Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1834-07-10
EQUAL. RIGHTS.

II Is the DOnSt OF tue pSOpiC M H1S
0untry that all here enjoy equal rights and
pTiviiegos--ihat our laws make no distinc-
lions in favor Of rank OF Of religious senti-
ments--tnat the field of enterprise and the
path to office, are open to all. This is the
lory-and beautiful one il is. But men
may hold fast to names while they disre-
gard things; they may be tenacious Of
forms while they suffer the substance to
vanish. He who should hay down the pro-
position that persons holding certain reli-
gioOs sentiments, which do not injure soei-
ETY., should be disfranchised-or that the
members Of respectable and pious de-
nomination should be ineligible to office
or that persons within a given district or
country should not be entitled to enjoy the
fruits Of their labor, would find few hardy
enough to acknowledge themselves among
his followers. Yet all this may be done
in cfect--ihe principle may BIO acted on,
and if at tho same time the words of lib
erty, aud equality, and patriotism, and love
for the rights Of all classes are profnsely
on the lip, the conduct will be justified BY
multitHdes.
There is persecution as unjust # not
as violent as that which stretches its VIC
tim OH the rack--a persecution Tor opin-
ions sake, which is carried by men who
claim to abhor an illiberal spirit---wllich
marks out its prey as diligently and pur-
sues il as eagerly as the inquisition itself.
When it comes to this, that piety shall be
an ellectual barrier in the way Of q mans
promotion to office---when, because he
would serve his God faithfully and unre-
servedly, he must not be permitted to
serve his country, there IS persecution rs
real as the world has ever SEEM. Equal
rights may be talked of-may be pretty
theme for orators on the anniversary Of
our Independence but they do not, in such
a state OF things, practically exist.
When mans profession. II II be lawful,
is made an objection to his promotion TO
office--when because he may labor with
his head, instead Of his hands. this is turn
ed into an occasion for odium, there is NO
equality Of rights in the community, not;
witl,standing all the terms that denagogues,
and politicians use 10 deceive the people
and lull them into security.
When i. comes to this, that II a man has
by diligence and laborious thought, raised
himself in knowledge above tho mass a.
round him, he must be looked On with dis
trust and jealousy, and isdenied practical
", the rights and privileges enjoyed by
others, equality may be known in the lan-
guage of that people, but il is not known
IN their feelings Or in their conduct.
When It comes TO this, that because Q
man, by enterprise, and economy, and per-
severance, has acquired competence,
while some around him less laborioHs, or
less skilfnl, or less prudent, are in moder-
ate circumstances, he must be regarded ss
an aristocrat---be set down as an enemy 10
our institutions, and be shut out from the
distinctions and Offices to which his integ-
rity, and experience, and public spirit would
otherwise entitle him, il is only m0ckery,
in such circumstances, to talk OF equal
rights.
The man who, in either Of the ways we
have specified, would endcavor TO turn the
public odium against Ills neighbor, and de-
prive him Of the rights secured to him by
the laws and the. constitution, would, If It
were in his power, and public sentiment
permitted, kindle the fires Of persecution,
and smile at the agonies Of the dying mar
tyr. No matter what words Of patriotism
or Of republicansm he may use, he is an
enemy to liberty and to the equal rights Of
al. He means by liberty the right to crush
all who stand in his way and by equality,
the enjoyment Of privileges and honors
by jus, as many as lrs interest requires.
Conn. Otssrver.
PAysiologieal.--Some celebrated Phys
biologists lately expressed an opinion that
intense agony is felt after decolttaiOn. in
both the head and body. sN
| A case lately occurred in Ticonderoga.
N. ", which settles the question as far as
the body is concerned, and proves that no
sensation whatever can exist in the body.
after its connexion with he brain IS dissol-
we'd. The case is curious one, and we
give It as related in the Boston Medical
] and Surgical journal:
sc. D., aged so, a man Of hale consti-
tuition and robust, in making an effort 4
scale a board fence, was suddenly precipi.
ia,ed backwards TO the ground; striking
4 FIRST upon the superior and anterior portion
Of the head, which luxated the dentaius
anterioriy on the third cervical vertebra.----
He was at length discovered, and taken 10
Gas the patient saidl after no had lain near :
" an hour. in u condition perfectly bereit
Of voluntary motion but being present. >
did not even suspect that the power OF sem
saiion was also gone. until the pa"ent
lfwhose speech remained almost or qu'is