The Rhode-Island Republican — Newport, R.I., 1810-11-21 00:00:00, page 2

Because the bill violates that equality which
ought to be the basis of every law ; and which
is more Indispensable, in proportion as the
vilidity or expediency of any law is more liu
ble to be impeached. “ If all meh are, by
naturey equally free and independent,”} ali
men are to be considered as entering into go
ciety on equal conditions, as relinquishing no
more, and therelore retaining no lgss, one
than another, or their natural rights ; above
all, are they to be considered as retaining an
“ equal iitle to the dictates of conscience.”}
Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to
embruce to profess and obscrve the, religion
which we believe 10 be of divine origin ; we
cannot deny an ejual freedom to those whose
minds have not yet yielded to the evidence
which has convinced us, If this freedom be
abused, it is an offence aguinst God, not a
gatost man. To God, therefore, and not to
Iy must an accoqnt of it be rendered.
As the il violates equality; by subjecting
songe to pecuiiar burdens ; so it violates the
same principle by graming to other, peculiut
exemptions. Are the Quukers and Menon-
of every man ; and it is the right of every
an to exercise it as these may dictate. This
:“;g‘m is in its nature, an unalienable right. It
isrunalicnable ; because the opinions of men
depending only upon the evidenie contem
plated by their own minds, cannot follow the
dictates of other men. 1t is unulienable, also ;
becuuse what is here right towards man is a
duty towurds the Creator. It is the duty of
eveiy tan to render to the Creator’such hori
age, and such on'y, us he belicves to be uc
ceptable to him. This duty is precedent,
both in order of time, and in degree of obli
gution, 1o Ihe claimns of civil socicty Belore
any man cun be considiered as u member of
civil society, he must be considered as a sub
ject of the Governour of the Universe. And
Lf r member of civil sociely, who enters into
any subordinate association, must always do
it with a reservation ol his duty to the gener
-8l wuthority ; much more must every man
who becomes a member of any particular
civil sociery, do it with a saving of his allegi
ance 1o the universal Sovereign. We muin
t.anm, theretore, that in matters of religion no
man’s vight ig ahridged by the instituiion of
civil society : und that religion is wholly ex
empt from its cognizance. True it is, that
no other rule exisws by which any question
‘which may divide a society cun be ultimately
determined, but by the will of the majority.
But it is also true, that the majority may
trespass on the rights of the minority.
Becuuse, if religion be exempt from the
authority o 1 society at large, stilY less can it
be subject to thut ol the Legislative body.
The latter are but the creatures and viceger
ents of the former. Their jurisdiction is
both derivative and limited. It is limited
with regard to the co-ordinute departm.ents ;
more necessarily, it is limited with regurd 10
the constituents. The preservation of o free
government requires not merely that the
metes and bounds which seperate e«ch de
partinent of power, be invariably maintained;
but more especiailly that neither of them be
suffered 10 overleap the great barrier which
delends the rights of the people. T'he ru
lers who are gwity of such an encroachment
exceed the comuission from which they de
rive their authority, and ure tyrants. 7The
people whu submit o ity are governed by
laws mdde neither by themselves, nor by un
suthority devived from them, and are slayes.
Because it is proper te tuke alarm at the
first experiment on our liberties. We hold
this piudeant jealousy 1o be the first duty of
ciizens, and one ot the noblest characteris
ticks of the lute revolution. The freemen of
Aierica did not wait until usurped power
hod screngrhened itself by exercise, and en
tunigled the quesiion in precedents. They
saw all consequences in the principle, and
they avoided the consequences by denying
the principle. We revere this lesson too
much, soon to forgit it. Who does not see
that the same authority which cun establish
christianity in exciusivn of all other religions
may estublish, with the sume case, any par
ticuar sect of christians, in exclusion of all
other sects ! That the same authority which
can force a citizen to contvibute three pence
only of his property, for the support of any
one establishment, may forge him to conform
to uny other establishment, in all cases what
socver.
® Declaration of Rirhts, avticle 16.
Tt Declaration of Rights, article 1.
t Declaration of Rights, article 16.
To the Honour.ble the General Assembly of the
Commonweulth of Vorginia :
WE, the suoscribers, citizens of the said
Commonwealth, having taken into considera
tion a bill, printed by order of the last Session
of General Assembly entitled * A bill estab-
WsHing a provision for teachers of the Chris:
tian reiigion ;”* and conceiving that the same,
if finaiiy armed with the sanctions of a law,
will be a dangerous abuse of power ; are
bound as faithful members of a free State
to remonstrate against it, and to declare the
reusons by which we are determined. We
remonstrate against the said bill,
Because we hold it for a fundamental and
unalienable truth, that religion, or the duty
which we owe to the Creator, and the man
ner of discharging ity can be directed only by
reason and comviction, not by ferce or vio
lence.®* I'he rveligion, then, of every man,
must be felt to the conviction and conscience
A MEVONIAL AND REMONSTRANCE,
Awainst the general assessment, presented to the Gen
eral Assembly of Virginia, at the Sesvian, for the
Fear of owr LORD, One Thousand Seven Hundred
and taghy e,
Drawn by JAMES MANISON, now President
of the United Ntates.
A MEMORIAL AND REMONSTRANCE
to intermeddle with religion has produced
imong its several sects. Torrents of blood
aave been spilt in the old world, by vain at
tempts of the seculiar arm to extinguish re
iig'ous discord by proscriding all differences
in religious opinion. Time has at length re
vealed the true remedy. Every relaxatior of
wriow and rigorous roliry. wherever it has
been tried, has been found to assuage the d s
case. The American theatre has exhivited
sented by other situations are every day thin
ning their number.~To superadd a fresh
motive to emigration, by revoking the liberty
they now enjoy, would be the same species
of folly, which has dishonoured and depopu
lated flourshing Kingdems. /
Because it will destroy that moderation dnd
narmony, which the forbearance of our laws
The magnanimous sufferer under the cruel
scourge in foreign regions, must view the
bill as u beacon on our coast, warning him to
seek some other haven, wßere liberty and
philanthropy ia their due exXtent may offer a
more certain repose from his troubles.
Because it will have a like tendency to
banish our citizens. The allurements pre-
lancholy mark is the bill of sudden degener
acy ! lostead of holding forth an asylum to
the persecuted, it is itselt a signal of perse
cution. . It degrades from the equal rank of
citizens all those whose opinions in rehgion
do not bend to those of the legislative auth
ority. Distant as it may be, In its present
torm, from the inquisition, it differs from it
only in degree : the one is the first step, the
other the last in the carcer of intolerance.
suxilaries. A just government, instivued
10 secure and pcrpetuate ity needs them not.
Such a government will be best supported
by protecting every cilizen in the enjoyment
of his religion, with the same eyuai hand
which protects his person and his property ;
by neither invading the equal rights of uny
secty nor suffering any sect to invade those of
another. -
Because the proposed establishment is a
departure from that generous policy, which,
offering an asylum to the persecuted and op
pressed of every nation and religion, promai
sed a lustre to our country, and an accession
civil magistrute is a competent judge of re
ligious truths, or that he may empioy relig
ion as an engine of civil policy. Vhe fiist is
an arrogunt pretension, falsified by the ex
travrdinary opinion of rulers, in all uges, und
throughout the world ; the second, an unhal
lowed perversion of the meuns of salvation,
Becuause the establishment proposed by the
bill is not requisite for the support of the
chrisuian religion. To suy that 1t is, is a gon
tradiction to the christian religion itself ; for
every page of it disuvows a dependence of
the power of this world ; it is a contradic
[ tion to fact, for it is known that this religion
~ both existed and flourished, not only without
the support of human laws, but in spite of
every opposition from them and not only dur
ing the period of miraculous aid, but long al
ter it had been left to its own evidence and
the ordinary care of Providence : nay, it is a
contradiction in terms ; for a religion not in
vented by human policy must have pre-exis
ted and been supported, before it was estub
lished by human policy ; it 18 morcover to
weaken in those who piofess this religion a
pious confidence in Its innate excellence and
the patronage of its author ; and 1o foster, in
those who still reject ity a suspicion that ns
friends are too conscious of its fallucies to
Lrust 1t to its own merits. |
Because expericnce witnesses, that eccle
siastical estublishments, instead of muintain
ing the purity and effi uy of religion, have
had a contrary operauon. During almost
fifteen centuries has the legal establishment
of chrisuanity been on tial==What have
been its fruits, more or less 1w all places
pride and indolence in the clergy ; ignorauce
and servility ‘in the laity ; in buthy supersti
tion, bigotry, und persecution. Enquire ol
the téuchers of christiunity for the ages in
which it appeared in its greatest lustre !
those of every sect point to the ages prior to
its incorporation with civil poiicy. Propose
a restoration of this primitive state, in which
its teachers depend on the voluntary rewards
of tneir flocks, many of them predict its
downfall. On which side ougnt their testi
mony to have greatest weight, when for or
when against their interest !
Because the establishment in quest.on. is
not necessary for the support of civil gov
ernment=—lt it be urged as necessary ior
the support of civil government, only as it
is a means of supportung religion, and it be
not necessary tor the latter purpose, it cannot
be necessary for the former. 1f religion be
not within the cognizance of civil govern
ment, how can its legal establishment be said
to be necessary to civii government ! What
influence in tact huve ecciesiastical establisn
ments had on civil society ! In some instan
ces they have bLeen seen to erect a spiritual
tyranny on the ruine of the civil authority :
In mote instunces have they been seen up
hoiding tue thrones of political tyranny ; 1
no instance have they been seen the guardi
ans oi the liberties of thg people. Rulers,
who wish 0 subve:t the pubiick liberty, may
have found an established clergy convenient
10 the number of its citizens. What a mes
ists the enly secte whe think a compulsive
support of their religions unnecessary and
unwarrantable 7 Can their piery alone be en
trusted with the care of publick worship ?
Ought their religions 1o be endowed, sbove
all others, with extraordinury privileges, by
which proselytes may be enticed from all oth
ers ! We think 0o fuvourubiy of the justice
and guod sense of these denominations, to
believe, that they either covet pre-eminances
over their fellow citizens, or that they will
be seduced by them from the commmon oppo
sition 10 the measure,
Because the bill implies, either that the
THE CLEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF OUR
RIGHTS ON THE OCEAN.
WE have taken a sufficient survey of the
parent country to perceive, that until she tho
roughly change her present systcm, we must
look in vain either 10 the theory or practise fo
the correct principles ot our maritime rights.
Let us then take a ground that neither Eng
“land nor her advocates, however pertinacious,
will ever dare openly to dispute. Let us take
for granted, that, as independent Americans,
we are under no obligation to go to Cock-Pit
1o en-juire of the king’s toll-gatherer, (nick
named his Deputy Judge of Admirality,) what
are the terms of passing the common highway
of nasione, which his modest master clims
Because, finally, “ the equal right of every
citizen to the free exercise of his religion ac
cording to the dictates of conscience,” is
held by the same tenure with all our other
rights. If we recur to its origin, it is equal
ly the gitt of nature ; if we weigh its imyor
tance, it cannot be less dear to us ; if we
cousult the * Declaration of those rights
which pertain to the good people of Virginia
as the basis and foundation of government,”
it is enumerated with equal solemnity, or
rather with studied emphasis. Either then
we must sy, that the will of the Legislature
Is the only meusuie of their authority ; and
that in the plenitude of this authority, they
may sweep away all vur fundamental rights ;
or that they are bound to leave this particular
right untouched and sacred ; either we must
s.y that they may control the freedom of the
press ; may abolish the tiial by jury ; may
swallow up the executive and judiciary pow
ers Of the stute==nuy, that they wmay anaihil
ate our very ri;;ht of suffrage, and erect
themselves into an independendest and here
ditary Assembly ; or we must say that they
have no authority to enact into a law the bili
under consideration. We, the Subscribers,
say, that the General Assembly of this Com
monwealth. have no such authority ; and that
no effort may be omitted on our part against
s 0 dungerous an usurpation, we oppose to it
this remonstrance, earnestly praying, as we
are in duty bound, that the Supreme Law
giver of the Universe, by illuminating those
to whom it is addressed, may, on one -hand,
turn ¢ councils from every act, which
would @n his holy prerogatine, or violate
the trust commitied w them ; and on the
other, guide them into every measure which
may be worthy of His blessing, may tedound
to their own praise, and may estublish more
firmly the liberties, the property, and the
happiness of this commonwealth.
Becuuse attempts to enforce,by legal sanc
ticns, wcts, ebnoxious 1o so great a propor
tion of citizens, tend to enervate the laws in
peneraly and 1o slacken the bands of society.
It it be difficult to execute any law, which
is not generally deemed necessary or salutary
what mrust be the case where it is deemed
invalid and dangerous ! And what may be
the effect of so siriking an example of im
potency in the government on its general
authority ?
Because a measure of such singular mag
nitude and delicacy ought not to be imposed,
without the clearest evidence that it 1s called
ior by a majority of citizegs ; and no satis
tactory method is yet proposed by which the
voice of the majority in this case may be de
termined, or its influence secured. ¢ The
peopie of the respective counties ure indeed
requested to signify their opinions respecting
the adoption ot the bill to the next session of
assembiy.” But the representation must be
made equal, before the voice either of the
representatives or of the counties will be
that of the people. Our hope is that neither
of the former will after due consideration es
pomse the dangerous prnciple of the bill.
Should the event disappoint us, it will still
leave us in full confidence, that a fair appeal
to the latter will reverse the sentence against
our liberties.
proofs, that equal and complete liberty, if it
“does not whelly eradicate it, sufficiently des
treys its malignant influence on the heulth
and prosperity of the state. If with the sal
utary efiects of this system under our own
cyes, we begin to contract the bounds of re
ligious freedom, we know ne name that will
oo severely reproach our folly. At least let
warning be taken at the hrst fruits of the
threatened innovation. The very appearance
of the bill has wansformed that “ christian
forbearance, love and charity,”* which of
late mutually prevalled into animosities and
jealousies which muy not soon be uppeased.
What mischiefs may not be dreaded, should
this enemy to the publick quiet be armed
with the force’of a law ? °
Because the policy of the biil is adverse to
the diffusion ol the light of christianity
‘The first wish of those who ought to enjoy
this precious gift ought to be, that it may be
imparted to the whole race of mankind.
Compare the number of those, who have as
yet received ity with the number still remain
g under the dominion of false religions,and
bow smull is the former { Does the policy of
the bill tend 10 lessen the disproportion? No;
it at once discourages those who ure strang
ers to the light of truth from coming into
the regions of it ; and countenances by ex
amiple the nations who continue in darkness,
in shutting out those who might convey it
to them. Instead of levelling as far as pos
sible every obstacle to the vigorous progress
of truth, the bill, with an ignoble and un
christigp timidity, would circumscribe it with
a wull ot delence against the encroachments
of errvor.
Decluration of Rights, article 16.
THE VOLUNTER=NO. XXXV
FROM THE BOSTON PATRIOT.
WE noticed n our last the proceediugs of
the federal party in the last General Assem
bly. We say federal party, because they had
a small majority, and are consequentir ree
sponsible for the doings of that Assembly,
in the instances to which we allude. We
observed then, that this party, not contented
with continuing in force certain laws, whi?
are a disgrace to the state, but they did at
the very last of the session, pass a law, ex.
empting {rom militury duty, fatigue and tax
ation, all such persons as are “ conscientious
ly scrunulons against bearing arme.” Thie
is a death blow to the organization and regu
lar discipline of the militia of the state of
Rhode-Island. + For where is the man, whe
has not these scruplies of conacience? QOr
rather where is the person, who will not have
them, if by such Avpocritical pretensions, he
can get rid of performing military dwmy ?
But it may be said, that this law was intend
ed 10 afford relief only, to the comsciences of
that most worty, humane, and benevolent
class of people, called Quakers. We believe
the real genwine Friends, or Quakers,are sin
cercly opposed to bearing armms, or to shed-
Were those who tide with a coach and four
suffered to drive from the highw-y, or run
dewn, those who ventared upon it with in-
Jeriour forcemmour rights wouid no longer de
pend upon the lws of justicey, reason and
common crvility, but the power of pressing
into our service the greatest possible num
ber of beasts of burthen. Jockies would take
the place of lawyers and our horses become
the pirincipal arbiters of our disputes on the
highway., .
Should we concede te the robbers’ demand,
we must admit of course that might is right,’
The maxims of Robin Hood should be con
sulted, instead of those of my Lords Coke,
Hale and Munsfield. What we received as
law on land, we could not reject as Jaw on
the oceun. General robbery would be ac
knowledged as publick law. England might
be permitted to imitate the practice of the
pirate states of Barbary ; and we should he
consistent to look to her tars for instruction in
THE MILITARY SYSTEM OF THIS STATE
. DESTROYED, OR
The last Ast of Federalism displayed ! ! !
all questiens of maritime pillage, as their
precepts have the peculiar advantage of bee
ing illustrated by their practice.
THE VOLUNTEER.
That portion of the highway, which the
traveller (ransiently occupies for the fair purs
poses of speeding his journey, becomes for
the time being exclusively his own ; and all
are bound to respect his right.
Whether he walk on foot, mount,his horse
or roll in his carriage, he is, as respects his
felow occupants of the highway, invested
with the right of sovercignty, within his own
moving shhere, to the exclusion of all others,
- If one mounted on horse back were per
mitted to stop the pedestrian, and search his
peck and his pocket—the latter must be per
mitted to take the like liberty with the poc
ket and portmanteau of the former.
From these elemientary principles of the
law of nature and nations, are derived those
rules of right and maxims of cgmity, which
regulate the intercourse of civilized nations
on the bigh seass—which makes the Ocean a
grand repiublick,whose subjects are all nations,
and whose just and liberal laws extend their
protection to all the tenants in common to i(#
equal rights.
S 0 analogous are the rights of the coma
mon domain of the Ocean to those of a free
highway by land, that one may be uptly and
familiarly iliustrated by theother. The prin
cipal difference is—the former is governed
by the universal luw of nature and nations,
all mankind being its subjects, who choose
to avail themselves of its occupency ; the
latter is regulated by the municipal laws of
the country to which it belongs.
Every one has a right to fiass and repase
the common bhighway, and in that mode
which he finds most for his convenietce. Bt
none are permitted o appropriate any pore
tion of it to their own permanent and exclu
sive use.
This is a leading principle, founded in the
imm.utuble law of mature, and recognized by
the great writers of every age, and every ci
vilized nation, whether christian or heathen
—whether Philosophers, civilians, or poets.
Auother principle growing out of this and
the nature of wunicipal government, is e
qually clear und universally aduiittede7has
the vessels of every nation, whether of war,
aend commissioned as such, or merchantmen
with their accustomed papiers, BEAR WITHIN
THEIR WALLS THE SOVEREIGNYY OF THR
NATION T 0 WHIEH THEY BELOWG.
as his own turnpike. Let Sir Wm. Scott’s
conscience be instructed by His Majesty’s
Orders in Council, till it become as enligh
tened and correct as its cabinet keepers at
St. Jumes.” But let honest Americens, if
they wish to remain so, seek surer guides in
their own reason and investigation.
The first principles of our meritime rights
are extremely simple and obvicus to those
who ure not disposed to forego the use of
their understanding in civility to thuse impo
sing sophists, whose interest it is to deceive
them. -
The Gop of nature has made the Ocean
incapable of permanent and exclusive occu
pation. The winds and the waves declare to
man that his residence upon it must be trane
sient. It is orduined to be the commos
HIGHWAY OF NATIONS, equally free to all, as
vhe buuntiful elements that bear us over its
surface,
NEWPORT : .
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1810.