO ENLIST!
The Boston Liberal League, as will be seen by the special report on another page, held its second annual meeting last Friday night, elected its officers, and passed resolutions which will receive, it is hoped, the earnest attention of all our readers. The following letters, from men whose toils and triumphs are written imperishably in the records of humanity's long struggle for liberty and equal rights, were read to the meeting by the President, and received with the applause which every passing year does but deepen and widen at the mention of their honored names : —
MR. Phillips' letter.
[Boston], 12 April, 1S75.
Dear Sir: —
Excuse me for not writing earlier. My wife's illness and other things that demanded my atten- tion wholly prevented correspondence. I have just found time to read your close, clear, and most exhaustive statements of the case. They seem to leave nothing to be said. Of course you see I am entirely with you in your views [on the church-exemption question] — cannot see how Eliot and the rest fail to see their soundness.
But as to speaking, I am wholly unable to co-operate with you now. I have not been able, with one exception, to leave my house of an evening for seven months, and during the day cannot promise to-day to do anything at a fixed hour to-morrow.
This forces me to refuse all invitations to speak. Hence I must ask to be excused.
Yours truly, WENDELL PHILLIPS.
F. E. Abbot.
MR. garrison's letter.
RoxBURV, May 2, 1S75. Dear Mr. Abbot : —
Circumstances oblige me to decline the invitation extended to me, in behalf of the Boston Liberal League to participate in the proceedings of the next meeting of the League on the evening of the 7th inst. ; but I am heartily with that organization for repealing the exemption of church property from taxation, excluding the Bible from our common schools, and making the separation between Church and State wide as the poles asunder. Religion, under whatever form or however technically desig- nated, must stand or fall upon its own merits.
Yours for equal rights,
WM. LLOYD GARRISON.
The proposal by the Philadelphia Liberal League to commence immediately preparations for a general gathering of all the Leagues at that city in the Centennial Year, and its appointment of a Committee for that pui-pose consisting of Damon Y. Kilgore, INIary Pratt, and J. B. Beam, at least open the way for important practical work. The Boston League has now voted its approval of the plan, and elected five delegates to the preliminary meeting of next September ; namely, A. Bronson Alcott, B. F. Underwood, John Wetherbee, George A. Bacon, F. E. Abbot. There are nearly thirty Leagues which have reported their formation to The Index, and probably many others which have neglected to do so ; and if all of these should also elect five delegates apiece, a very respectable conference in point of number might be assembled to draw up an effective plan for holding a great Convention in 1S76. They might prepare and issue a combined appeal to the country to take up this great reform, to institute new Leagues all over the country, and to make the growing demand of American intelligence and patriotism for a more completely and consistently secularized Republic heard, and heard respectfully, from Maine to California.
The plan of proceedings now proposed to secure these great results is perfectly democratic and free from all objections. No self-constituted junta or ring have got together in a back-room, laid their wires, and cut-and-dried the whole movement so as to keep control of it and secure the offices for themselves. But Philadelphia publicly invites the radicals of the country to meet in fair and open conference, each League sending five delegates to represent it, and the whole assembly thus being
20
untrammelled in its entire action. Boston responds to this invitation, elects her delegates, and hopes that her sister cities and towns will do the same. Never was a more favorable opportunity than now for effectual union of the liberal forces for a bold and vigorous campaign. Let every American com- munity, large or small, where a dozen or twenty live liberals can be found, organize a Liberal League forthwith, elect the best delegates they can, and make the great gathering of 1876 memorable forever in the history of freethought by the grand results that shall grow out of it.
For mark: tJie Liberal League is fiot for talk, but ACTIO'H. If five hundred or a thousand Leagues should be represented in 1876 (and there is no reason why they may not, if you only do your part to day), a plan of combined action can be determined on by the Convention which shall ultimately put an end for all time to the constant humiliations and insults and outrages to which freethought is still exposed in this country in the name of Law.
For one, I chafe with irrepressible indignation at these wrongs ; they are committed against every man who thinks and dares to speak his honest thought. If Paul was willing to be "reckoned a fool for Christ's sake," I am willing to be reckoned a fool for Freedom's sake ; and therefore I appeal to all you radicals who have the pride of freemen and the enthusiasm of liberty burning in your souls, to close ranks, forward march, and meet at Philadelphia in 1876!
Yours, if you are Freedom's,
FRANCIS E. ABBOT.
In due time, a regular call for the Preliminary Convention was issued as follows in The Index of September 2 : —
CALL FOR THE SEPTEMBER CONVENTION.
The Liberal Leagues throughout the country are cordially invited to send five delegates each to a Convention to be held in Philadelphia on the 17th, iSth, and 19th of September next, for the purpose of disseminating our principles and of making arrangements for a general Congress of Liberals to convene next year during the Centennial Exhibition. It is very desirable that every Liberal League in America should be fully represented at the September Convention. Now is the time to work. The enemies of religious freedom are busy in preparing to utilize human ignorance and superstition for the strengthening and perpetuating of an organized system of mental repression, hostile alike to science, reason, and the right of private judgment in all matters of faith and conscience.
Let us endeavor to overcome ignorance by intelligence, — superstition by reason. Let each League send a full representation of men and women, so that from the combined wisdom of both sexes and all our societies we may be able to inaugurate a new era of impartial justice, perfect freedom, and scientific religion.
As soon as delegates are elected. Leagues are requested to notify the undersigned, and also The Index. JOHN S. DYE,
Sec'y Phila. L iberal League,
2527 Brown Streeet, Phila.
Philadelphia, July 22, 1875.
N. B.— All Liberal Societies which sympathize with the objects of the Liberal Leagues and wish to be represented are included in the above Call.
DELEGATES REPORTED. Philadelphia Liberal League. — Carrie S. Burnham (President), John S. Dye (Secretarj'), Isaac
Rhen, Damon Y. Kilgore, Jesse B. Beam. Boston Liberal League. — F. E. Abbot (President), Geo. A. Bacon (Secretaiy), A. Bronson Alcott,
B. F. Underwood, John Wetherbee.
The programme of proceedings was carried out, as reported in this article from The Index of September 30: —
THE LIBERAL LEAGUE CONVENTION.
The Convention of Liberal Leagues met according to announcement at Philadelphia, on Friday afternoon, September 17, in Lincoln Hall. Four sessions were held, two being private and two public. There was no local advertisement whatever of the two business sessions on Friday and Saturday afternoons, and the attendance was naturally small, not exceeding fifty on either occasion ; the presence of a miscellaneous public audience, attracted merely by curiosity or similar motives, would have obstructed th^ transaction of the important business for which the Convention was called together, and no provision could have been made for public addresses of a general character without
21
serious interference with its practical objects. Two public advertised sessions, however, were held on Sunday forenoon and evening, at which the audiences numbered about two hundred and three hundred respectively, and manifested their interest and approval by hearty and repeated applause. It would have been a cause for satisfaction, if a larger number of Liberal Leagues had taken the trouble to be directly represented in the Convention ; but most of those whose organization has been reported are located at a great distance from Philadelphia, and the dry and comparatively humble work of merely making preparations for a public convention ne.xt year could not be expected to induce many persons to incur the expense and fatigue of so long a journey. As it was, the Leagues at Philadelphia, Pa., Sauk City, Wis., Vineland, N. J., Minneapolis, Minn., Clearfield, Pa., Olathe, Kan., Bo.ston, Mass., as well as the Freie Gemeinde of Philadelphia, were represented either by personal representa- tives or by letter. Soliciting special attention to the resolutions adopted, we submit the following as the official report of the
PROCEEDINGS OF THE LIBERAL LEAGUE CONVENTION AT PHILADELPHIA.
Agreeably to the Call published in The Index, the Convention of Delegates from Liberal Leagues, and of Liberals who sympatliize with the movement they represent, met in Lincoln Hall, Philadelphia, on Friday, September 17, 1875, at 2 o'clock, P.M.
The Convention was called to order by John S. Dye, who called Carrie S. Burnham, President of the Philadelphia League, temporarily to the chair.
On motion of Damon Y. Kilgore, Mr. Dye was chosen temporary Secretary.
The credentials of delegates having been presented, Damon Y. Kilgore, Alexander Loos, and Parker Pillsbury were appointed a Committee on Permanent Organization, who reported Francis E. Abbot, of Boston, for permanent President, and Damon Y. Kilgore, of Philadelphia, for permanent Secretary ; and these officers were unanimously elected.
On taking the chair, Mr. Abbot briefly stated the objects for which the Convention was called. He said that these objects were, first, to secure the extension and more thorough popular comprehen- sion of the already verbally recognized national principle of purely secular government, or absolute separation of Church and State ; secondly, to give definite and organized expression to the growing public sentiment in favor of the reform of the existing violations of this principle in the practical administration of the government, and to seek thereby to can-y into a grander and higher fulfilment the national ideal of a republic founded exclusively on the rights of man ; and, lastlj', as a means to these great ends, to make the best possible arrangements for convening, at the National Centennial Exhibition of 1876, a general Congress of all the Liberals of the countiy. He said that this move- ment was not a negative or destructive one, but positive and constructive in the truest sense of the words ; that it was not aggressive against any class or classes of the people, but aimed to subserve the highest welfare of the people as a whole ; that, although personally he was a non-Christian and anti- Christian, it was not a crusade against Christianity or any other form of religious faith, but rather an attempt to establish the equal rights of all religions by securing the absolute emancipation of them all from governmental control, persecution, or favoritism; that it was a movement of such vast inclusive- ness as to deserve the support of all patriotic citizens who soberly and intelligently favor the total separation of Church and State in fact as well as in theory ; that this little gathering might yet prove the humble beginning of a great historic movement which should gain in strength and volmiie till it swept away all opposition to its just cause ; and that this could scarcely fail to be the result, if the Liberals should now for a while resolutely ignore all side-issues and work persistently for the absolute
SEPARATION OF ChURCH AND SXATE.
On motion, Prof. Alexander Loos, Carrie S. Burnham, and John S. Dye were appointed a Com* mittee on Resolutions.
Damon Y. Kilgore, Robert Wallin, and Christian F. Langefeld were chosen a Committee of Arrangements.
Extracts from sympathetic letters written by Samuel Widemire, President of the Clearfield (Pa.) Liberal League, Frank J. Mead, Secretary of the Minneapolis (Minn.) Liberal League, S. B. S. Wilson and Harriet C. Griffin, President and Secretary of the Olathe (Kan.) Liberal League, and others, were read to the Convention by the Secretary. A. Bronson Alcott, of Concord, Mass., one of the delegates of the Boston League, wrote as follows in explanation of his non-attendance: "Accept my thanks for the ticket to the Convention, which I very much regret I cannot attend. Family duties must detain me at home. I sympathize deeply in the labors of yourself and friends to enlighten the minds of your contemporaries and prepare them for confronting the enemies of free thought and free institutions — meeting the great issues that are fast pressing to their consummation. The Con- vention must do timely service for the more efficient prosecution of these issues by concerted measures. I shall look with hope and deep interest for your deliberations, and trust you will have secured full
22
and faithful reports." Dr. S. M. Whistler, of New Kingston, Pa., wrote: "Unable to attend as an individual, I take this mode of making known my hearty approval of and deep interest in this move- ment. While not organized in the Cumberland Valley at this time, we are persistently working with this end in view, and hope to be in league with you through our authorized representatives at the Congress of 1876." Frank J. Mead wrote: "You will readily comprehend that Philadelphia is a long way from Minneapolis towards the rising sun. The distance, and hence the time and expense required to make the trip, will prevent our organization from being represented by delegates. But we are with you in spirit and sentiment. ... In the Centennial Year we hope to have representatives with you. I am almost tempted to say that I will go myself rather than fail." Dr. S. B. S. Wilson wrote: "We have duly received your invitation to attend the National Convention of Liberal Leagues, and regret very much our inability to send delegates. . . . We believe that a sleepless vigilance and untiring watchfulness are peculiarly the needs of the hour, and that the lovers of truth and freedom should maintain an uncompromising and unyielding attitude in the contest which the plotters against our liberties are now invoking." Samuel Widemire wrote: " I hope the call will not be in vain. I hope your deliberations will result in much good. You wish our League to be repre- sented. I should have been most happy to have had it so, but we labor under much difficulty, being few in number and widely scattered over the county. Our regular meetings are held on Monday evenings of the Courts of Quarter Sessions. The time is too limited to call a special meeting to appoint delegates to attend at that time."
The Committee on Resolutions made a report as follows, which was laid over for the next meet- ing:—
" Resolved, That the principle of the absolute separation of Church and State is the corner-stone of all civil and religious liberty, and the universally recognized foundation of the Constitution and Government of the United States.
" Resolved, That the exemption of church property from taxation ; the support of chaplains by public funds ; the direct or indirect appropriation of public money for sectarian purposes of any sort ; the maintenance of religious services in public institutions, and especially the use of the Bible in the public schools ; the appointment of fasts or thanksgivings by public authority ; the use of the judicial oath instead of simple affirmation under the pains and penalties of perjurj'j the existence and enforce- ment of laws for the public observance of Sunday as the Sabbath ; the requirement of religious tests for office, suffrage, or naturalization, — all these and similar practices are in self-evident violation of the great national principle of the absolute separation of Church and State, and ought, therefore, to be totally discontinued.
^'Resolved, That the evils here enumerated tend practically to the promotion of sectarian ambi- tions, jealousies, and plots ; that they sow the seeds of disorder and disturbance of the public peace ; that they cause great public injustice towards individuals ; that they are a perpetual infringement of the rights of private conscience ; and that they constitute collectively a great public grievance to all who believe in the separation of Church and State, and threaten serious danger to the future harmony and welfare of the whole republic.
"Resolved, That in particular the non-taxation of church-property promotes the rapid accumula- tion of wealth and power in the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, and therefore directly fosters the development of an alien and formidable political power which openly claims to be supreme over all civil authorities throughout the world, and which only waits time and opportunity to press this claim vigorously in the United States ; and that the enforced or permitted use of the Bible in the public schools gives to the organized power of this Church a fatal weapon in its already avowed and danger- bus assaults on the whole public school system.
" Resohied, That these great and growing evils render it a paramount patriotic duty, on the part of all American citizens who comprehend the priceless value of purely secular government, to take active measures for the Immediate and Absolute Secularization of the State; and we ear- nestly urge them to organize without delay for this purpose.
'■''Resohied, That we hereby issue a call for a General Congress of all those who sympathize with this object, to be convened at Philadelphia on or before the Fourth of July, 1876, for the purpose of organizing a National Liberal League, and of promoting the organization of local auxiliary Lib- eral Leagues throughout the country.
" Resolved, That we heartily co-operate with the Freie Gemeinden of North America, who pro- pose to meet there in general convention at the same time and for a similar purpose."
The Committee of Arrangements reported that Francis E. Abbot, Damon Y. Kilgore, Alexander Loos, Isaac Rhen, B. F. Underwood, and H. S. Williams be a General Centennial Committee, with power to increase their number to fifteen ; that the duty of said Committee be to make all necessary arrangements for the General Congress of Liberals at Philadelphia in 1876, and also to draft a Consti.
23
tution and By-Laws for a National Liberal League; and that said Constitution and By-Laws pro- vide for the formation of local auxiliary Liberal Leagues throughout the countrj', and be submitted for approval to said General Congress of Liberals.
On motion, this report was unanimously adopted.
The Committee of Arrangements also reiiorted that Edward M. Davis, William B. Thomas, Elias H. Corson, John Wetherbee, and John S. Dye be a Centennial Committee on Finance, with power to increase their number to nine ; and that it be the duty of said Committee to provide for defraying the expenses of the General Congress of Liberals at Philadelphia in 1876, accordimg to the plan adopted by the General Centennial Committee.
On motion, this report was also unanimously adopted.
An address was then delivered by Parker Pillsbury, of New Hampshire, on the danger to free institutions from ecclesiasticism in this country, and on the necessity of taking immediate measures to arouse the masses to a comprehension of the situation. He was followed in short speeches by J. F. Byrnes, J. RL Spear, R. Wallin, and D. Y. Kilgore ; after which the Convention was adjourned till to-morrow, at 2 oclock, P. M.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON, SEPT. 18.
The Convention met agreeably to adjournment, the President in the chair.
The minutes of yesterday's session were read and approved.
The resolutions reported yesterday by the Committee on Resolutions were taken up seriatim, and after discussion by Charles Gk Burleigh, Carrie S. Burnham, John S. Dye, Damon Y. Kilgore, Robert Wallin, Daniel Riddell, Ella E. Gibson, and others, were adopted.
Rev. T. P. Stevenson, editor of the Christian Statesman, the organ of the movement to amend the Constitution of the United States so as to acknowledge "Almighty God as the Author of National Existence and the source of all power and authority in civil government, Jesus Christ as the Ruler of Nations, and the Bible as the fountain of law and the supreme rule for the conduct of nations," being observed to be present, w as invited by the President to participate in the discussion on the resolutions and to express his own views on the subject with absolute freedom. Mr. Stevenson was then intro- duced to the Convention, and made some earnest but temperate and courteous remarks explanatory of the movement he represented, which were listened to with close and respectful attention.
Messrs. Burleigh, Dye, and Kilgore replied to Mr. Stevenson.
The attention of the President being publicly called to the presence of the venerable Lucretia Mott, and a desire being expressed on behalf of the audience to hear from her, the President replied that deference for the known wishes of Mrs. Mott herself, who was physically too feeble to speak, obUged him, though with profound reluctance, to disregard the suggestion.
The Convention was then adjourned .until Sunday morning, at ten and a half o'clock. SUNDAY, SEPT. 19.
In the forenoon the President delivered a written address on " The Coming Religion." Mrs. Isabella Leet furnished admirable music on the piano, and was enthusiastically applauded.
In the evening the President gave an extempore address on the objects and aims of the Liberal League movement. Charles C. Burleigh followed with a powerful and unanswerable speech against the proposed amendment of the United States Constitution by the formal recognition of Almighty God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible in the Preamble. Mrs. Leet again executed some difficult and strik- ing pieces on the piano, and was again greeted with spontaneous, long-continued, and enthusiastic applause.
After which the Convention was adjourned sine die.
DAMON Y. KILGORE, Secretary. FRANCIS E. ABBOT, President.
This report of the Convention's doings and results tells its own story so plainly that little com- ment is needed. The plans here blocked out must depend for their successful execution on the free, generous, and patriotic devotion of American Liberals. A better start could scarcely have been desired for a movement like this, though a larger representation of Liberal Leagues might have given it a greater immediate effect with the unthinking. But the movement is one which must grow in strength every day : it is foreordained to be great. Those who are easily daunted by difficulties, or who wait till a movement becomes popular before joining it, or who lack the iron purpose which will neither bend nor break nor rust nor wear away in a just cause, will let this movement alone ; but we believe there are many who will hail this sober, practical, sensible initiation of it with real satisfaction, and in due course of time lend it their aid and support. If a sufficient number of the earnest and high- minded liberals will now co-operate with each other, a magnificent convention can be held next year in Philadelphia, which shall bring to the focus of one definite, comprehensive, and noble purpose all the
24
now scattered energies and aspirations of American Liberalism. This is our summons and our oppor- tunity, O ye who are not ashamed to be in earnest for the enlargement of religious liberty among men ! Surely, the summons will be heard, and the opportunity bravely seized.
The important duties imposed upon the General Centennial Committee by the Preliminary Convention were not neglected during the autumn and winter. The next public step was the publication of this appeal, in The Index of March 9, 1876: —
THE CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS.
AN APPEAL TO THE EARNEST.
Our readers are aware that a convention of Liberal Leagues was held at Philadelphia on the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth of last September, to take preliminary steps towards holding a General Congress of Liberals in that city on or before July 4, I876. This convention was reported at considerable length in The Index of September 30. A General Centennial Committee (F. E. Abbot, D Y. Kilgore, Prof. A. Loos, Prof. I. Rhen, B. F. Under^vood, H. S. Williams) and a Cen- tennial Committee of Finance (E. M. Davis, W. B. Thomas, E. H. Corson, J. Wetherbee, J. S. Dye) were appointed, with power to increase their respective numbers; but, the latter Committee through their Chairman, Mr. Davis, having requested the former Committee to relieve them of the duty of raising funds, it has become necessary to make a frank appeal for assistance to the general public.
In kind compliance with our request at this emergency, Mr. Kilgore has consented to share with us the labor of raising money for the Centennial Congress of Liberals, and will act as Treasurer, as explained by the subjoined communication : —
605 Walnut St., Philadelphia, ) March i, 1876. )
To the Liberal Leagues and the Liberal Public of tJie United States : —
The General Centennial Committee, appointed at a convention held in this city last September for the purpose of making all necessary arrangements for a General Centennial Congi-ess of Liberals next summer, have decided to call said Congress to convene at Philadelphia on Saturday, July i, 1876, — further particulars to be hereafter announced.
Each organized Liberal League will be entitled to send five delegates as special representatives — three in addition to its President and Secretary. But all individual Liberals who sympathize with the general objects and aims of the Liberal Leagues will be equally entitled and welcomed to seats and votes in the Congress.
In order to lessen as much as possible the expenses of the delegates, each League is requested to elect them as soon as possible, and to report their names to the undersigned through its Secretary. All Liberals, delegates or individuals, who desire and intend to participate in the Convention are requested also to forward personally and immediately their iiames znd/ull post-office addresses to the undersigned, that he may be enabled to make the most favorable terms possible for their accommoda- tion. If notified early, he hopes to secure for them a considerable reduction in railroad fares, and to provide boarding-places at perhaps half the usual rates of the season.
The Centennial Committee on Finance having through their Chairman transferred their duties to the General Centennial Committee, the undersigned has been appointed to attend to the financial department, and hereby appeals to the Liberals of the country for voluntary contributions to the amount of One Thousand Dollars. This amount will be needed to make the Congress a complete success, though the utmost possible will be done with whatever is contributed. The officers of the union of Liberal German societies propose to raise the same amount for their Convention, and have already raised $600 of it. The Young Men's Christian Association here have already spent this year nearly $100,000 in preparation for the Centennial, in the interest of Orthodox superstition; it would be a pity if all the friends of " Liberty and Light" could not do a hundredth part as much for the cause of national development and free humanity! The money will all be wanted (and much more could be advantageously expended) in providing suitable halls and head-quarters, advertising the Congress liberally in advance in the chief dailies of the countrj', defraying the necessary expenses of desired and invited speakers, paying verbatitn reporters, publishing a complete pamphlet report of the proceedings, etc. , etc. What is done must be done speedily, since the arrangements should be com- pleted, as far as practicable, by the first of May.
All sums donated will be duly acknowledged in The Index, and a full report of all expenditures
25
will be sent for publication ill the same paper. Remittances should be sent to the undersigned, 605 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Will not all friends of the movement respond heartily and at once ?
DAMON Y. KILGORE, . Acting Treasurer.
Mr. Kilgore is a member of the Philadelphia bar, and we believe him to be a ni an of unquestioned and tjnquestionable personal integrity. Whatever is contributed, we have not a shadow of doubt, will be honestly and economically used in furtherance of the Congress and its cause. Every friend of this movement should go to attend the gathering, if possible, and in any case should remit without delay such sum as he can spare, whether great or little. Two men within our personal knowledge, neither of whom is well able to do it, some time ago pledged twenty-five dollars apiece, if needed, to help defray the expenses of this Convention ; a third virote to us making inquiries and spontaneously offering assistance, if anything practical was proposed to be done about it. The time has come : it is proposed to do something very practical ; the promise of success is great ; money only is wanted. Shall it not be had? We believe that the Liberal League, and the great principle of .State Secular- ization it stands for, are destined before long to command, not to solicit, the attention of the entire country ; and the day will yet come when it will be a proud thought — " On July 4, 1876, I was one of those who began the New Century with the New Declaration of Independence."
For what is wanted now is that the State should declare emphatically its absolute and total jndependence of the Church. To-day it is not independent of the Church, as the "Demands of Liberalism" sufficiently indicate; nor is the country really a unit in demanding such entire independ- ence. The Roman Catholic Church, notwithstanding its smooth professions of acquiescence in the American system, is secretly plotting to make the State the mere subservient tool and slave of its own theocratic Pope. The great bulk of the Orthodox Protestant population demands thaSthe State should plant itself, if not on the Church, at least on " unsectarian Christianity," and thus take its law from the Bible and the Christ, the Church's sacred Book and the Church's sacred Lord; and this demand is only uttered with boldness and frankness by the party which has proposed the Christian Amend- ment to the United States Constitution. Here, then, is the flag of the Catholic Church, representing the empire of the Church over the State ; and here is the flag of the Protestant Church, representing a disastrously "entangling alliance" of the two. But where is the flag of the great party of unchurched American citizens who believe and demand that the State should stand solely on its own natural foundation, the Rights of Man, and know nothing of churches, sects, creeds, or priests? Where is the flag representing that august principle of State Secularization, by which this democratic republic must stand or fall? Nowhere! There is nowhere a clear, strong, bold, emphatic affirmation of this great principle, in all the majesty of its naked simplicity, except in the Liberal League. It is to run up this, the true flag of the Republic, and to nail it at the mast-head, that the Centennial Congress of Liberals has been called: to adopt and proclaim to all the world, in such tones that all the world shall hear, that new Declaration of Independence which should give dignity and meaning to this Cen- tennial Year.
Liberals ! Fellpw-citizens ! Men and women who comprehend the great need of the hour and the dazzling destiny of America! I appeal to yon, with all the energy and earnestness of my whole soul, to give us your indispensable aid in raising, befittiugly and betimes, the great Flag of the Future — the only pledge that the shadows shall not move backwards on the dial-plate of the ages — the only principle that can transmit to our children and our children's children the religious liberty we ourselves enjoy. Above all the uproar of the times, above all the the conflicts of parties and the multitudinous clashing interests of the hour, towers this mighty and transcendent issue, appealing to every mind that can think, to every heart that can feel, to every unselfish and noble nature that can act. The clock has struck ; the hour for action has arrived : who will not answer — " Ready ! "
FRANCIS E. ABBOT, Chairman of the Getter al Centennial Committee.
The cash contributions made in response to the above appeal, and pub- lished from week to week in The Index, were most gratifying and encour-
26
aging. The sum originally solicited was $1000; more than twice this sum was contributed, as appears below.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTIONS
FOR THE CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS.
Mar. 10. IS- IS- IS- IS-
21. 25-
25- 25- 25-
25-
25-
April
F. A. Angell, Passaic, N. J., M. Einstein, Titusville, Pa., W. Barnsdall, '' "
E. Whicher, Boston,
J. Davison, Alfred Centre, N. Y., Jas. Dillaway, Somerville, Mass., M. L. Hawley, Marathon, N. Y. , R. H. Ranney, Boston,
F. E. Abbot, Boston,
C. A. Gurley, Pulaski, N. Y., Emily J. Leonard, Meriden, Ct , S. R. Urbino, W. Newton, Mass., Jehu Hiatt, Winchester, Ind., A friend,
C. H. Horsch, Dover, N. H., Edw. Wigglesworth, Jr., Boston,
T. W. Higginson, Newport, R. I.,
Israel Betz, Oakville, Pa.,
Mrs. M. P. Southworth, Cleveland,
Ohio, S. Warbasse, La Fayette, N. J., A Friend in New York City, Sauk City (Wis.) Liberal League, R. B. Stone, Bradford, Pa., J. D. Lange, New York City, Jane P. Titcomb, Boston, Alex. Cochran, Franklin, Pa.,
B. B. Griswold, Madison, N. J., Warren Griswold, " "
C. Nash and sister, Worcester, Ms.,
F. E. Nipher, St. Louis, K. Hoegh, La Crosse, Wis., H. K. Oliver, Jr., Boston,
S. R. Honey, Newport, R. I., A. S. Brown, Worcester, Mass., C. B. Peckham, Newport, R. I., Geo. W. Julian, Ir\ington, Ind., Alex. Risk, Winthrop, Iowa, Jas. Eddy, Providence, R. I.,
G. P. Reynolds (for "liberals of Shel-
by, Ohio"), J. O. Bentley, Philadelphia, J. W. Suliot, Salem, Ohio, J. S. Bonsall, " "
M. Schlesinger, Alban,y, O. B. Frothingham, New York, Friends in Bristol Co., Mass., Mrs. N. H. Crowell, Jefferson, O., W. H. Crowell, " "
J. F. Ruggles, Bronson, Mich., Marj' E. Dewey, Sheffield, Mass.,
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25- |
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$5.00 |
25. |
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2.00 |
May |
|
2.00 |
I. |
|
5.00 |
I. |
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1. 00 |
I. |
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2.00 |
I. |
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3.00 |
I. |
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6.00 |
I. |
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25.00 |
15- |
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50.00 |
15- |
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10.00 |
15- |
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5.00 |
15- |
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S.oo |
15- |
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1. 00 |
15- |
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2.50 |
IS- |
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15.00 |
IS- |
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IS- |
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3.00 |
IS- |
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5.00 |
15- |
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15- |
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5.00 |
15- |
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2.00 |
iS- |
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50.00 |
15- |
|
20.00 |
15- |
|
5.00 |
IS- |
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5.00 |
IS- |
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2.00 |
15- |
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5.00 |
15- |
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10.00 |
22. |
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5.00 |
22. |
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4.00 |
22. |
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2.00 |
22. |
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3.00 |
22. |
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5.00 |
22. |
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3.00 |
30. |
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5.00 |
so- |
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3.00 |
so. |
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1. 00 |
SO- |
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2.50 |
SO. |
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10.00 |
SO. |
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SO. |
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8.00 |
30. |
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5.00 |
30. |
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5-75 |
30. |
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.90 |
SO. |
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5.00 |
30. |
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25.00 |
SO. |
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90.00 |
SO. |
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5.00 |
30. |
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5.00 |
30. |
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1. 00 |
30. |
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2.00 |
30. |
C. Doerflinger, Milwaukee,
J. A. Heintzelman, Philadelphia,
D. G. Crandon, Chelsea, Mass., S. R. Koehler, Boston,
Geo. M. Murray, Jersey City, H. T. Marshall, Brockton, Mass., C. A. Simpson, Saxonville, " J. Copeland, Humboldt Basin, On.,
B. F. Underwood, Thomdike, Mass., "An English Brother" {£$),
John Gillies, St. Louis,
J. W. Frank, Dysart, Iowa,
L. LBwenthal, Rochester, N. Y.,
M. Landsberg, " "
A. Walther, Brooklyn,
E. R. Brown, Elmwood, 111., M. Altman, New York City,
R. E. Grinishaw, Minneapolis, Minn., Adam Wolfe, Port Byron, N. Y.,
F. P. Hicks, " ■ " «' Benj. Gerrish, Jr., Bordeaux, France, W. L. Foster, East .Stoughton, Mass., W. Eysenbach, Lima, O.,
C. H. Phillips, Boston, W. P. Phillips, " H. S. Williams, "
Mrs. Orrin Gillett, Parma, Mich.,
D. Sandman, Barre Mills, Wis., C. M. Dennison, New York City, James McArthur, Chicago,
C. H. Shepard, Brooklyn, Liberal League, Toledo, Iowa,
" " Boston,
Mrs. A. L. Richmond, L. Scott, Waynesburgh, O.,
E. R. McKenzie, Charlestown, Mass.,
C. K. Wliipple, Brookline, Mass., E. B. Moore, Charlestown, "
E. H. Warren, Chelmsford, "
D. Deming, South Bend, Ind., S. C. Mason, Moberly, Mo.,
H. C. Hanson, Barnesville, Ga., A. M. Dent, Weston, West Va.,
F. M. Vaughan, Middleboro, Mass., M. P. Barber, Pleasantville, Pa., "Cash," Phoenix, N. Y.,
G. Cope, West Chester, Pa.,
Wm. Dudgeon, New Hartford, N. Y., H. Andriessen, Beaver, Pa.,
E. A. .Spring, Perth Amboy, N. J., A. Morrison, Braintree, Mass.,
G. Lieberknecht, G^neseo, 111.,
27
May.
30. Sophia B. Carter, Andover, Mass.,
30. "Widow's Mite," Portage City, Wis.,
30. H. C. Southworth, Stoughton, Mass.,
30. B. HalUnvell, Saiuly .'■Iprine, Md.,
30. E. P. Hassinger, Brodliead, Wis.,
30. D. B. Hale, Collinsville, Ct.,
30. Rev. J. S. Richards, Liberty, Me.,
30. H. D. Maxson, Amherst College,
30. W. B. Studley, Rockland, Mass.,
30. J. W. Marshall, Plattsmouth, Neb.,
30. Dr. C. Wesselhceft, Boston,
30. C. A. Greenleaf, Chicopee, Mass.,
30. L. Goepper, Union Village, O.,
30. W. C. Fuller, Willimantic, Ct.,
30. Dr. G. E. Francis, Worcester, Mass.,
30. W. W. Baker, Boston,
30. James Parton, Newburyport,
30. Dr. J. D. Thorley, .Steel Works, Pa.,
30. H. S. Bacon, Milford, Mass.,
30. E. C. Darling, Ipswich, "
30. " Friend," Chelsea, "
30. Matilda Goddard, Boston,
30. "Cash," Boston,
30. Dr. W. P. Wesselhceft, Boston,
30. P.^. Chamberlin, Wauseon, O.,
30. Albertina von Arnim, Longwood, Ms.,
30. D. P. Wilcox, Yankton, Dak. Ter.,
30. C. Lohmann& Son, Edwardsville,Ill.,
30. J. Blain, St. James, Mo.,
30. H. T. Wright, Washington Hts., 111.,
30. P. H. Macgill, Baltimore, Md.,
30. C. T. Pratt, Paw tucket, R. I.,
30. J. N. Clark, E. Somerville, Mass.,
30. T. J. At wood, Albion, Wis.,
30. L. Prang & Co., Boston,
30. W. S. Cunningham, Vienna, O.,
30. C. F. Paige, Boston,
30. D. E. Mayo, Chelsea, Mass.,
30. Jos. Post, Old Westbury, Mass.,
30. Louise M. Thurston, Lynn, Mass.,
30. J. G. Richardson, Lake City, Minn.,
30. G. M. Wood, Washington, D.C.,
30. Liberals of Defiance, O. ,
30. Liberal League, Medina, O.,
30. Liberal League, Minneapolis,
30. J. W. Cabot, Boston,
30. D. Ferguson, Waupun, Wis.,
30. Mrs. H. Grinnell, New Milford, Pa.,
30. Arethusa Hall, Northampton, Mass.,
30. J. Scott, Dighton, Mass.,
30. G. M. Wood, Washington, D.C.,
30. Thos. Curtis, St. Louis,
30. F. Fradley, Brooklyn,
30. S. R. Smith, West Winfield, Ct.,
30. Mr. & Mrs. J. C. Godfrey, Brooklyn, June.
6. Noah Green, New York,
6. P. Sidebotham, Fall River, Mass.,
6. Mary H. L. Cabot, Boston,
|
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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6. |
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I. GO |
6. |
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.10 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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5.00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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.50 |
6. |
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1.00 |
6. |
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5.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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5.00 |
6. |
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25.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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5.00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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I. GO |
6. |
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10.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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3.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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I.OQ |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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10.00 |
6. |
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3-00 |
6. |
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3.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
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10.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
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2.00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
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2.00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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S-oo |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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17.00 |
6. |
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25.00 |
6. |
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20.00 |
6. |
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10.00 |
6. |
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10.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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1.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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s-oo |
6. |
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10.00 |
6. |
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6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
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2.00 |
6. |
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1. 00 |
6. |
L. Kingman, Buffalo,
M. A. Blanchard, Portland,
C. M. Dennison, Brooklyn,
J. Damon, Ipswich, Mass.,
Cash, IlavL-rhi".!, Mass.,
Dr. L. P. Babb, Eastport, Me.,
Isaiah West, New Bedford, Mass.,
Thos. Nye, Ridgeville, O.,
J. W. Braley, New Bedford,
J. Keppler, New Frankfort, Mo.,
Seth Hunt, Northampton, Mass.,
Dr. E. B. Foote, New York,
C. M. Waddell, Argillite, Ky.,
W. R. Morgan, New York,
C. M. Cuyler, Albany,
Elizur Wright, Boston,
B. B. Griswold, Madison, N.J.,
C. Graeter, Vincennes, Ind.,
W. E. Coleman, Leavenworth, Ks., J. L. Cutler, Quitman, Ga., J. Farnsworth, Fort Scott, Kan., M. F. Whitehead, Jersey City, N. J. G. Dimmock, Cambridge, Mass., H. Lieber, Indianapolis,
D. B. Morton, Groton, N.Y., F. Plimpton, Florence, Mass., A. R. Hincher, Burr Oak, Mich., Z. S. Wallingford, Dover, N.H., Dr. G. F. Matthes, New Bedford,
A. Schuler, Keokuk, Iowa, M. Peckham, Utica, N.Y., F. Loeser, Brooklyn,
J. W. Frank, Dysart, Iowa,
J. Chappellsmith, New Harmony,
Ind., Mrs. M. Chappellsmith, New Har- mony, Ind., Susanna E. Hinkly, New Harmony,
Ind., Margaret Burns, New Harmony, Ind, C. H. White, " "
J. C. Wheatcroft, " "
Wm. Green, Brooklyn, M. Fleischmann, New York,
E. Eising, New York,
O. O. Friedlander, New York,
F. Dessaur, New York, C. Dessaur, New York,
G. Riker, New Philadelphia, O., Rabbi M. Samfield, Memphis, M. S. Devereux, Irvington, N.Y., E. B. Wolcott, Milwaukee,
R. M. Whipple, Chicago,
S. D. Bardwell, Shelbume Falls, Ms.
Mrs. L. C. Bardwell, " "
W. D. Pitt, Groton, N. Y.,
H. L. Green, Syracuse, N. Y.,
E. D. Cowperthwaite, Washingtot*,
J. Wright, Rock Falls, 111.,
B. Breed, Lynn, Mass.,
2.50 I. So 1. 00 3.00 .50 2.00 1. 00 1. 00 5.00 2.00 2.00 S-oo 2.00
10.00 2.00
10.00 2.00 2.00 1. 00 5.00 2.00 2.50 3.00 5.00 5.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 5.00 2.00 S-oo 5.00
1. 00
, 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 5.00 10.00 5.00 1. 00 2.00 1. 00 3.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00
, 1. 00 1. 00 2.00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00
28
June.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6. IS- IS- IS- IS- 13- iS- IS- IS- iS- iS- 13- 13. IS- 13. 13- IS- IS- 13- 13- 13- 13- 13- 13- IS- 13- 13- 13- 13- 13- 13- 13-
W. E. Lukens, Rock Falls, 111.,
A. Skinner, Ceresco, Mich.,
F. H. Guiwits, Avoca, N. Y., J. T. White, New York,
J. Maddock, New York,
B. Lindsay, Boston,
G. Billings, Chicopee, Mass.,
0. K. Crosby, Syracuse, N. Y., J. Marsh, Northampton, Mass., M. Shore, Litchfield, HI.,
Dr. S. Wolfenstein, St. Louis, Cash, Indianapolis,
1. P. Greenleaf, Boston,
J. Ahreus, Monticello, Ark., H. Ahrens, Longview, Ark., L. G. Janes, New York, J. Consalus, Troy, N. Y.,
A. Keen, Duplain, Mich., J. E. Sutton, Olathe, Kan., R. B. Miller, Utica, N. Y.,
H. H. Chace, Union City, Mich.,
T. Lamory, Concordia, Mo.,
T. Tibbetts, Augusta, Me.,
F. Goodyear, Cortlandville, N. Y.,
John Orth, Boston,
Henry Damon, Boston,
Jos. Warbasse, Newton, N. J.,
E. E. Chapin, Rockford, 111.,
T. Martin, W. Boylston, Mass.,
H. B. Fletcher, W. Boylston, Mass.,
Nath. Little, Newbury, Mass., ■
E. R. Sanborn, Leavenworth, Kan., W. H. Farrell, Leavenworth, Kan., J. Reedy, Toledo, Iowa,
B. F. Horton, Dexter, Me., W. F. Johnson, Cleveland, O., T. J- Crouse, Clinton, N. Y., R. S- Pen-in, New York,
L. Lamott, Groton, N. Y.,
F. G. Johnson, Towanda, Pa., Rabbi A. Rosenspitz, Nashville, E- D. Stark, Cleveland, O.,
J. S. Thomson, Bloomington, 111.,
Mrs. J. N. Lyman, Columbus, O.,
John Alexander, Shelby, O.,
R. Pritchett, Fort Madison, Iowa,
Peter H. Clark, Cincinnati,
George Lewis, Providence,
B. S. Hopkins, Providence,
J. S. Bonsall, Salem, O.,
W. T. P. Menefee, Crittenden, Ky.,
H. W. Gilbert, Philadelphia,
A Friend in Concord, Mass.,
J. E. Oliver, Ithaca, N. Y.,
Wm. J. Potter, New Bedford,
R. Wilkin, San Buenaventura, Cal.,
W. S- Shepherd, "
Jacob Hoffner, Cincinnati,
|
June |
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I. GO |
IS- |
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1.00 |
IS- |
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I. CO |
IS- |
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I.GO |
IS- |
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1. 00 |
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1. 00 |
13- |
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I. CO |
13- |
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.50 |
13- |
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1. 00 |
13- |
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.50 |
13. |
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13- |
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I. CO |
13- |
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1. 00 |
iS- |
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•so |
13- |
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.50 |
13- |
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.50 |
iS- |
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1. 00 |
IS- |
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1. 00 |
IS- |
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1.00 |
IS- |
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I.OO |
13- |
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.50 |
13- |
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•50 |
13. |
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.50 |
13. |
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1.00 |
13- |
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1.00 |
13- |
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2.00 |
20. |
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5.00 |
20. |
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■25 |
20. |
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I.OO |
20. |
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-50 |
20. |
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1.00 |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
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3.00 |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
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6.80 |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
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2-00 |
20. |
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2.00 |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
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I.OO |
20. |
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I.OO |
20. |
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2.00 |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
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2.00 |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
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2.00 |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
|
I.OO |
20. |
|
5.00 |
20. |
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3.00 |
20. |
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2.00 |
20. |
|
2.00 |
20. |
|
5.00 |
20. |
A. Braasch and friends, Mishicott, Wis., 5 W. F. Allen, Madison, Wis., 5 L. J. Burch, Modoc, Col., G. A. Hill and friends, San Fran- cisco, 5 E. Bentley, Morgan City, La., i L. A. Harbaugh, Toledo, Iowa, 3 Cash, Cambridge, Mass.,
E. Z. Penfield, New York, 5 R. O. Old, Georgetown, Col., i L. Liebmanu, Brooklyn, 2 W. Barnsdall, Titusville, Pa., 2 Miss S. H. Ware, Boston, 5 Eben Turk, Chelsea, Mass., 2 W. H. Saxton, Oberiin, O., i J. Miehl, Decatur, 111.,
D. B. Schofield, Baker City, Or., i
J. C. Rued, San Francisco,
Jos. Barnsdall, Titusville, Pa., 3
Cash, Delphos, O., i
H. Frederic, Utica, N. Y., i
H. Brown, Mondovi, Wis.,
L. Markham, Madison, Ga., i
G. Frauenstein, New York, 5
A. Loos, Germantown, Pa., i
Dr. H. Nye, Enon Valley, Pa., ' i
A. HiUer, " .
F. Alsdorf, " 1 S. Riddle, " i
C. Fischer, " i
D. A. Robertson, " i Mr. and Mrs. A. Bate, Milwaukee, 5 Jos. Singer, Chicago, i
C. H. Vinton, Cambridge, Mass., i
D. L. McKeinzie, Rock Falls, 111., i T. Culver, " " i W. Dmry, Verdurett, 111., i J. Gardner, Rochester, N. Y., i A Friend, Elyria, O., 5 N. Houghton, Lake Providence, La., 2
C. P. Somerby, New York, i R. G. Fell, Clarence, Iowa, i A. A. Raymond, Fond du Lac, Wis., R. K. Price, Dexter, Iowa,
Rev. Robert CoUyer, Chicago, 2
J. E. Boynton, Elyria, O., 2
Rev. H. Powers, Manchester, N. H., 2
H. Bzethig, Buffalo, N. Y., 2
Dr. J. M. Hawks, Hyde Park, Mass., 3
R. T. Starr, Rochester, N. Y., 3
John Curtis, Boston, s
D. Ballantine, Bloomington, Wis., Mrs. P. Phillips, Rondout, N. Y., M. L. Lewis, Providence, Dr. W. S. Leach, St. Joseph, Mo., J. W. Suliot, Salem, O., Laura Barnaby, Salem, O., Dr. W. A. Crandall, Napoleon, O.,
29
June.
J
20. 20.
27.
27- 27-
27- 27- 2 7-
27-
27- 27- 27-
27.
27-
27- 27- 27-
27- 27-
27-
27.
27-
27- 27- 27- 27- 27-
27. 27.
27- 27-
27-
27-
27-
27-
27.
27-
27.
27-
27.
O. B. Vose, Forkston, Pa.,
G. McMurray, Jersey City, N. J.,
S. Ritchie, Racine, Wis.,
John Turner, Philadelphia,
Henry Jones, Three Tons, Pa.,
Mary Y.Jones, "
Joseph Ambler, "
Hannah .-Vmbler, "
G. A. Atwoi)d, Kort Harker, Kan.,
Hon. Henry Booth, Chicago,
R. P. Titus, Madison, N. J.,
Ivan Panin, Boston,
Dr. J. T. Dickins, Newburyport,
F. A. Flagg, Providence, Carl Edelheim, New York, H. G. White, Buffalo, N. Y., Mrs. E. D. Lucas, Boston, Liberal Asso'n, Smith Centre, Kan.,
A. P. Rose, Jackson, Pa.,
C. Whitaker, Dubuque, "S. W. E.," New York, '• Friend,"' Troy, N. Y.,
D. T. Herrick, Burgh Hill, O., D. Patrick, Milford, llhtss.,
D. B. Humphrey, New Bedford, J. T. Reid, Fisherville, Ky., Chas. Richardson, Boston, W. Hanford, Etna, N. Y., Caroliue F. Barr, N. Ipswich, N. H., W. O. Mack, Canby, Oregon,
G. W. Mead, Battle Creek, Mich.,
0. A. Bailey, Rowley, Mass.,
B. M. Smith, Minneapolis, R. Frisbie, Van Wert, O.,
P. R. Wright, S. Barbara, Cal.,
Mrs. C. E. Johnson, S. Boston,
J. Durst, Iowa City, Iowa,
M. Bloom, " "
J.J.Dietz, " "
V. Gross, " "
F.Weber, " "
Cash, La (irange, Ind.,
Mrs. Amy Post, Rochester, N. Y.,
John Buntin, Newburyport,
Dr. J.J. Dunlop, Waterford, N. Y.,
1. W. Springfield, Wolfboro, N. H., Mrs. Eliz. S. Miller, Geneva, N. Y., Dr. G. W. Topping, Dewitt, Mich., Mrs. Eliz. Coit, Columbus, O.,
A. Magni, New Yoik,
A. T. Herrick, Uhrichsvillc, O.,
Dr. J. Winslow, Ithaca, N. Y.,
Jas. C. Smith, Nassau, N. P.,
J. W. Goodrich, Amesbury, Mass.,
Geu. Robf. Avery, New York,
Mrs. L. B. Sayles, Dayville, Ct.,
W. Inott, Cincinnati,
J. M. Tunis, Madison, N. J.,
.50 1. 00 1. 00
10.00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1 .00 5.00 1.00 1. 00 2.00 1. 00 5.00
10.00 2.00 1. 00 1. 00 5.00 5.00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 5.00 1. 00 5.00 1. 00 1. 00 1.70
•25 2.00 5.00 1. 00
.50 2.00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 5.00 1. 00 3.00 5.00
.50 5.00 1. 00 1. 00 2.00 1.00 5.00 1. 00 2.50 1. 00 2.00 5.00 2.00
..ly.
Mrs. B. Ireson, Lynn, Mass., 2.00
JJlia Ireson, " " 2.00
Isabella Ireson, " " 2.00
G. B. Stebbins, Detroit, i.oo
, Shelby, O., .50
W. Boynton, N. Ipswich, N. H., i.oo
F. A. Day, Castana, Iowa, 5.00 W. E. Darling, Amesbury, Mass., 2.00 J. Churchill, Chanijjhun, N. Y., 2.00 J. Hoskin, Rochester, N. V., i.oo J. Demarest, Lafayette, N. J., 2.00
B. Gardner, Florence, Mass., .50 H. S. Mason, Lockport, i.oo W. F. Nick, Erie, Pa., i.oo
G. Chamberlain, Long Ridge, Ct., 5.00 J. DeGodt, Greenville, Del., .50
C. W. Newton, Castlelon, 111., i.oo W. H. Sherman, Milwaukee, 2.00 J. S. Lyon, Springfield, Mo., .25 (?), New York City, 2.00 Mrs. L. C. Smith, Rochester, N. Y., .25 T. Marshall, Economy, Ind., 2.50 G. Ealand, Shelby, O., .50 G. W. Smith, Shelby, O., .50- G. Wadsworth, Dexter, Me., 1.00 A. W. Cadman, Jacksonville, 111., i.oo W. Bray, LambertviUe, N. J., i.oo G. M. Murray, Jersey City, N. J., 2.00 J. D. Atkins, Florence, Mass., 2.00 Mary Osborn, Boston, 3.00 Thos. Knight, Ceresco, Mich., .50 Isaac Liebmann, Atlanta, Ga., i.oo R. S. Barker, Newport, R. L, 5.00 C. Collins, Northumberland, Pa., 1.00 Dr. S. M. Whistler, Harrisburg, Pa., i.oo D.C. HaiLxhurst, Battle Creek, Mich., i .oo Julia M. Smith, " " " .50 C. Ford, " " " .50 C. Merritt, " " " .50 Julia E. Revere, " " " i.oo Josephine F. Marsh, " " " i.oo Mrs. S. M. Rockwell, " " i.oo Julia A. Pierce, " " .50 W. Merritt, " " i.oo Mrs. H. H. Whitney, " " .50 Mrs. M. C. Harper, " " .50 Hattie Snow, " " .50 Dr. M. H. Garcia, '' " .50 E. H. Perry, " " .50 Grace E. Packer, " " .50 T. B. Skinner, " " 1.00 M. Veale, " " i.oo Henry Fiegl, New York City, 2.00 John C. Haynes„Boston, 5.00 Job Angell, Providence, i.oo Wm. Rotch, Fall River, Mass., 5.00 Second Liberal League, Milwaukee, 12.20 HaiTy Hoover, Clearfield, Pa., 5.00
30
July.
|
II. A. H. Brockway, Brooklyn, |
I.OO |
|
|
5.00 |
II. Henry Gersom, Atlanta, Ga., |
1. 00 |
|
., 3.00 |
18. H. T. Appleby, Buffalo, N.Y., |
4.80 |
|
2.50 |
18. G. P. A., Boston, |
5.00 |
|
5.00 |
30. J. W. Winkley, Littleton, Mass., |
.50 |
|
5.00 2.00 |
30. T. L. Mann, Napoleon, O., |
.50 |
|
SPECIAL FUND. |
T. Davis, Indianapolis,
Dr. A. HUhne, Rondout, N.Y.,
G. Thorn, Clearfield, Pa.,
O. Ditson & Co., Boston,
J. B. Walters, Clearfield, Pa.,
A. L. Monroe, Rockford, 111.,
April IS- A Friend in Boston, Iioo.oo
April 28. Miss Marian Hovey, Boston, 100.00
April 17. Wm. H. Sayward, Dorchester. $25 \ 100.00
May 3. FreeLecture Ass' n, New Haven, $75)
May 8. Nath. C. Nash, Boston, 100.00
May 13. Samuel L. Hill, Florence, Mass., 'po.qo
Total Amount Paid in, $2018.75
On or about the twentieth of May, a very large number of circulars, signed by the Chairman of the Committee, were mailed to persons known to be pronounced liberals, enclosing the following blank form of application for a certificate of membership in the approaching Congress : —
CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS.
Philadelphia, July i to July 4, 1876.
Approving the general objects for which the CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS was called by the Preliminary Convention held in Philadelphia, September 17, 18, and ig, 1875: namely, "to take active measures for the Immediate and Absolute Secularization of the State," and, as a means to this end, " to organize a
NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE, and promote the organization of local auxiliary Liberal Leagues throughout the country," I hereby declare my wish to be an individual member of the said Congress, and my intention to attend its sessions, provided circumstances shall permit. Name ;
City or Ttnvn : •
County :
State : Date of Signing .*
Nearly eight hundred of these applications were returned with signa- tures, and to each person so signing a printed " Certificate of Membership" was promptly forwarded, with the blank spaces properly filled, as follows : —
CERTIFICATE OF MEMBERSHIP
OF THE
CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS:
Philadelphia, Julv i to July 4, 1876.
Boston, Mass., 1876.
having signified approval of the general objects for which the CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIB- ERALS was called by the PRELIMINARY CONVENTION held at Philadelphia, September 17th, iSth, and 19th, 1875: namely, " to take active measures for the IMMEDIATE AND ABSO-
31
LUTE SECULARIZATION OF THK STATE," and, as a means to this end, " lo organize a
NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE,
and promote the organization of local auxiliary Liberal Lea.c;ues througliout the country," — and having declared a wish to be an individual member of the said Congress, and an intention to attend its sessions, provided circumstances shall permit, — is entitled, on presentation of this Certificate to the proper Committee, to a seat in the said Congress and to all the rights and privileges of membership in the same.
Chairman of the General Ccntennuil Committee.
Secretary of tlie General CenieiiKtal Committee.
Also, on or about the fifteenth of June, a circular containing a longer and a shorter announcement of the Congress, signed by the Chairman of the Committee, was sent to every daily and weekly journal throughout the United States and Canada — between five and six thousand in all; and the amount of advertising thus secured for the Congress through the courtesy of the editors of the country could not have been obtained otherwise, except by an outlay of many thousands of dollars.
The formal " Call" for the Congress was issued by the Committee in The Index of June 15, as follows : —
CALL FOR THE CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE COMMITTEE. To THE Liberal Public: —
At a preliminary convention of Liberal Leagues held In Lincoln Hall, Philadelphia, Septem- ber 17, 18, and 19, 1875, the following resolutions were adopted: —
[These resolutions will be found in the above report of that convention.]
At the same convention Francis E. Abbot, Damon Y. Kilgore, Alexander Loos, Isaac Rhen, B F. Underwood, and H. S. Williams were appointed as a General Centennial Committee, "to make all necessan.' aTangements for the general Congress of Liberals at Philadelphia in 1876, and also to draft a Constitution and By-Laws for a National Liberal League" ; and it was further ordered that "said Constitution and By-Laws [should] provide for the formation of local auxiliary Liberal Leagues throughout the country, and be submitted for approval to said general Congress of Liberals."
In obedience to these instructions, the General Centennial Committee now beg leave to announce the following arrangements and general programme of proceedings, subject to such modifications as may be rendered inevitable by circumstances or by the action of the convention itself:
The Centennial Congress of Liberals will be convened at Concert Hall, on Chestnut Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets, Philadelphia, on Saturday, July i, at 2 o'clock, p.m. Concert Hall will seat about two thousand people, giving each a cushioned chair. It has a large stage and two large ante-rooms, and is excellently adapted to secure the comfort and convenience of a large convention .
Railroad officials refuse to make any other reduction in fares than the excunsion rates agreed to by all the principal companies, of which all delegates and members can avail themselves. A local com- mittee is at work to secure a list of cheap boarding-places for the accommodation of members. The necessary price will not exceed ^i-Soperday, nor be less than jti.oo. All who wish to avail them- selves of tl.ese accommodations should write without delay to D. Y. Kilgore, Secretary, 605 Walnut Street, Philadelphia.
In order to enjoy the rights and privileges of membership, it will be necessary for delegates from Liberal Leagues, or other Liberal Societies desiring to join in the Liberal League movement, to be provided with proper credential;; signed by their own local officers. Individuals not delegates can receive a certificate of membership on writing for, filling up, and returning a blank form of application which can be obtained by addressing F. E. Abbot, Chairman, i Treraont Place, Boston. It can also
32
be obtained at Concert Hall, July i, at i p.m. ; and all who may not previously have received their certificates should not fail to present themselves promptly at that time. This is the only way to pre- vent confusion and vexatious delays to all concerned. Over five hundred certificates have been already issued to applicants for membership ; there is every indication of a great increase of this number; and immediate application will save trouble and time in organizing the Congress when it meets.
The following order of business has been adopted by the Committee, subject to ratification by the Congress itself : —
[The order of business proposed was adopted without modification by the Congress, and, being published in full in the report of the First Session, need not be here anticipated.]
According to this .'jeneral programme, .Saturday, Mnnday, and Tuesday will be devoted mainly to business, and Sunday to addresses. It is hoped that all who propose to attend will be on hand punctually at the first session of Saturday, in order to participate in the important proceedings of that day. The Committee have labored assiduously for months to bring the business of the Congress into shape to be acted upon without unnecessai-y delay, and to render the sessions in the highest degree effective; but whatever is done will be done by the Congress itself in the exercise of its own inde- pendent judgment. The Committee's only object has been to facilitate, not to forestall; and they have been governed throughout by the conviction that the Congress will be composed of members representing the best practical wisdom and most earnest spirit of the liberals of the country. Whether this conviction is well-grounded, or not, can be shown only by the ultimate result. But the importance of a full attendance, in view of the momentous subjects on which the Congress will be called to act, is sufficiently obvious. Let every one who values the fortification of religious liberty and the establish- ment of equal religious rights be present.
FRANCIS E. ABBOT, Chairman, DAMON y. KILGORE, Secretary.
Such is a condensed history of the movement which culminated in the Centennial Congress of Liberals ; but the full history of it can only be learned from the columns of The Index for the previous six and a half years, and from all the movements and events which led to the establish- ment of The Index itself. What is to be the future history of the Na- tional Liberal League, born at the great festival of the nation's Centennial Year, or of the vast movement of which this League is as yet the most significant exponent, — these are things still hidden from human eyes.
PREFATORY NOTE.
The present Report of the Centennial Congress of Liberals is based upon phonographic notes which were intended to give a verbatim report of the entire proceedings. On examination, however, these notes were found to be very incomplete in certain parts ; and it has been necessary to revise them carefully from beginning to end, to condense them here and supple- ment them there, and in fact, almost to re-write the six hundred manuscript pages submitted by the reporters. The enormous labor of revision, to- gether with the incidental labor of preparing the Introduction and the Appendix, has been done as faithfully as possible ; and it is believed that, notwithstanding the probable existence of undetected errors, this Report of what has truly been called the " most important convention of liberals ever held in America " will be found to be both accurate and full.
It is necessary to caution the public against holding the National Lib- eral League responsible for the mere statements or opinions of its individ- ual members, or for anything except its own Constitution, resolutions, and collective acts.
THE EDITOR.
CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS.
Fll^Sa? SESSIOISTi
SATURDAY, JULY i, 1876.
The Centennial Congress of Liberals was convened at Concert Hall, Philadelphia, on Saturday, July i, 1876, at two o'clock, P. M., in response to the call of a Preliminary Convention of Liberal Leagues held at Lin- coln Hall, in the same city, September 17, 18, and 19, 1875.
On assembling at the appointed time and place, Damon Y. Kilgore rose and said : —
Ladies and Gentlemen : As Secretary of the General Centennial Com- mittee, it becomes my duty to call this Congress to order. The time has now arrived ; will you please to nominate a temporary President ?
Mr, B. F. Underwood. — I move that the President of the Philadelphia Liberal League, Mrs. Carrie B. Kilgore, be the temporary President of this Congress.
Mr. Kilgore. — It is moved and seconded that Mrs. Kilgore, President of the Philadelphia Liberal League, be temporary President of this Congress.
The motion was carried.
Mr. Kilgore. — Mr. Underwood and Mrs. Dr. Pratt will please conduct the President elect to the chair.
Mrs. Kilgore. — Gentlemen and Ladies: I thank you for this expres- sion of your confidence, in thus calling upon me to preside temporarily over your deliberations. I attribute it more to the fact that I happen to be Presi- dent of the Philadelphia Liberal League than to any special fitness of mine for the ofiice. Whatever may be my lack of knowledge of parliamentary law, I trust you will more than make up in intelligent devotion to the cause for which we are assembled. While serving you as temporary President, I therefore bespeak your courtesy and forbearance. What is the pleasure of the Convention?
Mr. Kilgore. — I move that Mr, R. H. Ranney, of Boston, be tempo- rary Secretary.
The motion was carried, but Mr. Ranney was found not to be present.
Mr. Kilgore. — As Mr. Ranney is not present, and as we need a Secre- tary, I move that Dr. H. B. Storer, of Boston, be the Secretary /r<7 tempore.
The motion was carried.
The President. — What is the next business ?
It was moved and. seconded that a Committee on Credentials of three members be appointed ; and the motion was carried.
The President. — J. O. Bentley, of Philadelphia, Harry Hoover, of Clearfield, Pa., and G. L. Henderson, of New York city, will please act as the Committee on Credentials.
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The President then delivered the following
ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
Gentlemen and Ladies of this Congress : Before proceeding to further business, and while we are waiting for the report of the Committee on Cre- dentials, I have been requested to extend a word of welcome to this Centen- nial Congress of Liberals. I have no set speech or address prepared for the occasion, but it is an especially pleasurable duty for me to extend to you, in the name of the Liberal League of Philadelphia, the hospitalities of this city, and as far as possible of our homes, I do this the more heartily on account of the great cause of human liberty, which has brought us together. The city of Philadelphia, rendered immortal by the noble and patriotic efforts of freethinkers in the struggle for Independence one hundred years ago, and this time, the Centennial anniversary of that struggle, are a particularly fitting time and place for the organization of a National Liberal League. Our work is not unhke that of the fathers. PoHtical liberty and religious liberty are a unit — the natural offspring of the individual demand for self- government. The founders of the Republic, Washington, Hamilton, Adams, Hancock, Frankhn, Jefferson, and Thomas Paine, the mention of whose names stirs the depths of every patriotic soul, clearly enunciated the princi- ples of religious liberty, in their immortal declaration of the rights of man. Early in the nation's hfe, these principles were incorporated into the Fed- eral Constitution. Thus did the Fathers suppose they had transmitted liberty of conscience to their descendants ; but ruthless encroachments are made upon religious liberty throughout our entire land. During the present week, delegated representatives of large organizations from many of the different States have convened in this city for the avowed purpose of securing a national recognition of the Christian religion in the organic law of this gov- ernment. To-morrow, the Christian Sunday, our International Exposition wifi be closed in violation of the rights of Jews, non-Sabbatarians and Free- thinkers, while to-day, the Jewish Sabbath, the Jewish exhibitor is obliged to prepare his exhibits for the public. The welcome which I am permitted to extend to you would not be complete, if I did not remind you, our guests, possessed of the right of self-government, that you will be amenable to the Pennsylvania law, if in any way you violate the Christian idea of Sunday, whatever may be your conceptions of the sacredness of the day. These facts show the necessity of an organization through which combined National efforts may be made to secularize our government. With this welcome we pledge you our hearty co-operation in this cause. This, our common cause, requires courage, devotion to principle, and an unfailing confidence in its final success, no less than did the work of the Fathers. Let us not forget that the glory of that hour, which culminated in a nation's birth, was the noble self-devotion of those brave, heroic men to the eternal principles of Justice, Equality, and Liberty. Mr. Abbot then made the following
REPLY. Mrs. President: — On behalf of the Centennial Congress of Liber- als here assembled, as Chairman of the General Centennial Committee, I tender you our most sincere thanks for the cordial and graceful welcome which you have extended to us. You have alluded in eloquent and fitting terms to the special appropriateness of this time and place to the purpose which has brought us together. In selecting Philadelphia as the scene of this most important gathering, we have shared the universal desire to pay due honor to this " Centennial City," this chief city of the centennial year, in which one hundred years ago the great event of American Independence
37
VI3.S consummated. It was no accident, — it was no attempt to appropriate traditions, memories and associations wliich do not belong to us, — tliat led to the selection of this place and time for the holding of our Convention. No, we feel ourselves to be, in a peculiar sense, the heirs of the originators of American Independence. We feel ourselves to be the veritable heritors of their immortal cause, the fit husbandmen to tend the seed they planted and bring it to a full fruition. We believe that the seed then planted, the seed of the State's independence of the Church, is yet to grow into a large and spreading tree, whose branches shall be for the healing of all nations, a "refuge for the oppressed of every clime." The principle of the total sep- aration of Church and State is the very corner-stone of the American Repub- lic. So long as we are true to it, careful to preserve it, eager to extend it, just so long is our national welfare sure. But if we allow ourselves to be driven, seduced, coaxed, or in any way tempted from standing fairly and squarely by that principle, from that moment we may date the beginning of our national ruin. It is therefore because this republic was founded on the idea of total separation of Church and State, and because that idea is the inner- most soul of the United States Constitution, that we have met here to demand of the American people, respectfully yet firmly, in the spirit of our forefathers, a new and necessary extension of that principle, its larger and wider appli- cation, and its better embodiment in our general political system.
The fact is that, although our National Constitution is perfectly secular (and it is not darkened by a shadow of union between Church and State), the contrary is true of our State Constitutions, and also of our National and State administrations. There is a call for watclifulness ; there is a call for that eternal vigilance which is the price of liberty. There is a call here and now for a new proclamation of independence of the Church, on the part of those who comprehend the true spirit and destiny of the American Com- monwealth. It is my most earnest wish, Mrs. President, that, in taking up this work of transcendent moment, we shall do it with fitting comprehen- sion of its vast magnitude, of its far-reaching importance, of its limitless moral sublimity. It is indeed no trivial reason that has called us here together to-day. It is no insignificant cause that we here take up, espouse, and pledge ourselves to serve. It is the cause of modern civiHzation, the cause of universal freedom of mind, freedom of thought, freedom of utterance, freedom for the expansion of all the elements of our natural humanity. If we rise to the height of this grand occasion, — if our lips are touched with the burning coal of a great purpose, as the prophet is fabled to have been touched in olden times, then from this gathering wiU go forth words which shall sink deep in the hearts of this American people, because they will utter in formal phrase their own deepest and most inspired convictions — the con\'ictions out of which this government grew and by which it must stand — the convictions which are to be the chart and the guide of the nation's future course.
Would, then, that we might rise, as I said before, to the height of this grand occasion, and be filled with the spirit that befits us in taking up so great a cause ! Let us leave at the door, as we enter this hall, all personal- ism, all selfishness, all meanness, all petty jealousies, all miserable self-seeking, everything that is not attuned to the spirit of consecration to humanity and its eternal interests ! . Let us, in all the discussions that await us, preserve that courtesy, that comity, that kindliness of spirit, which befit brothers and sisters meeting together in behalf of a cause so transcendently important. Let us have no hard words, nothing that is not true and kind and noble, nothing that shall not breathe the fine spirit of American freedom, fellowship, and love.
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If in that spirit we take up our splendid cause, then our country will have reason to remember gratefully this gathering of ours for many a hundred years. I hope most earnestly that such will be the character and the influ- ence of our convention. I hope that here a new era will begin, and that we are now taking up a cause which shall yet win friends, advocates, champions, heroes, from Maine to Texas, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, — a cause which shall touch the very heart of the American people as the cry of its own better nature, for the higher fulfilment of its own fundamental ideal. That is the meaning of this gathering. It is the proclamation of Independ- ence in a superlatively true and high sense, little suspected by the multitudes who now pass indifferently by our doors. The sublime import, the vast significance, the possible influence of this meeting are little suspected even by those persons who are here present. They are feebly comprehended even by the best and wisest of our own members ; for they include more than can be clearly grasped by any single mind. They call for a spirit worthy of the hour, a temper that loses sight of everything that is not noble, lofty, vigor- ous, radical, free. That is what we most need in this convention — a spirit of wisdom and self<onsecration which shall hold us fixedly and unconquerably to our one great purpose, permitting us to be tempted aside by no side-issues, but commanding us to stand by our one all-comprehensive principle to the end. We must make that single thought, total separation of church AND state, the one pithy and weighty message of the Centennial Congress of Liberals to the American people. It is a short phrase : but it has a long meaning.
Let us not swerve from this one fundamental purpose. There will be our danger, our greatest danger : the danger of being seduced into taking up this reform, or that reform, or the other reform — all excellent, perhaps, in their place, but not in place here because we have met for a purpose, a definite, single, final, indomitable purpose. If we keep to that, we shall succeed. If we turn aside to other things and try to drive twenty-five horses abreast, we shall not get over the ground at all. The object of our meeting will be defeated, and we shall return, after perhaps days of aimless discussions, with a record of nothing accompUshed and the world advanced no further in the cause for which we have assembled.
Now let us make up our minds to deal with our cause like men of busi- ness, like practical men, like earnest men; let us have a sagacious reliance on the ordinary maxim of business affairs — stick to one thiJtg at one ^ time. If we do that, our record will be a proud one. If we forget that, it is not for me to say what the record will be. It will at least be disappointment, and a sad waste of time, money, and a most precious opportunity for nobler things. Therefore, friends, I have improved this chance, at the very begin- ning of our sessions, to "free my mind," and point out to you what I think should be the spirit of our gathering., and what should be the method of doing our work : namely, a noble spirit of co-operation and a wise method of concentration upon our one fundamental purpose. With these two simple recommendations, I will leave the floor open for the transaction of our im- portant business.
The Chair.— Is the Committee on Credentials ready to report?
A list of. the members present was then read by Mr. Hoover, Secretary of the Committee, and accepted as a partial report.
The Chair. — The next business in order is the report of the General Centennial Committee, of which Mr. Abbot is Chairman.
Mr. Abbot.— It is well understood by all those who are gathered here that the original call for this convention was issued by a preliminary con- vention held in this city on September 17, i8, and 19, 1875. At that con-
39
vention F. E. Abbot, D. Y. Kilgore, Alexander Loos, Isaac Rhen, B. F. Un- derwood, and H. S.Williams, were appointed a General Centennial Commit- tee, with power to increase their number to fifteen ; and they were instructed to make all necessary arrangements for a Centennial Congress of Liberals at this time and place, to draft such a Constitution for a National Liberal League as should provide for the formation of local auxiliary Leagues through- out the country, and to submit this draft to the Centennial Congress for their approval and action. Your committee have been at work very hard all the year in discharge of these duties. We have had immense difficulties to overcome. Nobody else can well understand how difficult the work has been, how arduous the labor, how exhausting the correspondence, how great the amount of thought and work of all kinds. But we congratulate you at last on the successful termination of our labors. We have met here to-day with the promise of a useful and important meeting, and we ask you to regard with indulgence and forgiveness any mistakes that we may have made. The duty of raising funds, not originally assigned to us, devolved upon us by the failure of the Finance Committee to act. A Centennial Committee on Finance had been appointed in September to raise the neces- sary funds ; but that Committee through its chairman declined to act, and the raising of the requisite means was thrown upon this Committee, in ad- dition to its other numerous and arduous labors. Rather than see this great erv terprise fail, two members of the General Centennial Committee put their names to an appeal in the Boston Index, asking from the hberal public a thousand dollars — an' enormous sum to solicit in these hard times, when al- most every man and woman in the country is economizing and trying to make one penny do two pennies' work. It seemed a very rash and venture- some thing to ask such a sum as this for a convention with purposes ill un- derstood and a membership wholly contingent on circumstances ; but we did it, thinking perhaps we might by rare good fortune get half the sum. Well, we have almost doubled it ! We have actually received almost two thousand dollars, given out of free and generous hearts by the radicals of this country because in the great cause of liberty we proposed to do something, — not to talk, but to act. As I look at the matter, this was the chief reason of this unexpectedly generous response. The list of subscriptions fills nearly a whole page of The Index in fine print. The sums are mostly small, and the letters that brought them frequently touched me so by their earnestness and enthusiasm that the blood in my veins fairly leaped anew. The self- sacrifice, the devotion, the sanguine hope, the spirit of a new consecration often expressed by these letters, — some of the writers saying that they had *' saved a dollar out of their hard toil " for this great public object, showed that the hour of action had indeed come at last. This thought has been most encouraging to me ; it has been most cheering, in coming to this hall to-day, to know that such a spirit as prompted those liberal gifts can not fail of success. It is not the money itself that counts so much. The money is but the sign of the feeling, the temper, the purpose, the spirit, the high resolve that lie back of the gift ; and, though there has been hard work, and plenty of it, these things have sweetened it all, and given great and constant encouragement. Thus, friends, we meet to-day with the necessary expenses of this conven tion well provided for. But if we organize a National Liberal League, we shall want a great deal of money to carry on the work. An empty treasury means an inefficient League. Money is power in this country and in this age ; and your National Liberal League, when you have organized it, will be powerless without it. Therefore I look upon this remarkable financial success as only the beginning of a new manifestation of generous self-de- votion which shall sustain us heartily in the work we have undertaken, and hold up our hands to the end.
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Our arrangements have been made as carefully and as exactly as possible ; though of course it will be impossible to carry them out in detail in aU re- spects. Permit me to suggest the necessity of mutual forbearance and kindness of spirit in our discussions, — the necessity of condoning the little faults and mistakes that will inevitably be made. Let us shun the rock on which most liberal conventions split — the rock of useless altercation and belligerent jealousy of each other. There is no place for that here, for we are all brothers in a great and lofty and unselfish cause.
In closing, I am instructed by the Committee to submit, as part of their report, three resolutions which read as foUows : —
Resolved, That the proceedings of this convention shall be governed by the general rules of parliamentary law.
Resolved, That all resolutions, after being read, shall be referred to the Committee on Resolutions without debate.
Resolved, That the following be adopted as the order of business at the several sessions of this convention : —
Saturday, July i : Afternoon Session, 2 p. m.
I. — Temporary Organization.
2. — Appointment of Committee on Membership, and reception of creden- tials.
3 — Address of Welcome, by the President of the Philadelphia Liberal League.
4. — Reply, by the Chairman of the General Centennial Committee.
5. — Report of the Committee on Membership.
6. — Report of the General Centennial Committee.
7. — Appointment of Committees on Permanent Organization, on Finance, on Resolutions, and on Address to the People.
8. — Consideration of the General Centennial Committee's Report.
9. — Consideration of the Constitution of the National Liberal League. Evening Session, 7 1-2 p. m.
I. — Consideration of the Constitution of the National Liberal League, continued.
2. — Report of the Committee on Permanent Organization: election of officers of the National Liberal League. — Short speeches.
Sunday, July 2: Morning Session, 10 1-2 a. m.
I. — Reading of extracts from letters by distinguished citizens.
2. — Address by F. E. Abbot: "The Liberal League Movement; its Prin- ciples, Objects, and Scope."
3. — Address by Mrs. C. B. Kilgore : " Democracy."
4. — Short speeches.
Evening Session, 7 1-2 p. m.
I. — Address by James Parton: "Cathedrals and Beer."
2. — Address by B. F. Underwood: "The Practical Necessity of Separat- ing Church and State."
3. — Short speeches.
Monday, July 3: Morning Session, 10 1-2 a. m.
I. — Address by Charles F. Paige: "Is Christianity a part of the Common Law?"
2. — Report of the Committee on Resolutions ; free discussion of the pro- posed methods and measures of the National Liberal League ; action of the League on the resolutions taken singly.
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Afternoon Session, 2 p. m.
I. — Address by Damon Y. Kilgore : " Ecclesiasticism in American Politics and Institutions."
2. — Continuation of the discussion and action on the Resolutions. Evening Session, 7 1-2 p. m.
I. — Address by Charles D. B. Mills: "The Sufficiency of Natural Moral- ity as the Basis of Civil Society."
2. — Reports by Delegates from various Liberal Leagues throughout the country.
3. — Short speeches.
Tuesday, July 4: 9 A. m.
I. — Report of the Committee on Finance.
2. — Report of the Committee on Address : " Patriotic Address of the Na- tional Liberal League to the People of the United States."
3. — Action on the Report.
4. — Adjournment.
These three resolutions, together with the " Draft of a Constitution of the National Liberal League" which we have prepared in printed form, I now submit to you as part of the report of the General Centennial Committee.
The Chair. — You have heard the report of the Committee ; what will you do with it?
Mr. p. V. Wise. — I move the reception of it.
A Member. — I would ask Mr. Abbot to explain exactly the meaning of the second resolution.*
The Chair. — The motion is to receive the report of the Committee, after which it will be open for general consideration.
The motion was then put, and it was agreed to.
The Chair. — The report of the Committee is received. The next busi- ness in order is the appointment of Committees. We should have a Com- mittee on Permanent Organization.
Mr. Phillips. — I move that a Committee of five on Permanent Organiza- tion be appointed.
The Chair. — It is moved that a Committee of five on Permanent Organ- ization be appointed.
Agreed to. The Chair appointed, as this Committee, Thomas Phillips, of Pennsylvania, James McArthur, of Illinois, P. V. Wise, of Missouri, G. W. Lawton, of Iowa, and David H. Clark, of Massachusetts.
The Chair. — Shall we have a Committee on Resolutions?
B. F. Underwood. — I move the appointment of a Committee on Resolu- tions.
Agreed to. The Chair then appointed the following as this Committee : B. F. Underwood, of Massachusetts, Alexander Loos, of Pennsylvania, Jacob iloffner, of Ohio, George Thorn, of Pennsylvania, and Charles F. Paige, of Massachusetts.
The Chair. — There are two other Committees to be appointed, those on Finance and on an Address to the People.
B. F. Underwood. — I move the appointment of a Committee on Finance by appointing D. Y. Kilgore, J. O. Bentley, and G. L. Henderson.
* This question, which should have been answered at the time, was not heard by Mr. Abbot, whose attention had been momentarily called away from the proceedings. The ob- ject of the second resolution was simply to secure the prompt transaction of the main business of the convention, without interruption, and in the order proposed in the third resolution.
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Agreed to. Mr. Kilgore declined, and after some delay Mrs. Harker, of Philadelphia, was appointed in his stead.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move that a Committee of three be appointed to prepare an Address to the People, to be ready to be acted upon on the morning of the Fourth of July.
Agreed to. The Chair appointed D. Y. Kilgore, F. E. Abbot and A. Loos, as the Committee on Address to the People.
The Chair. — The next business in order is the consideration of the re- port of the General Centennial Committee. The motion to adopt the report is in order. That brings the report before the house for action.
Mr. Wise. — I now move the adoption of that report.
Agreed to.
The Chair. — The report you have listened to, and is adopted.
The Chair. — The next business in order is the consideration of the Con- stitution of the National Liberal League. The General Centennial Commit- tee have drafted and submitted a Constitution of the National Liberal League upon which we are now to take action. A motion to adopt this Constitution will be in order.
[The Constitution as adopted will be found at the end of this Report. It is identical with the draft submitted, with the single omission of the words, "in October," originally contained in Article V. after the word, "held."]
Mr. Abbot. — I beg leave to state to the convention that here on the plat- form are numerous printed copies of the Constitution. If some one will kindly distribute them through the Hall, every member can have a copy. While this is doing, I may without impropriety, perhaps, say a few words in explanation of the general plan of this Constitution, which is somewhat long. You may find it difficult to read it, and take it all in as a whole, amidst the inevitable distractions ana interruptions of a public meeting. If you will allow me to explain the governing idea of the Committee in preparing this draft, I think it will facilitate the action which the Congress is to take upon it.
In the judgment of the Committee, the organization of the National Lib- eral League should rest upon a single definite principle, upon a single fixed and easily comprehensible purpose on which we all agree. This Constitu- tion hinges exclusively on a purpose; there is no "creed" about it; there is no proclamation or avowal of any abstract opinion as such ; there is only a dit'a.vi\\.Q practical object — namely, to accomplish the total separation of Church and State As means to the accomplishment of that single end, there are five or six distinct practical objects, all welded into a unit as merely con- ducing to that one supreme end : —
I. — The adoption of a "Religious Freedom Amendment," to the Consti- tution of the United States.
2. — The comprehensive reform of the various abuses which prevent the total separation of Church and State.
3. — The formation of local Liberal Leagues everywhere to agitate for these measures in affiliation with the National League.
4. — The legal vindication of the religious rights of all oppressed persons regardless of opinion. Individuals are continually oppressed on account of religious opinion all over this country, and nothing is done about it by any one.
5. — The establishment of a Liberal Lecture Bureau for the same general object ; namely, to propagate the general principles on which alone the sep- aration of Church and State can ever be established or maintained.
6. — The application of the same principles to any case or cases not pre- viously enumerated or contemplated, under that general purpose which con- stitutes the whole function of the association.
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The idea of the Committee has been to make an effective workincj body, a business body, a practical and energetic body, whose function shall be, not to hold a series of mass meetings for endless and aimless discussion of things in general, but rather to work for and accomplish certain results in par- ticular. This Constitution has been planned and dominated by this practical view of the present situation.
Consequently, the Constitution creates a Board of Directors of five mem- bers, who shall be charged with the general execution of the will of the Congress, and an Executive Committee acting under the Board of Directors, one in every State. Each member of this Executive Committee is charged with the highly responsible duty of organizing a State Sub-Committee, and, with its aid, of thoroughly organizing his own State through the appointment of local agents who shall take the initiative in starting local Liberal Leagues each in his own town. This is the general plan, which of course depends for its execution on the public spirit and unselfish co-operation of the liber- als themselves.
The object is to secure an immense number of local organizations, and to bring to bear the combined moral and intellectual power of the liberal pub- lic, on behalf of equal reUgious rights and liberties. This is the general plan of the Constitution — to create an efficient working body, and it is the only plan which can create one. If you should have fifteen or twenty men on the Board of Directors, scattered all over the country, you could never get a quorum. The result, as experience has shown in some places I know of, would be to destroy the efficiency of the National Liberal League alto- gether. The moment you began to multiply committees and make them large and cumbersome, vigorous work becomes impossible. You must have as few people as can do the work, — people whom you can thoroughly trust ; and then you must give them sufficient power and responsibility to accom- plish that trust. That is the way in banks and railroads and all organizations where work is to be done. If you want really to do something, you will do as business men do ; you will select a few persons who are deeply interested in the objects of the association, put them where they can act with prompt- ness and energy, give them enough power to do it freely, and at the end of their term of office hold them to a rigorous account for the use of that pow- er. That is the way to get efficient service ; and your Committee have gone on the supposition, in framing this Constitution, that you want efficient ser- vice. We hope this Constitution will commend itself to your practical wis- dom, as men accustomed to deal with interests that require associated power; and we hope you will be able to approve, in the main at least, of the general plan submitted to you. This is the key to it: to make the National League a working body, to select a very few directors whom you can trust, to give them power enough to do your work, and then, at the end of their term of office, hold them to a rigorous account. If you mean business, that is the way to do it; if you want to make the liberal element of this country felt as a power for liberty and justice, that is the only possible way -to secure that result. For myself I want to put my shoulders to the wheel and work ; and, if that is your own temper, I think this Constitution gives us an admirable plan, an efficient plan, to bring to bear our scattered energies, to secure and concentrate the necessary support, and command the respect of a whole communit}'.
The Chair. — The special business in order is the adoption of a Consti- tution.
Mr. Underwood. — I move the adoption of the first article of the Con- stitution.
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The Chair. — It is moved and seconded that we adopt the first article of the Constitution. Will the Secretary read the first article of the Constitu- tion?
The first article was read.
Mr. Jack. — I think, perhaps, it would be better to give the associa- tion a different name. Therefore I move we proceed with the other articles, leaving the name until we shall have secured a Constitution to name.
Mr. Abbot. — 1 must rise to a point of order. Another motion is al- ready before the convention. The proper parliamentary order is to begin with the first article of the Constitution, to consider and vote upon each article in turn, then to consider and vote upon the preamble, and finally to vote upon the adoption of the paper as a whole. If the member has another name to propose, it should be offered as an amendment to the first article now.
Mr. Curtis. — I should like to ask, for information, whether the Consti- tution is to be adopted by the present list of members and delegates. I want to know whether those delegates whose names may be reported after- wards have a right to express their opinion in this discussion on the various articles, or whether we are to hold our tongues until our names are read as members of this convention.
Mr. Kilgore.— I move that the Committee on Credentials be permitted to offer supplementary reports at any time, whenever they get additional names to report, and that members of the Congress present, as so reported, shall be considered as having equal rights in regard to discussing and voting on any question.
The Chair. — There is a motion already before us on the adoption of the first article of the Constitution. If this is made as a motion, it will be im- possible for the Chair to put it, unless the first motion is withdrawn ; at present Mr. Underwood's motion is alone in order.
Mr. Sharp. — I suggest that Mr. Underwood withdraw his motion for the purpose of the consideration of the motion of Mr. Kilgore.
Mr. Kilgore. — I will leave off the last part of my motion, and the motion will then be that the Committee on Credentials be authorized to report when- ever they get additional names, so that no members need be deprived of their rights.
The Chair. — The motion before us is the adoption of the first article of the Constitution. It is certainly very desirable that all who are delegates shall have an opportunity to express themselves upon the Constitution, and that they should be reported prior to action upon it. If Mr. Underwood will withdraw his motion upon the adoption of the first article of the Constitu- tion,— ■ —
Mr. Underwood. — If you decide there is no motion already made which requires the Committee on Credentials to report.
The Chair. — There has been no motion that would require the Committee to report on receiving the additional names.
Mr. Underwood. — I withdraw my motion.
The Chair. — The motion now before us is that the Committee on Cre dentials be requested to report as soon as they receive additional names.
Agreed to.
The Chair. — Are the Committee on Credentials ready to report and to furnish us additional names 1 It will not be necessarj' to wait for the report.
Mr. Underwood. — I renew the motion to adopt the first article of the Constitution.
Mr. Merrick. — It seems to me very improper to put this question before the convention, while there are parties here who wish to vote. I think we ought to wait in respect to those whose names have not been read.
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Mr. Kilgore. — I do liopc that this motion will not be pressed. I should be sorry if any man who is a member of this Congress should not have a full and fair opportunity to express his mind, and full opportunity to vote on every article of this Constitution. I am told by the Committee on Creden- tials that they will be ready to report in three minutes. I hope the Congress will wait until all who are really members shall be so declared. I therefore move that the first article of the Constitution be laid on the table for a moment, until we have the report of the Committee on Credentials. Agreed to.
Mr. Abbot. — There is no reason for any one who wants to be a member of this convention for not making himself one. Any one can join who signs the application, and any one who has credentials here should present them immediately. If any one wants to join, he can do so at once by signing the application for membership tn the ante-room. We don't want any one to be excluded from this Congress.
On motion of Mr. Abbot, the Convention took a recess of five minutes, to enable those present to sign the application for membership and be reported by the Committee.
The meeting was called to order by the Chair. Mr. Abbot, by request, stated that Mr. Morse's excellent bust of Thomas Paine would be upon the platform before the close of this convention, and that all those who had not contributed would have a good chance to do so.
The Chair. — The report of the Committee on Credentials is in order. The supplementary report of the Committee on Credentials, made by Mr. Hoover, the Secretary, was then read.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move that the report of the Committee on Credentials be accepted. If the name of any member present has been omitted that is of right entitled to be on the report, will the Chair give him an opportunity to make it manifest ?
The names of Thomas Curtis, .of St. Louis, and Frederick Shaws, of Mil- waukee, were mentioned and referred to the Committee.
Mr. Putnam. — It is understood that the Committee report from time to time as delegates are added.
The CH.A.IR. — Yes, sir. We will take the vote upon the acceptance of the report of the Committee on Credentials. Agreed to.
The Chair. — We are now ready for further business. Mr. Underwood. — I move we now take from the table the motion origi- nally made by myself for the adoption of the first article of this Constitu- tion.
Agreed to.
The Chair then put the question on the adoption of the first article of the Constitution, which was agreed to.
Mr. Underwood. — I move the adoption of the second article of the Constitution.
The second article was read.
Mr. McArthur. — I move to amend by striking out of article second the words, "genuine morality in politics."
Mr. Abbot. — I should like to say a word on that motion. I think it is advisable, as far as we can, to anticipate the objections that will be raised against our general movement. Nobody who was present last evening at the Academy of Music, — who heard the liberals in general characterized there as the "party of license," and accused of favoring gambling-houses, bawdy- houses, and all similar places, — who heard the general tirade upon and vilifi- cation of our moral character and purposes, — will fail to agree with me, I think, that it is highly advisable to make it known that, at least in our own
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estimation, we are proposing to do nothing which shall not conduce to the genuine morality of all human life. [Applause.] In drafting this Constitu- tion, there has been no forgetfulness of that all-important point. We want to show to the public our hand, and our whole hand. We claim that our objects are pure and our methods high. I think it will be a change wholly in the wrong direction to strike out anything that will give a deservedly high and noble conception of the movement we are about. Let us put in more words, rather than less, in that direction. If the avowal of fealty to "gen- uine morality" is not strong enough, make it stronger; but if it is already pretty strong, do not try to make it weak ! If our movement is to be suc- cessful in the end, it must depend upon the general support we get from the sound intelligence, the strong moral sense, of the American people. We claim that these things are always on the side of freedom, free thought, free speech, no union of Church and State ; let us not lose any vantage-ground we justly occupy. The more regard we have for the great laws of right and Avrong, so much the stronger will be the support of the liberal people all over the country. Especially those in the churches who believe in the fun- damental principles of this movement, and are yet not inclined to go v/ith the radicals to the extent of their radical opinions, should be left in no uncer- tainty as to our moral purposes. We want the support of every man in this country who believes in the total separation of Church and State. We want to make ourselves perfectly unequivocal on this moral question. Let us have no doubt about that ; let us leave no honest excuse for charging that we mean to go in for gambling or licentiousness or ruffianism of anj^ sort. We have high principles ; let us avow them and follow them ! That is the true spirit of our movement, and those men are slanderers, I care not who they are, that dare to say the contrary. [Applause.]
Mrs. Dr. Pratt. — Mrs. President : I do not think that we need hesitate about committing ourselves to "morality in pohtics." I am perfectly willing for the National League to be committed to " morality in politics." If they are, they will be about one half way committed to woman suffrage. I believe in making ourselves perfectly unequivocal on this moral question.
The Chair. — Will Mrs. Pratt please to understand that the question before the house is on the adoption of the amendment.
Mr. Curtis. — I hope we shall retain that phrase "morality in pohtics." God knows, we have enough spurious morality in politics ! I hope we shall have this phrase, "genuine morality," kept in.
Mr. Garretson. — I have stood in the front ranks for some time, but I never bowed to any power private or public. Now I want to be a lecturer
on this subject, though I never expect to be
The Chair. — The question before the house is upon the adoption of the amendment striking out the words "genuine morality in politics." Discus- sion upon that is in order ; discussing any other part of the Constitution is out of order at the present time.
The previous question was moved and carried.
The Chair. — We are now to take the vote upon the amendment to strike out.
The amendment was lost.
Mr. Curtis. — I move we omit the words, "equal rights in religion," in the second article of the Constitution.
The Chair. — The motion is to strike out the words, " equal rights in religion." Is it seconded?
Not being seconded, the motion was not put; and cries of "question! question ! " were heard in various parts of the hall.
The Chair. — The question is upon the adoption of article second of the Constitution as it stands.
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Mr. Garretson. — I move to strike out all after the word "State." All those words, " equal rio;hts in religion, genuine morality in politics, and freedom, virtue and brotherhood, in all human life," I want stricken out.
The Chair. — The motion is not seconded; it is not before the house.
Mr. Andrews. — I wish to suggest an amendment to this effect, for the consideration of the convention : dropping the words " equal rights in religion," to substitute therefor, "the right to worship God according to the dictates of the individual's own conscience, or equally not to worship him at all."
The Chair. — Do you move that as an amendment?
Mr. Andrews. — I do.
The Chair. — You have heard the amendment. It is to strike out the words, "equal rights in religion," and to insert — what words?
Mr. Andrews. — " The right to worship God according to the dictates of one's own conscience, or equally not to worship him at all." I do not wish to insist on my ideas against the views of any considerable number of mem- bers of this convention ; but what I was about to say is, that the stereotyped plirase which now travels in the world is — " to worship God according to the dictates of one's own conscience." I believe we should in express terms recognize the equal rights of the atheist, of the man who declines to worship God in any sense. What I say in this relation is not in expression of my own opinion with regard to God, but it is the expression of what is the true American idea, and what, I believe, has never been brought forward e.xpressly. It is not simply the right of everybody to worship God according to the dictates of one's own conscience, but it is the right of everybody to determine for himself the whole question, — to determine, first, whether there be a God or not, and then whether he will worship him. This second question is to determine whether, if one accepts him, he requires worship. I wish to express the entire doctrine of what I believe to be the heart of the American idea, in words more explicit than those which have been used heretofore.
Mr. Underwood. — I certainly feel like opposing the amendment, not- withstanding the excellent object for which it seems to have been offered. I think the article as it stands is far more comprehensive than the amend- ment which has been proposed to better it would make it. It is proposed to make the object of this League, "equal rights in religion." That, of course, extends to all persons, whatever be their respective views, — an equal right to worship God, or not to worship God, according to the dictates of their own consciences and intellects ; whereas the amendment which has been proposed actually admits by implication the existence of a God, in which many persons here do not believe. It is held that all have a right to worship God, or not to worship God, according to the dictates of conscience ; it admits by implication that there is a God. I hope this motion will not prevail.
Mr. Abbot. — There is no question whatever about the equal right of the theist and the atheist, — of the one to worship and the other not to worship. The article as it stands takes that for granted, as a mere matter of course ; the only question is how to express it best. Now if you examine this article closely, you will see there can be no "equal rights in religion," unless the atheist's right is as well protected as the theist's.
Mr. Andrews. — The objection of Mr. Underwood is that the amend- ment does not go far enough. I would be quite willing to accommodate the gentleman. With regard to the word "religion" in this connection, espe- cially as used by the Cathohcs, it means this ; they say they beheve in free- dom in rehgion, and religion means what the Catholic church prescribes. That is their understanding of freedom in religion. I think that the phrase as it now stands is really, perhaps, liable to veritable objection on that ground.
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Mr. Abbot. — I am constrained to say that one cannot understand, or criticise this Constitution justly, by taking it piecemeal. It has been writ- ten as a whole, and should be judged as a whole. Now Mr. Andrews is an accomplished literary man, and understands the art of writing correctly; he knows the necessity of preserving the proper balance between thf) various parts of a sentence, and between each sentence of a paper and the whole. Now his amendment would simply ruin the entire sentence he proposes to amend, as he himself would be the first to perceive on hearing it read ; and you would have to reject the article so amended. But there is a much more forcible objection to this amendment than this literary one : namely, his amendment is utterly unnecessary, because the right of the atheist is not only asserted, but defended, in the fourth paragraph of the third article of this Constitution. There it is declared to be a main object of the National Liberal League to "defend through the courts any American citizen" who is " oppressed on account of any opinions he may have held or expressed on the subject of religion?'' That covers the case of the atheist completely. What need is there to mutilate article two, in order to say bunglingly what is said correctly, and much more meaningly, in article three t
Mr. Kilgore. — I want to remind the Congress that, if it accompHshes the work that has been laid out for it, it won't do to spend all this session in discussion. As I understand it, there is nobody that differs in regard to the meaning of the phrase as it stands ; it is certainly broad enough for the infidel and atheist. I do not believe there is a man on the continent that would or conscientiously need refuse to join the National Liberal League on account of the language here used. But what we want is to make it so broad that every man on the continent can join it who believes in justice to all citizens, and in equal rights to all. The object of the Liberal League is to have such an organization of the liberal and just elements in the nation, that it shall extend its arm of power to protect an atheist as fully as a Meth- odist, whenever and wherever, in any State, the law oppresses him on account of his belief or non-belief. No matter what the belief in religion of the individual, we say to the government, hands off; we say to the State, pro- tect your citizens ; we say to the legislatures, enact your laws broad enough to protect equal rights in religion, as well as in other things. Whatever may be his opinions, dare not to trespass upon the civil rights of the citizen in any State of the republic, until that citizen shall trespass, not in opinion, but by some act against the civil rights of some other citizen. Now, friends, if you can make any alterations for the better, if you can make this Consti- tution any broader for our German friends or our Irish friends or anybody else, let us take time to do it ; but do not have a spirit of captiousness be- cause it comes before you in a printed form. It has been printed, so that every member of this convention could have it before him to read and study, and fully comprehend. If we cannot make it any better, let us not spend the precious time of the convention to no purpose. We have enough real work that may require courage sufficient to match all that was needed when our fathers discussed the question of separation from the mother country with closed doors, and when they stepped up and signed their names with trembling hands. We are in pivotal times. A rnember of the church party declared'only day before yesterday, in the Academy of Music, that they do not dare to utter to a Philadelphia audience what they are doing for the pur- pose of making this a Christian country. When such things as that are said, let us proceed as rapidly as possible to the real business of completing our organization to checkmate their tyranny.
Mr. Wise. — I wish to make one point on the adoption of the amendment as offered by Mr. Andrews. We have "the right to worship God, or not to worship him ;" that is certainly confessing his existence. That is more than
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the Constitution of the United States does, and that is more in every way than this League should do. The article is good enough as it is. 1 hope that the motion for this amendment will not prevail.
Mr. ruTN.x.M. — I wish to say one word. It is this : if we propose any- thing in this Congress, we propose to be an active practical body. We propose to act on the question of the separation of Church and State, and where clo we go to get that separation.'' We must go in the first instance to the Congress of the United States, and have it guaranteed in the Constitu- tion : we must go to the State Legislature. How shall we go there? Shall we go as atheists? It may or may not be true that a majority of us are atheists ; but that is not what we are driving at. We come here for a speci- fied purpose, and that is to secure protection to the citizens of the L'nited States, in the exercise of any opinions they may have. We want the Pres- byterian or the Methodist to enjoy this protection; we wish to include them. And we want to make this Constitution so broad as to take in the Jew, the Gentile, the Greek, the Methodist, or whatever else one may be.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move the previous question.
The Chair put the previous question and it was carried.
The Chair. — The question is now upon the adoption of Mr. Andrews' amendment to article second of the Constitution, striking out the words, •' equal rights in religion," and inserting the words, " the right to worship God according to the dictates of one's own conscience or equally not to worship him at all."
The amendment, being put to vote, was lost.
The Chair.— The question now is upon the original motion.
Mr. Underwood. — I move the previous question on the original motion.
Mr. Westrup. — If it is in order, I wish to offer an amendment. It is to strike out all after the words, " to the end that," and insert in its place so as to read, "to the end that freedom in all the affairs of life may be main- tained and perpetuated." I wish to say that to talk about establishing man's rights is preposterous. Man's rights are established. We cannot estabUsh them ; we may maintain them, and therefore for this reason, and for the reason that I object to so much about morality —
The Chair. — The gentleman's motion was not seconded; the previous question is before the house.
Mr. Ranney. — I rise to a point of order. My point of order is that the gentleman has moved to strike out words already decided not to be stricken out.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move that the amendment and points of order be laid on the table.
Agreed to.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move the previous question, on the adoption of the second article of our Constitution.
Agreed to.
The Chair. — The question now is, shall we adopt article second of the Constitution ?
Agreed to.
The Chair. — Article third is now in order.
Mr. Gurley. — I move the adoption of the whole remaining part of the Constitution.
The Chair. — It is moved and seconded that we adopt the whole remain- ing part of the Constitution. Will the Secretary please to read the remain- ing part of the Constitution ?
Mr. Kilgore. — I move that the reading be dispensed with, because every member has had a printed copy to read for himself.
Agreed to.
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Mr. Garretson. — I want to say a single word. There are wanted some lecturers, some speakers in the State of Ohio. Men of "unblemished moral character — "
The Chair. — The question is upon the adoption of the remaining part of the Constitution.
Mr. McArthur. — I rise to inquire first whether the adoption of this Constitution includes the preamble.
Several Voices. — No.
Mr. McArthur. — I wish, if it is in order, to offer an amendment, and 1 think it is something upon which no debate will arise. First, by article fifth, the Annual Congress of this League is to be held in October, and part of my motion would be to strike out the words "in October," leaving the bal- lance as it stands, so that the time may be fixed by the officers of the League, instead of fixing it in advance in October. There are reasons for that. There is a large number of those who come here who are teachers and will be engaged in October, and not early in September. They can make their representations to the officers, and, if the representations are deemed of sufficient importance to change the time from October to another time, we can leave it in the discretion of tlie officers to do so.
Mr. Kilgore. — I second the gentleman's motion.
The Chair. — It is moved and seconded that, in article fifth, the words, '• in October," be stricken out, and the Constitution be so changed that the time of holding the Annual Congress shall be left to the Board of Directors.
Agreed to.
Mr. McArthur. — I wish also to make one more amendment in the last clause of article fifth — "annual members of the National Liberal League shall be entitled to seats, but not to votes, in the Annual Congress." I move to strike out those words.
Mr. Kilgore. Probably the gentleman will not press his motion, and I am quite sure he will not, when he sees the reasons for the clause in ques- tion. This convention is made up mainly of individual delegates, but it is hoped that, by the end of twelve months, we shall have a larger Congress made up of delegates from subordinate Leagues in every county in every State. It would be impossible to have numerous delegate members, and keep up individual representation ; so that after this year I think it will be necessary to have the Constitution as it is.
Mr. McArthur. — The amendment is withdrawn.
The Chair. — The question is now upon the adoption of the whole re- maining part of the Constitution as it stands. Those in favor of the adop- tion of the remaining articles of the Constitution will manifest it by saying aye.
Agreed to by an overwhelming majority, scarcely an adverse vote being audible.
Mr. Kilgore. — I now move the adoption of the preamble.
Mr. McArthur. — 1 move an amendment to the first paragraph in the preamble, by striking out the words, " and the Treaty with Tripoli, signed by George Washington as a part of the supreme law of the land, declares em- phatically, ' that the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.'" I take it that it is entirely irrelevant what was in that treaty. That clause furnishes no reason that I can see why we should demand the Secularization of the State ; it seems to me out of place.
Mr. Abbot. — May I be allowed to explain? I feel a little embarrassed in coming forward to defend this Constitution. I have not the least wish in the world to press it upon you; but I ought to say that this paper nas been
51
very carefully drawn from beginning to end, thought over and over, written anci re-written, considered and criticised with the utmost deliberation in Committee. It is not a hasty production. We want to bring before tlie American people a clear and emphatic statement of the fact, a most impor- tant fact, that those who founded the government and framed the Constitu- tion of these United States had a perfectly clear comprehension of the secular principle; that it was George Washington himself, the venerated Father of his Country, who signed those memorable words, that "the gov- ernment of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion ;" that, as these words show, George Washington really stood upon our platform, and that the National Liberal League is loyal to the fundamen- tal purpose and idea of the forefathers, simply carrying it forward and mak- ing it a universally recognized and felt moral power. It will prove to be of the utmost practical consequence to make this truth plain in the future con- test. This was the reason why this clause was inserted, and it is certainly a cogent one for its retention.
Mr. Kilgore. — I want to add to the explanation of my friend Mr. Abbot that my brother here has raised a question which he would not have raised, had he remembered that clause in the Constitution of the United States which declares that a treaty made with a foreign government becomes a "part of the supreme law of the land."
Mr. McArthur. — No more than an act of Congress.
Mr. Kilgore. — Yes, sir; the Constitution itself says that "this Consti- tution" and "all treaties made under the authority of the United States" shall be " the supreme law of the land."
Mr. McArthur. — And the "laws."
Mr. Kilgore. — It does not say so. You are mistaken about that. The Constitution and the treaties made with foreign governments shall be the supreme law of the land, so that the treaty with Tripoli was made just as much a part of the supreme law as the Constitution itself. But a law made by Congress is not the fundamental law as are the Constitution and the treaties with a foreign power. That is the distinction.
Mr. McArthur. — I will withdraw my amendment to the preamble.
The Chair. — The amendment is withdrawn. The question now is upon the preamble.
On being put to the vote, the preamble was adopted.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move that the entire Constitution and the preamble be adopted as a whole.
Mr. McArthur. — I beheve there is one amendment, to strikeout the words, " in October," that has been adopted.
The Chair. — Yes. It is the Constitution as amended, of course, that is now to be voted upon. Those in favor of the adoption of the entire Con- stitution as amended, with the preamble, will manifest it by saying aye.
The motion was carried unanimously by a rising vote.
Mr. Kilgore. — I want to make a suggestion. The next business, in the order that you have adopted, is to elect the officers; and it is now prob- ably late enough to adjourn. I hope it won't take all the evening to elect officers under the Constitution ; and I hope the Committee will be ready to report on our first assembling in this place this evening, so that the business can be soon disposed of. In an hour, or at least in an hour and a half, I hope we shall be able to hear from the delegates from different parts of the country. I therefore move an adjournment to eight o'clock this evening.
Mr. McArthur. — I ask the gentleman to withdraw his motion for a moment.
Mr. Kilgore. — I withdraw the motion.
Mr. McArthur. — As Secretary of that Committee, I desire to say that
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the Committee wish information from delegates here from the various parts of the country, and invite recommendations of proper names to serve on the Executive Committee in the different States, and perhaps Vice Presi- dents also. I am prepared to make a partial report as to the President. The committee have agreed upon Mr. Francis E. Abbot, of Boston, as per- manent President.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move that the report of the Committee thus far be accepted, and that the Secretary be instructed to give the unanimous vote of the Congress for Francis E. Abbot.
The motion was then put, and unanimously carried.
The Chair. — The next business in order is the casting of the ballot.
The Secretary then cast the vote of the Congress for Mr. Abbot.
Mr. McArthur announced that the National Woman's Suffrage Associa- tion would meet on the 4th of July, 1876, at the first Unitarian church, where Dr. Furness had preached over fifty years.
Mr. Underwood, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, requested the Committee to meet in the ante-room at the close of the meeting.
Mr. Kilgore announced that arrangements had been made for boarding the members of the convention.
The convention then adjourned until eight o'clock, p. M.
SEOOnsriD SESSIOHST:
SATURDAY, JULY i, 1876.
The Centennial Congress of Liberals, now organized as the National Lib- eral League, re-assembled in Concert Hall in the evening, and was called to order a Httle after the appointed hour, — Mr. Francis E. Abbot, the Presi- dent, in the chair.
The President. — The hour for commencing our meeting has passed, but necessarily we had to wait until the Committee on Permanent Organiza- tion should have prepared their report. That is the first business in order; but, before taking up the business of the session, I feel impelled to say one word of simple, heart-felt thanks to you for the signal mark of your confi- dence which you bestowed upon me this afternoon. I assure you, ladies and gentlemen of the National Liberal League, I deejjly appreciate the honor you have conferred by electing me to the office in which you have placed me. I feel indeed gratified and proud to have won your confidence, as I think I must have done from the cordiality with which you this after- noon put me in my present post. I thank you most sincerely for that con- fidence and good will, and trust you never shall see any reason to recall the confidence or change the good will into distrust. If I thought that this was simply a post of honor, I should have demurred at taking it, for I do not covet it as such. Although it is a post of honor, it is a great deal more than that ; it is a place to work hard in and be shot at, and that is why I am will- ing to take it. The man who faithfully does the work of the President of this League must prepare himself to perform a great deal of labor, and to meet a great deal of opposition and calumny, both pubUc and private.
But it is a place in which I believe I can make myself of some service to you who have chosen me, and for this reason 1 have accepted the duty which you have imposed. It is this, and not the honor of it, that makes the attrac- tion of this post in my eyes ; and I hope, before another twelve months shall have rolled around, that the liberals of the United States, by their vigorous
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and powerful support, will ennble me to give you some proofs that impor- tant work can be done. I know I can say honestly that the man you have chosen to lead in it has undertaken it with at least earnestness and single- ness of purpose.
With these few words of grateful acknowledgment, I will call your atten- tion to another matter which is of interest; to us all ; and that is the accession of a new member to our convention, since we met here this afternoon, in the shape of this stately and impressive figure. Would that Thomas Paine were here in the living body, as he is here in spirit ! Here we have him at least in form, and 1 appeal to you to-day to put that form where it belongs, in the Hall of Independence, in the City of Philadelphia. Let us sliow that we do not care the turn of a finger for the unjust odium that loads his name. We believe him to have been vilified and maligned for tlie wretched purposes of dogmatism. Would not any right-minded and honest man count it a dis- graceful thing that the American people should not know enough to honor its own benefactors? Here, with that noble bust before us to speak the soul of Thomas Paine out of those sightless eyes, let us resolve that the mark of honor conferred upon him by the liberals of America shall not, at least with impunity, be refused by the City of Philadelphia. Let me tell you that I have just been informed, by one who had it upon seemingly good authority, that this bust, if purchased and presented to the City of Philadeljihia, will not be refused, but will be placed where you want it put. Surely the City of Philadelphia ought to join with us gladly and willingly in doing homage to one of the greatest patriots of the American Revolution, one of the true forefathers of the republic which now exultingly enters upon its second cen- tury, one of those men whom we here are proud to say we honor — and esteem ourselves honored in the avowal.
The first business before the convention to-night will be the reading of the report from the Committee on Permanent Organization. Mr. McArthur will read the report on behalf of the Committee.
The report was then read, and received by the convention.* The President. —The question is now upon the adoption of the report, or, in other words, upon the election of these officers. That is the next business in order.
Mr. Ranney. — I notice a great many names of gentlemen of high stand- ing. This Hall, especially with the windows and doors wide open, is very difficult to speak or to be heard in. I presume some would like to have that list of Vice-Presidents re-read by some stronger voice. If the President or some one else would read the list, and give a little account of the persons whose names it contains, I think it would please the audience as well as myself.
The President. — It is proper to say that I have had a large correspon- dence respecting this list of Vice-Presidents. It is not easy to find persons of estabhshed reputation who are willing to risk public odium. This list of twenty-five names is one of those who have accepted this risk. About as many more who have been invited have for various reasons declined. All the more honor is due to those who now give their weighty and independent approval to this nascent movement, by consenting in advance to lend it the influence of their names. Not a single name is here used without the writ- ten consent of the gentleman to whom it belongs ; and if no lady's name appears, it is not because no lady has been asked. To-morrow morning I propose to read such extracts from the letters of acceptance as will be spe- cially interesting to the National League to hear.
The President then read the names of the Vice-Presidents with accom- panying remarks.
•The list of oflicerb ao reported aud elected will be found at the beginning of thie report.
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Mr. Einstein moved that the list of officers read by Mr. McArthur be de- clared elected unanimously.
This motion was put and carried with enthusiasm.
The President. — 1 have received a communication sent to us by the " Union of Radicals." I will read the communication. It is presented through Professor Loos, who is also a member of our National League, and whom we are extremely glad to have with us.
Hall of the "Freie Gemeinde of Philadelphia,
445 North 5th Street.
The "Union of Radicals," in convention assembled, have this day re- solved:
1. — To inform the Congress of Liberals of the result of this convention, with the request to consider whether and how far the Liberal Leagues agree with their platform also with regard to other objects than the secularization of the state, or whether they consider a future agreement as possible.
2. — To assure the Liberal Leagues, that the Radicals are ready to co- operate with them for the reforms to be aimed at in the Church question, and that such co-operation will be especially sure, if directed towards prac- tical motions to be made in Congress, as well as in State Legislatures, and also towards the election of candidates who are willing and competent to represent such reforms.
3. — To recommend to the Liberal Leagues to incorporate into their pro- gramme, as hitherto published, the paragraph contained in the platform of the Radicals which acknowledges the right and duty of the State, in case of necessity, to oppose the hierarchical power of the Pope.
4. — To elect Alexander Loos as their mediator for carrjdng out the pre- ceding resolutions.
Wm. Burchard, President. A. Loos, Secretary. Philadelphia, June 30th, 1876.
To all true Friends of Progress. The work for which the Executive Committee of the " Freie Gemeinden" of North America had called upon all liberty-loving Germans to meet in convention at Philadelphia, the 28th, 29th and 30th of June in this centen- nial anniversary year of our repubUc, has been successfully completed.
The " Freie Gemeinden," tjie Association for the Propaganda of Radical Principles, the Freethinkers and Turn-associations, as well as the Sociahstic Democratic party and other liberal associations, had sent their representa- tives from Nortli and South, from East and West, in order to bring about an agreement with regard to the most vital questions of the times, and to unite those impelled by a common purpose into an organic union.
Palliative remedies do not avail ; radical remedies shall be employed to preserve the life of the republic, and to make it a model-republic for all the nations of the earth ;
The separation of Church and State shall be consistently and completely carried out ;
The " King in dress-coat " shall yield to a simple executive commission ;
The two-chamber system to the one-chamber system ;
Indirect to direct democracy;
The public school, placed upon a rationally moral basis, shall educate re- publicans ;
The second century of the repubhc shall make up for what the first has neglected ;
One half of the human race shall be put on a complete equality with the other;
The republic shall guarantee the liberty and happiness of all.
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Such a public declaration is expected by the friends of progress on this festive anniversary day of the republic :
Here it is!
Join our ranks !
Thus we fulfil in common what the declaration of independence of the Fourth of yuly, 1776, imposes upon us as an imperative duty.
By order of the convention of liberty-loving Germans of N. A.
Edward Schkoeter.
Philadelphia, the Fourth of July, 1876. Karl Heinzen.
Alexander Loos.
The President. — If the Committee on Credentials have any supple- mentary report to make, they now have an opportunity to make it.
Mr. Hoover reported additional names of members from the Committee. On motion the report was accepted.
The President. — I have received a communication which is too long to read after the fatigues of the day, and in these unfavorable circumstances I have not the physical strength left to elevate my voice so long as would be required to read these ten or twelve pages of foolscap, closely written. It is addressed to the Centennial Congress of Liberals by the Michigan State Association of State Spiritualists, being signed by A. B. Spinney, Presi- dent, and Mrs. L. E. Bailey, Secretary. Respectful notice should be taken of it. In accordance with the standing rules of the convention, it will pass to the Committee on Resolutions, unless you adopt some special motion in regard to it. Is there any further business to come before the Congress .-'
Mr. Kilgore. — It is now nine o'clock, and I presume the convention would like to spend about an hour in hearing from delegates from different portions of the country. 1 therefore move that the delegates be invited to speak of the cause of Liberalism in different localities, or, if they see fit, without any unkindness of spirit or language, of the operations of our anti secular friends, provided that each speaker be confined to five minutes.
The President. — The motion is made and seconded that the delegates from different parts of the country be invited now to make five-minute speeches, and state anything of interest in regard to the cause of liberalism in their respective localities.
Agreed to.
The President. — The floor is open for five-minute speeches. We shall be glad to hear from one and all. Dr. Michener, of Iowa, said something about a change for the worse in the Constitution of that State, with respect to religious Hberty. The facts in that case will be very interesting. (A pause.) I am afraid Dr. Michener is not present. I think he would not say no, if he were here. We shall have to reserve his speech for some other day.
Mr. Ranney. — He has been present this evening. I presume he will be here again.
The President. — Very well, the invitation stands open. Whom shall we hear from now?
Dr. Brown. — I hate to see gentlemen hesitate, when they have a chance to say a good word. We have met here to commemorate that word which we should all keep with us and that is " liberty." How are we at liberty to commemorate it? Take our individual stands as American citizens, asking others to do likewise, and to defend each individual by word and act.
Let us respect those who hold different opinions just as we should like to be respected ourselves. If we are offended by our Christian brethren, our only way is to show them a better example. How are we going to do that? By not fighting among ourselves. Spiritualists, Infidels, Catholics, Protest-
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ants, and every one should step forward and say, we are here for the express purpose of letting every one give his opinion in such a way as shall not be offensive.
Professor Loos. — I should Hke to avail myself of the privilege granted by your vote, for a few explanatory statements in reference to the resolu- tions of the " Union of Radicals " just read by the President, which I was delegated to bring to your notice for consideration.
A Convention of Liberal Germans has been held in this city daring the last three days, which resulted yesterday in the formation of a new organi- zation under the name of " Union of Radicals." In this convention there were represented forty-odd associations ; also, two larger organizations, each of which represented again a large number of separate societies.
The " Union of Radicals," in all, comprises one hundred and ninety-seven local organizations scattered all over the country, representing a power that has made itself already felt in some States at the ballot box, as you all know. For instance, at the beginning of the war, they saved the State from the clutches of the slave oligarchy by their vote. Among these asso- ciations there are some composed of women, one of which, from the far West, represents itself as in sympathy with us. These associations united npon a platform, in the religious part of which they adopted almost literally those demands of liberalism which are enumerated in the Constitution of our National League, as the specific practical objects of this association. But, not confining themselves to the attainment of these objects, although they fully acknowledge the judiciousness and practical wisdom of your con- centrating all your forces and strength upon that which is nearest and most attainable, they reserve for themselves the privilege of looking a little further ahead, beyond the time when we, as I hope we shall, have attained these objects of our League. They offer, most unreservedly and cordially, their full and hearty co-operation to you for the attainment of all your objects. At the same time they wish to bespeak for themselves your future sympa- • thy and co-operation for their own objects, provided you can reconcile them with your own convictions. That is all I have to say.
Mr. Underwood. — Dr. Michener wishes to say, in response to your invitation, that he does not feel able or competent to make any remarks in public. He is like our distinguished Chief Magistrate ; he never made a speech, and he feels diffident about making an attempt this evening. He wishes me to say on his behalf that in the State of Iowa there is a rapidly growing liberality, but that for some time there has been also a simultaneous and silent encroachment of the Church upon the State. Twenty years ago, when he left the State of Massachusetts and made his home there, there was great freedom and liberality in the laws of the State; but there has been since that time a strong attempt, in the silent manner I have referred to, to unite religion with the government and schools. The general government of the State is more or less under the influence of the priesthood, and the liberals feel they ought to make some counteracting effort to stop and arrest this encroachment of the Church on the State.
Mr. Pinkham, of Cahfornia, related his personal experience at some length, and read a document entitled " Platform of the Equal Rights Society."
Mr. Shorey. — I live in a city of the greatest liberality; I live in a State that has the honor of harboring that philanthropist and true American citi- zen, Robert Dale Owen, a devoted personal friend of my own. I would say, like my friend who has spoken from Iowa, that Indiana is becoming more liberal, more free, and more just; but, while that tendency is manifest- ing itself, not only outside of the churches, but in the churches, we are still in the minority, and the leaders of county poHtics and the government of the State are endeavoring to put around the people the bands of oppression.
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They are making every possible effort to get the Legislature to fasten relig- ious institutions upon the hearts, consciences, and pockets of the people. And I make this prophecy : that, as this liberal movement begins to be sue- cessful, as its power begins to be felt through this "glorious free nation," and especially as the churches and the advocates of political dogmatics begin to feel its power, you will find that the legislators here in the City of Philadelphia will endeavor to curb your liberties to an extent that you have never felt before. I was in Cincinnati, when Judge Taft made the deci- sion that he did, that the Bible could not again be forced into the schools of Cincinnati against the wills of the people. This speech was made in one of the halls of Cincinnati; the election immediately followed, in which the liberals carried the election against the priesthood of Cincinnati. But the churches are determined to crush out the feehng of liberty growing in the hearts of the people. The West is free and large ; and, as we speak the sentiments of liberty and of justice to ourselves and to our families, the churches have commenced to put on the screws, and turn them tighter against the liberties of the people. I recollect that a few years ago I had the honor to introduce to the Legislature what is called the " Maine Temperance Law." A motion was made by a radical church member, a minister of the gospel, to double the penalty in case the crime of selling liquor was committed on the Sabbath day. I made a speech against it. I am a cautious man, like Horace Greeley. I met Benjamin Halstone, the son of the Benjamin Hal- stone that put his name to the Declaration of Independence one hundred years ago. He said, " I am afraid you have ruined your prospects in Indi- ana, by making that speech against the Sabbath day." I said, " I would rather be right than save my prospects. It is just as wrong to sell whiskey on Monday as it is to sell it on Sunday." He said, " You are right, but I cannot see how you dare say so." That is the point. That is the secret. I was delighted to hear the President read the names of those Vice-Presi- dents, because they "dare say so" in this, the beginning of the second cen- tury. One hundred years from to-day I may not be here in the body, though I hope I may be in the spirit ; and then I believe that every American citi- zen will "dare to say so."
Mr. Garretson. — I am sorry my friend Dr. Michener did not make a speech. I lived in Iowa forty years, and I say to-day there is more liberal- ity in Iowa than there ever was before. However it may be in that gentle- man's locality, in my own there is more in the churches. A Mr. Harrysack, a neighbor of mine, went into the Legislature, and he there introduced a bill to make it obligatory on the officers of the people to enforce the Sabbath law. That man came out with the most scorching rebuke that ever was given, and a man who called himself a heathen took up and discussed that thing, and made the ablest report on the subject that ever was made, and the bill was voted out. I think the element is more liberal, and I believe there is more liberahsm in Iowa than in any other state of the Union, according to population. This is shown by the fact of opposition to the rule of the churches, and by the fact that most of the people, and the church members, are in favor of taxing church property, and separating the Church from the State. Why ? Because they believe that the mahce of "the Protestants against the Catholics is the foundation of all the opposition to church rule. If all were Protestants, they would be all right ; they are opposed to it on that ground. A great many are like some of our friends to-day ; they want to have a pohcy. They think it is not good policy to speak the truth, just as that gentleman said, " It is the truth, but how dare you say \t?"
Mr. Andrews. — I prefer, in the few moments I have to speak, to say something in regard to the movement itself which* was inaugurated to-day. I am myself more especially impressed with the idea that the readiness on
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the part of these persons here assembled to organize this League, and the good feeling manifested here, and the disposition towards concession, are a great evidence that the change which evidently has taken place in yourselves is only an indication of the change which is to come to the whole world. Ten years ago, — with all the skill and power manifested in this organization here to-day (and I recognize the presence of a master mind, or masterminds, in what has been achieved), — with all that power, the men and women did not exist in America who could have organized on a platform like this to-day. There has been a great growth in this respect ; and if it is to be lasting, there must be toleration in individuals, and there must be love of unity, in order that we can unite. Yet there was nothing wrong in principle, in the position the radicals held twenty years ago, or fifty years ago. The drift of the intellect, in its sceptical tendency and investigating power, is towards the great and greater pronunciation of individuality, until a complete freedom is achieved. It must be achieved not only in each League, but in each individual mind. There is such a thing as enslavement of the mind within us, which must be got rid of before we are prepared for that converging unity which renders growth and organization a possibility. I would like, if the opportunity oc- curs, to say more in relation to these principles which underlie the growth of society, the principles which Herbert Spencer teaches in our time. Those principles are just as true in society matters as elsewhere, and just as true in the development of the party of individuals. One word, suggested by Dr. Loos. It is with regard to the difference between immediate and prac- tical movements, and far-reaching, analytical, speculative movements. Now the difference is one which has hitherto separated reformers very much ; it is, on the contrary, one that should unite them. It is simply a division of labor, — a great principle in all social matters which we should recognize. Then we can unite on one platform for one purpose, and make of ourselves a ball of fire which shall burn its bigness through the world. Then we shall be free in that particular direction to organize for other purposes, on other platforms, and with other associates. When these things are accepted, or- ganization is possible ; and if the time has come that liberals are themselves prepared to enter rightly into organization, to understand the science of or- ganization, and to apply it particularly in institutions, united together in this work, they are to-day the most powerful party in existence. They have the intellect; they have the advanced thought; they "know" while others "be- lieve " ; and that makes all the difference. You are here this evening a more powerful party than all the churches in this City. You will in time reahze that fact; you will know that you are only to go forward in the line you have struck out, and combine, and act upon that line in the midst of your diversity, — ask every one to act, and come forth with the advanced thought of all, — and from that time you become the leaders of opinion to the country and the world. I almost dare to doubt whether our respected President here knows himself how great a work he is inaugurating. If he understands fully how rapidly the avalanches will come upon us, he may find, here in America, and among "infidels," — as cool-hearted, long-headed, sceptical, and suspicious as we have been heretofore, — he may find that we too may have our " Moody's and Sankey's. " We too may have our revivals ; we too may move the world by whirlwinds of enthusiasm and inspiration. I wish I could say all I feel in regard to the importance of the movement commenced here to-night. I congratulate you upon your achievements.
Mrs. Gibson. — I do not rise to represent the Liberal League of New York, for Mr. Bennett, the President, is'here, and wiU do that work himself. I want to say a word of the power of the press. But, before I speak on that, I want to say I am proud of being a Boston woman, — of having lived in the same State where our noble President pubUshes The Index. Now many of you
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have seen The Index, and you have read it, and you have never seen any- thing in that paper vile and objectionable. In conversing; with an individual some two years ac;o, he said: " When we ^et that God in the Constitution, such a paper as your Indf.x cannot be published." I tliankcd him for ex- pressinsj his opinion, and declaring to us what they intended to do when they did get "that God into the Constitution." They have shown us what they intend to do, by what they have done within one year, in imprison- ing, somewhat in the same manner as Edward Paulding was imprisoned, a man who is now in the Penitentiary at Albany, serving out a term of eighteen months, with a fine of five hundred dollars attached, for publishing something which displeased them. But I will not detain you this evening with a speech. I am only telling you what you have to do, to show you that you must or- ganize for work and not talk alone, but put your hands deep down in your pockets and i,'-/z't' to the National Liberal League. Send out to support the Leagues all over these United States and see if you cannot be as noble and as self-sacrificing as are the Christians in their Moody and Sankey meetings, converting the world to a myth. Let us convert the world back to the truth. Now you see, friends, what we have to do. Do not waste your time in litttle foolish, senseless speeches, but just take hold as if it were a fight for life; for it is a fight for liberty, and religious liberty is dearer than life itself.
Mr. Curtis. — In St. Louis we are perhaps in a more favorable position on the liberal question than in any other city in the United States ; practically we have no Sabbath laws there. St. Louis is one of the few great cities of the United States where Moody and Sankey meetings could not be held. Moody and Sankey came there not long ago, and held meetings for three days, but they had to go elsewhere ; the crowds were present, but the sinners did not get converted. There were too many people there to ask questions. Night after night the hall was filled with crowds of Christians, and there were plenty of sinners there, but none to be converted. They had no fruit. They had no souls for their labors.
Mr. Kilgore. — I rise, not for the purpose of making a speech, but to inquire if Mr. Bentley, Mr. Henderson, and Mrs. Harker, of the* Finance Committee, are present. If they are not present, those who are anxious to deposit in our contribution box some of the surplus funds they have brought with them can now have an opportunity to do so. And, while I thank the ladies and gentlemen who have contributed so liberally to the expenses of this Congress, I wish to say that more money still is necessary. The liber- als of this country have responded magnificently to the call that has been made upon them ; but this very liberality has made the field wider, and the work has been increased to such an extent that the liberals have been lost in it. We not only propose to have an organization, but we want to have that organization armed with the sinews of war; we want to have it able to carry its principles into every county, town, and village of the United States of America. To do this will require money, much money in addition to what we have already ; and every one should give what he can. A collection was then taken up.
The President. — We have had to-day some little differences of opinion, just at times verging on over-excitement of feeling; but they have been slight, and soon over, and the substantial unity of spirit manifested at these two sessions is a cause of the greatest encouragement. There is a vast change going on among liberals. They themselves have remarked it. They are becoming less suspicious of each other, and more willing to join hands like brothers in a common work. It is a most hopeful sign that we shall at last achieve something like practical success. This brotherhood, to its credit, the Christian church does show to a large extent ; and we should not be in social or moral influence inferior to the churches. We cannot afford
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to despise the social nature of man ; it is stronger than any man's individual- ism. When radicals come to understand that the true individualism of human life demands the ripening of this social nature, — when experience shall have taught them the precious unifying power of a great common pur- pose, and shown them how it creates noble fellowships, large sympathies, generous ideas, — then they will learn how to make themselves a mightier power than all the churches in the land combined. We have at our back the whole strength of knowledge, art, literature, science, and philosophy ■, we have the whole real strength of humanity itself, which we represent in its resistless struggle towards all better things. I confess I am waiting, with such patience as I can command, for a new Pentecost — never mind the met- aphor— a new Pentecost to arouse the American people to a larger and higher affirmation of their fundamental rights. Take up those fundamental rights, so simple in enunciation that a child of three can comprehend them, yet so sublime in their results that an old man of eighty, with all his experi- ence, cannot begin to grasp them fully, — let the people plant themselves on these fundamental rights, and with heroic purpose resolve to recreate this nation in their image, — and I beheve that the total emancipation of this re- public from the tyrannies of superstition is not far off. What has pleased me beyond measure in this convention has been the earnestness and unity of spirit which I have detected underlying all our little differences, and the will- ingness to seize and do the great work before us. It is true, there is not a man or woman under this roof who can begin to conceive how great a task we here take upon our feeble shoulders ; time alone will show how great it is. Our imaginations are not strong enough to embrace the full scope of the movement upon which we have here embarked. Depend upon it, one hun- dred years from now, when our children's children shall look back upon this time, to see what great thought or purpose gave character and dignity to this Centennial celebration, what great idea was stirring in the hearts of the American people as they met in Philadelphia to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of their National birth, — depend upon it, if there is to be one far-seeiflg man in those now shadowy millions, he will point back to Concert Hall, and proclaim that there was the visible germ of the greatest movement of the incoming century, a movement which they of that distant day will rec- ognize in its true intellectual and moral relations to the pervading genius of American institutions. I congratulate you, members of the National Lib- eral League, on what you have this day done. My heart swells in view of its mighty possibilities; and, if we do not antedate the future in our sanguine hope, we shall yet live to look back upon this day as the grisly veterans of the Revolution looked back on the first rally of the "Minute Men" at Con- cord Fight.
Mr.Kilgore. — As it is near time for adjournment, I wish to give notice that we have places, ample and good, for all the delegates, at an expense of not more than one dollar per day, as long as you may wish to stay, attending the Congress, and to see the Exhibition. The remarks of our President called to mind a fact which I think this convention ought to know. I thought we ought to have some music, and I engaged a piano to be brought here ; I thought we should have some singing, and I spoke to one of the first singers of Philadelphia, who is a member of the Philadelphia League. That man told me yesterday that it was no use to try to have singing in the Congress at Concert Hall ; for, out of one hundred singers in Philadelphia, not one could be found, although many of them sympathized with our movement, to come here and sing for us, because we were in favor of opening the Exposi- tion on Sunday [ hear ! hear ! ] ; that if they did, they would lose their opportu- nity of singing in the Christian churches of this modern Christian city [hear ! hear ! ].
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Mrs. Pratt. — I feel that I want to speak right here, and with just such backing as this. I have thought, as I sat there looking at the expression of the side face of that bust, how the ministers of the old theology used to try to make a great deal of capital out of Thomas Paine's bust ; but here is a bust that is too noble for them to make mucli capital out of. We have had discussions in this city in which the name of Thomas Paine has been loaded with infamy by these theologians. They spoke of him as a sot, a vile fellow whose habit it was to go on what is commonly called, in slang phrase, a " bust " ; and I am glad at last we have got a bust of him. A few years ago I attended a meeting, held here in this very hall by the same persons who are holding meetings this week in the Academy of Music and Horticultural Hall. I heard of the plans they intended to carry out, but I wanted to know of a truth whether it could be possible that any set of men dare do what they professed. I came here, and sat, and listened. One man got up and made a speech ; and I have forgotten hundreds of speeches heard since then, but not that one. It was Jonathan Edwards that spoke, and he stood on this rostrum here and said : " We have been charged wijh wishing to coerce men's consciences. We don't intend to coerce men's consciences ; not a bit of it. The Jew may be a Jew still; the infidel an infidel still ; the atheist an atheist still. But, as for this government, it shall be a Christian government, and none but a man who has accepted heaven by the way of the Cross shall have a vote." That is what Jonathan Edwards said here ; it was bringing the matter right home. What did it imply? It implied that, when they get the control, every man who would not acknowledge himself to be' a hypocrite should be completely shut out of every position wherein he could earn his living. He would soon have his house where they used to drive poor Jews, in the lowest and filthiest places in the towns, places where no decent people could live. At that time the name of the Liberal League was never heard of. Here to-night we have delegates from Liberal Leagues all over the land, and Jonathan Edwards dare not come here and shake his finger at them.. I wanted to hear what they had to say, but my work kept me at home. I got one of their papers to see what they were doing. One said : " We only de- sire by this change in the Constitution to obtain a legal basis for what we already have ; in other words, we only seek to make legal that which we are doing illegally." That is just it. They are closing the Centennial Exhibi- tion on Sunday illegally. They have come down to the old Philadelphia law, but they know it is not in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, and, until they can get their sectarian cloven foot into the Constitu- tion, they feel they are shaking. Mr. President, you may depend upon it, just in proportion as we work unanimously and earnestly, just in that propor- tion will they feel it necessary to work. Mr. Andrews said we had the brains, and the intellect, and I know we have, and they know we have ; but then, if they get their God into the Constitution, they can have the power of the State to back them up, and our brains and intellect will go for naught. I do not believe these men realize that they will do such things as these. We know from the past what they have done. The greater their faith, the more dangerous they are. If they believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the only God who can save men's souls, and if they want our souls saved, they will think it is their religious duty to burn our bodies. Our President has said he thinks there is not a man or woman in this Hall who appreciates fully what we have to do. You do not know every man and woman. I have for fifteen years been burning for personal religious liberty; I am burning at the stake every day. It is because I so highly prize my religious liberty; it is because I will, here and now and everywhere, worship God according to the dictates of my conscience while I believe there is a God, and cease when I beheve there is no God; it is because I am determined to do this, and because
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I prize the privilege and right to do this so highly, that I falter not in my duty. I do not interfere with another man's religious right; I do not care whether he be Catholic, Jew, or Pagan ; I am willing to give him all I ask for myself. He is welcome to it, but heaven pity him if he undertakes to take from me what I give him so freely !
The President announced the meetings to be held to-morrow.
Mr. Morse. — I should have been well content to let my humble work speak for itself, if it had been quite ready to do so ; but, as I had to take him up and bring him here before his time for speaking had arrived, I shall have to say a word for him, and that is to apologize to you for his coming before you hardly finished. If he were going to make a speech himself, I suppose he would say ; " Ladies and gentlemen, I am hardly prepared to make my speech." But I thought that you would rather take a look at him in the rough marble than not to have him here at all. There is needed yet some weeks or so of work to complete him, as he should be before he moves into Independence Hall. There is to be a pedestal of marble about four feet high, — at least that is my intention, — upon which to place the bust when it is completed. Then, I think, it will make a very respectable appearance, and will do us all, I hope, credit and honor when it has taken its final place of distinction. I want to say just one word in regard to the way in which that bust came to be made. Perhaps some of you know that, for a number of years, I did what I could to publish a periodical called the Radical. When the time came for that magazine to die, and I had no more opportunity to speak my thought in that way, I said, if I turn to modelling in clay, if I turn to making faces, those faces shall speak my thought. If it was fit for the old Greeks to make the gods, I thought it not wrong in modern sculpture to make one who, I thought, might as well be called a god as any of his elders. So, taking up a little photograph of a painting of Thomas Paine, I said, " Some day I will make the face of Paine." About three years ago, I mod- elled that head of Paine in clay, and had it cast in plaster, and I knew then, though I did not know just how it would come about, that some day I should have a chance to put it into marble, where it would abide, and tell its story. And so, making Paine, I made Theodore Parker; and recently I made one of Paine's companions, Thomas Jefferson. As I had to take him to Wash- ington, I brought him around by Philadelphia. He was modest, and said: " I have had my day ; I will take a back seat." So I put him where he wished to go for the time being, but he belongs up here. I do not know that he belongs quite alongside of this gentleman ; I believe he told him he had better not speak out — it would hurt him ! Well, Paine took the hurt, as you all know. Now we want to undo that hurt, not only because it was one man, because it was Paine, but the very reason why the world hates Paine would apply to any one of us. They ought to hate us just as badly. I do not know but they do. But I must tell you a good orthodox lady found her way to my studio. She saw the face of Paine and said: "Can it be possible that is the face of Paine ? " I thought she must have got a little liberalism, for she added : " If he looked like that, he must have been a pretty good sort of man; and, when I get np there [into heaven], I shall whisper in the ear of Jesus and tell him he had better let him up ! " Sol think he has some chance in the other world, if not in this. Just across the road from my studio, there is a school of theology, where young men go to study to preach the gospel of Christ as the Methodists believe in him ; and they looked over the street from the window, and saw some of these heads, and they made a party and came over to see what sort of heads I kept — little dreaming where they were coming ! But, of course, I received them in a gracious way, and they looked at Paine and Parker; I introduced them both, and they behaved in a gracious way, and said they had no idea the man could
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look like that, and were willing to concede, if he did look anything like that, he had been somewhat abused. There is now, I think, a strong probability of their looking into the matter for themselves. So again I see that the cause is marching on. Well, I will not detain you, but in this way I hope to achieve something toward helping on the great movement which is to lib- eralize this whole great country of ours, and to place it upon that high pedestal of glory where the "fathers " saw it in their dream, and to send from that eminence its glorious beams of intelligence and virtue and honor and lib- erty, until the whole world shall unite with us in celebrating the gods who are the noble men of this earth.
The President. — I want to say that my friend, Mr. Morse, docs not know how to beg; it is not in his line! But as he has not said one word about the value of this bust, I must tell you that the price of it is $1,200, and it is not a cent too much. There are weeks and weeks of hard work, and expense, and responsibility, and risk, and all that, connected with it. It is not at all too much, and we ought to raise it with ease. How much have we got? Seven hundred dollars; and of that Mr. Morse himself has sub- scribed one hundred dollars, striking off so much from the price. If you go and tell your friends to bring or send in their five or ten dollars apiece, in a short time you will make it an entire success ; and then you will not feel that you have allowed Mr. Morse to work in this noble way, and then be underpaid at last. Let us try to raise the whole amount.
Mr. Kilgore moved that, on Monday evening, a special effort be made to raise the amount, or to take measures for its being immediately thereafter raised.
The motion, having been seconded, was put and carried.
On motion, the convention adjourned to Sunday morning at half past ten o'clock.
TKCII^ID SESSIOIST:
SUNDAY, JULY 2, 1876.
The convention of the National Liberal League was called to order by the President, Mr. Francis E. Abbot, at half past ten o'clock.
The President. — The convention will please come to order. Having accomplished so much important business yesterday, we can afford to-day to listen to addressees. But the first part of the morning's programme is the reading of some extracts from letters Avi-itten by various distinguished citi- zens. I will now read these, as showing that no single name on our list of Vice Presidents was used without written consent. We have been exceed- ingly careful to take liberties with no man's name knowingly; and these extracts will show that the gentlemen who have kindly given us their names do so with the full knowledge of what they are about, as an expression of their hearty sympathy with our general movement. . At the same time, it would be unjust to hold any one of them responsible for anything that is said or done here, except so far as we have carried out faitlifuUy the previously announced object of organizing for the total separation of Church and State. They indicate their approval of the general plan of forming a National Lib- eral League for this purpose, and particularly for the purpose of urging the adoption of a Religious Freedom Amendment to the United States Consti- tution. In justice to them, this fact should be borne in mind.
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EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS BY DISTINGUISHED CITIZENS. From the Hon. E. P. Hurlbut, of Albany, N. Y.
I regret that I cannot promise you any work of the pen in aid of the cause you have so much at heart, and so ably advocate ; but if I can attend at Phil- adelphia, I may report myself to the League, as one sympathizing in its ob- jects. If my name— long withdrawn from the public, and unknown to the present generation — can serve your association, you are at liberty to use it in the manner suggested ; though I shall regret receiving of your honors without being able to help in your work. Some thirty years ago, when the Constitution of New York was about to be revised, I labored for the aboli- tion of the religious test, and secured it, in favor of witnesses in courts of justice. I am no longer young, and my hopes for our institutions are not so sanguine as they were then ; still they are worth fighting for on account of the theory alone. Perhaps a generation may arise worthy to uphold them, the present exhibiting more of ignorance and less of innocence than consists with popular rule.
From the Hon. Samuel E. Sewall, of Boston.
I am so much in favor of the general objects of the National Liberal League that I cannot refuse to be nominated as one of its vice-presidents, if it is thought that my name will help the cause in any degree. I must add that at this moment the third section of the proposed amendment, as it seems to me, requires some modification. With the first, second, and fourth I concur heartily and entirely. Every year that passes renders the adoption of new constitutional protection for religious freedom more and more urgent. Frotn the Hon. Nathaniel Holmes, of St. Louis, Mo.
I concur entirely in recommending the proposed amendment to the Consti- tution of the United States, and in the general objects and purposes of the movement, so far as I am at present informed of them ; and if you and other friends of the cause think the use of my name as a vice-president can be of any service, I shall not withhold my consent. It is probable I may be in Philadelphia about the time mentioned ; and if so, I shall take pleasure in attending the Congress.
From the Hon. Henry Booth, of Chicago, III.
I am heartily in favor of the total separation of Church and State by the proposed amendment of the Constitution ; and you are at liberty to use my name as one of the vice-presidents of the League to be organized for that purpose, if you think proper.
From the Hon. George W. Julian, of Irvingfoji, Ind.
I have yours of the 4th, requesting the privilege of nominating me as one of the vice-presidents of the National Liberal League. Of course you are at liberty to do so. It will not win for me popular applause; but I would accept the position as one of high honor, and it affords me real pleasure to comply with your personal wishes, and to thank you for the compliment which they express. As to your proposed "religious freedom amendment," I decidedly approve of it. Some very slight verbal changes might be made ; but it covers the whole ground more fully, and accomplishes the desired purpose more completely and explicitly than any proposition I have noticed. It would totally and absolutely separate Church and State, and nothing less than this should be accepted.
From the Hon. Elizur Wright, of Boston, Mass. * ' The importance of the work to which the Congress of Liberals is called cannot he over-estimated, as it seems to me ; and I should count it a great honor, as well as pleasure, to be allowed to participate in it. But there seems
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no probability that I shall be able to attend it, or have any spare means or strength to devote to the great cause in which it is enlisted. The proposed amendment to the Constitution, it seems to me, must commend itself to every fair-minded man as worthy of a place in that instrument, if it really means to be a guarantee of the rights of conscience. Only the enslavers of souls can possibly object to it. Since it is a fact that many people arc laboring to turn the Constitution into a theological creed, the sooner we know that they , i cannot succeed the better. Nothing short of the "Religious Freedom /■<■ Amendment," it seems to me, can settle this question as it should be ; and all ■; sincere religionists should be in favor of it for the sake of religion itself. ... If it is only to "stand up and be counted," of course you may depend upon me ; and 1 shall not back down from any place you see fit to put me in as a name.
From Mr. O. B. Frothingham, of New York City.
My name for the other purpose you entertain is wholly at your disposal. I shall be proud to be associated with the men you mention, and proud to hold such a position in such a cause.
From Mr. William J. Potter, of lYew Bedford, Mass.
Certainly, put my name on the vice-presidents' list, if I can thus serve the movement. ... As to the desirableness of the general object of the Liberal League movement, the secularization of the State and of the State schools, and the importance of the proposed Constitutional amendment — as the specific, practical aim of the National Liberal League, — there is no differ- ence of opinion between you and me. If there be any difference between us, it is upon the proportion which this work bears to the whole free relig- ious movement ; but I believe in the work itself, though not able to give to it that intense devotion which it has found in you.
Froj?i. Mr. R. P. Hallowell, of Boston, Mass. I am heartily in favor of the establishment of a Liberal League that shall be national in fact as well as in name. With the understanding that Mr. Frothingham and Mr. Potter are to be identified with the proposed national organization, I consent to serve as one of the vice-presidents.
From Mr. James Parton, of Newburyport, Mass. I am honored by your proposing me for vice-president of the League. Publicity in all its forms and for all its reasons is painful to me, but in this cause I will do everything I can. I have lived but to promote it. MakeVne vice president if you think it best.
From Mr. Friedrich Schueneman-Pott, of San Frafiasco, Cal. I certainly most cordially consent to your kind proposition to add my name to your list of vice-presidents of the forthcoming Centennial Congress of Liberals. Although, to my utter regret, I shall be unavoidably prevented from being personally present in Philadelphia, my whole heart and soul will be with you on the occasion, and '■'■qiiidquid in me est ingenii, qtiod sentio quam sit exiguum," will always be, as it has been before, devoted to our common cause.
From the Hon. Abraham Payne, of Providence, R. I. On my return from New York, I find yours of the 4th. You are at liberty to use my name for the purpose proposed.
From the Rev. Minot J. Savage, of Boston, Mass. Believing as I do in the main principles that compose the platform of the Liberal League, and sympathizing with the object of the National Congress of Liberals soon to meet in Philadelpliia, you have my hearty consent to use
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my name as one of your vice-presidents. The State will be what it ought to be only when it is made purely secular.
From Rabbi B. Felsenthal, of Chicago, III.
By your proposal to nominate me as one of the vice-presidents of the National Liberal League, I feel much flattered. That I indorse heartily all the aims and objects of the League I need hardly assure you.
From the Rev. W. H. Spencer, of Sparta, Wis.
We Spartans have talked about forming a Liberal League and sending you names, but it seems so superfluous and formal a thing to do, as our society is of itself a big Liberal League practically, that we have not organ- ized for that special purpose. Of course I approve of the work for which the Leagues are organized, though I confess 1 do not probably regard it as of so much and pressing importance as 1 think you do. ... If you think my name respectable enough to sandwich between the famous preachers and judges you mention, I can have no objection, — but wouldn't they.''
From Mr. Samuel L. Hill, of Florence, Mass.
I certainly have no right to imagine it of any importance, favorable to the cause you wish to promote, to have my name published as one of the vice- presidents of the Centennial Congress of Liberals. However, I shall not ob- ject to your proposing it, if you wish to. The enclosed check for one hun- dred dollars I can believe may be useful.
From the Rev. J. L. Hatch, San Francisco, Cal.
Yours of May lo would have been sooner answered, but for the fact that Mr. Lick has for several weeks been quite ill, and no one was allowed to see him. He is somewhat better now, though still quite feeble. I called upon him yesterday at his hotel, the Lick House, and gave him your letter request- ing the use of his name as one of the vice-presidents of the National Liberal League. He authorized me to give you his cheerful assent.
From E. W. Meddaugh, Esq., of Detroit, Mich.
You are at liberty to elevate me to the vice-presidency, or to use me in any other way that in your judgment will help, in the slightest degree, the good cause. ... I have repeatedly read your proposed amendment to the Con- stit^ution, and do not see how it can be improved.
From the Hon. Robert Dale Owen, of New Harmony, Ind. If you think my name as one of the vice-presidents can be of any service, pray use-it. You know, I am sure, how entirely I agree with the spirit of the proposed amendment. Coming down to particulars, I think the words — "or in which religious practices shall be observed" — had better be omitted, seeing that the entire ground is covered without them. James' definition of "true religion and undefiled" does not embrace any sectarian doctrine whatever ; and it is almost the only definition of the word to be found in the New Testament. I regret that, having already engaged rooms on Lake George for the summer, I shall not be able to be present at your July meeting.
From Mr. Karl Heinzen, editor of ^^ Der Pionier," Boston, Mass.
If you think that my acceptance of a nomination as one of the vice-presi- dents of your League in Philadelphia can do any good to your cause, which as far as it goes is also my own, I can have no objections to it. But I deem it my duty to tell you that I am a decided atheist and materialist, and must leave it to your consideration whether this may be Qbnoxious or not.
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From Rabbi ISAKC M. Wise, editor of the '■^American Israelite^'' Cincinnati^
Ohio.
If possible, I will be present at the Congress, to work with you; if I can- not, I write you a letter. If you form a Liberal League to unite this element, I am willing to be one of them, officer or private, as it may be deemed most advantageous to the cause. Anyhow I will work with you. From Mr. D. ISL Bennett, editor of the " Truth Seeker,''' New York City.
I confess I should feel honored by the distinction you named, in connec- tion with the Liberal League, and would readily accept the position. But I fear I will be unable to be with you. . . . Any honor, however, you may see fit to confer upon me will be gratefully appreciated. From Mr. Horace Seaver, editor of the '■'■Investigator^'' Boston., Mass.
I see by your kind note of the other day that you wisli to make a vice- president of me ! I thank you for the honor, though I am not at all ambitious in that line ; but as I am friendly to every movement that is liberal, and of course to the League, if you think that my name can be of any advantage, you can use it in the manner you suggest.
Frotn Mr. Moritz Ellinger, editor of the ^^ Jewish Titnes,'' New York City.
In reply I would state that I shall cheerfully contribute all that is in my power to the success of the cause in which, I believe, we labor in common. Dispose of my name and my humble services as you deem proper. Frotn Mr. B. Y. Underwood, Thorndike, Mass.
I appreciate and thank you for the honor, and have only to say that, if you think my name will help promote the object of the League, you are at liberty to add it to the list of Vice-Presidents to be presented to the Congress. I need not assure you of my earnest, hearty sympathy with the purposes of the Liberal League. I know of nothing now presented for the consideration of the American people more important than the secularization of the gov- ernment, so that there shall not be even a remnant of that union of Church and State which has, wherever it has prevailed, been a prolific source of mischief to free institutions. It is absolutely necessary to secure to all citi- zens, without regard to belief, equal rights and impartial religious liberty. The proposition to secure guarantees against any connection between Church and State, as well as to remove everything inconsistent with a purely secular government that now exists, by Constitutional amendments such as you have proposed, meets with my entire concurrence, and will have my hearty support. We need only persevere in the noble movement, and success will yet crown our labors.
From the Rev. Robert Collyer, Chicago, III.
I am entirely willing to go on the list, with your explanation. I think we mean the same thing.
Frotn Mr. Wendell Phillips, Bostoti, Mass.
I entirely agree with the proposed amendment, and shall give it my hearty support. But many years since I decided not to join any more societies. I have done my share of such work and responsibility, so excuse me from the vice-presidency.
Frotn Mr. William Lloyd Garrison, Bostoti, Mass.
[This letter was received and publicly read at the Centennial Congress of Liberals, July 3.]
Boston, June 30, 1876. Dear Mr. Abbot: —
I shall not be ^able to attend the meetings of the National Liberal League
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at Philadelphia; but if its object is solely to eliminate from our Constitutions and Statute-Books whatever shows the remotest leaning towards a union of Church and State, or that is designed or calculated to give preference to any form of religious belief over another, or that subjects the religious opinions of any persons to a proscriptive test, or that grants to religious bodies pecu- liar rights and privileges whereby their property is exempted from being equally taxed with other property, then I cordially give it my approval. And I do not see why it should not strongly commend itself to all classes, as a matter of justice and equality, whatever may be the opinions they entertain concerning religion. Nay, those opinions, being widely variant and utterly irreconcilable, furnish ample reason why they should be left to stand or fall upon their own merits, and why there should be no supremacy on the one hand or subordination on the other. They belong to the domain of con- science, and, cost what it may, conscience must be left free. What can be more reasonable than this? To reject it is to strike at the foundation of popular government, and to inaugurate the reign of priestcraft, usurpation, and tyranny.
The function of the State is purely secular. It is to see that equal rights are enjoyed, and the general welfare promoted ; but it has no right to decree, for example, that any book or any day or any place is holy, or to except church-property from taxation, or to appropriate any portion of the public money for sectarian purposes, or to enforce the reading of the Bible in the public schools, or to proclaim when it behooves the people to fast for their sins or feast for their abundance, or to require any religious test for office, suffrage, naturah'zation, or giving testimony in the courts. Yet it has as- sumed this as a part of its prerogatives ; thus establishing a dangerous pre- cedent, in contravention of republican principles, and, in my judgment, in violation of the spirit of Christianity itself, — Christianity as taught by its founder, and not as exemplified in our day and generation.
Let the League make it clear in its spirit and utterances that it has no ul- terior object in view; and that it does not seek a conflict with any form of religion or with any religion as such, but is in antagonism only with what seeks to fetter the conscience, to define what is heresy, to mingle sectarian with secular affairs, and to keep in countenance that union which is specially to be abhorred ; namely, the union of Church and State. In that case, occu- pying as it does common ground, it cannot fail to advance the cause of free institutions.
Yours for the freedom of body and mind,
Wm. Lloyd Garrison.
Francis E. Abbot.
The President. — It is now my duty to read to you a paper on the National Liberal League, its object and scope, and during the reading of it, it will be proper for me to retire from the chair. I am sure you will wel- come Mr. James Parton, one of our Vice Presidents, who will occupy the chair during the reading.
Mr. Parton took the chair, and Mr. Abbot read the following paper : —
THE LIBERAL LEAGUE MOVEMENT. Its Principles, Objects, and Scope. The Liberal League movement is exactly three and a half years old. It was first proposed in The Index of January 4, 1873, since which time it has been gradually gaining strength. Thirty-seven Liberal Leagues have offi- cially reported themselves to that journal, and many others not so reported have been known to exist. The original proposal was to form a National League after five hundred local Leagues had first been organized ; but expe-
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rience has shown that it was too much to expect spontaneous movements towards organization in five hundred different centres, all independent and completely isolated from each other. But over a year ago it was proposed to bring together representatives from as many as possible of these scattered societies, with a view to making arrangements for a national organization at this lime. Accordingly a preliminary convention was held in Philadelphia on September 17, 18, and 19, at which a formal call was issued for the Cen- tennial Congress of Liberals here convened, and committees were appointed to make all necessary arrangements for it. In all this the endeavor has been to avoid the error of those v/ho distrust the people and create so-called national organizations by assembling a dozen persons in a back-parlor and electing them all officers under a Constitution previously adopted hy two or three. " You have been invited to come from all parts of the country, both delegates from existing Leagues and individual members representing only yourselves, to deliberate pubHcly upon a Constitution prepared and reported in obedience to the public instructions of the preliminary convention, and yesterday publicly submitted to you for your approval or rejection ; you have acted upon this report as you judged best, and elected your officers in your own way. And the National Liberal League is now a fact. I congratulate you on this successful issue of our common labors thus far, and trust that at our next regular gathering there will be abundant justification of them in a report of important and successfully prosecuted work. We have at least some good reasons to expect now a rapid increase in the number of local Leagues, provided we all unite to carry forward vigorously the great cause which alone gives all its value and meaning to our young national organiza- tion. If we do the world's work, the world will stand by us and make us strong ; if not, no matter how soon the National Liberal League is forgotten.
The world's work ! That is a great, perhaps an ambitious phrase. Never- theless, if the work of the Liberal League were not in very truth the world's work, I for one should care nothing for it. But I do care for it ; and this morning it is my duty to tell you why the work of the Liberal League seems to me the world's work indeed.
The idea which has created the Liberal League is no novelty. It is at least as old as the Constitution; it is at least as old as the nation's existence, at whose birth for the first time it took outward shape as an accomplished fact of human history. This idea, tersely expressed, is that of a free State absolutely itidependent of the Clmrcli, and founded on the equal naticral rights of all individuals. This is the distinctive American idea — the sub- lime political conception which is our country's imperishable contribution to the progress of mankind — the lofty proclamation of faith in human nature, as sufficient unto itself for the wise and just conduct of all human affairs, which in moral significance outweighs a million times all the aggregated treasures of yonder Exhibition. It is the assertion of man's ability as well as right to govern himself in freedom; it is the ehtablishment of civil society on the laws of human nature, which are part of the laws of universal Nature ; it is the denial of all claims by dynasties or priesthoods to exercise control over society in virtue of an alleged divine right. All these officious and mi.s- chievous claims are extinguished by the American idea, which l^rands them all alike as devices of tyranny, and which in their stead announces the right- fulness and expediency of universal liberty. The equality of natural human rights and the adequacy of natural human reason and conscience to manage all human affairs, — in a word, the right of mankind to govern themselves in utter independence of all kings, priests, and presbyters, — this is the founda- tion of the American government and the vital essence of the American idea.
Now this American idea, as expressed in a great political organism, is the
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chief original product of the New World. All our science, our hterature, our art, are common to mankind ; but the conception and realization of a Secular State, independent of the Church, is our own. The Old World is clogged and embarrassed by the universal junction of Church and State; the New World presents the spectacle of a mighty republic founded on the principle of their total disjunction, and destined, if this principle is only adhered to and more thoroughly applied, to attain a pinnacle of political eminence overtopping the most colossal empires of antiquity. But our country bears no charmed life. It carries the seeds of a fatal disease in the cancerous growth of ecclesiastical ambition. If it proves to be impossible to throw off this disease, — if the foothold of the Church within the secular domain of the State, permitted by popular apathy in utter defiance of the all-essential American idea, shall be gradually enlarged and strengthened, in spite of all warnings, — the fabric of the Constitution will crumble into decay, and national disintegration will be inevitable. It is useless to blink this fact. Notwithstanding the absolutely secular character of our national Constitution, our national administrations have been increasingly inclined to encroach upon it; the safeguards of it are daily more and more undermined, and infractions of it are tolerated by the people with supineness and indiffer- ence ; the secret machinations of sectarian ambition are suffered to succeed, and to establish a rapidly growing mass of precedents for denying in due time the most essential principle of the Constitution- — total separation of Church and State. No open-eyed man will dissent from this statement ; but open-eyed men are very few. The administration is suffered without pro- test to turn over the custody of the Indians to nationally salaried sectarians ; to prostitute our national coinage to the purposes of sectarian propagan- dism; to issue sectarian proclamations in the name of the nation, summon- ing the people to go to church and even turning the nation's great day of jubilee, the Fourth of July, into an ecclesiastical festival; to put to a wretched sectarian use even the great International Exhibition, for which we have all been taxed, by permitting the sects to shut it against the people on Sundays, as a mark of national homage to their sectarian sacred day. These and innumerable other usurpations of the Church are tolerated by the people, who do not see that the tireless waves of ecclesiastical ambition are steadily washing away the foundations of their secular government, and who are not far-sighted enough to perceive that the end of these small but countless encroachments, if unchecked, must be the final fall of the noblest political structure ever erected by man. We are entering the rapids; and the people laugh at the bare mention of the cataract!
But this is not the whole of the case. Thoroughly secular as is the Na- tional Constitution, very few of our State Constitutions are such ; and this fact is a constant temptation to assimilate the former to the latter. Every State in the Union, moreover, is at liberty to make the Catholic Church, or the Presbyterian Church, or any other, the established Church of that State; and there is no remedy for this in the National Constitution — no security against any oppression by the several States on account of religious opinions. When we see how successful the sectarian spirit already is in assailing the national administration, and how shrewdly it is twining its multitudinous and seemingly insignificant toils about the national freedom, — when we remem- ber the omission of the national Constitution, secular as it is, to provide for the necessary defence of its own secular character, — when we consider the inevitable tendency of success to instigate human ambition to seek new con- quests, — it is no mark of sagacity to turn away from these facts with an impatient "pooh-pooh," but rather an evident proof of the want of it. The principles of human nature do not change; they are permanent. Opportu- nity is always a provocative of crime; and defencelessness is always an
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invitation to attack. So long as the principle of the separation of Church and State has no other defence than the Constitution now contains, it is manifestly insecure; it may be constantly and increasinu;ly infringed without remedy of law, — nay, it has been and is so infringed more and more. If that principle is the very soul of all our free institutions, it is time for every patriot who believes in and loves such institutions to take up with energy the task of defending and extending it — and thereby of carrying out the sublime American idea to a higher, no])ler, and still more beneficent fulfil- ment. It is not a matter of indifference ; it is a matter of patriotic duty, of duty to freedom, to truth, to mankind. It is a duty to the whole world, whose highest interests cry for the successful issue of our great republican experiment. Truly, the faithful discharge of this duty by the American peo- l)le is in every sense the 7c>flr/(fs ivm-k-, and it is the special work of the Liberal League, as that portion of the American people who are now ready to spring forward to discharge this duty like patriots, like cosmopolitans, like men.
I was unable to write any further. Overburdened with necessary work, I wrote until the last moment, when I was obliged to take the cars, and come. But I must add ex tempore a word on one or two important points which I intended to dwell upon in the paper.
First, the Liberal League is not a negative, not a destructive institution. It is based upon a positive idea; namely, the ability of mankind, with their natural reason, and natural conscience, to take care of all their political, religions, and social interests without the tutelage of the Church.
Do not allow yourselves to be driven into an apologetic attitude. You stand for the positive and constructive purpose of carrying out the essential idea on which this government was built. We are not destroying anything but tyranny — and that ought to be destroyed! The whole inspiration of our movement is its purpose to carry forward to perfection the structure of our National political system, to make it express more fully George Washington's bold ideal of a Secular State. George Washington we claim to be on our side, for it was his august hand that signed that memorable treaty, declaWng that "the United States gov^ernn>ent is not founded in any sense on the Christian Religion." George Washington did not intend by that sentence to declare war against Christianity. Not at all ! He wore, at least he never disclaimed, the Christian name to the day of his death ; but he was a Chris- tian large-minded enough, broad-thoughted enough, to see that this govern- ment must be absolutely secular, based neither on the Christian Church nor on the Christian Religion. Therefore we claim that George Washington and his great compeers, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and the rest, understood the secular idea, to all practical intents and purposes, just as well as we do. That is proved by the character of the Constitution which they framed and caused to be adopted ; it needs to be made no more secular than it is. All that it needs is that there should be additional guarantees and precautions, not only to preserve its own secular character, but also to prevent violation of the secular principle by the several States. We claim not to be destroyers at all; we claim not to be fanatics at all; we claim simply to l)e patriots. We have grasped the fundamental idea of our country strongly and completely and earnestly, and strive to carry out to a more consistent and succes.sful result the original and central purpose of its institutors.
Very well, then; if that is true, — if, Christian though he was, George Washington could declare that "this government is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion," — that should teach us what attitude this National Liberal League should hold towards Christianity. I mean, now and here, to speak to you with absolute frankness on this most important point. I
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am not going to cover up my own opinions. I intend to express une- quivocally my own interpretation of the principles which underlie this organization, and their necessary relation to Christianity. But I do it, not as your President, but solely as a private man, for whose views you are in no degree responsible. No one can ever honestly hold this League respon- sible for what I now say on my own personal responsibility alone.
I believe, then, that Christianity and freedom are absolutely and totally irreconcilable. I believe that just in proportion as any nation is faithful to the creed of Christianity, it will put its heel on equal individual rights in religion, and is logically bound to do so. I believe that Christianity, being founded on the absolute "Divine Authority" of Jesus Christ, is by its very nature hostile to individual and national liberty, and to equal individual rights. I am therefore logically bound to believe, and I do believe, that the National Liberal League, being founded on the great principle of Equal Rights in Religion, is necessarily hostile to the fundamental principle of Christianity ; but I am extremely careful to tell you now that this is my individual view alone, and in no degree representative of the League as such. While I tell you frankly not only that I am not a Christian, but also that I am a determined anti-Christian, aye, to the very bone, I also say that this National Liberal League, as such, is neither Christian nor anti-Christian, and cannot justly be held to be, until it collectively so declares itself. It takes no position either for or against Christianity. It is exactly as neutral as the Constitution of the United States, which does not array itself either for or against any religion, yet which I believe to be hostile to the "Divine Author- ity" of every religion, and therefore to that of Christianity. I give fair warn- ing to all those ministers and detractors who, as I foresee, will clamorously declare that this National Liberal League is necessarily anti-Christian ; I give them fair warning that, if they charge that the National Liberal League is anti-Christian in any other sense than the United States Constitution is anti-Christian, they are wilful slanderers, and I denounce them as such in advance.
The fact is that, by the imperceptible growth of liberalism in the churches themselves, the people's ideas of what constitutes Christianity have become terribly confused. One proof of this is that there are a great many men who think themselves Christians, yet are as earnest for equal rights, for impartial liberty, for secular government, as you and I may be. They have a right to be honestly confused and illogical. I say it would be unkind and unjust to them to put any definition of Christianity, either mine or any other man's, into the Constitution of the National Liberal League, and thereby drive them from us because they call themselves Christians, when they are earnestly in favor of our objects. Any man who favors and aids these objects is my brother and my friend, and I am going to stand by his side, and work by his side. Whether he calls himself a Christian, or Mohammedan, or Spiritualist, or Atheist, or whatever else, that is his business; it is not my business; I care nothing about it. AU 1 care about is that this National Liberal League is organized to carry out the principle of freedom and equal rights and secular government. Any man who can reconcile these principles with his own idea of Christianity, however illogically, — why should he not do so? Why should we be so dictatorial, so dogmatic, so illiberal, so narrow-minded, as to hold back and say : "Sir, you cannot work with us, unless you discard the Christian name ; you cannot come forward and join our league, for the league is doing an anti-Christian work ; we tie you down with the condition that our Liberal League's work shall be declared to be anti-Christian work." That would be the very height of intolerance and bigotry. I claim that we can and should stand resolutely upon our positive object, and let men answer for themselves, individually, this vexed question about Christianity or anti-Christianity. When,
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you ask me what I myself think about it, I tell you this : I think the Liberal League is really anti-Christian all through. But if you ask my Unitarian friend Mr. Savage, who has so kindly given us the use of his name on our list of Vice-Presidents, he will say: "No, I do not think Christianity is opposed to your League ; on the contrary, I think your League is doing a most Christian work." Very well; let him come here on this platform and be on equal terms with me. Don't give the anti-Christian any advantage jg? over him. Recognize fully his equal rights, for he is our friend in the battle I for equal rights. We can unite in positive purpose, in that elevated spirit, ' and let every man hold and utter iiis own individual opinion, without being under any disadvantage, whether he is in favor of Christianity or opposed to it That, I think, should be understood all round. I should feel myself outraged by any other course, simply because another man's wrongs are my wrongs; I should be myself driven off the platform of this National Liberal League, if it declared itself to be anti-Christian, though I am an anti-Chris- tian myseU',. simply because I will not be a party to any infringement on the equal rights of any friend or brother like Mr. Savage who has borne a part in my work and labor, and who has just as much at heart as I have the success of the magnificent cause that we have taken up here together.
So much for the relation of our National Liberal League to Christianity. Now I want to say a few words about its relation to political parties. We propose a poHtical work. No doubt about that. We want to carry political measures; we want to enact certain laws; we want to see the Constitution amended ; we want to have various changes made, giving a more complete guarantee and legal protection for religious liberty. Nevertheless, I do not think it is wise for us to set out and nominate our candidate for the Pres- idency. I should not be in favor of anything so impractical as that. We are not strong enough yet for any such steps as that. We could not elect a President of the United States on this issue alone, for the people do not yet comprehend its vast importance. I am not one of those men who are buried so deep in a single idea that they can see nothing else ; I keep my eyes open to many things. This movement is of vital importance, but it is to be a long-protracted movement; it is to be a long warfare; we cannot expect to settle this mighty issue to-day, nor to-morrow, nor next year, nor in ten, twenty, fifty, or possibly a hundred years. It is a long, long campaign that we are starting on. Very well ; I should say it would be very unwise,— more than unwise, it would be foolish and suicidal, — to go into politics as a distinct political party, and nominate our candidates, and try to elect them. We cannot do it. We want to carry out political measures by any or every party that has any power. It does not matter what party is in power: these things are right, and we want them because they are right, and we appeal to the party in power, no matter what it may be, to do them because they are right. That is the way, I think, in whjch we should connect ourselves with politics, keeping entirely clear of the parties, yielding ourselves to no party dictation and fooled by no party blandishments, holding ourselves in inde- pendence to establish the principle of absolutely secular government through its own justice and necessity. That is the work for us to do at all times and through all parties, forbidding any man to crack the Republican whip or the Democratic whip over our heads. If we plant our League clearly and strongly on this broad policy, though we seek political changes, we are not a political faction or the tool of any political faction. We appeal to good Republicans and good Democrats and good citizens everywhere, for the support of our measures ; but we do not care which party gets the start, or whether they both come up together. If we can carry our measures, we are satisfied. It is on these objects that we should concentrate our power, and not let ourselves be seduced or tempted away from them. I speak of this
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matter by way of counsel for the future merely. To-day no party is going to give attention to this new organization of ours, but wait one or two years from now, until the people have begun to comprehend the magnitude of this cause, until they behold Liberal Leagues starting up everywhere to help us, as I know they will if the Liberals have the spirit of men. Then, I tell you, we shall be an object not invisible to the politicians ; we shall be courted and flattered by political parties ; we shall be wheedled and coaxed for the sake of our votes. Let us in advance make up our minds to keep clear of all " entangling alliances " with existing political parties.
Lastly, I must briefly touch upon the relation of this Liberal League move- ment to morality. I was extremely glad yesterday, in voting on the adoption of the Constitution, that you so emphatically refused to strike out a single syllable in favor of morality. Let it stand as the supreme aim of this League, to secure " equal rights in religion, genuine moraHty in politics, and freedom, virtue, and brotherhood in all human life." I am extremely glad you refused to mar that avowal ; for the hardest obstacle to overcome will be the popular belief that the Church party alone stands for viorality. Cun- ningly and unscrupulously enough, this party will seek to perpetuate this ab surd notion, which originated in their own pharisaism and dogmatic conceit. The Church party, I say, will seek to overwhelm us with moral odium, to assail our moral character, to stigmatize us as the enemies of morality ; and it befits us, as sensible men and women who do not mean to be bullied and buried under abuse, to stand up and in season hurl back the slander, with dignity and self-respect. With the utmost possible emphasis, I affirm that this movement is in the interests of morality. We claim that it is self-evi- dently " immoral " for the churches to be guilty of injustice to atheists, to spiritualists, and to all those who refuse allegiance to church-creeds. This is "immoral" in the last degree ; and we stand for the purification of the State from such immorality. Can you have morality, can you have justice, can you have public righteousness, when equal rights in religion are denied and contemned ? We turn squarely upon the churches, and say : " These legal privileges and advantages which you have usurped, and are now evi- dently determined to maintain at all hazards, are not rightfully yours. You are guilty of a constant crime against good morals, a constant crime against society, a constant crime against every man who does not think as you do ; we assert that our cause is the cause of true morality, and yours, so far as you would perpetuate these wrongs, is the cause of immorality." If we take that ground, as we ought to in'truth, it will be impossible for our oppo- nents very long to confuse this clear-headed American people on the true nature of this issue. Truth will vindicate itself in the end ; we can rely on the good sense and discernment of the American people to comprehend our real spirit, our real animus, our real principles.
Relying upon that good sense of the American people, I think it all-im- portant that the National Liberal League should take its stand in accordance with good sense, keeping itself clear from all entangling alliances with par- ties, keeping itself clear from all positions of entanglement either with Christianity_ or with anti-Christianity. Leave Christianity severely alone; go right on in your chosen path. Concentrate your entire energy on the one great object of the total separation of Church and State. Be neither terrified nor tempted into side-issues, but " hew to the line, let the chips fall where they may." Let Christianity and the Church adapt itself to secular government, if it can. If it can harmonize itself with freedom and equal rights, so much the better for it ; we have no objection. What has the League to do with Christians or anti-Christians, so long as they do not tres- pass against freedom and equal rights ? We are in favor of the Christian Church itself, if it will change its old spirit and purpose. If now it will
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reverse its past, accept the present, and respect equal rights and freedom, it will disarm me totally, and (for all I know) make a Christian of me yet ! The condition of success for the National Liberal League is this : simply to concentrate itself upon its own proper objects and principles, and bend all its energies to the defence of freedom and equal rights.
These very hasty remarks must suffice for a general outline of what I was going to present to you in my paper ; I trust you will overlook the imperfec- tions of extempore speech, and pardon something to the consequences of a hard year's work.
The President (resuming tlie chair.) — It now gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Mrs. Carrie Burnham Kilgore, who will read to you an address on " Democracy." Those who were present yesterday afternoon, and saw with what dignity and ability Mrs. Kilgore presided as our chairman, will be very sure that what she has to say will be eminently worthy of their attention.
Mrs. Kilgore then read the following essay: —
DEMOCRACY.
Civil governments originate in necessity. Their form is detennined by, and is the index of, the character, condition and development of the individ- ual elements of which they are composed. The American Republic, or United States Government, is not an exception to this rule. Its elements were religious and monarchical more than democratic.
" It must never be forgotten," says De Tocqueville, "that religion gave birth to An^lo-American society. In the United States, religion is therefore commingled with all the habits of the nation and all the feelings of patriot- ism ; whence it derives a peculiar force."
The original purpose of the early colonists was not to establish a democ- racy or a republic, but, having been persecuted for their religion, to find some place where they could worship their God according to the dictates of their own consciences. The subjection of conscience to authority was their common grievance; their common aim was freedom of conscience. But these zealous devotees of an unreasoning faith, while ready to brave the per- ils of either life or death for this faith, had no conception of that religious freedom which recognizes the individual right of him who believes in no God to refuse worship to their own conception of Deity; nor of that political freedom which secures equality of rights to all. They were loyal subjects of the crown ; their highest ideal in civil government was a constitutional monarchy. Indeed, after the battle of Lexington, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts put forth an address to the people of Great Britain, in which, after complaining of their sufferings, they add: "These have not yet detached us from our royal sovereign; we profess to be his dutiful subjects, and, though hardly dealt with as we have been, we are still ready with our lives and fortunes to defend his person, crown, and dignity."
The Continental Congress recommended a pubhc fast to be observed throughout the colonies on the 20th of July, 1775, "as a day of public humil- iation, fasting, and prayer to Almighty God to bless their rightful sovereign. King George, and to inspire him with wisdom to discern and pursue the true interests of his subjects, and that the British nation might be influenced to regard the things that belonged to their peace, before they were hid from her eyes ; that the colonies might be ever under the care and protection of a kind Providence and be prospered in all their interests ; that America might soon behold a gracious interposition of lieaven for the redress of their grievances, the restoration of her invaded rights, a reconciliation with the parent State on terms constitutional and honorable to both."
The assembly of Pennsylvania, in November, 1775, instructed their dele-
1^
gates to Congress " to dissent from and utterly reject any proposition, should such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from our mother coun- try, or a change in the form of this government."
In the same month, the Governor of New Jersey complained to the Assem- bly, then in session, that sentiments tending to a separation from Great Britain were openly avowed, and essays were published in newspapers favor- ing that '' horrid measure." Apprehending that such a measure was in prog- ress, the people petitioned the Assembly against independence. That body, after replying to the Governor, "we know of no sentiments of independency that are by men of any consequence openly avowed," resolved that all such reports were "groundless," and instructed their delegates in Congress to oppose any such measure. Similar instructions were given by Maryland to her delegates in January, 1776. So active and influential were the dissent- ing clergy that the resistance of the colonies to England's tyranny was termed " the ministerial war," and might well have been called the war of the priests against the king. Such were the original elements of which the colonies were composed. It is not strange, therefore, that the governments which they founded were theocratic despotisms. The bond which united the col- onies to form the United States of America was not an idea, a grand con- ception of individual rights, but that of interest and necessity.
Thomas Paine, to whom America is deeply indebted, not only for the Dec- laration of Independence but for that public sentiment which made its pro- mulgation possible, believed in the rights of man. The same is true of the other "infidel" fathers of the Republic; but when on the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, in obedience to the instructions of the Virginia Conven- tion, introduced into Congress the resolution declaring that, "the united col- onies are and of right ought to be free and independent States, and that their political connection with Great Britain is and ought to be dissolved," that body was not ready for decisive action, but with closed doors debated this momentous question of Independence, its rightfulness, expediency, and necessity; until, on the second of July, 1776, one hundred years ago this morning, the Continental Congress voted to sever the tie which bound the thirteen original colonies to the mother country, and by that act sent this nation forth to struggle for its life.
On the following day, John Adams, in a letter to his wife, wrote : " But the day is past. The second of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be cele- brated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to another, from this time forward forever more."
In another letter of the same date, he wrote: "Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America, and a greater per- haps never was nor will be decided among men. . . . You will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the causes which have impelled us to this mighty revolution, and the reasons which will justify it in the sight of God and man. A plan of confederation will be taken up in a few days."
Upon the fourth of July, 1776, two days after that memorable vote, the Continental Congress ordered that the Declaration of Independence should be engrossed upon parchment preparatory to signing; and four days after- ward this new Gospel of Freedom was proclaimed to the world amid shouts and rejoicings.
A century has passed, and millions of human hearts beat quick and strong in grateful recognition of the triumphs of that hour in which this Republic was born. The principles of free thought and self-government hallow the
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memory of the Fathers of the Republic more than all the achievements of their intellects or the triumphs of tiieir genius. They command the respect and reverence of millions of human beings to-day, whose thoughts stretch back a hundred years in memory of Hamilton, Hancock, Adams, Franklin, Washington, Jefferson and Paine.
It is well, amid this rejoicing, to examine the body politic, its constitutional development, its organic life, and inquire whether as a nation we possess the elements of permanency. This morning, the centennial anniversary of this nation's birth, is an especially opportune time for this examination.
A prevalent feeling exists that the American Republic is in imminent jieril ; that its first Centennial may be also its last. This apprehension of approaching danger is not confined to the radical thinkers, nor to any class in society, but each one traces it to some peculiar cause according to his own habit of thought.
The Christian finds this source of danger in the tendency of the age to infidelity and the supplanting of faith by reason and science; the Protestant adds to this the rapid spread of Roman Catholicism.
The "Infidel" traces this danger to religious superstition and the power of the clergy over the unthinking mass of humanity, who neither desire nor dare to question the Divine commission of the priesthood.
The Liberal Thinker, be he Christian or " Infidel," readily sees that a union of Church and State must be subversive of free institutions, and that the incorporation of any individual's conception of God into the United States Constitution accomplishes this union.
The Labor Reformer finds the danger of the American Republic in its injustice to labor, and the consequent rapid concentration of wealth in the hands of a few ; well knowing that a landed or moneyed aristocracy is an essential element of a monarchical government.
The Citizen Suffragist beholds in the degradation of American citizenship by bondage to party politics, and its deprivation by judicial decision of its highest prerogative — the right of a voice in the councils of the nation, — the chief danger to the American republic.
The Political Reformer, appreciating that an essential element of democ- racy is the virtue and intelligence of its citizens, finds the danger of the American republic to be its venality, its exceeding corruption, and the uned- ucated vote of a large mass of its people. Some plainly declare that, while democracy is the proper form of government for a small nation, it cannot long exist over a large extent of country, and therefore this nation must soon become a monarchy; while others, with more faith in democracy, see in the vast distance of the Atlantic from the Pacific coast, and in the conflicting inter- ests of manufacturing New England and the agricultural sections of the West and South (the one demanding protection from foreign labor, the other free trade), a prophecy of the division of this one republic into the republics of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Mississippi Valley. Others see great danger to our government from our present monarchical system of finance.
The Statesman, comprehending that the permanency of the American republic depends upon the truth of its fundamental principles and its firm adherence to them, will examine these, mark the degree of their practical application, and prognosticate the future accordingly.
Now the Declaration of Independence was a protest against all tyranny and a grand assertion of the individual right of all humanity to self-govern- ment— to liberty as well as to life. Equality of rights, ihQ fundamental principle of a free government, is its motto ; and any government founded upon and true to this principle, which is deep-rooted in Nature and immortal as herself, is a democracy and must be permanent.
Bat free governments have always been of short duration. Where are
7S
the republics of the Old World? They have perished because unfru£ to the fundamental principles of democracy. How far our own government has profited by their example, concerns every lover of liberty.
"Governments," says Robert Rantoul, Jr., "cannot be created out of nothing. To be healthy and robust, they must grow with the growth and strengthen with the strength of the societies over which they preside. . . . Permanent institutions must be the product of time."
The United States Government — made up of individuals from all nations of the earth, with various characters, passions, and education, who, by force of circumstances and often with conflicting interests, had previously formed themselves into smaller provincial governments, with a strong love for the institutions of the Old World, against which they were compelled to unite for self-defence alone in the New — was the best government possible to be created out of these existing discordant elements. Its organic law, what- ever may be its inconsistencies, reflects great credit upon the few earnest, brave men of whose wisdom it is an enduring monument. It evinces their faith in principles and in the intelligence of posterity. It would be pre- sumption in me to assume to point out its defects and suggest remedies, except as they may appear from the discussion of principles.
Governments can neither create nor destroy rights. Rights are founded in Nature ; they existed prior to government and cannot be legislated away. They are incorporated into the human organism, are inseparable from its organic hfe, and therefore are inalienable. The individual may forego the exercise of his rights; but a right cannot be alienated, delegated, nor destroyed, save by the alienation, delegation, or destruction of the character out of which the right grows.
The doctrine, enunciated in legal ethics, that individuals on ente*ing soci- ety are bound to give up certain natural rights, is not true. On the contrary, human nature is social. Hence society is an essential natural right of the individual. Isolation is death. The natural rights of individuals are, there- fore, neither increased nor diminished by society, nor can their absolute and relative rights antagonize each other. This being true, the whole idea of government based upon the surrender of the natural rights of its individual members is false : it is monarchical, not democratic.
The province of government and its necessity are identical : that is, the protection of individuals in the exercise of their natural rights, in order that they may the better accomplish the object of life — self-development. It is not to secure the greatest good of the greatest number that governments are or should be organized, but the, greatest good of each individual,, and the supreme interest of each individual is the supreme interest of the collective State. This is democracy.
In civil government, a concentration of the rights and individualities of a people in one person is a monarchy ; but, as in true marriage there is indi- viduality and equality, yet unity, so individual rights, equality of conditions, and a unity of intelligent individualities form the perfect State. The rule of the majority, or (as if is popularly called) "the people's will," is in principle, and often in practice, as despotic as is the rule of the single despot. When it invades the realm of individual right, it is at best a democratized des- potism.
The despotism of the majority was foreseen by the foimders of the Repub- /ic. Mr. Hamilton, in the Federalist, No. 51, says: "It is of great impor- tance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever ha? been and ever will be pursued until it is obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society under the forms of which the stronger fac-
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tions can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly he said to reic;n as in a state of nature, wiiere the weaker individual is not secured apainst tiic violence of the stronger."
Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to James Madison written on the 15th of March, 1789, says: "The executive power in our government is not the only, perhaps not even the principal, object of my solicitude. The tyranny of the legislature is really the danger most to be feared, and will continue to be so for many years to come. The tyranny of the executive power will come in its turn, but at a more distant period. "
De Tocqueville, writing upon the unlimited power of the majority in America a quarter of a century since, says : " If ever the free institutions of America are destroyed, that event may be attributed to the unlimited authority of the majority, which may at some future time urge the minorities to desperation, and oblige them to have recourse to physical force. Anarchy will then be the result, but it will have been brought about by despotism."
As an illustration of the despotism of the majority in matters of individual right, witness the closing of the Exposition on Sunday. The right of con- science is, in general, acknowledged ; but, says the Christian community, " the majority of this nation are Christians, and the majority rule demands the recognition of the Christian idea of Sunday in our laws and institutions ; hence you must submit. " Thus, by this majority rule, the right of con- science of the minority is entirely ignored. That this nation is a Christian nation, is almost the only argument used by those who are zealously striving to place the Christian's God in the United States Constitution. This is but another expression of the barbaric motto, " might makes right; " as is every application of the majority rule which ignores the rights of the minority.
In a perfect democracy the rights of the minority and majority are equally sacred. MS. fundamental rights, by the law of compact, the organic law of the State, should be placed beyond legislative control. The right of relig- ious liberty is a fundamental right. A Religious Freedom' Amendment to the United States Constitution, securing religious freedom to all and pro- hibiting both national and local governments from extending religious priv- ileges either to individuals or sects, is therefore demanded by the principles of democracy.
"But are not all rehgions tolerated in this country.?" Who "tolerates" them? Rehgious "toleration" is not democratic; the very expression impHes a power whose right it is to decide upon religious matters. Relig- ious liberty, not religious "toleration," is the right of each individual. Behef is not a matter of choice, but of organization and education ; hence there is no hberty of conscience, no rehgious freedom, until the right to be religious or non-religious is secured by the organic law. Such a recognition of the rights of conscience in our National Constitution would not only secure to the individual immunity from legal persecutions, but it would render public opinion powerless to inflict penalties in social life against unbelievers in the religion of the majority which are quite as reprehensible as physical torture.
If a reli.gious freedom amendment were engrafted upon the United States Constitution, securing to each and all the individual right of opinion in matters of religion, and prohibiting the legislative power from making any law favoring any particular form of religion, the government under the ma- jority might still, without an established church, without favoring any par- ticular form of religion, indirectly violate the right of conscience of the non-religious citizens by granting special privileges to all churches and all forms of religion — as by the exemption of church property from taxation, special laws for the observance of special days, rehgious tests as qualifica- tions for office, or for giving testimony in court, and religious servicee either
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in governmental, educational or charitable institutions at the public expense. It is easy for the liberal thinkers to see that all religions should be equally protected by the government and favors granted to no special form of re- ligion, but the right of him who believes in no God and no religion is as thoroughly founded in nature as is the right of the religionist. The Relig- ious Freedom Amendment should be therefore so framed as to protect the individual in his right to be non-religious. In a democracy, rights belong to all, — privileges to none. Principle, history, and expediency unite in de- manding that the United States Government shall know nothing of religion, but only citizenship and natural morality. It is to secure this end that this Congress of Liberals has been convened.
Sovereign authority, whether it be that of a king, a pope, a creed, a Divine revelation too sacred to be questioned, or the superstitious traditions of ages, is inimical to republicanism; hence the education of the masses out of religious superstidon is an absolute necessity for the perpetuation of this RepubHc. This is the important work of the liberals of this country. Individual sovereignty of reason and judgment, which constantly change by the study of science and an increase of light and knowledge, is the only sovereignty consistent with a democracy. Christianity is therefore averse to republicanism. I use the term Christianity with no reference to Christ or his teachings, but as the name of a special religion, — the religion of this age and people. Were I to say that Mohammedanism was averse to free in- stitutions, the Christian would honor my judgment ; for he can see that im- plicit faith in and obedience to the Koran, as an unquestionable revelation of Deity, must of necessity circumscribe thought and action and render the individual unfitted for self-government.
" Religion, as a soul^motion, is universal," and is the grand motive power of humanity. Eveiy people (as also every individual legislator, if true to himself) will unwittingly incorporate its conceptions of the relation of hu- manity to the unknown, and tlie consequent relation of individuals each to the other, into its laws. Thus a people who believe in a personal God whose rule is absolute, arbitrary and despotic, unable to conceive of Deity except through personality, must recognize some person, either Pope or monarch, as his'vice-gerent, with a Divine commission to rule over all; while a nation recognizing the universality of God, as found in each and all humanity, will naturally have faith in human nature and the individual right and ability of self-government, — hence be a democracy.
But religion as a sect is ever authoritative and therefore monarchical. It is in this way that I speak of Christianity. It is authoritative, it demands implicit obedience to a revelation written by man ; and, when the individual asserts his right of judgment and asks, "What says God in that book of human, animal, vegetable, or mineral organization written prior to all Bibles, Korans, Tripitakas, and Rig-Vedas?" it excommumcates him. Its funda- mental doctrine is not that of justice, but of an arbitrary, angry God, demand- ing the sacrifice of the innocent to save the guilty, and is productive of its kind in humanity, rendering individuals not Just, but subtle, hypocritical, and tyrannical. It teaches the Divine right of masculine sovereignty and the duty of feminine submission, until men verily believe themselves born legislators, and women born subjects, and is therefore productive of caste, which is fatal to democracy. It pronounces a curse upon labor, encourages indigence, and teaches the doctrine, unjust and destructive to republicanism, that some are born to labor and others to reap the fruits of their labor. No individual is capable of studjnng governmental questions or any of the great problems of life, while he groans under the weight of poverty or is totally employed in physical toil ; hence any system that creates poverty on the one
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hand, and an aristocracy of wcaltli on the other, destroying the dignity of labor and ennobling idleness, is averse to democracy.
In a democracy, every individual citizen should be a statesman; but Christianity stifles reason and fosters ignorance, the most deadly enemy of liberty. The strength of a monarchy consists in its centralized force ; that of a democracy in its intelligent devotion to an idea. Hence a corrupt mon- archy may endure, but absolute purity of morals and integrity of character arc indispensable requisites of a democracy. "Call a man a thief and he will pick a pocket," is an old adage; or, in the language of Theodore Parker, "Convince him that he is the noblest creation of the great God, and that his beauty shames the flowers at his feet and outblazons the stars of Heaven, and he begins to aspire to have a history, to be a man, and this aspiration corresponds to the great nature within him." Teach a child that he is totally depraved, and that "of himself he can do no good thing," and what can you expect of him as a citizen or a statesman ? Think not that his life will falsify your teachings ! You have taught him dependence upon an external power, destroyed his faith in himself, and therefore destroyed self-respect, a con- sciousness of ability and a consequent right of self-government. By this destruction of faith in human nature, you have deprived him of coniidence in his fellow-man — the unifying power of a democracy. The doctrines of total dcpravitv, and of salvation through the merits of another, are neces- sarily destructive of independence and dignity of character. The political corruption of our time is the natural product of this substitution of "Chris- tian " for natural morality. It is for these reasons that I arraign Christian- ity, the practical religion of this nation, as averse to free institutions, and call upon the liberty-loving citizens of America to see to it that it no longer forms an clement of our educational institutions.
No greater calamity can befall a democracy than that of the people losing confidence in each other and in their ability of self-government. The present political, ecciomical, industrial, social, and financial condition of our country at once engenders lack of confidence and is its result. It is a severe test of the faith of the individual members of this government in the principles of democracy. This result of one hundred years experiment of self-govern- ment is also well noted by the monarchs of the Old World, who still regard the American republic as an experiment, not an established fact.
The emancipation of the slave and the recognition of his right of self- government were no evidence of our faith in democracy, but rather a war necessity — the only available means of self-preservation of the nation; nor does the result justify the principle of self-government. This, however, is the natural consequence of unintelligent and uneducated suffrage.
As a nation we have too little faith in the principles of democracy. We have not yet settled the question : " Is it safe to trust woman with the rights God gave her? Will she not be an instrument in the hands of the priest or clergy to place the Christian's God in the United States Constitution ? " And here, while professing faith in the eternal principles of self-government, we wait. It was the fear of clerical rule through woman's vote that brought forth the recent speech of John Bright upon this question, and defeated the suffrage bill in the British Parliament. True, woman more than man is wedded to the Church. This is the natural result of that system of education which develops the emotions at the expense of reason, and creates a morbid de- mand for sympathy rather than intellectual companionship. In matters of public interest, her habit of thought and life has been hitherto not indepen- dence of character, but dependence upon and submission to authority. Possessed of a strong devotional nature, thus morbidly increased by educa- tion, deference to the judgment of the clergy or her Father Confessor in the exercise of her first political duties would not be unnatural. But think
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not that the educated womanhood of the nineteenth century is inappreciative of the spirit of the age, and, once enfranchised, would be untrue to the principles of democracy. Indeed the very teaching of the Church, that for herself she must stand or fall, would cause woman, when once she felt the responsibiHty of political duty, to use the ballot more sacredly and indepen- dently than man. " What will woman do with the ballot?" The question what any citizen would do with the ballot, if enfranchised, is itself a confes- sion of lack of faith in the principle of equality of rights and individual self-government. Concede this right of inquiry, and you deny the principle of self-government.
The deprivation of American citizenship of the fundamental right of representation in the councils of the nation, by judicial decision, may well alarm the lover of liberty. Today it is only woman who is deprived of the ballot; and she, from physical weakness and the oneness of her interests in the most sacred relations of life with man, will scarcely involve the nation in civil war. But this decision [Minor vs. Happersatt, U. S. Supreme Court, Feb. Terra, 1874] establishes a dangerous precedent; it strikes at the foundation of the government, and opens the door to a construction of the Federal Constitution which, whenever it is thought convenient or expedient, will deprive the citizen of representation on account of rehgious behef or for any other insurmountable cause. Justice is ever expedient.
There are essentially but two forms of civil government — the one demo- cratic, the other despotic. If the principles of democracy are founded in nature, we need not fear their practical apphcation ; otherwise we must concede the right of despotism.
The question of " the sovereignty of States" in the American Republic has been much and ably discussed by the founders of the Republic and by more recent writers, and well deserves the consideration of the American people. State sovereignty cripples the action and lessens the dignity of the United States government among the nations of the earth. Witness the in- ability of our government in attempting to procure a requisition for the return of the Massachusetts clerical forger to its jurisdiction, or to give any guaranty to England that the State courts would not try him for any other crime than the one with which he was charged. Thus while Massachusetts, as part only of the general government, is unable to treat with any foreign power, her State sovereignty in the Republic prevents the national government from extending to her and its own citizens, resident in Massachusetts, protection of property and life by the punishment of criminals who may to-day find an asylum in England. It is argued that State governments afford protection to individual liberty from the encroachments of the National Government. This argument is a confession that our National Government is not founded upon a democratic basis, for in a democracy protection of the individual cit- izen against the encroachment of government cannot be necessary. The State governments are, however, more despotic than the National Govern- ment, as is evidenced by their arbitrary and unjust control of the most fun- damental of all rights in a free government — the right of suffrage ; and also by their enacting laws upon matters of religion, which the general govern- ment is powerless to enact. But while the State governments give no addi- tional safeguards to individual liberty, they render the burdens of taxation unnecessarily heavy, by supporting a large number of legislators and other governmental officers entirely unnecessary in a unitized democracy. The same general rules of human conduct applicable to the people of one State should be applicable to all ; yet each State has laws entirely inoperative beyond its own hmits, and thus, instead of unity of law, we have a perpet- ual conflict of laws in different localities. The abolition of State govern- ments would not necessarily result in the abolition of the United States
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Senate. That body, which experience lias shown to be so essential to the calm and dignified consideration of important measures, might still In- elected bv the people, as are the State Senators.
The Federal Ciovernnitnt is made up of — ^^7ve, the people of the United States;" it should therefore be '^ the people^' not the States, who by dele- gated action legislate upon international, national^ and local matters: and to them, tiie people, in their sovereign capacity, should all bills be referred for final approval, prior to their promulgation as laws. This practical applica- tion of the Referendum would obviate all the evils attending delegated action or tlie tyranny of the executive power, and avoid any evil result from the natural tendency of democracy to centralization of power. The difficulties that stand in our way as a republic are not founded in the principles of democ- racy, but are rather the unavoidable result of tbe union of despotic and dem- ocratic elements. These elements are intrinsically antagonistic. A republic founded upon monarchical institutions cannot be permanent.
It remains to be seen whether the American people are equal to the task of moulding our present government into a perfect democracy. The work of the Fathers is not yet'conipleted. Liberty still needs her devotees ; she may yet need her martyrs. Well indeed will it be for humanity, if our citi- zens prove themselves competent intelligently to carry on the work, until the people shall be emancipated from civil, political and religious thraldom! Then indeed will these United States become, not merely the "model repub- lic' among the nations of the earth, but A perfect republic — the reali- zation of the prophetic dream of the poet and hope of the philosopher, for which struggling nations have waited long, but died without the sight.
On the conclusion of Mrs. Kilgore's address, the convention adjourned to meet again at eight o'clock, P. M.
FOXJI^TI3: SESSIOIST:
SUNDAY, JULY 2, 1876.
The convention of the National Liberal League was called to order by the President, Francis E. Abbot, at eight o'clock, P. M. The President introduced Mr. James Parton, who read a paper as follows :
CATHEDRALS AND BEER;
OR, THE IMMORALITY OF RELIGIOUS CAPITALS.
It is the happiness of the new world to be admonished by the errors of the old, and of the old world to be warned by those of the new.
Yonder lies Europe, to recreate us by its venerable and picturesque antiq- uity. What should we do when we are tired out, or have the bronchitis or the dyspepsia, or think we are going to have, if there were no Europe to fly to ? For a century and a half, America had no other source of mental nourishment; and, to this hour, in nearly all that relates to the affairs of the mind and the taste, we are a subject race, — colonies, thirty-seven colonies, instead of thirteen. And we shall remain colonial as long as we commit the immorality of refusing to protect by liw the rights of authors and artists, native and foreign, to whom we owe our intellectual life and nurture.
But there is another Europe beyond the sea, — a Europe to warn and terrify us ; a Europe the prey for ages of the soldier and the priest ; a Europe where the few have so much too much, and the many .<!0 much too
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little, that no man can tell which is the more falsely placed in the world, which has the poorest time and chance, the lord of a dozen castles, or the squalid peasant in a hovel upon his estate ; a Europe where masses of prop- erty are annexed indissolubly to outworn usages and obsolete beliefs, a clog upon the march of the human mind; a Europe so unstable in its govermental arrangements that a mere adventurer like Bonaparte, vulgar, ignorant, his- trionic, can sweep away thrones and constitutions, can rage like a maniac among the nations for a dozen years, with a million men behind him; a Europe where a Pompadour can vitiate the public policy of a leading country for nineteen years, and where another woman, in our own -day, misled by priests, can hurl the paper armies of France against the solid legions of Germany, and bring to the verge of ruin the amiable and brilliant nation which does more than any other for good cheer and tasteful decora- tion ; a Europe which contains but one government strong enough to stand an unshackled penny-paper, or a free meeting of working-men ; a Europe where, at this moment, live millions of the most robust and vigorous males are wasting their lives in camps and barracks, — one stout fellow in every ten maintained in the highest physical efficiency by the labors of the other nine, to keep them in order.
To have this Europe, in its history and its actual condition, always before our eyes, as an example to avoid, is, I repeat, the supreme felicity of the United States. How not to be like this Europe, has been from the begin- ning, is now, and will long be, the problem of America.
And equally fortunate is it for Europe to have ever in view an experimen- tal America, a pioneer in regions untrodden, scaring her from erroneous paths by floundering in the mire to which they lead, and luring her into better ways by proving them to be safe.
One error of the old world it has always been the intention of America to avoid. Europe, for fifteen centuries, has obstructed the progress of the human mind, by fastening untaxed property to ideas. Opinions have been endowed ; usages have been endowed. The opinions have been outgrown, the usages have become ridiculous ; but the property remains to give to both an appearance of life.
The first five years of my existence were spent in an ancient Enghsh cathedral city ; and, having revisited it when I came of age, I have had the opportunity of seeing the results of this system. It is one of the most interesting towns in Europe ; an assemblage of all the antiquities. From a lofty place within its walls of flint you may see structures built by the Romans, by the ancient Britons, by the Danes, by the Norman^, by every power which has governed England during the historic period. In the midst of it rises a vast and, I may almost say, sublime cathedral, the beauty and fascination of which no passing traveller or visitor of a week can realize. During four months that I lived in its shadow, years ago, I never could let a day pass without going to have a long and loving look at it. I have visited it at sunrise, at sunset, at noon, at midnight, in rain, in snow, in storm, in the clear brightness of a summer's day, in autumnal fog ; and I never saw it without being moved by its beauty and grandeur.
Connected with this huge church there are about thirty clergymen, four- teen of whom are so liberally compensated that a man who gets one of their places is " made ; " since he enjoys an income of something like a thousand pounds a year, upon which a family can there be handsomely maintained. The other clergymen are also Itberally paid ; and there are a great number of secular persons employed in various capacities, at salaries upon which they subsist. The service is chanted twice every day in the year by an exquisite choir of twent3'-four voices, the pick of all the region, trained from boyhood, and maintained to old age. The annual expense of keeping up
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this magnificent estiblishment was then about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, divided among about eighty persons, — from the dean, with his thousands per annum, to the vergers, who showed the tombs of Henry IV. and the Black Prince in the crypt of the church, at forty pounds a year, and whatever shillings and half-crowns romantic American visitors chose to give them.
The city contained at that time about sixteen thousand inhabitants, all of whom, I suppose, could have found standing room within the walls of this stupendous edifice. Besides the cathedral, there were, if I recollect aright, sixteen parish churches, belonging to the establishment; museums of antiq- uity, all of them. These also were amply sufficient for the accommodation of the whole population, and much more than sufficient to contain that fraction of the people who belonged to the Church of England.. For, observe, be- sides that immense cathedral, with its retinue of dean, vice-dean, prebends, minor canons, preachers, singing-men, singing-boys, sextons, vergers, sur- veyors and others; besides the sixteen parish churches, each with its ben- eficed clergyman, a curate to help him, a clerk to say Amen, a sexton to open the doors, and a woman to dust the cushio?is; besides this complicated, costly, and redundant religious system, which the people were compelled by law to maintain, whether they approved it or not, whether they went to church twice a day or never in all their lives, — besides all this, there existed in the town a complete apparatus of dissent. There was a Methodist Church, a Presbyterian, a Congregational, a hard-shell Baptist, a soft-shell Baptist, a Unitarian, a Roman Catholic, and another which passed by the name of the " Ranters. "
Sixteen thousand inhabitants, remember !
Let us not forget, also, that the money expended in maintaining religion comes out of the most sacred part of the scanty earnings of man, — that precious little surplus which is left after the necessaries of life are paid for ; two or three cents a day per individual, in the most prosperous communities, — that blessed fund which alone can be used to cheer, to decorate, civilize, exalt, and advance mankind. It never can be large in amount. Three cents, even in this thriving state, in thriving times, is supposed to be about all that remains to each persons at the close of the day, when he has paid for his three meals, his clothes, his bed, his doctor, and his undertaker.
I say at home, and so say we all, " Let us wear out old clothes, let us eat up all our cold meat and stale bread ; for the less we consume of such trash as meat, bread, coal and cloth, the more we shall have left for things of real importance, such as flowers, pictures, music, rides, gifts, books, Christmas, and hospitality. We may truly say that the happiness, the dignity, and the beauty of our lives depend upon the use we make of our surplus, — that sixpence which Mr. Micawber ought to have had left out of his twenty pounds a year ; that sixpence which the father of Ginx's baby spent every Sunday afternoon for beer. If he had saved his sixpences for five years, they would have transported him and his numerous family to the fertile plains west of the Mississippi. To him, as to every one of us, to cities, communities, and nations also, that superfluous sixpence (of money, time and force) is our opportunity and our fate. Use it wisely, and our lives are free, high, and safe. Use it foolishly, and we pass our lives in bondage, as most of us do.
And now, what does all that huge church expenditure, that mountain of untaxed property, in the ancient cathedral town, do for the people of the place ? And do not forget either that exemption from taxation is the secret of its accumulation. That vast estate, wliich has been increasing for ten centuries, would never have been gathered if it had contributed its portion every year to the expenses of the kingdom ; and under tlie wearing, cor-
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recting influence of a just taxation, it would at once begin to shrink. But what does it do for the people ?
According to the theory, the inhabitants of that ancient city ought to be, not merely the most moral, but the most exquisitely spiritualized population in the whole Protestant world. For there ecclesiastical religion comes to a focus. There has been a concentration of the most expensive religious influence upon this lovely valley ever since St. Augustine preached there, as archbislipp of Canterbury, in the year 596. Since then, one hundred and three archbishops have expended themselves, more or less, upon the spot, receiving for their valuable services large revenues ; at present more than the salary of the President of the United States.
When I was there, the afchbishop was named John Bird Sumner ; and I only learned the other day, from the Athenceum^ how that dignity came to be appointed. King George IV. had a mistress, called Lady Conyng- ham, of whom you may have read in the " Greville Memoirs, " lately pub- lished. This " lady, " as she was called, had a son, of whom John Bird Sumner was the tutor ; and she pushed her son's tutor on from one prefer- ment to another, until he became Archbishop of Canterbury, and his brother bishop of another diocese. So, one result of this largest item of expense was to reward the protege of a king's mistress, and to notify the people and clergy of England that the word of such a woman was more influential in the bestowal of the highest dignities of the church even than editing a Greek play or writing a treatise on the Evidences.
The archbishop, however, did not trouble the people much. He did not so much as come on Quarter-day to receive his salary ; and only appeared about once in three or four years to perform the rite of confirmation. He let the children accumulate Until there was a good batch. That ancient palace where, I suppose. Saint Thomas-a-Becket and Cranmer lived, is now a ruin, in one corner of which there was then a tin-shop.
But now as to the moral and spiritual effect of this stupendous and costly apparatus of religion upon the inhabitants.
A few days after my arrival in this venerable city, I saw placarded upon the walls the announcement of a public meeting tlmt promised to be of the highest interest. The object was to promote secular education in Ireland, under the direction of the national church — an object in which, we should suppose, the people of the chief ecclesiastical town of Great Britain would take an interest. An ex-cabinet minister was to attend. The mayor was to preside. One of the county members of Parliament was to speak, and his fellow-member, 1 think, was to be present. The society was under the patronage of Lady Conyngham's protege, the archbishop; and, in short, there was everything in the announcerrtent calculated to excite interest in the minds of intelligent and public-spirited citizens. Imagine such a meet- ing announced in "Boston, nay, in the smallest town of New England. Where could you get a tent large enough to hold the people who would de- sire to attend ? Special trains would be run. Special policemen would have to be detailed to moderate the fury of the rush.
Happy in this unexpected opportunity to see and hear something of the public men of England, interested also in the object, I went to the hall twenty minutes, perhaps, before the time appointed for the meeting. I was the first to arrive. At the appointed hour the number of persons present was seven. A few more straggled in; and when the meeting began there were nearly as many persons seated on the benches as there were on the platfomi — per- haps forty in all. I have seldom been more astonished or more puzzled. I thought there must be some mistake, that something had happened, and that the meetiag of course would be postponed. On the contraiy, this state of things appeared to be accepted as natural and usual. The speeches were
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delivered as announced ; the programme was fully carried out ; and a more interestingoccasionof the kind could hardly be imagined. About ten o'clock I left the hall with a mixed feclintj of delight at what I had heard, and sorrow tliat so few had heard it. These feelings were so strong, that the next day 1 wrote an account of the meeting for one of the papers, and, with the modesty of twenty years, berated the people of the place for not attending.
Upon leaving the hall at the close of the exercises, I had to make my way througli several of those crooked narrow streets common toalltlie old walled towns of Europe, and at every stop I could see the glare and hear the hum and roar and clink of the tap-room. It seemed to be the custom of the place for the men to spend every evening at a tavern, and you could not, after nine o'clock, anywhere in that town, get beyond the noise of the tap-room rev- elry,— the comic song, the chorus, the pounding of the table, the loud laughter, the babel of beery talk, —and you could occasionally peep through the shut- ters, and see a crowd of revellers seated at tables, in a cloud of tobacco smoke, with long clay pipes in their mouths, and pewter pots of beer before them. The melodious voices of those cathedral singing-men were in request for these evening revels. The best comic singing I ever heard in my life I heard afterwards at some of the numberless festive clubs of that ancient city. It formed an important part of the income of those men to sing at clubs and free-and-easys, their regular charge for such service being five shillings an evening.
Never did I see such a beery place. It was a common thing there for re- spectable men, fathers of families, in good circumstances, to belong to six different. evening clubs, and even seven, each meeting once a week, so that they might never have to undergo the calamity of spending an evening at home. Nothing had conspicuously succeeded in that town but beer I Its true aichbishop, the fountain of what spiritual life it had, was the head brewer ; for it was the system there for the brewers to own the beer-houses, and rent them to men bound to take the owner's beer. Judging by the con- duct of the people, it was his property which should have been favored by the tax-gatherers. The beer-houses, well frequented during the day, were crowded every night of the year ; while that vast and splendid cathedral, on week days, presented such a scene as that which called forth from Dean Swift his well-known " Dearly beloved Roger, the Scripture moveth you and me." Seldom were there as many auditors as performers, for it required about thirty-live persons in all to perform the service.
One-third of the inhabitants of the city, it was computed by dissenting clergymen, had never been inside the building, — regarding it with utter in- difference or with disapproval or contempt, as an imposition, or a relic of popery. Its magnificence, its vastness, the splendors of the interior, the grandeur of the exterior, had no more effect upon the mass of the people who saw it every day than Niagara has upon the clerks of the Cataract House, or the Alps upon the Swiss who hurry away to Paris to be hired as footmen.
There was, as it chanced, one religious establishment then in the city which answered the end of its existence, exerting upon a crowded auditory a spiritualizing and moralizing power. A dissenting minister having offended his rich patrons by preaching too well, got together all his money, eight hundred pounds, and bought an old hall which had been for some time unoccupied. He and his wife, with some little assistance, made it pre- sentable and opened it, entirely on their own account, as a private business, letting the pews, taking up a collection, paying their taxes like honest and independent citizens, and subsisting frugally upon what was left. He was one of the most eloquent men I ever heard speak; and in any place less churched and less debauched than a cathedral city he would have had a
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splendid career. As it was, he attracted an overflowing congregation, and exerted constantly that kind of influence which will in time discontinue the cathedral, suppress the archbishop, and shut up the tap-room.
I afterwards visited seven other cathedral towns, and observed in them all the same redundancy of beer, and a similar crowd of fifty or sixty cler- gymen living in almost total idleness upon the labors of their fellow-citi- zens. You may read much about them in Anthony Trollope's nov^s, par- ticularly the one called " Barchester Towers." Those clergymen are not bad people. They find themselves in the possession of safety and abun- dance with little effort or merit of their own, and they have inherited a the- ory of religion and politics which justifies the situation.
People attribute the dissoluteness of cathedral towns to the presence of so many singers and musicians ; but, in truth, it is the fundamental immorality of the state of things which vitiates all the life of those towns. The money which should educate, cheer, and elevate the people is squandered upon maintaining in elegant ease fifty or sixty families, most of whom render absolutely no service at all to the people whose labor supports them. Many of them are only required to preach four sermons a year ; and those they can bey, in manuscript, of any shade of doctrine desired, at the very small charge of one shilling each.
It is strange what an intimate connection there is between bishops and brewers, and how naturally the cathedral runs to drink. The fact has lately been ascertained that the largest owners of gin-shops and beer-houses in London are its two cathedrals. Saint Paul's and Westminster Abbey. The Bishop of London, it is said, in riding from his abode in St. James' Square to his official palace at Fulham, passes more than a hundred gin-shops built upon land belonging to the Church. A writer in the Examiner said the other day, "Some years ago, after residing three or four months in Scotland, I had occasion to visit several cathedral towns, Norwich, Peterborough, and others. In the north I hardly found a person who could not read and write. In the cathedral towns, I found very few who could. "
Of course not. You can't have your cake, and eat it too. If you spend vour superfluous revenue on cathedrals and beer, and exempt from taxation the richest corporations in your town, you cannot find money to educate the people. As a race, we are and must always be poor. We are almost as poor as the father of Ginx's baby, aforesaid, who had but sixpence a week for a lever to pry himself and his twelve children out of the quagmire.
Every religious capital is a small Rome; although it is only at Rome that the system of exemption has had its perfect development, and where, in con- sequence, human nature remains at the lowest point of degradation known in Christendom. What an amazing imposture is Rome ! It dwarfs aU other spoliation known among men, for it is continuous and systematic. A horde of priests living luxuriously upon the wages of servant girls and laborers ! No emperor has ever been lodged as the pope is lodged. AU the royal pal- aces of Europe would not make the Vatican. We have all read lately in Macaulay's letters, as you have read before in those of Professor C. E. Nor- ton and others, what blessings the priests conferred on the people of Rome for all they got from them and from the rest of the world.
" Corruption," says Macaulay, " infects all the public ofiices. Old women above, liars and cheats below, that is the papa) administration. The states of the Pope are, I suppose, the worst governed in the civihzed world."
And it was not merely that the money drawn from the people was wasted, but much of the best brain was also wasted. The Church, as Macaulay re- marked, before the recent happy change in Italian affairs, was filled with men who were led into it from a mere desire to rise in the world. " Men who would have been useful and honest as laymen are hypocritical and im-
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moral as churchmen." And we need not go as far as Rome to see how the system works of luring able men into the Church through the attraction of an easy income.
I spent a summer, a few years ago, on the shores of Missisquoi Bay, the most northern bay of Lake Champlain, in the last town of Vermont before you come to Canada, and within three miles of the Canada line. We were in and out of Canada almost every day ; and, during the whole summer, I was trying to arrive at some rational explanation of the difference between that northern region of Vermont and the Canadian towns separated from it only by an imaginary line and an occasional iron post.
In the Vermont village nearest the border, there was a planing-mill, a fur- niture-manufactory, a creditable depot, a nicely-kept village green with a handsome soldiers' monument upon it, several important business firms, commodius school-houses, and a general appearance of enterprise, intelli- gence, and prosperity. The visitor said to himself, " These brave Vermont- crs are victorious over the adverse circumstances of their lot, — their seven or eight months' winter, their not too productive soil, their short ^ summers, and their remote situation." People pack hay in that remote county for the New York market three hundred miles off. They send cranberries to Bos- ton, cheese to Europe. Not far off, they make their heavy potatoes into light starch, which, as I was told, was in request at Calcutta and Hongkong. A few miles away was the town where five hundred men were employed in making Fairbanks' scales, a very bulky product, which, nevertheless, was sent all over the country, when they had to be carried sixty miles by wagon to the nearest lake port. The greatest butter market of the world is at St. Albans, about fifteen miles from the Canada line. Two million dollars' worth of butter is sold there every year. And, in spite of all this varied industry, those northern towns have been able to spare many a tall fellow for the army when the unity of their country was menaced.
Now cross the Canada line, and tie your horse to a post, if you can find one, in the first village you come to. Not a factory; not a store where you can be sure of finding a paper of pins or a piece of tape ; the assessed value of the entire place, thirty thousand dollars. All that summer, from the middle of June to the middle of August, there was a procession on the high-road, from Canada into Vermont, of the most forlorn and dilapidated French Canadians, coming into New England for the harvest work. They came in cow-carts, and every kind of antiquated and battered vehicle. Some- times a family party would go by, the old man or woman riding on a car, drawn by a cow or a wretched semblance of a horse, and the rest of the family trudging along on foot, a spectacle of the fag end of human nature. These people considered themselves fortunate if, at the end of the summer, they had forty or fifty dollars to carry back with them to live on during the long Canadian winter.
Now, why was this? Take a ride up into the French part of Canada, lin- gering a few days at Montreal and Quebec. The country, the cars, the ferry-boats, swarm with round and jovial priests, maintained upon those estates which have descended to them from a remote generation, a large part of which was until within a very few years exempt from all the public burdens. The church, in fact, until recently, claimed to own the city of Montreal, and still possesses enough property there to give the church an exaggerated and pernicious development. Those serene and comfortable priests are, many of them, the natural leaders of the people. On the Ver- mont side, they would be running factories, inventing improvemenis, teach- ing high schools, editing newspapers, directing railroads ; captains of industry providing the people with work, and making a market at home for a harvest which would employ all the laboring men of Canada.
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French Canada lures many of its best minds into the church, and burie them alive in convents and cathedrals. Vermont sets them at work serving the people. And, as you know, the advance of a community depends abso- lutely upon the use it makes of its superior minds. In Canada, Italy, Spain, southern Germany, Mexico, Peru, the poHcy of exemption and privilege has given to the church such excessive proportions, that the human mind has no chance at all. As with the policy of entail and primogeniture in England, the very tendency to accumulation, which needs to be held in some restraint, is stimulated. Entail and primogeniture in England, by which property is exempted from the natural waste of dissolute heirs, by which the natural flow of property is obstructed by law, has assigned the great body of British land to a few hundred individuals, and has given to an obsolete aristocracy an injurious prolongation of life.
In this new world, therefore, let all property, as well as all men, stand equal before the law. Let the State recognize no character in lawful property, but protect all equally, and tax all equally. Let us not clog the wheels of prog- ress with exempt estates. Let the march of opinion, always slow and diffi- cult, be not hindered here by dead weight.
Christianity was three centuries in gaining a foot-hold in the Roman em- pire, chiefly because there was so much property invested in the old Pagan- ism. "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." When the younger Pliny writes to Trajan about the efforts he had made to put down the new rehgion in his province, he tells the emperor that, as a result of his exertions, the aban- doned temples were beginning to be frequented once more, and, says he, " there is also a general demand for victims for sacrifice, which till lately found very few purchasers."
The subsistence question underlies of necessity all human arrangements, and when you disturb people in their living you encounter a desperate oppo- sition. Nothing has more hindered the development of man than the alH- ance between property and opinions. America has produced few wiser or purer public men than James Madison, and he has left on record his dehber- ate opinion, that if the Church of England had been established in the northern colonies, as it was in Virginia, America would have submitted to the exactions of the mother country, and remained dependent.
It has been the happiness of America hitherto that thought has been less hampered in this way than in the old countries. But we seem not the less eager to put shackles upon posterity. Many of us distrust posterity's will- ingness to take care of the orphan, assist the widow, and educate the young, and we feel it a duty to help posterity do these things. This endoAvment question is not yet ripe even for consideration in the new world ; and when a rich man dies and presumes to say in his will what after generations shall do with his millions and his acres, we all rejoice as though a benevolent and high action had been performed.
This we do who see the old world groaning under ill-judged endowments, and who even suffer ourselves from the attempts of dead men to impose their opinions and preferences upon us. For my part, I feel a sense of relief when a Stewart or a Cushman dies and leaves nothing to the pubUc ; and I do not doubt that when the Girards, the Peabodys, and the Edwin Forrests have locked up another thousand millions or so of property, under the managements of boards, we shall awake to the absurdity of permitting such men to govern us from their graves, and to dispose of revenues all earned by the living. Before the world is fifty years older, the power of public bequest will probably, in some just and safe way, be Umited, and the existing generation will expend its earnings and do its benevolence directly and not in the roundabout way of trustees aud endowments. Meanwhile we can at the least apply the slow but ceaseless corrective of equal taxation
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exempting no man, no institution, no edifice, no acre. Nothing has the true ' life in it unless it pays its ^vay, or, like a boy or a colt, /> to pay its way soon. You educate your theolos^ical students for nothing, and what is the result? Rev. Dr. John Hall, of New York, answered the question the other day. The standard of ministerial power and worth is so lowered that the churches cannot endure it. Thousands of pulpits empty, and thousands of clergymen unemployed. The people cannot endure the product of their own privileged and exempt institutions.
The press of this country has been deeply injured by the government car- rying newspapers at less than cost, and some local newspapers for nothing. Make every periodical pay full postage in advance, and you will do more than anj'thing else to give tone and vigor to the American press. You would then be in accord with nature's self, all whose arrangements tend to strengthen the strong and kill the weak. A thousand periodicals would perish in a year, and the rest would be the stronger and the better for it; for to make a good paper two things are indispensable, — a good editor and a great income.
Cemeteries should be exempt, they tell us. When I see the ill-kept and disused grave-yards which disfigure so many country towns, when I read of ' such scenes as took place last winter in Montreal, and observe the inclination of one important denomination to have exclusive cemeteries as a source of revenue, maintained by appeals to the lowest superstition, and when I reflect also upon the weighty arguments of the cremationi&ts, I am inclined to think ; that, of all the forms of property, burial places have the least claim to be < exempt. There is only one thing sacred: it is the welfare of the living.
I spent some pleasant hours lately in the grounds and buildings of Har- . vard University, an institution which, young as it is, begins to have something . of that antique and peaceful beauty which makes the English city of Oxford the j loveliest spot on the face of the earth. Harvard, as far as a stranger can judge, ■ is an institution full of noblest promise, and I do not wonder that the gener- ,' ous people of Massachusetts cherish it with so much pride. It is an honor r to the State, to the country, and to mankind. Nevertheless, I believe that, . just so far as it is stimulated, protected, exempted, privileged, it is weakened, , I cannot think it good to lure by low prices of tuition poor young men into .. college, who ought to be at work lightening, instead of increasing, their : parents' burdens, and, at the same time, underpay the professors who teach : them. I cannot help thinking that the college would be strengthened by its '. sharing the common lot, charging for tuition what it costs, and bearing its : share of the general burden. Tax all the colleges of this country, and the • gradual effect would be to destroy the weak and strengthen the strong. Tax all the churches of New England, and the effect woirid be to compel weak* churches to combine, and to be strong in unity.
Europe, I repeat, has been, and is, the prey of the soldier and the priest. Here, as we fondly hope, we limit the soldier by the federal system, which gives us thirty-seven States without a custom-house or a fort between them, i dependent and independent, sovereign and subject, weak to commit injury, i strong to repel it, indissoluble ties binding the farthest settlement in Oregon to the most remote timber camp in Maine. This is our main dependence ( against excessive soldiery.
To guard against an exaggerated and unspiritual church, a torpid college . system, and huge estates locked up and perverted by the authority of dead men's wills, our best chance appears to be to adopt it as a fundamental principle, i that the State shall know no character in property, but tax equally everything • which it protects, without one exception of any kind. It required many, ages of heroic effort to get the principle recognized, even in theory, in the r most advanced countries, that all men shall be equal before the law ; and even now who can say that in any community the fact is in accordance with
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the theory ? We must not be surprised, therefore, to find opposition, general and strong, to a kindred principle scarcely less necessary.
Just and equal taxation resembles the slow and safe operations of nature, which wear away obstructions, and change the aspects of continents so gradually that the process can scarcely be discerned, and cannot be recorded. The ocean will one day flow over New England again, but no one need fear getting wet. There will be no sudden eruption or revolution, because there is in nature no such thing as exemption, every atom in the universe being equally subject both to the local and the general tax.
It is not wealth that corrupts : wealth is a boon and a blessing ; and let men earn as much as they may, man must forever remain poor. It is bad distribution of wealth that corrupts. There is a tendency in property to get into heaps, which laws in every age and land have aggravated. Here, for the first time in human history, let the law leave it equally free to get into heaps, and to scatter itself abroad. No privilege, no entail, no exemption. All men and all property equal before the law.
The President directed a contribution to be taken up, and then introduced Mr. B. F. Underwood, who read a paper as follows :
THE PRACTICAL SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
To some it may seem superfluous, in this country, and at this day, to make a plea for the separation of Church and State. There are persons ready to declare that with us there is no connection between the two, that nobody 'wants them united, that everybody believes in and exercises religious liberty in this country, and that there is no use and no reason in agitating this sub- ject, especially at a time when we should aU join in viewing the results and celebrating the triumphs of our hundred years of national existence. Loud professions and boastful claims never fail to impress the crowd. The major- ity of men assume that what they have always heard must be true. Loud- ness of assertion is taken for argument, and extravagance of statement for evidence. The fact that millions of human beings were held in slavery under our flag a few years, ago, never modified the claims of the ordinary Fourth of July orator, nor did it abate in the least the enthusiasm of the average audience, whenever reference was made to this country as the exclu- sive abode of the goddess of Liberty, — as the "land of the free and the home of the brave." No%v the inconsistency is seen and acknowledged by those, even, who a few years ago were ready to cry "fanatic," "freedom shrieker," " traitor," whenever any one hinted at the inconsistency between profession and performance, pretension and practice, in this American Repub- lic. The time will come, when it will be seen, not less clearly, that the pop- ular notion that there is an utter disconnection between Church and State in America, and that all our laws are in harmony therewith, is a notion which is at variance with the real facts. Nor is there a universal recognition of the right of all persons to avow and advocate their religious beliefs. There is in this country a class by no means inconsiderable in numbers or insig- , nificant in influence that show by their acts, and a certain party among them ; by the frank avowal of their purposes, that they are opposed to equal rights and impartial religious liberty. Nothing will satisfy them but the incorpora- tion of their own rehgious dogmas into the National Constitution, so as to make them a part of the organic law. Then, while we should not be insensi- ble to the great achievements of a century, while indeed, we should feel gratified with the numerous evidences of progress, and among them the undoubted increase in liberality of sentiment, yet patriotism does not require, nor will a reasonable prudence and forethought permit us, to ignore the existence of evils which have descended to us, or those which have sprung .
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up and assumed prominence in our own time, and, if not checked, may be a source of mischief in the future.
Here, as in other countries, there is a large class in whose education the principles of morality have been subordinated to the dogmas of theology, and whose devotion to their religion, in consequence, is far stronger than their sense of justice, or their understanding of its requirements in their relations with their fellow men. They are willing, at any time, to support measures that they think will promote the interests of their faith, without regard to the personal or legal rights of those who cannot adopt their views. Many of them lack the breadth of thought and catholicity of spirit to under- stand that there is any wrong in censuring and punishing those who reject their creeds, which they not only firmly believe to be true, l)ut r<;gard as sur- passing in importance all other truths. Hence they would conscientiously, to the extent of tlieir ability, prevent all discussions and suppress all doubts tending to disparage them, and interdict any denial of their truth or divine origin. They would gladly have the government changed to correspond with their religious views, and so administered as to favor and enforce exclusively their religious beliefs.
There are others who are more intellectual, but quite as much under the influence of theological creeds, who are in favor of a union between Church and State, because they see that, from their standpoint, there is a logical necessity for it, to make the government harmonize with the teachings and demands of their religion. Upon the acceptance of their views depend the eternal interests of mankind, as well as that less important concern — the welfare of the State. They, therefore, ask that their religion be sustained by the government and enforced, if necessary, by coercive measures, for reasons compared with which all other j-easons seem petty and insignificant : namely, to save multitudes from eternal torture, and secure for them an-inher- itance of eternal glory. If Christ died for this, can they be true followers of him (they argue) if they allow any mere theories of religious liberty — which are nowhere sustained by the word of God — to prevent their using all means within their power for crushing every error and delusion that stands in the way of the religion of the Cross ? Bigoted and fanatical the men who reason thus may be ; but they are earnest and conscientious, consistent, possess the courage of their opinions, and are really the most dangerous class that we have to contend with in opposing the Christianization of this government.
We have also an army of political demagogues who are ever watching and waiting to spring to the support of any movement, however unjust, which promises them office or influence. The moment they discover a large and increasing pubHc sentiment in favor of a measure, it has for them a special attraction. They are not less zealous in opposing any reform, however beneficent, than the removal of any abuse, however great, if behind it there is not sufficient numerical strength and popular approval to make it for their personal interest to come out in favor of it. Their assumed piety and rev- erence are so great that it pains them to hear of any movement which threat- ens to disturb the institutions of the past, or the time-honored customs of their fathers, so long indeed as they are sustained by popular ignorance and prejudice; but just as soon as they see a growing sentiment in favor of the movement, their veneration and pious regard for the notions of their ancestors forsake them, and they are profuse with words of approval and admiration. These are men to be ranked among the enemies of all reforms in their incep- tion, and their influence with the masses makes them formidable foes of progress. Morally, they are most despicable men. They exhibit their real character whenever there is a chance, by speculating in Credit Mobilier stock, paying and receiving bribes for office and influence, suppressing inves-
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tigations of their rascally doings, joining whiskey rings and plundering and robbing the nation while the people who heap honors upon them are groan- ing under burdens which, already almost insufferable, must continue to increase while such men represent them.
With such elements as these in the country, and with the lessons of the past before us, the relation of the State to the religious beliefs of the people cannot be a matter of small concern. Although I am of the opinion that there is a very large element in this country in favor of the complete secu- larization of the State, sufficient, if aroused to its importance, to give us, through legislative enactments, all needed guarantees of impartial religious liberty, yet, if there were but twelve individuals in sympathy with the move- ment, it would be none the less the duty of those twelve persons to work for its triumph. Indeed, to the truly wise mind the disposition to labor for it would be even greater — greater in proportion to its need of friends and the amount of work to be accomplished.
"To side with truth is noble when we share her wretched crust. Ere her cause bring fame and profit and 'tis prosperous to be just. Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside. Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified, And the multitude make virtue of the faith they once denied. For humanity sweeps onward ; where to-day the martyr stands. On the morrow crouches Judas with the silver in his hands ; For in front the cross stands ready and the crackhng fagots burn, While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return. To glean the scattered ashes into History's golden urn."
The American Revolution found and left every State, Rhode Island only excepted, so related to the Church that there was a complete inter-depen- dence. This relation was continued by special provision in the new Consti- tutions which were adopted after the Declaration of Independence, in every State, with the exception of New York. Some of the States, among them Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, inserted a clause requiring a statement of religious belief as a condition of office. In 1780, Benjamin Franklin wrote to Richard Price : —
" I am fully of your opinion respecting religious tests ; but though the people of Massachusetts have not in the new Constitution kept quite clear of them, yet, if we consider what that people were one hundred years ago, we must allow they have gone great lengths in liberality of sentiment on religious subjects ; and we may hope for greater degrees of perfection when their Constitution, some years hence, shall be revised."
North and South Carolina and Georgia required all officers of the State to be of the Protestant faith. Since those days, the Constitutions of all the States have been revised, and the connection between Church and State has been made more indirect and greatly lessened. Yet there are several States in which beUef in the existence of a God is required as a condition of office, and in nearly all it is impossible for an atheist to testify in the courts, if he frankly avows his opinions. Only by compromising with his conscience, by equivocating, or by concealing his own views, can he avoid the humiliation of having his testimony excluded. What a premium on dishonesty and hypocricy is thus offered by the State ! But we are not here so much con- cerned with the moral effects as with the great injustice of such a religious test, and its utter incongruity with the principles of equal rights and religious liberty. How can any man who is in favor of such a law look a freethinker in the face, and say that he is in favor of impartial liberty !
Then in every State we have official legislative prayers, which, being acts of devotion, involve a connection between Church and State, as must any
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official act of any department of the government which enforces, favors, or aids any religious doctrine or duty. The direction or performance by the State of religious worship is a combined clerical and political service. When our political representatives convert the legislative halls into rooms for relig- ious worship, and transform the legislative bodies into prayer meetings, such association of political and religious acts is an actual union of Church and State.
So the custom of appointing days of fasting, thanksgiving, and prayer, by the State, through its chief magistrate, is another link connecting the two. It is an official declaration of the existence of a God, the duty of fasting, praying and giving thanks to God.
Nearly all the States have laws enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, and not unfrequently individuals are arrested and fined for doing work or indulging in amusements on that day, when their acts in no way dis- turb others. If the State is independent of the Church, what right has it to require the observance of one day as a Sabbath more than another? And how can it punish any man for doing work at any time, when he does not thereby infringe on the rights of other members of society? The judi- cature of the country is disgraced, so long as our courts serve as tribunals for such sectarian purposes.
The use of the Bible and the performance of religious exercises in our public schools, sustained and enforced by State authority and public appro- priations for religious institutions, are utterly inconsistent with that complete separation of Church and State which is so often declared to exist in this country.
The exemption of churches, church property and religious institutions from taxation, thereby forcing indirectly into their support persons who do not believe in their utihty, is an outrage on the rights of all such persons, and a remnant of that religious despotism which once treated mankind as slaves, and robbed its victims, in the name of God, to build costly cathedrals, and enable ecclesiastics to live in luxury and ease.
Our National Constitution, thanks to the wisdom of our fathers, is a purely secular instrument. It declares that Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, and that no religious test shall be required for any office or pubhc trust. In the treaty with Tripoli, which was signed by George Washington, it was declared that the United States Gov- ernment is not founded on the Christian religion. Undoubtedly the feeling of the framers of the Constitution on this subject were well expressed by Franklin, when, in a letter to a friend, he wrote : —
" When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself, and when it cannot support itself, and God does not care to support it, so that its pro- fessors are obliged to call for the help of the civil power, it is a sign, I ap- prehend, of its being a bad one."
But notwithstanding the entirely secular character of the National Consti- tution, from the first there was in the administration of the general govern- ment a yielding to ecclesiastical influence, backed up as it was by a strong religious sentiment. Days of fasting, thanksgiving and prayer were appointed by the early Presidents, as well as by the Governors of States. The first, by Washington, was at the close of his first administration, by the special request of Congress. Jefferson refused to follow the example of his prede- cessors, and thereby incurred the wrath of the clergy and all persons of Puritanical proclivities. " I know," he wrote, " it will give great offence to the clergy ; but the advocate of religious freedom is to expect neither peace nor forgiveness from them." " I consider," he wrote, "the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrine, discipline, or exercises." " Fast-
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ing and prayer are religious exercises ; the enjoying them is an act of relig- ious discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the time for these exercises, and the objects proper to them, according to its own pecuHar tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the Constitution has deposited it. Civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and he has no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents."
This view, so clearly the only correct and just one, has been generally disregarded, and the appointment by the President of the United States of days for religious exercises has become established as a custom. There are persons, now indifferent to its religious character, who justify it on the plea of custom alone. But the repetition of practices unauthorized by, and con- trary to, the Constitution, is no reason for their further continuance. Custom, in legal parlance, signifies a usage from time immemorial neither against law, nor individual nor public right. It is no justification of any wrong that the aggressor has for a long time been accustomed to wrong-doing.
The presence of Chaplains in the halls of legislation, in the army and navy, and in other departments of the general government, is as unconsti- tutional as it is unjust. Congress, having been invested with no ecclesias- tical authority, has no constitutional right to create an ecclesiastical office, or to induct any person into such office created by the Church. The appointment of Chaplains by the Government of the United States is an unauthorized act of political legislation, as little in keeping with the spirit of our Constitution as praying in public places — for instance in Congress — is in accordance with the teachings of the Nazarene reformer.
Not content, however, with these unjust discriminations in favor of believers in the Christian religion, some of them now demand that such changes be made in the Constitution and in the government as shall be necessary to make the main dogmas of this religion part of the organic law. The move- ment, having for its object the accomplishment of this change by Constitu- tional amendments and such legislature as may be necessary to enforce them, has during the past few years acquired considerable strength and influence. It numbers among its friends eminent clergymen, Presidents of Colleges, Governors of States, Members of Congress, and Judges of the Supreme Court. We cannot ignore it.
In all ages and countries, in proportion as the adherents of religion have come to agree in belief and be consolidated in organization, their disposition and power have increased to influence the government to enforce theolog- ical dogmas and impose disabilities on dissenters. Fortunately for us, the number of sects, and the competitive strife between them in this country, have been unfavorable to the encroachment of the Church on the State. Occupied chiefly with increasing their numbers and adding to their wealth, and more or less envious of one another, they have had but little disposition to unite their forces and organize for concerted and concentrated action. But, with the growth of Liberalism and the subordination of many of the doctrinal points which have heretofore distinguished them as separate bodies to those fundamental doctrines which they hold in common, one of the chief obstacles to their union has been removed, and the danger of their interference with the government is thereby greatly increased. The rapid growth of anti-Christian sentiments, with the more bigoted and intolerant of all sects, is the strongest reason for a union, when in the absence of danger to their faith their chief pleasure consists in cursing and anathematizing one another on account of differences so small that they are scarcely per- ceptible to the unregenerate mind. Evangehcal alliances, presenting to us the spectacle of sects heretofore hostile assembled on terms of apparent- friendship for a common purpose, even though they are an evidence of a
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growing liberality of the sects towards one another, are not without por- tentous significance, well calculated to arouse apprehensions in the minds of those who are acquainted with history and are lovers of religious liberty. A religious element that will maintain the rightfulness of forcing all tax- payers to pay taxes which religious societies only should pay, of excluding from the courts the testimony of citizens who differ from it on speculative subjects, of keeping in our schools a religious service that is objectionable to a large and respectable portion of the patrons of these schools, who are taxed equally with others for their support, (^ocs no farther, simply because it lacks the power. If it could, it would force Jews, spiritualists, and free- thinkers of every phase of thought, to attend churches and help pay the salary of the clergy, and prevent all gatherings and prohibit all expressions of belief not in accordance with its own belief, as was done in New Eng- land by the Puritans and their pious and persecuting descendants. What- ever those who are petitioning Congress for an amendment to our Constitution that shall recognize "God as the source of all authority, Jesus Christ as the Ruler among Nations, and the Bible as the supreme authority " may dis- claim now, it is plain that they purpose to make belief in Christianity a test of office and of citizenship, and thereby disfranchise all Jews, Infidels, Buddhists, Mohammedans, and others who cannot accept Christianity as a supernatural religion. The incorporation of their dogmas in the Constitu- tion means the legislative and executive enforcement of them by govern- mental authority. To be consistent, the government willl have to give direc- tions in regard to the worship of God, and see that the citizens make their conduct conform to the revealed wiU of God, which is to be the authority from which no appeal can be made.
The sect that finds itself in the numerical majority will have the power to enforce by acts of Congress its own peculiar dogmas as the supreme law, because these will be declared authoritatively the revealed will of God. Free- thinkers and non-Christians of all classes have no rights the Church will be bound to respect. Says the Methodist Home yournal :
" We hold that, to be consistent with ourselves. Infidelity should not be tolerated in our country, much less encouraged by those who openly profess and teach its doctrines. "
Only a few weeks ago in Baltimore, at the general conference of the Methodist church was offered a resolution declaring that all the blessings of civil and religious liberty which we so abundantly enjoy are due to the en- lightening influence of the Christian religion, and recommending " to the members of the Church throughout the country that they use every just and proper means to place in all the civil offices of our government only such men as are known to possess and maintain a true Christian character and principles. " We have here the expression of the views and wishes of thousands of Orthodox Protestants, many of whom are less frank in the avowal of their ultimate designs.
But there is another consideration that is worthy of our attention. While all the Protestant Evangelical denominations show a tendency to unite for common warfare against every form of belief that stands in their way, to retain aU the advantages that the State now affords them, and to secure by legislation additional aid from the government, tlie Roman Catholic church has been and is rapidly increasing in numbers and influence, and is very perceptibly making itself felt in many of the States of the Union. Between two elements so opposite in their natures and teachings as Romanism and Protestantism, there never can be a union. While they both exist, there must be a conflict. It is not impossible that the eagerness of each to gain an ascendancy and control legislation in its own interests will precipitate a struggle in which the defeated party will be reduced to a condition of humili-
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ation and suffering, in which it may be glad to have the assistance of the class that both would now deprive of all liberty and all rights, if they pos- sessed the power.
We are familiar with the history of the Roman Catholic Church, We know the policy and designs that are now avowed by the leaders.
"Heresy and Infidelity," says Brownsoninhis7?^w>7y(i852), "have not and never had and never can have any rights, being, as they undoubtedly are, contrary to the law of God. "
Bishop O'Connor, of Pittsburg, says : " Religious liberty is merely en- dured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Cath- olic world. "
" Heresy and unbelief, " says the organ of Bishop Kendrick, " are crimes, and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain for instance, where the Catholic religion is the essential law of the land, they are punished as other crimes. "
Father Hecker says that, if the Catholic population shall increase during this century as it has from 1800, " Rome will have a majority and will be bound to take the country and keep it." When we consider that the ratio of the increase of Catholic population exceeds greatly the ratio of the increase of the general population, — that the Catholics in 1776 in a population of 3,000,000 numbered but 30,000, or one hundredth of the whole, and now, in a population of 40,000,000 number probably 8,000,000, or one-fifth of the en- tire population (a rate of increase greater than that of any of the Protestant sects or the general population), — the fulfilment of Father Hecker's pre- diction, if not in 1900, at a little more remote period, seems not absolutely impossible. After a consideration of all that may be said respecting the agencies and influences which will probably check and neutralize the power of Rome in our Republic, it must be confessed that there are grounds for serious apprehension, and the most sagacious among us are those who are the most profoundly impressed with the danger from this source to our free institutions. The very sects which are now clamoring for the Christianiza- tion of our government may be among the first to feel the recoil of their own injustice and intolerance ; for the Catholic Church, in the punishment of her foes, be it remembered, makes no distinction between Protestants and Infidels. And in such a case what protest would the Protestant advo- cates of a union between Church and State be able to offer? The Catholic Church would say : —
" When you were in power, you formed the union between Church and State. Yoii enforced your doctrines, as far as possible, by legislative enact- ments. In the halls of legislation, you sustained Protestant Chaplains. In the public schools, you kept the Protestant Bible. You did your best by the aid of civil power to sustain the Protestant faitli. You imposed disa- biUties upon unbelievers, and compelled them to help support your Protes- tant church. Now it is our turn, and we will see to it that you conform to laws which you yourselves made, henceforth to be interpreted and enforced by us, that this may be not simply in name, but, like Spain and Italy, ifi fact, a Cliristian nation."
Should that unfortunate time ever come, the President of the United States, the Congress of the nation, the governors and legislatures of States, the officers of the army and navy, would be of the Catholic faith ; and, with all the machinery of the government in their hands, they would destroy lib- erty of speech and of the press, stamp out all heresy, and establish eclesias- tical dungeons to be the homes of freemen.
Such a usurpation of power, Protestants are ready to exclaim, would be treason, and we would be justified and called upon by a sense of duty to resist it at all hazards, and by all means within our power. And so
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say we ; but Catholic usurpation is no more treasonable than Protestant usurpation. Any attempt to enforce tlie measures proposed by the so-called National Reform Party would be treason, and would justify a resort to force to prevent such an infamous conspiracy as;ainst the State, asjainst the prin- ciples of free government, against the very frame-work of our political insti- tutions. I say with Mr. Abbot: —
"If Christian bigotry, emulating the spirit of secession, should open fire on a new Fort Sumter, and should succeed with mad fanaticism in destroy- ing the Constitutional guarantees of our religious liberties, it would be met in no other way than the rebels would have been met, in case they had cap- tured Washington, amended the Constitution to suit themselves, and seized upon the whole machinery of the government. Would the North have sub- mitted even in this dire extremity.'' Ought it to have submirtted? No, a thousand times A'o / The nation would have fought as never before to con- quer back its ravished freedom. So should it be now. We must resist these mad attempts at any cost. We can never submit to the murder of lib- erty; we must defend her, — peaceably if we can, — forcibly if we must. We must make the reign of ecclesiastical despotism on this continent im- possible. Rather than see that day dawn upon us, every man who loves freedom and civilization and the integrity of the human soul will shoulder his musket, and march to his death as willingly as he would to a gay and joyous feast. Better that our gutters should run red with blood, and our proud cities be laid more low than poor Chicago in ashes and utter ruin, than that thus the hope of humanity should be quenched in a worse than Tartarean gloom. For there is no sacrifice so extreme, no fate so terrible, that I would not rather meet, than behold this Great Republic snatched like a star from heaven, and the bloody banner of the Cross waving from the dome of the Capitol where now stands, benign and pure, the goddess of Universal Liberty. "
But if those in the country who love justice and liberty better than any mere dogmas of faith will be true to themselves and true to their principles, these calamities may be averted and our Repubhc endure for ages, with its liberties unimpaired and its glory undimmed. To ensure safety, however, we must have a complete separation of Church and State, with such Consti- tutional guarantees as shall, both in the States and in the general govern- ment, make their union henceforth impossible, whatever sect may be in the majority.
Let us not forget the lessons which Europe has given us. In Scotland the Catholics persecuted the Protestants. The Prelatists, being next in the ascendancy, hunted the Presbyterians as though they were dogs. Then the Presbyterians, coming into power, avenged themselves on the Prelatists. Under James the Second the Prelatists were again triumphant, and the Presbyterians once more were the victims of religious hate. The ebb and flow of the waves of persecution were much the same in England. No religions sect in Christendom, having the power, has failed to exercise it in persecuting other sects.
And let it be borne in mind that no Christian church has ever had com- plete control of the legislation of a country without destroying its civil and religious liberty. The establishment of Christianity as the State religion of the Roman Empire was followed by the most merciless persecution of Paganism, Judaism, and every form of heresy. The principle that there is no salvation out of the true church, that the true churcli is certain of its orthodoxy, that the salvation of man in the next world is the most impor- tant of all concerns, that it is a rehgious duty to prevent the spread of erroneous doctrines by civil power, — these principles were universally ac- cepted by Christians in the days of Constantine and his successors. St
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Augustine tells us that the sentence of death was incurred by any one who celebrated the rites of the Pagan faith in his time, and that this was univer- sally indorsed and applauded by the whole Christian Church. When, after Paganism was extirpated, any heresy appeared, the Church and State united, exerted all their power to crush it, and with the first movement of intellectual life, vAth the first divergence from the old lines of thought, true to her principles and true to her instincts she exercised all her ingenuity and exerted all her might to arrest it, Mr. Leckey, the learned author of the History of Morals, says :
" But few persons, I think, can follow the history of religious persecution without a feehng of extreme astonishment that some modern writers, not content with maintaining that the doctrines cf exclusive salvation ought not to have produced persecution, have ventured, in defiance of the unanimous testimony of many centuries, to dispute the plain historical fact that it did produce it. "
We need not follow the Church down through the centuries in her career of cruelty and crime. The history of those ages justifies the statement of Alberger : —
" Had Constantine the Great, though frenzied with ambition and crim- soned with guilt, beheld the boundless ocean of gore which was destined to flow from an incorporation of Christianity with the civil power, and to roll its heaving surge over all future time, he would have been more obdu- rate than a fiend, had he not cowled his head in horror at the frightful vision, and dropped in mercy the pen already inked to inaugurate the tremendous catastrophe."
And yet, with the pages of ecclesiastical history open for the perusal of all, there are men so unwise, so foolish, as to wish to give religious dogmas the support of the civil power in this great Republic.
The Orthodox clergy who almost invariably oppose the secularization of the State, and of whom the number publicly advocating the proposed meas- ures of the so-called National Reform party is increasing every year, as they come to understand that it is a movement to increase the power and au- thority of their order, will be dangerous in the future as they have been in the past, exactly in proportion as the State and the Church are conjoined. The clergy of every established church on earth have been the foes of lib- erty and reform, the friends of conservatism and despotism.
In England they continued to defend the reality of witchcraft when it had been abandoned by the educated laymen of the country ; and they continued to advocate persecution for this imaginary crime up to the very time that the laws against it were repealed, in 1736. Indeed it is a fact that the last prominent trial for witchcraft in England was that of a poor woman who was prosecuted by a Hertfordshire clergyman, whose influence with the ignorant jury was so great that it secured her conviction, notwithstanding the judge, disbelieving entirely in witches, charged the jury strongly in favor of the accused. The clergy advocated the persecution of the adhe- rents of other sects from the origin of their church in the lust and ambition of Henry VIII. They imprisoned, branded, scourged, tortured, and mur- dered Presbyterians and Catholics through a long succession of reigns. In Ireland, when the religion of nearly the whole people was proscribed, and when in 1626 the government manifested a slight disposition to remove some of the restrictions, all the Irish Protestant bishops, under the pres- idency of Usher, assembled to protest against such indulgence.
" The religion of the Papists, " they said, "is superstitious, their faith and doctrine erroneous and heretical, and their church in respect to both apos- tatical. To give them, therefore, a toleration and to consent that they may
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freely exercise their religion and profess their faith and doctrine, is a griev- ous sin."
Again: while the English Infidels and many of the dissenters, with pen, voice, and money, were aiding the struggle for American Independence, the clergy of the Establishment were using all their influence against it. Every measure for carrying on the war and for increasing oppression to the col- onies was warmly supported during the entire war by the bench of bishops. "Twenty-four bishops, " wrote Franklin, "with all the lords, in i)ossession or expectation of places, make a dead majority that renders all debating ridiculous. " The slave trade, too, was supported by the bishops long after the non-conformists had declared against it. They defeated Sir Samuel Romilly's bill for the abolition of the penalty of death for shoplifting to the value of five shillings. They, and the clergy of the established church generally, opposed Catholic emancipation, and more recently the disestab- lishment of tlie Irish Church. They have opposed the extension of suf- frage, the removal of disbelievers on account of religious belief, and the abolition of rotten boroughs. Every movement tending to religious freedom and equal rights they have done their best to defeat. Not a refo rm has ever originated among them. As a class, they are aristocratic and selfish, given to gluttony and intemperance, accustomed to flatter those in power, and to lecture the poor on the importance of the virtues of resignation and submission. Supported in luxury and high consideration by their creed, they are ready to oppose everything that does not square with it, although they are known to be like the augurs of Pagan Rome, of whom Cicero says' he did not see how two of them could meet without laughing at each other.
In Scotland the Presbyterian clergy have also been the foes of freedom and the supporters of abuse. " More than all other classes combined, " says Leckey, "they were responsible for persecutions on charges of witch- craft." " The ascendancy they had obtained was boundless, and in this re- spect their power was entirely undisputed. One word from them might have arrested the torture, but that word was never spoken. Their conduct implies not merely a mental aberration, but also a callousness of feeling which has rarely been attained in a long career of vice." "In 1727, the Divines of the Associated Presbytery passed a resolution declaring their behef in witchcraft and expressing deep regret at the scepticism that was common. "
All over Scotland the clergy organized themselves into legislative bodies, and enacted laws in regard to man's most private personal affairs. Under their jurisdiction, private houses were ransacked to see if any member of the house was absent from church, during preaching. Their consent must be received, before a person could engage a field laborer or a servant. For a Scotchman to travel in a Catholic country, for a Scotch inn-keeper to re ceive a Catholic in his house, for a Scotch town to have the market open either Saturday or Monday (because both days were near Sunday ! ), was a sin deserving punishment. To go from one town to another on Sunday, or to make a friendly visit that day, to shave your beard cr water your garden, to take a ride or enjoy a walk in the field, or to sit at your own door to enjoy the cool breeze, was a sin deserving church censures. The Scotch clergy taught it was a sin to give any man food or shelter, even though he were starving, unless he were orthodox in religion ; that, if a father had an unbe- lieving son, it was his duty to slay him rather than permit him to propagate his faith. If a mother held heterodox opinions, they took from her her children. If the clergy had excommunicated a son, the mother must not admit him to her house. We have the records of a case in which the mother, summoned before the Kirk session of Glasgow, was made to prom- ise that she would ever thereafter shut her door against her child and aid in
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bringing him to punishment. " When the Scotch Kirk was at the height of its power, " says Buckle, on whose authority the foregoing facts are given, " we may search history in vain for any institution which can compete with it except the Spanish Inquisition." "The clergy deprived the people of their holidays, their amusement, their games, their sports ; they repressed every appearance of joy ; they forbade all merriment ; they stopped all festivities ; they choked up every avenue by which pleasure could enter, and they spread over the country an universal gloom. Then truly did darkness sit upon the land. Men in their daily actions and in their very looks became troubled, melancholy, and ascetic. Their countenance soured and was down- cast. Not only their opinions, but their gait, their demeanor, their voice, their general aspect, was influenced by that deadly blight which nipped all that was genial and warm. . The way of life fell into the sear and yellow leaf ; its tints gradually deepened ; its bloom faded and passed off; its spring, its beauty and its freshness were forced to hide themselves in obscure corners ; until at length the fairest and most endearing part of our nature, being constantly repressed, ceased to bear fruit and seemed to be withered into perpetual sterility. Thus it was that the natural character of the Scotch in the seventeenth century was dwarfed and mutilated ! To their influences may be traced in part the present movement for the union of Church and State in this country.
As remarked by Rev. Arthur B. Bradford, the opinions and wishes of the party in favor of making this a Christian government — "are confined "chiefly to the class of Presbyterians whose seat of influence is in western Pennsylvania. This section of country, having been settled originally by Irish and Scotch-Irish people, is the home and stronghold of the Presby- terian element in the American Church. " They yet retain a reverence for the principles and customs of their ancestors, the Old-Side Covenanters, who held verbatun to the Westminster Confession of Faith, the 39tli article of which declares that the Civil Magistrate has authority, "and it is his duty, to take order that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, and that blasphemies and her- esies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and disciphne pre- vented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, adminis- tered and observed, and for the better effecting whereof he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is trans- acted in them be according to the mind of God. " As Mr. Bradford says very correctly, I think : "To these views of the power of the Civil Magis- trate must be traced the present movement for altering the Constitution of the United States by inserting in the preamble a series of theological doc- trines. " And it may be added that, should the party which is now working for the establishment of these principles in this country succeed in their efforts, liberty here would be at an end, and some future Buckle might have to trace the degeneracy of the American character, and show how, through a heartless theology and a priestly despotism, it has, like that of the Scotch in the sixteenth century, became "mutilated and dwarfed. " The scenes of New England under the Presbyterian government might be enacted. A government of a privileged class ; citizenship based upon church member ship; all public discussion of religious subjects forbidden; "Infidelity' punished with death ; Quakers on first conviction to be whipped, second, to have the ears cut off, and third, to have the tongue bored through with a red hot iron ; women to be whipped through the streets, tied to cart tails, stripped from the waist up, that their bruised and bleeding bodies should be a warning to other heretics, — all this in the name of " Almighty God, the source of all authority in civil government, " for the sake of Jesus Christ,
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the " Ruler among nations, ' and in obedience to his "revealed will," the supreme law of the land
Independently of the lessons of history, teaching us the terrible conse- quences of a union of civil and ecclesiastical power, a complete separation of Church and State is demanded by the imprescriptible rights of the human mind. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness involves tlie right to profess and advocate our views. Whether they be true or false af- fects not the sacredness of the right of the believer. He has a right to one God, or three, or three thousand, or none at all; to worship or not as he pleases, at any time and in any manner that he thinks proper, when he does not thereby interfere with the equal rights of others. No human power, no earthly tribunal can justly dictate to any individual what he shall beheve in regard to religion, or how, or when, or where he shall worship. If his views are such thai they require him to violate the rules of decency or the ac- knowledged principles of morality, let him be restrained — if necessary, punished, for such violation; but let no one suppose that by an appeal to extreme cases, even involving the right of society to deal with dangerous monomaniacs, or disturbers of the peace, any justification can be found for interference by the State. With men's religious beliefs, no individual, no number of individuals, with direct or delegated authority, have the right to use coercive measures to prevent any persons from promulgating any re- ligion, or to induce him to subscribe to any creed, perform any worship, ac- knowledge any God, or support any religion on earth.
The Puritans have been eulogized for braving the dangers of the ocean and the privations of the wilderness, that they might worship God as con- science dictated. It is not strange that with the imperfect views of religious freedom then prevailing, they or their immediate descendants soon re-estab- lished in the new world a religious despotism more intolerant than that in the old world from which they had fled ; but when we see men who lack language strong enough to denounce their persecutors, or to praise their sincerity and courage, earnestly advocating measures to-day to deprive of religious hberty such of their fellow citizens as cannot subscribe to their own views, we are most painfully impressed with the power of bigotry and superstition so to distort the mind as to make enemies of those who should be our friends, verifying the saying that "a man's foes shall be those of his own household."
There are millions in this country who cannot conscientiously support any kind of supernatural religion. Have they no rights the Church is bound to respect .'' We are told that the views of such are an offence to God. This is the teaching of theologians. But many things which have been pro- nounced by them an offence to God, have in succeeding generations, by the same class, been discovered to be right; so we cannot resist the conviction that these men who talk so confidently about the will and wishes of God, as an argument against equal rights and religious freedom, simply give expres- sion to the will and wishes of their own minds. When they declare that God is displeased with the omission of his name from the national Constitu- tion, and that it is his requirement that this government recognize Jesus Christ as " Ruler among nations," we accept these statements as evidence that those who utter them, however sincerely, see the spread of those liber- al sentiments that are gradually undermining their spiritual authority, and that they feel the necessity of securing the aid of the civil power to guard against the innovations of scepticism and science.
Further, those who are in favor of uniting Church and State, after declar- ing (what is so evident that none dispute it) that morahty is necessary to the State, coolly assure us that morality depends upon the Christian religion, and without its light and authority virtue has no fixed stand-
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ard, no guarantee, no sanctions. Here we have the real difference re- duced to its last terms between many of those who would Christianize and those who would secularize the government. Both parties hold to the import- ance of good morals. But one beUeves there can be no true morality ex- cept in connection with Christianity; while the other maintains thatmorahty is natural and secular, and does not depend for its existence, or for the practice of its precepts, upon any religion whatever. Thus is involved in this contest the true nature and the real basis of morahty, without an under- standing of which there can hardly be an intelligent appreciation of the merits of the controversy.
To us nothing is more clear than that morality depends not upon any sys- tem of faith : it requires no miraculous evidence ; it is independent of theo- logical dogma ; no supernatural halo can heighten its beauty ; no ecclesiastical influence can strengthen its obligations ; it is confined to no one country, limited to no one age, restricted to no one form of faith, the exclusive posses- sion of no one class, sect, order, nation, or race of men ; it requires no written decalogue; it needs no single individual authority; theology can not add to it, neither can it take from it. It has its indestructible basis in the nature of man, as a feeling, thinking, acting being, and in society as an aggregation of such beings, with the manifold relations and the acknow- ledged rights and duties that spring therefrom. Empires rise and perish; rehgions grow and decay ; special forms of civilization appear and give way to other types ; but as, amid all the mutations of human existence, the nature of man remains essentially the same, and through all these changes the social condition everlastingly persists, morality can never be without a foundation as broad and deep and enduring as humanity itself. It changes not, but, as Cicero says, it is " the same at Rome and at Athens, to-day and to-morrow ; alone, eternal, and invariable, it binds all nations and all times." Its highest standard is the enlightened reason of man. The better man understands his nature, and the more he is capable, by reason of intelhgence and culture, of comprehending the object of society and his re- lations thereto, the better understanding will he have of the principles of morality.
Theologians could have no ideas of moral quahties, unless they had dis- covered fhem in humanity. They are observed in man, and as in him they are admired in contrast to'the opposite qualities, they are ascribed to God ; and then theologians, having invested God with human qualities and denied to him what they have borrowed from him with which to invest God before they could form any conception of him as a moral being, most ungratefully as well as inconsistently declare there can be no morality independenJjy of their theological system and book revelation. Of course, it is nothing to ignore the fact that, before either the one or the other appeared, society ex- isted and nations flourished essentially the same as they do to-day !
One would suppose, from the claims which are frequently made, that there was no morality before the Christian era ; that men were entirely wanting in knowledge of what is right, and the disposition to do it; in short, that all men were thieves, robbers, and murderers, before they heard of Jesus Christ. I do not wonder that a system which through its representatives gives cur- rency to such a falsehood as this wants the aid of civil power to enforce its teachings.
The morality of the advanced nations to-day is commonly called Christian moraHtv, but only with the same disregard of truth which is implied in de- nying the existence of virtue and goodness before Christ and outside of Christendom. The morality of this age does not owe its existence to any rehgion, to any book, to any historic character, however much or little any one of these has influenced mankind. Our present conception of morality
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has grown through many centuries of human experience, and exists now only because by many mistakes and much suffering man has learned its adaptedness to his wants. It is the result of the combined influence of our natural character and education. To ascribe it to the dominant religion were as absurd as to attribute the enlightenment of the ancient Greeks to their mythology, or the enlightenment of the Saracens of Spain in the ninth and tenth centuries, when darkness enveloped Christian Europe, to the Koran. The fact is, with the advancement of the human mind, with the discoveries in science and progress in morality, believers in all systems of religion modify their views so as to adjust them to the new order of things, always claiming, in ancient and in modern times, in Egypt, India, Rome, Turkey, England, America, that they find authority for the new ideas or reforms in their sacred books or religious systems. Soon they claim these religions are entitled to the e.xclusive credit of having produced the benefi- cent change which they have been powerless to prevent. Thus, while the Bible teaches the subordination of woman in plain and unequivocal lan- guage, sanctions and authorizes human slavery, and condemns to unresisting submission to their condition the subjects of oppressive governments, today in this country the Orthodox believers deny the plain signification of the Bible on these points, and claim that it has been effective in the destruction of all kinds of political and social bondage : this, too, in spite of the fact, that its most zealous advocates, within the memory of men who are yet young, were quoting its texts to show the wickedness of the reforms which they now have the hardihood to claim as the outgrowths of that book ! Those portions of a religious system or book revelation which are shown to be false, or which come to be repudiated by the enlightened moral sense of the age, are either absolutely ignored or twisted out of their obvious and natural meaning. By keeping in the background the teachings of the Bible which have been outgrown, by giving prominence to the precepts of morality which are attached to all systems of religion, by stamping them all as Christian, although they were known and practised before Christianity was ever heard of, theologians impress the masses with the conviction that the Bible and the Christian religion are the foundation of all virtue, and. the only hope of the world. It then presents the theological dogmas — which have nothing whatever in common with morality (such as that Jesus Christ is Ruler among Nations) — which indeed have been the faith, the sincere, unquestioning faith of multitudes of the most cruel and vicious men of all ages since they have been taught, and demand their acceptance and incor- poration in our Constitution from purely moral considerations ! Making all allowance for the fact that transitional periods such as the present are al- ways characterized by grave inconsistencies which imply no dishonest}^ it is difficult to believe that, in these common representations regarding Chris- tianity and morahty, there is not a good deal of disingenuousness and sel- fish disregard of the rights of those who will not sustain them in the theo- logical views they advocate.
This much on this point I have thought it right and proper to say, not for the purpose of discrediting theology or reflecting on its advocates, but to meet the assertion so commonly made, one which has great influence with the masses, that Christianity is entitled to recognition and support by the State on the ground that it is necessary to that morality without which the State cannot exist. This argument can impose only on the uninformed or such as are blinded by prejudice and bigotry to the most unquestionable facts and the most unanswerable logic. There is no argument worthy of the name that will justify the union of the Christian religion with the State. Every consideration of justice and equality forbids it. Every argument in favor of free Republican institutions is equally an argument in favor of a
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complete divorce of the State from the Church. History in warning tones tells us there can be no liberty without it. Justice demands it. Public safety requires it. He who opposes it is, whether he realizes it or not, an enemy of freedom. He who sees its justice and fails to use his influence in its favor is recreant to duty and unworthy the name of freeman. Those who today when we are about to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of Amer- ican Independence, are suffering from disabilities, however slight, on ac- count of religious beliefs, and who are disposed tamely to submit to such an outrage on their rights as men and citizens, are in disposition spaniels — a disgrace to the very name of Freethinker, and utterly undeserving the inheritance which has come to them from the illustrious dead — from those, as Carlyle says, " whose heroic sufferings rise up melodiously together unto heaven, out of all times and out of all lands, as a sacred Miserere:, their heroic actions also, as a boundless everlasting Psalm of triumph." Every sentiment of honor, every manly feehng, a righteous indignation at injustice, a determination to submit to no religious intolerance, love of peace and the welfare and prosperity of our country, with an ardent and unfaltering attach- ment to republican institutions — ■ all combine to induce us to demand a sep- aration of Church and State, total and complete, "now, henceforth, and forever. " And we ought never to be content, ought never to relax our ef- forts until this is effected, and secured beyond peril by Constitutional Amendment. Whatever is of worth comes by exertion, and whatever is valuable needs watchful care. " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. "
Thankful for all the blessings that have been secured to us by the struggles and sacrifices of our fathers, let us show our gratitude and pay the debt we owe them to those who shall come after us, by adding to what we have re- ceived in strengthening the foundations of freedom, so that no fury of re- ligious fanaticism will ever be able to destroy them. Long live the Repub- lic ! May she continue to grow in greatness and grandeur till her light and glory shall fill the earth !
"O ! may she keep her eye, like thee,
Proud eagle of the rocky wild,
Fixed on the sun of liberty,
By rank, by faction unbeguiled ;
Remembering still the rugged road
Our venerable fathers trod.
When they through toil and danger press'd
To gain their glorious bequest.
And from each lip the caution fell
To those who foUow'd, ' Guard it well." '
On the conclusion of Mr. Underwood's address, the convention adjourned to medl again at half past ten o'clock on Monday morning, July 3.
MONDAY, JULY 3, 1876.
The convention of the National Liberal League was called to order by the President, Francis E. Abbot, at half past ten o'clock, A. M. The Pres- ident read, by request, a petition for the opening of the International Exhi- bition "from noon, Sunday," and announced that it would be at the door for signature by those who could conscientiously sign it.
The President. — I now have the honor to introduce to you Charles E. Paige, Esq., who will address you on the question, "Is Christianity Part of the Common Law ? "
Mr. Paige then read the following paper :
IS CHRISTIANITY PART OF THE COMMON LAW.?
The common law, which lies back of all statutes and forms the great body of what is popularly called " the law, " is older than the memory of man and older than most of his institutions. It was the law system of the ancient Britons; it survived the Roman and Saxon invasions of England, being only enriched and made more stable by their additions to it; it bore the shock of the Norman Conquest and the tinkering of the ecclesiasts learned in the civil law that came over with William the Conqueror; the English revolution aflfected it not, and it has come down to us, the gathered wisdom of ages, tried in the crucible of time and found pure gold. Chancellor Kent defines it to be — "those principles, usages and rules of action applicable to the gov- ernment and security of persons and of property, which do not rest for their authority upon any express and positive declaration of the will of the legis- lature. " In all probability it is a collection of the customs and usages of England from the earliest to the present time, although some have not hesi- tated to declare it to be the stupendous work of judicial legislation. Of its early history we know but little, and its origin must ever remain in doubt. It is said by Lord Hale that its " original is as undiscoverable as the head of the Nile:" and certain it is that no ray of light has been thrown into the darkness that enshrouds the birth of the common law. From whatever sources derived, from time immemorial it has held sway in England, and from a mere rule governing the half of a small island it has expanded to the grand system that underlies and in a measure directs every adjudication of the courts of all Anglo-Saxon peoples. In the language of Lord Coke, "by many successions of ages it hath been lined and refined by an infinite number of grave and learned men -, " and Lord Mansfield describes the common law as a fine stream which, as it runs, refines. To it we go when statutes are silent, and by its aid we interpret them. If every statute in our books should be blotted from the memory of man, the common law would afford us a full, complete and con- servative system, capable of enforcing good morals, preserving the peace, and righting man's difficulties with man. It is indissolubly wedded to freedom, and has ever been the pride and boast of the English people. So deeply was it imbedded in their affections, so great an impression had its justice made upon their minds that, when the English emigrant settlers of this country left the mother land, driven by bigotry and religious tyranny, and came to this, they brought with them as their dearest heritage to their children, and estab- lished upon our soil, so much of the English common law as was suited to their needs in the new world. To-day every State in the Union, with the ex- ception of Louisiana, practises under it; and in all save criminal matters it exercises no little inlluence in the courts of the United States.
Whether Christianity is part of the common law, as has been claimed, is a .question, then, of importance to every citizen of English-speaking nations. It is a question upon which hinges, as much as upon any other, the solution
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of 'this vexed problem of the connection of Church and State ; and the solv- ing of it will go far either toward riveting those ecclesiastical bonds now gradually being drawn around the State, or else will burst them asunder and make this indeed a land of the free. It is a question of interest as well to the layman as the lawyer, the Christian as the liberal. The ablest man in Amer- ican history deemed it worthy of a noble letter to his English friend, and the gravest courts of England and America have given it their most careful study. It is in fact the question whether any man can be drawn to answer in court for a violation of the inhuman and barbarous laws of the Old Testa- ment, or a disregard of the ethics of the New ; whether one shall be indicted for merely coveting his neighbor's goods, or convicted of adultery because he lust- eth after a woman in his heart. Settle it that the Christian scheme of salva- tion is part of the lex non scripta, and at th» moment when the storm of religious excitement shall have overthrown the sober sense of men, when the bull from Rome or the " Gospel call " from a Moody shall have fired the hearts of those made free in the blood of the Lamb, the fires of Smithfield may be lighted on American soil, the Inquisition imported, and in the heat of religious bigotry free institutions go down and on their ruins be built the Christian theocracy. If it be true, as has sometimes been held, that "Christianity is part of the common law, " our boast of freedom is as false as when four millions of hu- man beings were held in chains by our laws, and all are at the mercy of the varying caprices of the interpreters of Christianity.
The claim that Christianity is incorporated with the common law is first put forth by Henry Finch, of Gray's Inn, London, in the year 1613. In his book [c. 3] it is said : "To such laws of the Church as have warrant in holy scripture, our law giveth credence. " This is the first appearance of this prin- cipal, although Finch has evidently based it upon an opinion by Prisot, Chief Justice, delivered a century and a half before, and reported in the Year Book, 34 H. VI., folio 38 (anno 1458.) The opinions in the Year Books are taken very short; no space is wasted, and, as reported, they can be but notes or memoranda of the case and the decision, falling far short of the fulness prob- ably used by the court in giving them. They are in Norman French, the law language of the time, and from their antiquity and primitiveness can hardly be regarded as fixing the law of to-day. This opinion of Prisot's, on which Finch bases his principle, was in a case of quare impedit. a common law action which lies to try a disputed right to an advowson, or right of presentation to a church or benefice. In it a question was made how far the ecclesiastical law was to be respected in a common law court. Prisot gives his opinion in Nor- man French, a fair translation of which seems to be: "As to those laws which those of holy church have in ancient writing, '■ auncient scripture,' it behooves us to give them credence; for this is common law, upon which all manner of laws are founded, " etc. In other words, Prisot decides that, when a question arises which of two parties should present to a church or benefice, a matter entirely within ecclesiastical control, the common law was bound to respect such laws as the Church had in ancient writings, church records, church canons, etc., and to give credence to the decision of the Church when it did not exceed its authority . This is the full extent of the meaning of the words ; a translation of " auncient scripture " as holy scripture would be a gross mistranslation.
Finch is followed in 1658 by Wingate, who raises this mistranslation to the dignity of a common law maxim, and cites Prisot in support. Sheppard [ title, "Religion"], still following in the same track, in 1675 copies the same mistranslation and cites Year Book, Finch and Wingate. Down to this time there is no authority for the claim that Christianity and the common law are wedded, for Sheppard's authority is Wingate and Finch, W^ingate's is Finch, and Finch's a mistranslation of an opinion given a century and a half before. Lord Hale, however, from his great learning and character as a judge, lends respectability to the maxim by enunciating it in i Ventris 293, and 3 Kibble 607. He couches it in these words: "Christianity is part of the laws of the land," — quoting, however, no authority. In 1728, in the case of King v.
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Woolson, 2 Stra. 834, the court considered it so well established that they would not suffer it to be debated whether to write against Christianity was punishable in the temporal courts at common law. Wood therefore, relying upon the authority of Woolson's case, still further changes and broadens it into the statement that all blasphemy and profaneness are offences at com- mon law, and cites the 2 Stra., Blackstone, Book iv. c. IV., repeats the words of Hale and cites Vontris and Strange. Finally Lord Mansfield, like Lord Hale, quoting no authority, says, in Evan's case in 1767: "The essentia! principles of revealed religion are part of the common law. " This is the last of the earlier English cases. Other and later cases there are; but they are all based upon the cases quoted and a dictum of Lord Coke : " The laws of God are the laws of the land. "
Upon this for a foundation —upon a mistranslation of an opinion and the dicta of two eminent judges — rests the claim that Christianity is part of tlie English common law. Before passing to a discussion of the claim, it may be well to consider for a moment the English church polity. England has an established Church, a religion of State. Statute after statute has been passed to protect it and to ensure it respect. It is closely connected with the gov- ernment, and its form of doctrine is controlled by law. The polity of the Church, as well as its discipline and property, are subordinate to the govern- ment and are regulated by it. Its history is so closely interwoven with the history of the law that it would be a work of no little magnitude to separate them, and ecclesiastical law is a study in itself. It is a creature of statute, no one ever pretending that its origin is in the common law. Offences against the Church are punished ; its property is secured ; and a multitude of statutes direct the minutice, of its discipline. Christianity is indeed a part of the statute law of England, and, viewed in the light of statutory enactment, Lord Hale's dictian, " Christianity is part of the laws of land," is reconcilable with the theory of the law. That it is part of the common law is a proposition at once in opposition to the spirit and the history of the law.
The common law deals only with the civil relations of man, enforcing no mandate of the Decalogue unless it has received the express authority of the legislature by enactment into a statute, or the implied sanction of all by im- memorial existence and enforcement of it. To be constituted part of the common law, Christianity must have existed in England from the earliest times, have received the sanction of the courts, and been regarded and en- forced by them. The mere fact that certain crimes, forbidden by what is called the Divine law and condemned by the Church, are also forbidden and punished by the common law, affords no proof; for to hold that this is evi- dence of the union would be to consider morality and Christianity co-eval and indivisible, one and the same. To sustain this dictum that "Christianity is part of the common law," some case must be found or evidence produced tiiat the* law has enforced the tenet of some particular sect or the dogma com- mon to all styling themselves Christian, or else it will depend upon the indi- vidual opinions of those who have enunciated it. Reaching back into the past as far as the memory of man can go, back to the time of the Britons, antedating Christianity by centuries, we find before us that vigorous system of law which, enlarged and improved, has come down to us as the common law. The religion of the British at the time was the dark superstition of the Druids, who, amid the thick shades of the forest, offered up human sacrifices to the objects of their idolatry. Will it be contended thatDruidism was part of the common law.' When the Romans came, they brought with them the gods of Rome; was Roman mythology part of the common law.-" The Sax- ons, who left more traces in the law than all others, from whom undoubtedly have many of its best features been derived (including what has been called the " bulwark of our liberty," the trial by jury), and to whom the origin of the law has sometimes been imputed, brought their national gods, — two of whom, Woden and Thor, have their names perpetuated in the days of our week, — and established as the national religion Saxon idolatry. Up to this time Christianity was no part of the law, for, if any religion was connected
no
with it, it was the idolatry of the Saxons. When at last, by the persistent efforts of the missionaries, the island embraced Christianity, it was the Ro- man Catholic form. Are we willing to admit that Roman Catholicism is a part of the common law.? Then England was Protestant, again Catholic, again Protestant, Presbyterian, Puritan, and Episcopal. Were all these vari- ous phases of Christian religion part of the common law.? If so, and the common law has been the receptacle into which has been poured the religion of the majority, it has been the repository of British Druidism, Roman myth- ology, Saxon idolatry, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Presbyterianism, Puritanism, and Episcopacy; and each has constituted, at the time it was pre- valent, a part of the lex nonscrij)ta. To maintain this would be absurd. At no time has the common law had regard for the tenets of any particular sect or for those dogmas on whicii all are agreed. Since the beginning of the seventeenth century, it has defended the ruling religion from the public abuse of its opponents, and has forbidden the malicious attempts to subvert it, as it constituted part of the government. The Established Church has been pro- tected, not because it was the repertory of truth, but because it was the re- ligion of the State, an attack on which was an attack on the government, — the overthrowal of which might be an overthrowal of the government. This was the position of Christianity and the English common law at the time of- the settling of this country. I have dwelt upon it at this length because so much of the English common law as was suited to the needs of the colonies was adopted here, and with such statutes as we have enacted constituted the whole body of our law With the relation of the Church to statute law I have nothing to do. Whether or not Christianity has been foisted into the common law of this country, is the query I endeavor to answer.
Our ancestors hated and abhorred the ecclesiastical tyranny of England, and were so firm in their convictions that they fled from the graves of their fathers and in a wilderness made their home ; the Puritans or Independents in Massachusetts, the Roman Catholics in Maryland, and the Quakers in Penn- sylvania. Nominally, at least, they planted here " freedom to worship God." No form of church was established by law when they united as one nation, and none can be established without a change in our organic laws. Article VI. of the Federal Constitution expressly ordains that no religious test shall ever be required as a test for any civil office or public trust under the United States ; and the first amendment ordains that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
Fleeing from an established Church and the scourge of penal statutes re- lating to religion, as did our ancestors, founding in the new world an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, not only not establishing but distinctly and positively prohibiting the establishment of any religion, one would think that the whole course of American decisions would negative this asserted connec- tion of Christianity and the common law. Such, however, is not the fact. The statement is made that the Supreme Court of the United States has de- clared Christianity to be part of the common law of Pennsylvania, and that the highest courts of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Arkan- sas and North Carolinia have severally decided it to be part of the common law of their respective States. It may be well briefly to state the cases in which the courts have felt called upon to follow the English decisions and have at- tempted to transplant this exotic doctrine of the English courts, the rank growth of Monarchy, the law-Christianity of our mother land.
The case first in point of importance, both as to the court and the judge who pronounced the decision, is Vidal et al. vs. Girard's Executors, 2 How., 127. In this case the question arose whether the will of Stephen Girard was void on account of certain provisions in the will claimed to be anti-Christian, and therefore repugnant to the law of Pennsylvania. Mr. Justice Story, in deliver- ing the opinion of the court sustaining the will, used the words : '' It is also said, and truly, that the Christian religion is part of the common law of Penn- sylvania. But this proposition is to be received with its appropriate qualifica- tions, and in connection with the bill of rights of that State, as found in the
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Constitution of government." And then, after reading the religious freedom clause of the Constitution, he sa_ys : "Language more comprehensive for the complete protection of every variety of religious opinion could scarcely be used; and it must have been intended to extend equally to all sects, whether thev believe in Christianity or not, and whether they were Jews or Infidels, ^o that we arc compelled to admit that, although Christianity be a part of the common law of the State, yet it is so in this qualified sense, that its divine origin and truth are admitted, ami therefore it is not to be openly reviled and blasphemed against, to the annoyance of believers or the injury of the pub- lic."
What the open and malicious reviling of Christianity has to do with the will of Stephen Girard, the learned judge does not tell us. How the question of the relation of Christianity to the common law is brought in is more than I can see. It is held by the court that it is a part, yet the court sustains the will ; and if it were not a part, the will would be but strengthened. In truth the de- cision of the court, so fur as it relates to this point, is an obiter dictum, i. e. an opinion given on a point not necessarily brought in issue in the case. Although it may gain respectability from the character of the judge who gave it, an obiter dictum is not regarded as establishing a precedent, and is not necessa- rily regarded by the court in a subsequent decision upon the same point.
In the case of the People vs. Ruggles, 8 John., 290, a prosecution for blas- phemy, this same English dictum is given— the court citing i Ventr., 3 Keb., and Woolson's case,— all English cases, the result of the wretched mistransla- tion of Prisot's "auncient scripture." The opinion of the courtof Pennsylvania, in the case of Updegraph vs. the Commonwealth, 11 Serg. and Rawle, 394, was given by Judge Duncan, and in it occurs the following : '-This was an indictment for blasphemy, tbunded on act of the assembly passed in 1700. . .
. . It charges the defendant with contriving and intending to scandalize and bring into disrepute and vilify the Christian Religion, and the Scriptures of Truth. . . . From the tenor of the words, it is impossible that they could have been spoken seriously and conscientiously in the discussion of a religious or theological topic. . . . Even if Christianity was no part of the law of the land, it is the popular religion of the country, an insult to which would be indictable, as directly tending to disturb the public peace. .
. . An offence against the public peace may consist either of an actual breach of the peace, or doing that which tends to provoke and incite others to do it. Within the latter description fail all acts and all attempts to produce disorder, by written, printed, or oral communications, for the purpose of gen- erally weakening those religious and moral restraints without the aid of which mere legislative provisions would prove ineffectual. ... It is open, public vilification of the religion of the country that is punished, not to force conscience by punishment, but to preserve the peace of the country by an outward respect to the religion of the country, and not as a restraint upon the liberty of conscience."
This opinion of the court is continually cited in proof of the affirniative of the proposition that Christianity is part of the common law; but it is obiter dictum, as the indictment was founded upon an act of the assembly, and the question whether blasphemy was punishable at common-law did not properly enter into the case at all.
In the Massachusetts case, Commonwealth vs Kneeland, 20 Pick., 206, which is cited by Wharton and other text writers, in support of this doctrine, the court did not decide that we imported Christianity as part of our common law. The case was a prosecution of Abncr Kneeland, editor of the Investi- gator, for blasphemy. The indictment was founded on a statute passed in 1782, and the court was divided, the majority opinion by Chief Justice Shaw holding the statute constitutional, while Judge Morton, in an able dissenting opinion, held it unconstitutional. Nowhere, in either opinion, is it claimed, that "Christianity is part of the common law."
In Connecticut, a single judge, in giving an opinion in a civil case — an action of slander in accusing a person of perjury before a church tribuna' —
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went as far out of his way as possible to lug in the quotation from Lord Hale, •' Christianity is part of the laws of the land." [Chapman v. Gillette, 2 Conn., 41.] In the case of Shover z;s. State, 10 Ark., 259, Chief Justice Johnson, while giving the opinion of the court, held that Christianity was part of the common law, and cited the Girard will case in 2 How. This was entirely obiter dictum, as the indictment was for a violation of the Sunday law, ^th sec, chap. 51, Digest. The court of North Carolina, although it did not in the case contend for the affirmative of the proposition, is cited in support. This was the case of Pepper vs. State, $8 North Car., 259. The defendant was indicted for a common nuisance, consisting of loud and profane swearing and was convicted; and the conviction sustained. New York, again, in 33 Barbour, 547, Lindenmuller vs. The People, affirmed the doctrine by an obiter dictum. The defendant was indicted for keeping his theatre open on Sunday. Judge Allen gives the opinion of the court, using these words : —
" The constitutionality of the law {Lawsof i860 p. 999) under which the defendant was indicted and convicted does not depend upon the question whether or not Christianity is part of the common law of this State. Were that the only question involved, it would not be difficult to show that it was so in a qualified sense — not to the extent that would authorize a compulsory conformity in faith and practice to the creed and formula of worship of any sect or denomination, or even in those matters of doctrine and worship com- mon to all denominations styling themselves Christian, but to the extent that entitles the Christian religion aud its ordinances to respect and protection, as the acknowledged religion of the people. "
The court of Delaware, in the instructive opinion of J. M. Clayton, Chief Justice, in State vs. Chandler, 2 Harrington, 553, used these words : " But even in England, Christianity was never considered a part of the common law, so far as that for a violation of its injunctions, independent of the established laws of man, and without the sanction of any act of parliament made to en- force those injunctions, any man could be drawn to answer in a common law court. It was a part of the common law * so far that any person reviling, subverting or ridiculing it might be prosecuted at common law, ' as Lord Mans- field has declared ; because, in the judgment of our English ancestors and their judicial tribunals, he who reviled, subverted or ridiculed Christianity did an act which struck at the foundation of their civil society, and tended by its necessary consequences, as they believed, to disturb that common peace of which ( as Lord Coke had reported ) the common law was the preserver. "
I have now briefly noticed all or nearly all the American cases claimed by the text books to have judicially settled this question of the union of Chris- tianity and the common law. Some of the opinions do not touch the point at all, and in the majority of those where the court has felt bound to take up the question, the opinion is obiter dictum, and cannot establish the precedent. But if it were not so and these opinions were law so far as they went, what would be the meaning of the dictum} In every case where the decision was given holding Christianity part of the common law, the prosecution was for blasphemy, profaneness, or violation of the Sabbath laws. Is the connection of the Church and the Law limited to the prohibition and punishment of these crimes, and, if so, is this any evidence of the connection.'' Take the gist of the decisions as found in the Delaware case : *' It was a part of the common law ' so far that any person reviling, subverting or ridiculing it might be prosecuted at common law.'" This was the law against blasphemy, — one of the penal laws relating to religion which have been dragged across the water and foisted into our common law. In England it was properly held an offence, for the " reviling, ridiculing or subverting Christianity "was an attack upon the State religion, the Established Church, the government and its measures. The judicial tribunals of the island, well knowing the temper of the inhabitants, viewing the hatred and distrust with which Catho- lic eyed Protestant, and Puritan Episcopal, believing that any open, malic- ious attack upon the opinion of the majority would lead to a breach of peace, for the protection of the peace laid down this principle as a civil regulation,
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that " all blasphemies are indictable by the law," and attempted to force it into the lex non scripta. But this principle, well adapted to the state of England at the time it was cniniciated, a product of tlie law= Christijinity of the land, is entirely imfit for a free country where no particular sect is re- cognized by law.
Nevertheless our judges in several cases have laid down the principle, although they have so hedged it about with restrictions that it amounts to a mere dictum that the prevalent religion of the country must be defended. In the case of State v$. Chandler, one of the cases in which the court has attempted to reconcile this doctrine of the English courts with the spirit of free institutions, and which is cited as having settled the law in Delaware in the affirmative, it is said by the court, referring to the common law — "so far from its being true that it cannot suit itself to the religion, the moral code and the ever-varying condition of the people whenever they voluntarily pre- fer to change them, it tolerates every change in either, prohibits no reforma- tion; and, keeping constantly in view that its great object is to preserve the public peace and good order of society, without dictating what religion will best sustain it, or prohibiting any reformation in religious matters, it tolerates under all circumstances every attempt to change whicii does not by some overt act endanger the public peace and safety. It is emphatically a law for the protection of religious liberty; and no la^v can be truly such which does not equally protect the public peace from insults and outrages upon public opinion, when freely established and known to be so, whether that opinion be for Christian or Infidel, Jew or Turk."
In what sense of the word, then, can it be true that Christianity is part of the common law.-* No dogma of the Christian church is enforced and no precept of Christ is considered by the law, unless it has received the express authority of the legislature by enactment into a statute. It has never taken cognizance of offences against God, except when by their inevitable effects they became offences against man and his temporal security. Never has it been claimed that he who did not "love his neighbor as himself," or he who did not "visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, and keep him- self unspotted from the world," was therefore indictable at common law. It was only when the numberless violations of the moral code prohibited by Christianity became also wrongs to the public that the common law came in and punished them.
In a work by Hon. William Strong, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, it is said : " No State recognition of the Church, however, or even of religious obligation, is to be inferred from the fact that the civil law punishes many offences which are punished by the Divine law, and which the Church also condemns and punishes. Many offences against society are acts prohibited by the Decalogue and by all churches. False swearing, theft, adultery, and murder are violations of municipal law, and persons guilty of them are punished by authority of the State, not because the offences are violations of Divine law, or the law of the Church, but because they are infractions of the rules which civil society has found it necessary to establish for its own protection. In many of the States, orderly observance of the Sabbath, and abstinence from unnecessary labor, are enjoined by statutes. Penalties are also denounced against profaneness and blasphemy. But it would be a mistake to regard such enactments as Church recognitions. They may have been suggested by respect for religion, but as civil enactments they are justifiable only by their tendency to protect the public peace, and to preserve public decency, good order, and good morals — objects for which civil society exists."
In all of the cases claimed as proof of this union of Church and Law, the decision has gone upon the ground so well taken by Judge Strong. The Sunday law is defended as a civil institution, not because on that day the " Lord rested," but because, in the opinion of the courts, stated periods of cessation from accustomed labor are essential to the well-being of society, and it is advisable that Sunday should be the day selected, since on that day
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the majority of the people vohmtarily rest from their toil. Blasphemy and profaneness are prohibited because, in the opinion of the courts, the believers in tire religion of peace could not brook an insult to it, and would be tempted to commit a breach of the peace !
This is the course of the American decisions. While holding that "Chris- tianity is part of the laws of the land," they have so surrounded it with qualifications and restrictions that it amounts to " this, and nothing more:', the common lav/ will defend the popular religion from the open and mali- cious attacks of those who would subvert it. •
To recapitulate. We have derived the common law from England ; so much of it as was suited to the needs of the colonists was adopted, and forms our common law; the ecclesiastical laws and the penal statutes relating to religion were the tyrants that drove our immigrant forefathers from the motherland, and were never adopted here; the law-Christianity of England has grown not from the common law but from the bloody and inhuman statutes made to protect England from the belief in Protestantism at one time, and Catholicism at another; it is impossible that Christianity should be a part of the common law, since it is a rule relating to the civil affairs of men and was well developed when Christ was born ; the English authority for claiming that it is a part is derived from a mistranslation of Prisot's Norman French, " auncient scripture," and from the individual opinions of Liords Hale and Mansfield; even if it were a part of the. English common law, it cannot be a part of the American, since England has an Established Church to protect, while America has none, and what would be right and proper in defense of one of the established features of a Monarchy where religion is part of the State polity, would be unwise and improper in a Republic vvhere Church and State are not united; the American decisions do not hold that Christianity and the law are connected more than in words, — are obiier dicia and not binding; and the principles they enunciate and the law they state are defensible only as civil enactments.
Viewing the whole field of controversy, — seeing the attempts made to connect Church and State by the bond of the common law, — we can almost say with Jefferson in his famous letter to Major Cartwright: "What a con- spiracy, this between Church and State! Sing, Tantarara, rogues all, rogues all ! Sing, Tantarara, rogues all ! "
The President. — The next business in the order which we have adopted is the report of the Committee on Resolutions. Before calling for that report, however, I will read a communication just received from Mr. John Fretwell, Jr., of England, who requests leave to present the case of The- odor Hofferichter, persecuted by the Prussian government because he has refused to take an oath by the Christian's God.
The letter was then read.
The President. — I suggest that after the opening address this after- noon fifteen minutes be allowed to Mr. Fretwell to present this subject in full.
A motion to this eflfect was made, and agreed to.
The President. — The next business in order is the report of the Committee on Resolutions.
Mr. Underwood. — As Chairman of the Committee, I have the pleasure of reporting the following
RESOLUTIONS. I.
Resolved, That the National Liberal League, convened at Philadelphia from July ist to July 4th, 1876, respectfully petitions the Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress assembled, to recommend to the several States for adoption such a "Religious Freedom Amendment" of the United States Constitution as shall effect the total separation of Church and State in all branches and departments of the government, National, State, and
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miinicipal, and protect all American citizens In the enjoyment of their equal religious rights and liberties ; that petitions be circulated throughout the country in support of this petition, and, if possible, a million signatures to the same be obtained ; and that the Board of Directors of the National Liberal League are hereby instructed to carry this resolution into effect.
IL
Resolved, That we recommend and urge the formation of a local auxil- liary Liberal Leagi^p in every city, town, and village of the country where ten brave men and women can be found to take the lead in the matter, for the purpose of instituting earnest and combined agitation in favor of equal rights respecting religion, and in favor of such a Constitutional Amendment as shall guarantee them.
I III.
Resolved, That all American citizens, whether orthodox or heterodox, Christian or non-Christian, possess an equal natural right to hold, to utter, and by all orderly and peaceable means to propagate their private religious opinions ; that they all possess an equal right not to be taxed, directly or indirectly, for the support of religious opinions they do not hold, of religious societies of which they are not voluntary members, or of religious services they do not personally approve ; that they all possess an equal right to employ their time, and the whole of it, as they judge fit, just so long as they commit no positive trespass on the equal rights of others ; that they all possess an equal right to enjoy for seven days of the week all public libraries, art-galleries, museums, parks, gardens, or other institutions or facilities for the support of which they are taxed, and not to be debarred from such enjoyment on Sunday because a part of the people do not choose to avail themselves of these things on that day ; in fine, that they all possess an equal right to live under a government which shall respect all men's private religion, but favor no man's.
IV.
Resolved, That morality is the supreme interest of civil society; that its foundations lie in the natural relations of man to man ; that its great laws of right and wrong slwne by their own light, and are only darkened when thrust under the bushel-basket of ecclesiastical patronage ; that truthfulness, honor, integrity, courage, self-respect, patriotism, are natural and not theo- logical virtues; and that such virtues as these, fostered by the establishment of a thorough civil service reform and the abolition of machine politics, are the sole fountain of that purified public morality for which every upright citizen longs.
V.
Resolved, That, so long as the Church insists on retaining its present political privileges, in violation of justice, liberty, and equal rights, it is guilty of oppression, sets an example of public unrighteousness, renders its socid influence immoral to that extent, and thus helps to demoralize the community at large.
VI.
Resolved, That the principle of State Secularization means that the free State has its own sufficient basis in the laws and needs of human nature, totally independent of the Church, — that this basis is the social necessity of maintaining equal rights in religion, genuine morality in politics and educated intelligence in all the citizens, — and that this object is defeated by permitting the Church or any other organization to usurp its own authority in any degree.
Resolved, That we affirm the immense moral importance of the principle of State Secularization, and the moral obligation of all good citizens, irre-
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spective of their religious creeds, to join heartily in the movement to carry it more consistently into practice.
VIII. Resolved, That the State Secularization question can never be got out of pohtics until it is settled forever by being settled right.
IX.
Resolved, That the Liberal League movement has nothing whatever to do with the christian religion as such, either to favor or to oppose it ; that it is directed simply against certain glaring political usurpations of the Church, certain actual and grievous interferences by it with the State ; that the purpose of this movement is eminently positive, defensive, and constructive, not negative, aggressive, or destructive, since it only seeks to carry out more faithfully the principle of divorce between Church and State on v/hich the Constitution was founded, and thus fulfil Washington's ideal of a purely secular State ; that the Christian or anti-Christian character of this move- ment is solely a question of private interpretation, to be answered by each member of the Liberal League, according to his own definition of Christian- ity; that all citizens who favor the total separation of Church and State are in good faith cordially invited to work with us ; and that no Christian can accuse the Liberal i^eague of being anti-Christian without thereby confess- ing that Christianity as he himself understands it condemns the separation of Church and State.
X.
Resolved, That the National Liberal League has nothing to do with existing political parties as such. We will neither coquet with them nor be used by them ; we propose a great political object in which all good citizens of both parties should unite ; we will seek to further this object by no secrecy, underhandedness, or political trickery of any kind, but frankly appeal to public opinion and pu])Hc support. Other things being equal, we will vote for such candidates as favor this object, and withhold our votes from such as oppose it; but we shall do this in the independent exercise of our individual judgments, and enter as a League into alliance with no political party.
XL
Resolved, That universal education is the only safeguard of universal liberty; that no child in the republic should be permitted to grow up with- out at least a good common school education ; that the public school system cannot be sustained in equal justice to all except by confining it strictly to secular instruction ; that all religious exercises should be pro- hibited in the public schools ; that the permission of such exercises in them is a perversion of public funds raised for educational purposes to the purposes of religious propagandism ; and that to allow in these schools the present practice of Bible-reading, prayer, and singing of religious hymns, is a great moral wrong to large classes of citizens.
XII.
Resolved, That the non-committal Constitutional Amendment, proposed in Congress by the Hon. James G. Blaine and reserved for action until next winter, which simply provides that no public lands or public funds devoted to school purposes shall "ever be under the control of any religious sect," or "be divided among religious sects or denominations," will, if adopted, still leave the Protestant sects undisturbed in their present collective mastery over the pubhc school system, and therefore ought not to be adopted, unless so amended as to prevent any sect or number of sects from exercising con- trol over the pubhc schools.
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XIII. Resolved, That the Bible, being regarded as a book of sacred character and of religious authority by only a part of the people, is to all intents and purposes a sectarian book; and we protest against the permission of its use in the public schools on the pretence of its being a non-sectarian book, as a manifest evasion of the truth, and a wilful disregard of the equal religious rights of the people. ^ XIV.
Resolved, That in no flippant or defiant spirit, but rather with a deep desire that the national government should be just to the whole people, we protest against the recent proclamation of President Grant, inviting the people to celebrate the P'ourth of July by religious observances. We deny emphatically the right of the President to issue a civil proclamation of any religious fast or festival, to assume as President a strictly ecclesiastical function, to entangle the State with the Church by interfering with the people's free control of their own religious observances, and to cast the stigma of governmental disapproval on those citizens who do not choose to comply with this unwarranted, officious, and impertinent invitation. We declare the manifestly increasing disposition of the government to meddle in matters of religion, and to yield to the instigation of ambitious sectaries who take this method of establishing their own civil supremacy, to be a tendency of vast peril to the perpetuation of religious liberty. We remind President Grant of the nobler example of his great predecessor in office, Thomas Jefferson, who, according to the historian, "refused to appoint days of fasting and thanksgiving, on the ground that to do so would be indirectly to assume an authority over religious exercises which the Con- stitution has expressly forbidden. A recommendation from the Chief Magistrate, he thought, would carry with it so much authority that any per- son or sect disregarding it would suffer some degree of odium." And we pointedly remind President Grant of his own advice to the people last September at Des Moines, now so glaringly disregarded by himself — "Keep the Church and the State forever separate."
XV.
Resolved, That we would most scrupulously respect the right of church- goers to enjoy their Sunday worship unmolested and undisturbed; and^we ask them to respect the equal right of those who do not choose to join ^hem to enjoy their own Sundays in equal freedom.
XVI.
Resolved, That the closing of the International Exhibition on Sundays is a fresh usurpation of political power by the Church,— a gross infringe- ment of the equal religious rights and liberties of the people, who have all been taxed by public appropriations for the Exhibition, — a bitter and grievous wrong to the poor and laboring classes, who are thus in great measure debarred from enjoying precious advantages which they of all classes have the best right and the most need to enjoy, — and a monstrous denial of the religious equality of all citizens who disbelieve in the alleged sacred character of Sunday.
XVII.
Resolved, That the conversion of the United States government into a Missionary Society by the present administration, which has made it an avowed object to "Christianize the Indians," and carries it out by employ- ing sectarian missionaries as paid officials of the government, is another in the long and growing list of encroachments on the principle of secular government.
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XVIII.
Whereas, The United States statutes relating to the Treasury Depart- ment, Section 3517, expressly provide that — "Upon the coins shall be the following devices and legends ; upon one side there shall be an impression emblematic of liberty, with an inscription of the word ' Liberty,' and the year of the coinage, and upon the reverse shall be the figure or representa- tion of an eagle, with the inscription 'United States of America ' and 'E Pluribus Unum,' and a designation of the value of the coin :" and
Whereas, The Director of the Mint, without authority of law and on his own motion alone, has seen fit to inscribe on several of the coins, particularly on the new silver quarter-dollars and half-dollars, the legend "In God we trust;" therefore
Resolved, That the Director of the Mint deserves the severe censure of the people and dismissal from his office for this great abuse of the trust iieposed in him.
Resolved, That placing such an inscription on the national coinage is analogous to striking the stars from the national flag and inserting the cross in their stead, or throwing down the statue of Liberty from the dome of the national Capitol and setting up that of the Virgin Mary in its place ; and that such cunning, stealthy, and dangerous encroachments of the sectarian spirit on the secular character of tlie government should call forth the loud and swift rebuke of an outraged people.
XIX.
Resolved, That we hereby appeal to the country for funds to carry on the vitally important work for which we have organized ; that we believe there is abundant wealth and abundant enthusiasm ready to aid us, just as soon as our objects are thoroughly understood and widely known ; and that we rely confidently on the generosity of the patriotic pubHc not to permit this great cause to languish for want of the all-essential means.
XX.
Resolved, That we accept the offer of the Boston Index to be our offi- cial organ of communication with the public, for the publication of announce- ments, acknowledgments, and other official papers of the Board of Directors ; but that we assume no responsibility for anything else published in its columns, and claim no control or influence in its general editorial management.
Mr. Underwood. — In addition to these resolutions we have also to report a few others. We submit respectfully for the adoption of this Con- gress the following ; —
Resolved, That the Directors be instructed to^ascertain, if possible, by direct inquiry, whether the Presidential candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties are in favor of strictly secular government and of the special measures we advocate ; and to communicate the result to the public.
Resolved, That the resolutions of sympathy with this movement pre- sented by Professor Loos on behalf of the German Union of Radicals are received with pleasure and respect ; and that, while the National Liberal League expresses no collective opinion on the points inquired about, we hold ourselves individually free to favor or to oppose any measures notincludedin the specified objects which we have organized to accomphsh.
With regard to the communication addressed to this Congress by the Michigan State Association of Spiritualists, which, though extremely good, is quite long and hardly intended to be read (certainly it would be unadvis- able to read it now at length, in view of the amount of business we have on hand), we submit for adoption the following resolution : —
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Resolved, That tliis Conp;rc.ss accepts from the Michigan State Associa- tion of Spiritualists its able and earnest statement of the principles of the National Liberal League, and tenders thanks for its assurance of co-opera- tion in the promotion of these objects.
Another resolution was handed in which wc have taken the liberty to modify slightly, so as to make it conform with the object and come within the scope of this Congress. I submit it as follows : —
Resolved, That we hereby tender our thanks to the publisher and editor of the Boston Ijivestigator for their brave and earnest advocacy of the secularization of the government, in past years when Liberal Leagues were unknown, and when their efforts were but poorly appreciated.
This is respectfully submitted as a partial report. Other resolutions may bo presented afterwards.
The question being put on the reception of the report of the Committee, the motion was agreed to.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move that we now take up the report of the Commit- tee, and that the first resolution be adopted.
The first resolution was then read by the President. No amendment being offered, and the question being put on the adoption of the first reso- lution as read, it was adopted.
The second resolution was then read by the President and was also adopted without amendment.
The third resolution was then read by the President.
Mr. Edelhetm. — I move to strike out the words " Christian or non- Christian," and to insert the words " free rehgious," so that the resolution shall read: '"'■Resolved, That all American citizens, whether orthodox or heterodox, Christian, non-Christian, or free religious," etc.
The President. — Is the amendment seconded?
The amendment was seconded.
The President. — The question is now on the adoption of the amend- ment.
Mr. Mills. — The amendment seems superfluous. The term "non- Christian " will cover the "free religious " as well as others.
Mr. Edelheim. — With my own views I should make a distinction between the two phrases. There are many "non-Christians," but only a few who call themselves "free religious."
Mr. Hallowell. — As a matter of fact, probably two-thirds of the " Free Religious Association " are composed of those who call themselves '•Christians.'' It seems to me that the amendment as offered by the gen- tleman is a good one. We have "Christians " and "non-Christians," and we have "free religious Christians," and "free religious non-Christians." The Free Religious Association is composed largely of "Christians" who claim to be just as free in their religion as "non-Christians." I am myself a "non-Christian ;" but I want to respect the rights of the "Christians " in the Free Religious Association and also in the Liberal League. I hope the amendment will be adopted.
Mr. Underwood. — The resolution as it now stands is intended to include all the different classes: to include equally, that is, those who arc Christians and those who are not Christians. Now if there are any who are "free religionists " who are not "Christians," they are included in this resolution : if they are "Christians," they are also included in it. There is nc deficiency in it. You might just as well put in the words sceptics, ma- terialists, spiritualists, or any other word designating a special class of liberals. It seems to me that the discrimination intended by the amend- ment would require us to add spiritualists, infidels, and all other classes, and thus draw up a list of names that would include them all.
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,Mr. Edelheim. — The statement just made would be entirely appropriate, if the statement made before was correct ; but it is not I beg to differ also with regard to the point that a "free religious " man cannot be anything but either a "Christian " or a "non-Christian."
Mrs. Dr. Pratt. — The gentleman who offered this amendment takes a strange position. He holds that a "free religionist " may be neither a "Christian " nor a "non-Christian." That is queer. If he is a "free reli- gionist," he is still either a "Christian" or a "non-Christian." We are all "free religionists." The churches would declare that we are none of us "Christian," though some of us claim to be because they have an inherited respect and love for that term. It seems to be the last thing that they can give up. I cannot for the life of me see how such an amendment as that offered would add anything ; it would rather weaken the resolution which is now before the house. I hope the amendment will not pass.
Mr. Ranney. — I don't know as I care whether the amendment to the resolution is carried or not ; but I wish to say this, that I think 1 under- stand what the gentleman means, and why he looks upon it as he does. It is because the Free Religious Association as an organization is neither '•Christian " nor "non-Christian ;" it is neither the one nor the other. But the individuals composing the Association must be either "Christian " or "non-Christian." The Association, as an association, declares nothing re- garding the matter ; therefore it is neither the one nor the other. But the individuals must be one of the two. "Free religionists " must be individu- ally either "Christian " or "non-Christian," The resolution as it stands covers the ground, it seems to me.
Mr. Edelheim. — I wish to make one remark. I think the danger is this : we admit a great deal in reference to Christianity by merely using those words and no others, — a great deal more than in reahty we wish to admit, or have any business to admit. It does not make any difference what the individuals belonging to the Free Religious Association may be or may not be. That is not our business here. But there are some who are "free religious" in the sense of being free from all religion, whether "Christian " or "non-Christian ;" they take no position at all respecting Christianity, and their independent attitude should be recognized.
Mr. Kilgore. — My only objection to the amendment is that by adding those words, you add words which really have no meaning. That we must all be "Christians" or "non-Christians " is as plain as that two and two make four : the only objection to the amendment is that it lumbers the resolution with unnecessary verbiage. Of course that resolution includes Roman Catholics under the term "Christians ;" and yet there are plenty of people in the Protestant churches who stoutly deny that any Roman Catholic can be a Christian. Everybody must come under one or the other of these terms, it seems to me ; and for that reason, and that alone, I feel constrained to vote against the amendment.
Mr. Gr_\y. — I would like to have the gentleman explain what he means by "free religious." I do not think we understand the term as he uses it or understands it. "Free religionist," as I understand it, means an indi- vidual who believes in Christianity, and yet is net confined to any particular church ; he can go to any church and worship anjTvhere.
Cries of "Question ! Question !"
The President. — The question is on the adoption of the amendment of Mr. Edelheim.
Being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.
The President. — The question is now on the adoption of the resolution as it stands. Any other amendments are in order.
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Mr. Bentley. — I think there might be a little addition made ; the lan- guage might be changed.
The President. — Does the gentleman move an amendment?
Mr. Bentley. — Yes, Sir. VVith the words referring to the free enjoy- ment of "libraries," etc., we might have added, "all roads, both land and water." There are some roads that we cannot travel over on Sunday with- out incurring a penalty.
The President. — The gentleman will please reduce his amendment to writing just as he wishes it adopted. While he is doing this, I will read you a noble letter from William Lloyd Garrison which has just been handed to me.
Mr. Garrison's letter was then read to the convention, and received with loud applause. [See " Extracts from Letters," in the Third Session.]
The President. — The amendment offered by Mr. Bentley to the third resolution is as follows : after the words "to enjoy for seven days of the week all public libraries, art galleries, museums, parks, gardens," insert the words "all roads, both land and water." Is that precisely the way in which you wish it to stand .''
Mr. Bentley. — Yes, Sir.
The President. — Is the amendment seconded.''
The amendment was seconded by several.
Mr. Dye. — I suggest to substitute the word "thoroughfares."
Mr. Bentley. — I accept the amendment.
The President. — All thoroughfares, both laud and water.
Mr. Jack.— I move that the words "both land and water," be stricken out, the others covering the whole ground.
The President. — You have heard Mr. Jack's amendment that the words "both land and water" be omitted. I will put the question first on this amendment to the amendment.
Agreed to.
The question being then put on the amendment of Mr. Bentley, the latter was adopted. The resolution thus amended was then agreed to.
A Member. — I move that the fourth resolution be adopted.
The President. — It is moved and seconded that the fourth resolution be adopted.
Mr. Mills. — I hope this resolution will not pass without full apprecia- tion of its profound meaning on the part of this convention. I think it is a novel resolution, — without precedent, so far as I can recollect. I think it shadows forth a mighty conflict upon which we are now about to enter. The entire decision of the issue which we are to see will hinge on the determination of this radical question, whether the interests of society properly repose upon ( or rather have their foundation in) any positive or revealed religion, or whether they rest on the fundamental morality of Na- ture. I believe that the Christian sects of the present day apprehend that the issue lies there. It is in consequence of this apprehension that they are showing the zeal they do in behalf of Christianity. We are com- ing, Mr. President, upon an era of human destiny in which the natural morality of the mind is asking a recognition such as it has never generally received before, since the world was. There is today such a brightening of the horizon as has never before visited the eyes of man. This hour it is become more and more plain to our faithful men and women, all over the globe, that morality is something deeper then any positive, any revealed, any institutional faith ; that it is older than the Bible, greater than Christ; that it is God's morahty first, and it exists in the world only because its eternal principles ripen in the very constitution of man. They are eter- nally present as light and law and hope in the human soul, and are part of
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its very nature. That, Mr. President, is the fundamental, common ground for discussion in the great questions on which agitation is to come in our country, and I believe that, \«Jiatever the immediate, there is no doubt whatever as to the ultimate determination of those questions which shall finally be arrived at by the intelligent American people. We are to recog- nize the fact, and to urge it constantly, that these principles of natural morality are not yet fully interpreted by the most intelligent and advanced minds, but that they are the basis upon which, not only in religion itself, but in politics, in government, in science, in art, so far as they have vitality, all vahd conclusions must forever rest. They are the pillars of the universe ; they are the realities of existence ; they are the inspiration of life.
Mrs. Dr. Pratt. — I take the ground that the Christian Church, just in proportion as it persists in making these political encroachments upon the rights of humanity, just in that proportion does it destroy morality. I have seen this clearly evinced very recently. I have been interested in this movement to get the Exposition open on Sunday. I have circulated peti- tions to that effect. I have taken it to business places where men fully and heartily indorsed the opening of the Exposition on Sunday ; but they do not dare to have one of these petitions put up in their places of business, because, if they did, the Christians would cease to deal with them. Thus Christianity is making man a hypocrite, making him a positive liar, despoil- ing him of his self-respect and compelling him to trample his good common sense under foot. Therefore, I say, whatever encroachments Christianity makes on the equal religious rights of humanity, just to that degree it de- stroys the natural tendency to morality in every human being. And this body, this National Liberal League, owes it to humanity and to humanity's God, for the sake of the very morals of humanity, not to keep back their knowledge of the way in which Christianity continually attempts to encroach upon our rights. I went about the city to procure the influential names of good men for vice-presidents, to be read at a mass-meeting to be held in fav- or of opening the Exposition on Sunday. I went to one of the banks in this city, and saw a prominent Hicksite Quaker. He evinced an almost sav- age spirit at the closing of the Exhibition on Sundays. " But," said he, "Mrs. Pratt, I cannot put my name to that petition." There were other reasons, but he wound up at last with the main reason. Says he, "' My posi- tion in this bank forbids me to do it. Those who have shut the Exhibition are Christian bigots. They are making their effort to stifle the consciences of others and get the control of them. They are the men that have control of the money deposits in the bank. They are the directors of the bank. " This one I spoke of is the President of the bank, one of the best in Phila- delphia, and he said : " If these people saw my name on that petition, they would lose faith in me. " That man is a Hicksite Quaker, and he does not believe in the Sabbath ; but he is obliged to crouch in order to gain his bread and butter. Therefore I say, in passing this resolution and pushing it, we are not only supporting morality, but we are destroying that influence which would in time sweep out morality and make hypocrites of us all.
The President. — Are you ready for the question?
Being put to the vote, the fourth resolution was adopted. The Presi- dent then read the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth resolutions, which were all adopted without amendment. The ninth resolution was then read.
Mr. Einstein. — I move to amend by inserting the words, " or any other existing, " between the words, " Christian religion. "
The President. — The amendment offered by Mr. Einstein is to amend the first clause of the resolution so that it shall read thus : " Resolved, that the Liberal League movement has nothing whatever to do with the Christian or any other existing religion as such," etc.
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Mk. Underwood. — I second the amendment.
Mrs. Dr. Pr.vtt. — I would amend tln^ amendment, by striking out the word, " existing ; " for hereafter other religions may come into existence, and we do not want to fisrht them.
The President. — As Mr. Einstein accepts Mrs. Pratt's amendment, I will by common consent put the question on the amendment of Mr. Einstein.
Agreed to.
The vote being taken on the adoption of the ninth resolution as a whole, it was also agreed to. The President then read the tenth resolution.
Mr. Jack. — It seems to me inconsistent to declare that we shall not coquet with any party, and then subsequently to declare that we will take measures to ascertain the position of the already nominated candidates. I would modify it. I move to amend that resolution by striking out what follows the words, "existing political parties as such," and to insert —
The President. — Will the gentleman please reduce his amendment to writing?
Professor Loos. — While Mr. Jack is writing out his amendment, I should like to say, in support of the resolution as reported, that I do not see how the ascertaining of the position of any candidate towards our princi- ples, for the purpose of knowing how to vote as citizens at the coming elec- tion , could be confounded with coquetting with them. It is simply to open an inquiry by the result of which we may wish to make our choice of candi- dates. I would favor the retaining of the wording of the report.
Mrs. Dr. Pratt. — It is my opinion that both pohtical parties are co- quetting with us. Both the Republican and Democratic parties profess to be in favor of the separation of Church and State. If the question is put to these candidates individually as to what is meant by the separation of Church and State, I think you will find them declaring that the matter is all right as it stands now. Some of them are undoubtedly too stupid to under- stand that Church and State are not separated now. I think that word "coquetting" is exactly in place just now.
Mr. Hallowell. — In order to facilitate business, I move a verbal amendment. The resolution speaks of " both parties. " Now there are three or four distinct national parties in the field ; therefore I move the sub- stitution of " all parties " for "both parties."
Mr. Coleman. — I would say "all good citizens of every party." I move to amend Mr. Hallowell's amendment, by striking out the words, "both parties," and inserting "every party," so as to read, "all good citizens of every party."
Mr. Hallowell. — I accept the amendment.
The President. — The first question is on the amendment of Mr. Jack, to omit entirely the words, "neither coquet with them nor be used by them," and to substitute therefor, "hold ourselves aloof from all political parties not in sympathy with our movement." The question now is upon this amendment.
Mr. Underwood. — I should oppose that as being improper; I could not under any circumstances indorse it. I think, if fully and fairly understood, no one here would indorse it. I intend to vote with one of the political parties whose candidates have now been presented to the country. I have no assurance that either one or the other of them has any special sympathy with this movement, since it has not yet attained very much prominence. I hope no resolution will bind us to, or withhold us from, either party. The resolution as it stands, that we "will neither coquet with them nor be bound by them,"seems to present exactly the idea that every independent man who favors this movement ought to approve. When that resolution was up in
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committee, it was thoroughly and fully considered ; and the gentleman who offered this amendment, which I think is rather unadvised, will do well if he withdraws it.
The President. — The question is on Mr. Jack's amendment. Are you ready for the question ?
The question being put on the adoption of Mr. Jack's amendment, it was lost.
The President. — The question is now on Mr. Hallowell's amendment, as amended; namely, to substitute the words, "every party," for "both parties."
The question being put on the adoption of Mr. Hallowell's amendment, it was agreed to.
The President. — The question is now on the adoption of the tenth resolution as amended. Are there any other amendments to be moved?
The tenth resolution, as amended, was put to vote and adopted.
Mr. Einstein. — I believe it is clear that the League does not want to bind themselves by any action of that kind.
The President. — I am sorry to say the gentleman is not in order. There is no question before the house.
Mr. Einstein. — I made an amendment before.
The President. — It was not heard by the Chair. The resolution has been adopted, and the question is settled. But a motion to reconsider is in order.
Mr. Einstein. — I consider the resolution contradictory. We do not want to bind ourselves to one party or the other.
Mr. Ranney — I move a reconsideration of the vote by which we adopted the tenth resolution.
Mr. Einstein. — I want to make a motion to strike out.
The President. — The question is on the reconsideration of the vote adopting the tenth resolution, so that we may give Mr. Einstein a fair hear- ing and a chance to offer his amendment.
The motion to reconsider the tenth resolution was then put to the vote and carried.
The President. — Mr. Einstein is now in order and has the floor.
Mr. Einstein. — In this resolution we have to be a little careful not to contradict ourselves. The first part of the resolution is contradicted by the latter part. The first part declares that we will keep ourselves free from all connection with either party. Now at the end we say that "other things being equal," it might be possible that the League might connect itself with one or the other. I wish that stricken out. We will leave that to individ- uals to inquire into, and to find out what candidates they wiU vote for. I beheve each one should consult his own conscience and judgment. He does that as an individual.
The President.— Will the gentleman please state exactly what amend- ment he proposes ?
Mr. Einstein. — To strike out all the last part, beginning with the words, "other things being equal."
The President. — Mr. Einstein's amendment is to strike out these words : "Other things being equal," and all that follows.
A Delegate. — Read the whole resolution.
The President then read the whole resolution.
Professor Loos. — I cannot see any objection to retaining the resolution of the Committee as it stands. We object to " coquetting," but we reserve and use the right of every citizen to vote according to our own individual views on the main point at issue, and according to what we ascertain with regard to the views of the candidates before election. I do not see that there is anything incorrect in that, or anything that interferes with our indi- vidual action.
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Mr. Einstein. — I must say that what we want to do, we want to do as men, and not as a Leatjue. We should cut ourselves free from all connec- tion with political parties.
Mrs. Dr. Pratt. — I would like to know how a man (of course women have nothing to do with it !) is going to fight sectarian encroachments, and yet declare himself "free from poHtics" } I think that, as voting men and members of the Liberal League, you are to do battle with these Christian political encroachments at the polls, and in every other way.
Mr. Bohrer. — It strikes me that the resolution would be objectionable as well with the last clause stricken out as it now stands ; for while it says we will use our influence or vote for the parties, at the same time it says we will not give up our individual opinions, but will vote for whom we please and in any way we see fit. In one sense we say we will go for those men that will favor us as a League; the latter part might be stricken out.
Mr. Fraser. — What we want to do is to affect public opinion. If you are going to do it, you will have to do it by the action which you take in politics.
Mr. Underwood. — I think there is certainly an inconsistency in the po- sition of the gentleman. The resolution says that we "will not coquet." But we are at liberty to vote for any party if we see fit. That is the sub- stance of it. I think the inconsistency entirely imaginary. I am not particular about the adoption of the resolution, but it strikes me there will be no impropriety in scrutinizing the ground on which its rejection is urged.
Mr. Kilgore. — I think it should stand as it is, because we do need and intend political action. The reason why it should stand is that we wish to protect those who may hereafter join our League. With regard to our political duties, we do not propose to make any entangling alliance with political parties. We do not propose to be used by them. But we propose to use them so as to secure the end we desire to have secured — equal rights to all — by means of the ballot, instead of letting these encroachments con- tinue until they will have to be resisted by the bullet.
Mr. Dye. — This resolution, although it contains much that I approve, still contains the very essence of coquetting. For my part, I would vote for no man that would not indorse the complete separation of Church and State, and pubhcly proclaim it. But we want a united action in the League. That is the only way in which we can accomplish anything. Therefore I recommend the rejection of the whole resolution.
The question being put on the adoption of Mr. Einstein's amendment, it was not agreed to.
The President. — The question is now on the adoption of the tenth resolution as it originally passed.
Mr. Dye. — We must try to carry the main point. We are all in favor, every one of us here, of a resolution we can vote for. We all want to be organized. We shall have ten thousand times more influence when it is known that the Liberal League is organized and can control a large vote, and that that vote will not be given to either party, unless the party pledges itself to the complete separation of Church and State.
Mr. Jack. — 1 offer my amendment again. I move to amend by striking out the words about coquetting, etc., and inserting the words, "we hold our- selves aloof from all parties not in sympathy with our movement."
The President. — The same amendment cannot be offered twice. This amendment has already been voted upon.
Mr. Kilgore. — I hke the spirit of my friend who preceded the last speaker, but I think he would cramp us in our future action. We may wish to vote for a man who does not desire to be known in connection with the
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Liberal League. It is necessary that we should exercise wisdom in our re- solutions and at the ballot box. Some men do not see fit to come out and pledge themselves fully to our cause. I believe in telling the politicians what our principles are, and that we will vote for their friends and vote against their foes. We will stand by our principles, but we will not be in any manner cajoled or coerced.
Mr. Dye. — I wish to say a word or two more, if I am permitted. We do not stand in the position that we did years ago. We have made pro- gress. We find the principles which we are advocating in the Constitution ; we only call upon the politicians to indorse the Constitution of the United States, and go on the platform on which Franklin, Adams, Hamilton, and the rest who framed that instrument stood. We sh6uld declare unmistakably that we will vote for no person who is not in favor of standing by the first principles of the government since the very adoption of the Constitution.
Mr. Kilgore. — Will Mr. Dye answer a question } Would any man in the city of Philadelphia be elected to any position of trust by the people, if he dared to announce that he was opposed to modern Christianity.''
Mr. Dye. — I do not suppose he would. But we don't propose to ask him that ; we propose to ask him simply to declare himself in favor of the separation of Church and State. The question of Christianity has noth- ing to do with it. Every man of progress is certainly in favor of the separation of Church and State.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move the previous question.
The President. — The previous question is called for. Shall the main question be now put 1
Agreed to. The main question being then put, the tenth resolution as originally carried was again adopted.
On motion, the convention then adjourned till 2 o'clock, P. M.
SIXITKC SESSIOlSTz
MONDAY, JULY 3, 1876.
The convention was called to order at half past two o'clock, P. M. ; the President, Francis E. Abbot, in the chair.
In accordance with the order of business adopted by the convention, the President introduced Mr. Damon Y. Kilgore, who delivered the following address on
ECCLESIASTICISM IN AMERICAN POLITICS AND INSTITUTIONS.
These are stirring times. In this year of jubilee, as we stand at the thresh- old of a new century, let us examine the record we have made, and ascertain how far from the fundamental principles of free government we have gone astray. Let us call to mind a few of the many instances in which civil rights and liberty of conscience have been denied to those who disbelieved Church creeds, and inquire to what extent this injustice is intrenched in the nation's life to-day, in custom, schooL and law. The customs of a people are their unwritten laws, and have great influence in determining both politics and in- stitutions. Ecclesiasticism pervades and permeates them all — degrades our customs, poisons politics, and perverts law. Instead of using reason and knowledge, which should be the basis of all government, the ecclesiastical
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legislator enacts laws in accordance with his own or his constituents' creed; hence the grossest absurdities and superstitions have been clothed with su- preme authority.
The early settlers of this country were mainly the victims of religious in- tolerance in the governments of Europe, and came here to live in the free enjovment of their own opinions. But although they prized religious free- dom for themselves, and had left home and country in order to secure it, as soon as they had sufficient power they disregarded the rights of others, which were as sacred as their own. Tlieir religion was austere and bigoted; and, like all sincere bigots, they claimed the right to propagate it by force. Hence they forgot the lesson they had learned in adversity, that the government had no right to compel the conscience. They in their turn became oppress- ors, enacting laws as odious to the minority as were the Jaws of the British government from which they had lied. They adopted the harshest provi- sions of the Mosaic Code, transferring bodily from Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy such texts as — "Whoever shall worship any other God than the Lord shall surely be put to death. " They made attendance upon Church service compulsory, and so outraged the rights of conscience as to punish with death those who worshipped God according to any ritual differ- ing from their own. They banished Baptists, and inflicted heavy fines on all captains of ships who should import into the country any of " an accursed race of heretics called Qiiakers." Thus early in our history was brought to America that odious word *' heretic. " To such an extent did religious fanat- icism, aided by the civil power, flourish in the Colonies, that the fiendish spirit of religious persecution — the greatest calamity possible to the human race — was aroused in the New World. Scenes of gross cruelty were enact- ed in the name of religion and law, the chief actors in which were civil mag- istrates and Christian ministers. The objects of their especial vengeance were innocent and inoft'ensive Qjaakers, who refused to take off their hats in the presence of authority and looked for guidance rather to the "inner light " of their own souls than to the great ecclesiastical lights in the pulpits of the time. So brutal were these outrages even upon innocent women that on one occasion, " a member of the church and a man of good character" remonstrated with his brethren for their inhumanity and cruelty. For this he was fined, and soon after banished " for staying away from church. " Be- ing a feeble old man and forced to leave his home in the severity of a New England winter, an Indian chief oflered him shelter, exclaiming, " What a God have the English who deal so with one another about their God!" Thus did the natural morality of the savage rebuke the Christian morality of our pious ancestors a little more than two centuries ago.
By a law of Massachusetts Province, A. D. 1646, even Christians who should maintain the " damnable heresy " that there "was any sin in the re- generate to be repented of, " or deny that " Christ gave himself a ransom for our sins," or affirm that we are " not justified by his death and righteousness, but by the perfections of our own works," or "deny the resurrection of the bodv " or " the morality of the fourth commandment, " or " openly condemn or oppose the baptizing of infants or purposely depart the congregation at the administration of that ordinance, " were banished from the Province. No person was allowed to think for himself on religious matters, or differ from the views of the established church without incurring the legal penalties of fine, imprisonment, confiscation of goods and banishment.
On one occasion Governor Bellingham had two innocent Quaker women treated so barbarously, that the historian declares " modesty forbids to men- tion it;" being stripped naked and publicly whipped, they were imprisoned, and, after being in a loathsome dungeon five weeks, were sent back to Old England, their beds and Bibles being taken by the jailor for his fees. Scarce a month after, eight other Q^iakers came ; they were locked up, and after eleven weeks imprisonment were sent back, John Endicott bidding them " take heed that ye break not our ecclesiastical law, for then ye are sure to
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stretch by the halter. " By a law of 1658, heretics iu Massachusetts were punished by " severe whipping, cutting oflF ears, and boring through their tongues with a red hot iron, whether male or female, and such like inhuman barbarities."
Let it be remembered that all these horrible scenes were not only approved, but were actually instigated by the ministers of religion. These cruel laws with their barbarous penalties were made and executed, not by Roman Cath- olics against Protestants, but by Protestant Christians against each other as well as against the Catholics. Teachers of religion actually petitioned the Legislature for the banishment of Quakers from Massachusetts. They stood by when Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick and their son Josiah were pub- licly whipped at Boston for the crime of "not coming to church." And when another victim was so cruelly beaten "by the inhuman jailor, with a pitched rope, more than a hundred strokes, till his flesh was bruised to a jelly, his body turned cold, and for some time he had neither seeing, feel- ing, nor hearing," the clergy stood by approvingly and pronounced it just. The ministers of religion and officers of titate joined hands with each other in executing the reputed commands of Jehovah as recorded thus in Deuteron- omy [xvii: 12: ] "And the man that will do presumptuously and ivill not hearken tint 0 the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put awajy the evil from Israel. "
It was doubtless a firm belief in the binding character of such passages from "Holy Writ, " indorsed by the Westminster Confession, that led to the execution of "the unjust and bloody sentence of death upon William Rob- inson and Marmaduke Stevenson," for refusing to abandon their faith; and that influenced a clergyman named Wilson to exclaim tauntingly, as they came near the gallows, " Shall such jacks as you come in before authority with your hats on.'" It was the unholy influence of such religious supersti- tion in the State that prompted the Governor of Plymouth to say that, in his conscience, the Qiiakers were " such a people as deserved to be destroy- ed, they, their wives and children, their houses and lands, without pity or mercy. "
Thus were the natural impulses of the human heart, in behalf of the suf- fering and oppressed, entirely overcome by a blind faith in a bloody religion. To the same influence of their religion in the civil government may traced that fanatical persecution of sensitive persons called witches that carried terror, distress and suffering all through New England. Says the historian : "All the securities of society were dissolved. Every man's life was at the mercy of every other man ; fear sat upon every countenance; terror and dis- tress were in all hearts; silence pervaded the streets; many of the people left the country; all business was at a stand, and the feeling, dismal and horrible indeed, laecame general that they were given over to the dominion of Satan. "
Such were the effects of the religious superstitions and of the intolerant and persecuting spirit inherited from the teaching of John Calvin, John Knox and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, upon society in New Eng- land about the close of the seventeenth century. Believing in the Mosaic Code and its vigorous application, they determined to employ all the power of government to compel obedience to its barbarous provisions. In their honest but unnatural effort to "root out all heresy," they enacted laws which for tyranny and injustice equalled those of the dark ages. In their zeal for the Church, they struck down the sacred right of private judgment and liberty of conscience.
Fortunate indeed would it have been for our government, had the seeds of ecclesiasticism planted by the Colonies in their laws perished in the Revolu- tion. But ecclesiasticism once intrenched in laws and State institutions is not easily overcome.
Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, all liberals and freethinkers,
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taking advantage of the hatred and jealousy of each sect for the otlicrs at the time of the Constitutional Convention, succeeded in placing the general government upon a purely secular basis. They expected that the noble ex- ample thus established by the supreme law of the land would be followed in all the State Constitutions. But unfortunately not a single State followed so wise a precedent. The clerical classes, especially of New England, were generally men of education far superior to the masses of the people; and, having a life-tenure support from the State, they had leisure to give much attention to politics. Thus becoming political leaders, tliey were able to re- tain in the Constitutions and laws of the States most of the ecclesiastical provisions of the Colonies.
Massachusetts adopted a provision by which no citizen was eligible to the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Councillor, Senator or Representa- tive in the General Court, unless he could make oath to his belief in that par- ticular form of religion sanctioned by the State. This provision remained in force as late as April ii, 1821. Every citizen in that State was taxed to sup- port the Protestant religion, no matter what his own belief, until November,
1833-
To question the truth of the Old and New Testament Scriptures was by law pronounced "blasphemy," punishable by fine, whipping, sitting in the pillory with a rope about the neck, and twelve months imprisonment.
Under this law, in January, 1834, a jury of Bostonians convicted Abner Kneeland of blasphemy for declaring that — "The Universalists believe in a God which I do not, but believe that their God, with his moral attributes (aside from Nature itself), is nothing but a chimera of their own imagina- tion." For this expression of his honest sentiments, this aged, intellectual and worthy man was deprived of his liberty and sent to jail in Boston less than half a century ago !
Had Abner Kneeland been present last Friday night in our Academy of Music, and heard the coarse and untruthful utterances against liberals from the lips of Rev. Br. Brooks, a Universalist clergyman of Philadelphia, he might reasonably have concluded that Universalists of to-day believe in a God, whether imaginative or real, utterly destitute of all moral qualities.
Such outrages upon civil and religious liberty, and the spirit manifested by over-zealous members of the National Reform Association at the above meeting, give to Thomas Jefferson's strictures upon the clergy of Massachu- setts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, a still wider application. In his Hist07-y of the United States, Mr. Hildreth tells us that Jefferson" held up those States in his private correspondence as unfortunate, priest-ridden com- munities, led by the nose by a body of men who had got a smell of union between Church and State, the natural enemies of science and truth, asso- ciated together in a conspiracy against the liberties of the people."
Delaware adopted her Constitution less than three months after Indepen- dence was declared, with the following in her Declaration of Rights : " That all persons professing the Christian religion ought forever to enjoy equal rights and privileges in this State," — plainly implying that equal rights and privileges ought not to be enjoyed by any persons except such as professed the Christian religion. The State officers and members of the Legislature were obliged to subscribe the following orthodox statement: "I, A. B.. do profess faith in God the Father, and Jesus Christ his only Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God blessed forever; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration." Such were the ideas of the rights of American citizens in Delaware, a hundred years ago. Such an acknowledgment of the Christian's Trinitarian God in her Constitu- tion, the zeal with which she has kept out newspapers and free schools, and the tenacity with which she clung to the sjstem of American Slavery (so long sustained by the American Church), together with her preservation of the ecclesiastical whipping post, should make her the banner State in the ranks of the National Reform Association.
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South Carolina established a State religion, and named her parishes after various saints in the calendar. Her Constitution " freely tolerated " all who believed in the Christian religion and whose sentiments accorded with those of the majority, but refused to incorporate any religious society that did not declare "the Christian religion to be the true religion" and " that the Holy Scriptures are of divine inspiration and are the rule of faith and practice."
North Carolina, as late as February, 1874, expelled from her Legislature a worthy citizen, qualified by age, intelligence, character and experience to act as a legislator, on account of his religious belief. Such is the effect of ecclesiasticism in the politics of that State.
Virginia, the "mother of Presidents," supported a State religion long after Independence was declared, and when, through the eflforts of Thomas Jetfer- son aided by the mutual hatred of the Baptists and Presbyterians against the Episcopalians, the Religious Freedom Act was passed, ecclesiasticism re- mains. Laws have been passed during the last half century in Virginia to uphold their "divine institution" sanctioned in Leviticus, which would shame a Buddhist or a Mohammedan, and could hardly be paralleled outside the limits of a Christian State.
_ Pennsylvania, settled by the very sect which, as "an accursed race ot here- tics," had been banished from Massachusetts, incorporated into her first legislature the following definition of human government: "The glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason and end of government, and therefore government in itself is a venerable ordinance of God." When it is understood that by the "Almighty God" was meant the Jehovah of the Jews,— a being subject to human passions of love, hate, jealousy, revenge, who daily got angry and sometimes repented, sanctioned human slavery, countenanced intemperance, polygamy and war, sent forth lying spirits, ac- cepted human sacrifices, and commanded the indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children,— we can readily imagine why Pennsylvania has been sa often disgraced through its law-making power. To ridicule or speak irrever- ently of this God, or the ancient manuscripts pronounced by a council of igno- rant Bishops and Priests to be " canomical," as the revelation of his character and will, is pronounced blasphemy by the laws of this Christian State. Thus we have preserved the lex talio7iis of Moses in the name of Christ. Christianity being the common law of the State, societies called " Infidel " are not allowed to have the privileges of incorporation, nor receive the legacy bequeathed to them by one of their own members. Atheists are not allowed to give testi- mony in our courts of justice, although they may be persons of the highest integrity whos^ veracity is undoubted.
Our Sunday laws have been adopted by the Centennial Commissioners as applicable to the great Centennial Exposition of our Centennial year; and ia consequence of this action on the part of a few office-seeking politicians hun- dreds of thousands of industrious mechanics will be deprived of all the edu- cational beriefits of this genuine university. Let it be borne in mind that thi& Exposition is closed on Sunday against those who cannot aff'ord to lose their daily wages on a working day in addition to what is charged as entrance fees, simply in obedience to the tyrannical demands of the churches. In or- der to perpetuate superstition and revive the already waning influence of Modern Christianity, the old Sunday law of 1794 is called into requisition. Under this law it has been decided that those who keep the seventh day of the week as their Sabbath may be imprisoned for working on Sunday. ^ Only last Aveek, two poor, industrious mechajiics, having been for a long time out of work, used their first opportunity for earning bread for their starving families, and did not rest on the first day of the week. Some over- zealous Christian, who had learned from the discussion about closing the Exposition of these old Sunday laws, entered, a complaint, and the men were arrested as criminals, brought before a magistrate, aad fined four dollars each m order to demonstrate to the civilized wor'jd.that ours is a Christian nation, Philadelphia a Christian city, and Pennsyh^ania a Christian Stat&l
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As I remember all the infamous laws,on the Statute books of Pennsylvania ami other States, now practically obsolete, but ready at any time of infuriated bisjotry to be put in force as the law of the land, my lieart .sickiiis at the ter- riiic struggles for civil and religious liberty which must soon take place on American soil.
Not only did the original thirteen States put clauses into their Constitutions and laws which recognized particular religious creeds, as entitled to special favor from the government, but in almost every State admitted since there may be found provisions almost as hostile to religious freedom. Even bloom- ing Colorado, with her mountains of silver and diviner air, now waiting to enter the galaxy of States as the Centennial daughter of the Republic, has marred her Constitution with religious injustice.
But these direct and positive methods of uniting Church and State are supplemented by other methods, less conspicuous, but quite as dangerous to the liberties of the people.
The exemption of nearly eight hundred millions of Church property from just taxation imposes a heavy burden upon labor and compels many thousands of American citizens annually to contribute to the support of religious sects and systems in violation of the fundamental principles of religious freedom.
The support of Chaplains in the Army and Navy, Congress, State Legis- latures and numerous public institutions, is an indirect method of compel- ling citizens to pay for the maintenance of a religion they do not believe.
Millions of dollars are annually appropriated by Congress and State Leg- islatures for the support of Church institutions in the name of education and charity, in violation of the citizen's individual rights. By these means large and powerful ecclesiastical corporations have already been built up in America, owning immense wealth, forever set apart for religious and secta- rian uses. These corporations, being thus able to support in comparative idleness large numbers of able bodied men and women, become a perpetual burden upon the industry of the Republic. Not only are they able to make profitable investments upon which they pay nothing for the support of government, but they are made recipients of numerous donations and lega- cies, which continually add to their possessions. Thus, by this legal robbery of unwilling tax-payers, religious and eleemosynary corporations are becoming rich, while the masses of the people are becoming poor, and starving labor begs for bread. To such an extent has this injustice been practised during the last few years, that even President Grant, in his last annual message to Congress, warned the American people of its inevitable results.
While ecclesiasticism is thus productive of evil results in American soci- ety, nowhere is its influence so pernicious as in our educational institutions. In all our sectarian schools, from the primary school to the university, a special religion is inculcated as the chief end of knowledge. When it is remembered that our seminaries and colleges were the outgrowth of monas- teries, which for a long period attempted to monopolize all human learning, it is not strange that ecclesiasticism should constitute so large an element of their existence. But that a free government should allow the teaching of any book claiming to be the exclusive revelation of Deity in those schools established for the equal advantage of all its citizens, is strange indeed.
" For any human government to attempt to coerce and predetermine the religious opinions of children by law, and contrary to the will of their parents," wrote Horace Mann, "is unspeakably more criminal than the usurpation of such control over the opinions of men. The latter is treason against truth; but the former is sacrilege. As the worst of all crimes against chastity are those which debauch the infant victim before she knows what chastity is; so the worst of all crimes against religious truth are those which forcibly close up the avenues and bar the doors that lead to the forurr- of reason and conscience. The spirit of ecclesiastical domination in mode«fn times, finding that the principles of men are too strong for it, is attempting the seduction of children. ... If a man is taxed to support a school where
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religious doctrines are inculcated which he believes to be false and which he believes that God condemns; then he is excluded from the school by the Divine law, at the same time that he is compelled to support it by *he human law. . . . The principle involved in such a course is pregnant with all tyrannical consequences. It is broad enough to sustain any claim of ecclesi- astical domination ever made in the darkest ages of the world. Every religious persecution, since the time of Constantine, may find its warrant in it, and can be legitimately defended upon it."
As I have already fully discussed this subject of the "Bible in Public Schools " in a pamphlet published by the Philadelphia Liberal League, I will only here recommend for your consideration the Prussian motto: '' Whatever you zvould have appear in a nation s life tnust be put into its schools." Shall the laws, institutions, and customs of the Old Testament Scriptures be reproduced in the life of our nation, and the examples of Biblical heroes be emulated by her sons.''
The custom of praying in public is almost universal. Not only in churches and religious gatherings, but in all manner of political and social conventions, of politicians, railroad schemers, bankers, brokers, doctors, and in a host of secret societies, are ministers called upon to ask Jehovah's blessing upon the doers and their work. No matter how selfish the scheme or what the end, a public prayer is supposed to give it respectability in the minds of the masses. In this way a Methodist clergyman increased public confidence in the "Centennial Bank," only a few days since. To such an extent has this custom become popular, I am told that an organized band of murderers in Schuylkill County have been accustomed to sanctify their proceedings in the same way. Why not.-* Did not thousands of Christian ministers pray earn- estly to the " God of Battles " to give success to the South in shooting down northern troops, for the sake of preserving human slavery .-' And through all that terrible struggle did not as many northern clergymen appeal publicly to the same God to favor the Union armies."* But apparently God was on both sides, and sometimes success crowned the efforts of Stonewall Jackson and Bishop Polk, at others victory perched upon the banners of Sherman, Sheridan and Grant. As a nation, we have not yet become sufficiently en- lightened to cease'our public prayers in churches for rain or sunshine, as sincere apparently as the prayers of our ancestors to be protected from comets and the movements of the planets. All these mere formalities of outward pomp and show are calculated to bring true spirituality into disre- pute, and thus has prayer, the soul's divinest breathing, which should be the truest and highest aspiration of each individual mind, by our Pharisaic ecclesiasticism become degenerated into a popular public ceremony, too often the outward expression of mere hypocrisy.
By all these advantages over science, reason and free thought, is the Ortho- dox Christianity of to-day emboldened to make other conquests. The effort to put their conception of Deity into the Constitution of the United States is active and persistent. Should it succeed, religious liberty and freedom of conscience would come to an end. Instead of using methods of soeial ostra- cism and the tyranny of public opinion against unbelievers, they would tlien use the instruments of civil government to compel obedience to a system of religion alike abhorrent to science and conscience.
Ecclesiasticism is not modern. It has been tried in every clime by every race of men, and has left its mark on every page of human history, written by sword and fire and blood. Claiming to know and assuming to execute the will of some supposed Deity, it has usurped absolute authoritj' over both reason and conscience. Stimulated to constant activity by the hope of un- speakable joys in another world for its ignorant zeal in this, it has been avaricious of power and cruel in its abuse- Whatever the religions of the world have gained in popularity and power by union with the civil power, they have lost in purity and their consequent ability to benefit mankind. While Pagan rites and Jewish ceremonies are both evidence of the folly of all attempts to substitute faith for knowledge in civil government, it remained
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for Christianity fully to demonstrate to the world the corrupting and demor- alizing influence of the secular power upon a spiritual religion. It is also true that, whenever the church has had the power of civil government to enforce its decrees, instead of encouraging the highest development of the individual by a thorough acquaintance with Nature and her laws, its influ- ence has ever been to circumscribe intellect and perpetuate human igno- rance. No people can attain high intellectual development so long as ecclesi- asticism exercises much influence in government, and just as in proportion as our people increase their intelligence will they throw oft" the burdens of priestly authority.
It was when the Church was supreme in the State that Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, said, "Thank God, there are no free schools nor printing presses here, and I hope there will be none for a hundred years; for learning has brought heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged these and other libels."
In the language of Robert G. Ingersoll, "Heresy is the eternal dawn, the morning star, the glittering herald of the day. It laughs at presbyteries and synods, at oecumenical councils and the impotent thunders of Sinai. Heresy is the last and best thought. It is the perpetual New World, the unknown sea, toward which the brave all sail. It is the eternal horizon of progress."
But ecclesiasticism persecutes it still To follow the teaching of demon- strated fact. — to dare to use reason in one's efforts to solve the great prob- lems of life rather than the mysterious twaddle of superstition, — is sure to concentrate upon such brave, true soul the wrath of a still persecuting church. Theodore Parker felt its power in Boston a few years since, when Orthodox Christians prayed their God to murder this great, grand man.
Liberals of America! Let us see to it that theswotd of power shall never again be placed in the hands of the Church. Too long has the world been groaning under the despotism of an organized lie ; let us demonstrate the triumphant power of organization based upon principles of eternal truth!
We seek not to coerce or to destroy, but rather to lay the enduring founda- tion of mental liberty for all men alike. Believing in the natural right of individual self-government, we demand that the State shall equally protect all its citizens from injustice, regardless of their religious creeds. While our fellow citizens are celebrating the outgoing century of the Republic, we celebrate the future. Infinite possibilities are within it. It holds all desti- nies, reveals all mysteries, solves all problems ! Let us save from supersti- tious chains the future of our nation, "heir of all the ages and the youngest born of time," and make the hnman mind completely free.
The President. — In obedience to the vote of the convention, I have now the honor to introduce to you Mr. John Fretwell, Jr., of England, who will speak to you of the persecution by the Prussian government of Mr. Theodor Hofferichter, of Breslau.
Mr. P'retwell. — 1 have asked the privilege of the platform for a few moments to appeal to your human sympathies in favor of a man whom I regard, after twenty years knowledge of his life and character, as one of the purest martyrs of human liberty and conscience. During the past week the German Union of Radicals held their meeting in a house on North Fifth street. I met there a deputy from Germany, having myself been in the very closest connection with many of the men who started a protest against the Roman Catholic Church known as the German Catholic movement of 184.5. In 1845, their association adopted as their creed the "Apostle's Creed;" they have since advanced beyond that. The government protected them, just so long as they were merely enemies of Rome, but began to persecute them, when it saw that these people were too manly to prostitute their religion, be it Christian or non-Christian, to serve the purpose of the State. Theodor Hofferichter was one of the first to fall a victim to this persecu- tion. In 1848 and 1849, the persecution grew so hot that many of the best
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and noblest leaders of this movement were obliged to seek refuge in other countries. Hofferichter, more manly than all the rest, resolved to stand his ground and stay in Breilau. From that time to this, he has held his ground there, preaching every Sunday. Hofferichter's temper is very sweet, and his character stands very high, because he is so thoroughly consistent. He carried on his work, preaching Sunday after Sunday, never taking any pay for it, but keeping himself, scholar as he was, a Httle crockery shop. A few years ago his friends in Brussels secured him a situation as Register of Marriages. It seems that one of the persons who had to come before him in his official capacity had done some illegal act, made (I believe), a false declaration ; and Hofferichter was required by the government to swear against him. He answered that he could not swear by either of the three forms of oath prescribed by the Prussian Government, either as Jew, Protestant, or Roman CathoHc ; for he did not believe in the existence of a God. He was willing to give his simple declaration ; he was willing to ac- cept all the consequences of perjury as a punishment, if he did not tell the truth ; but he could not conscientiously take the oath. But the government could not recognize the man's honesty, and they cast him into prison because he failed to take the oath. He still continued at his post, after he had served his three or four weeks in prison, and was called on a second time, with the intimation that, if he again refused to take the oath, he would be imprisoned for a long time. He is now sixty years of age, weakened and worn out by sufferings which very few men here would know how to undergo at all. He has several times been cast into a sickly prison. He was hunted down by the German police. At last he left Prussia, and went across into Silesia, in Austria. His wife, however, was obliged to give up her business, and he himself at the present moment is almost blind. He needs all the help that the Germans and you can give him. I ask this help of you, not merely because he is sick and aged, but for the international reason that America, perhaps without knowing it, is the preacher of justice to the world, and that, when a man wishes to escape from the tyranny of the Old World, he knows he can find sympathy and a refuge here.
The President. — At the end of this meeting, all those who are dis- posed to join in a little testimonial to Hofferichter, expressive of their respect and sympathy, will have a chance of doing so.
Professor Loos. — I do not wish to detain 3-ou long or distract your attention from the legitimate objects of the Congress, but I wish to give some expression to the sense of deep gratification with which we have lis- tened to the statement of our friend Mr. I""retwell. I heartily coincide in all he has said. I have known Mr. Hofferichter for more than thirty years. I have his picture in my library ; I look up to it daily, and keep him ever in mind for his zeal in this cause of religious freedom. Now at last he has been obliged to yield up every prospect of worldly prosperity, every thing that man holds dear, all the joys of a happy home hallowed by the devoted life of a faithful wife, his children, his social position, every comfort he derives from his intercourse with his friends and associates, on account of his fidelity to the dictates of his own conscience. I would like, in conclu- sion, to request the editor of The Index to exert his own ever-successful eloquence for this persecuted fellow-laborer, by opening through the columns of his paper a subscription list and trying to interest his readers on behalf of Theodor Hofferichter.
The President. — In response to Professor Loos' suggestion, the Chair takes pleasure in saying that his suggestion will be carried out heartil)-. But I must solicit written information, so as to be able to prepare a proper notice of the case. The regular business of the Congress will now proceed ; namely, the further consideration of the report of the Committee on Reso-
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lutions. Wc have adopted tlu" first ten resolutions. Tlic next resolution in order is the eleventh, as fallows : —
'•'■Resolved, That universal education is the only safej^uard of universal lib- erty ; that no child in the repul)]ic should be permitted to grow up without at least a good common school education ; that the public school system can- not be sustained in equal justice to all except by confining it strictly to sec- ular instruction ; that all religious exercises should be prohibited in the public schools ; that tlic permission of such exercises in them is a perversion of public funds raised for educational purposes to the purposes of religious propagandism ; and that to allow in these schools the present practice of 15iblc-reading, prayer, and singing of religious hymns, is a great moral wrong to large classes of citizens."
A DELEGATE. — I move that the resolution be adopted.
IMr. Wheeler. — I have no doubt that the resolution meets with- the hearty concurrence of every one ; and perhaps it ought to be allowed to pass without any remarks of mine. But there is something more for us to do than merely to make and pass a resolution. Our whole work is educa- tional. We cannot of course be expected to turn the scale by prepondera- ting numbers ; but everything we do or say must exert influence as a matter of education. This resolution expresses a principle which should become the law of the land, and yet there are difficulties in the way. If we send our children to the public schools as now conducted, they are educated In religion. Religious influences are brought to bear upon them which ought not to be permitted there, aiid which have a pernicious effect upon their minds. There is an inconsistency with our whole political system in intro- ducing into the pubhc schools any religious teaching, and it ought to be reformed.
Mr. Wallin. — One important point has not been mentioned in the resolution : the sectarian text-books used in public schools. In some of the books there are pictures of the children of Israel going through the Red Sea without getting wet. I think all such things should be stricken out of the school books. I would make a motion to that effect.
The President. — The gentleman will please reduce his amendment to writing.
At the request of Mr Wallin, the Chair wrote out his amendment to be inserted after the words "religious hymns," as follows : "or the use of text- books which are so written as to inculcate religious dogmas of any kind." This amendment, being approved by Mr. WalHn as his own, was then put to vote and agreed to.
Mr. Wallin. — A gentleman of this city gave as a reward of merit to a number of scholars in the common schools a copy of Macaulay's Lectures on Christianity, — a perfectly stupid book, as all such things are. It gives a false account of the death of the celebrated David Hume, who, as is well- known, died in complete peace of mind. Macaulay quotes the testimony of an old lady he met in some part of Scotland, who declared that David Hume died a fearful death. The statement in the book is foolish and false.
The question being then put on the adoption of the eleventh resolution as a whole, including Mr. Wallin's amendment, it was adopted.
Mr. Einstein. — I think something should be done here about the Sun- day schools. The Sunday schools do more to keep up these superstitions in the minds of the children, than all the old ladies we have.
Mrs. Pratt. — I do not think we have anything to do with Sunday schools. I don't think, Mr. President, we have any right to fight the Sun-
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day schools, or to treat them as separate and distinct from public schools. Our business is with public schools.
Mr. Einstein. — I would advise the members of the League not to send their children to Sunday schools.
Mr. Ranney. — I do not think many of the members of the League will do it.
Mrs. Pratt. — Whether reading Bibles and sectarian text-books has any influence or not, if any child was taught particular religious dogmas in a public school, it would be just as objectionable, because it would be to a certain extent the union of Church and State. That is the evil we are lighting now, and not the mere effect it has upon the minds of children. I was astonished to hear that much influence was exerted in this way. Why, my boy went to a public school, and heard the Bible read for years ; and one day, talking about the good people of the Bible, said he, " A girl danced before the King, and got Moses' head cut off." So /ic did not learn much out of the Bible ! For it was not Moses, but John the Baptist. But it is not religious teaching, but the union of Church and State which is un- constitutional.
The twelfth resolution was then read by the President as follows : —
'''•Resolved, That the non-committal Constitutional Amendment, proposed in Congress by the Hon. James G. Blaine and reserved for action until next winter, which simply provides that no public lands or public funds devoted to school purposes shall 'ever be under the control of any religious sect,' or 'be divided among religious sects or denominations,' will, if adopted, still leave the Protestant sects undisturbed in their present collective mas- tery over the public school S3stem, and therefore ought not to be adopted, unless so amended as to prevent any sect or number of sects from exercis- ing control over the public schools. "
On motion, the twelfth resolution was adopted as read.
The President then read the thirteenth resolution as follows : —
'•'•Resolved, That the Bible, being regarded as a book of sacred character and of rehgious authority by only a part of the people, is to all intents and purposes a sectarian book ; and we protest against the permission of its use in the public schools on the pretence of its being a non-sectarian book, as a manifest evasion of the truth, and a wilful disregard of the equal relig- ious rights of the people."
The adoption of the thirteenth resolution was moved, and simultaneously seconded by several ; and it was adopted as read.
The President then read the fourteenth resolution as follows: —
'■'Resoljied, That in no flippant or defiant spirit, but rather with a deep de- sire that the national government should be just to the whole people, we protest against the recent proclamation of President Grant, inviting the people to celebrate the Fourth of July by religious observances. We deny emphatically the right of the President to issue a civil proclamation of any religious fast or festival, to assume as President a strictly ecclesiastical function, to entangle the State with the Church by interfering with the peo- ple's free control of their own religious observances, and to cast the stigma of governmental disapproval on those citizens who do not choose to comply with this unwarranted, officious, and impertinent invitation. We declare the manifestly increasing disposition of the government to meddle in mat- ters of religion, and to yield to the instigation of ambitious sectaries who take this method of estabhshing their own civil supremacy, to be a tendency of vast peril to the perpetuation of religious liberty. We remind President Grant of the nobler example of his great predecessor in office, Thomas Jefferson, who, according to the historian, 'refused to appoint days of fast- ing and thanksgiving, on the ground that to do so would be indirectly to as-
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sumc an authority over religious exercises which the Constitution has ex- pressly forbidden. A recommendation from the Chief Magistrate, he thought, would carry with it so much authority that any person or sect dis- regarding it would suffer some degree of odium.' And we pointedly re- mind President Grant of his own advice to the people last September at Des Moines, now so glaringly disregarded by himself — ' Keep the Church AND THE State forever separate.' "
Mr. Dye. — 1 move that this resolution be adopted by acclamation, with- out debate.
Mr. Dye's motion was seconded by two members.
Mr. Kilgore. — I hope that motion will not prevail. I was about to ask whether it will not be better to quote the words used in President Grant's last Annual Message instead of the words used in his speech at Des Moines. I think he went a little further in his Message than he did in the Des Moines speech.
The President. — Is a motion made to that effect? The question is now on Mr. Dye's motion.
Mr. Dye. — I withdraw my motion.
The President. — Mr. Dye withdraws his motion.
Mr. Kilgore. — I think the one which is most emphatic ought to be quoted, although they are nearly identical. I move that the resolution be adopted, with the understanding that, if the President on examination here- after finds the language of the Message to be the clearer expression of our principles, he is authorized to substitute it in the place of that of the Des Moines speech.
Professor Loos. — I second Mr. Kilgore's proposition,
Mrs. Pratt. — I think it would be well to refer to the speech and to the message also. That speech was made for a purpose, I believe. I doubt whether President Grant knows what the separation of Church and State is. He probably imagines Church and State to be separate now. Since he made that speech, he has opened the Centennial Exliibition, which was open- ed with prayer. I have the word of a Philadelphian that they open oysters there with a prayer ! I don't know how that is, but I presume the prayer had some influence upon the President at the Exhibition, and that the effect of it is shown in this recommendation, that the Fourth of July be celebrated with Christian observances. The result is, that they are to sing the doxol- ogy in Independence Square, on the Fourth. Last week an advertisement appeared for public singers, — for Christian singers; when they found they could not get voices enough, they were glad to have the voices, wheth- er they belonged to infidels or Christians, to sing the patriotic songs. I went and had my name put down as one of the singers ; and to-night, at 12 o'clock, after singing that glorious song, the " Star Spangled Banner, " we have got to get up and " praise God " with the Christian doxology ! I am afraid that I shall not comply with the request. I will not sing it. I am afraid that the spirit of Thomas Paine would choke me, if I did.
The President. — I would simply state that the exact words of the Des Moines speech are quoted in the resolution, and my impression is strong that there is no single sentence, equally condensed and pointed, which is so available in the Annual Message.
Mr. Kilgore. — I entirely agree with my friend Professor Loos that one is the utterance of a private citizen, the other has all the force of the utter- ance of the chief magistrate of the nation. It is a State paper and will be on record as long as the State endures.
After a long and somewhat confused debate on technical points, the question was finally put on Mr. Kilgore's motion, which was carried ; and the fourteenth resolution was adopted, with discretionary authority in the
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President to modify the phraseology of the last portion in accordance with the suggestions above made. [ The President subsequently, on careful com- parison, inserted after the words, "at Des Moines," the words, "substanti- ally reiterated in December in his Annual Message to Congress. " ]
The President. — The next business in order is consideration of the fifteenth resolution, which is as follows : —
^'Resolved, That we would most scrupulously respect the right of church- goers to enjoy their Sunday-worship unmolested and undisturbed; and we ask them to respect the equal right of those who do not choose to join them to enjoy their own Sundays in equal freedom. "
A Member. — I move it be adopted.
Mr. Ahrens. — The resolution contains the phrase, 'enjoy their own Sundays." You know the Christians have their Sunday, while the Jews do not observe Sunday, but have their Sabbath on Saturday. There is a dif- ference; one is Sabbath and the other is Sunday. It is well to state that the word Sunday is the name of one day of the week ; simply that and no more. The Christian church-goers worship on Sunday ; the point of the resolution is that we ask them to respect the equal right of those who do not choose to worship on that day — those who use the day for other pur- poses than worship.
The question was called for, and the resolution as read was adopted.
The President. — I will now read the sixteenth resolution. It is as follows : —
'■^Resolved, That the closing of the International Exhibition on Sundays is a fresh usurpation of political power by the Church, — a gross infringe- ment of the equal religious rights and liberties of the people, who have all been taxed by pubhc appropriation for the' Exhibition, — a bitter and griev- ous wrong to the poor and laboring classes, who are thus in great measure debarred from enjoying precious advantages which they of all classes have the best right and the most need to enjoy, — and a monstrous denial of the religious equality of aU citizens who disbelieve in the alleged sacred charac- ter of Sunday. "
A Member. — I move that the sixteenth resolution be adopted.
The question being on the adoption of the sixteenth resolution, the ayes were taken, when Mrs. Pratt rose.
Mrs. Pratt. — May I be allowed to say that the opponents of the open- ing of the Exhibition on Sunday declare that the laboring man does not want it opened ? But twelve hundred workmen of Baldwin's Locomotive Works signed a petition to have it opened, which shows that the workmen by a large majority desire the opening of the Exhibition on Sunday.
Being again put to the vote, the resolution was adopted.
The President. — The seventeenth resolution is as follows:
'■'•Resolved, That F. E. Abbot, B. F. Underwood, George W. Julian, D. Y. Kilgore, James Mc Arthur, W. J. Potter and R. P. Hallowell. are hereby appointed a Committee to attend the next meeting of the United States Centennial Commission on Wednesday, July 5, to present the protest of the National Liberal League against the closing of the International Exhibi- tion on Sundays. "
It was moved to adopt this resolution.
Mrs. Pratt. — I second that resolution. There is a petition, with seventy thousand names already obtained, that will be presented on that same day, requesting the opening of the Exhibition on Sunday. I presume that the influence of the League will be added to it, and it wiU have the effect of producing good results.
Mr. Conklin. — I move that the lady who has just spoken be one of the Committee to go before the Centennial Commission. I understand some
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one else has nominated Mrs. C. B. Kilgore. If no one has nominated her, I will nominate her.
Mr. Conklin's amendment, being put to vote, was agreed to, and the resolution, as amended, was adopted.
Mr. Kilgore. — In connection with that, I move that the names of all the members of this convention be appended to the resolution which we have just adopted.
The President. — It is moved that the names of all the members of this convention be appended to the protest to be presented by this Committee. It is proper to suggest that no Committee has authority to affix a man's name to any document without his individual consent. The motion seems to transcend the power of the Committee, or even of the Congress. Will the gentleman please reduce his motion to writing ?
Mr. Kilgore. — I withdraw the motion. Mr. Andrews' suggestion is better ; namely, that the Chairman of the Committee be authorized simply to present a list of the delegates comprising the National Liberal League and a list of the officers. I make that motion.
Mr. Ranney. — That is better.
The motion, being put to vote, was adopted unanimously.
The President. — I will now read the eighteenth resolution : —
'■'■Resolved, That the conversion of the United States government into a Missionary Society by the present administration, which has made it an avowed object to 'Christianize' the Indians, and carries it out by employing sectarian missionaries as paid officials of the government, is another in the long and growing list of encroachments on the principle of secular govern- ment; and that the present Indian policy ought to be succeeded by one which shall break up the tribal system as soon as possible, and treat all Indians within the national territory as citizens, subject to the national laws and entitled to their equal protection."
A Member. — I move that the resolution be adopted.
Mr. Hallowell. — I should like to ask for information on this subject. The resolution assumes it as an "avowed object" of the government to "Christianize" the Indians. What is the evidence of such an avowed purpose ?
The President. — As a matter of information, the Chair would state that in 1872 he received from Washington a printed circular, together with a printed slip containing the words, "With the compliments of the Secretary of the Interior," to which the name of the Hon. Columbus Delano was appended. This circular was entitled, "Can Indians be Civilized and Christianized ?" It described efforts to accompHsh this result at the White Earth Reservations, and stated that "at a score of other places the same efforts at the civilization and Christianizing of the Indian races are being conducted under the direction of the government and of the churches of the land." [See The Index, Jan. 25, 1873.]
Mr. Underwood. — I wish further to say, in response to the inquiry, that the agents of the government in their reports are constantly giving accounts of the "Christianization of the Indians." They certainly act in an official capacity; their reports are issued in an official manner. That is sufficient evidence that there is a definite avowal upon the part of the gov- ernment and its agents of a purpose to Christianize the Indians.
Mr. Hallowell. — I do not dispute the point at all; I merely asked for information.
Mr. Wheeler. — There is an amendment T should like to make, respect- ing the provision "to break up the tribal system as soon as possible." I understand perfectly what the benevolent idea of the person was who drew
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that resolution ; but I do not like the words, "as soon as possible." I move to substitute, "as soon as consistent with the advantage and welfare of the Indians themselves, and only with the consent of the tribes." I do not believe in the government taking hold of the Indians by force of arms, and breaking up their organization. I know something about this matter myself. I was in Washington at the time, and made it my business to stay there some ten or twelve weeks in reference to this matter. I do not think it was intended that this should be a sectarian movement. But as our friend here says, the officials are all "stupid" in reference to these matters ; they are working wholly for the "Christianization" of the Indians under the plea of civilizing them.
A Member. — General Sherman's policy is the best.
Mr. Andrews. — I have a word to say in support of Mr. Wheeler's amendment. I second it. The tribal organization of the Indians, as it is to-day, has admirable features, which, if they were rightly understood and fostered by the government, it might benefit the Indians more rapidly to retain than to break up. The tribal is the social organization best adapted in some respects to the Indian nature, and it would be arbitrary and injuri- ous to interfere with it forcibly. If this League could co-operate with the Indian Agencies in their efforts so far as merely to civihze the Indians, it would be better than to break up the tribal organization altogether. I sus- tain the amendment.
The President. — Mr. Andrews sustains and seconds the amendment.
Mr. Wheeler. — If I may be allowed to explain, I will say that I wish to leave the matter entirely open. I would not coerce the Indians to be- come citizens. The point I would make concerns the Indians themselves. You can not get a universal expression from them ; perhaps any change must be made through the tribes if at all. We must appeal to the tribes ; you cannot make wholesale work of it. Every member of the tribe is inti- mately related to every other member. The tribal connection is a sort of family relation. It is a. matter of marriage and inter-marriage. We have not time to discuss it, but we should recognize the Indian in his individual- ity; we should recognize the tribe as the natural exponent of the social nature of the Indians, and as composed of many individuals different from ourselves.
Mrs. Pratt. — I rise to a point of order. I would ask if this matter is not entirely out of the line of business that has brought us together. What has this tribal system got to do with this question of State Secularization ?
Mr. Andrews. — I suggest that the whole clause be struck out. I would make a motion to that effect.
The President. — The question is on the adoption of Mr. Wheeler's amendment.
Mrs. Pratt. — What will you do with my point of order?
The President. — I do not see that the point of order is well taken. The amendment is germane to the resolution.
Mr. Underwood. — Would it not be in order to lay the whole thing on the table ?
Mr. Wheeler. — Wait one moment.
The President. — The Congress can do what it pleases with the amend- ment.
Mr. Underwood. — I move that Mr. Wheeler's amendment be laid on the table.
Mr. Wheeler. — With a view to make room for a wider amendment, I withdraw my own.
The President. — By common consent the amendment can be withdrawn.
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Mr. Andrews. — Mv amendment is to strike out all the words after "sec- ular government."
Mr. Undkrwood. — I second Mr. Andrews' motion to strike out all that concluding portion of the resolution, leaving what precedes.
The President. — The question is now on the amendment of Mr. Andrews to strike out all after the words "secular government." Shall I put the question ?
Mr. Potter. — I rose just before the amendment was offered to propose the change which has now been made. It seemed to me that we were discussing things that do not belong to the sphere of this convention. When we propose a general policy as to the treatment of the Indians, the point we wish to emphasize is the impropriety of our government doing any thing in an official way towards ''Christianizing" Indians. As I could not be present until this afternoon, I should like to inquire whether anywhere, in the other resolutions, the remarkable sentence which is familiar to all here, in the Treaty with Tripoli, wherein it is declared that "the United States government is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion," has been incorporated. If not, I think it might be very well and with great force added to this resolution, for the reason that the pohcy of Christianiz- ing Indians ought to be abandoned, since, as was stated in that Treaty of Tripoli, signed by George Washington, this government, according to the United States Constitution, is in no sense a Christian government.
The President. — I would state that this extract from the treaty with Tripoli is incorporated in the preamble to the Constitution of the National Liberal League.
Mr. Potter. — If it is in the preamble, that is sufficient.
The President. — The question is on Mr. Andrews' amendment, striking out all after the words "secular govei^nment."
The amendment was agreed to ; and, the question being put to the vote, the resolution as read and amended was adopted.
The President. — The nineteenth resolution is as follows : —
Whereas, The United States statutes relating to the Treasury Depart- ment, Section 3517, expressly provide that — "Upon the coins there shall be the following devices and legends : upon one side there shall be an im- pression emblematic of liberty, with an inscription of the word ' Liberty,' and the year of the coinage, and upon the reverse shall be the figure or representation of an eagle, with the inscription 'United States of America' and 'E Pluribus Unum,' and a designation of the value of the coin ;" and
Whereas, The Director of the Mint, without authority of law and on his own motion alone, has seen fit to inscribe on several of the coins, particu- larly on the new silver quarter-dollars and half-dollars, the legend "In God we trust ;" therefore
Resolved, That the Director of the Mint deserves the severe censure of the people and dismissal from his office for this great abuse of the trust reposed in him.
Resolved, That placing such an inscription on the national coinage is ana- logous to striking the stars from the national flag and inserting the cross in their stead, or throwing down the statue of Liberty from the dome of the national Capitol and setting up that of the Virgin Mary in its place ; and that such cunning, stealthy, and dangerous encroachments of the sectarian spirit on the secular character of the government should call forth the loud and swift rebuke of an outraged people.
The vote being taken, the nineteenth resolution was adopted without debate.
The President. — The twentieth resolution is now before us, and is as follows : —
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Resolved, That we hereby appeal to the country for funds to carry on the vitally important work for which we have organized ; that we believe there is abundant wealth and abundant enthusiasm ready to aid us, just as soon as our objects are thoroughly understood and widely known ; and that we rely confidently on the generosity of the patriotic public not to permit this great cause to languish for want of the all-essential means.
The vote being taken, the twentieth resolution was also adopted without debate.
The President then read the twenty-first resolution, as follows : —
Resolved, That we accept the offer of the Boston Index to be our offi- cial organ of communication with the public, for the publication of announce- ments, acknowledgments, and uther official papers of the Board of Direc- tors ; but that we assume no responsibility for anything else published in its columns, and claim no control or influence in its general editorial manage- ment.
Mr. Jack. — Why not make all other liberal papers our organs, as well as The Index?
Mr. Underwood. — Simply because they have not offered to be. The editor of The Index offered to the Committee to make that journal our official organ for the purposes specified, and it will be a great advantage to the League to have such an organ. There is not the slightest discourtesy intended to other liberal journals by this resolution ; we hope they will all favor and help this movement all they can.
Being put to the vote, the twenty-first resolution was then unanimously adopted.
The President. — The twenty-second resolution is as follows : —
Resolved, That the directors are instructed to ascertain, if possible, by direct inquiry, whether the Presidential candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties are in favor of strictly secular government and of the special measures we advocate ; and to communicate the result to the public.
Being put to vote, the twenty-second resolution was adopted.
The President. — The twenty-tliird resolution is one in acknowledg- ment of the resolutions of sympathy with this movement presented by Prof. Loos on behalf of the German "Union of Radicals," and reads as follows : —
Resolved, That the resolutions of sympathy with this movement pre- sented by Professor Loos on behalf of the German "Union of Radicals" are received with pleasure and respect ; and that, while the National Liberal League expresses no collective opinion on the points inquired about, we hold ourselves individually free to favor or to oppose any measures not included in the specified objects which we have organized to accomplish."
Being put to the vote, the twenty-third resolution was unanimously adopted.
The following resolutions, additional to the foregoing, were then reported by the Committee, and after considerable discussion of a somewhat desult- ory character, were adopted successively by the League : —
Resolved, That this League receives from the Michigan State Association of Spiritualists its able and earnest statement of the objects of the National Liberal League, and tenders thanks for its assurance of co-operation in the promotion of these objects.
Resolved, That we hereby tender our thanks to the publisher and editor of the Boston hivcstigatoi' for their brave and earnest advocacy of the secularization of the government, in past years when the Liberal League was unknown and when lUeir efforts were but poorly appreciated
A Member. — I move that we adjourn.
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The President. — It is moved that we adjourn. The Chair would re- quest it as an act of courtesy that the motion to adjourn be for a moment withdrawn.
The Member. — I will withdraw it for a moment.
The President. — Mr. Andrews has requested me to present to you some resolutions which with your permission I will read. By our standing rule, they will then go to the Committee on Resolutions without debate; and then the motion to adjourn can be renewed.
The President then read the resolutions of Mr. Andrews, which went to the Committee in order, to be reported upon at a subsequent session.
On motion, the convention adjourned, to re-assemble at eight o'clock, P. M.
MONDAY, JULY 3, 1876.
The convention was called to order at eight o'clock, P. M., — the Presi- dent, Francis E. Abbot, in the chair.
The President introduced Mr. Charles D. B. Mills, who read the foi lowing paper on —
THE SUFFICIENCY OF NATURAL MORALITY AS THE BASIS OF CIVIL SOCIETY.
It is not matter for surprise, I think, that there should be so earnest and positive, and latterly so pronounced, a feeling in favorof the express acknowl- edgment of religion in the organic law of our republic, and of its use in the practical administration of its affairs, especially in public school instruction. It would be strange, considering all the circumstances, were it otherwse. The religious sentiment is the strongest, the deepest, the Tiiost abiding of all the sentiments in human nature, and exercises under one phase or another the most sovereign and absolute sway over the affairs of men. It is supreme and exclusive — will tolerate no peer or rival. Reli"'- ion is held the inner and central fact in our existence, and around it and for it all other things must stand and serve.
A subtile illusion plays here (in all departments of our life indeed it obtains, but here especially and powerfully) in the identification of sub- stance and form, the idea and some determinate, historic, and withal par- tial expression. Religion, as commonly held, is a revealed body of doc- trines, a collection miraculously imparted to man of saving truths, and also a great divinely appointed institution. It is Christianity, its principles, its inculcations, and its church. Religion is all covered and included in this ; there is nothing of worth outside of it; there can be nothing beyond it. A like impression prevails all over the world, in regard to their own, with the votaries of each several faith.
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It is a very powerful illusion, this of confounding things not identical together, and ascribing to and claiming for the one all that of right belongs to the other. It is natural, and hardly less than inevitable, that those who hold religion to be Christianity, and Christianity to be all of religion, seeing religion also the central, vital fact it is, should desire and insist that Chris- tianity, in its fundamental features at least, should be incorporated and made the presiding power in the State. All the force of the religious sentiment be- comes invested in the idea, and imparts to it wholly the sanctity, supreme sovereignty, and irrepressible determination that belong to religion itself. The religious element of our nature bears perversion least well of any. Out of belief, as Emerson somewhere in substance says, the devotee burns the believer.
I think that a study of history would sliow us that all of the knowledges and the arts have had to pass through similar stages, and had to experience fiery baptisms of trial and of suffering, in order to advance. The time was, and that in a day not distant, when the sciences, not only in the opin- ion of the multitude, but of the learned, were bound up in historic names, in their spoken utterances and books. All was included in them, and without them in this realm was not anything made that was made. Logic, philosophy, was merely the Organon of Aristotle, and astronomy was the Almagest of Ptolemy. Galen was medicine, and medicine was Galen. It was doubtless the same with other sciences, even the simplest and most elemental, with geography, with chemistry, natural philosophy, etc. Probably for a time there was not a man in all Europe who ventured to call in question the cosmog- raphy of Cosmas Indicopleustes. It was a finality, and above all, it was fortified by scripture.
It is plain that, to minds so conditioned, the more the devotion to sci- ence, the more precious and vital the historic names and the authoritative writings. And where, as was here the case, there was a religious element intermingled, the more impatience and intolerance there was of non-con- formity and dissent. There can easily be a bigotry of science ; indeed there always will be where it has fallen to an incantation and pretence.
Going farther back, we shall find the same fact in more pronounced ex- pression, as is illustrated in modern times where, as among Indian tribes in America, all of medicine, all the healing power in the world, is bound up in the buckskin medicine-bag of the magician. Once all the art of pottery was in the fabrication of coarse vessels from gravelly clay, by the unaided hand, without mould or wheel, almost without ideal of shape, the form rude and often grotesque ; all of the weaving was in crossing the threads labor- iously by hand, no shuttle, beam, or loom, the rudest, coarsest and scant- iest of fabrics ; all the sewing with bone needles and with thongs of skin ; all the grinding of grain by hand and ^^'ith unwrought stones ; all of the cufting with stone axes and knives of flint. This condition continued we know not how long, doubtless for untold ages, perhaps millenniums of ages. It was then heresy to hint a change, to suggest an improved method; it was the "latest form of infidelity" to bring in or to advocate the potter's wheel, the spindle, the loom, the metaUic axe. In art and in science, too, the ideal has passed beyond the historic and. has superseded it. has age by age become itself wrought into history, and cast the old behind. The births have been births of pain, but have each been advent to new and greater life.
The stages, at least the more recent, through which the sciences have passed, remain still future for religion. The religious conflict witii its va- rious accessories, coming latest, shall also last longest: it is to be the hard- est, most severe and bitter of all, as the religious sentiment holds most te- naciously by its beliefs, and accepts least willingly fluidity and progress.
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These considerations may beloncj more to the deeper aspects, the philos- ophy, of our theme. It seems plain to me that the discussion must <jo to this depth, — that no full and final solution of this vexed question will be reached until religion itself is o/tancipatcd, religion in its essence and idea discriminated from religion in any of its determinate historic expressions and tlic obliquity and the juggle that come froni confounding the two things togetlicr are abolished. So long as the identification of religion with a cer- tain determinate form of faith obtains (as with us Christianity, Bible, etc., so long, the power of religious sentiment being what it is, there will be a strong tendency to the narrow, exclusive and intolerant spirit, and the dis- position will not sleep to stride on beyond the bounds of the moral and as- sume civil power for the maintenance of what is deemed vital truth and the interests of morality. Religion, as we find it, however useful and indis- pensable it may be, is a delicate and often a dangerous element ; it is like fire to be guarded, hke dynamite to be kept in place, and above all things relig- iously withheld from contact or affiliation with the State. The extent of the irreparable injury it may in such connection inflict, its votaries them- selves are powerless to foresee, and often to resist. The logic of faith is too strong for human volition, and the intoxication that visits will transmute the mildest and most generous to the wildest and most relentlessly cruel of men.
History bears her testimony here emphatically and with most unvarying uniformity. There is not one exception to the statement in all the annals of the human race. President White, in his admirable lecture on the "Battle Fields of Science, " some years ago generalized the teaching in this way ; that in " all modern history interference with science in the sup- posed interest of religion has resulted in the direst evils both to religion and science, and invariably." We may broaden the statement, and say that any interference by religion in the affairs of society and the State has re- sulted in the direst evils both to true religion and the State, and this in- variably.
In ancient India we have the effect vividly illustrated, brought to light as it has been through recent researches into the early Hindu history. The State was the product and the creature, to a large extent, of the Brahmani- calrule. The Brahmans held no civil office, but king and noble were their vic- tim and their tool. " No nation," says Max Mueller, " was ever so completely priest-ridden as the Hindus under the sway of the Brahmanic law." " It was impossible," he adds, "to avoid sin without the help of the Brahmans, They alone knew the food that might properly be eaten, the air which might properly be breathed, the dress which might properly be worn. The slight- est mistake of pronunciation, the slightest neglect about clarified butter, or the length of the ladle in which it was to be offered, might bring destruc- tion upon the head of the unassisted worshipper." " The Brahmanic hier- archy," says Koeppen, the author of a very valuable work in German on Buddhism, "directed the citizen as to the where and the how he should walk along, when stand still, when lie down, and when rise up, put on clothes and put them off, when buy, when sell, when kindle the fire and when put it out." They directed everything, even the most retired and sacredly private offices of human life. " The multitude of requirements," he says again, " was innumerable, like the sands of the sea."
The narrator in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter vii, declares of that Egyptian king who knew not Joseph, that he " evil-entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children to the end they might not live." So the effect of Brahmanic rule is marked in the fact, that the people be- came weary and sick of life, to such extent that their whole prayer, the orison that rose from their hearts continually, was for utter, absolute anni-
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hilation. " What," continues Koeppen, " must a people have suffered in every conceivable way, before the question how to gain dehverance from life and personal continuance could become the sole life-problem ? The ef- fect was written upon all the subsequent generations, and India in all her after history, and to this hour, reveals the blight and unmitigated curse wrought upon her races by overriding sacerdotal rule. It grew up from small and unnoticed beginnings, and with the luxuriance that belongs to that tropical clime."
The same result came to ancient Egypt, herself also one of the typical countries of the world. The domination of priestly rule stamped a solemn immobility upon people and institutions, blighted their art and their civil- ization, and quenched the national existence. Egypt died, for one thing, of her religion; that fine bloom of the human intellect, in some respects more gorgeous and splendid than earth ever witnessed before or since, went down, smitten and crushed under the oppressions of an ecclesiastical faith.
A like tragic story — is it not told beneath other skies, and under the rule of a religion like, aye, one with our own ? Passing by Judaism, which very quickly hardened into a most degrading and malign idolatry, and upon op- portunity slew Jesus, taking the life of that young reformer in what was ac- counted strict accordance with the requirement of the Mosaic law, let us look for an instant at Christianity. It repeats the history of India, of Egypt, of Judea, with an added intensity of its own.
With aU the services to civilization and humanity it is to be accredited with, — and it has done no mean work in this regard, — there stands a record of fearful oppressions and atrocities, unequalled perhaps in the an- nals of the world, to be scored against it. 341,021 persons punished for heresy by the Spanish Inquisition alone in the space of a little more than three centuries from 1481 to 1808, of whom nearly 32,000 were burned; to say nothing of the untold numbers slain elsewhere, 30,000 of Protestants, it is said, in a single year (1560) in Germany, — science hunted and throt- tled, a babe flying from the face of the Herod of the church, who every- where sought the young child's life to destroy it, — the liberty of the citizen quenched in ubiquitous repression, — all public progress stifled in the birth, so far as ecclesiastical power backed by the civil arm could do it, — these are a part of the answer that history has to bear to the question of the ef- fect of reUgious intervention in the affairs of society and the State in Chris- tian Europe. I might refer, did time permit, to its effect upon the institu- tions of public education, everywhere the same blight and withering.
The record also of Protestantism is by no means clear of a like taint; in- deed, considering all the circumstances, its shorter period, its fresh exper- iences of persecution, it is scarcely less guilty than papal Rome. It learned quick the lesson of intolerance and capital infliction, and Geneva could burn a heretic with no less refinement of torture than Rome. Religious wars waged in the name of Protestant Christianity bear the stain of un- named atrocities done upon Christian, though dissentient, believers. The same spirit of intolerance cast its shadow across the seas, and smote with its perversity the devout and liberty-loving Puritans, drove Quakers from Massachusetts, expelled Roger Wilhams and his adherents, and two hun- dred and sixteen years ago this summer hung Mary Dyer on Boston Com- mon. About eighty years ago the noble Fichte, than whom a more relig- ious soul did not live in Europe lin the eighteenth century, was branded as an atheist, thrust from his place as a public teacher, and made an outlaw in Protestant German)^, for the expression of a philosophical opinion. So late as 1858, six women were banished from Pi^otestant Sweden simply for having joined a church of other Christian (the Roman Catholic) faith than the one prevaihng in that country. Only forty years ago Abner Kneeland
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was imprisoned in our own country for the offence of atheism; and in 1841 Theodore Parker was denounced for blasphemy by the religious press, and one leading Orthodox minister in New England issued in a widely circu- lated newspaper a call upon the authorities of the State of Massachusetts to have him arraigned, convicted and imprisoned for three years, as in the statutes provided.
Nor is it to be said that the oppressions and excesses I have glanced at are incidental merely, the fruit of some abuse, and not necessarily involved in, or at least flowing from, the assumption that religion should hold a place of recognition and control in the State. These are vices of the principle, corollaries coming naturally and in a degree inevitably from one fatal prem- ise. There is no safety or deUverance but in following fixedly the motto '■'■ obsta principiis •" resist at the threshold.
Not less disastrous and fatal is such affiliation in its effect upon religion itself. Truth, divine truth, needs no sanction of the civil power for its sup- port, and the attempt to gain it is at fearful cost of its best interests to truth itself. There is the presence of a sly joker in the claim that religion should have acknowledgment in the State ; the apprehension and the desire is often not so much that it may support and strengthen the State, as the State sup- port it ; it is not that the republic is weak and needs religion to sustain it, but that religion, the church, the theology is weak and requires re-enforce- ment from the arm of the civil power. It is felt to be unequal to the pres- • ence of free inquiry, the light of untrammelled thought and discussion.
But to suppose that aid may come in such way — there can be no illusion, no juggle more fatal. The history of Rome in the middle age shows this so that he who runs must read. The more attempt at suppression and en- forced uniformity, the more revolt and denial. If I wished to bring God, the Bible, Christianity, into doubt and disesteem, to awaken towards them such disgust and renunciation that they should find no tolerance anywhere, I would most sedulously seek to plant them deep in the American Consti- tution. There could be no surer method of getting them out of the minds of the people, than to plant them most thoroughly and emphatically in the parchment of the statute. We are familiar, for it belongs to recent history in our country, with the effect of the planting more and more carefully of guaranties of slavery in the Federal and the State law. The very attempt to fortify by fresh support and guaranty was in itself suspicious, and every new aggression in this sort but sealed the more swift and speedy doom of slavery. Of truth the poet well says : —
" Would'st thon seek in a dogma to prison its form ? It is free, and flies forth on the wings of the storm."
Whatever else may or may not be fitting as foundation for civil govern- ment, it is plain that any positive religion is the very worst basis on which to build. Its presence is blighting, its breath is mildew and death.
But, says one, taking away religion, do you not take all .? What other founda- tion can be laid ? Will you build in mid-air, construct in defiance of gravita- tion? Never. We remove religion ( I mean of course, rehgion in the his- toric, in determinate and dogmatic expression ) that we may reach a deeper and a greater. We came to a rock below these drifting sands and erratics. After all that is named religion is taken, there remain the principles of human nature, which are also the principles of the Universe — Justice, Hu- manity, Truth. Through these the ancient heavens are fresh and strong. They are the morn of life, the reality of history. Older than Bibles, great- er than Christs, it is through them, by their sublime and ever-living inspira- tion that Bible and Christ can be. They are broadest and the sole basis upon which to erect the institutions of civil society ; they are cosmopolitan, im-
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partial, universal. They shall outlast all, as they are earlier than all. Of
their destiny it may be justly said in the language of the poet : —
" That prize with peerless glories bright, Which shall new lustre boast, When victors' wreaths and monarcha' gems Shall blend with common dust."
As contrasted with a positive religion, as norm for the State, we have on the one side truth, on the other dogma, — in the one an element expan- sive, progressive, in the other an element contractile or fixed ; in the one enlargement, a broadening philanthropy, in the other narrowing of the re- gards, which quickly becomes misanthropy ; in the one exhaustless resource, in the other at best " a scanty short supply ;" in the one growth and liberty, in the other retrogression and slavery.
A friend of mine in the old anti-slavery days, now, alas, gone to his sleep, whose pungent appeals, urged with that massive commanding eloquence of which he was such exalted master, were wont to thrill the ears of the hearer, and do still in remembrance fill the soul with fresh tides of inspi- ration, was wont to improve the relation of the priest and Levite going down to Jericho, with this practical application, that "farthest from the priest, nearest to humanity," and conversely. Not using here the con- crete personal, for I know many worthy ministers at the present time who are fast friends of truth, we may say in regard to the State, that nearest the Church is farthest from humanity, and farthest from the Church is gener- ally nearest humanity. And for the interests of hberty there is little to choose between Rome and Geneva, or Rome and Leyden, Papist and Calvinist, Papist and Arminian. The Church in the State, baptized under whatever name, and uttering whatever shibboleth, is the same devouring beast that Giordano Bruno found her three hundred years ago.
The truths of the ideal are the life of art. All of our arts from rudest to finest have come up, as we saw, through Red Seas of trial, purified and enlarged by baptisms of suffering. They have grown to their present status only through the inspiration of a higher. The death of an old form and condition has been the birth of a new, the transformation of the chrysalis into a more glorious and perfect being. Take away from them, from any one of them, the atmosphere and illumination of the ideal, and you will stifle and quench its very being.
The same truths are the angel of deliverance for religion, all genuine and vital religion. The stone which the builders have ever rejected is becoming always the head of the corner. Theodore Parker long since justly observed that, in the ages of ecclesiastical history, you shall find the piety among the heretics. Religion grown hard and effete, an incubus, morality has to come in to impart fresh life, to bring a new departure, and give another lease of being to religious faith. But for this humble servant, delivering with her simple and oft unacknowledged ofiices, revolutionizing and revivi- fying the worships of the world, religion to-day would be as extinct and buried as Sodom and Gomorrah, or the rites of the pJle-dwellers and shell- mound builders of the old stone age.
A force, therefore, exhaustless and perennial, representing to us what is vital and sovereign in the universe, parent and inspirer of all that is living in religion, the presiding genius, the good angel of all the growth of society — shall we not trust and invoke this in the conduct of our State ? What a government, what society might be built up, once it were dedicated sole to justice, and from all the sources of quickening were sought continually re-enforcement to the moral sentiment ! We know little of it yet in concep- tion, nothing in realization, for it has not been tried in the history of the world. Let the State be saturated with prohity and virtue, and it has a
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basis of support and enlargement that is enduring with the ages and the aeons.
America owes the measure of her success to-day (and with all the draw- backs it has been great beyond precedent) to this vital source. She is what she is as a people, a noble nationality, in consequence not of Bible, not of Christianity, but of liberty, of morality planted in some partial degree, thanks to the early fathers, in the foundations of the national being. The troubles that have beset and embarrassed us so sore have come not from undue exaltation of our principle, from neglect of religion or the like, but from infidelity to the principle, and also too much, too implicit a following of the prevailing religion. The influence of this has .wrought demorali- zation, relaxing of the conscience and the moral tone. There is nearer connection between our current religion, with its doctrine of commercial atonement for sin, salvation through the expiation of blood, deliverance from just penalty and restoration to favor, complete pardon and bliss through the juggle of divine sacrifice, — these and the profligacies and enormous corruptions that disgrace our time, — than has been thought or supposed. The one is uterine brother, nay, direct offspring of the other. Stultification of the understanding and debauch of the moral sense in religion will be attended and supplemented by dishonesty, frauds and gigantic robberies in society and in the State. These spring up from that soil as naturally and spontaneously as dung-hill weeds from "the filthy heap. It is for the lack of morality that Belknap and his fellows, whose name in one position and another is now almost legion, fell ; many of them had had too much of religion — all too little of "mere natural morality." Permeate the public mind with the grand verities of justice, saturate it with the ideals of truth and right, charge the schools and all the sources of education with this influence, fill the atmosphere itself with that vital ozone, and such corruptions and robberies shall become henceforth an impossibility, and there is no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved.
The omens are auspicious, and the hour is opportune. We behold the opening of a broader and better day, than "kings and prophets waited for, but died without the sight." Science girds herself at this moment as never before to work solution for the deep questions that shall bring illumination and deliverance for man. The horizon expands and the great truths of rehgion, thought so long to be the peculiar possession of our own, the Christian faith, and used so long for blinding and incantation upon the people, are found human truths, universal, spoken and honored too in life, in all the literature and all the ages since time began. There is no monopoly of their possession with us, none of their grand and impressive utterance. Our religion holds no keys of sole access for the soul to God. What signal enrichments are coming to us from the East in the felicities of ethical statement and marvellous wealth of poetic thoughts, of luminous and inspiring history, sacramental for the soul, long buried from the ages, and revealed to us in the final fulness of time ! "The earth, nature herself," says Bunsen, "has an aspiration towards man." And the world at this hour comes with nimble hastening feet to enrich, enfrancliise and bless man. Imperative questions press, the demand to-day is high beyond all approach hitherto, and the means for solution flow and leap to fill the hand. Sharp crises gather and confront, and the door of deliverance stands before, invit- ing to be opened.
The realizations must come, the prophecy is written upon the iron leaf, and it must all be fulfilled. Man is yet to be redeemed and one. Religion transformed and regenerated shall be brought down to the plane of simple truth and virtue, shall be worship sole of beauty and excellence, finding
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here the shekinah of God and the life of the divine. Morahty shall be exalted to religion, its grand verities the shrine of worship for the inmost soul. Enough there shall be for the sentiment, enough for the affections, enough for the communion of the spirit with the Unseen, the overarching presence of the Everlasting. The vexed question of the relation of religion to society and the State shall be solved, but in a way unattempted and unthought hitherto, for, the individual and the social penetrated and inspired perpetually and wholly by the high ideals, society itseh shall be a church and all life worship. The old ecclesiasticism shall all have passed away, the new heavens and the new earth come to be the abode for men.
Friends, brothers all, we stand to-day at the opening of a new era, at the door-way of a glorious future. The road is plain, the pointing clear and unmistakable. Let us hew to this line, build upon the foundations of the everlasting, build for the eternal verities and the welfare of humanity universal. Generations to come, not merely in the next centennial, but in the myriad ages of the future, shall remember and rise up to bless you.
As Abraham Lincoln, in a time before the outbreak of the late war, yet in an eventful fast-ripening hour in our history, saw what Garrison and his fellows long earlier foresaw, saw and told that eventually these States must be all slave or aU free, — so to-day the eye that looks well will see that this government, this country, must erewhile be penetrated with the one spirit or the other, and be all ecclesiastical and slave, or all secular and free. Let us in regard for the sovereignty of great justice, for the rights of human nature, for the mute voices in the unborn time that plead in our ears to- night, here swear that, Heaven our helper, land and State shall be unequivo- cally, absolutely and no\Ay free /
Mr. McArthur moved the following resolutions : —
"Resolved, That we regard the bust of Thomas Paine now on our platform, executed in marble by Sidney H. Morse for presentation to the city of Philadelphia, and designed for permanent preservation in Independence Hall, as a noble and fit testimonial to his heroic and patriotic career.'
"Resolved, That we now endeavor to raise by individual subscription the balance of the sum required to complete the purchase of the same."
Mr. Jack. — I object to those resolutions on the ground that they are irrelevant to our main purpose or object in this meeting.
A Member. — I rise to a point of order. I do not "think the gentleman is in order to object. _ The President. — The resolutions are before the meeting for discus- sion.
Mr. Kilgore. — I hope that before leaving the hall there will be a special meeting of the subscribers to the Paine fund, and that then some action will be taken as suggested by those resolutions. I do not believe the last reso- lution is exactly what we want ; they will have to be referred. I wish the mover would withdraw them for the sake of having them presented at the Paine meeting, because, if they go to the Committee, they wiU not come back in season.
Mr. McArthur. — There was a resolution passed Saturday evening that we would at this time proceed to endeavor to raise the balance in this con- vention. I understand that it was the order of this Congress that at this time we proceed to raise it.
The President. — The gentleman is correct in his statement. It was the special order of the convention that this evening the National Liberal League should proceed "to raise the amount, or to take measures for its being immediately raised."
Mr. Kilgore. — The minutes will show.
The President. — Will the Secretary please read the minutes ?
The Secretary. — The minutes show that, on motion of Mr. Kilgore, it was voted that a special effort be made to raise funds on Monday evening next for the Paine Bust.
Mr. Kilgore. — I supposed it was after this meeting.
The President. — I was on the point of stating, before the resolutions were offered, that this was the next business in order, and of inquiring what would be the pleasure of the convention. The resolutions are before the house for its action.
]Mr. Kilgore. — I move that they be referred to the meeting of the sub- scribers of the Paine Fund. The reason why I make that motion is that in a few minutes the procession will go by here with so much noise that it will be impossible to hear a speaker well from that platform ; but by gath- ering together we can go into one of the rear rooms and have our meeting in reference to the Paine Bust.
Mr. Buckle made some remarks which were inaudible at the platform.
The President. — The Chair knows nothing of any Paine meeting. We cannot refer the resolutions to a meeting of which we have no direct cog- nizance whatever. We could only refer them to a committee of our own appointing.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move it be i-efen-ed to the Committee on Resolutions.
Mr. Underwood. — The motion has not been seconded. The resolutions are before the house. I heartily hope they will prevail. The convention voted to take this matter in hand and do something; I hope it will be done.
Mr. Phillips. — It seems to me that all through the procedure of the Congress has been first-rate ; but if we fail to show the right spirit towards Paine, whether in order or not, it will not be first-rate all through. He was the man who led the way in this great movement ; we should show we know how to respect his memory for it. We should do our very best to raise the money to place him in Independence Hall in that form. Do not hesitate in this matter. Every free man speaks out in honor of Paine. He is ap- preciated better than our newspapers think, and we ought to be the last to shrink from putting any resolution through in his favor. The time is coming when the American people will do him justice, and this is no time to shrink from putting such resolutions through.
Mr. Kilgore. — I believe no member of the Congress is any less in favor of having that bust paid for and put in Independence Hall than the gentle- man who last spoke ; the question is, what is the proper way in which to do it? I understand from the sculptor himself that he thinks a Paine meeting would be better for the purpose than to have the Congress take it in hand. He is here, and, if he prefers to have those resolutions come up and be acted upon by the Congress, I would say amen. But what I have said has been in deference to his supposed wishes. I want the most eflicient and speedy method to be adopted.
The President. — The Chair will, by leave of the house, invite Mr. Morse to state his wishes. Whether he is a member or not, we do not care ; we will ask him to express his wishes.
Mr. Morse. — I have no wishes except that I should be happy to have the arrangements concluded as soon as possible, so that, I can complete the work and purchase the pedestal. I want to get it off my hands this hot weather. I did talk with Mr. Kilgore about the expediency of having a special Paine Bust meeting for one or two reasons — I will not stop to state them. It appears by Mr. Kilgore's motion of Saturday, that the meeting was to take place to-night; and I am perfectly content with the resolutions pending.
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Mr. Kilgore. — I withdraw my motion.
The President. — Tlie question is now upon the adoption of the origi- nal resolutions.
A Member. — I understand that this bust is to be taken charge of, when completed, by the local committee ; and those who have subscribed through- out the country have generally understood that. I understand also that they have good assurance from the gentleman in charge of Independence Hall that, if the bust is offered, it will be accepted.
Mr. Wallin. — In my opinion it will not be admitted into Independence Hall. There is another place where it may be put, and I would move that in the event of its not being admitted into Independence Hall, then appli- cation be made to place it in the Picture Gallery in Fairmount Park.
The President. — As a matter of information, the Chair will state that we have the assurance of the official gentlemen in charge of the restoration of Independence Hall that it will be accepted.
Mr. Wallin. — Let me give my reasons. The portrait of Paine now in Independence Hall was a few years ago presented and rejected. It is there now, but it has not been put there by any act of public authority. It was put there in a sort of surreptitious way, not a word being said about it. This bust cannot be put there in that Avay. An application must be made ; that will come before people who depend upon voters for their situation, and those voters, being influenced by clerical orders, will say "nay," in my opinion. They have done it before, and they will do it again, in my opin- ion. In that event, what should be done ? The Picture Gallery in Fair- mount Park is more open to the public than Independence Hall, and a better place to put it in. I move that, in the event of its being denied admission into Independence Hall, application be made to those who have charge of the Picture Gallery in the Park for its reception.
Mr. Bentley. — It is a better place than Independence Hall.
Mr. Wallin. — The reason I think it is more likely to be received in the place I spoke of is that it is open to the public every Sunday, while Inde- pendence Hall is shut up on Sunday. They are too "independent" to keep it open on Sunday.
Mr. McArthur. — I rise to a point of order. The amendment is not in order, because it is not germane to the question.
The President. — The motion of Mr. WalHn is not offered as an amend- ment to the resolutions, and is therefore not in order.
A Member. — Has the League any control over the funds ? I understand that the money has been raised by donations, and been given into the hands of a committee ; and that committee, as I understand it, have the power to put that bust where they will. Has the League any right to take the matter out of their hands, and put it in Independence Hall or anywhere else ?
The President. — The money has been contributed with the general understanding that the bust is to go into Independence Hall, if accepted by the city of Philadelphia. The discussion is irrelevant. Is any amendment offered to the resolutions ?
Mrs. Kilgore. — We had better have a Paine meeting if we wish to raise the money. The important point is to get the money for the bust.
The President. — Does the lady call for a division?
Mrs. Kilgore. — No, sir. I wish to say we could not raise the money here as well as we could at a Paine meeting. We have now to act upon the resolutions. The first resolution I am in favor of, as a testimonial to Thomas Paine from this Congress. The second resolution I am not in favor of, because I am not quite sure it is the best means for raising that money. I was at first in favor of the Congress taking it up this evening;
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but I had a conversation with Mr. Morse yesterday in regard to the organ- izing of a Paine meeting, and it seemed he was right in the idea that, as individuals had subscribed all over the country for this fund, the money would be subscribed more quickly if there had been a regularly organized Paine meeting. I am Chairman of that Committee of the Philadelphia Liberal League; it is local, and has the matter in charge. As Chairman of that Committee, I do not know that I have any authority in regard to the money. We were simply requested by the San Francisco League to hold the custody of donations, and we have done so. The liberals of the coun- try recognize that we have done so, and now we should like to have a regu- larly organized Paine meeting to take the responsibility out of our hands, and to appoint a committee whose business it shall be to place this bust in Independence Hall. If I were going to the proper authorities to get it placed in Independence Hall, I could not say I came there with authority from the Philadelphia Liberal League, because it has not the authority to give. I could not say by the authority of the Centennial Congress of Lib- erals, because they are not the ones. We should have a Paine meeting organized by the subscribers to the Paine fund. I presume nearly all here are subscribers, and, if we adjourn the Congress and organize our meeting after passing the first resolution, we should succeed much better than to have it in the Congress of Liberals. If we do, we cannot expect the liber- als of the country to subscribe, but the members of the Congress will be the ones to raise the money. We should receive money from all over the "countr)', if this is managed by a Paine Committee.
Mr. Kilgore. — I do not think there is any objection to the Congress adopting the first resolution.
The President. — The resolutions cannot be put separately until amotion is made for their division.
Mr. Kilgore. — I move they be divided.
The President. — A division is called for and seconded.
The motion was carried.
The President. — The question now is upon the adoption of the first resolution.
Mr. Jack. — This liberal movement is designed to unite all parties in an endeavor to effect a separation of Church and State. In this movement will be Christians of all denominations, and there will be infidels of every stamp and phase of religious belief. Now for us to here express our admi- ration or praise, be it for Jesus Christ, Thomas Paine, or the Devil, is not to secure the co-operation of those who believe differently. It is irrelevant to our grand purpose of separating Church and State. I enter my protest against any such movement, whether it be for Thomas Paine or any one else, hov/ever much I respect the individual.
The President. — Does any other member wish to make remarks before the question is taken .'
Mr. Ranney. — I do not wish to take up any time. I think our friend in front would look at that in a different light, if he should drop out of sight the fact that Paine happened to be an infide;!. This bust is not proposed to be put in Independence Hall because Paine was a disbeliever in the Christian religion, but on account of his "heroic and patriotic public career." Now we have condemned individuals who happened to be Christians, but we have not condemned Christianity. We have condemned President Grant, and, if we have aright to condemn the public course of General Grant, why have we not the rig^it to compliment the public record of some one else ?
The first resolution was then put to vote, and adopted.
The President. — The second resolution is now in order.
It was moved to adopt the second resolution.
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Mr. Morse. — Let me say here that I do not understand this Congress, in attempting to-night to complete that sum, takes the matter at all out of the hands of the Committee ; but it simply says, "We shall help the others finish this subscription, and then there will be a Paine meeting afterwards to determine where the bust shall go, or who shall present it." I can say it was not simply the California people who suggested that Mrs. Kilgore and the Liberal League should act in this matter ; their action was indorsed in Boston at our meeting there, and in the address which the Boston people sent out, and which, I think, from the names of those who have subscribed to the fund, was largely instrumental in getting the fund raised. They not only indorsed the plan, but they said this local Committee here should have charge of the money, and present the bust to the city of Philadelphia and have it properly placed in Independence Hall. I think that is generally understood throughout the country, as the proper course to be taken, and I think all those who have subscribed will be perfectly satisfied to leave it in the hands of this local Committee.
The President. — As a matter of information, the Chair will state that the San Francisco Liberal League proposed to The Index, last Janu- ary, the general plan of raising a "marble or bronze statue or bust " to Thomas Paine, as a centennial offering to be placed in Independence Hall; and it also requested the Liberal League of Philadelphia to appoint a Com- mittee to be the custodian of donations and take charge of the matter. This communication was published in The Index of February 17; and the editor coupled with it the suggestion that Mr. Morse be at once engaged to prepare a marble copy of his already executed bust of Paine for the pur- pose indicated. Subsequently the Committee of the Philadelphia Liberal League was appointed, and the Boston meeting to which Mr. Morse refers was held at Paine Memorial Building ; and thus the subscription was got fairly started. I trust that you will pardon a little personal exultation in the knowledge that the first suggestion that Mr. Morse's impressive bust should be the one to be put in Independence Hall was made editorially through The Index, and that the subscription has been carried on through the same channel. The funds for this Congress and for the Paine bust have been raised there side by side ; they are for objects identical in spirit, and have been carried out by the same means. I say there is no clashing be- tween these two objects ; and I think I may add that I see nothing in this resolution but an attempt by this Congress as a meeting of individual liberals to help on the subscriptions to the speediest possible completion.
Mrs. Kilgore. — If it is for the Congress simply to help on, I am very glad indeed ; but if it is going to prevent others from subscribing, I think it is very unfortunate. We aU of us certainly want to express our warmest appreciation of that bust ; if that is not the bust of Thomas Paine as he really was, it expresses at least the character he ought to have had. I think it is the finest conception of what we deem the character of Thomas Paine was. We all know his work is our work; for it is the work of human liberty. But, Mr. President, I cannot quite think that we shall succeed as readily in this way as in the other way. The first suggestion that the Philadelphia Liberal League should take charge of the money was through a letter from Mr. Boyer to our President and myself.
Mr. Phillips. — When I spoke the word in favor of that resolution, I had no idea that I should come in conflict with Mrs. Kilgore. I had no idea that any one would suppose it would interfere with the present arrange- ments, I understand it simply as a sort of effort to get subscriptions for the bust. Now I cannot see why we cannot encourage subscriptions, and raise money for that purpose, just as well here as in our local Leagues. It is not objected to there or any where else. What is the objection to it ? If
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a gentleman puts his name down for a dollar, or five dollars, or ten dollars to-night, it does not interfere with any Committee arrangements at all ; it simply helps to place funds in the right place. I do not believe five hun- dred dollars can be raised, but we can help ; if we can raise only fifty dollars here, it will help. My object is to assist. It is right to do all we can. I think seven-tenths of our people would feel hurt, if these resolutions did not go through. I believe as the President has stated, that this Congress and the subscriptions to that bust go together; the spirit is one. Let them go together or not, you will never be able to separate Thomas Paine from this movement No matter what objections there may be, those who object to him object to free thought, and object to our whole hberal movement.
Mr. Kilgore. — Will you allow a question ? Do not you know that some persons who have subscribed to the bust of Thomas Paine are not in sym- pathy with the objects of the Liberal League ? Mr. Phillips. — I doubt it.
Mr.Kilgore. — It is true, and I know it is true. That is why we press for the Paine meeting.
Mr. Phillips.— I believe every one who subscribes for the Paine bust is in favor of separation of Church and State. I do not believe there is a man on the list that is not. I would like to see the resolution go throuo-h.
Mrs. Kilgore. — The gentleman does not understand me at*ali. We want to organize for the raising of the money. If we were to adjourn as a Congress, and organize a Paine meeting, we should have an organization through which we could raise the money. My only idea was to say that we have no organization through which to work for the Paine bust as we have worked for this Congress. We do not believe we have any right to go on in this way ; the matter should be taken out of my hands by a proper com- mittee.
Mr. Kilgore.— There has been no proposition to take the matter out of your hands at all.
The President.— It is simply proposed to make to-night some additional individual subscriptions to the fund already raised. This does not imply any change in the custody of the fund at all.
Mr. McArthur. — Could we not remove the objection of Mrs. Kilo-ore ? I think we could. I move an amendment, which is that the funds raised to- night be turned over to Mrs. Kilgore, or to the Philadelphia Liberal League, or whatever organization it is that has this matter in charge. Then cert^nly there can be no clashing ; it will be simply a certain sum raised to be put in their hands.
Mrs. Kilgore. — I hope that motion will not be seconded, unless it is to bring it before the house. It only shows how thoroughly misunderstood I am in my remarks. My difficulty is that we are acting without authority. I want authority through which we can act — some one to whom the money can be turned over to relieve us.
Mr. Kilgore. — Let us pass the resolution without any further remarks and do not let this Congress adjourn from the Hall without having a Paine meeting. Mrs. Kilgore does not care, nor does anybody care, wliether we, as a Congress, raise this money on the spot, or whether it is raised at a Paine meeting; but there is a necessity for a Paine meeting for another purpose. That purpose is to give to the Committee having the money in charge some backing. Mrs. Kilgore is right when she says that, when we go to the Council of the City of Philadelphia and say, "Gentlemen, the liberal friends of Thomas Paine in this country have sent us, or have depu- tized us to present to the City of Philadelphia this bust," then from a Paine meeting we could present the proper credentials ; but if we were asked now
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who sends us, we should have to tell them the Liberal League of San Fran- cisco, and we have no higher authority at all.
Mr. Phillips. — No, you will not ; you should appeal to your published list oi subscriptions. Every name in that list represents some one who sent money to you for this express purpose.
Mr. Kilgore. — Now let us pass that resolution at once, and when we have finished our business as a Congress, let us adjourn, and call a meeting of the friends of Thomas Paine. Then in two minutes or five minutes we can do all the work necessary. We can appoint a President and Secretary, and pass a resolution instructing the Committee to act, and giving them the desired authority. That will be doing it in a business manner.
Mr. Underwood. — I have been almost provoked by this controversy. I think it is senseless. There is no reason why individuals present here should not contribute their mite, be it large or small, simply because an or- ganization is to be effected hereafter for carrying out another purpose in a business manner. Let us pass the resolution, and afterwards we can have an organization, if we see fit.
The President. — The question is simply on the adoption of the resolu- tion. Are you ready for the question ?
The question was called for.
The President. — The resolution is as follows : —
'■'■Resolved, That we now endeavor to raise by individual subscription the balance of the sum required to complete the purchase of the same."
The question was then put, and the resolution was adopted.
Numerous contributions to the Paine bust fund were then made by individ- uals.
Mrs. Kilgore. — We should certainly have an organization to take charge of the money.
The President. — The resolutions just adopted make no provision for any such organization.
Mrs. Kilgore. — I wanted that they should.
The President. — That can be done, if all the contributors to the Paine bust f un.d choose to meet and organize.
Mr. Andrews. — I have some resolutions which were referred to the Committee on Resolutions ; if it is in order, I will now renew the offer of them.
The President. — If there is no other business before the house, and no objection is made, I\Ir. Andrews will be permitted, by courtesy of the Committee, to present his resolutions anew.
Mr. Andrews then read his first resolution as follows : —
"Whereas, The Evangelical Alliance has presented to the world, as the platform of a possible co-operative unity among elements characterized by diversity, the following epitome of thought : In essentials, unity ; in non- essentials, liberty ; in all things, charity ; therefore,
'■'•Resolved, That we adopt and promulgate as the true scientific basis of organization the following motto or epitomized statement : In things demon- strated and certain, unity ; in whatsoever can be doubted, free diversity ; in all things, charity."
Mr. Andrews. — I submit that as a resolution to be acted upon by the convention.
The President. — You have heard the resolution ; what is your pleasure in regard to it ?
It was moved and seconded that the resolution as read be adopted
The President. — The question is before you for debate.
Mr. Kilgore. — Has the Committee reported this resolution ?
The President. — The Committee, technically speaking, do not report
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the resolution. At the request of Mr. Andrews, who desires to present his resolutions in his own individual name, the Committee returned them to him and he now offers them as if they had not been before presented. This is rather informal, but will probably not be objected to.
Mr. McArthur. — Such is the case. I understand it was Mr. Andrews' desire to present the resolution individually. It is before the Congress for the action of its members.
The question being put, the resolution of Mr. Andrews was agreed to.
The second resolution was then read and offered by Mr. Andrews as follows : —
"Whereas, There are many symptoms of a growing intention on the part of the religious power to re-establish a virtual censorship over the press and the post office, by influence exerted over the several legislative bodies, under the pretence of zeal for the public morals, but really in behalf of religious and ecclesiastical despotism ; as for instance, in procuring a body of loose, dangerous and oppressive legislation against the circulation of 'obscene literature' under which, it is believed, some of the purest and best men of the land are at this hour suffering in prison, or stand in danger of their liberties ; therefore,
"Resolved, That we recommend to the members of the League and to the public the utmost vigilance and the closest scrutiny, in detecting and unveil- ing any such conspiracy or conspiracies against the liberties of the people ; and that they should thus commence the accumulation of facts upon which the League may, if found requisite, act specifically to procure the entire repeal or righteous modification of all such laws."
Mr. McArthur. — There is a statement of fact embodied in this resolu- tion. I am not aware of any such fact.
Mr. Andrews. — I will make a statement in regard to that.
The President. — There is no motion before the house.
Mr. Underwood. — I will make a motion for the adoption of that resolu- tion.
Mr. McArthur. — I would ask the mover of the resolution to furnish us, if he can, the exact facts in reference to the case. He makes an assumption of certain things being in existence of which I am not aware.
Mr. Andrews. — It is because, Mr. President, I beheve that this audience and the public at large are not aware of the silent and continuous efforts made to bring the post office and the literature of the country under the control and censorship of certain persons, that I wish this resolution to be brought forward.
Mr. McArthur. — I would ask the mover of that resolution to furnish the facts he alleges.
Mr. Andrews. — I am coming to this. Certain acts have been passed by the Congress of the United States, under the influence of the Young Men's Christian Association, by which an agent or inspector has introduced a sys- tem of opening mail matter. This is complained of; it tends to that for which a minister in England was driven out of office. This agent, Mr. Comstock, has prosecuted and procured the conviction of some six hundred men, and sent them to the several penitentiaries in this country within the last two years ; and the radical men of the country know nothing of it. One of the best friends I have on earth is lying in a penitentiary — John Lant. They have established a system of espionage. Another gentleman. Dr. E. B. Foote, the editor of Medical Com/non Sense, a work that has done as much to reform medical ideas and practice as any published in this coun- try, has been on his trial, and been convicted, and will be sent to the penitentiary unless the courts interfere. The medical profession in New
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York State is becoming alarmed at this, and Hon. Mr. Hoar, of Massa- chusetts, has given his opinion that these facts are scandalous. I want the resolution not framed especially for the cases I have mentioned, but only so as to turn attention to the subject.
Mr. McArthur. — I would like to ask further. I do not yet understand Mr. Andrews to give the substance of the law cases, under which conviction has been obtained, specificially enough to warrant adoption of this resolu- tion. I am aware that convictions have been made very properly for passing obscene matters through the mail. That does not come within the scope of the objects for whiclvthis Congress was assembled. We come here to secure the separation of the Church from the State, to secure the absolute and total separation of the two. It seems to me we are travelling away from the objects for which we come together. I intended to have made some similar remarks on the iirst resolution, but I was not recognized at the time. As a point of order, I raise that question first. If it should be decided that the resolution is in order, I should like to know something more about it. Be- fore adopting a resolution so sweeping, the Congress ought to know aU about that which it is asked to indorse.
The President. — What is the point of order? The Chair did not understand it.
Mr. McArthur. — It is that the resolution does not come within the scope of the objects for which this Congress is convened.
The President. — That is for the Congress itself to decide. It wonld be improper for the Chair to rule any resolution out of order on that ground.
Mr. McArthur. — The Congress decided, before they adjourned this afternoon, that it was not within its scope to decide a question of Indian policy. It seems to me that this is a parallel case.
The President. — The first question is on the point of order, and the Chair feels obliged not to sustain it technically. The resolutions are entirely in the hands of the National Liberal League. The Chair does not possess authority to rule any resolution to be out of order, if the League sees fit to admit it, as has been done in this case.
Mr. McArthur. — I move that the resolution be laid on the table.
The resolution was seconded, and stated by the Chair.
Mr. Underwood. — I hope the resolution will not be laid on the table. I think the resolution is not only relevant as it now stands, but appropriate. I should be sorry to have this Congress fail to pass a resolution so well defined, and appropriate as that. There is not a word in it in approval of any wrong act, or of any obscene work. It does not make the least reference to John A. Lant or to E. B. Foote, but it does recognize that there is an in- fluence of an ecclesiastical character at work, exerted by the Young Men's Christian Association, to inspect our mails unjustly, and to subject every- thing in them to the supervision of a special agent. It does recognize that fact, and therefore suggests and urges upon members of this Congress to be vigilant in watching the efforts made in this direction, and, if they should see anything requiring their definite action, to proceed accordingly. While I myself beHeve that some of these six hundred persons richly deserve their punishment, I nevertheless believe, nay, I know, that some of those parties were convicted when there was no real offence deserving punishment, — when the prosecution was instituted largely out of spite and bad feelings — cases in which these men are just as much entitled to their liberty as we are. I think it our duty, under the circumstances, to sustain this resolution, and I hope it will pass.
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The President. — The question is, shall the preamble and resolution of Mr. Andrews lie on the table ?
The question being put, it was decided in the negative.
The President. — The question is still before the house on the adoption of Mr. Andrews' resolution.
Mr. Kilgore. — I do not think that resolution is quite germane to the business of the League. At the same time I do think there is a tendency of the "religious power" to search too carefully into the private corre- spondence of the citizens. I think the time has come for them to be vigilant. I do not see any objection to the citizen's exercising eternal vigilance on every approach of tyranny, and we must do that, or they will soon have the law in regard to the mails so stringent that there will be no safety for free men in this country.
Mr. Coleman. — I think the difficulty rests right here. The first obser- vation of this gentleman was substantially that Mr. Andrews failed to put forward his ''facts" before us with sufficient plainness. He put emphasis upon the fact that the publication of certain medical facts had been interfered with. Probably the most recent case was that where Dr. Foote's work was objected to, not so much upon the ground that Dr. Foote sent out medical works as that he made use of them for the dissemination of notions and opinions which were considered to be against religion. I think that was the main reason. Then, again, Mr. Andrews referred to attempts to exclude from the railroads in the State of New York works which were liberal in their character and opposed to the popular theology. He forgot to discriminate between two things that should be distinguished — suppres- sion of obscene literature and violation of religious liberty. So far as this resolution bears upon the latter, I think it is relevant. I think it is time the League should take action in the matter ; and I think it will be well done in this way.
Dr. Brown. — I have only a word to say, and that is to ask — after you have passed these resolutions, and others, what influence have you had upon the community } My idea is : we are attempting to do exactly what Chris- tian men are attempting to do — fly our own kite in their faces. I am in favor of letting the Constitution entirely alone. They are trying to change it and put God in the Constitution.
Mr. Andrews. — I call the gentieman to order; he is not speaking to the question.
The President. — The Chair decides that the point of order is well taken. Dr. Brown should speak to the resolution.
Dr. Brown continued to speak.
Mrs. Kilgore. — I rise to a point of order. The gentleman has not said one word germane to this question. He is out of order. When the Chair decides him out of order, he forfeits the floor.
The President. — Dr. Brown is not entitled to the floor, unless he con- fines himself to the question.
Dr. Brown. — Will you read the resolution again ?
The President then read the resolution.
Dr. Brown. — Well, sir, I will admit it does not say anything about the Constitution ; but I beg to say it will have little influence upon the pubHc. I will say nothing more at present.
Mr. Fraser. — I will say one word in reference to the passage of obscene matter through the mails. I certainly think it is a great wrong, and I think this Congress ought to pass a resolution against it. It is true that there has been a large quantity of obscene literature sent through the mails, which has done a great deal of harm. At the same time the great Bible
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Societies are sending it broadcast all over the land through the mails, and there is not one word said about it. It is the most obscene literature ever published.
Mr. Andrews. — George Francis Train was coniined in prison seven months simply for publishing obscene extracts from the Bible.
Mr. McArthur. — I move that this resolution be referred to the Directors of the National Liberal League to be reported upon at the next Annual Congress.
Mr. Underwood. — I hope that will also be lost.
The President. — Is the motion seconded?
It was seconded by several.
The motion was then stated by the Chair.
Mr. Clark. — I do not think we have specific information enough to act on this matter 'as a League. I do not think the facts are clearly proved. If they were clearly proved, there would be a general feeling of dissatisfac- tion at such a law. The question is whether this condemned matter was really what it is claimed to be, medical publications for the purpose of advancing medical knowledge, or whether it was really obscene literature published under the pretence of advancing medical knowledge ; in short,- whether it did or did not really possess the objectionable character which the law properly condemns. That is the question ; and I think we are not able to decide it. I cannot vote intelligibly upon that question myself, be- cause I do not know enough about the books. I really believe that there are books circulated through the mails, professing to be books written as scientific medical books, which are -vmtten merely for the profit of the cir- culators, and to corrupt the imaginations of young people, rather tlian for the purpose of doing good. I think it would be very well to refer this mat- ter to the Directors. There are, perhaps, attractions in the street, on this evening of the Centennial Fourth of July, that some of us would be inter- ested in ; and, as we have had a good deal of discussion, and as it is not specially relevant to the main object of our gathering, it seems to me, it would be well to lay it aside on this occasion.
Mr. Wheeler. — We can afford a great many things ; we can afford to go out into the street; but we are fighting for life for our opinions and ideas. I think we should take action upon this very resolution, and take favorable action. It is not a question, Mr. President, as to whether certain books circulating through the mails are obscene or not ; it is a question whether the mails themselves should be violated b)' an authorized agent of the gov- ernment. I hope this resolution wdl] pass, and pass unanimously.
Mr. Potter. — I have only a. word to say on the main resolution. I had hoped that it would be brought before the convention directly on its merits, and be voted down. Yet I would favor the motion now before the house as a compromise ; that is, that it be referred to the Directors to report upon at the next Annual Congress. The reason why I oppose the main resolution is that it is a mixed question, as has been said here. I think that there is something in the resolution that properly might come under the considera- tion of this Liberal League ; but it appears to me that, if this Liberal League is to have any great success, that success is to come from its keep- ing very closely to the fine of objects marked out in its Constitution. This afternoon, I think very properly, the convention voted that the subject of the general Indian policy of the government was not germane to the objects of the Liberal League ; and therefore with a great deal of unanimity that portion of the resolutions was voted down. Now I think that this resolu- tion also contains something that does not come within the sphere of this League. There is a class of literature sent through the mails, as I am in- formed, not circulated at all because the works are scientific or medical, but
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because they arc obscene works cmanatiiii; from centres of most corrupting influences and issued by men who probal)Iy would not dare to liave their names made known anywhere, least of all in this Liberal League. I have never seen any of these bonks, but I understand they are constantly mailed — little works, pamphlets, and circulars — sent into the public 'schools of America for our children to read, and iitted only to corrupt the minds of the boys and girls. Now that is something which our laws, if we are to do any thing by way of law, certainly ought to suppress. To suppress vice and crime — certainly our laws have their appropriate s])here there, on the ground not of religion, not of theology, but of morality. Just where we should place the abstract limits of government may be doubtful; but so far as the resolution tends to protect the circulation of this vile literature (and it does seem to tend to protect that, though it may not be intended so to do)— but so far as it does tend to protect that kind of literature, this convention would certainly not wish to do anything in opposition to any movement or to any law that would suppress that crime against the innocence of our children. Under cover of this general desire for the security of virtue, religious bigots may be attempting to influence the law-makers so as to secure entrance for their theology, and to strike at the circulation of the liberal literature which they must be opposed to. So far as any thing of that kind is attempted, I think it is certainly to be watched most carefully ; therefore I shall vote decidedly against the passage of such a resolution as this, and shall for the same reason vote in favor of referring it, as the ne.xt best thing, to the Board of Directors for a report at the next meeting.
Mr. Mills. — I hope, Mr. President, that the resolution to refer will pre- vail. I can see plainly that there may be work for the Liberal League in the manner suggested in the resolution of Mr. Andrews. I see also, as I think, that it is necessary, whatever we may say or do in that matter, that our actions should be so carefully guarded that there will be no room for suspi- cion, even, that we fail ourselves to promote jealously the preservation of the public morals, and whatever pertains to that preservation, as my friend Mr. Potter has pointed out. I think that, as members of the Liberal League, we have a deep interest in this whole question, and we should place our- selves in that position ; against any thing that looks like ecclesiastical dicta- tion or interference with free discussion, or the free dissemination through the mails of all decent treatises on the vital problems that belong to human welfare and human life, we should always set our faces hke a flint. But the maintenance and protection in all fitting ways of the public morals — that is our chief concern.
Mr. Wheeler. — I never knew that morality was corrected by crime. It is a crivie for anybody to open a letter or package which has been sealed, and deposited in the mail. It is the business of the parents and guardians, and of those who are put to look after the young children, to see what their correspondence is after it is opened, and not to send a minion of the Young Men's Christian Association to search through the mail bags of the United States. Now if any obscene letter is received by a young man or young woman, if they will only show that letter to their guardian, then the authori- ties can take that open letter, and trace it back to its nefarious origin, and set the law at work to bring down condign punishment upon the offender. But just so long as any excuse is made for the violation of the mails, just so long will there be a searching among the private papers of the people. The plea of the protection of the morality of the public is what they base their action upon. And this is why we ask you to pass this resolution now, and not defer it to another year and another century.
Mr. Potter. — If the resolution pointed very clearly to one thing that
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this gentleman referrs to as occurring, the opening of the mail bags, I think everybody here would agree to it ; but let him bring forward the facts. He tells us here that there is a man in the Post Office department who does this thing. .
Mr. Wheeler. — The gentleman's name is Com stock.
Mr. Potter. — Will you tell us some facts in relation to this matter that we can act upon, before we pass a resolution of this kind? It seems to me that we have not the facts ; and, further, the resolution does not point em- phatically to that clear statement. Let us have an investigation of that, if necessary; but I think that underneath the resolution there is something else, — something with which the laws are not connected, and with which we here, as a Liberal League organized for the purpose of the secularization of the State and the school, are not concerned, — something that concerns social morahty, — something that concerns the purity of our homes ; and I should stand by my friend, and say that, v/hatever else we do in this Liberal League, let us by no means do anything that will corrupt the purity of our children. Whatever else we do, let us stand by society in its integrity; let us stand by the right of society to protect itself against the criminal class and the rieht of the governm.ent to protect itself against the criminal class. I agree per- fectly with those who have spoken here upon the criminality of this exami- nation of the mails by the government. I will go the farthest in protesting against the assumption by any body, of the right in the United States to open the private mails of citizens. That was done in the pro-slavery times, when they did not allow "abolition" papers to go down South. But there is another question here, and a question which ought to be decided seriously. Let us have this matter referred to the Directors, that they may investigate and bring forward the facts, and have this matter presented in a somewhat clearer manner at the next Annual Congress.
Mr. Kilgore. — I perfectly agree with the last speaker. I think there should be an investigation, and a thorough one. Let us pass upon this by a vote; we shall not do any good by further discussion. It is now eleven o'clock, and there are notices to be given, and we want to do a little more business. I hope that investigations will be made, and, if the Board of Directors arc not the proper persons to do it, I would move the appointment of a special committee. I now call for the previous question.
The President. — The previous question is called for and seconded. Shall the main question be now put ?
Agreed to.
The President. — The question is now on the motion to refer Mr. Andrews' preamble and resolution to the Board of Directors, to be reported on at the next Annual Congress.
The vote being taken on this question, the motion prevailed.
Mr. Mc Arthur. — I present a resolution which I am sure will meet with a hearty response by every member of this Congress. It is as follows : —
''Resolved, That the thanks of this Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to Mr. and Mrs. Kilgore for their arduous and efficient labors in behalf of the National Liberal League."
This resolution was unanimously adopted.
On motion, the convention was then adjourned till nine o'clock, A. M., July 4th.
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TUESDAY, JULY 4, 1876.
At a little after nine o'clock, A. M., July 4, the convention of the National Liberal League was called to order by the President, Francis E. Abbot.
The final report of the Committee on Credentials was made by Mr. Hoover. [The completed list of members recorded as present at this con- vention, and therefore as charter-members of the National Liberal League, will be found in the Appendix.]
The report of the Committee on a "Patriotic Address" was then read by the Chairman, Mr. Kilgore, on behalf of the Committee, as follows: —
PATRIOTIC ADDRESS OF THE NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Philadelphia, July 4, 1876. Fellow-Citizens : —
Assembled in convention in this historic city and on this historic day, we, the members of the National Liberal League, offer you our sympathetic congratulations on the completion of the first hundred years of the existence of our common country as one of the great nations of the earth. With you, we remember in profound gratitude the toils, sacrifices, and achievements of our forefathers ; with you, we pay a tribute of deep veneration to the patri- otism, the self-abnegation, the valor, the statesmanship, the wisdom, the resplendent virtues and the wonderful abilities which were the true fountain- head of our national being; with you, we exultingly commemorate the speak- ing of that bold word which a century ago launched into human history the first great political proclamation of the natural rights of man, and electrified the world with that sublime Declaration of Independence which has made the Fourth of July one of the deathless festivals of mankind. We share in the universal outburst of joy and pride which has hailed with tlie shouts of forty rejoicing millions the rising of this day's sun.
In full sympathy, therefore, with the spirit of this grand occasion and the spirit of those whose noble passion for liberty made it grand, we respectfully address you on a theme closely connected with their heroic and immortal la- bors. The dominant purpose of their hearts and the proud achievement of their hands were the foundation of a free commonwealth on the self-evident equality of all men with respect to their natural rights. The Constitution which with consummate sagacity they framed for the execution of this purpose rests on no other basis ; it was ordained and established in the name of "the people of the United States," and in no other name ; it speaks by the col- lective authority of all the individuals who compose "the people" ; it recog- nizes the will of "the people," carrying into effect the dictates of their natural reason and natural conscience, as the ultimate source and origin of all political power. No one man, no one class of men, can show any natural right to rule the rest, except the right which is might; and that right is tyranny, usurpation, immorality, wrong. From this absolute absence of any natural right to rule mankind, whether as lodged in one or in a few, results
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l\\t self-ovident equality of ail men in the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That magnificent and inspiring principle is the soul of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to which it ulti- mately led : it was the soul of the Revolutionary War, has been the soul of all our subsequent history, and will be the soul of all our future greatness. Strike out of the fundamental law of the land this recognition of equal in- dividual rights, and, before another hundred years shall have rolled by, the proud fabric of the republic will have crumbled into impalpable dust.
Now a free Commonwealth thus conceived and established, a national Constitution thus framed and ordained, presuppose the separation of Church and State ; they can exist only by virtue of this principle ; they must perish if ever this principle should be abandoned. As an abstraction, it has become a stereotyped phrase of American politics, a mere truism which nobody dis- putes, a mere tradition which it is the fashion to pass from mouth to mouth and not examine too closely in its bearings on existing usages or institutions. What does it mean ? That the natural intelligence and moral sense of man- kind, no matter what may be their views on the subject of religion, are ade- quate to all the proper purposes, functions, and powers of civil government ; that it is never necessary to step outside of the circle of natural human faculties "in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." These are the objects, and the only ones, which the Constitution was framed and ordained to secure ; and the principle of the separation of Church and State means that they can be secured by the faculties which inhere in simple humanity, as such, — nay, more, that they will be defeated by permitting the Church to interfere with the workings of a civil government based on faith in the sufficiency of these universal and natural human faculties to protect all the interests of society. Such a government as this is a purely secular one ; that is, it confines itself strictly to the secular objects above enumerated, and remands the whole subject of religion to the people in their individual capacity. It can establish no national Church and have no national religion; it favors none, it persecutes none, it recognizes none ; it deals only with the political interests of the people, and has nothing to do with their re- ligious interests further than to maintain their religious liberties and protect their equal religious rights. That is what the principle of total separation of Church and State means ; and that is the general theory taken for granted in every line of our national Constitution. Without it, there could be no '•government of the people, by the people, for the people ; " without it the liberties of the individual, the natural rights of man, would vanish altogether. So long as the State exists by the sole will of the people, the people's liber- ties are self-protected and therefore safe ; but so soon as it becomes in any degree, directly or indirectly, dependent on the Church, the people's liberties in that same degree must depend on the will of those who govern the Church. What fate in that case awaits the people's liberties, history with terrible plainness tells.
It is eminently fitting, therefore, on this great day of the nation's Centen- nial year, to recur to the fundamental principle of the Constitution, and to address to you our plea for a higher fidelity to it. The duties it imposes on the people with respect to the better protection of equal rights in religion are too little heeded or understood ; and the public dangers which flow from this neglect are so grave, yet so insidious and unperceived, that no excuse is needed for this appeal. Not in the spirit of partisans, seeking some selfish advantage over their fellow-citizens, but rather in the spirit of patriots, con-
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cerned for the common welfare of tlieir countrymen and the universal interests of mankind, do we now, wci,<(hini( well our words, deliberately and solemnly affirm these propositions to be vital and momentous truths : —
1. The Constitution of the United States is built on the prmciple that the State can be, and ought to be, totally independent of the Church: in other words, that the natural reason and conscience of mankind are a sufficient fjuarantee of a happy, well-ordered, and virtuous civil community, and that free popular government must prove a failure, if the Church is suffered to control legislation.
2. The religious rights and liberties of all citizens without exception, under the Constitution, are absolutely equal.
3. These equal religious rights and liberties include the right of every citizen to enjoy, on the one hand, the unrestricted exercise of his own relig- ious opinions, so long as they lead him to no infringement of the equal rights of others; and not to be comi)e]]cd, on the other hand, by taxation or other- wise, to support any religious opinions which are not his own.
4. These equal religious rights and liberties do not depend in the slightest degree upon conformity to the opinions of the majority, but are possessed to their fullest extent by those who differ from the majority fundamentally and totally.
5. Christians possess under the Constitution no religious rights or liberties which are not equally shared by Jews, Buddhists, Confucians, Spiritualists, materialists, rationalists, freethinkers, sceptics, infidels, atheists, pantheists, and all other classes of citizens who disbelieve in the Christian religion.
6. Public or national morality requires all laws and acts of the government to be in strict accordance with tlnjs absolute equality of all citizens with respect to religious rights and liberties.
7. Any infringement by the government of this absolute equality of re- ligious rights and liberties is an act of national immorality, a national crime committed against that natural -'justice" which, as the Constitution declares, the government was founded to "establish."
8. Those who labor to make the laws protect more faithfully the equal re- ligious rights and liberties of all the citizens are not the "enemies of moral- ity," but moral reformers in the true sense of the word, and act in the evi- dent interest of public righteousness and peace.
9. Those who labor to gain or to retain for one class of religious behevers any legal privilege, advantage, or immunity, which is not equally enjoyed by the community at large, are really "enemies of morality," unite Church and State in proportion to their success, and, no matter how ignorantly or inno- cently, are doing their utmost to destroy the Constitution and undermine this free government.
10. Impartial protection of all citizens in their equal religious rights and liberties, by encouraging the free movement of mind, promotes the establish- ment of the truth respecting religion ; while violation of these rights, by checking the free movement of mind, postpones the triumph of truth over error, and of right over wrong.
11. No religion can be true whose continued existence depends on contin- ued State aid. If the Church has the truth, it does not need the unjust favoritism of the State ; if it has not the truth, the iniquity of such favorit- ism is magnified tenfold.
12. No religion can be favorable to morahty whose continued existence depends on continued injustice. If the Church teaches good morals, of which justice is a fundamental law, it will gain in public respect by practis- ing the morals it teaches, and voluntarily offering to forego its unjust legal
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advantages ; if it does not teach good morals, then the claim to these unjust advantages on the score of its good moral influence becomes as wicked as it is weak.
13. Whether true or false, whether a fountain of good moral influences or of bad, no particular religion and no particular church has the least claim in justice upon the State for any favor, any privilege, any immunity. The Constitution is no respecter of persons and no respecter of churches ; its sole office is to establish civil society on the principles of right reason and impartial justice ; and any State aid rendered to the Church, being a compul- sion of the whole people to support the Church, wrongs every citizen who protests against such compulsion, violates impartial injustice, sets at naught the first principles of morality, and subverts the Constitution by undermining the fundamental idea on which it is built.
If these propositions are true (and who can show that they are not true, or not in strict conformity with the tenor and spirit of the Constitution ?) we respectfully submit to you that they merit the attention of every enlightened and patriotic statesman, and of every just and large-minded citizen. They show that, as a nation, we are not to-day living in harmony with our own great national idea,— that a new "irrepressible conflict," unsuspected by the vast majority, is certain to involve us once more in civil convulsion, unless its causes are removed. Either our Constitution must be changed to suit our practices, or our practices must be changed to suit our Constitution. The principle of secular "government of the people, by the people, for the people," must be eventually abandoned, or eventually obeyed more faithfully. The issue touches the very existence of our poHtical system, which cannot long survive in open violation of the very ideas which gave it birth. By exempting church property from taxation; by supporting chaplains out of the public treasury ; by appropriating public funds for sectarian institutions ; by permitting Bible-reading and other religious services in the public schools, and thus perverting the public school system, for which all alike are taxed, into an instrument of religious propagandism by only a part of the people ; by appointing religious fasts and festivals in the name of the government ; by using the judicial oath instead of simple affirmation ; by enforcing on the entire public the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, and by various other practices too numerous to mention, — we unite Church and State, and fail to carry out the essential principle of the Constitution. The Church is thus permitted to seize the whole power of the State, and compel large classes of citizens to contribute involuntarily to the support of religious opinions which are not their own. That is the result of all State favoritism to anyparticular religion ; and it cannot be reconciled with the fashionable professions of regard for religious liberty.
All these real but unacknowledged connections of Church and State con- stitute at the same time private wrongs, public immoralities, and public dangers. They are private wrongs, felt to be such by rapidly-increasing multitudes of citizens, because they compel men to pay public homage to a faith which is not their own, and thus wound them deeply in their conscience and their self-respect. They are public immoralities, because they violate the great laws of justice, freedom, and equal rights, which are the very soul of political ethics. They are pubhc dangers, because they sanction sectarian usurpations, inflame sectarian ambitions, and powerfully tempt to new secta- rian encroachments ; because the}- create an accumulating mass of precedents for trampling under foot the broad principle of the total separation of Church and State on which our whole government is founded ; because they habitu- ate the people to a semi-ecclesiastical administration of the State, breed fanatical plots against religious liberty and equal religious rights, and chafe
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thousands of our best and noblest citizens with a consciousness of religious oppression ; in fine, because they sow the seeds of petty brawls in many phices over poHtico-rehgious questions which ought never to arise, and be- cause they have already brought the country face to face with an issue of terrible gravity, in our national politics, touching the future relation of the Church to the public school system. These facts arc the general justification of the movement which has culminated in the formation of the National Liberal League, and for the appeal which we now make to your reason and conscience.
In his ''Farewell Address" George Washington, bequeathed to you these grave and pregnant words of wisdom : "Towards the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily discountenance iiTegular oppositions to its ac- knowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innova- tion upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method' of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown."
The warning here uttered was not imnecessary. For years this "spirit of innovation upon the principles" of the Constitution has been at work. A party, whose public advocates include scores of men high in political and ecclesiastical position, has been regularly organized to secure the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution which shall formally recognize "Al- mighty God as the author of nationa4 existence and the source of all power and authority in civil government," "Jesus Christ as the ruler of nations," and "the Bible as the fountain of law and the supreme rule for the conduct of nations." This party publish a weekly newspaper, and have just held a convention in this city, in furtherance of their object. We thus see the fell "spirit of innovation upon the principles" of the Constitution, against which the venerated Washington has so solemnly warned us, seeking already to "undermine what cannot be directly overthrown," and aiming a fatal blow at the greatest of all the great principles of that instrument, — the principle of the total separation of Church and State. The effect of this amend- ment, if adopted, will be to make evangelical Christianity the established religion of the United States, and to that extent to make its churches the Established Church. Such a change would be more than a mere "innova- tion,"— it would be a revolution, the destruction of this democratic republic and the substitution of an ecclesiastical theocracy.
We therefore deem it our solemn duty to follow the wise counsels of Washington, and to "resist with care" the insidious workings of that "spirit of innovation" which now boldly assails the very foundation of our free gov- ernment by attempting to "undermine what cannot be directly overthrown." We see that the pretext of these ecclesiastical revolutionists is the alleged duty of "preserving the existing Christian features of our government:" that is, the exemption of church property from taxation, the reading of the Bible in the public schools, the Sunday-Sabbath laws, and so forth. We see that, so long as these abuses continue, the advocates of the Christian Amendment of the Constitution occupy a strong vantage-ground in their assaults upon the great charter of our liberties ; that these abuses, having no foothold in the Constitution, possess no guarantee of continuance in the supreme law of the land ; and that all who are determined to perpetuate them must sooner or later rally to the standard of the Christian Amendment. We see, therefore, that the existence of these abuses is to-day a standing invitation and summons to revolutionize the government, a perpetual temptation to
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disloyalty of a fanatical and therefore most dangerous kind. In this attitude of affairs, true statesmanship requires the removal of evils whose conse- quences can only be miseries, crimes, and political strife embittered by re- ligious hate.
With these facts and principles before us, we have voted in convention to petition Congress to recommend to the several States for adoption such a "Religious Freedom Amendment" to the Constitution as shall effectually separate Church and State in fact as well as in theory, and protect all individu- al citizens in their equal religious liberties and rights. We now appeal to you to give your support to this great measure by your signatures, your voices, and your voles; and we present these brief reasons for our ap- peal : —
1. The "Religious Freedom Amendment" is not in any sense a change of the Constitution or an innovation either with regard to its spirit or its special provisions. On the contrary, it is a measure in precisely the same spirit as now pervades the Constitution, being based on the identical prin- ciple which, as we have shown, everywhere underlies it, — a measure which will only give greater extension to this principle, and make it supreme in the governments of the several States as well as in the national government.
2. The proposed amendment, being designed solely to preserve and per- fect the existing secular character of the Constitution, is a thoroughly and wisely conservative measure, in the very best sense of the word. It aims, not to undermine, but to confirm and strengthen and enlarge what already exists.
3. It is justly and impartially protective to all religions, while prohibiting special State favors to any. It is not hostile to any religion wliich is in favor of these equal religious liberties and rights of all American citizens. Whoever is in favor of these equal rights and liberties is estopped from accusing it of hostiHty to his own religion. It is hostile to nothing but the claim to tyrannize.
4. The'proposed amendment is an eminently timely measure to bring for- ward now. The public school amendment of the Hon. James G. Blaine, already proposed in Congress and evidently destined to come up for action before long, is a compromise between the ecclesiastical and the secular theories of government ; if passed, it will not have the effect of secularizing the public schools, but will leave undisturbed the chief evil to be reformed. The welfare of the country demands that no studied ambiguity should be permitted in a Constitutional amendment on this subject; and no amend- ment which, like Mr. Blaine's, will keep the Bible in the schools, and there- by fail to separate Church and State in the public school system, ought to be adopted. But the great danger of the hasty adoption of this compromise amendment, with all its vagueness and ambiguity, renders it timely and expedient that a thoroughly secular amendment should be now pressed with- out delay upon the public attention, that the case may not go against liberty by sheer default.
5. The ''Religious Freedom Amendment" is a necessary measure, judged by a high and broad and enlightened statesmanship. For a hundred years the general tendency of our national development has been in the direction of a gradually increasing liberation of the State from pre-existing ecclesiati- cal trammels ; but quick and watchful eyes are not wanting to detect the signs of a turn in the tide. The long conflict over the slavery question absorbed the political energies of the nation, and left dormant the other great conflict now beginning to reveal itself respecting the relations of Church and State. But now that the slavery question has been finally settled by a Constitutional amendment, the Church question is the only one
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of a sufficiently permanent and universal character to take its place; and indications multiply that it is forcing itself into the arena of political activity. The campaign of last summer in Ohio ; the President's speech at Des Moines in September and his annual message to Congress in December ; Mr. Blaine's public school amendment proposed in Congress and the count- less others elsewhere ; the public school planks in the platforms adopted by numerous State and national party conventions ; and the certainty of a fresh discussion of the school question in the Presidential campaign of the summer and autumn, — all these and other signs point to an impending agi- tation on issues involving the relations of Church and State which can only end in a new Constitutional amendment. True statesmanship suggests that the amendment be such as shall really end the agitation. But, unless the entire Constitution is to be revolutionized, no amendment can do this which does not absolutely separate Church and State. Other solutions will be partial, sectarian, transient ; that solution alone can be final. We therefore hold that the "Religious Freedom Amendment" is the only measure which can permanently eliminate the Church cjuestion from partt politics, because it is the only measure which can settle that question in harmony with the Constitution. Does not true statesmanship point to its early adoption ?
Fellow-citizens, we must go backward or forward ; to stand still is as impossible for nations as for men. Two Constitutional amendments are offered to you for your choice, embodying two opposing principles between which human ingenuity will search in vain to find a mean. One fatally entangles the State with the Church, and plunges this young republic into all the bitterest embarrassments of the Old World. The other proclaims the absolute emancipation of the State from all these embarrassments, and sets her forever free, with her face to the future. The one violates he whole spirit of the Constitution, strikes a deadly blow at the very heart of Liberty, and foredooms the nation to a career from which it may well shrink back aghast. The other carries the Constitution up to a higher and nobler fulfilment of its own matchless ideal, makes Liberty and Love kiss each other, and sets the crown of a resplendent destiny on the nation's brow. One or the other, by the irresistible logic of ideas and events, must in some form be ultimately incorporated in our fundamental law : when, and how soon, it is for you, the people of the United States, to say. But our duty is dis- charged. Our cause is still that of our forefathers, whose great Declaration of Independence echoes forever "through the corridors of time ; " and. here, on the hundredth anniversary of that mighty word, we as solemnly declare the State's total independence of the Church. Will you ratify this new word of freedom?
At the conclusion of the reading of the "Patriotic Address," it was moved by Mr. McArthur that the report of the Committee be received and adopted ; and this motion was unanimously carried.
Mr. Underwood. — I have to report from the Committee one or two supplementary resolutions for your action. The first is as follows : —
Resolved, That, recognizing the obvious fact that the support of the ob- jects of the National Liberal League must depend chiefly upon the strength of pubHc sentiment in their favor, we hereby tender our thanks to those brave journals which now, in the comparative infancy of our movement, are giving it their encouragement and influence on account of its intrinsic excellence.
It was moved to adopt this resolution, which was seconded by several members.
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Mr. McArthur. — I move the previous question.
The President. — The previous question is called for. Shall the ques-
be now put ?
Agreed to. The resolution was then put to vote and adopted.
Mr. Underwood. — I have now another resolution to submit on behalf of the Committee : —
Resolved, That this League, while it recognizes the great importance and the absolute necessity of guarding by proper legislation against obscene and indecent publications, whatever sect, party, order, or class such publications claim to favor, disapproves and protests against all laws which, by reason of indefiniteness or ambiguity, shall permit the prosecution and punishment of honest and conscientious men for presenting to the public what they deem ess'ential to the public welfare, when the views thus presented do not violate in thought or language the acknowledged rules of decency ; and that we demand that all laws against obscenity and indecency shall be so clear and explicit that jione but actual offenders against the recognized principles of purity shall be liable to suffer therefrom.
Resolved, That we cannot but regard the appointment and authorization by the government of a single individual to inspect our mails, with power to ex- clude therefrom whatever he deems objectionable, as a delegation of authority dangerous to public and personal liberty, and utterly inconsistent with the genius of free institutions.
With regard to these resolutions, I would say that many members regret the non-passage last evening of Mr. Andrews' resolution. Some action of the sort ought to be taken at this time, and these resolutions have been so framed as to obviate the objections then expressed. They seem to embrace everything that is desired. As the time is very short before we must ad- journ, I hope there will be little or no discussion upon them, and that we shall act upon them at once.
Mr. Andrews. — I move the adoption of the resolutions.
The President then stated the question on the resolutions.
Mr. Potter. — I supposed that this whole subject had been referred to the Directors by the resolution instructing them to report on this subject at the next Annual Congress. This resolution is somewhat similar to the one then rejected ; I think it is much better than that, but still it is objectionable. I think the whole matter should be referred to the next Congress.
Mr. McArthur. — I move the previous question.
The previous question was ordered. The main question being then put, the resolutions were adopted.
Mr. Kilgore. — I offer the following resolution : —
Resolved, That the thanks of the Congress are thereby tendered to Fran- cis E. Abbot, our worthy President, for the impartial, courteous, and efficient manner in which he has presided over our deliberations.
Agreed to.
Mr. Dye. — I move to adopt this resolution: —
Resolved, That the National Liberal League recognizes and fully appreci- • ates the noble stand which the entire Spiritualistic press has taken in defence of religious freedom and sound government. For its exalted posi- tion so bravely taken, they are entitled to the thanks of this Convention, and to the everlasting gratitude due to progressive thought throughout the earth.
This motion was seconded by several,
Mr. McArthur. — The substance of the resolution is already embodied in one which has passed. It seems to me that this is needless repetition,
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stating in particular what has already been said in general. It is already embraced in the resolution which has passed.
Mr. Kilgore. — I am a Spiritualist; I am ready to acknowledge it, sir, everywhere. But I believe there are papers just as worthy, and just as true, which do not advocate Spiritualistic sentiments. I therefore move that the resolution be laid on the table.
The President. — It is moved that the resolution be laid on the table. Is this motion seconded ?
The motion was seconded by several.
The motion to lay the resolution on the table being put to vote, it was carried.
The President. — Is there any further business to come before the League .■' If not, we will entertain a motion to adjourn. The hall is only engaged until ten o'clock, and that hour has now arrived.
A motion to adjourn was then made and carried; and the first convention of the National Liberal League was adjourned sine die.
APPENDIX.
CONSTITUTION
OV I'HR
NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE,
ADOPTED JULY i, 1876.
PREAMBLE.
Whereas, The Constitution of the United States, from beginning to end, in spirit and in letter, is framed in accordance with the principle of the total separation of Church and State; and the Treaty with Trii)oIi, signed by tleorge Washington as a part of the supreme law of the land, declares emphatically that "the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion " ; and
Whereas, Notwithstanding these facts, the administration of the national government, and the administrations and Constitutions of the sev- eral State governments, maintain numerous practical connections of the State with the Church, thereby violating the spirit of the United States Constitution and the glorious traditions which dedicate this country exclu- sively to the natural riglits of man ; and
Whereas, The welfare and peace of the republic, the equal religious rights and liberties of its citizens, and the most precious interests of civili- zation, alike require that all the political and educational institutions of the nation which are supported by taxation should be more faithfully conformed to the spirit of its fundamental law :
Therefore, We, the members of the Centennial Congress of Liberals, convened at Philadelphia from July First to July Fourth, 1876, hereby associ- ate ourselves together as a permanent organization, and adopt the following
CONSTITUTION.
Name. Article i. — The name of this association shall be "The National Liberal League."
General Object. Article IL — The general object of the National Liberal League shall be to accomplish the Total Separation of Church and State: to the end that equal rights in religion, genuine morality in politics, and freedom, virtue, and brotherhood in all human life, may be established, protected, and perpetuated.
.Specific Objects. Article III. — As means to the accomj)lishraent of this general ob- ject, the .specific objects of the National Liberal League shall be: —
I. To urge the adoption of such a "Religious Freedom Amendment" of the United States Constitution as shall effect the complete secularization
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of the government in all its departments and institutions, State and Na- tional, and shall secure to every American citizen the full enjoyment of his opinions on the subject of religion, whatever they may be, without molesta- tion, disability, or deprivation of any civil or political right.
2. To advocate the equitable taxation of church property; the total discontinuance of religious instruction and worship in the public schools ; the repeal of all laws enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath ; the cessation of all. appropriations of public funds for religious institutions or purposes of any kind ; the abolition of State-paid chaplaincies ; the sub- stitution of simple afifirmation under the pains and penalties of perjury for the judicial oath ; the non-appointment of religious fasts, festivals, and hol- idays by public authority; the practical establishment of simple morality and intelligence as the basis of purely secular government, and the adequate guarantee of public order, prosperity, and righteousness ; and whatever other measures or principles may be necessary to the total separation of Church and State.
3. To promote the formation and multiplication of local auxiliary Lib- eral Leagues throughout the country in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, in order to institute combined and vigorous agitation for the adoption of the "Religious Freedom Amendment," and, pending its adoption, to secure through State and municipal action the accomplishment
^of the various special reforms above enumerated.
4. To defend through the courts, by the combined efforts and means of the liberals of the country, any American citizen whose equal religious rights are denied, or who is oppressed, on account of any opinions he may have held or expressed on the subject of religion.
5. To promote, by all peaceable and orderly means, active propagan- dism of the great principles of religious liberty and equal rights, devotion to truth for its own sake, and universal brotherhood on the ground of a common humanity : more particularly, to establish a Liberal Lecture Bureau for the mutual benefit of hearers and lecturers, by which the formation of local liberal societies may be facilitated and stimulated, and by which liberal lecturers of sufficient ability and unblemished moral character, without the least discrimination on account of their religious opinions, may be encour- aged, furnished with employment, and helped to devote themselves to the liberal cause.
6. In all other proper and practicable ways, to promote the final emanci- pation of the State from the control of the Church, and to foster the devel- opment of that natural intelligence and morality which constitute the neces- sary and all-sufficient basis of secular government.
Membership. Article IV. — Any person who shall pay one dollar into the treasury shall be entitled to a certificate, signed by the President and Secretary, as an annual member of the National Liberal League. Any person who shall pay twenty-five dollars or more into the treasury shall be entitled to a sim- ilar certificate as a hfe member. All the persons present as members at the Centennial Congress of Liberals, at which this Constitution was adopted, are hereby declared permanent or charter-members of the National Liberal League.
Annual Congress.
Article V. — The Annual Congress of the National Liberal League shall be held at such time and place and with such sessions as the Board of Directors may announce ; and public notice of the Congress shall be given at least one month previously. The first Annual Congress shall be held in the year 1877. Other conventions of the League may be held at such places and times as the Board of Directors shall appoint.
177
All chartcr-mcmhLMS and lifc-momhcrs of tin; National Lil)cral League, and all duly accredited delc.i;atcs from local auxiliary l.il)cral Lcat^nies ora;an- i/.cd in accordance with tlie provisions of this Constitution, shall l)e entitled to seats and votes in the Annual Congress. Annual members of the National Liberal League shall be entitled to seats, but not to votes, in the Annual Congress.
Officers.
Article VI . — The officers of the National Liberal League shall be a President, six or more Vice-Presidents, a Secretary and Assistant Secretary, a Treasurer, a Board of Directors, an Executive Committee, and a Finance Committee. All these otTicers shall be elected at the Annual Congress, and shall hold their ofltices for one year, or until others are chosen in their stead. The Board of Directors shall have power to fill any office of the League that may be left or may become vacant before the meeting of the Annual Congress succeeding their own election.
Prcsidciit.
Article VII. — The President's duty shall be to preside at the Annual Congress and other conventions of the League, and at the meetings of the Board of Directors ; and to countersign all orders upon the treasury duly drawn by the Secretary.
Secretaries.
Article VIII. — The Secretary's duty shall be to keep the records, complete lists of members, and other papers of the League, and also of the Board of Directors ; to report promptly to the Board of Directors all facts communicated to him by the Secretaries of local auxiliary Leagues, and to prepare a careful condensation of the same for the Annual Congress ; and to conduct such correspondence as usually pertains to his office. It shall be the duty of the Assistant Secretary to assist in this work under the Secre- tary's direction.
Treasurer.
Article IX. — The Treasurer, after giving security satisfactory to the Board of Directors, shall receive and hold all funds of the League, subject to orders duly drawn by the Secretary and countersigned by the President. He shall report the state of the finances of the League at every Annual Congress, and oftener if required by the Board of Directors or Finance Committee ; and upon the election of a successor he shall deliver to him all the property of the League that he may hold.
Board of Directors.
Article X. — The President, Secretary, Treasurer, Chairman of the E.xecutive Committee, and Chairman of the Finance Committee, shall con- stitute the Board of Directors, which shall be intrusted with the general management and control of the affairs of the League from year to )'ear. They shall make a full report of their doings on the first day of each Annual Congress. All appropriations from the treasury shall be by vote of the Board of Directors.
Executive Committee.
Article XI. — The Executive Committee shall be composed of one member from each State and Territory of the Union, and shall act under the instructions of the Board of Directors. It shall be the duty of each mem- ber of the Executive Committee to select and associate with himself four other good citizens of his own State or Territory, as the Executive Sub- Committee for that State or Territory, and he shall be himself the Chairman of the same and promptly report its organization to the Secretary of the
178
National Liberal League. Each Sub-Committee shall appoint a Local Agent in as many of the cities and towns of its own State or Territory as possible. It shall be the duty of each Local Agent, with the help and co-operation of the State Sub-Committee, to organize, if possible, a local auxiliary Liberal League in his own city or town, to report its organization promptly to the Chairman of the State Sub-Committee, and to promote by its means the general objects of the National Liberal League.
The Chairman of the Executive Committee shall be elected as such by the Annual Congress, and shall be ex officio a member of the Board of Directors.
Finance Committee.
Article XIL — The Finance Committee shall be composed of three members, elected by the Annual Congress. It shall be their duty to devise ways and means for raising such funds as may be needed for the success- ful prosecution of the work of the League, and to carry them into execution with the help of the Board of Directors.
The Chairman of the Finance Committee shall be elected as such by the Annual Congress, and shall be ex officio a member of the Board of Directors.
Local Auxiliary Liberal Leagues.
Article XIII. — The Board of Directors shall have authority, as often as they receive a written application signed by ten or more persons and accompanied by ten dollars, to issue a charter for the formation of a local auxiliary Liberal League.
Article XIV. — Charters so issued shall contain Constitutions sub- stantially similar to this Constitution, but adapted to local wants, providing for regular and frequent meetings to promote the mental and moral cult- ure and general social enjoyment of the members, for Children's Fraternities to promote the welfare and happiness of their children, for Relief Commit- tees to supply the needs of sick, poor, or distressed members, and in gen- eral for whatever may conduce to the private benefit as well as the public usefulness of the local Leagues.
Article XV. — Local auxiliary Liberal Leagues organized under char- ters issued by the Board of Directors shall be absolutely independent in the administration of their own local affairs. The effect of their charters shall be simply to unite them in cordial fellowship and efficient co-operation of the freest kind with the National Liberal League and with other local Leagues. All votes of the Annual Congress, and all communications of the Board of Directors, shall possess no more authority or influence over them than lies in the intrinsic wisdom of the words themselves.
Article XVI. — Every local auxiliary Liberal League organized in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution shall be entitled to send its President and Secretary and three other members as delegates to the Annual Congress.
Article XVII. — It shall be a special duty of the Secretary of each local auxiliary Liberal League to furnish the Secretary of the National Liberal League with a complete list of all the members with their post-office addresses in full, and a list of the officers, and also to furnish him with information of all important action, of his own local League.
Amendments. Article XVIII. — Amendments to this Constitution may be made at any Annual Congress of the National Liberal League by a three-fourths vote of the qualified members present. But no amendment shall be made, unless the proposed amendment shall have been published together with the required public notice of the Annual Congress which is to act upon it.
A FORM OF CONSTITUTION
FOR
LOCAL AUXILIARY LIBERAL LEAGUES.
Approved by the Board of Directors of the Natiotial Liberal League^ and
submitted, by way of fraternal suggestion and recommendation
alone, to the friends of State Secularization.
PREAMBLE.
Whereas, At the Centennial Congress of Liberals, held at Pliiladelphia from July i to July 4, 1S76, a National Liberal League was organized to accomplish the Total Separation of Church and State; and
Whereas, The National Liberal League appeals to all liberal citizens to form a "local auxiliary Liberal League in every city, town, and village of the country where ten brave men and women can be found to take the lead in the matter, for the purpose of instituting earnest and combined agitation in favor of equal rights respecting religion, and in favor of such a Constitu- tional amendment as shall guarantee them " ; and
Whereas, We heartily approve of the important and patriotic move- ment thus initiated, and have applied fo/ and received a charter for local organization in accordance with the Constitution of the National Liberal League ;
Therefore, We, the undersigned, hereby associate ourselves together as a permanent organization, and adopt the following
CONSTITUTION.
Article I. — The name of this association shall be "The Liberal
League of , ;" and we hereby declare ourselves to
be a " local auxiliary Liberal League," in full sympathy, fellowship, and affiliation with the National Liberal League.
Article II. — The objects of this association shall be, first, to co-oper- ate with the National Liberal League in furtherance of the public objects, both general and specific, enumerated in its Constitution ; and, secondly, to promote the welfare of our own members as a local liberal society, as pro- vided in this Constitution.
Article III. — Any person who shall sign this Constitution, and pay
dollars annually into the treasury, shall be a member of this
League.
Article IV. — The annual meeting for the election of officers of this League, and of the delegates to the Annual Congress of the National Lib- eral League to which this League is entitled by its charter, shall be held on
the day of j and the Directors shall give one month's
notice of the same. There shall also be regular monthly meetings of this League for consultation and business ; and the Directors shall give one week's notice of the same.
Article V. — The officers of this League shall be a President, Secre- tary, Treasurer, and four Councillors. All "these shall constitute the Board of Directors, which shall have general management of the affairs of the
i8o
League, subject only to instruction by the League itself. They shall appoint from among the other members of the League committees on Public Work, on Public Discussion, on Social Affairs, and on Finance ; and each Councillor shall be chairman of one of these four committees.
The committee on Public Work shall mature measures for co-operating efBciently in the common cause with the National Liberal League, especially in circulating its documents, petitions, appeals, etc., and carrymg out locally the various objects of the Liberal League movement.
The committee on Public Discussion shall mature measures for sus- taining regular Sunday meetings for public debates, lectures, etc.; and they shall be charged with the general conduct of the same.
The committee on Social Affairs shall mature measures for holding fre- quent social assemblies for the benefit of the younger members of the League ; and also for regular Sunday meetings of a Children's Fraternity, to promote the moral instruction and social enjoyment of the children.
The committee on Finance shall mature measures for raising the funds necessary for these various objects ; and also measures for est'ablishing a Relief Fund to be devoted to the assistance of poor, sick, or distressed members.
All these measures shall be proposed to the Board of Directors, and, after being combined in a single general plan, shall be submitted by them to the League for approval.
All appropriations from the treasury shall be by vote of the Board of Directors ; and all orders on the treasury shall be signed by the President and Secretary.
Article VL — The duties of the President, Secretary, and Treasurer .shall be those usually pertaining to these offices. It shall be a special duty of the Secretary to furnish the Secretary of the National Liberal League with a complete list of all the members with their post-office addresses in full, and a list of the officers and various committees ; and also to furnish him promptly with information of all important action by this League.
Article VIL — Amendments to this Constitution may be made at any annual or monthly meeting of the League by a three-fourths vote of all the quahfied members present. But no amendment shall be made, unless the proposed amendment shall have been announced as part of the required notice of the meeting which is to act upon it.
SPECIAL NOTICE.
Liberal Societies already organized can qualify themselves for repre- sentation in any Annual Congress of the National Liberal League, and be so recorded, by sending previously to the Secretary a duly certified state- ment that the following vote has been passed by the Society so sending: —
" Voted, That this Society, desiring to co-operate with the National Liberal League, in the furtherance of lis general and specific objects, hereby declares itself a local auxiliary Liberal League, according to the true intent of the Constitution of said National Liberal League, and has duly elected the following persons to represent it at the next Annual Congress of the same : to wit, , , ,
On receipt of the above, together with an application for a charter signed by the officers of the Society and with the usual fee of ten dollars, a charter will be issued, and the Society will be recorded as entitled to repre- sentation.
Per order of the Directors of the National Liberal League :
FRANCIS E. ABBOT, President. R. H. RANNEY, Secretary.
LIST OF CHARTER-MEMBERS
NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE.
The printed application for individual membership in the Centennial Congress of Liberals, issued by the General Centennial Committee, was subscribed by .seven hundred and ninety-four persons. One hundred and seventy were reported as members present at this Congress, and are there- fore here enrolled, in accordance with the Constitution, as " permanent or charter-members of the National Liberal League." Most of these pre- sented the " Certificate of Membership " which had been issued by the Committee to individuals on receipt of the signed applications; the rest presented credentials as delegates from the fifteen organizations of which a separate list is appended below.
Twenty-four States and two Territories of the Union, besides Canada East and Germany, are represented in this alphabetical list of charter- members.
A.
Abbot, Francis E Boston, Mass.
Ahrens, Henry Longview, Ark.
Andrews, Stephen Pearl . . New York, N.Y.
McArthur, James Chicago, 111.
Atwater, Dr. Anna .... Kurlington, 111. B.
Bancroft, O. N Toms River, N.J.
Bardwell, Samuel D. . Shelburn F"alls, Mass.
Barnsdall, William Titusville, Pa.
Bartlett, Dr. A. W. M. . San Francisco, Cal.
Beam, James B Philadelphia, Pa.
Beck, Joseph Eldorado, O.
Belrose, Louis Ridley Park, Pa.
Bennett, D. M New York, N.Y.
Bentley, Jeffrey O Philadelphia, Pa.
Bentley, Milan " "
Bergmann, Charles Boston, Mass.
Betts, E. D Little Rock, Ark.
Betts, Mrs. E. D Little Rock, Ark.
Blinkhom, William .... Philadelphia, Pa.
Bliss, Porter C New York, N.Y.
Bohrer, Joseph Philadelphia, Pa.
Booth, Robert Mansfield, O.
Braasch, Anton Mishicott, Wis.
Bray, Wilson Lambertville, N.J.
Brewin, Thomas . . Valleyfield, Canada East. Briggs, R. W. S. . . . West Winfield, N.Y.
Brindecke, Dr. F Milwaukee, Wis.
Brotherton, William . . . Toms River, N.J.
Brown, Charles Philadelphia, Pa.
Brown, K. R Elmwood, 111.
Brown, Dr. T. L Binghamton, N.Y.
Buckle, James Philadelphia, Pa.
Buckner, H Paris, Texas.
Buckner, Mrs. H " "
Burchard, William . . . Washington, D.C.
Burt, D. R Dunleith, 111.
Burton, Mark Indianapolis, Ind.
I82
c.
Carman, W. C East Richland, O.
Clark, Rev. David H. . . . Florence, Mass. Coleman, George D. . . . Philadelphia, Pa. Coleman, William E. . Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Conklin, R. A Port Jervis, N. Y.
Crandon, Daniel G Chelsea, Mass.
Crowley, Daniel Philadelphia, Pa.
Curtis, Thomas St. Louis, Mo.
Cutler, John L Quitman, Ga.
D. Davis, William M. .... Salem, Oregon.
Dow, Stevens M Manchester, N.H.
Drury, William New Boston, 111.
Drury, Vashti " "
Dye, J. M Bethlehem, Pa.
Dye, John S Philadelphia, Pa.
E.
Edelheim, Carl New York, N.Y.
Einstein, Morris Titusville, Pa.
Ela, Alfred Cambridge, Mass.
F. Falke, Prof. WilHam . . . New York, N.Y.
Foster, George H Boston, Mass.
Eraser, John J New York, N.Y.
Frederic, Harold Utica, N.Y.
G.
Gale, S. C Minneapolis, Minn.
Gardner, John Rochester, N.Y.
Garretson, J. H Richland, Iowa.
Gersoni, Rabbi Henry .... Atlanta, Ga.
Gibson, Ella E New York, N.Y.
Graeter, Charles Vincennes, Ind.
Gray, W. H Morgan City, La.
Griswold, B. B Madison, N.J.
Griswold, Warren " "
Guttentag, S. P. ... Hamburg, Germany.
H. Hall, Willard P., Jr. ... St. Joseph, Mo.
Hallowell, Richard P Boston, Mass.
Henck, George D Philadelphia, Pa.
Henderson, G. L New York, N.Y.
Herzberger, Eliza .... Washington, D.C.
Hoffner, Jacob Cincinnati, O.
Hoffner, Theodore .... Philadelphia, Pa.
Hoopes, J. J " "
Hoover, Harry Clearfield, Pa.
Hunt, H. M Philadelphia, Pa.
I.
Ibach, John T Robesonia, Pa.
Israel, J. N Philadelphia, Pa.
J.
Jack, James C Oil City, Pa.
Jack, Susan " "
Janes, Lewis G Brooklyn, N.Y.
Jones, F Collierville, Tenn.
Julian, Hon. Geo. W. . . . Irvington, Ind.
K.
Kastor, H. W St. Joseph, Mo.
Keeler, E. W Yardville, N.J.
Keppler, John .... New Frankfort, Mo. Kilgore, Mrs. C. B. ... Philadelphia, Pa. Kilgore, Charles S. . . . " "
Kilgore, Damon Y. . . . " "
L.
Lauer, Conrad Philadelphia, Pa.
McLaurie, Dr. William . . New York, N.Y. Lawrence, B. M. ... Quincy Point, Mass. Lawrence, Mrs. P. R. . " " "
Leonard, Miss Emily J. . . Meriden, Conn. Lieber, Hermann .... Indianapolis, ind.
Lilland, R. M Long\'iew, Ark.
Lincoln, A. V Boston, Mass.
Linton, Mahlou B Newtown, Pa.
Little, William .... Manchester, N.H. Loos, Prof. Alexander . . Germantown, Pa.
M.
Mendum, Ernest Boston, Mass.
Michener, Dr. J. C Adel, Iowa.
Mills, Charles D. B Syracuse, N.Y.
Mills, Mrs. Harriet A. . . . " "
Mills, J. W Lancaster, Wis.
Minski, Adolphe Milwaukee, Wis.
Mitchel, Dr. Isabel M. . . Philadelphia, Pa.
Moore, J. K Oil City, Pa.
Moyer, E Nevada, O.
N. Neustadt, .Simon .... Milwaukee, Wis.
O.
Ott, Christian F Philadelphia, Pa.
Ott, Kate E " "
P.
Paige, Charles F Boston, Mass.
Palmer, Dr. L. P Philadelphia, Pa.
Parton, James .... Newburyport, Mass. Pliillips, Thomas .... Philadelphia, Pa. Pinkham, Dr. C. ... San Francisco, Cal.
Pope, Edward S Indianapolis, Ind.
Porter, William F Philadelphia, Pa.
Potter, Rev. William J. . New Bedford, Mass. Pratt, Dr. Mary Philadelphia, Pa.
R.
Ranney, R. H Boston, Mass.
Reichard, J. B Los Angelos, Cal.
Reitzel, Robert .... Washington, D.C.
Roegel, David Philadelphia, Pa.
Rothschild, Henry V. . . . New York, N.Y Rothwell, James .... Hopkinton, R. I. Rothwell, James H. . . . " "
^^3
s.
Sattlcr, Lewis Philadelphia, Ta.
Sayward, William H. . . Dorchester, Mass. Schlesinger, Rabbi Max . . • Albany, N.Y. Schmemann, Charles .... Detroit, Midi. Sclirocter, Edward .... Sauk City, Wis.
Schuetz, Fritz Milwaukee, Wis.
Sedgbeer, Joseph Painesville, O.
Segrest, Jacob P Philadelphia, Pa.
Segrest, Margaret .... " "
Serrill, Caroline E " "
Seymour, William .... Toms River, N.J.
Shannon, Franklio Canton, Mo.
Sharp, Elmore Norwich, Conn.
Sheen, James Philadelphia, Pa.
Sherman, J. D Milwaukee, Wis.
Somerby, C. P New York, N.Y.
Spaulding, L Norfolk, Va.
Storer, Dr. H. B Boston, Mass.
T.
Thayer, M. B Boston, Mass.
Thayer, Mrs. M. B " "
Thorn, George Clearfield, Pa.
Tiautnianii, Barbara . . . Sauk City, Wis. Truman, Roxilana Boston, Mass.
U.
Underwood, B. V Thorndike, Mass.
Underwood, Mrs. Sara A. " "
V.
Verity, John Boston, Mass.
Vollmer, Augustus .... Philadelphia, Pa.
W.
Wallin, Robert Philadelphia, Pa.
Walsh, T. C Add, Iowa.
Warbasse, E. H I'hiladelphia, Pa.
Warbasse, Joseph Newton, N.J.
Warbasse, Samuel .... La Fayette, N.J. Westcott, William H. . . . Philadelphia, Pa.
Westrup, R. B Camden, N.J.
Wheeler, Edward S. ... Philadelphia, Pa. Wiegraann, Lucy .... Washington, D.C. Wilcox, S. T. . Laramie City, Wyoming Ter.
Wise, P. V. St. Joseph, Mo.
Witmer, H. C Silver Spring, Pa.
LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS
REPRESENTED BY ACCREDITED DELEGATES AT THE
CENTENNIAL CONGRESS OF LIBERALS.
LIBERAL LEAGUES.
Boston, Mass. — H. S. Williams (R. H. Ranney, substitute), Dr. H. B.
Storer, George H. Foster, F. E. Abbot, George A. Bacon. New York, N. Y. — Dr. William McLaurie, Stephen Pearl Andrews,
D. M. Bennett, Ella E. Gibson. Philadelphia, Pa. — Dr. Mary Pratt, Damon Y. Kilgore, Thomas Phillips. Clearfield Co., Pa. — Samuel Widemire, Harry Hoover, George Thorn,
Dr. A. T. Schryver. Oil City, Pa. — James C. Jack, Walter R. Stevenson, J. K. Moore, Susan
Jack, Daniel W. McLane. Milwaukee, Wis. (First League). — Simon Neustadt, Adolphe Minski. St. Joseph, Mo. — H. W. Kastor, P. V. Wise, Willard P. Hall, Jr. San Francisco, Cal. — Mrs. A. W. M. Bartlett, M. D.
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.
Union of Radicals of North America. — Professor Alexander Loos.
Radical Democracy of Milwaukee, Wis. — Carl Edelheim.
Freie Gemeinde of Washington, D. C. — William Burchard, Robert
Reitzel, Mrs. Lucy Wiegmann, Mrs. Eliza Herzberger. Freie Gemeinde of Milwaukee, Wis. — Fritz Schiitz, Dr. F. Brindecke,
Adolphe Minski. Freie Gemeinde of Philadelphia, Pa. — Charles Borm, Theodor Ho£fner,
David Roegel, Alexander Loos, Augustus Vollmer. First Congregation of the Religion of Humanity, New York City.
— D. R. Burt, G. L. Henderson, Professor William Falke, Louis
Masquerier. Investigator Society, Boston. — John Verity.
PROTEST
OF THE NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE AGAINST CLOSING THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION ON SUNDAYS, PRESENTED AT THE MEETING OF THE UNITED STATES CENfENNIAL COMMISSION ON THE EXHIBITION GROUNDS AT PHILADEL- PHIA, JULY 6, 1876.
Philadelphia, July 4, 1876. To THE President and Members of the Centennial Commission :
Gentlemen, — At one of the sessions of the National Liberal League, just organized at Concert Hall in this city, a committee, consisting of F. E. Abbot,"B. F. Underwood, George W. Julian, D. Y. Kilgore, James McArthur, William J._ Potter, R. P. Hallowell, Mrs. Dr. Pratt, and Mrs. Kilgore, was appointed and instructed to present to your honorable body the protest of the League against the closing of the International Exhibition on Sunday, together with a list of the officers and members.
In obedience to these instructions, the undersigned members of this Committee respectfully present the following, as the leading reasons of this protest: —
1, The Exhibition is a National affair, sustained in large measure by the impartial taxation of the whole American people, without the least regard to their religious beliefs : and the equal rights of the whole people ought to be scrupulously protected by the officers to whom its management is intrusted. But it is a denial and infraction of their equal religious rights to exclude the whole people from the Exhibition on Sundays, merely because a part of the people believe Sunday to be a holy day. Such a belief. justifies those W'ho hold it in staying away from the Exhibition on Sundays ; but it does not justify them in keeping others away from it. The Church has no right under the Constitution thus to impose any part of its creed on the State, or to claim for those who believe it any temporal advantage over those who disbelieve it.
2. The closing of the Exhibition on Sundays is a grievous practical wrong against the working classes, who especially need and would prize the educational influences offered in this magnificent display of the products of all countries, but who are now debarred from visiting it on the day when it is most convenient for them to do so, and who must in consequence either keep away altogether, or visit it on a day when they suffer an additional tax by the loss of their wages. The right of the working-man in this country to visit the Exposition on Sundays is certainly as good as that of the Emperor of Brazil and his attendants, for whose convenience, it is reported, the Sun- day restriction has been removed and the alleged sacredness of the day violated.
Respectfully yours,
F. E. Abbot. B. F. Underwood. George W. Julian.* Damon Y. Kilgore. James McArthur. William J. Potter. . Richard P. Hallowell. Mary Pratt, M. D. Carrie B. Kilgore.
• Mr. Julian authorizes tlic addition of his naine to this protest, although he was not present at the time to sign it.
CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
MICHIGAN STATE ASSOCIATION OF SPIRITUALISTS.
To THE Centennial Congress of Liberals, to assemble in the city of PhiladelpJiia on the first day of fiity, in the year eighteen hundred and sez'enty-six, the Michigan State Association of Spiritualists, in session at the city of Battle Creek on the twenty- fourth day of June of the same year, sends greeting.
The Centennial year is one in which the political history of our country will of necessity be reviewed, and no phase of our political history possesses so much importance as that which goes to the guarantees of the rights of conscience contained in the fundamental law of the nation and of many of the States. We should recall also the fact, and place it in bold relief, that many of the master minds of the revolutionary period — Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine, whose Coi/uiion Sense did so much to promote that Declaration by preparing public senti- ment for it, and who was the untiring and indefatigable worker in efforts to make it good — were, with others their co-workers, men of liberal views, who infused their thought into the upspringing life of the young nation.
The men who made the framework of our government had not only the political models of the past to build upon, but they had the history of the near past to suggest to them measures designed to guard against the fearful scourge of civil war growing out of religious divisions. The relig- ious wars of the sixteenth century in Europe, though nominally terminated by the exhaustion of the opposing forces, were nevertheless perpetuated in partisan antagonisms through tradition and history, and were thus trans- ferred to this side of the Atlantic, and reflected upon the men of the eight- eenth century. Liberal men, who were convinced of the inherent wrong of erecting the Church upon the body of the State, and churchmen who were convinced of its danger and impolicy among a people holding diverse views, and who were earnest and combative in asserting and maintaining their opinions and convictions, united in declaring by the fundamental law that " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This guarantee was designed to put an end to all strife on the part of religious sects and parties for possession of the civil government, by making such possession valueless. It certainly was not intended simply as a truce between the contending factions of a particular church. It was for the Jew as well as for the Greek; for the Moslem no less than for the Christian ; for the Materialist equally with the Spirituahst. It was for all beliefs and for all time. It was and is a declara- tion in brief that the civil government has nothing whatever to do with religion so far as religious beliefs based upon tenets are concerned, and that it should be wholly and entirely divorced from them both in letter and spirit — in form and in practice. And we may add that the highest religious
.87
function of government is to establish justice, not only as between man and man, but as between associations of men (religious organizations being a common form of associative action), and to provide means by which the highest good of the whole people may be subserved, in commerce, in edu- cation, in the protection of life and property, and in beneficent institutions for the care and maintenance of the needy and the helpless. There is no need for it to invoke any special form of religion in fulfilling either of these functions. The civil government is in fact nothing more than a co-operative agcncv for doing, better and more economically than could be otherwise done, that which all tiic people want done. These things affect the whole people, and the whole peo])le are called to pay for doing them. Religious beliefs are special, and affect only a part of the people. People holding these special beliefs are permitted to co-operate in their pursuit and prac- tise, and the civil government will protect them in such co-operation, and it is most flagrant arrogance and assumption, not to say an offence that should be most signally rebuked, for them to ask or demand anything beyond this.
The Rev. Henry P. Tappan, President of the University of Michigan from the year 1852 to 1863,* in an address before the Christian Library Association of the University, June 22, 1858, holds the following language, which, though addressed to a particular institution, is applicable to the whole subject of State patronage of religious sects : —
" But egregiously do those mistake the character and ends of this insti- tution who imagine that, because it belongs to no sect or party in particular, it therefore belongs to all sects and parties conjointh', and of equal right. It not only does not belong to any sect or party in particular; it belongs to no sect or party at all. The deed of trust by which it was founded, the
ordinance by which its objects are defined, makes no allusion to any
religious denominations ; it speaks not of political parties ; it refers to no particular localities ; it speaks only of the State of Michigan, or of the peo- ple of the State. It is a purely literary and scientific institution ; it is in no sense ecclesiastical. It is designed for a single purpose — advancing knowl- edge and promoting education. It is as absurd to speak of the University as belonging to religious sects conjointly, as it would be to speak of the asylum, the State prison, the Legislature, or any other body, institution, or works, as thus belonging. The State is not composed of religious sects, but of the people. And the institutions of the State do not belong to the sects into which the people may chance to be divided by their opinions and practices, but to the people considered as the body politic, irrespective of all such divisions."
Another logical writer f says: "In respect to matters purely of a relig- ious nature the laws ought to be as silent as if there were no such thing as religion in the world. The law can have no religion, since it cannot have all. If it select that of one sect, it offends against that of all other sects. If it take into favor the religion of the majority, it tyrannizes over the minority; if it establishes the religion of the Christian, it offends the Infidel,
the Jew, and the Heathen As regards the observance of a day of rest,
the State has an undoubted authority to abstain from all action on such a day ; but it cannot rightfully compel any man to keep Sunday as a religious institution ; nor can it require him to cease from labor or recreation on that day, since it cannot be shown that the ordinary exercise of the human facul- ties on that day is in any way an infringement upon the rights of mankind. There cannot properly be any legal controversy as to the introduction of the
_*Dr. Tappan, thouRh an ordained minister of the Presbyterian church, was a victim to his liberal sentiments, which contributed largely to his dismissal from the presidency of the University in the year 1863.
f Esiays OH ffumiiH Jii^Ats, by K. P. HvLr\but. New York: Fowler & Wells. 1848.
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Bible into the schools. The law has no Bible, and cannot recognize any distinction between Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Infidels.
" The interests of religion, as well as the rights of mankind, are deeply concerned in establishing these principles. There is no surer way to make any religion odious than to attempt to coerce men into its support. If I wished to corrupt and destroy it, I would give it power over the laws. The stake would soon follow the statute, and the conscience and benevolence of mankind would revolt at its alliance with the State, and both would fall together."
But it is needless to extend argument on this head before a body of clear thinkers whose convictions are fully in accord with our own. We may add, however, that, in the conflict upon the first stage of which we are now entered, Liberalism will have to encounter the united opposition of the two great wings of the Christian Church. It is vital to both of them that they establish the principle of the domination of the ecclesiastical power. If they do this, and at the same time crush liberal thought, they will then be in a position to again grapple with each other in a contest for supremacy, and to re-enact the sanguinary conflicts of the past. Liberalism may wisely husband its resources as a conservative power between the contending fac- tions . of Christendom, and brace itself to receive the combined shock of those factions.
To recur again to the constitutional provisions w-hich forbids a State religion, it may be said to have reflected the sentiment of the people at the time of its adoption. It is pecuHarly appropriate in this Centennial year to inquire whether that provision is being violated in letter or in spirit, and whether the sentiment of the people has changed, or is undergoing change. If the former, then should we seek to reform it ; if the latter, then should we seek to arrest it ; and to enthrone in the hearts and convictions of the people the great charter of right and safety.
We believe that the spirit of the provision is being violated in many ways, especially in those things comprehended under our points of protest following; and we believe that the popular sentiment is in danger of change through acquiescence in unwarranted practices, and through systematic efforts to that end on the part of the religious sects. And let us bear in mind that constitutional checks go for but little when they cease to represent the sentiments and convictions of the people.
Original declarations are sometimes accepted without a full understand- ing of all that they imply. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that " all men are created equal." Constitutional provisions subsequently adopted were a practical negative upon this declaration, and the holding of men in bondage in defiance of one and in virtue of the other, caused a civil war which is fresh in the memory of every adult person. The declaration reflected the spontaneous sentiment of the people, and was accepted as a fundamental truth. The subsequent constitutional provision was a com- promise upon expediency. The demands of the power entrenched behind the constitutional provision led to the conflict of arms.
The non-religious clause of the Constitution reflected the spontaneous sentiment of the people at the time of its adoption, and remains there as asserting a fundamental truth. Yet the forces in antagonism, without even the apology of a subsequent enactment in their favor, are continually and insidiously thrusting themselves into jDositions where in some degree they are recognized as a part of the civil structure. If the demands of chattel slavery, backed by constitutional guarantees, forced a conflict, it is well to inquire how far the encroachments (without the color of constitutional right) of a power which has never hesitated to become the fortress of men- tal bondage where its own aggrandizement was concerned, should awaken the serious apprehension of the friends of that broad human freedom which
i89
is the peculiar boast of this age and country. That attention is being awaivcned to this subject, is evidenced by the call and the preparations for your meeting.
The Church power, through its organic structure, whether through any deep and deliberately formed design or by metaphysical sequence, is aggres- sive. It is the tendency of all organic force to stop short of nothing that is attainable. During times of civil commotion and of financial depression, when the watchful eye is in a measure withdrawn from it, and the public pulse is more susceptible to its approach, the Church power makes its most insidious advances. We hope and trust that your assemblage may be the means of jDutting in motion organic forces that shall say to the Church power, respectfully, but finally, " Thus far, and no farther."
Liberalists should exercise a proper caution against a too ready accept- ance of propositions for changing the fundamental law, whether coming from Presidents or political conventions, lest they be designed simply to keep the word of promise to the ear only to break it to the hope. The declaration of a recent convention in favor of an amendment which shall forbid the application of any public funds or property "for the benefit of any schools or institutions under sectarian control," comes short of the demand in faihng to declare against the present wholesale usurpation, by sectarian influences, of the entire public educational structure of the coun- try. No proposition on this subject should be accepted that is susceptible of a double meaning, or that fails to express, both affirmatively and nega- tively, all that the " Demands of Liberalism " imply.
The claim that the use of the Bible in the public schools is non-secta- rian, is false and delusive. It is sectarian as regards the large number of persons who deny the plenary inspiration of any book. It is sectarian as regards the Jewish Bible, and the Protestant Bible is sectarian as regards the Catholic version, and vice vc7-sa.
We are glad to record the fact that many women of the present day are among the foremost in liberal thought — a fact that is due, we believe, to the loosening of ecclesiastical rule. We should resist any retrograde step as tending to deprive the world of the benefits which the mental emancipa- tion of woman has given it, and to prevent her further development as thinker and teacher. As she has been mentally, ph3'sically, and socially enslaved through the religious dogmatism of the past, so will her enfran- chisement follow the decline of dogmatism entrenched behind the civil law.
The Michigan State Association of Spiritualists, in thus addressing the Centennial Congress of Liberals, does in no sense present itself as the representative of any religious tenet, and in no way asks recognition as such.
We reflect, however, that it is only by virtue of the broad principle of liberty of conscience and non-interference by the civil government with the religious beliefs and practices of the people as guaranteed by the constitu- tional provision which has been quoted (a principle which ought to be of such universal recognition as to need no special guarantee), that we enjoy the right to investigate facts and phenomena that have arrested our atten- tion, and to discuss and promulgate tenets that seem to flow from them. It is only by virtue of the same principle and guarantee that the Centennial Congress of Liberals is permitted to hold its session. Hence on this broad principle the two bodies can fraternize without the possibility of discord, and for the defence of it this Association gives solemn pledge, now, henceforth, and always.
We protest against the maintenance of chaplaincies in Congress, in the State legislatures, in the army and navy, and in all institutions main- tained by the public.
We protest against the appointment of religious festivals and fasts by federal or State authority.
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We protest against the establishment by law of holidays recognized as religious holy days, and against all civil penalties following any act or ching done on Sunday that may properly be done on any other day.
We protest against the exemption of church property from taxation, and against all special privileges, immunities and exemptions to religious orders and professions.
We protest against the practice, quite common with civil officers, in official papers and addresses, falsifying the fact by speaking of this as a Christian government, and our common civilization as a Christian civilization.
We protest against the religious test implied by the judicial oath. We believe that the truth is normal, and that every person should be deemed capable of telling the truth without a special averment that he intends to do so, while civil penalties should be visited upon those who, being called to testify, testify falsely.
We protest against the usurpation, by the religious sects, of the public schools and colleges, making them practically religious and theological scho.ols, in defiance of justice, of law, and of constitutional inhibition.
We protest against the opening of Centennial Expositions and political conventions with religious exercises.
On these and other cognate topics, this Association tenders to the Cen- tennial Congress of Liberals, and to all other associations and bodies working to the same end, its cordial sympathy and co-operation, hoping that the session of the Congress may serve to revive and renew and keep alive the principles of civil and religious and personal liberty secured by the fundamental law, and to awaken vigilance in their maintenance where vigi- lance is needed.
The foregoing address, having been reported by a committee consisting of S. B. McCracken, Frank R. Knowles, and Geo. W. Winslow, and unani- mously adopted by the Michigan State Association of Spiritualists, at time and place as stated, the undersigned, pursuant to the instructions of said Association, hereby officially certify the same to the Centennial Congress of Liberals.
A. B. SPINNEY, President, Mrs. L. E. BAILEY, Secretary.
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