New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-02-22

not snaUDg tntm w your own cODlucs III
like cases Why won't your
About the poorest apoly for the Tuscan
outrage we have noticed is that which seeks
to Justify or bolster it up By citing instances
of injury to Catholic persons or property By
MODS in this country! That is to say-Iguor-
ant, bigOted, rovdy sayages, in glazing def
ance Of our laws, have perpetrated outrages,
of which il has not been always practicable
to convict them. but for which the sufferers
have in some cases been compensated BY the
State, though in others they have not been.
Now, what parallel can justly be run between
these crimes so uniformly pronounced such BY
rlaws and the infection Of punishment by lac
on Protestants, because Of their faith and
worship, by Catholic States and rulers Are
not these cases not as wide apart as the poles
We have said that We regret the Ian
cuage and the seeming attitude of the Cath0-
lies of this country with reference TO the Ma
dial case even more than the persecution
itself. There certainly is no such unanimity
Of expression on that side among the Csthe-
lies Of Europe, and We cannot believe the
Catholic lsity Of this country cherish any such
hostility to Universal Freedom in matters of
Faith as is evinced through their journals.
One of the most creditable and just move
ments of our age ia that initiated in the Senate
by Gen Cass, backed by numerous petitions,
looking to overtures from our own TO foreign
governments for the mutual recognition of Re-
ligious Liberty. That is to say our Govern
ment is asked to demand of other Nations the
free exercise of Faith and Worship for our citi-
zens within the territories of those Nations re-
spectively, and TO prefer in return the Ike
freedom to their citizens visiting us. Now it
is easy to sheer at this prefer a. absurd, or
impertinent, or certain to be rejected but it
is a remarkable fact that $50 far as We have OBJ
served) no single expression Of dissent from or
dislike to il has been uttered except on the part
of Roman Catholics That fact implies great
deal.
Now il is easy to bemuddle this matter so
that dull man who don't want to see the
right of it shall be enabled to becloud his
perception to the desired eXtent-to urge
that universal Religious Freedom implies the
toleratien Of Polygamy, Incest, Human Sacri-
fees, or anything else that knaves or lunatics
may claim as prescribed by their religious faith,
but none will be befogged in this way but those
who wish to be- Let the Psrsee who comes
among us worship the sun il he sees fit let
the Hottentot adore and obey bis Fetish let
the Turk hold fast his faith in the Koran, in-
Guiding its license of Polygamy; but if he un-
dertakes topractice Poygamy in State which
forbids it, let him be punished, not for his reli-
gion, but for his violation of an important law,
enacted with no reference to religion, but for
the preservation of Family Unity and Social
Purity. We cannot allow Thug to murder,
though be plead that his gods command him to
do so-not because murder is forbidden by our
Religious Faith, but because it wages deadly
war on Individual and Social security aud well.
being The distinction between this and pros
ecuting and furnishing Heresy or Idolatry is
as broad as the ocean.
And now for plain talk with our Protest
ant leaders of opinion, who are so eagerly get
ting up meetings to profer sympathy with the
Madiai for their unjust persecution: Gentle
men we trust you mean all you say in favor Of
Religious Liberty but we must say that you
have not always been found acting in accord
ance with these convictions. We shall not rake
among the ashes of the dead for the material
on which TO base our implication that your
present zeal seems quickened rather by hos
tlity to the Catholics than abstract, abid-
ing love for Religious Freedom Have we
STRANGE from your body against the
late intolerant Ecclesiastical Titles Act Of
Great Britain, adding fresh indignity and out
rage TO those already inflicted on the Irish
Catholics BY those who hold them in bondage
Have you ever publicly protested against the
intolersnt laws of Sweden against Catholics
Have you yet lifted up your voices against the
prosecutions TO which Jesuits are even now
subjected in may countries Mind, we are
not deciding that Jesuits have not deserved
punishment; we only say that they have been
repeatedly expelled from Protestant (and
sometimes eyen from CathOlic) countries, on
the strength of evidence that they were JeSu-
it's, and not that they had done any harm what
ever Such expulsion is intolerant, and op-
posed to every principle of Liberty.
But we need not go back TO the treatment
of Quakers, Baptists, &c, in the infancy Of
New England to prove that persecution is no
stranger TO our own soil. Within the lifetime
of many who will read this, citizens have been
despoiled and imprisoned in nearly every State
of New-England to compel them to pay for the