Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-05-10

D. EDGAR sNOWDEN.
c0NCL UsION OF THE

af tbs Stnte of South Carolina, eq relatioae
Ed,rnrd McCrady, against Col. B. r. Hunt,
ON the constitutionality Of the Oath IN the B.tf
for the Military OrgGnizatios OF the State'
passed 1eth December, 1888.
have now finished what belongs appropriate,
" to the argument ofthese great questions, anu
here might stop; but may trust to De neia e4
cused, for adding somewhat more FeihapS, -. -
NAV not seem TO belong to the tribunal. OF tue
forms of the controversy. but are n.y. .iioSC ~
deed political, rather than cirlt queslionss Ger
tainly constitutional, not merely teS0@ oolie
.baracter of the OATH will not be inappropriate.
! trust shall not be suspected OF calling 1t
Test Oath. from any desire or intentionto stamp
II with an odicus name. call it such, because
i l honestly believe it to be Test Oath. what is
the criterion2 A Test Oath is, in my judgment,
q declaration ofopinion upon OATH 1t is imma
terial. whether it be religious or political, lit be
not an Oath TO facts-to do or not TO do.
Test Oath is designed to be a test OF OPINION,
compared with some fired and fRown standard,
established or adopted by the imposer OF the
Oath Now, matter Of OPINION, y At belong 20 dhe
department of DUTY, is matter Of CONSCIENCE 10
exact an Oath in such case, is to interfere with
the RIGHTS of conscience; for all our opinions on
subjects of duty, ought to be formed, and must
he held under the responsibility OF conscience
Freedom of conscience is the nOblest privilege
of the noblest work of God. It's privilege
granted by the Creator HIMSELF the inalenaole
Sioht of an immortal soul; right, which the
creature cannot restrict or violate, without
usurping the authority of the creator Inc ge-
nius of federation is essentially, unchangeaDly,
free, pure, lofty, honorable
&C Her track Wherein the Goddess roves,
Glory pursues and generous shame,
Tn, uncomfortable mind, and Freedoms no.
ly flame"
Let us dwell for few moments, on the hlsto-
nv of intolerance Let me not call 1t the history
IF persecution, in connexion with this place, and
this cause Let me call it the history oftrial and
suffering. for opinions sake. The first scene,
which opens upon us, is found IN the history OF
PHILOSOPHY. We behold the enlightened and
benevolent Socrates condemned to the hemlock;
for teaching the Athenian youth nobler, purer
moral. than PaganiSm had ever produced. we
behold Anaxagoras sentenced 10 die; because
his philosophy was adjudged to be impieus:
Anaxandrides, because he satirlzed the Athenl-
an government: and Cleanthes invoked the
Greeks to condemn Aristarchus as guilty of
blasphemy in his astronomical opinions. we
behold the Romans after Rome had been found
ed sci years. banishing all the philosophers from
the civ: and Cato the Censor, six years after,
obtaining decree to dismiss Carreades, and
his fellow philosophers, the Athenian Ambassa-
doris. lest they should corrupt the severity and
simplicity of Roman manners. Can we forget
the striking scene exhibited at the Judgment
seat and in the dungeons oil the inqtustlon,
when Calico was tried and condemned as an
unbeliever in the scriptures; because he main
tanned the astronomy of Pythagoras against that
of Ptolemy? And what scene, still more I'M
pressiye is that, which passed in the convent at
Salamanca; when Columbus, pleading the
cause ofthe new world, of our own America,
with the sacred eloquence of a prophet and the
profound reasonngs of philosophy; received as
his portion from learning, and science and re-
ligion. the stern repulse ofreligious bgotry, and
the incredulity of ignorance and tlmldty.
Let us turn now TO the modern history of reli-
gious intolerance; history replete with lessons
to humble our pride as men, and I'LL us witn
grief, as patriots and philanthroplsts. Ana What
is the first remarkable feature? Is 1t not the I'M
natural Union of Church and State? A Union,
which the common sense and enlightened con
science of Americans have forever aDolsneo.-
And who does not see that from this union arose
the maxim. that the civil magistrate had power,
and was bound by the most solemn opllgalions
of christian duty, to deny the rights OF conscl-
ence and 70 punish the hereto for his opinions,
in flames at the stake or by the axe on the seal
fold And who can deny that the peculiar, the
exclusive authority of God hlmselI was mus
l,surped: when the civil magistrate held. that as
the opinions the hereto were opposed TO those
of the established religion, they must be hostile
10 the marriage bond of Church and State
Did not the magistrate confiScate property,
manacle the limbs, imprson the person, nay,
shed, the very life blood of brothers, because ne
assumed that the enemy of the church must be
the enemy Of the State: and that either heresy
must be exterminated, OF the government would
perish2 Behold the Hugonots of France, out
lawed oppressed, banished, in the most brilliant
age of French Literature; under the meridian
splendors of her philosophy, and at the height OF
her power and glory, in arts and in arms! Ihey
were not driven out from the homes ana the
Graves of their fathers, to the cavern, and the
forest, and the land of strangers, by the religion
of humility and meekness, but under the plea
Of state necessity, by the memorable sword ofthe
civil magistrate. And whence, but from the
same cause, sprang the intolerance of Protest
ant to Catholic, of Catholic to Protestant, in the
British Isles? Both held the Church and the
State to be one. Bound by holy wedlock to
each other who is surprised that the sentiment
of religion became the maxim of politics. "what
God hath Joined together, let not man put asun
dern Heresy against the church was therefore
treason against the State: and the hereto, a
traitor. Is it wonderful that the law pronoun-
ced him felon, an outlaw, perjured man, a
deadly foe, never to be forgiven? Is it wonder