The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1852-08-25
IOWA, A UGUST 25.lS52
Gen. Pierce aud the Religious Test.

.
IS Gen. Pierce aud che Religious Test. $
. William E Robinson, Of New York of SHE
vreann,on notorir,y; has been at CONCORD 10 re
mp false witness that Gen. PiAroa is a f,e 10 re
lig,ons liberty, andih.rebv to prnvt-to The iris
Cathohcs that they onghl to vot. f,r Gen lSo"t
notwith> landing The admitted fac that Gen
Scott, over his own signature, in publishe,
letter bearing date of Oct. der 1874 ,insulted III
whole Catholic Church by referring 10 the =,
lection of the Pope by IN. college Of Cardinal
az .sm'ere<aed s.bar rain bv which III
most "suprrannated'' of their number is plac
ed in the papal chair .rts
Rob ms n h Is mhodi d the fruit Of lis research
es in SPEECH delivered, we beevr, a, some nv
crn in W York, aud then written out and pub
lishrd for canvass c cuIltirn in some even o
eight columns of the New Yo,k Tribune s
The most material pas,agr Of it is as l"wS
"Whcn Mr. Dallas sp Ike in Philadelphia
} the very next weekday evening after the no.
tnination "f Mr.. Pierce, hr stat.d tina Frankli,
Fierce had advocated the repeal of the anti
Chtho'ic test. On searching The records, n,
speech fI"m Mr.. Pier:e could be found bu, /
; was decided on that something in ne shane of /,
!! speech should be, ea past farto, put into h
nouth Some dodge must be rcsnr,ed To, anc
me leaders seemed 10 say anv dodge, howeve
; dispicable, will be good enough for the Catb..
tps
legraph soon inf,rm d u. that the Washnotor
I Union would the next m .rnipu contain IN,
speech of franklin PIERCE on this subj. CT. whicI
he condescend d to make, and even drscendec
from the chair tn d.l,ver.
"Though the speech was first published il
the Washington Union. and copied into the o.
II hio Statesman of June Is, yet the dodge, be
lieve, was onnoocted in Concord, and cannes
help thinking, by thu assistance Of F-anslir
Pierce himself. Accordingly tn. Concord Pa
triot, of June IL, 1852, coma ms the speech
which was to gull and deceive every liberal
/ minded naturalized citizen, and 50 far the fnrg
cry has succeeded admirably. On referring q
the official report Of the proceedings in the Cen
cord Patriot, found that Franklin Pierce hao
not spoken at all upon the subject; but on look
ing further, found that after the r-lieinus test
had been abolished without opposition, and laid
aside completed, and the properly test CONS
ing up, franklin Pierce made a speech in favol
of striking out the pr0perty test, and in tina,
speech the only reference he made 10 the rrIi-
gious test was that it had been .'dead letter =
"When these remarks were made, the relig-
Gus test .cns not before the convention. That
auojco. had been d.fnitire'y acted on (see
offici i report in the Concord IN. H.) Patr,ot
| of Nov. ID, 1850, and compare it with Jun. IL,
1859, to see the. juggle ank trick of a reckless
set Of partisnns)' t@.ts,
a.t.' The iifs;.s asAlsehood in the above is the
laaiene,taF intip.tion that i.:s- ss-pae!.catlon "f
I Gen Ftesces . speech, in our columns was :
'dodge,' or "forgery," concncted by anybody,
or that it was in any way connected with the
| republication Of the same speech in the Concord
Democrat Of June II, 1852. We copied Gen
Pierce's speech entire, and we so stated NJ the
time, from the off iai record If the proceedings
| of the convention, on the 18th Of November,
| 1850, as published IN the Daily Patriot Of N"v-
ember 14,h, 1850, the bound fil"s Of that puhli-
"aticn being then and now before US. We have
no doNot a.-. che Concord Democrat copied the
speech in the same mannes 'r.o-. u,.s neither
concert Of action, nor "dodge," nor Sto.ss-
ry."
Cd The second fa'sehood IN the above exirac,
| is, that when Gen. Pierce's speech was made
the religious test had been "def,inrely acted
on and ssabolshed T" The feet is that the tes,
is not vet "abolished,' though General Pierce
has labored sealously to effect lis abolition The
further fact is, that the proceedings in the con-
vrntion, on the 18th of November, when Gen-
eral Pierce sp ke, were in Committee of the
,rhoie-the business before them being the re
port of a special committee, which report re-
commended the abolition of both the religious
and property tests. Being in committee of the
whole, the proceedings were. of course, in no
sense defn,tireiu; and, so far from the relig-
Gus test not being sbefnre the convention when
General Pierce spoke, it had just been put in a
shape Ia be brought "before the convention
in the most formal manner, bv the committee
Of the whole unanimously adopting resolution
to abolish it, which resolution was to be, OF
course, reported to the convention for d hnitlve
action by that body. Al this moment Gen
Pierce spoke, grouping his brief remarks upon
the property test into the snme speech, but
| Il nhip pcti IN
religious test sf.--. za.s-..
| Sd The third and most material ofths series
of falsehoods in the above brief extract, is the
averment that in the speech made by Gen. Pier,
ce stthe Oniy reference he made to tn" religious
test was that it had been dead letter.
| Here are closing preferences made by Gen
| Pierce to the religious test They settle the
| question of Gen Pierce 5 opinion as to the reli
gious test, and they alsn settle the qles'ion as
to the faIschood of The statement ahov" cited
! The RELIGIOUS trs' in the constitution had un-
dcniahlv been stigma np"n the State, at nome
and abroad. 1t had been repeatedly named to
him-and once al has, in foreign land--as un-
worthy Of the intelligent and liberal spirit Of
ourc,untrymen Although he had at time f II
keenly the reproach, he had no doubt other
gentlemen had dome to other parts ot tho con
s,nntion as illustrating the true and fpre spirit
of our fathers. and to these as--at least for ma
| nv vears-a blank The great question cf rel,-
;. cious liberation was practically settled and seit.
led in manner never to be reversed while we
retain our present. form of government, more
than thirty wears ago. The provisions nov
| claiming the attention Of the committee conlt
hardly be said to involve an opnn question
| They had been the subject Of discussion in ev.
ery iyceum. everv academy, debating club, ev.
erv town and there perhaps No suhiec
upon which public opinion and public feeling
| was 40 u,iRnrm and scisive The suhsance-
/ if substance they ever had--having long since
i ma ssed AWAY he rel iced that the pr,per occasi-
bH hru dszieng'n "s.t.Ss u. s'''
! form y
O,e specinen moro of Robinsons speech
and we have done with it
"a set Of wire-nnllcrs have put up for Pf"s'-
dent ot the Uniied States the leader of New
Hampshire Neutrality-suspicious. tn M st his
voted and brutal lump "f stupidity in th'' uni.
verse The question "f Catholic emancipation
cnmes ur on appeal from tn 'd-m cracy OF New
. Hampshire TO the people Of the United States
Every man who votes for Pierce v"t"s for hi
par.v, and vot. to fasten the stigma forever o'
the Catholics Those that vote against hin
vo,,. for Catholic emancipation That's jus
the question 1T the next election ..~ -..
!; Waiviny the brutality OF tho language her
n.ed, let US regard only the nonsrousn"ss "
the falsehood. Here are the facts
"Not only (says the New H'm?>hire Patr'o '
has General Pierce never omittrd anv dn'v II
regard to this matter. but has never failed, whrl
the question Of callinga convention has bee'
. before the people to urge them to vote for !
for the sake Of abolis,ing the RELIGIONS an
/. property tests Al the election in 1850, whr'
the question Of calling a convention was hefor
!, ,hem, he urged it FIR the purpose "f ahollshi"!
] the tests In 1851, when the am'n nd'n'n's alb"
fishing tests We re again hefnre the people, b
made public speeches in favor Of ,hem. J.
J 1874 he advocated the call "f i c"nvrn i'm i
speeches and with his pen The newspaper
r uf that year shnw that both Gencral Pierre an
: Judge Woodbury. 'lnad" urgent appeals to ih
democrats tn nse earnest a"d strong efforts
get full vote in favor Of revisnn.' SAT- wa
on previous occasions In lSf4, 'h' ba'l,a
, nrintea AZ III. P,;rio. offi'e had the nnsws
, Yes 10 m. question. Shall the constitution b
amended IL was Gen, Picrccs advice, an
for it Il" was abused by every whig md ah liti"
; paper in thu S,atc Tie :, statements wi
he verified in manner that will prov" h"vnn
all question tina, General Pierce has ever hee
ac lively engaged in IN vemenis contemplaln